Actually, now that I think about it, was it possible that more Flood landed on Earth after John left for the Ark with Thel's forces? In order to get to the Ark, High Charity had to access the portal at earth, and appeared late in the end-game. I doubt even if the gravemind knew the location, that High Charity could make the journey fast enough without using the portal. And in this regard, since Thel's forces all went to the other side, the last defending UNSC forces on the planet must have had to engage the Flood that no doubt attempted to take Earth. So, we come to the end-game, and all ships pull away from the Ark, enter the portal back home, and once again R'tas has to do more glassing. Makes sense. And, now that I'm really thinking about it, I want to know just how bad Earth got hit. Just what was the extent of the Brute forces that ravaged the planet after the Schism? I know Africa got hit pretty hard, and Australia got utterly [u]dunked[/u]. My question is why exactly? Australia have something of importance there? And what of the rest of the planet? Population before and after the Covenant Invasions? Gah, too many stories left to tell that will never be told.