WebNovels

Chapter 33 - Chapter 30: Resigned to Fate

(Daisy Pov)

After Samuel got hit, our pace slowed down noticeably. John got spooked, and the air of invincibility that it looked like he had put on us was broken.

It was a point to his luck that after moving through a couple more hallways, we hadn't run into any more aliens. But an alarm did start blaring throughout the ship, the sound a weird mix of high-pitched and low-pitched noises, nothing like police sirens. As for the cause… I will give you three guesses on who probably did it, and the first two don't count.

Eventually, the radiation readings led us to cut through what looked like a giant store room. The alien containers were purple and about ten feet tall, and the only thing on this ship that actually had normal geometry. Mixed in with them were smaller four-foot-tall rectangles that glowed with blue and purple light. From the energy they gave off, they seemed to be some kind of fusion coil.

*CLONK CLONK CLONK*

We moved through the maze, stopping when we all heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming from outside the door we were moving toward.

"Hide quickly," John's voice came through the comms with urgency.

Everyone ducked behind some type of concealment, with me moving behind one of the tall crates standing beside the same wall that held the door that the enemy was approaching. I quickly clicked a button, turning off the flashlight on the end of my shotgun.

I heard the door open, the sections sliding into the wall. I slightly peeked out from behind my cover, shotgun at the ready. I wasn't just going to sit and wait, hoping they would pass by.

A part of me hoped they would find someone. Subtlety had never been my thing, and besides, a straightforward shoot-out would be quicker and deliver the same result.

"WORT WORT WORT! YLKCIUQ BARG TAHW OUY DEEN! A NOMED SI REAH" A giant blue alien entered with three cone-headed at its heels. It seemed to bark out orders, making a strange sound with its mandibles, a sound no human could ever imitate. The three smaller aliens seemed to snap to attention, heading to a crate that seemed to have. All the while, the alarm blared from the hallway but was muffled by the walls.

The bigger alien pulled out a blue plasma rifle, as we were now calling it, and turned to walk back into the corridor. The other three hurriedly looked for weapons as well, but seemed to nervously bumble around, knocking over one of the plasma containers.

The plasma changed color from soft blue to a bright violet, which gave me a bad feeling, but to make matters worse, the light cast a glow onto John, crouched down watching them, not even 2 meters away.

*click*

Just as the aliens were going to spot John, a sound from somewhere else in the round made the group of aliens stop what they were doing. All three of them stopped their attention now in the direction of the sound. But before any could investigate, a deep shout came from the doorway.

"YRRUH PU SRESSEL!"

They seemed to jump at the sound of their superior's voice, scrambling to find a weapon and scurry back out the door. It closing with the last one's absence.

We waited for a moment, then moved toward the exit, stacking up at the entrance.

"Hold"

John ordered right as more clunking sounded out in the hallway. I listened closely, 'Five, no six, no nine,' I heard nine sets of distinct footsteps that ran past the room we were holed up in.

Once they faded, we stepped into the hallway, catching a glimpse of their backs as they went into a room further down the hallway.

"They're in a hurry," Samuel said

"Hmph," I snorted, "David's got their attention," I said with a hint of pride.

Kelly looked over at me, speaking with concern, "Will he be ok?" she asked

I shook my head, "I wouldn't worry about him, I'd be more worried about us," I said, bringing my gun up to move.

"Why's that?" Samuel asked, confused.

"If David kills too many, then whatever thing that is in charge of this ship might just decide to scuttle it. Taking all of us out along with it," I said matter-of-factly

"Focus. We are heading in that direction as well; we should be able to link up with David if he's over there."

"Aye Aye, Captain," Samuel saluted with his off hand.

..

.

A few minutes later and we stopped just before a door.

*BOOM*

From the hall, we heard an explosion as it rattled the door.

"That's probably David. Let's give him a hand," John said, giving me all the permission I needed to proceed through the door.

The moment the door opened, I walked in, and time slowed down as my reflexes kicked into overdrive. Out from the side of the door frame, a black, blocky object shot up at a speed I struggled to keep up with. I flinched, attempting to dodge to the side, only to stop as a familiar voice spoke.

"Oh, it's you guys," David's voice spoke clearly, and I finally got the entire image of him in his armor standing down with twin SMGs in his hands.

"My bad," he said, nonchalantly placing his weapons back onto his thigh magnetic holsters.

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(3rd Pov)

*whistle*

Samuel whistled as he stepped into the room along with the rest of the members of Blue team.

The room looked even worse than the giant cathedral the four had gotten into a firefight in. Part of the room was blown away, portions of the walls were melted by plasma, and an elevator shaft at the rear of the room was turned into a gaping wound. Blood painted the walls, and shrapnel impaled them like house decorations. 

Yet in the middle of it all was a single man-Spartan wearing armor in undamaged armor, managing to be able to avoid any hits, but also being covered in the blood of his enemies.

Samuel turned to the Spartan with a white 003 on his armor, standing at a height just an inch taller than him, "You are one scary man, Dave."

David shrugged as he pulled his shotgun off his back, "Not my fault, I am popular," he responded.

He looked over, spotting the traces of blood on the armor of the other Spartans, "Seems you guys got some attention as well," he said, giving them a once-over.

"And you're all still in one piece," he paused his helmet, staring at the hole in Samuel's armor. He thought of saying something, but stopped, instead opting to assume everything was fine.

John stepped forward, putting his fist out, "We're heading to the reactor. Care to tag along?" he asked.

David bumped his fist with his own, "Do you have to ask?"

..

.

With the addition of David, the group proceeded through the last leg before they reached their objective, killing everything that ran into them. Though it was only a few remaining stragglers, there was still a distinct path of gore and remains indicating where the five had traveled and with route they took.

"Two tall ones are peaking out from around the left side of the reactor," Samuel called out as he began firing shots, chipping away at the reptilian shielded aliens. 

Kelly moved up, receiving his information, blasting each in the chest with a shotgun. The first being taken out immediately, as its shield had withered away enough that the pellets penetrated the shield before piercing its armor and subsequent flesh. The other, however, survived a shell, having only his shield knocked out by the kinetic energy.

*SNAP*

"Four more of the small ones on the other side, Kelly," John pivoted to begin firing at the orange armored cone-headed aliens after assisting Kelly with the other tall one. The three of them battled, clearing out the inside of the reactor so that they could finish their mission.

Meanwhile, in the hall, David and Daisy were pulling rear security, discouraging any of the curious who tried to interrupt the members of Blue team.

*BANG*

Shotguns fired in sequence, tearing down all the enemies that approached. But suddenly a squad rushed passed the steady building pile of corpses.

"Six more incoming in what looks like their standard formation: little bastards up front, tall ones in back," David fired his shotgun, aiming for one of the big ones in back, only to watch them pick up corpses to block each slug. Calmly, he reiginited his comms, "I'm out of frags. Can you handle them, Daisy?" he asked as he switched his target instead shooting at the small ones to trip the big ones up.

"I got you," Daisy said before tossing a readied grenade.

Just before the fragmentation grenade exploded, one of the small aliens paused in their tracks, pulling out what looked like a blue flare in the form of a ball.

'I don't think so,' David knew what it was doing, and with the swing of a barrel, he took the alien's arm off. The limb separated at the elbow joint flew up into the air before settling on the ground, the ball of plasma glowing increasingly brighter.

"Take cover," Daisy didn't second-guess David's word and immediately ducked deeper into her inlet she was fighting from. Plasma at the same temperature as that of the sun flashed, evaporating flesh and bone around it, and just as suddenly as it flared, it disappeared, no longer sustainable outside of a vacuum.

When the smoke cleared, David found no more targets; everything had been neutralized.

"We are clear on our end, John. Are you guys ready to send this thing into the afterlife?"

John's response was immediate: "Kelly just started rigging up the explosives. Come give us your missiles so we can hurry up and get the hell out of here."

'That's all I needed to hear,' David thought as he, along with Daisy, fell back into the reactor.

*BANG*

"That should buy us some time," Daisy said after blasting a control interface to the entrance with her shotgun. David only shook his head as he began pulling the explosive from his back magnetic mounts.

"How long should I set the timer for?" Kelly asked as she finished linking all of the bombs together.

David turned to John, "About how long did it take you guys to reach here?" he asked.

"If we sprinted probably close to three minutes," John said, estimating.

David turned to Kelly, "Put 3 minutes and thirty seconds on the timer set to start as soon as we exit the room." Kelly nodded and got to work.

"Think they'll find it?" Daisy asked, glancing at where the rigged IED was hidden.

"Not if they don't know what they are looking for," David explained.

Kelly did a final check, and a timer reading: 3:30 conveniently popped up on each Spartan's HUD. It remained paused with the words Bomb: Armed above the timer.

"All right, let's move," John said, only to be caught off guard by Samuel's next words.

Samuel, who'd been particularly quiet ever since he had taken the bolt of plasma, spoke up. His posture nearly said "defeated" as he seemed to build up to say something difficult, "Yeah, you guys better get going."

The four other Spartans stopped in their tracks, "What do you mean. You're coming with us," John said, a sense of dread beginning to wash over him.

Samuel sighed as he pulled the helmet off his head, "No, I'm not. My suit is ruptured, I am not getting off this thing alive," he said, his tone resigned to his fate.

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What up, I ain't got much to say as I am in a bit of a hurry.

Sorry for not uploading yesterday, I wasn't able to edit in time, so as recompense there will be another chapter tomorrow.

Drop questions and concerns that you have and see ya.

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