Halo: Dead May Rise (Indefinate Hiatus)

Chapter 5 - Contact

"This is bad!"

Takashi gags at the sight. After hours of walking in order to stay ahead of the horde, Takashi, and Saeko take shelter in a building. Once inside they find a large number of corpses littering the building. Most of them either cut in half or decapitated. Very few of the bodies are intact.

"These weren't infected people they were alive. Who or what could have done this.?" Takashi questions with a horrified look.

Chief and Six examine the corpse. Plasma wounds cover the body. Two puncture wounds are also present, one through the upper chest and back, the other through the lower abdomen and back. A small puddle of blood is present. Given all the wounds are from plasma weaponry, they are instantly cauterized, letting very little blood spill.

"This can't be a good sign at all," Chief says looking at the puncture wounds, a visible hole from one side to the other

"Has the covenant found earth? That should be impossible at this point in time," Six questions

"It is impossible, at this point the covenant doesn't know humanity even exists. That means the covenant were brought here the same way we were. Given that they're killing humans, that means they're either from before the war ended, or from some sort of new order formed during the four years I was in cryo stasis."

"No matter where they're from, that's a much more dangerous threat than a few reanimated corpses, if enough were brought here then we're in serious trouble."

"I wouldn't be so sure. I'll admit the covenant is a big threat without the proper weapons, but they could be a good distraction."

"How do you think?"

"Those who have turned lose all senses except for hearing. They feel no pain, meaning unless they aim for the head all the time, their plasma weapons have less effect. Partner that with the infecteds' numbers and strength, the covenant should have their hand busy."

"But for how long?"

"Not sure, but that's a road we'll cross when we get there, for now we continue with our objective. If we don't find proper weapons, then it won't matter, we can't fight an entire army using combat knives."

"Hope you're right."

"Hope is all we have." The spartans stand up and leave the corpse where is lies. A thought crosses chief's mind. If the covenant was brought here there's no reason to assume they can't either. If that happens, neither them, nor the covenant will be able to stop it, not as is.

A human world, Earth nonetheless, a planet that escaped destruction by a hair, the prophets were liars, but humans still did not deserve mercy. Now that he was on Earth, he could kill all infidels. His means of arrival to the planet were still unknown to him. He was in the middle of war with those insufferable swords, the Arbiter leading their assault. He was head of the defensive force. They were pushing the swords back, victory was assured, then before he knew it, he was on Earth along with his forces. His thoughts were interrupted by his second in command. He was informed that more humans had been sighted wandering the streets. He holds his thought and turns toward his units. He gives commands to them in their native language, being that it was disgraceful to speak the human language.

"Go out and cleanse this place! Kill them all, leave none standing!" He roars to all those in front of him. They turn and charge away, Sangheili with energy swords leading, followed by Unggoy and Kig-yar, then the Sangheili Ultras. The commander follows slowly behind igniting both his energy swords before letting out a loud roar. It resounds throughout the city.

2558

"Where did those cowards go, will they not cease to dishonor the Sangheili," The Arbiter asks his officers. Having allied with humanity, the Arbiter and his fellow swords frequently speak english despite being on their home world. After the disappearance of his adversaries in the middle of their conflict, he returns to his main camp, furious about about what has happened.

"We can not find any source of them retreating or of their demise. They seem to have vanished into thin air." The Arbiter gives a large sigh.

"Reports of similar circumstances were recorded when we attacked planet Reach in hopes of discovering the location of Earth, back before our alliance. A spartan disappeared from ground conflict right as he was about to fall to our forces. To see similar a event taking place after so many years is a bit concerning. We can only hope these events aren't a part of someone else's larger plans. We must not dwell on this, spartans should be arriving tomorrow to assist in taking to temple. After that we move to take Sunion. Prepare."

2010

All three groups hear the blood curdling roar, but only Six and Chief recognised it.

"They're making themselves apparent aren't they?"

"It shows a sign of honor, they enjoy the hunt and want humanity to know they're coming and to run. Of course running and hiding won't help, but instead make the hunt more enjoyable. After all no one likes to hunt prey that can't either run or fight back." With time running short and them making little progress in gathering weapons, they decide to switch objectives to regrouping with the rest of them.

"Cortana, can you locate the others?"

"There's a jamming signal, give me a minute to get through it."

"What was that?" Takashi questions after the roar, "No animal can make a noise like that."

"Whatever it was, it might be the same thing that killed all those people."

"It sounded far away so we should be safe for now, but just in case let's try to build some more distance." They leave the building and continue to progress toward Saya's house, eventually reaching a park close to sundown. Exhausted from the trip, having to fight through and work around several groups of infected, they seek shelter in a shrine for the night and barricade themselves in.

"We should be safe here for the night, but we should make sure there's no other ways in," Takashi says. They explore the small shrine checking for any other entrances. "Saeko, look what I found." Takashi brings a Sheathed Katana from its wall mount over to Saeko. Unsheathing it from it's scabbard (known as a saya), Saeko examines it and sees that is unused and that it is sharpened, a surprise given that it is a wall ornament. Saeko stands up and takes a few slashes through the air with the weapon. It produces a loud hum as it quickly slices through the air with little resistance. The strikes are so fluent and rapid, that they can be be barely seen other than a blur.

"This is the product of great craftsmanship, but it's not perfect, nevertheless it will be useful." Saeko retakes her seat across from Takashi resheathing the sword and placing it beside herself. The final rays of the sun fall past the horizon as three figures appear, luminescent beams emitting from there weapons as they power them on. More smaller figures appear behind them spreading out in various directions as the three in front move forward toward the shrine where Takashi and Saeko are located.

"Let the hunt commence," an incomprehensible voice says, "They shall not escape." Before the the two of them notice, large glowing blades start to cut through their barricade with little effort and in seconds their barricade collapses. They observe the being on the other side, deep orange eyes pierce them, four mandibles lined with razor sharp teeth spread and emit a heart wrenching, blood curdling roar.

"What is that thing!" Takashi yells stumbling backwards from the creature. It starts to approach Takashi as he reaches for the shotgun he still has from earlier. He loads two rounds into it and fires point blank at the creature. The shells make direct contact, but don't even faze the creature. A sort of energy field lights up around it before dispersing. It gets closer and lifts takashi into the air by his head, meeting at eye level. It extends its blade out, ready to strike. Saeko quickly grabs the katana and unsheathes it into a strike at the creature's leg in one fluent motion. The energy barrier reappears for an instant sending out a small shock wave signaling that it's broken as the blade sinks into the creature's leg. Takashi is dropped, gasping for breath, as the creature turns toward Saeko. The energy barrier glows again, as a faint hum is emitted showing that it is recharging. The creature lunges forward with its blade in swing aiming directly for Saeko's head. Contact is made.