The Walls of Jericho VII
1950 HOURS, JUNE 17, 2531 (MILITARY CALENDAR) ..
TAU CETI SYSTEM, PLANET JERICHO VII, NEW HARDIN
"… 48, 49, 50! Ready or not here I come!" Zeke opened his eyes and immediately checked to make sure no one was trying to hide near the old rundown tractor which served as home. Once he was sure it was ok he started off toward the barn of his family's farm.
Zeke had spent the whole five years of his existence on Jericho VII. His grandfather had moved here in 2493 from Earth to start a new life. He had grown up on a farm in his youth, but owning a farm on the now over industrialized planet was next to impossible. Fortunately the UNSC had been kind enough to give him the money and equipment to start his own farm on one of their fledgling colonies. And that is a brief synopsis of how the Howells came to live 12 light years away from Earth.
Just as Zeke was about to round the corner of the barn he heard some snickering coming from inside. He spun around just in time to see Colin and Logan make a dash for home. Zeke was fast for his age (much to the scorn of his friends) and was able to catch Logan before he even halfway there, a few short strides later he caught Colin.
Zeke was catching his breath when he saw some movement out of the corner of his eye. His sister Kathy had hid in the corn field and was now making her break for home. He knew he couldn't catch her in time so he began to search for the last person, Nick.
Nick watched as his two younger brothers got caught by Zeke. Nick knew very well that he couldn't outrun that kid but, he figured if he waited long enough he could make a clean break towards home. It didn't always work, but maybe he'd get lucky this time. Zeke entered the barn, Nick waited a moment to let him get far enough away from the door then he made his dash for home. He passed the barn door with no problem, his brothers and Kathy now started to cheer him on when all of a sudden he was tackled to the ground. He sat up to see Zeke standing over him. "You really should really stop trying to use the same trick over and over again".
"It was worth one more shot", he replied.
The other three had joined them now. Colin and Logan laughing at some joke they had made and Kathy rolling her eyes.
"Nick, Colin, Logan! It's time to go!" yelled Mrs. Walcott.
They said their goodbyes and when the Walcott's car's lights were only a distant speck Zeke and Kathy headed back inside for bed.
* * *
Zeke awoke to the smell of his dad's homemade waffles. He tried to sleep for a few more moments but his mother's loud knocking on his bedroom door told him it was time to get up. Zeke stumbled down the hall towards the bathroom to wash up. He splashed some water on his face, and then he rushed towards the kitchen before someone else took his waffle. He was too late. His mother and sister were already eating at the table.
"Sorry honey, it was getting cold, you'll have to wait for the next one", said his mother.
Of course there is no feasible way for a waffle to get cold that quickly, but he had argued the point before and knew that there was nothing he could do but wait for the next one. He grabbed a piece of toast off the table and plopped himself in front of the TV to watch early Saturday morning cartoons.
Once he had finally eaten his waffle Zeke took a shower, got dressed, and went to go play outside.
Zeke stepped out onto the front porch and took a deep breath of the midmorning air. The family dog, Jack, plodded up next to him. Zeke scratched the scruff of his neck, and then ran off to find his parents, while Jack just watched before returning to his corner to sleep.
Zeke's mother emerged from the barn carrying a sack of oats for the horses. "Dear? Could you fetch your sister and go out into the forest to pick some blueberries? I want to make a pie for dinner."
"Fine", Zeke replied with a sarcastic sigh, but he couldn't hold a straight face for long and started laughing.
* * *
The walk to the blueberry bushes wasn't very difficult and a nice steady breeze kept them cool. The blueberry patch was located just outside some old ruins. The ruins weren't very interesting just a pile of rocks in a 20 foot diameter circle. On some of the rocks there were hieroglyphs that somewhat resembled those of the Aztecs that he had read about. His dad had told them once that there were going to be archaeological digs at that site but the ongoing war with the Covenant had postponed them indefinitely. Zeke and his friends often played here and pretended that the ruins were a magical castle. He decided that the next time the Walcotts were over they should play here, but right now he and his sister had to pick blueberries.
Despite having thrown berries at each other it only took them an hour for the children to complete their task. The grumbling of their stomachs told them that it was nearing noon, so they took the lunch their mother had packed for them and ate some of the berries that were left on the bushes. After lunch they headed back for home.
They had just reached the top of a hill overlooking their farm when they saw the monsters. It was what they, and what everyone else had feared for the past 6 years, the Covenant had finally found Jericho VII.
It took Zeke a few to register what was really happening, but as soon as he did he pulled himself and Kathy down into the tall grass. "Kathy, no matter what happens don't get up until I tell you to", she just nodded. Zeke peeked over the grass to see what was going on.
There were at least two dozen of them, but it didn't appear that they had seen them. One of the taller ones entered their house. A second later Zeke heard his fathers shot gun go off, Jack came running out of the house and charged another creature but was caught in midair and then shot several times by the shortest ones in the group until he was charred beyond recognition. The monster tossed the carcass aside and a strange, glowing, white object materialized in his hand. He and a few others rushed into the house. Zeke heard another round go off and then his mother scream, for a moment, then all was silent except for Kathy's quiet sobbing.
When the monsters emerged from the house the one carrying the glowing object issued some commands and the whole group fanned out into the forest. Zeke sank back down into the grass next to his sister who was still crying. He wrapped an arm around her and wiped the tears that were beginning to well up into his eyes. He knew that they had to contact someone so that they wouldn't be left behind. His dad kept an old fashioned ham radio in the barn. When Kathy had shed all the tears she possibly could they headed on down the hill. Zeke was sure to avoid the house, both for his sister's sake and his own. When they entered the barn they headed straight over to the radio. Zeke turned it on and broadcast the already prepared distress signal just like his father had showed him. Afterwards he and his sister sat down in a pile of hay and waited.
It was night when he awoke. His sister was still sleeping peacefully next to him. He got up to look outside, he knew that no one was out there but he just felt like he needed to do something. There was a full moon up that night he looked about to survey the area and in the direction of New Brussels he could see an enormous red glow on the horizon. Above the inferno he could see more blobs of glowing blue plasma falling from the sky. He considered waking his sister but he decided against it. If she was doomed to die she would at least die in peace. He walked back inside and closed the door behind him. He had reached the pile of hay when he heard the back door creak open. He ran over to it to find one of the monsters standing there. He quickly ducked into stall just a second before the monster shot several glowing red shards from its weapon. When the monster entered the stall Zeke stabbed him in the gut with a pitchfork and pinned him to the opposite wall. The bird-faced creature dropped his weapon to the ground, looked down at his fatal injury, and then looked back up at Zeke. In its eyes Zeke could have swore that he saw disbelief for a moment just before it went limp. Outside Zeke heard some more footsteps. He removed the pitchfork from the monster and hid next to the door. The door opened and from outside came a voice, "Hello!? Is anyone in there?"
* * *
Ensign Callahan was watching the children talking with the counselor from behind the one-way glass when Lieutenant Tanaka entered. "Well, how did they do?"
"The girl didn't match any of our genetic markers, but the boy did", Callahan replied.
"Good, transfer him to the Athens".
"Sir, there's a problem. Though the blood tests checked out he didn't quite pass the written ones"
"We can let it slide; ONI needs all of the candidates they can get".
"The training alone could kill him!"
"If you're having trouble with this assignment I can get someone to replace you".
"No sir, I'm fine sir."
"Good", at this Tanaka left the room. Callahan looked back at the boy named "Zeke" and thought of how much better off he would have been if he had died on the planet compared to what lay ahead
