Desolation

Omen

Kuis grimaced as he tied up the needle wound with the cloth from the sleeve of his shirt. 'Karma came back to bite me.' he thought bitterly, speeding up to keep pace with the aliens who were walking very quickly compared to the soldiers behind them.

It had been almost three hours since everyone had agreed to the truce. The group had been walking down the tunnel in silence since then, the quiet occasionally being broken by the whirring of the machines as they flew in and out of the small holes along the walls, or one of the marines unsuccessfully trying to start a conversation. No one had any idea as to how long the tunnel stretched, or even where it led, but they marched on. It's not like there were many options as to where to go anyways.

Marcos eyed the backs of the two Elites with a mix of curiosity and uneasiness, he still didn't fully trust them. After all, the red Elite had him held by the throat and threatened to kill him and his friends not too long ago. Maybe they were just waiting for the right moment to stab his squad in the back...

Something snapped in his brain. He couldn't take the boredom anymore, he hated the noiseless walk. Once more he tried to start talking, half knowing he would be ignored. "What are these flying things? Hey Red, did the Covenant build this place?" he asked, inwardly astonished when the two Elites stopped and turned to face him.

'Wow, that worked?' he thought, waiting to hear the Elite's response.

"You are... serious?" asked Khazo, cocking his head slightly at the marine. "This tunnel and the machines in it originate from the Forerunners. All you see here is what remains of these ancient beings, and where there is one structure, there is many. The Covenant could not hope to build something as..." the Elite clicked a mandible as he struggled to find the word. "Grand? Gigantic? Advanced?" As he continued, the humans had gathered into a small circle around him as he told them of these mystical people. "These places..." he gestured down the tunnel, "can be found on almost any planet, miles of these metal tunnels are everywhere. The machines you see are called Sentinels, they guard these places from intruders, like ourselves."

The humans stopped to look at him. "Like us?" they said in unison, turning their heads up towards the harmless flying robots in disbelief. "Okay... Why are they not attacking us like those pods if we're intruders, then?" said Marcos, still watching the robots fly back and forth above their heads.

This time it was Khazo's turn to be clueless.

"Maybe... there is a higher priority threat. The flood." he guessed, frowning as the marines stared at him with blank faces. Khazo shook his head, clearing the thought of drop kicking the human in the face for being so clueless. "These 'pods' you humans speak of, they are parasites called the Flood."

Marcos waved the comment aside. "Whatever! The name we call the enemy is not important, but what you just said is. Are you saying there are Flood in this tunnel with us?" he asked, to which the Elite shrugged its shoulders. "I am uncertain, that was simply a guess. However, I would not be quick to rule it out. The parasite is named the Flood for a reason. When they attack, they swarm, and there's too many to control, possibly even too many for the Sentinels." he said, turning to continue walking down the tunnel.

Trying to get the Elite's attention, he couldn't think of what to call them. Marcos scratched his head in annoyance, that was another thing he couldn't stand. Whenever he wanted to call for one of the Elites, his mind would start tripping over itself awkwardly as it struggled to find the correct word that fit the Elites, as he still didn't know their names. Along with not knowing their names, the aliens just referring to him as "Human", it felt like they were talking down on him when they said that word. Every time he heard the red one say it to him, he fantasized about stabbing it in the head.