[b][u]Mako 6-2, thirteen hours after drop[/u][/b]

Were they still there? He could not tell. Peering through his scope, Ian scanned the forest in a wide arc, looking for any signs of movement. Something rustled in the undergrowth, Ian fired two shots, but missed his mark, hitting the tree instead. In that instant he turned and ran, catching up with the rest of his squad and took cover behind another thick tree, waiting for the Covenant. [color=#FF7F00]“Hurry up, one of those bastards is still alive and gaining on us.”[/color]
[color=#A70000]”I know.”[/color] Sheridan hissed, [color=#A70000]“Eyes on the woods.”[/color]
Sheridan assumed his place at the tip of the group, trying to find a path traversable for Defort and Shepard with their patient. John moved around a small rock formation and ran into a bloodbath. It was a small clearing, although he couldn’t tell if it was natural or created by the conflict. Bodies, more humans than aliens, littered the ground, but several figures still stood. John froze at the edge and raised his rifle, putting it down immediately when he realized they were four marines and what appeared to be a NAVY corpseman walking towards him. [color=#A70000]”Crap, mate, you have no idea how glad I am to see you lot.”[/color]

The rest of the squad caught up, still oblivious to the marines. [color=#FF8C8C]“Wait... Put me down, put me down for a sec.”[/color] The squad stopped, setting Nero down by a tree. With a motion executed on muscle memory alone, she procured a morphine injector and gave herself a dose, throwing the empty injector away as the pain slowly numbed. [color=#FF8C8C]“Good to go, should kick in in ten minutes or so.”[/color] Only then did she notice Dean. Toogood arrived last, winded, but obviously happy to see friendlies. [color=#FF7F00]“Good. Now we just need to find Twitch and lose the three dozen or howevermany aliens tailing us.”[/color]
[color=#A70000]”Notso, see what these marines have been through, maybe it will help us draw a bigger picture. Defort and I will watch west in case any covenant come.”[/color] Suddenly, Sheridan paused and listened to an incoming transmission. [color=#A70000]”And Ian? Did you, by chance, shoot at something that vaguely looked like an ODST?”[/color]
[hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/7GQOccN.png[/img][/center][hr][b][u]Ten minutes behind Mako 6-2[/u][/b]
He wanted to scream. Chariot was miles away! Over a hill, an exposed one by the looks of it, too. No way he could make it, even if he was to do so. Edward punched a tree in silence to vent his desperate rage, finally calming down a little. That plan was a no-go.  He had to find Mako. [color=1F86FE]”Chariot 9-4-3, Mako 6-2-8. Got it. The rest of my squad is somewhere close by, I’ll start with them.”[/color] His mind raced. But where could his squad have gone? Last he knew they were heading east. They were moving slowly because of Miranda’s injury, so they couldn’t be that far away. But what if they turned somewhere else? It was possible the Covenant forced them to change direction. Edward shook his head. No, he had no other option. He had to go east and hope for the best. He could read terrain better than anyone else in the squad and he could move fairly quickly on his own. Assuming they kept going east, he should catch up quickly. He would just have to be careful not to run straight into the Covenant that were pursuing them. On that note he took off eastward in a hushed jog, stopping every minute o so for a few seconds to take a careful look around before resuming as not to fall further behind.

Following the trail was easier than he initially feared as he kept finding spent shell casings and even Covenant bodies in the undergrowth, not to mention hearing gunfire as well. Single shots, a BR55 by the sounds of it. That meant either Defort or Toogood were still alive at the very least. After several minutes, the trail of Covenant bodies disappeared, but he could see movement up ahead. Edward took a knee to catch his breath and was about to radio his squad when a bullet whizzed by. [color=1F86FE]”Three, this is eight, I’m following a trail of dead Covenant due east, but taking fire. Human fire, by the sounds of it. Can you confirm your location?”[/color]

Passing through the trees, he finally saw the familiar shapes of human soldiers. [color=1F86FE]”Friendly from the treeline!”[/color] he called, walking out of the woods with his rifle raised above his head. [color=1F86FE]”Made contact with a survivor from another ODST squad, said to head for OP Sierra, get eyes on and if there are friendlies left, tell their CO more help is hopefully coming. Question is, does anyone of you know where OP Sierra is? I don’t recall it being mentioned in our briefing.”[/color]

[@HumanMusic]