Halo: Indelible Past/Chapter Nineteen

It was only ten minutes after Simon and Zoey climbed up from under the bridge that the whine of Sangheili engines filled the air.

In a moment of panic, Simon almost forgot about the client at his heels. The blown-out streets and scattered corpses were dragging him away from Meru, from Sanghelios, back in time to Mamore. Then it had been the monstrous roar of UNSC war machines that had filled his ears as he scrambled through the rubble, ducking into anything that could be used for cover. He'd felt so small and helpless then, with just a spit-and-tape assault rifle and the ragged clothes on his back between him and oblivion. Now he had his SPI armor back, a plethora of weapons and equipment, and a smart AI to tap the enemy's communications and update him on all that went on in the airwaves.

And yet he still felt just as small and helpless as he had back then.

Nothing's changed, he realized as the sound of his own faltering breath filled his helmet's interior. Not a damn thing's changed. For all that had happened since Mamore, deep down he was still that terrified boy soldier running for his life inside someone else's stupid war.

"Mordred!" Zoey gasped, and it mingled with Emily's distant cry of Stray! while Cassandra's murmured Simon echoed beyond it. Simon gritted his teeth, his mind and body awash in fear and desperation. He ran on, running from the engines, from his enemies, from himself, from the indelible marks the past had engraved in his mind and soul.

"Mordred!" Zoey cried again. She wasn't cut out for this, she didn't have years of combat experience to draw from let alone training and augmentations. For all the money she would bring him at some nebulous point in the future, here and now she was nothing more than dead weight.

Simon ran on. Diana was saying something in his ear, but he barely heard it. The engine noises filled his mind and drowned out anything she had to say. His words from minutes ago drifted down through the noise as if from a lifetime ago: "This is all I know how to do"

His lungs were pounding almost as fast as his heart and there was a searing pain in his chest. It was all so damn pointless. I run and I run and then I stop for just a minute and try to rest before it all comes crashing down and I have to start running again.

Diana's voice came again, and this time it punched through the whirlwind in his head: "Take cover, dumbass!"

His body chose everything for him; he just went through the motions and skidded to a halt in the center of another plaza. He staggered, fighting to stay upright as Zoey collapsed in a terrified, gasping heap at his feet.

The ground trembled, and then a pair of Banshees tore through the sky overhead. As they began to head off towards the next row of buildings, Simon hoped against hope that they hadn't spotted him. But then they banked, turning off and spinning back around, and Simon knew it was over. The plaza was barren; it was a good ten second's run to even the slightest bit of cover. And there was no time for that. There was no time for anything.

Everything was happening faster than he could process, and yet everything was moving as if it were under water. The air filled with the sound of dozens of repulsors, and as he looked up it seemed as if they were spilling in from some hole in the sky.

No less than three Phantoms descended upon the square, and around them dropped individual warriors on hover-packs. A full squadron of Banshees circled the perimeter.