Chapter 6

1 0 0
                                    

Arani woke up from her sleep. She feels fine about everything, but the Master Chief. Why does this human act differently than the others? Is it just him or are they all different? No, only this one. It seems impossible that they could all be unique. The ones that...Never mind. Arani gets up and walks over to the Chief, who is just standing on the edge of their campsite. She places a hand on him, like when they were at the cave. "Master Chief, are you alright? You seem bothered." She asks. Even with the armor, she can feel he is tensed up. He's changed. The Chief finally says, "Yeah. Time to leave. Come on." and with that, he straightens his form, takes out his weapon, and turns to Arani as she walks away to pack up. She gathers her things, puts the fire out with her foot, and follows the Chief. Since they need to travel faster, the Chief begins a sprint that turns into a dash. Arani is able to keep up with all the dust he kicks up with every step in the ground. Still, she can see he is focused and tight. They dart past a few trees and cross a tree that had fallen over large river rapids. A few hours passed with minimal stops to rest before... "Chief! You're almost to the next destination! You guys sure travel quick." Cortana beams over his speakers. The two exit the forest and arrive at the edge of a large, open field. Aside from a few oddly-shaped boulders ahead, their path was a clear shot to a facility in the distance. "I see it." The Chief responds. He's about to take a step forward before Arani interrupts and says, "Chief, this is a dangerous area. We mustn't trust what we see." He is confused, even though he knows that on a strange planet, he can't trust most things. Arani continues. "Those rocks in the middle? They aren't rocks. Look closer." She stands beside him, pointing at the gray bumps in the field. He zooms in using his helmet and confirms Arani's observation. Zoomed in, the Chief can see the rise and fall of the top of the round shape. After seeing what Arani has shown him, he asks "What are they?" Arani, with some knowledge of Earth animals, tells him, "They are similar to ... an Earth grind phosphorus?" The Chief is confused at first and then corrects her by saying, "You mean a rhinoceros." "Yes. They are aggressive when provoked or threatened, especially mommas with babies." The Chief then watches as the boulders move to show a little rock in the middle. "Anything else I need to know about these things?" The Chief inquires. "And they spit lava." Arani finishes. "Great." He sighs, then as if the predator in him awakened, he crouches in the tall "grass" and slowly moves toward the group. Arani does the same except she's better at it. The grass in the field is white and green doesn't exactly say "I'm hidden." Arani on the other hand, blends in perfectly. The Chief thinks of something that might hide him a little bit and mashes some of the white grass into a white paste he paints his armor with. When they are near the slumbering beasts, the Chief can hear occasional bellows and grunts. As they move through the field, the Chief hears a rattling sound. Then out of instinct and training, he freezes and slowly looks down at his feet. Arani freezes too, also hearing the noise. On the ground in front of him is a large hole, almost like a badger hole or fox den. The Chief cautiously lowers his weapons light into the darkness below him and sees only darkness still. The rattling gets softer until the only sounds are from the grass swaying in the wind. They both pause for a moment, with the only movement being from the Chief's armor as he looks around. Arani watches and listens as her ears twitch around before she lifts her foot from the ground to take a step. The Chief does the same except when he does this, the ground rumbles and he is thrown away by a blast from below. The living boulders scatter as they wake and set eyes upon the emerged beast. The Chief, standing up, fires, sending a round of bullets into the towering serpent that has risen. Arani yells and scampers toward the Spartan, taking his side. "Chief, that's a Covenant Titan! The powerful minerals in the ground must've blocked it's heat signature." Cortana chirps. "Master Chief, we must leave. You cannot defeat it with your bullets." Arani warns him. "Others...have already tried..." She says, looking grim and towards the abandoned facility. The Chief follows her gaze and then turns back to the creature. "So what do we?" He asks her, staring the creature down. Arani changes her stance, her legs spread open and bent, almost crouching. "We have to get to its head..." She says. The Chief prepares himself to jump. "And pull out its tongue...its main way of seeing is through scent." She finishes and jumps high into the air onto the serpent, running up it towards its head. The Chief almost stumbles, hearing her words. Cortana chimes in. "You can't pull that thing's tongue out!" The Chief reloads his gun. "Then...we'll shoot it off..." He follows after Arani, shooting at the creature's head to get its attention. They both move swiftly and in sync as they work together. The serpent hisses and slithers, trying to get them off of it, but they quickly get on top. The Chief aims at the creature's eyes while Arani swings down to its mouth and puts her staff in its mouth to keep it open. It arches back in pain and tries to get her off by shaking its head side to side. "John!" Arani shouts for him to get to her and remove its tongue. His attention whips towards her, as he sprints for the serpent's head. The Chief readies to launch himself at its head, but the serpent sees him and whips its head back before the Chief can jump. "Woah!" Arani's foot slips when it whips its head back, but her grip on her staff is solid, allowing her to steady herself back up on the lip of the snake. The Chief sees her slip and get back on her feet, but focuses more on getting to her. He begins running again as the creature hisses and moves. The Chief shoots a grappling hook at the creature's lip, but struggles to reel himself to it as the creature squirms. Arani tries to pull him up, but can't with only one hand. The Chief grunts as he's thrown around, hanging. Arani wraps her leg around her staff and uses her hands to pull the rope with the Chief. He's pulled closer to the lip when Arani's leg slips from the staff and she falls forward. "Aaahhh!" Arani exclaims, falling toward the Chief. Out of instinct and training, he catches her by the waist and pulls both him and her up, grabbing the staff. "Thanks..." Arani yells him, shyly. He nods at her and pulls the pin of a grenade, throwing it into the snake's mouth. Then he turns to Arani. "Alright, let's go." Then, before she can respond and without thinking, he grabs her waist, retracts her staff and jumps off. Arani grabs him back in surprise and shock. They land, rolling and watching as the creature falls, smoke escaping through its mouth. The Chief stands up and lets her go, giving her staff back with his weapon ready in his arms. "Are you okay, Arani?" He asks her, his voice stoic and monotone. "I'm fine." She responds as he hands her her staff, standing up. "The facility is close. You can...patch up there." He says. "I'm okay, John. Human medicine will not work on my physiology." She tells him. "Well, then. Let's go." He says, walking up to the very ominous and eerie abandoned building. Arani follows behind, looking up and around as they enter through the broken doors into the debris-ridden facility. They trek carefully through the place as the Chief leads them both to the area where the ships are parked. They sprint lightly, so as to get there quicker. Whispering, Arani asks him as she sees the ships, "So, you plan to leave soon?" He hesitates to answer, but reluctantly does. "Yes. Once I retrieve what I need..." Arani looks at him and can see that even as he runs, he is tensed. He slows down when they reach a door, leading to the room holding the weapon he came for. He opens it and enters, expecting something to happen or jump out at him. Arani turns around, watching his back and holding her staff. The Chief walks around the weapon, circling it. "Cortana?" He puts a hand to the side of his head to press a button, staring at the weapon of mass destruction. "Yep, that's it..." Cortana says. "Heading your way, Chief. Hang tight." She bleeps off. He examines the weapon a little more before looking back at Arani. She stands outside, weapon ready and waiting. He walks up to her from behind. "Is something...bothering you?" He asks, trying to make conversation. "Something's wrong here..." She says, then there's an echoing screech that sends them both into defense mode. The Chief whips his weapon up, and Arani stiffens her stance, pointing the staff outwards. They look all around but don't see anything. "No...that's...not possible..." The Chief whispers to himself. Arani hears him and asks, "What's not possible, John?" She looks back at him and notices that he's almost as still as a statue. A chitter nearby makes her turn around, facing forward, but still, there's nothing. The Chief's breaths are shallow and slow, realizing what it is. Slings.

Halo: Friend Or FoeWhere stories live. Discover now