The Wilted Planet

Chapter 19: Deadly Misunderstanding

Caleb couldn't move, couldn't breath, he couldn't even open his eyes. His body simply wouldn't respond to his commands. A strange warbled sound eminated from something nearby him. The sound sent a shiver down Caleb's spine, or at least it would have if he could even feel it.

The sound repeated itself, over and over. Sounding more and more like a hum that was out of tune. Caleb didn't know why it felt so familar, he knew he had never heard the sound before. The humming seemed to come more and more into focus. Like his hearing was clearing up, but that shouldn't be happening. Caleb was dead and he knew it.

For being dead he seemed to be having a strange after life though. The humming was becoming so loud in his ears it was almost unbearable. Caleb struggled to make sense of what was happening. If he was dead how was he hearing things around him? That's when it struck him out of no where.

A sensation ran through his whole body. Air filtered into his lungs. He was breathing again. Caleb's heart began to beat in his chest again. The blood flowing to his brain cleared his thoughts immensely. How am I alive... he..stabbed me.. With that thought Caleb opened his eyes, only to find the black beady eyes of the silver elite staring back into his.

Caleb let out a scream and tried to thrash but his muscles wouldn't respond still. He stared back into the elite's unblinking eyes, waiting for it to do something. The elite in turn seemed to be studying him intently. No thoughts ran through Caleb's tired mind for a solid few minutes. Seeing that the elite wasn't trying to kill him, Caleb tried studying his surroundings.

He was in some kind of alien ship. Most likely one of the phantoms he had seen flying around before. The ship must be what that horrible hum was coming from. Caleb tried again to move but all he managed to do was twitch his finger tips. He groaned and gave up, closing his eyes and sitting still.

That was exactly what he needed to do. The extra breath rising to his brain knocked him loose of the strange hallucination. Caleb was not on a ship of any kind. He was still on the battlefield where he had been stabbed. The sheer shock of being impaled had almost killed him. Caleb was stunned he wasn't dead. By every logical factor, he should have been.

If I don't do something I will be dead soon.. The morbid thought crossed Caleb's unfocused mind. Risking a peek, he opened his eyes a crack. Caleb spotted the silver elite actually was leaning over him. It wasn't looking at his face though. Instead, the alien appeared to be examining his chest. Which was really odd behavior for the creature.

Shouldn't he be stabbing me right now? Or shooting me? Something? It looks like it's trying to look at my wounds. What is with this thing? Whatever it's trying to do can't be good. I gotta get it away from me somehow.. Caleb thought as quickly as his mind could manage.

No matter how odd the elite was acting, Caleb didn't trust it. He could feel the wound in his chest taking its toll on him at rapidly increasing rate. Caleb felt around blindly with his hand, trying desperately to find a weapon around where he had been dropped.

After a moment or two his luck paid off. His hand gripped onto some unfamiliar metal. The strange handle was big for him. It had to be some kind of Covenant weapon. Caleb had no idea what the thing was. He felt a pang of worry wash over him. What if this just pisses the thing off? I guess I don't have much of a choice though.

It was all Caleb had between him. and possibly torture of some kind from the alien leaning over him. He grabbed it like the life line it really had become for him. His weakening grip barely able to hold whatever it was. After a second or so, he tightened his grip as much as his weakend fingers would allow.

The elite was starting to growl to itself. The weird low tones sounding nothing like Caleb would have imagined them to sound. The alien's fingers crosessed over his wounds agains leaving a stinging that also seemed strangely soothing. Caleb didn't trust it though, he knew he couldn't. This is it.. now or never..

With a loud cry out of seemingly no where, Caleb swung his arm up and around bashing the unsuspecting elite's armored head. The weapon he had found was in fact the elite's own plasma rifle. The heavy metal echoed as it slammed into the alien's head. The elite let out a roar of pain before dropping out of Caleb's vision.

A thud signaled to Caleb the elite had been knocked out. Its body sprawled out beside him. He couldn't sit up, he couldn't even move his arms or legs anymore. The blood was draining from him far too fast. Caleb groaned as pain washed over him. The adrenaline in his system not strong enough to keep the pain at bay any longer.

The sounds around Caleb became more warbled and distorted. Caleb's vision blurred worse than before. Colors blended together, shadows and light combined into strange shapes. He tried to say something, like someone might hear him, but he knew no one was there. No one could be there after all.

Shadows and figures seemed to run past him. Some tall and some short. Maybe Covenant troops closing in on his comrades. Or turning tail after seeing their commanders taken down. Caleb wasn't sure, he couldn't he without his sight. That's when the boy started to think.

No one.. even.. will know I.. died...like this.. Caleb's sad thoughts were all that seemed clear in his mind. Serge... I.. did my best.. I hope you all make it somehow.. I..hope.. The strange sounds around him grew louder. Fighting must still be going on. Everything Caleb had done had been for nothing.

What Dean had said only a short time ago snuck into his head. "Cal.. don't you dare die. Cause if you do I'm not going to forgive you. You hear me?" Caleb's body shuddered and shook in pain. The anguish in his heart only further fueling the physical pain he was feeling.

Dean... I.. I broke...my promise... I'm.. I'm....sorry.. Tears rolled down Caleb's cheeks as he thought of his friend. The only one who had ever seemed like he understood him. Dean's face of disappointment plastered in Caleb's dying mind. An image he never wanted to see. Only matched in the harshness of Flint's gaze. "You know who she'll blame if you die? The guys who are left behind."

Caleb's thoughts immediately drifted to one of the last things he'd ever have thought he'd think about while dying. Rose.. The sweet girl he had saved drifted into his mind. Her blonde hair and bright smile despite all she had been through. The fact she had even affected him in only a few hours was amazing. Caleb knew the others would guard her until the very end.

I...would've...liked to have known her better.. She actually was.. kind of cute.. The thoughts were almost alien to Caleb. His mind was shutting down from blood loss. The boy closed his eyes, scared of the darkness creeping into his vision. I..don't want to go.. I'm...not ready..

"H-'s ov-- -e-e!" The strange shout sounded close by. Caleb barely heard it, but his mind focused on it anyway. "He-- o--r h--e!" The voice called out again, just a bit closer than before. Caleb could only lie there as his conciousness started to fade again. This time was different though, Caleb knew he wouldn't be waking up this time.

"Guys he's over here! Get a med kit!... What do you mean there's no medkit?" The voice cried in dismay, now right beside Caleb's body. Caleb felt hands check his pulse and the panicked mutter turned scream from whoever it was. "Oh God... Oh God Oh God. Guys I need you RIGHT NOW!" Caleb guessed his wound was as bad as he had thought. There really was no hope for him after all.

More hands grabbed onto Caleb and lifted him into the air. Their touch felt gentle to Caleb's damaged senses. They were actually grabbing him quite roughly. Caleb felt them carry him away from where he had fallen. "Where did that elite go? I swear it was right there."  The strange comment caught his attention but Caleb barely made any sense of it.

What happend to it? I guess it doesn't matter now... He thought to himself. The voices around him increased in volume. None of them making any sense to Caleb's mind as it started to fully shut down. Words blended together. Voices and sounds followed what happend to his vision. Everything became just a big mess.

Caleb wished he could speak, but not even a groan escaped from him now. The marines who were carrying him set him down on something. Their hands ripped his shirt open sending a cool wave over him. Caleb managed another shattered breath. Then another much weaker one. A few minutes later he wasn't breathing at all.