Halo: The Search

Chapter 11

September 7th, 2552
(Victor Huff) My eyes slowly opened. I groaned, lifting my head up and looked around. I tried standing up but when I did, all my weight went forward and I crashed to the ground.

I yelled out in pain, my shoulder screaming at me for falling. My hands were tied behind a chair and had prevented me from being able to stand up straight. I tried getting up but it was pointless. One of the legs to the chair had broken off and a splintered piece of the leg sat behind me.

I reached out with my hands, getting an idea. My fingers clasped around the leg and I positioned the splintered end towards the rope. I began constantly stabbing, twirling or doing anything to shred the rope apart. I felt the rope begin to become thinner and thinner as I desperately tried to snap it into two strands. I tried giving one last push and the rope finally broke.

I tried getting up with the help of my hands this time but I still felt difficulty. I looked down and saw a rope around my waist. The knot was on the back of the chair. I looked at a wooden wall in front of me and got a probably bad but possibly good idea. I backed up and stared down the wall in an awkward, crouched position.

I took two running steps forward and then jumped, turning around and launching my backside towards the wall. What I wasn't expecting was for the wall to completely give in.

All legs of the chair snapped off, sending splinters everywhere and I tumbled down a small hill, onto a dirt ground. I groaned and slowly got back up. The only part of the chair left on me was the back side. The rope was still tied around me and that part of the chair but I could at least stand up straight.

"Hey!" I looked up where I had created a hole in the wall and saw Vex standing there. I didn't waste another second as I ran past a vast amount of teepees. I found myself stumbling into a very populated market square, full of chatter.

I turned around and tried walking back to find a better route...

"Human!"

I started sprinting and heard a bunch of yells along with the already joining sounds of gunfire. The teepee next to me took all the damage and was torn apart by plasma. I sprinted away from the market and was behind the row of teepees, where nobody else seemed to be. The only other direction to run was up a hill, which is where I ran. It led to a whole array of teepees, where people were slowly starting to come out from all the commotion.

I dashed past all the dwellings, receiving many cries of alarm as I slipped by the grasps of brutes and elites. One brute jumped in front of me, letting out a disgusting growl. I weaved past him, avoiding his clutches and looked for any opening or easier way out of this angered nest. I saw the scape of clear, untouched land, behind a vast amount of teepees and I knew that was my way out.

My legs picked up speed and my breathing was uncontrolled as I made a wild sprint towards the exit.

One elite jumped at me from an alley and I saw the handle of an energy sword come to life. My eyes widened and I hopped out the way, pointing my back towards the elite. I heard a slice and flinched but felt no pain.

I felt the rope fall from around me and the remaining chair piece fell to the ground in two pieces. I got back up and stepped back, avoiding another swipe from the elite.

I turned, running again but I knew the elite behind me would be faster. I glanced to the right and quickly dashed into a dark alley, following its path. My eyes landed upon a tarp that held the shape of something that sparked my interest. I yanked the tarp off and saw a fully working ghost, sitting in its glory. I hopped in and messed with the controls, hoping to bring life to it. It began levitating off the ground after doing random things in the chain of panicked actions I did to the controls.

I sped forward, without meaning to, bursting back into the opening, running over a brute in the process. I spun in circles, unsure how to steer correctly and panicked when I saw elites and brutes raise their weapons at me.

I found the boost again and took off, out of the city and running over an elite this time. Shots pelted the ground around me and one hit the ghost but I was soon too far gone to be caught. I decided to keep going until the town disappeared from the horizon and then I'd turn, going a different direction.

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(Vex'Redna) I had attempted chasing Victor when I saw that he'd woken up quicker than anticipated and was already escaping but once he had rounded a corner, I had lost him.

I was now sprinting back to the commander, ignoring all the gunfire and cries of alarm throughout the whole development. I walked inside the stone building and actually ran into the commander, who had an energy sword out.

"What's going on?" I followed the commander out of the house as he walked towards the market to investigate the commotion.

"Vic- The child escaped." Those words stopped the commander dead in his tracks. I almost tripped over my own feet, stopping to meet his gaze.

"WHAT?!?" I ducked down, dodging the accidental swipe at my throat from the commanders energy sword.

"He woke up from... the pain faster than anticipated." I wasn't going to tell him I gave Victor medicine that would ease the pain from the plasma wound. Wasting medicine on a human would definitely bring me dishonor.

"Get. Him. Back. I reached out to the humans and came up with ransom for the child! They want him very... bad. It will not be any use killing a ton of humans when we can't lure them, now that the child is gone!" The commander stormed back into his stone building and I sprinted off towards the back area of the building.

I jumped on one of the ghosts sitting back there and weaved my way out the town towards where Victor had gone, according to the crowd of elites and brutes gathered up at one side of the town.

As I sped off, a large battalion of ghosts had joined me, getting in a V-like formation with me. I assumed the commander had already assigned me this team of elites and even the few grunts in the back to go and get him.

Victor definitely screwed up this time...

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(Victor Huff) I hadn't made a turn when the town had disappeared from view. Instead, I'd caught sight of a small human looking outpost, very far off in the distance.

After what was about ten minutes of traveling, I reached the small dozen of buildings, sitting in this deserted land. I was ecstatic to see it buzzing with life as people were interacting with each other in the small area. I skid to a stop, jumping off the ghost and ran into the town. A man with a wrench was working on a warthog in a metal shed. He caught gaze of me and quickly approached me.

"Who are you?" I shook my head and just patted the mans arms with my hands. "I-I..." I looked him in the eyes and he raised an eyebrow like I was crazy but at least showed concern for me.

"I just escaped from one of the Covenant outposts. They were trying to hold me for ransom against my dad, who's a commander but I escaped." The mans eyes widened.

"You're Denver Huffs kid? News has just recently gotten thrown out about you around here! Wait, are you sure you escaped?" I took a deep breath and looked out into the horizon gulping.

"I think I lost them?" The man cursed and ran into the heart of the area. A stone well sat there with a wooden roof. He reached up towards something on the underside of the roof and pressed it. An alarm rang out and people out of every house spilled out, alert and silent.

"Alright everyone... We got a slight problem."