The Will To Live✔️

Chapter 30: Listening Post Echo

"Say that again, Sergeant?"

"I said we now have a completely new type of Flood. It's stealthy. It stalks. I have the corpse with me," Greg replied.

"Well, that's good at least. What did it look like?" Gibson asked.

"Kinda like a giant bug, to be honest. Walked on four legs, then on two. It has pincer-like appendages. We had to trick it to come to us. I put it down with three pistol shots. It's definitely violent. We also managed to find another survivor, a Private. He's officially part of Task Force Reaper now," Greg explained.

"Good work. Hold onto that body. Before long you're going to be finding someone who can do research on this crap."

"You sending someone our way?"

"Not yet. Soon, hopefully. Anything else?"

"Negative. We're driving back now. Going to go investigate the observatory, Listening Post Echo, after stopping by the base."

"Affirmative. Keep me appraised. Out."

Greg sighed and grunted as he hit a bump. It had taken a solid hour to search that base. He and Coretti had gone hunting for more basic supplies after they'd secured the dead thing, what Greg was thinking of now as a stalker, in the back of their snow Carrier Warthog. They'd gathered up a bit more medical supplies, any and all guns and ammo they could find, and a few cases of meals. After Izzy had salvaged whatever parts she could from the generator, she made a sweep and scooped up any tools or spare parts that looked important.

With that done, they were driving back, and Coretti unfortunately had to sit in back with the corpse. He at least wasn't complaining.

"You doing okay back there, Coretti?" Greg asked.

"I'm fine," he replied, though he sounded tense.

"We're almost there." He activated the squad frequency. "This is Walker, we're returning to base. Got another survivor and a new Flood. These ones look like giant bugs and they sneak, so be aware," he reported. "Do you copy? Over."

"Copy all," Ellis replied. "A new Flood? Great. Over."

"Anything happening there? Over."

"Negative. No change. Over."

"Understood. Be there in a few minutes. Out."

Greg drove on. He had to admit, he was nervous, having that thing in the back. Coretti was keeping watch, but still, it was so freaky looking. But worse, it was so different. What did it mean? The questions kept haunting him even as he finished the drive back and pulled up behind Armitage Station. He saw Larsen coming out to meet him.

"What's happening?" Greg asked as he killed the engine and hopped out.

"Nothing. No activity of any kind," Larsen replied. "I heard on the radio...you said there's a new one?"

"Yep," Greg said, walking around to the back of the Warthog. "Meet our new teammate, Private Coretti."

"Oh, uh, hey. I'm Larsen," Larsen said.

"Good to meet you," Coretti replied.

Izzy joined them as Greg grabbed the limp form of the Flood creature. It wasn't all that heavy, maybe fifty pounds at most, but he hated carrying it. He hated touching it at all.

"Wow, that's...holy crap, that's ugly," Larsen muttered.

"Yep. Where are we with those jobs I left you?" Greg asked as he started walking towards the trio of sheds in the back.