“Alright lads and ladettes, we’ve been spotted!” Corbec barked to his followers. “Screw stealth to hell and send these Forsaken bastards packing!” He put his pistol into his left hand, and for the entertainment of those back home, put his AK47 into the right. Then, he recklessly went into the open of the corridor and started shooting. Two Forsaken burst from one doorway, and Corbec put them down. The recoil from firing a full-size Assault Rifle in one hand was terrible, yet refreshingly exhilarating. Before even the spent shell casings had hit the floor, Corbec adjusted his aim and gunned down another Forsaken female emerging from another doorway. Corbec let out a roaring, exultant laugh. It had been too long since he’d had such good fun. Behind him, JS, Girly Spartan, Mike D Halo King, the other survivors and every single person watching the affair worldwide felt a mixture of shock, awe and horror at what Corbec was doing. Like a man possessed, Corbec shot one more Forsaken through the eye as he popped out of a doorway, shrugged off a pistol bullet to his left leg, then shot the throat out of the woman responsible with a blaze of AK fire. Behind his sunglasses, his eyes were alight with glee. [i]This is living.[/i] He thought. Corbec regained his stride, weapons still in his grip, and turned to face into the room that the veteran had dived into but moments before. Within, at least three Forsaken stared at him into total disbelief. Then they went into action. Two raised rifles to fire, while a third primed a grenade for throwing. Corbec downed the man with the grenade in a mixture of pistol and AK fire, then stepped out of view before the others blitzed the doorway with gunfire. The dropped grenade exploded by its deceased user, subsequently blowing apart everyone in the room, turning them into cauterised meat and blood vapour. Corbec went back into the room before anyone else got to shoot at him and reloaded, letting the almost exhausted magazines fall away and slammed fresh ones home to replace them. Corbec didn’t notice the blood flowing freely from his leg as he charged into the breach once more. One female Forsaken shooter was taking cover in a doorway a little further on, while two more were moving up from the other end of the corridor to support her. Corbec pointed the pistol at the woman and killed her with a single bullet, while mowing down her hapless friends still in the open with the AK. He was ready to carry on this beautiful slaughter, to revel in the glory of the hunt and relish the thrill, but found he was having trouble. He almost screamed in frustration at the sluggishness with which his leg moved to respond to his wishes. But before he could do much about it, he was propelled back into the room he had come from. Girly Spartan had pulled him in, while the other Floodians rushed down the corridor to cover her, bayonets fixed. “What are you doing! [i]WHAT ARE YOU DOING![/i]” Corbec shouted, his frustration rising. “Saving your skin.” Girly replied calmly, inspecting the wound on his left upper leg, ripping a larger hole in his fatigues to see. “I had the bastards! I had them and you stop me for this?!” He snapped, trying to shake Girly off, but she was persistent. “You’ve been shot!” Girly warned, dropping her backpack and fishing out the first aid kit. She found a small plastic bottle and handed it to Corbec. “Take all of these.” Corbec unscrewed the lid and swallowed the half-dozen pills inside. It was a hazardous amount of general anaesthetic, and still undergoing tests for field surgery on racing horses. But if it could numb pain for horses, it could make humans virtually unstoppable. Girly then used a tourniquet on Corbec’s leg to severely restrict blood flow to his wound, splashed sterilising fluid onto the wound itself and hastily applied a bandage. JS appeared at the doorway, observing Girly’s attempts to keep Corbec ticking over. “How is he?” He asked. “I imagine he’ll live, but I can’t do anything major right now. I’ve given him painkillers and the tourniquet will slow blood loss. I’ve put antiseptic on the wound, so at least that won’t get infected.” She replied, packing her kit away. JS was quietly disappointed. When he saw Corbec shot, he’d been hoping that the bastard just keeled over and died on the spot, but that was just not so. “Sir.” He said, burying his annoyance beneath a veneer of amicability. “What?” Corbec said, trying to shoo away Girly. “We’ve just cleared all resistance out on this level. But we can tell that the Forsaken below us are well aware of us. Do you want us to proceed?” “Is that all you came to me for? Of course we proceed! We don’t finish a job halfway through!” Corbec hissed. “Now if you don’t have anything else to say just get out and make yourself useful.” “Actually, there is something else…” JS added. They were children. Not like the armed teenagers the Floodians were using, or even the Forsaken ones they themselves had encountered before, but real children. Most not even over ten years old, their eyes filled with a mixture of fear and confusion. “What the hell do we do with them?!” JS asked, with the queasy feeling that he already knew the answer. Mike D Halo King had found them while searching one of the rooms, a dozen or so children huddled together in one frightened corner, listening to the sounds of their elders being shot to pieces. Two Floodians held them at gunpoint impassively. Some of the children were whimpering. “Kill them.” Corbec said. No emotion tinged his voice. JS’ mouth fell open, truly horrified. Corbec didn’t give a reason before leaving, though JS could imagine it. Something to do with the Forsaken children growing up to hate all Floodians and kill their children instead. The two-strong firing squad racked back the slides of their rifles, switched to fully automatic and began firing. JS stumbled backward from the terrible inhumanity. He felt like retching. But he breathed deeply to calm himself, and made up his mind. He took his M4, ignored the frail screams of the children dying, and walked after Corbec. “Sir!” He called, checking the safety was off. Corbec was talking to the other volunteers, who were gathered about halfway down the corridor with their backs to the end they would soon be heading. “What?” Corbec sighed, turning around. JS was about to raise the M4 and grease the bastard right there, when he was shot in the back. He felt a terrific pain in his lower back, but no penetration-his body armour had stopped the bullet. He dropped flat, fearful of more flying ammunition, and from his prone position watched the action unfold. Mike D Halo King took a round to his face and collapsed, dead. Two more Floodians joined him immediately after. Girly Spartan hid in a doorway, and Corbec was nowhere to be seen. JS rolled onto his back, fumbling for his rifle. The firing squad emerged from the room JS had just been in and met instant death from a blonde woman, alluring and graceful in equal measure. She held a stiletto in one hand-which slashed out the throat of the first boy with a flick of her wrist-and a Desert Eagle handgun in the other-which fired a bullet right into the face of the girl behind the first Floodian. The woman wore denim jeans and a white, sleeveless shirt, with a pair stainless black combat boots. Her blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail, and if she wasn’t trying to kill him, JS would most certainly have tried his moves on her. But as it was, JS suddenly felt very alone. This woman-who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere-had just brought active Floodian numbers in the bunker down to two or three, depending if Corbec was still alive. JS finally found his M4 and tried to aim it at the voluptuous and lethal woman. Then Girly Spartan came into play-denying JS a clear shot. [Edited on 08.21.2007 1:31 AM PDT]