Operation Lockout

Operation Lockout

      I appeared in a cold, blue world.  Snow was slowly falling like sprinkles of fluffy marshmallow.  I looked over at my blue Spartan (another word for human) friend, Zeb.  I started to walk out of the small underground room we were in, but Zeb stepped in front of me.  He slowly pointed up at the glass roof above us.  I glanced up just in time to see a red alien jog across the glass.  The alien, also known as an “elite,” looked horrific.  It had weird hooves as feet, and a beak like mouth.  We were not alone.

         Zeb and I instantly crouched to get off of the elite’s radars.  I didn’t know how many of these elites there were at this place.  I followed Zeb down a ten-foot drop, and we landed in a green-lit basement room.  There, Zeb grabbed a shotgun laying on the ground and threw me a sub-machine gun (SMG), fixing my problem of being unarmed.
         
      I followed Zeb out of the green room, but before we exited he turned around and stared at me.  I didn’t know what I was doing wrong.  Suddenly I realized that he wasn’t looking at me, he was looking behind me.  I jerked around to find an elite swinging a fist at my face.  I closed my eyes and awaited the arrival of the fist, but before it made contact, I heard a shotgun blast.  I opened my eyes to find blue elite blood on my visor, and a dead elite at my feet.
         
      I followed Zeb up a strange portal, which boosted us up and out of the basement.  We landed outside.  I could feel the cold, brisk air penetrate the cracks in my armor.  I looked all around me, but found nobody but Zeb.  I followed him as he seemingly traveled toward a small tower.  I observed our surroundings as we traveled.  I noticed an old, weary sign that read “LOCKOUT” in big black letters.  That must be the name of where we were.  Finally, Zeb and I arrived at the tower.
         
      As soon as we arrived outside of the tower, Zeb crouched.  I mimicked him.  He then drew his arm back and chucked a fragmentation grenade inside a window.  The grenade bounced inside of the tower, making a little “tick” sound with each bounce.  “BOOM!”  The grenade exploded, and screams could be heard from inside of the tower.  I followed Zeb as he jumped into an opening leading to inside of the tower.
         
      I looked around, and saw around five lifeless elite bodies lying on the floor.  I instantly began exploring the tower, traveling up a staircase to a little platform on the roof of the tower.  The platform held a sniper rifle.  I picked up the heavy, cold gun.  From this little platform up high in the air, I could see all of Lockout.  From across the level, I saw an elite patrolling an area.  I looked through my sniper scope and fired.  It was a headshot.
         
      Suddenly, I heard commotion from downstairs.  I ran down there to find Zeb whacking an elite with his shotgun.  Apparently, the elites knew we were in here.  All of the sudden, an elite jumped through the opening to inside of the tower and landed right in front of me.  I fired my sniper rifle and shot the elite right in the arm, then Zeb blasted his shotgun and the elite fell right on my feet.
         
      I ran to a large window and peeked outside.  To my amazement, there were tons of elites, around thirty it seemed.  They were all running towards us.  I put my eye to the sniper scope, and began firing.  I was picking them off left to right.  I reloaded as quick as I could, and began sniping again.  I had to take out as many as I could before they get to the tower we were in.  They neared closer every second.  My heart was pounding; it felt like it was about to burst out of my chest.  I tried to slow my breathing so I could aim better, but I couldn’t.  My hands began to tremble as I backed away from the window.  The elite were seconds away.  I looked at Zeb and he gave a friendly nod, seemingly symbolizing that if this was the last time we communicated, then it had been good doing work with me. 

           “Clunk!”  The first elite had jumped inside of the tower, followed by five or six other elites that had been leading the pack.  Zeb started firing, putting down two of them with one shot.  I grabbed the SMG I had strapped to my back from earlier and began shooting.  I was careful to not shoot Zeb.  At last, we had killed the first batch of the elites.  But that was just the first batch.  One elite followed by another entered our tower, and Zeb was the first one to greet them.  I stood back firing my automatic SMG while Zeb fought close-quarters with the elites, firing his shotgun and beating them down occasionally.  Every time we killed an elite, another one jumped into the tower.  All of the sudden, the first elite to wield a gun arrived.  He was holding a Magnum, a 50-caliber pistol.  Zeb was quick to hit him in the jaw with his shotgun, and then blast his body on the floor.  But as if the elite had started a trend, more elites arrived in our tower wielding Magnum’s.  I still kept my distance, dodging bullets from the elites.  Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my left leg.  I looked down to see a bullet that had penetrated my armor.  I had been shot.

         Out of instinct, I instantly dropped my SMG the second I realized that I had been shot.  I reached down to tend to my leg, but realized I was still in combat.  I looked up to find a magnum pointed right at my face.  “BOOM!”  I drew my head back, thinking I had been shot, but realized that Zeb had shot the elite in the back and once again saved my life.  He held out a hand and helped me up.  Adrenaline had kicked in and I could no longer feel the pain in my leg.  I grabbed my SMG and waited for the next batch of elites, but no more came.  We were safe at last. 

      I wiped the condensed sweat off of my visor.  I sat down against a wall and closed my eyes.  I was so glad to be alive.  Out of the blue, I heard something that sounded like the faint sound of a waterfall.  I listened, as the sound got louder.  I stepped over the dead, bloody elite bodies as I peeked out of a window in the tower.  To my horror, I figured out that the sound was not a waterfall, but a stampede of elites running towards the tower.  I looked over at Zeb, and reloaded my gun.  He gave another friendly nod, as we both backed away from the window and waited for the flood of elites to arrive.