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 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.