Episode I - Monsters
Hitchhikers May Be Escaping Convicts[
CPL. Matthew “Matt” Wakefield, UNSCMC]
[
A-Co. "War Pigs", 145th MEU]
[
Utgard, Harvest - Outskirts]
[
2544/04/21 - 0100 Local Hours]
Corporal Wakefield lit a cigarette as he slumped in one of the rear seats of the M831 Troop Transport, a variant of the versatile vehicle affectionately known as the “Warthog”. There were four Troop ‘Hogs in this convoy, each carrying a payload of ten Marines. Two of the ‘Hogs carried separate headquarters elements for the platoon; one carried the Platoon Sergeant, Staff Sergeant David Gibbons, along with a Corpsman. The other carried the Platoon Commander, First Lieutenant Austin Rake, along with another Corpsman and the Lieutenant’s Radio-Telephone Operator.
Thankfully, Wakefield wasn’t in either of the command ‘Hogs, so he didn’t have to listen to the gripes and groans of his fellow Marines as the Lieutenant talked their ears off. Instead he had to listen to his squad leader, Sergeant Alex Cross, who was just a tad bit more tolerable than the LT.
“Wakefield, you really think you’ve got time to smoke? We’re ten klicks out.” Sergeant Cross said over the roar of the engine.
“It’ll take five minutes, if that.” Maybe less judging by how fast that were going. It was at least one-hundred twenty kilometers per hour.
“We’ll be there in five minutes, jackass.” Cross replied. Wakefield grinned as he took another puff, his other hand holding MA5B seated next to him with the barrel pointed towards the sky.
The convoy zoomed through the bumpy dirt road, with trees lining either side of them. They were surrounded by dense woodland, the trees tall enough to block out the moonlight overhead. The road led to a village on the outskirts of Utgard, the capital city of Harvest. This was Wakefield’s home, and it was a shame that it had fallen on hard times. The Insurrection was getting bold, and all of Harvest was currently embroiled in rebellion.
The village was suspected to be hiding rebel sympathizers and a particularly notorious High-Value Target that the UNSC had been hunting for some time now. Naturally, who the target was and what they were capable of was need-to-know. How far up the chain need-to-know went, Wakefield wasn’t entirely sure. If he had to guess, it was likely the Lieutenant himself was being kept in the dark.
He took another puff of his cigarette as they encroached upon the village, the Warthogs parking just outside of the village proper. He threw his cigarette into the dirt, hopping off the ‘Hog to stomp out the butt. The Marines gathered into their assigned squads and fireteams, as they prepared to enter the village. Wakefield didn’t even know the name of this place, much less the residents.
“Anyone else hear the news?” Private Travis Riggs asked while the squad was waiting for orders.
“Good or bad?” Wakefield asked.
“Innies took Arcadia yesterday.”
“What? Just like that?” That conflict had been going on for months now - the siege of the capital itself going on for the past three weeks - but the UNSC had the upper hand for the majority of it. “I thought we were winning.”
“No shit, a surprise assault from the rear and Pirth fell in a matter of hours.” Riggs paused, letting the unsettling news sink in. “Navy promptly got its ass kicked out of Procyon proper. Apparently, the rebels had a reinforcement fleet come in to mop up the mess.”
“Alpha, take point.” Cross said, interrupting the conversation and signaling Wakefield to get his team in front, with Bravo and Charlie teams pulling up 2nd Squad’s rear.
Alpha team entered into a wedge formation, with Sergeant Cross staying in the middle with her assistant squad leader and systems operator. 1st Squad ventured into the village first, with 2nd Squad not far behind. The platoon’s headquarters element would take up the middle, with 3rd Squad taking the rear. This systematic mirroring approach was one of the most common tactics employed by the Corps and by their Army counterparts as well.
As 2nd Squad made it into the village, Wakefield watched as windows and doors to homes were being shut tight and locked. A few of the civilians stayed outside, all men well above the recruitment age. Most decided to take shelter in their homes, however. Everyone came to a halt as Lieutenant Rake broke off from the formation, flanked by his RTO and Staff Sergeant Gibbons. They began talking to one of the civilians, before being led to the village center. There, they were invited into the home of what Wakefield presumed to be the village elder. They’d been through this same scenario before in training. It was surreal that it was happening now.
One of the villagers approached 2nd Squad, followed by two more. They were trying to distract them, if Wakefield had to guess. He kept his eyes peeled, watching the buildings and watching the men around them. Something about this didn’t sit right with him. It was too quiet. Wakefield’s thoughts were interrupted as one of the older villagers stood before him.
“Sie müssen uns helfen.” The villager said.
“What?” Wakefield replied abruptly.
“Es gibt etwas im Wald das uns jagt.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand you.”
“Bitte, Sie müssen helfen! Es hat meinen Sohn getötet!”
“Sir, please back away. You’re getting too close and I can’t understand what your saying.” Wakefield gently held his hand out, palm outstretched as a way of saying ‘back off’.
“Ihr Bastarde seid doch alle gleich!” The villager shouted, walking away in anger.
“Pretty sure he just called you a bastard.” Lance Corporal Travis Riggs, one of Wakefield’s teammates, snickered.
“Anyone else have a bad feeling about this?” Wakefield asked the rest of Alpha team.
“Lock it up.” Sergeant Cross ordered.
“Seriously, Sarge.” Wakefield watched as the rest of the civilians went inside. “Look, all the civ’s have vacated the area. We’re in the middle of a by-the-book ambush and everybody’s alright with that?”
“I said lock it up, Wakefield.” Cross ordered again. Wakefield complied as Lieutenant Rake walked outside the elder’s home, towards the rest of the platoon.
“Squad leaders, on me.” The Lieutenant ordered.
Sergeant Cross and the other squad leaders gathered around the Lieutenant as he barked his next set of orders at them. Judging by their reactions, the meeting with the elder hadn’t gone well. After a few moments, Cross came back with her next set of orders.
“Lieutenant Rake has made it clear - we’re cleaning house. The Elder doesn’t want to give up the HVT, so we’re going to make them. First Squad is taking the house on the right, we’re taking that one on the left.” Cross pointed at one of the locked and boarded up homes. “Alpha team, you’re up.”
Wakefield positioned his team outside the house’s front door, lining them all up against the wall. With a nod from Wakefield, Riggs came up from the rear and positioned himself on the other side of the door. Wakefield did a countdown with his fingers, as Private Jace Lincoln primed a flashbang in his hands. As soon as the count hit zero, Riggs kicked open the door as Lincoln tossed the grenade inside.
A flash of light and a loud bang signaled the team to move in. Lincoln took the left, Wakefield took the right. Two of the disoriented villagers held rifles in their hands. Wakefield quickly eliminated one as Lincoln dispatched the other. The rest of the panicking villagers were unarmed, meaning they were off-limits.
“Everybody out, now!” Wakefield shouted, continuing to clear the rest of the living room. No other armed combatants appeared. As Alpha team finished clearing this room, Bravo team came in from behind and began violently escorting the civilians out. Wakefield took his time as he cleared the rest of the house with his team, but there were no more positive identification for enemies. He did find a kid, however.
“What’s your name?” Wakefield tried to ask, as he dragged the kid out of his bedroom. The kid said nothing until they made it to the living room.
“Papa, was haben sie mit dir gemacht?!” The kid shouted, trying to get out of Wakefield’s grasp to get to one of the corpses.
Wakefield held firm, dragging the kid out of the house as Alpha team followed behind. Charlie team had the rest of the male civilians, courtesy of Bravo, lined up against the wall of the house. The females had been sent back to 3rd Squad for round-up. Wakefield escorted the kid to 3rd Squad, where a woman held out her arms and hugged the child tightly.
“Listen up you Innie bastards. We know you’re hiding a wanted criminal here. Rat them out and no more people get hurt.” Sergeant Cross shouted to the men lining the wall. One of the men began shouting violently, leaving his place on the wall. He was promptly shot in the heart by one of Charlie team’s Marines. “Anyone else wish to protest?” Cross asked the group.
Sergeant Cross grabbed one of the females, forcing her on her knees as the men held their arms behind their heads, backs against the wall. “Please, leave us alone!” The woman spoke some English.
Cross whispered in the woman’s ear, and she began speaking. “Sie sagt, wenn wir unseren Freund nicht ausliefern, werden sie uns alle töten.”
The men began frantically shouting back at Cross. Before she could say anything, gunfire could be heard from behind. Charlie team executed the men on the wall before they could react. All the squads took cover where they could find it, as gunfire came from all directions. The group of women and children split up, taking refuge in their houses once more. Wakefield fired a few rounds at one of the armed Innies, killing him with three well-placed shots. Out the corner of his eye, Wakefield spotted a figure running from one of the houses, faster than what seemed humanely possible.
“Alpha team, after him!” Cross shouted over the gunfire. Wakefield took his team and sprinted into the woods. The brush came up to his knees, as the canopy of the trees took over the open sky.
Beatdown
As Alpha team made their way through the thick underbrush, they lost sight of the target. They were moving incredibly fast, far faster than what Wakefield could keep his eyes on. Deep in the woods, they eventually stopped as they realized they were lost. Nothing but trees and bushes surrounded them now.
“Riggs, you with me?” Wakefield asked over short-wave communications.
“Roger Corporal, right behind you. Lincoln’s here too.”
“Where’s Jackson?” Wakefield asked, referring to their third team member.
“No idea. He was just here.” Riggs said, looking around. Suddenly a putrid smell of burnt flesh entered the team’s nostrils. Wakefield followed the scent to an open clearing, where Jackson’s body could be found, two charred holes burnt through his chest and out of his back.
“What the hell happened here?” Riggs asked.
“Quiet, this HVT’s obviously dangerous.” Wakefield ordered, as the whole team kept their rifles at the high-ready. Wakefield switched to his night-vision device, as the moon could barely be seen anymore with the cloud cover. Using his infrared flashlight attached to his weapon, he and the others began searching the area. Wakefield could have sworn he saw something shimmering, but he passed it off as a trick of what little moonlight could be seen. As he went to investigate it further, the shimmering light moved into the bushes.
“Eyes up, we’ve got company.” Wakefield said, watching the bushes rustle. Could it have been the wind? “Bravo, Charlie? Anyone copy?”
Silence.
“Sergeant Cross, you there?”
A short-wave transmission of static buzzing could be heard over the radio. Within moments, loud screams could be heard behind them in the woodline, where the rest of 2nd Squad had been following behind them.
Wakefield turned around, as a member of Bravo team came running out of the brush. He had just entered the clearing when he was yanked back by an invisible force, dragging him into the woodline. His screams were cut short by a flash of light too far away for Wakefield to fully discern. A helmet flew out of the bushes and landed in the clearing, covered in blood. No, not just blood. Cross’ decapitated head was still seated inside the helmet. Distracted by the horror, Wakefield looked up at Lincoln and saw the shimmering trick of light behind him.
“W-what’s wrong?” Lincoln said in a panic.
“Don’t. Move.” Wakefield said. Lincoln did the opposite and ran forward. Suddenly, there was another flash of light as Lincoln was lifted into the air by a pronged sword made of what seemed like pure energy. Wakefield opened fire on the shimmering silhouette, as did Riggs. An energy field was emitted, deflecting their bullets. The boogeyman was revealed as their invisibility wore off, the light dissipating around them. It was a large creature, yanking its blade of fire out of Lincoln and abducting him back into the woodline.
Riggs and Wakefield placed their backs against each other, and began moving in a circle pattern, trying to cover all 360 degrees around them.
“What the fuck was that?!” Riggs asked, panicking.
“There’s no way that’s the HVT! It must have got them too.” Wakefield replied.
Wakefield turned around as he heard rustling in front of Riggs. Suddenly, Lincolns body was thrown from the woodline, colliding with Riggs. As he got to a knee, a bolt of energy came from the trees and struck Riggs in the chest. The Marine collapsed immediately, the bolt having burned straight through his armor and leaving a charred chest cavity in its wake. The hole went all the way through metal, flesh, and bone - the trees behind Riggs could be seen from inside.
Now it was Wakefield’s turn to panic as he was left all alone with whatever that creature was. The shimmering light appeared before him - a large silhouette of shifting light. The creature deactivated its cloaking field, revealing ornate silver armor, blackened skin, and a mouth of four mandibles full of teeth. It looked like a giant reptile, but there was no way it was native to Harvest. Other than the strange device in its hand, a strange weapon was holstered to the side of the creature, far more advanced than the rifle that Wakefield pointed at the beast.
The creature activated the device in its hand - the pronged sword of fire. It began stalking towards Wakefield. speaking some type of language that he’d never heard of. Growling at him, it raised its flaming blade. Wakefield closed his eyes, afraid of this newfound horror. Was this to be his fate? He had to warn the others! Suddenly, he heard movement in the form of heavy thudding as the ground began to shake. He opened his eyes to the creature getting tackled by a giant in a full suit of armor. One that he actually recognized from the old tales.
A Spartan of all things was now attacking the creature, but the creature had the advantage. It swung its blade as the Spartan ducked out of the way. What was a Spartan doing here? Wakefield thought that they had all been wiped out in the earlier years, after their own rebellion. They used to be heroic war machines, cyborgs designed to quell the Insurrection before it grew any further. Unfortunately, a few of them had sympathized with the ongoing revolution, leading to their treachery.
“Keep your head down.” The Spartan said in a monotone, robotic voice who’s gender Wakefield couldn’t identify. The creature pressed its assault, but the Spartan caught its wrist and was able to disarm it. Engaging in hand-to-hand combat, the pair went tit-for-tat with every blow, until the Spartan got the upper hand. A quick right hook to the jaw knocked several of the creature’s teeth out, leaving its right two mandibles crippled.
It roared in defiance, punching the Spartan in the face and cracking their visor. The Spartan kicked the creature’s leg out from under it, taking a mounted position on top of it. They began bashing the creature’s skull in with their bare gauntlets, until it finally stopped squirming and succumbed to its injuries. The Spartan looked at Wakefield, who was now pointing his rifle at the imposing cyborg.
“You need to leave, all of you.” The Spartan said in their robotic voice. “This isn’t the first one - it won’t be the last. Evacuate the planet, and get off Harvest while you still can.” Stunned, Wakefield watched as the Spartan grabbed the body, intending to drag it to the forest. Before the Spartan could, however, both 1st and 3rd Squads showed up, surrounding the clearing on all sides. The Spartan was now outnumbered by six fireteams of Marines.
For a reason Wakefield couldn’t figure out, the Spartan actually sank to their knees and dropped their rifle. The Corporal was completely caught off guard. To see two monsters fight each other to the death, it was clear that the Spartan could kill them all if they so wished. So the question was, why didn’t they fight back?
“Wakefield, where’s the rest of your squad?” Staff Sergeant Gibbons asked, putting a hand on Wakefield’s shoulder.
“Wasted, Sarge.” Wakefield pointed to Cross’ decapitated head. “And we will be too, if we don’t get the fuck out of dodge.”
Lieutenant Rake appeared from the brush, examining what could only be described as an alien corpse. “So the rumors were true…” Rake said, his words barely above a whisper. “Squad leaders, on me.”
As the last surviving member of 2nd Squad, Wakefield joined the rest of the squad leaders surrounding the Lieutenant.
“As of now, this mission is classified top secret and falls under ONI jurisdiction. Nothing gets out about this.” Lieutenant Rake said. “Forget what you saw here today.”
“With all due respect, sir, how am I suppose to forget that an alien just tore through my entire squad like it was nothing?”
“There was no alien, Corporal. Our HVT is what caused these casualties.” The Lieutenant gave a sharp stare to the Corporal. “Believe me, Wakefield, it’s for the best that word doesn’t get out about this.”
“Sir… yes, sir.” Wakefield said, stowing his remarks.
“I want everyone mounted on the ‘Hogs pronto. It’s time we return to base.” Rake ordered.
The squad leaders rounded up their men, the Spartan in tow. As they set off back towards the village, Wakefield looked up at the sky. The cloud cover had ceased and the moon could now be seen. He looked at the stars, wondering what else was out there, and what else the chain of command wasn’t telling him.
