Matt-038 (Halo Fanfiction)

Chapter 45: Monsters

Author's Note: If you have any tips writing tips, please feel free to comment.

Again, I gratefully accept constructive criticism as a means to help me develop my skills further as a writer.

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Chapter 45: Monsters

Location: Inside Forerunner Structure

D +59:11:49 (SPARTAN-II Blue Team Mission Clock)

The Spartans fired into what seemed like a tidal wave of tentacled horrors, backed away, and resolved to keep moving. They were vulnerable, in particular from behind, but the armor would help, especially since the monsters liked to jump on people.

What happened next wasn't clear, but could make Marines scream, and put them out of action in a relatively short period of time. Ammo would be a concern, he knew that, so rather than fire wildly, the two Spartans forced themselves to aim, trying to pop as many of the things as he could.

They came at the Spartans in twos, threes, and fours, flew into fleshy bits as the bullets ripped them apart and seemed to melt away. The problem was that there were hundreds of the little bastards, maybe thousands, which made it difficult to keep up as they flooded in their direction.

There were strategies, though, things the Spartans could do to help even the odds, and they made all the difference. The first was to run, firing as they went, stretching their ragged formation thin, forcing them to skitter from one end of the room to the other. They were numerous and determined, but not particularly bright.

The second was to watch for breakouts, concentrations of the creatures where a well-thrown grenade could destroy hundreds of them all at once.

And the third was to switch back and forth between the assault weapon and the shotgun, thereby maintaining a constant rate of fire, only pausing to reload when there was a momentary lull in the fighting.

These strategies suddenly became even more critical as something new leaped out of the darkness. A mass of tattered flesh and swinging limbs lashed at Matt's head. During the first moments of the attack Matt wondered if a corpse had somehow fallen on him from above, but soon learned the truth, as more of the horribly misshapen creatures appeared and hurled themselves forward. Not just ran, but vaulted high into the air, as if hoping to crush him under their weight.

The creatures were roughly humanoid, hunchbacked figures that looked partially rotted. Their limbs seemed to be stretched to the breaking point. Clusters of tentacles protruded from ragged holes in their skin.

They were susceptible to bullets, however, something for which the Spartans were thankful, although it often took fifteen or twenty rounds to put one down for good. Strangely, even the live ones looked like they were dead, which on reflection the Spartans were starting to believe they were. That would explain why some of the ugly sons of bitches had a marked resemblance to Covenant Elites, or to what an Elite would look like if you killed him, buried the body, and dug it up two weeks later.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, two of the reanimated Elites barged in through the hatch and were promptly put down. That provided the Spartans with an opportunity to escape.

"Crystal, is there any way out of here?" Matt asked frantically.

"Scanning... found one! There's an elevator platform nearby. Marking it out your HUDs," Crystal replied.

A second later a NAV marker appeared on the Spartans' HUDs

There were more of the two-legged freaks right on their tail, though, along with a jumble of the tumbling, leaping swarms of spherical creatures, and it was necessary to scrub the entire lot of them with autofire before they could disengage and slip through a door.