Chapter 3 - City of the Dead
"He is neither the smartest, nor the fastest, nor the strongest of the spartans. But he is the bravest, and quite possibly the luckiest. And in my opinion, he is the best"
Dr. Catherine Halsey.
"Okay we're going to stay here tonight," Chief says to the others. It's midnight. Chief and the others have been walking for hours before deciding to stay the night in an abandoned house.
"Thank God, rest," Takashi says as he jumps onto a couch in the living room. Chief starts to survey the building. In a few minutes he is finished and leans over on a wall.
"Aren't you tired Chief? We've been walking for hours and you've been in that..." Rei looks at the full metal suit Chief is wearing which she hasn't even given a thought about before now. "Suit the whole time?"
"I've gone much further in this armour before."
"I wanted to ask. What exactly is it?"
"Who cares, let's just relax for a while," Takashi cuts in as he dozes off.
"That idiot, anyways if you could answer?"
"My apologies, but the armour is also sensitive information.
"Well then could I ask Cortana a little bit more about herself?"
"Sure, I'll answer anything I can," Cortana says through the armours systems.
"You said you were an A.I. but since we were in a hurry, we didn't really ask exactly what that was.
"An A.I. or Artificial Intelligence is an artificially created construct that exhibits intelligence similar to a sentient being."
"How are they made?"
"That I'm afraid is also classified. Anyways Chief I saw a computer upstairs, if there's still power I might be able to get more information on this crisis." Chief heads upstairs and is out of sight it seconds. Rei looks at Takashi who is passed on on the couch.
"Can't believe I'm saying this, but he's right, I should relax a little." Rei sits down on a recliner and falls asleep.
"Ok, let's see what I can find." Chief plugs Cortana's chip into the computer and she begins scanning any information she can find. "For starters, this isn't an isolated event. The whole world is going through this. There's an estimated 100 million dead in just one day. So far there's nothing on how this could've happened, not even on any government servers."
"Well so much for finding useful information." Chief goes to pull Cortana's chip.
"Wait! Ahhh!" Chief immediately pulls her chip
"What is it?"
"Something was uploaded then immediately purged. I tried to Purge me aswell From the glimpse I saw, it said U.N.S.C."
"How's that possible?"
"Plug me back in and I'll try to see if I can track the source." Chief complies but before she get's anywhere the computer shuts down. Chief removes Cortana's chip again and plugs it back into his helmet. "So much for that. The house's power grid went down."
"Time may be rewound, but reality continues forward."
"There's that voice again."
"In order to be strong, you must become weak."
"Who are you? Why are we here?"
"You are not the only one who must learn." The voice echos then disappears.
"What does that mean?" Cortana pounders to herself.
"Well we're not going to get anything else here. Let's go check on two of them." Chief walks down the stairs to see the two high school students sleeping. "Makes sense. They must be exhausted after everything they've been through today."
"Do you think their friends made it?" Cortana asks.
"After everything they've gone through, I'd be surprised if they didn't make it."
"Well if they did make it, they'll be at the bridge. From what I saw the checkpoint there is taking their time making sure no infected people get across."
"Then let's hope they'll be able to maintain the checkpoint."
"True, if it attracts too many of them, it will be over run quicker than they'll be able to control."
"That won't happen as long as we get there soon."
Hours pass, and it's now 7AM. Takashi wakes up and scans his surroundings. For a second he forgets what happened the previous day before having all the horrifying memories re-enter his head. He gets up and starts to scan the room. He sees Rei still sleeping on the recliner on the opposite end of the room. One thing he doesn't notice is the armoured man. He gets up and searches the house for the missing soldier. After scanning the whole house, the soldier is nowhere to be found.
"I knew he couldn't be trusted," Takashi says with an angered voice. He rushes to wake up Rei. "Rei, Rei wake up!" Takashi says while shaking the sleeping woman.
"Takashi what is it?" Rei says being jolted back to reality.
"He's gone. He got up and left us. I told you he couldn't be trusted."
"You're kidding, right." Rei says.
"NO! We need to leave before any of those things find out we're here." Takashi and Rei quickly get ready to leave for the bridge and start to head out the door.
1 hour earlier
Chief gets ready to head out to look for supplies and clear a path for later after realising that even though he can handle that journey without much effort, the two people with him will have a bit more of a challenge without and precautions. Before leaving Chief is about to wake the two teens up to inform them of what he's doing.
"Wait Chief, they seem to have been through a lot, so let them rest. We should be back before they realise," Cortana comments. Chief heads out the door.
1 hour later
"That should be good for now," Cortana says, "We should head back now, chances are they're going to wake up soon." Chief starts to head back after clearing a 5 mile stretch of road, as well as filling 2 duffle bags found inside the house with scavenged supplies from the nearby buildings. He starts to sprint back covering the 5 mile distance in no time. He arrives just in time to see Takashi and Rei leave the house. As they notice him Chief raises the duffle bags up and tosses them at the two teens' feet.
"Supplies for the day. We have a lot of walking to do." Takashi and Rei pick up the bags and follow Chief as he shrugs for them to move and starts to walk off. "So, if we keep a steady pace and don't run into much set back, we can reach the bridge at 4. If we end up getting stopped a few times, then 6 at the latest." Rei runs up to Chief.
"How long did it take you to gather these supplies?" Rei asks.
"About 1 hour, I also cleared a five mile stretch of road as well, so we shouldn't have to worry about any contact with infected individuals for a while." Takashi, who has already started drinking a bottle of water, coughs at the statement.
"You did all that in less than an hour and made right as we were about to leave?!"
"You still underestimate the abilities of a spartan, Takashi," Cortana says in a humorous tone.
"I'm sorry, but you wouldn't exactly tell what all you were capable of. You barely even told us what you were."
"Like I said, most information about us is not allowed to be shared with civilians," Cortana responds.
"Besides Takashi, you didn't exactly seem too interested last night when I ask to learn more," Rei contributes, "So how about we just assume he can do almost anything." Takshi rolls his eyes and goes back to drinking his water. After 2 hours they reach the end of Chief's safe zone.
"Alright, from here on out you two need to be on high alert and stay close to me, if you see anything, you stay quiet and slow down to avoid drawing any attention. Understood?"
"Understood," They both say simultaneously. They walk for about another hour dodging infected here and there before coming across and large car accident blocking the road. Infected people litter the crash site seeming to stare at the large flame even though they're blind. "Well this complicates things," Takashi says with a small grin on his face.
"We'll pass through the alley, cut through a few buildings if we have to." Not realising that the accident was recent, they start moving towards an alley. The cars explode and ignite a trail of gasoline leading to a gas station 20 meters away. "Move now!" They sprint for the alley and sharply turn the corner down the street. Chief stay a few meters behind them to make sure they don't fall behind.
"Chief, when those storage tanks go off the explosion will span a blast radius of 100 meters," Cortana informs.
"Not good. Faster, we're not far enough away!" Chief yells ahead and they all pick up the pace. As they run, a large group of infected wonder out into the middle of the alley about 20 meter ahead of them. Chief reaches for a fragmentation grenade and pulls the pin.
"Better make this count Chief." The grenade leaves Chief's hand and soars over their heads. Time seems to slow down as they all follow the grenade's flight path as it land right in the center of the horde and exploding right before they past.
"What were you thinking!? You could have killed us!" Takashi yells.
"What matters is that we didn't die. When faced with a pressured situation you have to make a quick call. If I hadn't thrown that grenade we would have..."
"Chief!" Cortana yells as a large explosion erupts from the gas station. The blast grows quickly and catches up with them in almost no time. They sprint as fast as they possibly can.
"Didn't want to have to use this." Chief reach for a small pod on his waist and slams it on the ground. A large energy barrier engulfs them just as the flames reach and encompass them. Rei and Takashi who feared the worst open their eyes to witness the fiery cocoon around them. It takes a minute for the flames to disperse which is when they notice the almost invisible sphere around them. As soon as the flames are completely gone Chief walks right through the energy field and motions the two of them to follow. They walk forward expecting to run into the dome as if it was glass and are amassed to see that they walk right through it.
"What is this?" they say simultaneously.
"Energy field inhibitor, nicknamed the bubble shield. It stops anything except vehicles and people. That's all you need to know," Chief answers swiftly. Knowing at this point not to question anything the spartan says, they nod and say OK.
They walk for another 2 hours without much interference. It is now 12 P.M. and they decide to stop for a time. They take refuge in another house.
"You two take a minute to rest. I'll see what I can find around here. We'll leave in a half hour." Chief starts to explore the house for anything useful.
"So this has been fun. Nearly being blown up and burned to a crisp. What more could we ask for," Takashi says in a sarcastic and humorous tone with a smile on his face.
"Well it could always be worse," Rei replys after pulling out a bottle of water.
"Yeah, and hows that." Rei opens her mouth to answer, but instead retracts her earlier statement.
"You're right, things are pretty much a bad as they can get."
"So how long do you think it will be before that guy ditches us for real."
"Don't be an idiot, if he was going to leave he would've by now."
"You don't actually by his story do you. A random stranger shows up out of nowhere with absolutely no background whatsoever claiming to be a specially trained soldier and nothing else being in the middle of the worst disaster in history. Not only that, but he has technologies only ever seen in sci-fi movies. That's a little too good to be true."
"Don't be paranoid. Sure he given us almost no information to us, but when was the last time any government just allows officials to tell people anything they want to know. Besides, everything he's done has only been to help us."
"If you say so, but I know there's more to him than what he's letting on." They take their time to rest eat a few things pack in their bags in order to regain some energy. Before they know it the thirty minutes are up and Chief reappears with some news.
"Ok it's time to get moving again. On a computer upstair was news feed from the checkpoint. If what I saw was correct, your friends are stuck in a traffic jam on the bridge."
"How can you tell that from a news feed, there could be a number of buses on the bridge at this point."
"I scanned the feed and read twelve occupants. Two adult, the rest being around your ages. 1 adult and 4 student being male while the other 7 being female," Cortana answers.
"Basically, unless you're lying about how many people were with you, that's your bus. Now let's get going we should arrive at about 6." They pack up their supplies and head back out onto the street.
3 hours later.
"Ugh, Can this traffic be any slower, it'll be tomorrow by the time we make it across this stupid bridge."
"Well takagi, there are a lot of people trying to cross the bridge as well. The police are going as fast as they can," Saeko replies to Saya's complaint.
"I know that obviously, but don't you hear how much noise everyone out there is making, if they don't pick up the pace we'll be swarmed in no time." After being stuck on the bridge for almost a day now everyone on the bus have been given nothing to do but sit still and wait. Hours have ticked by, still with no signs of their friends' return.
"I hope Takashi and Rei are Ok out there. I mean they should have made it here by now. What if something happened to them?" Hirano says
"Don't be so negative, they're fine. You try traveling half a city on foot and then say something stupid like that," Saya replies, but in reality feels the same worry for her friends.
"Well it was their fault for leaving for no reason, but to get themselves killed. If anything that just proves I was the right person to be leader," Shido cuts in only to instigate some form of reaction.
"Ha, leader, more like dictator. Name one good thing you've done for us other than trying to boss us around," Saya snaps back.
"We should give them bit more time, if they're not here soon we should go look for them," Saeko decides. After about another hour they get ready to leave.
"You're just as suicidal as them, fine, go, but don't blame me when you get yourselves killed," Shido says in an annoyed tone.
"Anything's better than spending another minute here with you," Saya replies as they exit the bus.
After hours of travel the bridge is finally in sight. As they walk down the street, they hear a faint noise of some kind.
"What is that? It sort of sound familiar," Takashi says, "Wait could that be..."
"Chief, I'm picking up 4 heat signatures nearby."
"That's it. That's the sound Hirano's makeshift gun makes. Where are they."
"They're on a highway bridge to the left up ahead."
"Then let's hurry." They run ahead to the bridge and notice a large amount of infected gather on the on ramp. They hear voices shouting.
"Guys, I'm almost out of nails. We may be in trouble soon." Chief charges in ahead of the others and runs through a portion of the infected before pulling out his SMG are spraying bullet at the rest of the group. In less than a minute the horde is wiped out. Not really witnessing the spartan in action, Takashi and Rei are astonished to see him wipe out the entire group.
The three students and nurse freeze at the sight of the blood bath in front of them not knowing who is causing the carnage on the other side. As the last infected falls, they see that Takashi and Rei are present, but with a third mysterious figure between them holding what appeared to be a gun.
"Hey, I told you we'd make it," Takashi say nonchalantly as if what they just witnessed was normal. The others are still frozen without any words to say at the sight of the being only feet behind Rei and Takashi.
"Guys don't be alarmed, he's a friend," Rei says trying to break her friends' trance. Finally Saya answers.
"Friend? But isn't that the thing we saw on the bus?"
"Yes, but if it wasn't for him, we might not have made it here."
"And who exactly is he?" Saya replies again. Chief who has been facing away from them scanning for anymore infected, holsters his gun as turns to face them.
"We're safe for now, but more will be coming soon. We need to find someplace safe soon."
"Hold on, we're not going anywhere until we know who you are." Saya snaps back instantly as if by instinct. Before Chief can respond, Hirano notices the guns the being is carrying as well as the green armour being worn by it.
"Amazing!" Hirano shouts as he runs up to Chief, "These weapons aren't like anything I've ever seen, They're so sleek and advances. I can only imagine the kind of punch these things pack. Then there's this armour, it seems to be made completely out of titanium, but it should be impossible to wear something like that. A full titanium suit would be about 1000 pounds. There has to be something I'm missing. If I can just get a closer examination." Hirano reaches to grab a part of the suit.
"Hold it, hands off," Cortana directs to the gun nerd.
"What was that?" The four clueless people say simultaneously.
"Here we go again." Chief pulls out Cortana's A.I. chip and her hologram is projected above it.
"Hello, I'm Cortana. I'm this man's..."
"Amazing, an actual A.I. I never thought I'd see the day where one would exist in real life! I can't imagine the knowledge you hold."
"Let her finish," Chief says to the boy in a stern tone.
"Right." Hirano says with a crack in his voice as backs up a few feet and waits patiently.
"As I was saying, you are correct I am an A.I. but to be more specific I am this man's personal A.I. We found your two friends being attacked, so we helped out.
"If it wasn't for them we probably wouldn't have made it here," Rei says, "But what happened to the bus?"
"Mr Shido was trying to take control and we got worried about you guys, so we decided to go look for you." Hirano answers timidly.
"I'd hate to break up the reunion, but we need to go, more are coming, a lot of them. Is there anywhere we can go. I'll be happy to answer anything I can once we're safe," Chief announces to the group of young adults.
"I know a place. A friend of mine lives near here. She probably won't be home, but she gave me a key in case I needed somewhere to go. I'm sure she won't mind if you stay there," Ms. Shizuka responds.
"Then let's move, lead the way." They start following the nurse with Chief in the back in order to keep everyone in his view.
"You two certainly have been busy," Takagi says.
"You don't know the half of it," Takashi says with a slight chuckle.