Diary of the ODST: Act 2
#4 of Halo Chronicles
Warning: the following story contains violent scenes and harsh language. Reader discretion is advised.
Diary of the ODST: Act 2
// Terali, Luscious system, 19th December 2555, 1802 hours
"Go on, corporal." Sergeant Major Coarse spat suddenly. "You really think you got a pair? Pull the God-damned trigger."
Gaz stared, wondering if he should do it. On the one hand Coarse wouldn't be able to stop him launching a rescue mission if he did, but the marines holding him at gunpoint might have something to say. Then again he had his fellow ODST watching his back. But he couldn't read minds. They were just protecting a friend. What did they really have to say about all of this?
"Sir, I'm not sure you're thinking this through properly." Staff Sergeant McKay said calmly, folding his arms across his chest. "Rangers are trained to win and taught that no one is left behind. So, sanction the mission," McKay tugged loose his own sidearm and pressed it against Coarse's head. "Or you might regret it."
Silence bathed Haven's courtyard for a full minute. All Gaz could hear was the wind howling over the battlements, and a far off screech of a Flood combat form.
"Fine." Coarse spat. Gaz hesitated a moment longer before letting him up. Pushing past the corporal the sergeant major said one more thing. "You can take one troop hog."
His hands trembling as all the guns were lowered, Gaz slowly stuffed his pistol back into its holster and looked up at the staff sergeant.
"You good, corporal?" McKay asked.
Gaz quickly nodded.
"Alright. Get your team together." McKay said. "Anyone and anything you need has to fit into one Warthog. I'll try to co-ordinate some support for your return. I'm going to assume you'll be returning in somewhat of a hurry."
Gaz nodded again, picking up his helmet where he dropped it and brushed off the snow. Griggs walked over, chuckling.
"For what it's worth, man." He said with a smile, pulling on his own helmet. "Doctor Whyte would be so wet for you right now."
Gaz gave him a disgusted look. "From you, that means absolutely nothing."
// Terali, Luscious system, 19th December 2555, 2000 hours
Gaz tipped the PDA slightly, seeing the display flicker. Looking up he gazed into the dark cavern entrance and flicked on his helmet mounted torch. The single beam of light scythed through the pitch blackness, revealing some interior details of the narrow tunnel. The walls were damp, revealing carpets of organic spongy material and patches of grey rock.
"Alright." Gaz sighed, pocketing the PDA and gripping his battle rifle in both hands. "They did a seismic scan of this area a month ago. According to the readings this tunnel leads down to the main cavern. That's where she is. One click in, half a click down." Gaz sighed and looked at Griggs standing by his shoulder. "You got the spelunking gear?"
The other corporal cocked his shotgun and shook his ALICE pack. "All here."
Gaz nodded and turned to the troop hog they rode in on. The three others they came in with would wait there, securing their exit, and run in guns blazing if something went wrong. "You guys stay with the hog. We'll be back in an hour."
As they got ready to go, the driver called out. "Wait, sir. What if you're not back in an hour?"
"Well then wait longer." Griggs said as if it were obvious. "Keep the engine running."
Leaving the trio and the hog behind them they entered the cavern, weapons high and torches on. Inside was musty and warm. Condensation dripped from above, fat droplets of moisture splattering on their uniforms. It smelled bad too. Like rotting flesh. A low rattle echoed through the tunnel as Griggs accidentally kicked something. Looking down, he illuminated what looked like the skull of a fox. Looking up again the two marines stared at each other for a while before moving on.
Soon enough the solid stone floor ended and they were squelching over a spongy layer of 'Flood-carpet.' Small zits littered the walls like yellow, ooze filled blisters. Some were tiny, others were the size of the marines' fists.
"I like what they did to the place." Griggs said softly, scanning the walls of the narrow tunnel. "Hey, Gaz. I have to know."
"What?" Gaz whispered back impatiently.
"Did you and the doc actually have sex?" Griggs said. "I mean, you are taking this seriously. No disrespect, we don't leave anyone behind... but holding the sergeant major at gunpoint? That's kind of insane."
Gaz slowed to a stop, lowered his weapon and faced the other corporal. "Do we really have to talk about this now?"
Griggs lowered his weapon too. "Uhm... sure... why not?"
Gaz rolled his eyes and moved on, weapon shouldered again. "Why? Does it matter?"
"Well." Griggs shrugged. "Not really. I mean, its okay for gay couples to marry. It should be okay for humans and aliens to at least have sex. You heard those stories about some humans falling in love with Elites right?"
"Urban legends." Gaz disregarded. "Although, that would make for an interesting 'meet the parents' scenario." Gaz suddenly changed the pitch of a voice to suit a more feminine character. "Hey daddy. Meet my new boyfriend. His name is blarb-blarb-honk-honk and he's a fucking alien." They both chuckled. "I think we can agree that'll turn out bad."
Griggs shook his head. "Actually, the story goes that some guy ended up with an Elite woman."
Gaz was silent for a while before he softly snorted. "You're kidding, right? A female Elite? I'm sorry, but I really can't comment, for never seen such a thing."
"But you can't deny that there are female Elites, right?" Griggs asked to be sure.
"Sure." Gaz shrugged. "But again, the whole human Elite relationship thing. It has to be an urban legend. The Elites are honour bound fighting machines. I doubt affection is even in their vocabulary."
"A fair point." Griggs had to agree with that point of view, having never met an affectionate Elite before. "But here's a question for you. How is that 'urban legend' as you so elegantly put it, so different from the situation between you and Doctor Whyte?"
Gaz had to think about that one. "Well... okay, I see your point. But I'm not sure it's very comparable."
"How so?" Griggs asked.
"Well." Gaz paused for five paces again, thinking hard. "First of all, she's not an Elite. There's some fundamental attraction issues there. Put her next to an Elite supermodel if such a thing exists, I'd still pick Carla. Second of all, she's practically human. Sort of. She has feelings I can relate to... hmmmm... that's a thought."
"Yeah?" Griggs added slowly. "What is it?"
"Eh... you know back on Earth there used to be some people who liked to dress up and pretend they're anthropomorphic animals?" Gaz asked. "And somewhere in 2430 they started gene-splicing to get more realistic, more... permanent, costumes?"
Griggs chuckled. "Yeah. Furries. You think you're a Furry?"
"Well... I..." Gaz sighed. "I don't know, man. I've thought about it, run it through my head but I can't seem to figure it out. The furries on earth who went through splicing started out as human. This is different. Carla is an alien. Her kind evolved this way. She never started out as human. The difference is subtle. Still, it's confusing."
"Alright." Griggs thought for a second. "You're attracted to Doctor Whyte, right?"
Gaz nodded. "Yeah."
"Do you love her?"
"I... think so." Gaz answered.
"Waddaya mean you think so?" Griggs snapped. "You either love her or you don't. Now which is it?"
"I'm really not entirely sure." Gaz said. "She just kind of came out of nowhere. We've only known each other a few days. I honestly don't know."
"Alright, fine." Griggs sighed. "Do you have the urge to dress up like an animal, say anthropomorphic fox, or get yourself spliced?"
"Nope."
"Okay. How about having sex with a non-sentient animal?" Griggs asked.
"Ugh... that's just grossly off topic."
"Hmm." Griggs thought for a minute. "You're right. You are fucked. But you know what?"
"What?" Gaz slowed down and turned off his torch, spotting some light at the end of the tunnel.
"All this conversation, and you know what gets me?" Griggs said. "You haven't answered my initial question. Have you, or have you not had sex with Doctor Whyte?"
Gaz didn't answer, lowering his weapon and approaching the light further up.
"Dude, you gonna answer or what?" Griggs hissed, following quickly.
Gaz wasn't going to answer at all. He couldn't. His mind was completely focused on the sight before him. The tunnel led into a massive, massive chamber. It was roughly one kilometre in diameter and seemed bottomless. Eight hundred metres above them was the ceiling to the cavern with five holes breaking through to the surface letting beams of sunlight in, illuminating the glistening wet walls. About a kilometre down was a shroud of darkness, hiding exactly how far down this colossal Flood decorated chamber went.
Griggs picked up a loose stone and tossed it past Gaz into the bottomless pit, expecting to hear it hit something. A minute later they still didn't hear a thing.
"Okay, if it was you I was trying to rescue and not Carla, I would have shit myself and run away by now." Gaz admitted.
"Thanks buddy. That means the world to me." Griggs retorted. "So where's the doc?"
"Well," Gaz leaned forward and looked straight down the chamber walls below him. "I picked this tunnel in particular for two reasons. No branching halls, so no Flood can sneak up behind us. And it takes us to right above the doctor." He squinted, and then pointed straight down. "There. There she is." It was hard to miss the shine of her white fur against the dirty green chamber walls. "Oh, thank God she's okay. Break out the rope. I'm going down."
Griggs immediately dropped his pack and set about anchoring their line to the tunnel floor while Gaz kept watch. The process only took a few seconds, using his pistol to shoot an anchor into the ground and attach the line. He dropped the rest of the coil of rope down into the chamber, causing it to dangle right past Carla's position. At first she didn't see it, but as Gaz knotted up, she noticed the line move and quickly looked up.
"Gaz?" she muttered. "Gaz! You came for me!"
"I'll be right down." Gaz called, backing over the edge and standing against the wall.
Satisfied he was secured, Griggs gave the thumbs up and started attaching an electric winch to the line. Gaz slowly squeezed the release lever and hopped, sliding down the line as quickly as possible. With every hop he descended five meters, avoiding the pulsating sacks hanging from the walls. He wasn't sure what they were, but sure as hell didn't want to find out. A few dozen hops later he slid to a halt beside the Terali doctor.
"Oh, I could kiss you!" she let out overjoyed. "But I'm a little stuck."
"I'll have you out in a second." Gaz said, swinging closer and drawing his knife.
Sticking the blade into the soft wall, he held Carla around the waist with one arm and slowly cut away the organic matter holding her in place. Meanwhile, at the top Griggs finished installing the winch and shouldered his shotgun, leaning out of the tunnel and looking around. He was hearing a lot of rumbling. The air seemed to move before his eyes, and made it look like the cavern was about to collapse. But then he heard it. Countless voices speaking as one in a heavy bass tone.
"Prince of my enemy, why have you come? You find here only your death! You cannot possess what I have! What I have taken shall remain mine!"
Griggs stumbled in surprise and grabbed a wall for support before looking down. Carla broke free and grabbed hold of Gaz, holding on for dear life.
"What the hell was that?" he called out.
"The Gravemind!" Carla called back. "It wants me as a hostage."
"What's a Gravemind?" Griggs asked.
"Who cares?" Gaz exclaimed still dangling with Carla. "Pull us up!"
"Oh." Griggs smacked himself in the helmet for being so stupid and activated the winch. It whirred loudly and started pulling in rope, dragging Gaz and Carla upwards.
Standing up again he looked out over the main chamber to see those sacks on the walls start to pulse harder before popping, sending confetti of flesh and showers of puss spraying everywhere. For each sack that popped, three Flood infection forms popped out and fell into the darkness below.
"Uh." Griggs stooped and held out a hand so he could grab the Telari doctor and pull her and Gaz in as soon as possible. "This is getting ugly."
"Oh, now he tells us?" Gaz cried out as sacks of Flood and puss exploded beside him. "Thanks for the update captain obvious!"
One by one Griggs pulled them into the tunnel and ran. Carla followed as Gaz unhooked and dropped a timed satchel charge set to thirty seconds. Running as fast as they could they tore through the narrow tunnel, their boots squelching loudly on the spongy floor. Behind them the sound of thousands of infection forms chittering excitedly was getting louder. Until a deafening roar reverberated through the tunnel. Hopefully the blast of the satchel had at least slowed them.
The journey into the den had taken thirty minutes. Their sprint to sweet freedom took less than five. As they burst from the cavern mouth and ran into the snow, the corporals threw so many orders at once the private sitting behind the wheel of the waiting Warthog didn't know where to begin.
"So, uh..." he said slowly as Griggs jumped into the side seat and Carla and Gaz leapt into the back. "You want fries with that, sir?"
"Just fucking drive." Griggs cried, looking back at the cavern mouth.
The private stomped his boot down on the accelerator, causing the engine to roar to life and the vehicle to shoot forward. Looking back, Gaz saw countless little infection forms burst from the cavern mouth and scatter across the snow, gliding closer like a tidal wave of little squid-monsters.
"Oh, that's not good." The private sitting beside Gaz said. "What did you do, sir?"
"It's called stirring the hornets nest." Gaz said clicking his radio. "Haven, this is rescue mission. We are coming in hot, infection on our tails."
There was a pause before the voice of Staff Sergeant McKay replied. "Copy that. Gates are open, guns are hot. Bring 'em on!"
The Warthog splashed through a frozen stream and bounced over the muddy track leading into the narrower parts of the gorge. The track fell away sharply to the right and before them lay an open sea of untouched snow and ice. Behind them the infection forms rolled over everything, consuming everything in their path. And then, the most beautiful sight any of them ever saw. Haven looming up in front of them. The gate was open, the path half blocked by the Scorpion tank. All hands were on the wall, guns ready, stationary turrets spinning and ready to unleash a whole new kind of hell.
For a moment Gaz could almost taste success... and then it just exploded around him... literally.
One minute he was sitting there with Carla tightly wrapped in his arms, the next they were on the floor of the Warthog's troop section, the world toppling and spinning around them. Then there was darkness. Carla fell out of his grip and thousands of fists punched him from all sides, smashing against his helmet, twisting his arms and legs around, beating his gut and spine. Before he finally hit the ground and lay still, breathing softly.
Slowly he managed to open his eyes and look out his cracked visor at the world lying sideways. Ahead he was the Warthog, upside down, the back practically torn off. Slowly pushing his hands into the snow he lifted his head and saw the other marines and Carla laying in the snow not far away. Gasping loudly he rolled on his back to see a Flood tank form stride closer, infection forms swarming around it. The hulking creature reminded Gaz of mythical tree creatures known as Ents... only a lot scarier. That must have been what hit them. Bloody thing came out of nowhere, as they usually did.
A second later, tracers whipped through the air, thudding into the snow nearby, slicing back the advancing line of infections and protecting the marines stranded eighty meters from Haven's gates. Pulling up his battle rifle he switched to burst fire mode and pulled the trigger. The weapon barked loudly and kicked, bullets slicing through the tank form's spongy skin. Ignoring the bullet holes it kept walking, even as the chain-guns directed their attention to it.
Switching his aim, Gaz fired at the incoming wall of infection forms, popping a trio with every burst and causing a chain reacted that caused others to explode like fleshy balloons. This was going nowhere fast. There were too many. Their best chance of survival was to get inside Haven as quickly as possible. The outer walls were electrified and could deal with these things with ease.
Gaz quickly rolled onto his front, and keeping his head low the corporal ran over to Carla and pulled her to her feet. Looking over his shoulder he saw Griggs was lying still in the battered cage of the Warthog.
Gaz gave Carla a shove in the right direction towards the gates. "Go, I gotta get Griggs."
"No, please." Carla tried stopping him, grabbing hold of his collar. "Don't leave me..."
Gaz didn't listen, prying her hands off him and dashing to where Griggs lay awkwardly. The other marines were already on their feet, running with the doctor towards the gate. The line of infections was getting closer. Bullets thudded dangerously close to Gaz's feet, hissing past his helmet.
Dropping to the snow he grabbed hold of the unconscious corporal by the shoulders and dragged him out of the hog. Griggs groaned, but didn't move. At least he was alive. Getting ready to throw his friend over his shoulders and run for Haven's gate, Gaz looked up and saw a trio of infection forms slip by the wall of fire laid down by Haven's defenders. They leapt into the air, jagged feelers eagerly spread to sink into human flesh.
Crying out, his voice muffled against the inside of his helmet, Gaz tugged loose his pistol, emptying the clip in their direction. .50 calibre bullets tore through two of them, scything dangerously close to the third. The gun clicked and the infection form soared at his head.
Cursing, Gaz dropped the clip and reached for a fresh one...
His hand touched the next clip strapped to his belt when the Flood spore latched onto his hand and dug it's feelers through his jacket and into his wrist. Immediately everything went cold. An odd electric shock shot up his arm, past his elbow and tingled in his shoulder as the infection form started messing with his nerve system. Gaz cried out in pain, trying to shake the thing off. Dropping his gun he grabbed hold of the spore with his other hand and tried to dig his fingers into its flesh. Try and destroy it. These guys were fragile. Anything to get it to stop... but he didn't have the energy. His muscles suddenly went numb. Landing hard on his back, Gaz squirmed, struggling, trying to fight the green haze that clouded his thought and vision.
'Stay awake.' He told himself. 'Don't let it win... focus... FOCUS!!!!'
Suddenly a deep, oddly familiar voice rang in his head.
"Prince of my enemy, fall now. Embrace the cold void. Your existence will fade. And ours will focus."
According to Sergeant Major Coarse, it took an infection form one second to take you over. He was obviously speaking relatively to the individual's will to live, because this felt like countless agonising hours.
Gaz cried out at the top of his lungs, summoning all his strength for one final desperate fight for survival. "Fuck... you!"
Rolling over he swung the Flood that swelled on his hand around and slammed it as hard as he could against the side of the upturned Warthog. The creature bounced, puffed up and popped under the trauma, splattering green matter and red blood across Gaz's uniform. Gasping for breath as his thoughts and vision slowly cleared, the corporal rested his head in the snow. For a while all he heard was his own breath against his faceplate. In the background he heard voices shouting, calling to him to move. Over it all was the loud pained roar of the tank form, slowly rumbling closer.
A thunderous explosion rocked the ground, showering water and charred debris over Gaz's position. Crying out painfully, Gaz reached up, grabbed hold of the upturned Warthog and dragged himself up onto his knees. Turning his head, he looked directly at the tank form charging their position. In about thirty seconds it would block the shots coming down from the wall and allow a gap for the endless stream of infection spores to pour past.
Forcing his weak muscles into action, Gaz stumbled forward, fell to his knees and grabbed hold of Grigg's limp body. Draping the corporal over his shoulders, Gaz slowly got to his feet and limped towards Haven, thousands of infection spores chittering behind him. Armour piercing rounds scythed over his head, thudding into the snow behind him, popping spores and sending chain reactions rippling across the wave of Flood.
Behind him them he heard the tank form let out a rumbling cry as hundreds of armour piercing rounds punched through its hardened arms which it raised to protect the infection form nestled deep within its spongy body. Crying out and gasping for air, Gaz managed to limp across the gate threshold and heard the cogs grind loudly, raising the gate back into place. Dropping Griggs to the hard ground, Gaz fell to his knees as the gate locked in place.
"Oh man. What happened?" He moaned over the voices of half a dozen marines swarming closer to see if they were okay.
"I pulled your fat ass out of the fire. That's what." Gaz laughed grabbing Griggs body armour and sitting him up. "We made it, man."
Griggs started laughing disbelieving him as his fellow ODST pulled him to his feet. "We fucking made it?"
Gaz sighed looking at the ground between his knees, still breathing hard until a pair of hands grabbed him and pulled him up. Not complaining, the human looked up and into Carla's eyes. She immediately tugged off his helmet, threw it aside and kissed him hard on the lips. There wasn't anything he could do about it. He was both too dazed and too tired to even attempt to struggle... not that he would have struggled though.
Marines laughed and whistled, cheering and chanting. Griggs even jumped on Gaz's back and placed a kiss on his cheek, causing both Carla and the corporal to burst out laughing, mid-snog. The Flood outside were being slaughtered. They were safe inside. And that was all that mattered for now.
As he gazed into Carla's eyes, and she gazed right back as the soldiers celebrated around them, Gaz worked out how he'd start the first page in his new diary.
'Dear diary. It turns out I'm in love.'
"Dear diary, this is the last entry in this little leather bound log-book the ODST issued me. If I pass away in service to the UNSC, I hope these pages survive, so everyone will know that I died for love... that I felt the unshakable conviction to fight for someone I love..."
- Diary of an ODST
The end
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Final Note: Now I know what you're thinking. This final episode could just have been pasted together into one long story. The reason I split it up into two parts was I because I was having some trouble coming up with an ending. Plus I wanted to get a third chapter in Halo Chronicles posted so I could fix the index page. Hope it hasn't confused anyone. Oh, and in case anybody is wondering, the next one will have elites in it, and there will be actual *ahem* action... this was kind of a test run, to experiment with the idea of other aliens in the haloverse other than those in the Covenant.