Suicidal Marine

"I... I didn't have a choice... The L.T... the sergeant... they were all infected! I could see it crawling... sliming around beneath their skin!! A-and then they got up... they s-started to talk! Oh, God! Their voices!! Oh, God! No, make them stop! I did them a favor... y-yeah that's it; I helped them! Maybe... maybe I need to do myself... a fav..."

- The Marine

This Marine was a serviceman in the UNSC Marine Corps. He was part of the unit that fought in Traxus Factory Complex 09 during the Battle of Voi on November 17, 2552. After the Flood landed in the area aboard an infested Covenant cruiser, the Marines were overrun and (according to him) most of the members of his unit were infected. He claimed he was forced to kill his infected compatriots in order to survive, and ultimately remained as the only survivor in the area. He was severely traumatized by the event and when encountered by Spartan John-117 shortly afterward, he remained recoiling in a corner, deliriously relating his encounter with the Flood. While attempting to rationalize his actions by declaring that he did his comrades a favor by killing them, he frequently pointed his sidearm at his temple and contemplated suicide.

Production notes

 * An homage to a similar paranoid Marine from the level "343 Guilty Spark" in Halo: Combat Evolved, this Marine is encountered in the Halo 3 level "Floodgate", shortly after passing the area with an M7057 flamethrower. After describing his encounter with the Flood, he points his gun at his temple, seemingly about to kill himself, although he alternates between this and putting his gun down and shaking. Eventually the Marine will stand up in a combat-ready stance, but will not accept other weapons.
 * The dead Marines lying around the room show no signs of Flood infection. While this may be a simple oversight, the lack of infection (along with the reference to the Flood "speaking" and the Marine's expression of guilt) indicates the possibility that his traumatic encounter with the Flood led to paranoid delusion, prompting him to kill his uninfected squadmates.