Halo: Front Lines [BOOK ONE]

Chapter Twelve - Sarah

UNSC Colony World: Eridanus II,
Eridanus System,
1540 Hours July 24th, 2530 (Military Calendar)

Yet another Covenant Carrier exited slipspace overhead as the remnants of Fireteam Black weaved and cut their way through the jagged maze of rubble that once represented the former industrial metropolis of Elysium. Gray looked up to see a darkened sky filled with enemy vessels, all of which were spinning up their ventral plasma beams in order to rain molten hell on the colony below.

He turned a corner hoping for safety, but instead found a lone Elite finishing off an unlucky civilian. The creature had just severed the middle aged woman's head from her neck and thrown the lifeless corpse against the brick wall of the alleyway when he looked up to see the young marine. Gray snapped out of his stupor and opened fire, cutting the alien down with extreme prejudice before rejoining Anthony and Alissa in their escape.

"Dead end?" Anthony asked as they ran.

"You don't know how right you are..." Gray replied.

"We're getting surrounded." Alissa said.

"Good. We can forget about having a blue-on-blue." Anthony retorted. He slid underneath a fallen street lamp and shot a squad of grunts who'd activated their plasma grenades in a suicide attempt. The team frantically scattered as the ensuing explosions rushed past them.

"We need to get off the street." Gray said as he rose from behind a pile of debris.

"Now why did you become a Marine when you could've been an egg head in Section Three?" Anthony jabbed.

"In here."

The team rushed inside the broken doors of a destroyed apartment building, finding just enough space to take a breather in the partially intact lobby.

"I don't know if we can make it to the Prowler this time Anthony, I think you might have to bring it to us." Alissa remarked.

"I'm trying, but the remote auto pilot won't respond to my requests." He replied as he continued in vain to reboot the system from afar. Suddenly, the wall to their right blew apart and they came face to face with a Brute Chieftain. It approached with its gravity hammer in tow, riddled with bullet wounds and scarred with shrapnel, but somehow still in the fight.

"We've got bigger problems..." Gray said. He raised his rifle and unloaded half of a magazine into the ape-like beast. Despite its body being torn to shreds, it had the wherewithal to bellow a blood curdling war cry. Hot, sticky dark-red blood flew from its fanged teeth as it seemingly melted away under the team's combined fire.

"Brown mentioned the automatic railway system, one of those bullet trains could be our ticket outta here." Gray suggested as he turned to face his two companions.

"That's a long shot at best with all that shit raining down out there." Anthony said pointing towards the gaping maw in the wall left by the brute.

"Right, because your plan is really getting us the results we need." Gray sarcastically shot back.

"Men..." Alissa remarked disbelievingly. "Hey, can we have the ego battle when we get back to the protection of the home fleet?"

She stepped in between the two. Gray looked out of the corner of his eye and noticed a row of civilians and captured military being lined up and forced to their knees by a trio of Elites. One Elite in purple combat armor distinguished its command over its blue armored counterparts by decapitating a sobbing young woman. It held the head up high in sickening triumph and split its four mandibles in a war cry that made Gray's skin crawl. He turned away in disgust as the other two elites joined in the war cry and began lobbing off the heads of the remaining prisoners.