Echoes of the Dead

Chapter 6

A/N Holy shit how long has it been since I've done this story, damn I'm so sorry for the long wait…. If any of you are even waiting for this I'm so sorry. I lost the way and my brother stopped helping me and other ideas came to my head I'm soooooo sorry. Anyway after all this time I've definitely gotten a good idea now on what to do and I'm really hoping you like it. Please review or send something to send advice or whatever I hope you enjoy this.

The groups of eight had been running at a decent pace for some time and were finally close to the where Alpha had sent their transmission from. They had luckily not run into any resistance since they killed the Seeder and they were all thankful because they had finally gotten a chance to get ammo.

Flame was panting loudly and said "Lieutenant…. Are we…. there yet?"

Shadow was panting too but not as much "Almost there let me find out"

He put his hand to the com button on his helmet and called out "Alpha, advise on your position"

It took a few moments but finally a voice came on "This is Alpha one, we have moved up onto the roof of a skyscraper, it has a lot of fire coming from the windows since we lit the stairs on fire so it would harder to get up to us, it's surrounded by Locust though"

He could hear some growls then a burst of fire and someone yell "There goes another piece of cannon fodder!"

Alpha leader came back on "Please hurry, we are low on ammo and they're coming in larger waves"

The Lt ended the conversation and said "Ok guys they're on that building" he pointed to the tall building nearby that had fires bellowing from the windows. They were luckily in an open area where they could see mostly around them.

Shadow continued "It's surrounded by locust though and we need to find a way to them any ideas?"

Fred was once again surprised by the lieutenant, he was actually asking for advice from others and finally Sampson said "Well I got one and it surprisingly doesn't involve explosives"

Shadow waited for him to continue but Flame said "Ya I doubt it"

Sampson slapped him upside the head making his head ring because his helmet was one and said "We find one of those torque bows or explosive crossbows and change it to have a long rope. We launch it from that building…" he pointed to another taller building nearby "And then zip line to them and call for transport"

Fred said "Wow…. Never thought of that at all"

Sampson made a slight bow and Shadow said "Good plan but we need a back-up plan incase something happens"

Will added "Ya with our luck it always seems to anyway" Paul nodded in agreement, he had only known them for a few minutes and their helicopter crashed and they nearly died.

Flame suddenly said "We could find two crossbows or torque bows and make a second line and make another quick escape, I mean there's another building nearby that's even lower?"

Fred praised him "Good eyes kid"

Flame couldn't shot it because of his helmet but said "Thanks"

Sampson added in "Told he was smart when he was calm"

Shadow "Alright enough chatter, let's spread out and find either of the two weapons"

They nodded and split up and eventually found two torque bows from dead therons each with one arrow still inside. They had Sampson disarm the explosive tips and found wires to connect to the arrows.

Shadow then led the team up to the top of the taller building and once they reached top got Paul to aim and said "Alpha an arrow is about to come to your building, we are zip lining to you then calling in the chopper"

Alphas voice came on "Hurry the hell up we're not gonna be able to hold them off with them coming up so fast!"

Shadow ordered ""Fire Paul now!"

Paul shot the bow and it made contact with the building. He tested to make sure it could hold his weight then said "Who's first?" Shadow said "I'll go first, leader always goes first in these situations, and if I don't make it…. Well you'll know" he said selflessly grabbing a hook and took a deep breath and started to slide down.

Will leaned to Fred "Did he really just risk his life like that for us?"

Fred nodded "He's not the asshole I thought he'd be"

He reached the end and assisted in the effort to hold back the locust and Sampson said "I'll go next, you know heavy guy they'll need the fire power too"

He hooked on and said "What the hell was a thin….!" His voice trailed off as he slid away.

Next was Flame "Geronimo!"

After him was Fred then Will, Paul and finally Charlie leader.

When Will and Fred got their they landed to hear firing coming from their squad mates mowing down any grub that tried to pass through the door from the stairwell and they joined as the grubs were slowly over taking them. Shadow now called when he had a moment "Rescue ravens home in my signal I got alpha and Charlie leader here"

The pilot said "Got it, we're almost there"

Fred sighed with relief; they may get through this battle without too much trouble. He kept firing and Sampson finally said "I'm blowing the door!"

He fired off a boomshot grenade killing all the locust trying to come through and he door collapsed making it impossible for the grubs to get through.

Alpha squad all sighed with relief and finally lowered their guns to relax for a moment and the apparent leader walked over "Thanks sir, not sure how much longer we'd last, lost two guys already, just five of us now"

Shadow nodded "It was our pleasure; the raven should be here…" he was cut off as the two copters appeared from the clouds and Alpha leader sighed "Thank god"

The first raven was starting to lower down when they felt the building shudder and the ground under the raven started to crack and Fred said "Back up!"

The ground caved in making a ramp from the floor below and the raven pulled up again to avoid the fire coming at it and he said over the com "Can't land we need a new LZ!" he veered off and flew back into the clouds.

Shadow yelled "SHIT, get into cover!" he bolted back towards the now collapsed door using the ruble to just barely cover himself while other hit behind cooling units and vents.

Shadow took a breath "Paul back-up plan now!"

Paul nodded and attached the bolt the wall as high as he could so they had room to hook on without having to fall down a bit when they got started and fired the bolt to the next building. Their positioning was bad and the angle required them to become open to fire from the locust but it's the best they could get and motioned for the final Charlie member to go first.

He did and hooked on and slid down. It caught the locust off guard and so they didn't have time to shoot before he was gone and they turned their attention back to the enemy. After Charlie landed {Paul started getting the other guys to go, he made three of Alpha gosince they were right beside him. One was shot but the breast plate took the shot enough so he wasn't hurt and held onto the hook and made it.

Next were Fred and Will since they were next closest and they slid down firing their pistols at the locust actually connecting with a few hits.

Alpha leader went next and got by without any trouble leaving only Paul, the final Alpha member, Sampson, Flame and Shadow.

The final Alpha was closest and Paul got him to go after pushing him since he was afraid of heights and watched him slide away screaming. His screams gave away someone was coming and the locust took aim and fired. The poor guy almost made it out of range but a shot hit his hand and he lost grip and fell to his death. Paul couldn't watch and after a second yelled "Flame over here now!"

Flame had to run across some major open ground to get over and after rolling the last bit got away without any hits and said "I saw the guy, hey maybe we can fight off these guys I mean…"

"Shut up Mike, get on the damn line!"

He said shoving a hook into his hand and he hesitantly did.

He slid by and after avoiding some bullets that came from some grubs Sampson fired a grenade to protect his squad mate and Flame got through without any hits.

After that Sampson ran over and after firing one last grenade hooked on and without any hesitation slid down. His extra armor weight got him by faster and he made it fine.

Before Paul could say anything Shadow was right beside him and said "You go!"

Paul had to say he didn't want to argue, there were two men left and he didn't want to be the guy left on the building and hooked on and slid down just barely avoiding fire.

Shadow took his two grenades and planted them on the ground so when he jumped none of the locust would get to the wire and cut it on his way down and after hearing "BOOM!" ran for the wire with a hook in hand and jumped and started sliding down. His pistol was in hand and he pointed it back to shoot and saw almost twenty locust staring at him and fired at random hoping to hit. His advanced snub pistol made contact killing a few with a single shot and saw a boomshot grenade fly by him and shot at the Boomer with everything he had left in the clip. He didn't die but his shots sunned it enough to keep from reloading and he was clear from the fire.

The ride down was extremely slow in his mind since at any moment a locust could cut the line and kill him. He got ever so close when he felt the line tremble and looked back to see a locust cutting the wire and thank god it was thick so he had a few more seconds.

He reached the end and just as he let go the wire went limp and fell. He panted as his heart raced and he took a breath of air and saw his squad come to him and help him up.

Fred said "Too close, glad you aren't dead" he said trying to show him that he was his friend now and Shadow nodded "Thanks… Alpha I'm sorry… about your man"

They all went silent and the leader said "Ya, I only wish I could get the tags"

Shadow nodded in agreement and asked "What's your name anyway?"

The leader looked over leaning on his lancer because he was exhausted "Captain Butch Anders at your service"

Hey I hope you liked it because I enjoyed writing it too. I'll try to have some non combat chapters after the whole mission is over I promise. Once again sorry about the LONG wait and I have no real excuse for it so you can send hate reviews for it… just be sort of nice. Anyway I hope I stay this course awhile and thanks for reading.

Admiralkirk