Of Guns and Gore

The Great Escape

(It's been quite the while since I last updated, and I'd like to apologize. My schedule has gotten quite busy, and writing was on and off whenever I found a little free time, but here it is. I thank all of you who took time to comment and favorite this, and promise to try to push chapters through more often. There isn't a ton of action in this one, and I probably kept stating that either character needed to leave the planet too much. But here's what you all waited for.)

Dust lashed the Slayer's armor as he pushed forward with his indomitable gait towards the only place that may contain a way off this doomed planet, Noble Six stumbling behind him in a vain attempt to keep pace. The limp in the Spartan's step told him that it was likely that Six was running on the last scraps of adrenaline from his previous fight, and once he stopped moving he would crash into a comatose state for a while. This meant that the Slayer couldn't allow any leniency for the Spartan.

The duo marched across the scorched landscaped as fast as they could, avoiding contact with the vigilant alien vanguard that was now out for their blood. The Slayer feared no creature, and especially not a bunch of third-rate intergalactic conquerors, but Noble Six had made it very clear that the planet he stood on wasn't gonna be around for long. Even if he may survive, the Slayer couldn't risk losing Six now that he had openly promised to mold him to better fit what he would need to do. The Slayer's word was ironclad, and no inferior species would be allowed to dent his testament as long as he still drew breath.

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Fatigue was setting in and Six could feel wave upon wave of it crashing against his conscience like the ocean against the shore. The though of escape was one of the only thing keeping him constantly moving from cover to cover, desperately searching for a way out of here. The ground he stood upon no longer was the planet he had pledged to protect. In its place sat a cold and unforgiving graveyard, yearning to add him to the countless other men and women it had already claimed. It's victims lay battered and broken all around him, their still forms a reminder of what awaited him should he so much as hesitate.

Revered as an unstoppable super soldier, Six had never encountered a situation where his own mortality had found it's way through all his training and experience. Now he sat alone on the edge of an abyss that called for him, mere moments from accepting a decision that would seal his fate. From this revelation came a harsh truth. Without all of his protocols and training he was nothing, an empty husk packed full of propaganda and war. Having always been a lone wolf, Six was not given on relying on the help of anyone but himself but what he needed most right now was for somebody to slap him and tell him he had a job to do, that he was needed.

Instead he was faced with reality. The moment the Autumn broke atmosphere he became nothing more than an afterthought. Nobody aboard that ship or any ship for that matter had anything but the bigger picture of the war's outcome on their mind, and he wasn't even an afterthought. Justifiable as it was, it really put Six's worth in perspective. Although valuable, Spartans were nothing more than flashy weapons ready to be discarded when their usefulness expired. Him and his team had merely been fed into a meatgrinder that they hadn't bothered to notice until it was too late. Nobody was coming for him. Only the Slayer was on his side, and he had no reason to help Six besides his own morals. Six would be damned if he were to put all of his trust in the UNSC or ONI again after this. The Chief was the only authority he would follow, the only one of their symbols he would put his trust in. The Slayer would be his teacher and with him Six would change the course of this war himself.

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Many questions circulated through the Slayer's head. Unlike the UAC the UNSC had not garnered his anger, but his interest. Things here seemed a lot more advanced than the Slayer would've expected, with planets in other galaxies being colonized. It was kind of exciting to imagine what kind of replacement weapons could be found in the UNSC armory, and perhaps he could even fabricate some kind of replacement ammo for his Super shotgun.