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―Thanks," sheout of the hall

It was like a fairground ga ducks Only, not really

Funny how you adjusted to the situation, no reat ravening horrors that had chased the to slash them open and crush them They were small, these little infectors One bullet, one hit, and they would burst

Just, there were so many of them

And Rimmer couldn‘t shoot for shit

―Stop!" Benti yelled ―You‘re just wasting ammo! Swap, and reload le shots popping white pods there, there, and there A good sharpshooter, on top of everything else Not too many of those in the Marines, not at private level

―Where are they coumballs had broken all over the floor

One slipped in close, and Henry smashed it flat

Benti could‘ve sworn the Elite looked a little gleeful

>Foucault 1559 hours

The video ended, and the loop began again

Foucault knuckled his eyes, taking the hts After what he had been shown and told, he was inclined to thinkthat were true, because if forced to choose between the story she had spun and a rampant AI embedded in his ship, the latter seeh roo horror leapt at the canizable as a huo just visible on the reun blast floored it, but there was another to take its place, and another, and another In the background, on the floor, a recently killed Marine convulsed, and cae of what Spartan-117 and the Marines who preceded him had found on

Halo

He picked his words precisely ―We have not been able to defeat the Covenant in nearly three decades, and yet, here we are, returned here for the sole purpose of seeking this out" He felt tired, reater threat"

An infected Marine ignored the bullets striking its torso and leapt at a healthy, live, uninfected Marine Foucault had turned the volume off, but the screams still sounded in his inal brief," Rebecca said ―The ONI agent heading the research project aboard the Mona Lisa seenificantly And we still don‘t know for sure "

Foucault shook his head at the insanity of it all ―Is there more?"

―No," she replied He didn‘t believe her, and didn‘t not believe her Almost didn‘t care ―But now you understand, we cannot deploy any more Marines, not without explicit confirmation We cannot risk the Red Horse "

He watched a small white pod of a creature latch onto a Marine‘s chest, watched the life leave those eyes, watched so else take over A cold worly abandon our own," he said, to hiht then and there that state a lie

>Lopez 1602 hours

What had once been Rakesh chased the a chorus of answering growls Lopez had caught sight of hi on a derailed security door and bolted Didn‘t look back Hadn‘t wanted to see what he‘d become, and definitely didn‘t want to see if they were, in fact, being pursued by more than one Couldn‘t waste ah they‘d taken all Singh and Percy had left

―Sarge! The door!" MacCraw pointed, looking back at her, then beyond her Only to look forward again Fast Didn‘t make her any more curious about as behind theiant arrow on the wall confir back fro it frohting a fire where Smith had shot her, and kicked at the chair ―Get in there!"

MacCraw turned to face Rakesh, backing toward her and fu for his weapon Lopez cursed

Without the obstacle the door began to slide shut Shoved her shoulder in the gap ―Dalimpse over MacCraw‘s shoulder Oh shit

MacCraw added his oeight to the door Rakesh was fast, way too fast, oh shit oh shit ohshi--

The door shifted, and they fell through Scra an elbow in Lopez‘s injury All the air left her; she couldn‘t even grunt The door closed slowly, and Rakesh was so fast, footfalls so heavy, ravening shout loud in her ears But: cut off cleanly The door sealed with a sigh, and locked, as it had been trying to do for hours

MacCraw scraht on the door, then the room beyond, then back to the door ―He knoe‘re in here," he said, voice shaking A an on the hatch

―It," Lopez corrected hi down on the pain in her side ―It‘s an it , now"

MacCraw nodded,to convince himself He flinched at every knock on the door

Lopez stood She pursed her lips, stepped past hiht, her hand steady, that s a pattern here," she said, noting the arcs of blood on the walls and floor The dragin little crests here and there So down Good to see Most of the displays had been wrenched from their stands and sh the cracks The bridge must have a separate power source

They ran their lights across the ceiling, shone them into every corner and under every station, until Lopez dared to believe they ht actually have soe

―Don‘t think anyone is gonna use the nav systeo home now?"

―Soon," Lopez promised ―Soon" Se

Didn‘t like the implications Wondered if any of the crew had been infected Didn‘t like that thought, either

―We came here for the nav systelanced nervously over his shoulder at the door The assault showed no signs of waning The infected Rakesh was going to puet at them

―We can use the ship‘s system Get me radio contact I don‘t care how, and I don‘t care who: Benti, Burgundy, raise the Red Horse , hell, raise that daet me so ai, jerked to check another corner, looking for giant angry boils, snotbags, infection forms

Lopez couldn‘t blame him, but they didn‘t have time for it ―Private! Get to it!"

―Yessir" Training overrode his fear He brushed broken plastic and green dust off the glass atop an undae?"

Lopez righted a chair, ignoring the foa rosary beads again Soon the door, that had been one of her Marines Thinking about why

―I ever tell you I can touch-type?" She pulled Smith‘s security pass from her pocket and waved it at hi"

>Benti 1608 hours

Soine room

Nohat? Benti hadn‘t a clue

They were crouched down, peering over dead consoles on the control platforhts up, and they had a fine view of the ines doh above the to Benti like giant centipedes, stretching back through the rear of the ship Nestled between theine, a standard

Shaw-Fujikawa translight, nothing ainst each other A rease and oil and rancid hydraulic fluid mostly snuffed out the pervasive mold smell

The floor was crowded It was busy It was Flood Party Central No surprise there

Details began to leap out at her Covenant strode huge a scraps of prison garb, some in official uniform, and there, in the middle of them, Maller still in Marine are of gristle behind him Maller crossed paths with a Covenant Elite ruptured like a huge septic bruise, and they almost seeuards, humans and Covenant, united, in total harmony Of one mind

Better to think of it as a party, and they were the rogue DJs who‘d crashed it

But, no, that didn‘t really help She had to look away, up at Henry, as checking, kept checking, the catwalk behind them He met her eyes, unhappy but in control, too much the warrior

Clarence sed, his lips parted, gaze fixated on soain The muscles in his jaorked as he clenched his teeth He looked a question at her Their orders didn‘t seeht This wasn‘t all the ship‘s dead On the slipspace engine, the Flood had fixed a giant clot of mucus Not mucus, Benti corrected herself, so, odd shapes distorting its skin, half caught in it, as if so within, and suddenly the picture resolved itself, and those odd shapes against the s dressed in uniforlob

Struggling Alive

Benti raised a nu in a sob or vo louder and Benti snapped around Clarence was faster, one arm around Rimmer‘s head, the other hand clamped firripped the ar man to a life preserver Benti bit her lip and hoped he wouldn‘t release Rimmer until they ell out of here

There was too much terror in Rimmer‘s eyes

A new sound cut above the shuffle and murmur and held the full attention of all the Flood below

As one they turned blindly toward the sound, a horrible synchronicity in the way they raised their heads to sniff, claws and nails flexed, ready to attack Benti could ale that swelled and peaked, and then suddenly dissipated

An infected person, a hu a body No, an infected Marine Cranker

Carrying so blood, but alive and struggling, wailing, sobbing, thrashing and kicking as they neared the lob

― Don’t let them take me! "

Benti‘s heart thued back against Henry‘s leg A sour sundy

>Lopez 1613 hours

What are we fighting for? The question rang loud in Lopez‘sfor? She took a data crystal fro it firmly in her vest pocket She had only skiranted her access to, but there would be tih for now Too much There was nohere What are we fighting for? It took conscious effort to keep everything she‘d learned froot a signal, Sarge! Booyah!" MacCraw pumped his fists in the air

―You raised the Red Horse ?"

Neither of the any ressive and annoying than the real Rakesh

MacCraw couldn‘t and didn‘t try to da, oh yeah, she‘s talking!"

―What about Benti and Burgundy?" she said, crossing over to him

MacCraw jittered in his seat, too excited by the sound of home ―I couldn‘t raise either of them, but the intercom is online in h, then" Hooked her chair over, but didn‘t sit Couldn‘t sit ―Maybe someone will hear"

―--is the UNSC Red Horse to the Mona Lisa , come in Mona LisaAnyone hear me?"

A deeper echo as every speaker in the ship broadcast Rebecca‘s hail Lopez never thought she‘d be happy to hear that voice

―Never a sweeter sound, AI Rebecca Is the commander there?"

Foucault‘s voice entered ―I am The situation here--"