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"Make each of these last a day It’l be easier than you think"

Halsey looked hi, as if she couldn’t understand why he was gettingshe’d spent rehearsing that look until she got the appearance of sincerity just right

Because I’ve been here for twenty-odd years churning out rinder, that’s why I’ve had a lot of time to think But it still didn’t ain, more or less

"Thank you, Chief" Halsey went back to exa the broken cylinder "When we find Lucy, would you like me to check her over?"

Mendez searched for the ulteriorto catch up with the Spartans They were already a hundred e forround as they walked over it, probably taking advantage of the ful range of sensors in the Mjolnir helmets The Spartan-I Is didn’t have most of those extras in their SPI arrade their kit via software Itdifference

Mendez tapped his radio "What is it, Lieutenant?"

"Thought we could see soht be tunnels You kno the Forerunners love their underground facilities When we get back to base, slap in a request for ground-penetrating radar for these lids, wil you, Chief?"

"You want a soda vending machine too?"

"Got that already Sort of"

Mendez was now far enough froain He’d assuone down They were back on open grassland with nothing else in sight except trees and vegetation

Fred started jogging, pul ing ahead of the others He was definitely fol owing a trail now Mendez could see hi down every few meters as he went And then he broke into a run

This was always the moment when Mendez ful y appreciated just how different a Spartan-II was froular soldier and even from the Spartan-IIIs He’d seen it hundreds, even thousands of ti in a power-assisted suit accelerate to nearly sixty kilo back to wait for Mendez To to fal behind Linda

"Wel ," Ash said, "if we haven’t got wheels, that’s one sure way to cover soround, isn’t it?" He put his hand on Mendez’s shoulder "Maybe it was just an animal Lucy heard down there, Chief Real rabbit hole stuff"

"Let’s hope Rabbits are good eating"

Mendez kept walking, wondering why he’d coped with al the crap he’d done for Halsey, and al the other crap that he couldn’t blame on her at al , but found it hard to accept one Spartan-III goingout of al the hundreds who’d been kil ed The Threes were cheap and disposable, intended for suicide missions that were beneath a Spartan-I and beyond an ODST He’d accepted that, to his everlasting sha his detachment now?

Because she can’t scream Because I put her in that position Because it’s the straw that’ll break this camel’s back

"Now that’s more like it" Fred’s voice came over the radio and steered Mendez away from the brink "We’ve definitely been out of town"

"Trans to take us a while to catch you up"

Mark sees" He stopped and took off his hel it to Mendez "You want to take a look, Chief?"

Mendez tilted the hele that now fil ed the HUD, a cluster of silver-gray, almost featureless multistories in the sans of life, but let’s not take that for granted," Fred said "Check it out"

Mendez al owed himself a little relief This was, as Fred had said, much more like it A bunker had to have shelters, kitchens, an infirs of normal life Now they at least had a base to operate fro to be solved

Hang in there, Lucy We’ll put the pieces together and work out where you are

There was every chance they’d be here for a long tiht be the last sentient life left in the galaxy No a

Or save her own daughter, either

Halsey had taken an awful y big gamble to save just three of her Spartans He understood Noas his turn to atone

"It’s times like this that I h observation point"

An aerial view of the complex would have been useful For once, it was a toss-up betorking their way through town and assessing the layout, or just clearing the place building by building Mendez trudged on, realizing just how round a Spartan could cover at speed He could feel the sweat trickling down his back as he tried to keep up a respectable pace, but he wasn’t a Spartan and he wasn’t twenty any longer He resisted the te

I’er And genetically enhanced I’ve got a right to be the last across the line

Mark kept up with him, either to keep him company or spare his eht’s sleep," he said

"We al could"

"Won’t runted

"Don’t give me that old man BS, Chief"

It was the doors that kept Mendez going at a brisk walk He caught a glis, the first truly recognizable ones that he’d seen here--doors h, complete with ornate lintels and frames He approached the nearest one, alert forThe Spartans were already there, waiting as if they thought it was discourteous to start this without hiestured to Linda and the others to stack either side of the first door He nodded at Mendez

"Okay, Chief," he said "In we go"

CHAPTER NINE