Matt-038 (Halo Fanfiction)

Chapter 54: Flood Attack

Author's Note: If you have any tips writing tips, please feel free to comment.

Again, I gratefully accept constructive criticism as a means to help me develop my skills further as a writer.

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Chapter 54: Flood Attack

Location: UNSC Pillar of Autumn

D +76:35:51 (SPARTAN-II Blue Team Mission Clock)

Having fought their way clear of the bridge, the Spartans made their way through a series of passageways, ran into more Flood and gunned them down. Cortana figured that they could access the Engine Room via the cryo chamber, and that was where the duo was headed. The problem was that they kept running into jammed hatches, locked doors, and other obstacles that kept them from taking a direct route.

After they moved through a large, dark room strewn with weapons, Matt heard the sounds of combat coming from the area beyond a closed hatch. The Spartans paused, heard the noises die away, and slipped out into the corridor. Bodies lay all about as they slid along a bulkhead, saw some spikes sticking up over a cargo module, and Matt felt his blood run cold. A Hunter! Or more accurately two Hunters, since they traveled in pairs.

Lacking a rocket launcher, the Spartans turned to the only heavy-duty firepower that they had: grenades.

Each Spartan threw a grenade in quick succession, saw the behemoth go down, and heard a roar of outrage as the second Hunter charged.

The Spartans fired just to slow the alien down, backed through the hatch, and gave thanks as the door closed. That gave them two or three seconds that they needed to plant their feet. Both pulled another grenade and prepared to throw it.

The hatch opened, the fragmentation grenades flew straight and true, and the explosion knocked the beast off its feet. The deck shook as the body hit. The Hunter attempted to rise but fell under a hail of armor-piercing bullets.

The duo gave the corpse a wide berth as they left the room, and passed back into the hall. As they made their way through the ship's corridors, Matt saw blood-splattered bulkheads, bodies sprawled in every imaginable posture of death, blown hatches, sparks flying out of junction boxes, and a series of small fires, which thanks to a lack of combustible materials seemed to be fairly well contained.

They heard the sound of automatic weapons' fire somewhere ahead and passed through another hatch. Inside, a fire burned at the point where two large pipes traversed a maintenance bay. They were close to the cryo chamber, or thought they were, but needed to find a way in.

Hesitant to jump through the flames unless it was absolutely necessary, three took a right turn instead. The sounds of combat grew louder as the hatch opened onto a large room where a full array of Flood forms were battling a clutch of Sentinels. Matt paused, shouldered his weapon, and fired. Sentinels crashed, carrier forms exploded, and everyone fired at one another in a mad melee of crisscrossing energy beams, 7.62mm projectiles, and exploding needles.

Once the Sentinels had been put out of action, and most of the Flood had been neutralized, the Spartans were able to cross the middle of the room, climb a ladder, and gain the catwalk above. From that vantage point they could look across into the Maintenance Control Room, where a couple of Sentinels were hard at work trying to zap a group of Flood, none of whom were willing to be toasted without putting up a fight. The combatants were too busy to worry about stray humans, however, and the Spartans took advantage of that to work their way down the walkway and into the Control Room.

And that, as they soon learned, was a big mistake.

It wasn't too bad at first or didn't seem to be, as the duo destroyed both of the Sentinels, and went to work on the Flood. But every time they put one form down, it seemed as if two more arrived to take its place, soon forcing the Spartans onto the defensive.