Endgame

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Lopez ducked as Henry attempted to turn her head into paste with his cricket bat. She barely avoided the Elite's quick-as-lightning manuevers. Lopez was no fool; she knew that the Covie was stronger than she could ever dream of being, and one mistake would mean the end of her life. Her limbs didn't want to obey her, her body ached and ached, but she made herself fight, desperate to survive, crazed and determined. She wielded her assault rifle like a club, swinging at Henry, missing him as he casually sidestepped her blow.

Behind them both, the last escape pod.

Maybe she wouldn't have to actually kill Henry, just get past him and launch the pod and get the hell out of here. Henry could kiss Flood, for all she cared. Benti, rest her soul, might have objected, but Benti was dead, worse than dead, and Lopez's chief priority was getting out of this situation alive. Just so she could beat the crap out of Foucalt, rip whatever accursed chit of software that was Rebecca out of the mainframe and stomp on it, smash it into bits. Then she would finish off Agent John Smith once and for all...

The countdown was ticking. Soon the Red Horse would blow the Mona Lisa away, and Lopez wanted to be far enough away when it happened.

The roaring of the Flood intensified as they tried again and again to break down the airlock. Lopez wondered if even the reinforced metal would be able to withstand the rage of the mutant virus. Probably not. The inward dent was getting bigger, bigger every second.

Henry slammed his bat down, and Lopez blocked it with her rifle. The rifle bent slightly. Both combatants strained, and Lopez bared her teeth up at Henry, who had his fangs bared as well. Their eyes met. They understood that one of them was about to die.

"...twenty-five seconds..."

Another loud assault on the door, this time accompanied by the sound of metal screeching. The Flood clamored, hungry and rabid.

Lopez broke the lock by kicking Henry in the groin. He accepted it effortlessly and swiped at her with the cricket bat. He missed... barely. The wood whistled past Lopez, grazing her armor. Lopez jumped back and twisted, then leaped forward in a sudden burst of strength, holding the AR high, bringing it down as hard as she could. It hit Henry full-force in his alien forehead with a softened crack. Henry looked dazed, his slitted pupils dilating slightly, and he took an involuntary step back. A lucky hit.

"...nineteen seconds..."

Lopez hit the Covie again, this time on the side of the head, before he could recover and attack her. The blow sent him reeling, but it wasn't enough. He spat purple blood, turned to face her, and she saw that two of his four jaws were crooked now, probably broken by her blow. His eyes smoldered with anger. He raised his bat, snarling an alien curse through his ruined mouth, then froze. Lopez thought about using this to her advantage, but then she saw his eyes shift toward the much-abused airlock. She took a risk and glanced at it.

"...fifteen seconds..."

The Flood were almost through, pounding the airlock with unbelievable force, and their racket made Lopez's head throb.

Fifteen seconds and counting. Not nearly enough time to get clear of this hellhole.

Suddenly Lopez felt calm, calmer than she had felt in years, in decades.

All her kids gone. All her beads, ripped from the string.

It would be sad not for her to follow her kids, stay with them, be their Mama Lopez.

A big, bad universe.

Before Henry could decide what attack he was going to use next, Lopez made her choice, what she knew had to go down. She punched the button.

The last escape pod ejected.

Henry paused, glanced back and forth, then slowly, deliberately, the cricket bat lowered. In that moment, they reached a silent understanding, and the former hostility subsided. No more games, no more choices. Just one unavoidable destiny, the end of it all.

Finally the Flood broke through, pouring into the small space like a stream of death and pus and gangrene, shrieking and yelling and slithering and stomping.

"...ten seconds..."

Lopez and Henry bellowed in unison, weapons raised, as they jumped headlong into the mess.

Balloon-like infection forms bounced everywhere, mangled combat forms stumbled, creatures of all sizes lunged and roared and reached for the last two uninfected beings on board. Lopez smashed infection forms, smacked combat forms, screamed her frustration at the universe as she went down fighting. Henry took her arm in an iron grip and pulled her up, trying to save her even though they were all doomed, all fated to end here, now...

"...five seconds..."

A sudden pain pierced Lopez's neck, and she knew it was over. Suddenly she felt numb and awake, not at all tired, not at all like a beaten-up Marine sergeant who'd been through all the rings of Hell in the past few hours. She looked up to see Henry howling in anguish as multiple infection forms latched onto him, and ragged hands grappled at his arms and neck, and he held onto her hand tight, as if hoping that somehow she could save him. Suddenly she no longer felt pain or fear or sadness, just an emptiness, a welcome, inviting emptiness that would consume her. She looked around, trying to glimpse a familiar face- Clarence, Ayad, Rakesh, Benti, anyone- but no, everything was the same here, all were of one mind. Or maybe her eyes weren't seeing anymore, that was it.

"Semper fi," Lopez whispered hoarsely, her lips not even working right, as she let go of Henry's hand, her own hand contorting as the Flood rewrote her DNA.

The last thing she saw was white light, as brilliant and magnificent as Paradise itself.