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Still, there was no way they could hold this position No way

―Fall back to the ainst Clarence, who stepped back, and she with hi like practiced dance partners

―We lose this spot, they‘re going to swamp us!" Orlav shouted

―We stay here, they‘ll swamp us sooner!" Benti shouted back

The flares showed a swar up the ceiling fro eway behind them was an unknown quantity No ti

what they‘d find there

No avoiding that No tirenade fro the pin out in the sa!"

A raised eyebrow from Clarence, a look of panic from Gersten

She tossed it as they broke and ran

Not far enough

The force of it sla her forward into Clarence Her bones shrieked in protest All the air fled her lungs She rolled over the top of Clarence, heat at her back and then on her face

None of that !" she screa to her knees Don’t ever stoplike wineglasses She couldn‘t hear anything, hardly could see anything Slapped a hand on Clarence‘s helmet as he pushed hi to their feet Where was Tsardikos?

Aftershock: A wash of ater cas out

frootten all the way up It waswith it was one of the arm--no, it wasn‘t an arm, it was a whip of bone, it was a blade of body --slashed Orlav across the back, arcing a wide spray of blood across Benti and Clarence, peppering blood through the filthy water and across the pipes, and slaain, her mouth an ―O" of shock as Benti, who had never released her rifle, they were all better than that, drew a bead and fired a hole through the thing‘s chest until she could see the other wall, and watched as, truly dead, it sht she saw so else, too, near Orlav--one of those snot creatures--but, no, nothing when she spun, itin the water Part of the thing she‘d just killed

A glance down the passageway brought her a se around a new barricade of ceiling and caved-in tanks It‘d worked for now--there was no other led crap and the stench of the ene her if she let it

But so would theblasted full of bullet holes

They wouldn‘t--couldn‘t--be stopped for long She could already feel the vibration of digging The shit wouldn‘t hold

She surged to her feet, too fast, off balance, shook her head angrily--she needed clarity now more than ever

A quick check, Clarence was okay, Gersten okay, just cursing a lot as he tried to lift Orlav

Her hearing had started to return Over the cursing, she could hear Orlav shrieking with agony

There was another sound, too, another kind of shrieking, like adevoured alive It almost froze Benti, until she realized it came from the other side of the barricade

Tsardikos, screa Benti could do about it Nothing that wouldn‘t put the rest of theer

She shook it off She shook it off, even as it da fro bad," Gersten said, supporting nearly all of Orlav‘s weight

That was the least of Orlav‘s worries This tainted water in her wounds would kill her anyway It would just take a little longer Benti leaned down for a quick inspection, and froze The injury itself was long but not deep She could see the blue curves in the dark h What kind of a victory was it when the medic in her leapt for joy that she couldn‘t see bone? But fastened to the lower back was a quivering bulb of pus, finger like tendrils digging into the open wound ecstatically Holy crap It looked like a parasite of some kind She reached for it, and stopped Not here, not in this water

―We have to get her out of here!" She threw one of Orlav‘s ar some of the burden off of Gersten ―Head for o!"

They fled, dragging Orlav between the the darkness behind thehts would have to do

Benti flinched as she thought she heard so in the air ducts above them

―Orlav," Benti raised her voice, turned to yell in her ear, ―Orlav! Report!"

― ‘s fadin‘" she slurred, and her head dropped, eyes wide open, not even pretending to walk now, feet dragging in the water ―where"

―There‘s the door!"

A burst of speed and they collapsed against it Locked They were trapped outside Benti propped Orlav against the door, Gersten shouldering her weight again ―She‘s bad," he moaned

Benti ripped the faceplate froain She walked her fingers along the wires

―Oh god, she‘s bad, look at her face, look at her face, look--" Benti yanked a wire, and looked

What looked back at her was not Orlav

>Lopez 1503 hours

Lopez had her orders Find out what the hell is up with this damn ship was down at the bottoe was at the top But the more tinore that shethe last Couldn‘t help thinking of the intel blackout Found herself rather taken with the idea of knowing so Rebecca didn‘t want her to know

―So tellat" Knehatever came out of Smith‘s

mouth would come out sideways, but that was okay She could et sick too," Sly ―We noticed it in so the symptoms we kept in isolation Just in case" He wiped his rip We took every precaution against it Every precaution"

He stopped Lopez jabbed hioing to give her another scar eventually

―It e" S about the words before he said theed to isolate it" Now he couldn‘t look away from the bodies ―An alien virus"

Percy raised his head, raised his eyebrows, as MacCraw covered hishere breathing around this thing!"

Smith smiled, no humor in it Mostly disdain ―It doesn‘t work like that"

―Did it jump from Covenant to huh the floor, the walls shuddering slightly ―Grenade?" Mahood Like the explosion had juain

S his fate, finally?

―It did"

>Benti 1507 hours

Get ain, soldier!

―Get--" The words stuck in her throat, wouldn‘t co out from behind Orlav‘s eyes--opened its reen In control now, it turned Orlav‘s head, drew Gersten into an e Orlav‘s arm thrown over Gersten‘s shoulder

What used to be Orlav bit into Gersten‘s cheek

The words still wouldn‘t leave her mouth They were stuck As Gersten shrieked, she couldn‘t look away, the teeth sinking into the cheek and worrying it Blood washed down Gersten‘s throat to soak his collar Orlav‘s other arht in front of Benti, beco to do with the Marine she‘d known

That arm, that club, that infernal claw, rose, about to beco down on her skull

Clarence shoved her aside, fired point-blank into Orlav‘s teh the skull

As the body sluh the heart

It dropped, Gersten screa one hand against his torn cheek ―Jesus, Jesus"

Clarence popped the e in the flashlight‘s glow, trying to adjust to what had just happened

He slapped another in, turned, grabbed Benti‘s shirt and hauled her to her feet, which brought her out of it A once-over to confirm she was uninjured, and he tipped his chin at the wires she‘d left exposed, then stared at the grenade-created wreckage behind them as it shuddered and shifted, pushed fro around their knees

She got back to it

―Benti, my face," Gersten ers stripping this wire, then that wire, ―just let et this Then I‘ll take care of you" She needed amedical for Gersten Clarence had his hand on his pistol Most people wouldn‘t have noticed, but she knew Clarence Just in case? Was this what it came down to? Knew, too, Gersten, and not sure she could do it Any of it But knowing she‘d have to, so was breaking through the wreckage A spike of

tension in Clarence‘s posture Her hands et, the wires were slippery She twisted the two and the lock clacked open

She spun the lever, shoulder to the door, and pushed It stuck

A dragging sound fro

―Oh for Christ‘s sake co into the opening, and her tued in after her Clarence backed in and shoved the hatch closed quick as thought

Benti looked up, into the light

A Covenant Elite stood there, looking down at her

Holding a cricket bat in one alien hand