Halo: Xenomorphs Rising

Chapter 2 - Divine Slaughter

“No, it can’t be!” Quinn exclaimed, as if disproving the creature before him would make it go away. Of course he had heard the legends of the Xenomorphs, but legends were supposed to be legends, not living, breathing beings. And as such, Quinn hadn’t payed any attention to how they were defeated or anything that could possibly save him right now, plus the stories had been classed as slander and were looked down on as a consequence. Quinn highly doubted anyone on the ship knew how to deal with them. But that didn’t matter right now. What mattered was the giant monster in front of him. There was only one thing for it. Quinn raised his assault rifle. The Xenomorph cocked its head at the action. Quinn pulled the trigger. A screech that was incomparable to any sound that John had ever heard emitted from the alien. Quinn dived as its blade-tipped tail went flying in his direction. John ran as fast as his legs could carry him, down corridors, up stairs, through doors, but still he could hear the creature gaining on him with every step. Up ahead, he saw hope. There was a door that opened vertically, but the mechanisms must have failed, as it was half closed. Quinn threw himself onto his back, his momentum carrying him clear under the reinforced steel, Indiana Jones style. He laughed with relief as he picked himself up off the cold, hard floor. The creature on the other side was scrabbling and screeching at the door, trying to open it. Quinn felt like launching a cocky taunt in the alien’s direction, when the noises abruptly stopped. Quinn held his breath, and moments later a soft clanging sound emitted from somewhere above him. It’s using the maintenance shafts! He realised. He glanced around and, sure enough, there was an opening near him.

“Well, shit,” Quinn said to no one in particular. He sprinted for his life, knowing that the creature would soon be hot on his heels. He accidently stepped in one of his crewmember’s blood as he leaped over their mutilated body, causing him to leave a bloody boot print on the word ‘HANGAR’ that was printed on the floor. He arrived in the vast room that was used for the storing of vehicles. He glanced around until he spotted a Pelican that was more or less intact. As an added bonus, it had a Warthog attached. He ducked under the wheels of the suspended vehicle and skidded down the aisle. He heard a screech behind him and he knew he had to leave. Fast. Not bothering with a system check, he started up the engines and forced the thrusters into a vertical take-off. The engines howled their complaints, but the dutiful ship rose off the ground. Quinn closed the hatch at the back, just to make sure. Then he accelerated out of the wrecked ship. Once he was high enough in the air, he was given a good view of the Covenant ship, Divine Intervention. The Super-Carrier was split in half, most of the middle section incinerated as it entered the atmosphere. The bigger bits that didn’t were scattered around the wreck, creating enough craters to make the planet’s surface look like Swiss cheese. Quinn allowed himself to relax. He had escaped, and as far as he knew, he was the only survivor. He decided to investigate the Weyland Industries ship in the hopes he would find a clue as to how it got here. The ship in question was only a kilometre away from the UNSC Taste of Hope, which meant that most of the aliens would have gone there first. He couldn’t believe he was even thinking it, but some of the Covenant could still be alive. When the Flood came, that wasn’t enough to force them into an alliance, why should the Xenomorphs be any different? Because no one has any back-up here. We’re all isolated, we’re all gonna die. Would rather it be by the hands of the Covenant than the Aliens. Quinn turned his Pelican around. Although... I could just take my chances with this Pelican and see how far I get. Who knows, I might get lucky and stumble across another UNSC ship. All hopes of that happening were quickly extinguished when, with a loud bang, the rear-left engine gave out. The panel in front of him was indicating that someone had ripped out the cooling ducts. I wonder who that was? He thought bitterly. The Pelican was starting to lose altitude, and Quinn was struggling to keep it from spinning out of control. This is gonna hurt... The Pelican was speeding towards some kind of forest next to the Divine Intervention. Trees cracked and gave way beneath the metal hull of the Pelican as the ground got closer and closer. Quinn crashed. Dirt sprayed everywhere, a thruster came loose and bounced off into the distance, and the cockpit all but shattered. Quinn slumped over in his seat, unconsciousness coming to conquer him once again...