Battle of Harlett

Chapter 10:

November 8th, 8:56am. Day of Invasion.

  Castro was shocked at the sight of the sky. The purple appearance of alien dropships littered the sky, with UNSC fighter aircraft trying to stop them before they could deploy their cargo full of enemies and vehicles. Their attempts mostly ended in vain, with dozens of UNSC fighters being overwhelmed by the enemy opposition. Castro kept running to the meeting point, hoping to find the others so they could all evacuate. Safely didn't seem to be an option.

  Castro noticed a D77-TC pelican was flying right to him. He realized it might be trying to evacuate him. He stood and watched as it got closer. Soon it was mere meters away from him, and it began to land. If only it could have done this faster. A Covenant attack aircraft, known as a banshee, noticed the pelican and maneuvered to begin an attack run. It fired a bomb directly at the pelican. It struck the pelican's rear thrusters, effectively hitting the pelican with enough force to send it crashing. The pilot had nearly no time to react as his pelican crashed into a nearby house. An explosion from the pelican caused the house to erupt into flames.

  Castro was knocked to the ground by the force. He laid for a moment, stunned by the death of the pilot and easy destruction of the pelican. This was real. Not some hallucination. Castro got on his hands and knees and began to stand back up. He was dizzy, and almost fell down again. He began stumbling to the meeting point. He was blocks away. He sure would have a story to tell.

  Castro was a block away. His stamina began to fade. Sounds of gunfire and drop ships filled the air. He could see the telephone pole that marked the meeting spot. He quickly rounded the corner and could see Eric and Reese taking cover behind a car. He called out to them. They quickly turned their heads to see Castro running towards them. Castro went up to them, gasping for air.

"Where is Dianne?" Asked Castro.

"We don't know," Said Eric. "we assumed she would be with you."

"Well, she's not!" Yelled Castro. He felt worried. First his parents, now one of his friends. It's odd how quickly things went to chaos. What was originally meant to be a normal day, turned into an entire invasion.

  Castro noticed Reese had her dog on a leash. He had its tail tucked between its legs. It was clear he was afraid. Everyone had that sense of fear. Reese then pulled out her phone. She had managed to download the evac points and shelters shown on the emergency broadcast. She then pointed at an evacuation zone.

"This is the closest evac point to us. It's about 2 miles from us to the north," Said Reese. "We can get there by heading down Crest Street, and we can follow the street down to Alondra park. We can then cut right through and only have another mile. Bad news is, we would have to pass the school again on the way to Alondra if we don't want to have to take a detour."

  Castro felt his heart sink hearing. He felt his mind racing. The stress felt like too much to endure. He knew that walking past the school could lead to more danger, and worse, he could see the aftermath of the attack on the school. If he saw those who had perished, he could easily just lose all hope.

  Reese noticed Castro beginning to hyperventilate. She snapped her fingers in front of his face to bring him back from his thoughts.

"We can still get through this. We can cut through backyards to prevent detection. But we must hurry" Said Reese. She then pointed a finger to a distant pelican flying off into the distance. "We must get there before every pelican leaves. There is no guarantee of escaping if we miss our window."

"Unless we pull a miracle." Stated Eric.

"What about Dianne?" Questioned Castro.

"I don't know. Just hope we run into each other again. If we wait any longer, we could be spotted." Replied Reese.

"She could have already been evacuated." Said Eric.

"But she agreed to meet us here." Said Castro.

"Again, if she's not here, she's somewhere else and we either pray we run into her, or that she has already left." Declared Reese.

  Castro felt disappointed that they had no choice but to leave without Dianne. That is if she's even still within Harrier. Or alive.

"Come on, let's get moving." Said Eric.

  The group then began their journey to the evacuation point. Occasionally taking cover or cutting through backyards. They could only keep going. No matter what.