User:DeionMcEwan/The Silence.

The cold, harsh winter winds batted against the chassis of the overturned warthog. Liam got out, clutching his shattered wrist with his left hand, then prising off his melted helmet from the passenger seat next to him. The helmet wouldn't budge, and he looked aroud to see his weapos had suffered the same fate, being melted and fused to the chassis. He felt a fire on his torso and abdomen, and a quick glance down confirmed his suspicions; his armour was slowly melting away. He quickly undid the buckles and discarded the armour, routing around for anything useful. He could find nothing, save for a few charred bodies in a pile of ash. Armed with only his wrists and a very small combat knife, he disappeared into the jungle, leaving behind his Warthog and his squad. He pushed past a tree and dove under a bush as he heard the whining of the Spirit dropship, sow covered the bush and fell on his exposed head, making him shiver. At least the cold would mask his thermal signature, if only for a short while. He saw the Spirit hover just a few feet off of the ground, the side doors opening and revealing 4 hunters, three Brute chieftains and at least two dozen Grunts. Circling the burned out warthog like a pack of hungry wolves, the Covenant warriors moved in, flanked by the Hunters who were readu to blast anything away that moved. The Grunts, satisfied that everything was dead, rushed the chassis and prised the bodies away, attacking the corpses with fervour and an anamalistic hunger. The Brutes roared and rushed through the Grunts, tearing away at the charred flesh and ripping off limbs, feasting on the burned corpses of Liam's men. Liam supressed a bout of rage as he knew that nothing would help him if he charged and tried to kill them all. He would be killed before he got out of the bush. He slowly and very carefully got up and ran through the trees. Behind him he heard the Hunters roar and two of them charged. Liam's muscles and his shattered wrist screamed in protest as he pushed through the trees. He heard the cavalcade of snapping and crashing and a quick look back confirmed that the Hunter pair was still chasing him. He ran faster, the adrenaline keeping him up, dulling the pain, heightening his senses. He felt the air thicken and his breath was sucked out of his lungs and he was thrown forwards by a wave of intense heat and a light that made his eyes burn. For a split second his body was held in midair as it struck a tree, then slowly slid down. Liam regained his composure as he got up, taking the combat knife from his belt, he stood next to the tree facing the Hunters. He knew this was it, the final end. The Hunter pair lumbered through the trees and smashed their foots down on the ground, creating miniature impact craters where their feet struck the ground. Liam did the most stupid thing any Human could ever do in the history of stupidness. With no armor, no weapon, no hope, and nothing to lose, he charged the Hunters. They roared and raised their shields to cover their faces as they charged their fuel rod guns. As they discharged Liam jumped with all his might, hefting himself a good six feet into the air, nimbly elevated over the Hunter pair and over the Fuel rods that now stung his back and blistered his skin. He turned quickly and slashed at one of their exposed backs, tearing through the orange worm-like creatures that composed the creatures. he leaped onto the Hunter's back and, dodging the spines, brought the knife down again on its exposed neck. The Hunter roared and was still, slumping forward, the other Hunter roared in defiance and Liam barely had enough time to wrench his knife free and face the creature before it brought its shield crashing down onto the small man beneath him. With an agility that suprised them both, he ducked out of the way and sliced at the Hunter's arm, cleaving the gun hand clean off and, slicing scythe shapes around its body, he dodged and twirled around the Shield in a deadly game of Cat&Mouse. The shield swung at Liam's head and he ducked. The shield crashed into a tree and a salvo of Cracks resonated through the once quiet forest. A flock of birds that were nesting quietly nearby took heed of the noise and took off. Finally, the Hunter stopped twitching as the knife had rendered the worms inside the armor completely useless and nothing but a mere pile of severed flesh and orange blood. Standing above the two corpses, Liam had no time to revel in his apparent victory, as another volley of plasma discharge could be heard, and he turned in time to see three green bolts of light slam into the tree next to him. He ducked to the left, hefting the gun that he had sliced off of the Hunter and resting it onto a log. He had no idea how to fire it, so he pulled at one of the green rods in the guns base. Suprisingly to both him and the approaching aliens, the gun fired, slamming into the lead Chieftain and blasting him apart, soaking the trees and snow around him with blood. The Grunts panicked and ran. Liam dropped the gun and turned on his heels, kicking up a cloud of smoke as he ran. He came to a cliff, a waterfall, and a 35 meter drop down into Lake René. He saw tiny puffs of smoke and miniature stars in the woods ahead, being at an elevated position, he could see a tremendous battle being fought in the forest. Knowing he would die if he stayed there, or if he jumped, he adhered to his minds most base of instincts. Throwing caution to the wind, he leapt off of the cliff, slamming into the spray of the waterfall, stretching his arms ahead of him and slicing into the water below him. He resurfaced, but soon wished he hadn't. Three Ghosts were skimming along the surface of the lake towards the shore, and a column of Covenant warriors was advanging hust to his left over a wooden bridge. He gasped and dove underneath the icy cold water, his olive drab combat fatigues becoming drenched so far in that Liam was sure he felt his blood begin to thicken and freeze. He hefted himself up onto a wooden support underneath the bridge. A snarlk, a gutteral bark and the slight cough of an automatic MA5B made him look up. A plasma pistol dropped into the water, and he grabbed at it like it was a straw in the water and he was drowning. He checked the charge and saw it was half red and half green. He took this as a good sign and climbed up the bridge. There were UNSC Marines next to him as he climbed up. "Holy Christ!" one of them exclaimed, just as a plasma bolt smashed into his head and threw the helmet down. Liam cursed and began to fire at the Covenant across the bridge, knowing that these UNSC Marines must have flanked them in an attempt to even the playing field. Not bloody likely Liam thought as he saw the wraiths and the column of Ghosts, along with elites, grunts, jackals, brutes, hunters, drones and skirmishers. All in all, it was a battle the UNSC couldn't win, but also one that they couldn't afford to lose. Liam looked down and saw the Marines blood seeping through the wooden slats of the bridge. Seeing a weapon he knew how to use and one he knew he could do something with, he picked up the BR55 Battle Rifle and changed the clip, taking the Marines helmet and body armor. He saw the Marines blood in the river below. He ran back towards the UNSC lines on the opposite side of the bridge. A young Sergeant was firing with a pistol at an approaching suicide Grunt. He was too slow, and the bridge was absorbed in a wave of blue light, crimson and yellow flames spreading along the wood. "Goddamn it!" He cursed, discarding the pistol and turning to his men. "Alright guys! Looks like we're swimming!" he yelled over the din, and the other Marines groaned. "Into the river!" He scremaed and the line of Marines descended into the river. Liam ran up to the Sergeant firing and cursing. "Sergeant Miller!" he yelled and the Sergeant looked at him in disbelief "Corporal?! We thought you was done for!" Liam nodded as he joined the man int he river. "Me too" he admitted, and the long line of Marines waded through the river, every other man firing, then when they had to reload, the others would fire. The line was so effective that when Banshees made an attempted strafing run, half of the Marines focussed their fire and brought it down. In abotu 5 minutes they had made it to the other side of the river. One unfortunate Marine was too slow, however, as a Ghost was passing, it took fire in its left wing, dipping into the water it exploded, the debris slamming into him as Liam tried to help him out. All that was left of the man was his scream ringing in Liam's ear, and his severed wrist in Liam's unbroken hand.