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Fire Team Echo: Darkest Hours: Chapter III
Posted By: Dark-NiTe
Date: 14 May 2004, 2:50 AM
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"What the hell are they talking about?" Corbin repeated more audibly this time. Bio? Something attacked them? The rain was still pouring.
"Get over here!" Geoff yelled over the rain, gesturing to Corbin with his AR. The sky was still a dark dusk blue as lightning spidered across its arial canvas. Corbin turned his flashlight on in the darkening environment and went to aid Echo in battle.
Jackals and Grunts were surprisingly numerous around the outpost's entrance, holding a heavy resistance toward the human attackers. They fell somewhat easily under the fire tems' relentless wall of fire, but their sheer numbers made up for lost bodies.
Geoff was shoulder to shoulder with some of his fellow team, fighting off the Covenant inch by inch. He fired precise, yet concentrated shots toward the barricade of aliens, picking off Grunts closer to the front. He looked over his shoulder every now and then to see Sanders, still alive and well. He had that tendency ever since Ed Kriegs died right before his eyes... He was a man that Geoff would always have some debt toward. He had made Geoff a better soldier, a better man.
Since Kriegs was killed, Geoff's first priority in battle was to look out for his comrads. He never wanted to lose a friend again... Didn't want to feel that pain...
"Geoff! Our link with HQ's been cut off!" Corbin yelled, dashing to Geoff's position through the unforgiving veil of stinging rain.
"I know! I heard it too!" Geoff turned his head to yell back. He shot a Grunt, spattering its blue blood across the walls of the outpost.
"Did you hear any more of the transmission than I did?"
"I don't know. What did you hear?" Geoff replied, almost half-laughing.
Corbin crouched down next to him now. Geoff was behind some brush along with Sanders, located on the outer region of the large circular dirt (now mud from the rain) clearing made for the outpost. A small rockslide was located to their behind right, and the hills were directly behind them. To the left it was grass filled plains until the swamp-like region some way off. Some weathered trees peppered the landscpae all around. The rain covered everything. "They said somthing about bio... Bioforms maybe. Something attacked them."
"Exactly." Geoff had heard the same.
Suddenly, a fleeting cry escaped a Grunt, "Grenade!" It slapped into the mud right next to their position.
Sanders started, "Oh shi-" and then it exploded. Corbin barely was able to dive away, feeling the warm rush of the plasma grenade gaining at the heels of his boots. He landed hard in the muck, rolling for a minute to abruptly stop. He scrambled up, wiping the grime from his face and looking around, ears ringing. He didn't see any one. None from his fire team at least... "Geoff! Sand-" he started, but was clubbed in the back with frightening intensity.
Corbin cried out and flew forward, his body twisting in the air. He turned 180 degrees, facing the Elite now, in the air from the blow and landed on his back. He slid through the mud, kicking it up as he went, and then toppled over to land on his stomach. He could barely breath, barely think it hurt so bad.
The reaper-like Elite started its charge, after expelling a outward and disconserting chortle, to end Corbin's life.
40 feet away, perched in the small rockslide, Captain Prestin Maddox had the bastard right in his sights. The raindrops smeared and trailed across his sniper rifle's scope, slightly obscuring his view of the target. Regardless, he had to take the shot. The cold and grim sound of the sniper rifle resounded through the air like the crack of a whip.
The Elite shrieked in agony as the bullet passed right through its head, an explosion of purple blood erupting from its cranium. Its lifeless body hit an outer wall of the outpost hard before slumping to the ground in a pool of its own blood.
Corbin opened his eyes, and realized he wasn't dead.
Still at his location, Maddox said inaudibly, "No problem kid. No problem." He went to find a new position.
Corbin burst into tears. It wasn't the first time. No one had ever seen him cry, and he intended to keep it that way as he saw Quentin rush up to him. He choked back his tears, wiping the dirt off his face.
"Damn that was a rough blow..." Quentin muttered. "Okay, we need to get you up and 'outta here!" he said, now being heard by Corbin. He gently moved Corbin's neck with his palm. "Hurt?"
"No," Corbin said, trying this best to stifle his sobs.
Quentin picked him up under the arms and started dragging him to a rock farther away from the battle. Bullets and plasma whizzed past them everywhere, the sounds mingling and deafening. Once there, he propped Corbin up against the rock and stood his ground, firing bursts into the now slightly more distant fray. "Quentin..." Corbin started.
"Save it," Quentin said between trigger pulls. "You know I wouldn't leave you behind.
Geoff rose to his feet, dazed and hard of hearing. He was so close to the blast at the time... He looked around with trailed vision, seeing the bullets fly, the explosions, showers of dirt... It occured to him that marines were dying... A lot of them. He had no idea the battle turned around. Weren't they just sweeping the Covenant forces, owning them? What happened?
Then the sounds slammed into him like a frieght-train, and it was all real again. He had to move.
He ran through the muck trying to find anyone. He knew that was a weakeness, and that he needed to get used to fighting alone, but he couldn't. Companionship and friends and family were some of the things he held dearest...
He then realized he was at a blindside of the outpost. He thought about it, but knew that now was not the time for heroics. Geoff put his back to the wall, and crept over to peek around a corner. The frontal force of Jackals and Grunts were totally exposed and un-attended from the side. This moment was so opportune, Geoff wanted badly not to waste it. He pulled a grenade from his belt, and pulled the pin...
1...2...
Geoff chucked the grenade right into the central mass of them. The blast rocked the ground, and Covenant bodies flew every which way. Blue and purple blood showered the frontal walls of the establishment, staining a large portion of it. The Jackals and Grunts fell to the ground everywhere. A exalting warcry resounded from the extatic marines. "Alright!" Geoff hollered. He charged back toward his team with a new sense of confidence. The defense force had been critically depleted. Still got the old arm... Geoff mused in his thoughts.
Corbin had a smile on his face, sitting against that rock. "You did it again, Geoff," he said. Quentin was still defending Corbin. Corbin's pain was staggering, but he knew he would have to fight again, eventually.
He knew this battle was far from over.
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