Halo: The Search

Chapter 12

September 7th, 2552
(Victor Huff)
"Huffs kid?"

"He's not dead?"

"Wait, he brought aliens here?"

The crowd of around thirty people chattered out loud to one another. The engineer tried to calm everyone down but it didn't seem to be working.

A gunshot rang through the air and everyone fell silent. I looked to my left and standing on a podium (a wooden crate) was some grandma. She was holding a magnum in the air and smoke leaked from the barrel, dissipating into the sky.

"Listen to the engineer please." Her kind voice completely threw me off from the fact that she was holding up a loaded weapon, probably ready to shoot up some grunts.

The engineer stood in front of the her while she tucked gun into the pocket of her food covered apron.

"I've already reached out to the nearest UNSC channel. They'll be her in T-minus ten minutes flat. We're a small group but we're more than capable of holding off any forces that possibly followed Victor here. Everyone grab a weapon from the shed and hide. Any elderly please stay in th-" the grandma from behind him smacked him upside the head with a smile on her face.

"We can handle ourselves dear."

The engineers ears turned read as he scratched behind his head. "Alright! No time to lose, let's grab a gun!" My heart had sunken since the beginning of this speech. I followed the engineer and tugged heavily on the black trench coat he was wearing. He also wore a brown cap along with a pair of round goggles; All these garments were covered in oil.

"What's wrong?" He turned around and kneeled to get to my eye level. "There's... a lot of them sir. I don't know if we should fight. I'd rather hide." The engineer chuckled and put a hand on my shoulder.

"We only have to hold them off for ten minutes. After that, UNSC forces will be here and you'll be escorted back to your father." I took a deep breath, still not liking the idea at all but I nodded my head or else he wouldn't leave me alone.

"Alright good. Let's ge-" a shot rang out from afar and low and behold was the round of a wraith heading towards us.

The Engineer yanked me behind the garage he had been in. The shot went straight through the tool shed, sending leftover weaponry everywhere. A person who'd taken cover behind there didn't stand a chance and was blown a few feet away, laying face first on the ground.

I picked up a DMR that slid to my feet, shaking a bit as I flattened myself against the wall of the garage. The engineer peaked around the corner, aiming down with a battle rifle and fired a few rounds off towards the wraith. The grunt sitting in the chair of the plasma turret dropped dead but that didn't keep the wraith from firing another round.

This time it tore through an outhouse that nobody had been taking cover behind, thankfully. The outhouse was was blown to bits and pieces of wood, questionable debris flying everywhere.

A hand ruffled my hair and I looked up to see the engineer grinning at me. "Stay behind this building alright? I'll be right back." His face grew serious again and he adjusted his goggles, rubbing some dirt off them. He dashed around the building and then inside where he had been working on his car.

The wraith was keeping everyone behind cover and we were also losing cover every time it took down a building. I peeked around the corner and yanked my head back without firing a shot. A building took some plasma instead of my face and I was officially too nervous about peeking again.

A huge explosion rang through the air followed by the sounds of gunfire.

...but no wraith.

I peaked around the corner and aimed down with the DMR, aiming at some grunts. I saw that the engineer had stepped out and was holding a spartan laser in his hands. The wraith was up in flames and had succumbed to the power of the laser.