The Covenant were storming around us, cutting off any exit point that got us a chance out of this situation. We were holding the position pretty well, but we needed an extraction, otherwise we're done for." Jackson! How's the portals progress going!" I shout out to my squad mate, killing off a Jackal sniper." I'm almost done Blake! Just another minute or so!" He yells back, firing a single round at a grunt before returning to his current job." Works with me." I say, this time over the intercom built inside my helmet. I continued to mow down enemy after enemy until an Elite minor jumps out from the crowd of Grunts and Jackals, his plasma rifle firing rounds straight towards Jackson." Not today fucker!" I screech, taking the liquid fire to my chest. While I'm lucky to have this armor, I can still feel a bit of the pain. He growls before lunging towards me, rifle still firing in hand. I step to the left followed by him quickly repositioning himself to kick me in the chest. I took this opportunity to grab it, smashing into his armored leg with all my might. I saw the armor bend to my satisfaction, but I was even more proud of myself for hearing the familiar sound of a bone breaking. With this moment opened I grabbed the pistol at my side and unloaded the clip into his skull, killing the shark head." Are you done yet Jackson!" I yell out through the comm link," Yeah, it's finished! Get your ass over here!" He replies. I rush over to his position as fast as I can when a bright flash of orange light cruises into our field of vision. What came out of that light was an enemy I hoped wouldn't be making an appearance." God dammit. JACKSON! We've got a Knight in the vicinity, get through the portal now!" I tell him," It's alright Blake, it's just a single Knight, no need for your panties getting twisted." He chuckles out. While I was running towards him, taking out enemy after enemy, Jackson held down the first over at the portal. I reached the portal and Jackson after taking down a few more Jackals and Grunts when a double red line appeared on Jackson's head." JACKSON, GET DOWN!" I yelled, my voice echoing amongst the Forerunner technology. Jackson barely had time to move as the shot fired out, the familiar sound of a binary rifle going off ringing throughout the compound." JACKSON!" I scream, my eyes on the brink of tearing up. I couldn't see through his black visor, but I could tell his eyes were widened. It's not very often when you see a Spartan who shows fear, and right now he showed plenty of it. The bullet connected with his helmet, disintegrating a hole cleanly cut through his armor and face followed by his entire body a few short seconds afterwards. The only man that stood besides me, the only one I could call a friend, was dead. Even through my pain I pressed on. I had to. For me and for him. I felt rage take over as I lobbed a grenade at the sniper, barely throwing it far enough to hit him in the chest cavity, somehow being lucky enough to lodge it in his armor, killing him with the explosion. I continued killing enemy after enemy until I looked back at where he once stood to see a glimmer of metal on the ground. His dog tags. I ran as fast as I could to get them, killing any Covenant or Promethean in my way. I grabbed the metal ID and hauled ass back to the portal, planting some plasma grenades on its frame." See you in hell fuckers." I spat out, throwing myself into the portal and onboard The Infinity, me and Jackson's destination. I fell down to my knees, clutching his tags in my hands, and for the first time in recorded history of the Spartans, cried.