Phoenix Logs/Multiplayer Maps/Badlands


 * The unforgiving desert threatens to engulf this Forerunner bastion and all who
 * fight there.


 * "I was tired. I signaled to the Grunt on the other side of the door, undid the lock
 * and stepped back, hands held up where it could see me. The Grunt got up
 * slowly and started walking towards it.


 * I had stumbled upon the abandoned research outpost a couple of days ago
 * after a week in the howling desert wind. My entire squad had been killed in a
 * Banished ambush, but I was saved - then damned - by a sudden sandstorm
 * that covered my escape. Then came a week walking through the biting wind,
 * ears dulled by the constant whine, almost delirious with starvation. I tried to
 * cry when I first saw the outpost, but I was so dehydrated I could only choke out
 * a a few guttural noises.


 * With the researchers long dead the outpost was filthy and a stale smell hung in
 * the air, but the quiet hum of the power systems after the noise of the desert
 * felt like home. I found fresh clothes, enough food stocks for six months and a
 * communication system that I thought I could get working within a few days so
 * I could contact the Spirit of Fire. I ate a large meal, found a cot and fell asleep in
 * seconds.


 * A crash woke me up, and I crept into the corridor to see a Grunt inside the
 * pantry, searching for supplies - I wasn't the only one who had gotten lost in the
 * storm. I slammed the door and locked it. Trapping the Grunt inside. He spun
 * around, shocked to see someone else and then tried to barge through the door.
 * But it was too heavy. He started pacing around in circles, which is when he saw
 * my gun propped up against the refrigerator inside the pantry. We had a
 * standoff; he was trapped, but I was unarmed and couldn't get to the food. My
 * only hope was the communications equipment.


 * After three days without food, I was ravenous and having lapses in
 * concentration. I weighed the risks and decided to let the Grunt out so I could
 * get to the supplies. As he crossed the threshold of the door he triggered the
 * tripwire, setting off the small explosion I had cannibalized from the
 * communications equipment. I dragged his body to the side of the pantry and
 * took a drink from the refrigerator. I wasn't going to be calling anyone anytime
 * soon—but neither was the Grunt."


 * Report found in abandoned outpost, author unknown.