Author's Note: It has been a long while and I really hope I haven't lost my readers. If I have I'm SUPER SORRY. But here is Chapter 11. Enjoy. Reviews are most welcome.

11. Rolling Thunder

1258 Hours

As they turned right Master Chief spotted a Grunt sleeping on the side of the pathway. He turned the turret of the Scorpion and was about to fire a shell at it when Frank opened fire and the Grunt sprung to its feet and ran further into the cavern.

Master Chief directed the tank right and went straight on into a small Covenant scouting party. He was glad that he hadn't wasted a shot at the Grunt as he fired the shell at the party. The blast sent the two Elites bouncing against the walls as well as several Grunts.

"Nice job!" a Marine cheered as Master Chief shot down a retreating Grunt down with the auto-turret.

They turned left and an incline leading up above ground appeared in front of them. There were several rocks and oval lights scattered throughout the hill, which Master Chief recognized as Jackal shields. He aimed the long turret each one and fired, sending the Jackal's flying.

"Leave some for me, huh?" the Marine muttered as Master Chief swerved around the large rocks.

Ahead, at the mouth of the cave a Covenant drop ship began to descend. Master Chief aimed and fired a shell at it. No sooner had it landed it dusted off and disappeared into the incoming fog. At the top of the hill the cave ended and Master Chief spotted two Elites waiting in Ghosts. He fired at them and sent them spinning wildly out of control. Two small parties consisting of Jackals and Grunts flanked the sides of the Scorpion, but in seconds, the snow was covered in the purple and blue blood of the aliens.

In front of them was a tower that was surrounded by rock. Master Chief went around its right side. Some Grunts and a Elite peeked out of a hatch that led into the tower and they were greeted by a shell to the face. Master Chief hopped out of the Scorpion to equip himself with the ammunition of a dead Marine.

"Uhhh… Master Ch–John!" Frank called out from his frozen seat on the side of the Scorpion. "There's a Ghost and a Wraith ahead!"

Master Chief glanced over his shoulder as he reloaded his M19 SSM SPNKr rocket launcher and saw the lone Ghost moving in their direction. He sprinted for the Scorpion and jumped into the driver's seat and in a second fired a rocket at the Ghost. It missed and struck against the cliff wall behind the Wraith. The Ghost, now alerted, zoomed toward the marines. Master Chief fired as soon as he could, and hit the front of the Ghost. The Wraith couldn't pinpoint the source of the firing, and Master Chief got two shots off before it exploded in flames.

"Woo! Class is dismissed," a Marine shouted.

"This was a class?" Master Chief asked, looking at the Marine. "What kinda class is this?"

"Um… Covenant War 101?" the Marine suggested, shrugging his shoulders.

"Strange… I didn't hear a bell ring, so let's just keep going," Master Chief stepped on the accelerator and they moved forward.

There was a large boulder ahead at their right and two Hunters jumped out behind it. Master Chief fired a shell at one of them as they primed their massive guns. They fired a shot as a Ghost ramped off the top of the Scorpion.

The marines shouted in surprise as Master Chief tried to reload the turret of the Scorpion as the Ghost landed and spun around to fire at them. John naturally stepped on the reverse and moved backward as the tank notified him that it was reloaded, he fired and blasted the Ghost away. When the small battle was over Master Chief moved around the boulder and they found some Grunts and Jackals at the cliffs edge of a ravine. He fired a new shell at them and sent them flying as some Covenant soldiers ahead of them spotted the tank. Master Chief fired at them and sent the remaining Grunts scurrying for cover.

"Someone's on fire," Vern rooted.

That's when Master Chief saw some green dots on his Motion Tracker. They were at the bottom of the canyon. He drove the Scorpion down the slope and found five more marines. They pointed at him and shouted for joy.

"I thought the Covenant had eliminated all marine forces in this part," Cortana contemplated as the Marines hopped onto the Scorpion.

"Well, sometimes it's all right to admit that you're wrong," Master Chief encouraged her.

"Covenant drop ship!" a Marine shouted, pointed to the cloudy sky. Master Chief stepped on the gas and plowed over two Hunters.

The drop ship fired at them as Master Chief was forced to stop at the entrance to another cave. Two pillars blocked their way so they all got off of the Scorpion and hid in the protection of the walls. Master Chief heard a snarl behind him and he spun around holding his rocket launcher. He didn't see anything except several lights that marked the path. Then one of the lights moved and he heard a Elite growl.

It was a split second decision. Shoot the invisible Elite or get sliced in half. He chose the first option. The rocket blasted the Elite back five feet where its unbroken bones shattered against the impact of hitting a rock.

They went up and over a small precipice, but before they reached the top Frank stopped them.

"John," he said, looking at the Master Chief. "Hand me that rocket launcher. I'm gonna go up there and see what damage I can do before the enemy knows we're here. When you get the heads-up I want everyone to charge across the field shooting assault rifles." He gave everyone two thumbs up and took the SPNKr rocket launcher, hefted it onto his shoulder and climbed up.

Frank snuck past a couple of Grunts without alerting them and stood on top of a high mound all the way to the left of the field. There were at least six Elites with Ghosts and way at the other side of the field was an Elite standing beside a Banshee. He aimed and fired at the Banshee then gave the marines he left behind the A-OK.

The marines jumped up from their hiding place, assault rifles blazing. The group of Grunts that Frank passed was mowed down as well as an Elite. Frank reloaded the rocket launcher just in time to see a Ghost zooming toward the marines. He took aim once more and fired in front of the Ghost, sending it spinning and flying into the air, which ejected the pilot.

He heard the familiar sound of S2 AM sniper rifles and saw Master Chief and another marine both firing their own weapon. It took ten seconds for the field to be cleared of Covenant forces and they headed toward a hatch that led inside of the cliff. As they neared the door, it opened on its own accord and let two Elites out. The Elites stood there for a second, surprised by the army of marines. Master Chief stepped forward and held up a hand.

"We come in peace," he said deeply.

"Nah," Frank said, firing the last rocket at the two Elites. They didn't have any time to react and the rocket exploded on impact.

"Why'd you do that?" asked Master Chief, as he turned to John who was tossing the SPNKr rocket launcher away behind him. "They would've joined up with us."

"No they wouldn't have. Elites are on the Covenant's side. The day I fight along side an Elite is the day I go back to Earth. It ain't gonna happen."

"It could," Master Chief muttered as he went to the door. "I think they're kinda cool lookin' with their shiny armor, and ant-like faces hidden under awesome helmets. And they got four fingers! That's cool too. And how their necks curve forward instead of upward…" his voice trailed off as he realized he was the only one that had even approached the door. "Guys?" he asked, looking behind him. "You comin' in?"

"Cortana called in a Pelican. We're getting out of here," a marine informed Master Chief. "Have fun with your alien friends though."

"Frank? Vern?" Master Chief said, his feelings hurt that none of the marines wanted to follow him anymore. "You guys gonna come?"

Vern shrugged. "Sure. I wouldn't mind going against Bungie and Microsoft's programming. And while we're at it, how about we take that Banshee up to those walkways way up there since we like to save time."

No one understood what Vern just said, but Master Chief nodded anyway. "Sounds great. C'mon Frank, you can ride on the other side of the Banshee to balance it out."

They ran over to the Banshee and climbed on with Master Chief at the controls. "How do you fly this thing? There aren't any instructions and everything is in alien format."

"Just do what you always do," Frank suggested.

Master Chief pressed his hand on the panel made for a hand and the Banshee rose. He pressed another one and it moved forward. "Oh, that's easy," he smiled and crashed the Banshee against the face of the cliff. He backed out and flew upward till he landed on one of the bridges. They hopped off the Banshee and walked through the closest hatch.

After traveling some more lefts and rights, they reached the next hatch that led them deeper in the cave. That didn't sound right to Master Chief, but he shrugged and kicked the door open, ready for battle.

"Ow." He cringed as a stinging pain shot up his leg and spine. "I don't think these doors were made to be kicked open."

Frank pursed his lips and shook his head. "No. They weren't."

Through the hatch there wasn't anything in there, as far as Master Chief could tell. Frank took point and swept his gun back and forth as he scouted ahead. He went left. There was a creepy noise in the room, and it frightened Master Chief. He could've sworn he heard someone growling next to his ear. He jumped five feet in the air when he heard something hiss behind him and saw that it was just the hatch closing.

They continued to go left, not seeing any Covenant in the room at all. They saw some dry blood on the ground, but it was red. So there had been human forces in that room at one point in time…

Passing through the room with no incident, they came to a long corridor. Master Chief clung to the wall, fear racking his insides. "I'm not going through there," he cried. "It's creepy enough I haven't shot at a single Grunt in the past five minutes. They're just gonna jump out at us, I just know it!"

"Well, I'm not going down there first," Vern crossed his arms. "You go first Frank."

Frank shook his head. "Not uh! I've been point too long. It's your turn."

They continued to argue and dared each other to go first. Eventually Frank suggested that they all go down the corridor together, arms linked together.

So all three of them locked arms together and ran as fast as they could through the corridor, screaming at the top of their lungs and keeping their eyes shut tight. They reached the side without running into any Covenant.

Frank broke the chain and growled, "You know what I think? I think that the Covies are too frightened to fight us now so they've given up, yeah?"

They walked on and came to a locked door. Master Chief beat on it a couple of times with his gun, but nothing happened.

"You know what I think now?" Frank asked, "I think that Bungie and Microsoft expected that some idiot would be able to skip through part of the level, like we did, and just go on to some later part so they locked the doors. Now we gotta go back through the creepy rooms and do everything all over again!"

Master Chief stepped forward to offer his own opinion, which he always thought was the best idea. "Why don't you two ever try saying, 'Open Sesame?'"

Frank and Vern both looked at Master Chief and scoffed. "Oh c'mon, John," Frank said dubiously. "That old saying never, ever, works."

"What? Open sesame?" Master Chief knocked on the hatch with the butt of his M6D.

And the door slid open.

"Be careful," Vern warned as they moved forward, out into the cold snowy weather. "It could be a trap."

Frank, of course, took point and stepped out first. He swept the air and shook his head. "Nope, nothing."

Master Chief went out and was followed behind by Vern. Frank suddenly stopped and pointed in front of them where a Elite was on patrol. He raised his AM S2 sniper rifle and pulled the trigger. The Elite crumbled on the ground, purple blood swelling on the ground from his head.

They continued on but suddenly something large and green blew up on the ground in front of them. Master Chief glanced to his right and saw two Hunters on the other bridge.

"Step aside," he said, puffing up his chest and lifting his sniper rifle to his shoulder. He took aim at the closest Hunter and fired. It collapsed without a sound. The second one growled and started firing rapid plasma shots at Master Chief, and all Master Chief could do was fire random shots at the Hunter's armor.

Minutes passed and the Hunter still hadn't fallen but more Covenant soldiers began to appear in front of them. Frank and Vern took cover behind a half-wall while Master Chief continued to shoot at the Hunter. Then, unexpectedly the sniper rifle clicked. He reached down to his belt to load another clip of 14.5mm x 114 Armor-Piercing, Fin-Stabilized, Discarding Sabot ammunition, but much to his chagrin he was out.

"Fr-Frank…" Master Chief stammered as the Hunter charged up his plasma cannon and aimed it at the group of three.

"Yeah?!" Frank shouted in a loud voice as he swung his MA5B back and forth, the violent bead of lead mowed down the Grunts in front of him.

"I'm… I'm… out of ammo and the uh… Hunter isn't happy."

Frank turned around and saw the angry Hunter. He grabbed Vern's shoulder, shoved him over in the process and yanked him to his feet. "RUN!" He shouted as they ran forward. Master Chief felt the air warm behind him as the hot molten plasma smashed against the half-wall they were behind seconds before. They kept running until they neared the door which opened by itself.

There was a roar in front of them, but Master Chief couldn't see anything. But Frank must have, because he unloaded an entire clip of his MA5B into a haze which after it crumbled into a heap was revealed to be an invisible Elite.

"Strange," Master Chief blinked at the dead alien. "I could not have predicted this… bummer."

"HURRY!" Frank shouted as he jumped over the dead Elite and slid to safety. Vern followed behind and Master Chief brought up the rear. When the door finally closed behind them they continued through the door and back into the never-ending maze. Frank gave a woot and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Well, let's keep going," he slapped a fresh magazine back into his MA5B. He started to step forward but stopped and turned around. "How much ammo do you guys have left?"

Vern checked his ammunition and looking grim he said, "Two hundred for my assault rifle and less than ten on my pistol."

Frank faced Master Chief. "And you, John?"

"Umm…" he released the clip from his S2 AM sniper rifle and said, "Four… plus nineteen… equals…. Ummm….—"

"—twenty-three?" Vern suggested.

"Twenty-three rounds total for my sniper rifle. And twelve… plus fifty…" He scratched his helmet.

Vern spoke up again. "Sixty-five?"

"Sixty-two," Master Chief finished. "Sixty-two rounds total for my pistol."

"Wait… I thought you said you were out of sniper ammo," Frank put his hands on his hips.

"I found some more."

"Great." Frank grabbed John's arm and pulled him in front of him. "Then you lead this time."

"What?"

"John, please. It's easy. And it helps with leadership skills too. So how about you get your big butt moving." Frank pushed him forward.

Master Chief shouldered his S2 AM sniper rifle and held his pistol with both hands as he took point. The tunnel went left, right, left and then right once more before they arrived at a door that slid upwards no sooner had they turned the corner. Master Chief switched to his sniper rifle and stepped cautiously forward. On his Motion Tracker he saw two red dots on his left.

He peeked his head out into the open and saw two Jackals with their back to him. He switched back to the pistol. He leveled the gun and fired. The closest Jackal collapsed to the ground and the furthest one jumped in surprise. Frank shot and the other Jackal fell right next to the first one.

Suddenly Master Chief's Motion Tracker was flooded with red dots rushing toward their location. He faced the direction of the nearest dot, but nothing came into view. He took a few steps and saw a couple of Grunts. In a couple of shots, the Grunts were down in their blue blood.

Still leading, Master Chief went around the room and found the way to continue through the maze. Frank was next in line and Vern brought up the rear. They went down a slope and walked around an intrusion in the ground and went back up another slope.

"Well, that was a waste of our time," Vern commented as they turned right.

"Shh…" Frank slapped Vern on the back of the head. Ahead of them a long hallway stretched out, and what made it odd were the two blue Energy swords that hovered in the air. "John," he whispered. "Snipe them."

Master Chief switched back to his S2 AM and aimed it at the closest haze in the air. Or he thought was the haze. The round kept going till it hit the wall on the other side of the hallway. The sword swung around and charged at him. Master Chief fired again and a invisible Elite crumbled to the floor. The second swordsman was close behind the first. Master Chief took another shot, and the Elite bit the dust.

"Nice…" Frank grinned as Master Chief reloaded the sniper rifle and started to walk down the hall.

"Careful," peeped Vern, who hadn't budged a muscle since the first Elite went down. "There might be more of them."

Master Chief halted in the middle of the corridor and looked around. There weren't any more hovering swords. "I don't' see anything," he shrugged. "Let's go."

He went to the end of the hallway, turned right, and just like seconds before, went down a slope and right back up one. A big red dot on his Motion Tracker popped up and he swung his S2 AM in the direction of the dot. There was a wall.

"It must be behind the wall," Frank told him as he turned right to go around.

"Hold on," Master Chief told him as he scanned the room. Above their heads there was a walkway. If Frank and Vern helped him up there… he might be able to snipe whatever that dot was. "Lift me up," he ordered.

"Are you kidding me?" Vern chuckled. "You weight like five tons."

Master Chief jerked his head around to look at the marine. "Is that a fat joke?"

"Uh," Vern bit his lip. "I was just saying it would be kinda hard."

Frank turned and nodded. "But we'll try. C'mon."

They lifted John up to a ledge right below the walkway and he pulled himself up on top. He gave them a thumbs-up and crouched into the next room.

Two Hunters were patrolling the room and hadn't heard the Marines or the Spartan. Master Chief zoomed in on the nearest Hunter's orange back and fired. It groaned as it fell backwards. That's when the ground shook underneath John's feet. He turned and saw the second Hunter firing his Fuel Rod Cannon at him.

He fumbled with his gun, trying to hold it steady as the Hunter recharged his gun. Without thinking, Master Chief threw a plasma grenade at the Hunter where it stuck on its butt. He whooped as he thought it would blow the Hunter to bits. Instead it only exploded and made the Hunter angrier.

Master Chief grabbed his pistol and fired several shots into the Hunter's small head. It grunted as the bullets lodged themselves into its head. Finally it keeled over and died.

Standing up, Master Chief called for Frank and Vern. "It's OK! It was only two Hunters."

"That's a relief," Vern muttered as he stepped into the room from another way. Frank was right behind him.

"And look!" John pointed at some dead marine bodies. "Weapons!"

Frank, Vern and John reloaded their weapons, and Vern exchanged his pistol for a rocket launcher. With fully loaded weapons and clips, Frank retook his position of point and they went to the door.

Three Jackals were on the other side and Vern chucked a frag grenade at them and turned. The door closed and there was a boom on the other side and they stepped over the bits and pieces remaining of the Jackals and their plasma pistols. No sooner had they turned right though, two Grunts leapt out and squealed. Frank mowed them down with his assault rifle and turned left, where he dropped one more with a burst of lead and another with the butt of his rifle.

There was another turn left, and that's when Vern said, "Has anyone else noticed that these tunnels go left, right, left, right, left, right, left, left, right?"

Frank ignored him as he turned right and came to a large door.