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Spartan II: Stranded Chapter 2: Infection
Posted By: Vinny<vinny500@hotmail.com>
Date: 4 May 2003, 12:42 AM


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Nadax the Grunt ran through the forest, arms flailing in panic. He heard a loud thump, and he looked over to his right. He saw an Elite's dead body, and he rushed over to it. He recognized the Elite, it was Kluka, his commander, well, former commander. He heard a groan, and called to the other Grunts for help. As second in command, he was the leader of this group now. There were about 10 Grunts in the party. He ordered the Grunts to lift the Elite's body. Underneath it lay Fopal, one of Nadax's good griends. "Fopal! Are you alright?" he squealed.
"Oww...," he groaned. "Help me..." he said, before passing out.
"You two!" he said, pointing at a pair of Grunts. "Pick him up and carry him!"
"Yes sir," one said, and they picked Fopal up.
"Everyone, follow me," Nadax said, and marched forward through the forest. The trek passed uneventfully, and they were getting very tired, and then Nadax heard a kind of slurping noise. "Everyone stop!" he yelled. "Do you hear that?" he said. Some of the Grunts started shaking nervously. "Unholster your plasma pistols," he ordered. He heard rustling in a bush to the left. "Fire!" he cried and everyone fired their pistols at the bush, and Nadax took out a plasma grenade and threw it into the bush, and there was a huge explosion. He felt something land on his head. "Ahhhh!" he screamed. "Help me you fools!" he shrieked, as he felt something punch his head. He felt the weight get torn off as the Grunts fired the pistols. He turned around and looked at the hideous creature that had attacked him. It looked like a human, except it was brown and dead looking, and looked distorted. It held a rifle in its hand. It started to rise. "What the hell?!" he said, and fired his pistol at it again, but it kept getting up, so he threw a grenade at it, and blew it apart.
All the Grunts got into a tight circle, looking outward. They charged up their pistols, and then a creature jumped out of nowhere and slashed at a Grunt, knocking it out. Some tiny ball things jumped off the skin of the creature and attached themselves to some of the Grunts. They all fired at once and didn't stop. Their pistols were running low on energy. Another creature jumped in and fired its rifle, and killed two of the Grunts. The Grunts that had the ball things attached to them started screaming, and fell to the ground, and started turning brown. The other Grunts started shrieking in terror. Nadax fled, and tried to drag Fopal away from the battle. A creature jumped high into the air and landed in front of Nadax. Nadax dropped Fopal and fired his pistol, but the creature kept coming. He threw a grenade at the creature and just missed it. The grenade exploded behind the creature, and it was knocked down on its face. Nadax ran up to it and started whacking it over the head, and then felt something prick into his neck. "Ahhh!" Nadax screamed, and clawed at the ball attached to his neck. He slapped his hand on it and it exploded. He looked over at Fopal and saw three ball things attached to him. The creature was back up, and walking towards Nadax. Nadax took out his pistol and fired at the hideous bastard, then turned and ran. The creature ran after Nadax, and slashed at him, knocking him to the ground. Nadax fell on his face in the dirt. He turned over and fired his pistol. He fired four bolts and then it stopped, and the pistol started up its alarm, signifying the pistol was out of energy. Nadax lay on the ground, crying "No, no, no...please no." The creature pointed the rifle at Nadax's head, and fired.

The Flood fired his rifle at another Grunt that was fleeing. He hit the Grunt's legs and it fell to the ground. Some infection forms quickly bounced over and started to attach. The Grunt screamed, then was cut short. Not a bad haul, seven out of ten Grunts infected, though one of the ex-Marines had been destroyed with a grenade by a tough Grunt. The infection had begun.
They would have to infect 100s more in secret though, before a formidable army could be arranged to fight the Covenant head-on. They poked around in the mind of a Grunt, and found out there was a Covenant city nearby. They started to run towards the city. They travelled through the forest for about half an hour, before reaching the outskirts of the city. Hover cars were abundant in the streets. An ex-Grunt took out a plasma grenade and threw it into an intersection. It exploded, overturning some cars. Grunts crawled out of their cars only to be overrun by infection forms. Hundreds of Grunts were being infected. The Flood were breaking down doors and taking every Grunt in the area. They now had enough combat forms to take a military base. They quickly located one and started their march.

'Yamamee, a gold armoured Elite, was checking the weapons inventory of a cargo room. He counted 10 crates of grenades, 200 plasma rifles, 200 plasma pistols, 200 needlers, 20 energy swords, and 20 fuel rod cannons. There was also a crate of wristbands, that produced energy shields, which Jackals used. 'Perfect,' he thought. He grabbed an energy sword, admiring it. He attached the handle piece to his belt. He opened a crate of grenades, and took out 5, attaching them to his belt. He already had a plasma rifle holstered.
All of a sudden, he heard some screaming. Someone yelled over the COM channel, "We are under attack! I repeat, we are under attack! All troops to platform 3!" An alarm sounded. 'Yamamee left the room, rushing to platform 3. He went through several long corridors before reaching it. He looked out from the entrance. Grunts and Jackals were firing pistols at some hideous brown coloured creatures. Elites were yelling orders and firing their rifles. 'Yamamee aimed his rifle and fired at the creatures. One took about 20 blasts before going down. There were hundreds of tiny ones that looked almost like Grunts. They started jumping high into the air and slashing the Grunt soldiers. There were 2 large creatures, commanding the field. Huge bulbous creatures rushed into the fray, like they were unaware of they firefight. Two exploded after getting shot several times, but about ten of them got close to the Jackals and exploded, sending them flying. One landed near 'Yamamee. The Jackal was dead. 'Yamamee threw a grenade and it landed on a bulbous creatures legs. The grenade exploded and the creature went flying up, so high that 'Yamamee lost track of him. 'They must be full of air,' he thought. He was wrong. He saw one explode, and tiny balls came out and started attaching themselves to a Grunt. The Grunt screamed and fell to the ground, clawing at the ball. Yamamee fired his rifle at the ball and hit it. The one that had flown into the air landed right beside 'Yamamee. It started to expand and Yamamee ran from it, and got away from the blast. His forcefield was protecting him from the tiny ball things. They just exploded on it. Yamamee took out his energy sword and activated it. He jumped into the battle, slicing the air and hitting the creatures. He sliced about ten in half. He accidentaly hit a Grunt. He took out a grenade and threw it at a pack of the balls. They all exploded.
There were too many of them. There were still hundreds of the browns, and the Covenant were down to 30. He heard an Elite comrade screaming. 'Yamamee looked over and saw the balls attached to him. His comrade was Talu, a purple Elite. "No!" he yelled. Yamamee rushed over. Talu fell to the ground, and started turning brown, like the other creatures. 'Yamamee pushed his way through the creatures, slicing them open with his sword. He reached Talu, and said, "Talu! Talu! Are you alright?" Talu's eyes opened. He slashed at Yamamee, knocking him to the ground. 'Yamamee picked his sword up and sliced the air near Talu's head, just missed. Talu jumped away, into a crowd of Grunt and Jackal soldiers. Reinforcements arrived, two Hunters. Yamamee knew it was too late now. All the Elites were turning into those things. The Hunters were swinging their shields wildly. They easily annilated 20 of the creatures. They fired fuel rod blasts, and took out 30 more. They also killed the rest of the Grunt and Jackal soldiers though. 'Yamamee turned and fled to the forest, slicing his way through the creatures.

The Hunter and his bond brother were killing like no tomorrow. They were the only Covy left in this fight. One Hunter fired at a huge pack of infection forms. He then felt hundreds of tiny pricks in his back, near the exposed area of his armour. The Hunter cried out in anguish, and fell face first into the ground. He was getting infected. The other Hunter rushed over, swinging his shield and sending the Flood flying. One ex-Marine jumped on his back and started biting him. Some Carriers rushed over and exploded beside the Hunter. He went down, overwhelmed by pain. Infection forms swarmed on the Hunters, taking them over.
The Flood had won the battle. They stormed into the base and found hundreds of weapons. One room contained 650 weapons. All of the Flood combat forms took a weapon. The ex-Marine leader threw away his MA5B, it was very low an ammo. He grabbed a fuel rod cannon, and slung it on his back. He also holstered a plasma rifle. They all took at least 2 grenades each. The Flood now had an army of over 1000 combat forms. Most were Grunts, however. There now were two Marines, two Hunters, about 50 Elites, and about 100 Jackals. There were also 10 Banshees at this base, and 20 Ghosts, and one Wraith. The two dropships had evacuated with some troops. Still, this was a huge victory for the Flood. The ex-Marine was much smarter since the Halo event. The Flood could poke deeper into the host's mind, and assume the host's intelligence now. He would make up a basic military structure. The weaker Elites would pilot vehicles. The remaining 20 Elites would command smaller regiments made of 40 Grunts and five Jackals. The other Marine would be the second-in-command. There were still hundreds of carriers and thousands of infection forms.
The Marine commander gathered his army, and they left the base. The Banshees did air patrol, with the Ghosts surrounding the army. They would protect the army from attack. The Wraith was in the middle. They advanced towards the city again. The city had a population of over 30 million. They had to build up the army, fast, before the Covenant realized how huge the threat was and sent in a massive force. The advanced, destroying every building in the army's path. The infection forms overran hundreds of Grunts. Some had to be killed, as they put up too much of a fight, since a lot carried plasma pistols for personal safety. Most were easily taken prisoner.

Mupfaa, a civilian Grunt, was watching his favourite show on his computer, when a news break came up. "Great," Mupfaa said, angered that his show had been interrupted.
Grunt reporter sat at a desk, clearly frightened. Mupfaa leaned in closer. "This is an emergency! Everyone must evacuate the city! Dropships will soon come to your neighbourhood. We have a report of thousands of alien creatures attacking the city! The Prophets say they are not human, I repeat, not human, and they are a much bigger threat than humans. Everyone must leave their homes. You are only allowed to bring 50 units of high-density product. You are also advised to bring any plasma weapons with you. This is not a test. Goodbye."
The computer screen went black, and returned to the desktop. Mupfaa quickly gathered some of his treasured belongings, and a plasma pistol. He ran outside. Twenty of his neighbours were standing in the middle of the street. Mupfaa ran over to them. "Does anyone know what is happening?" he asked.
One turned and said, "I just got back. I was on the west side of the city, and I saw tons of Ghosts and Banshees. I didn't think much of it, until I saw them blowing up buildings and shooting people. I drove back here. It was horrible. I saw some ugly creatures. They were uglier than humans, if you can believe it."
Mupfaa was very frightened by this new information. He hoped a dropship came soon. They all stood for 5 units, silent. Mupfaa heard the roar of a dropship engine. He looked up at the sky, and saw one fly towards his neighbourhood. He started yellign and waving, and so did the others. It slowly descended. Mupfaa then heard a new noise, it sounded like a Banshee. He looked to the left, and saw lots of them, heading his way. The ground started to rumble. The dropship descended faster. Mupfaa felt a sense of dread. The Dropship landed, and Mupfaa jumped onto it, and so ddi everyone else. The dropship flew back up into the sky. Mupfaa looked out a window and saw Banshees flying right for the ship. The Shade started to fire, hitting the Banshees. They all started to fire at the ship. The Shade disabled one, then the ship started to pull away. The Banshees were too slow to keep up. Mepfaa sighed a sense of relief. He looked down to the street. He was horrified. All he saw was brown. He also saw a Wraith. The Wraith fired a huge plasma mortar at the dropship. The dropship accelerated, and the mortar just missed. All the Grunts were panicking. Thankfully, the dropship veered upwards, so far that they could barely see the huge army. Mupfaa yelled at everyoen to calm down, and said they were all right. They all calmed down. One was hyperventiliating. A Grunt beside him comforted him. Mupfaa was scared. He never thought he would be scared. How could the Covenant fear anything? They shouldn't fear anything. They were the superior group of the universe. No one can defeat them. Yet Mupfaa was still scared. Scared this new alien could kill them all.





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