The Hunters

“They went down and to the left,” Ishik called out from the front of the small band known as the ‘Ghost Soldiers’. Although he was not a Nomad from birth Ishik had learned quickly and although he was a former PDF soldier he had been accepted as one of their own.

As the men descended further into the hive Josam shifted his long rifle into a cradle like hold in his left arm. ‘Smooth, steady breathing, the hive is not slowly collapsing,’ he reminded himself.

A half kilometer more and the tunnel opened up into the bottom of a very deep artificial crevasse within the hive. Peering up Josam was amazed to see that he could not see the top as his vision was swallowed up by impenetrable darkness. As they paused for Ishik to pick up the trail of their quarry Josam felt a slight breeze cross his temple and he turned to peer in the direction of the source. ‘Is that…light?’ He asked himself. He lifted his respirator for a quick whiff of the draft. It smelled of the wastes, not the stale scent that had filled his nostrils these past few hours.

“We may have a breach down this way,” Josam offered to the others who were milling around.

Ishik looked up and nodded. “The trail moves off away from there. We’re probably only fifteen minutes behind them.”

“Then our path is obvious. The current priority is to free Urartu, but once we’ve done that I think he’ll be pleased to know that we’ve taken notice of a new access to the hive.” ‘And my own relief to get out from under this manmade mountain’ Josam added to himself as he motioned for the others to move out.

Turning the breeze to their back the four men continued to follow the track left behind as it followed the cavern until it turned into a hole not much bigger than the silhouette of a man. One by one the four men filed into the cramped passageway beyond. As they moved along it slowly grew in size and they all could detect sounds coming from ahead. Stopping to listen Ishik raised his hand for silence.

“Sounds like a shanty,” he said.

Josam thought to himself for a moment. “Well, I don’t think we’d be welcome there,” Josam said to no one in particular. “Ishik, I need you to move up ahead and see if we can get a look around without being spotted.”

An-Nur moved back ten meters the way they’d come to cover the rear. Shuvah moved to the deeper shadows and sat down with his back to the wall and avoided Josam’s gaze. ‘Odd, no one has questioned my assuming command in Urartu’s absence. That will change real quick if I make a mistake here.’ Josam kept his eyes fixed on the juve. “Let me see your stubber kid.”

The look Shuvah gave Josam was filled with distrust and some fear. “What do you want with it?”

“Take it easy, I just want to look at it.”

Slowly the juve reached across and withdrew the semi-automatic pistol from its holster under his left arm, neither looked aside from the other’s eyes. Spinning it around in his hand Shuvah offered it grip first. Reaching for the offered weapon he noticed the kid’s other hand had instinctively moved to the pommel of his knife. ‘Good, the kid’s got some sense of self preservation’

“Look, I’m not holding you responsible for these hive maggots walking off with Urartu. I just don’t take to new people real quick, and I was looking forward to some down time back in ‘Hive’s End’. What made you want to hook up with us in the first place?”

“My uncle’s raised me since I was nine. Apparently he owed Urartu some money and some kind of deal was struck. I came willingly cause I was glad to get out of that shanty. Besides, Urartu paid for that pistol so it was like a signing bonus.”

Josam just ran his hands over the metal as he continued to study the juve. Eventually the kid broke the link and looked off towards the sounds ahead. Moving it to his left hand he offered the pistol back to the kids, grip first. As Shuvah grabbed the pistol and started to pull on it Josam’s right hand flew never letting go of the pistol. In the blink of an eye Josam’s sword was against the side of Shuvah’s neck. “But the next time I see you run from a fight I will take it upon myself personally to make things right. We nomads have nothing but ourselves to rely on. If we can’t trust one another to be there in the thick of things, then we best make new friends. You get me?”

Shuvah kept a tight grip on the pistol and returned Josam’s gaze. “You can count on me.” Was all the kids said. Josam held the pistol for another moment and then gently released his grip, as he did so he withdrew his sword leaving a slight cut in the skin. Josam stepped back a step, nodded and turned to look for Ishik.

“They’re up there alright. Five of them are camped out at the end of this tunnel. Urartu’s with them,” Ishik said as he returned.

“Can we take them?” An-Nur asked as he pulled in to the others.

“No, they’ve got the approached pretty well covered with a heavy stubber. We’d cap maybe two before that thing ranged in on us. Even with your long gun Josam,” he nodded towards Josam. “They’ve got the reach on the rest of us.”

Josam stood thinking to himself. Not a good situation. Even though Urartu was the leader of this band he could not make himself think that it would be anything other than foolish to sacrifice the rest of them just to free him. “Do you think they’ll come back this way when they’ve taken care of whatever business they’ve come for?”

“I can’t be sure, but it looks that way to me,” Ishik replied.

“Come on,” Josam turned to head back the way they had come. “I saw some sort of tracks back where we caught the sent of the wastes.”

Leaving An-Nur at the entrance to the tunnel the others went in search of food, and it did not take long. Draped across Ishik’s shoulders was some sort of six legged creature. The hide was tough, but it was otherwise easy to dress. In no time the four men were enjoying a hardier meal than they had enjoyed in a very long time.

After several hours, and two reconnaissance runs, Shuvah reported that he saw seven men approaching. The four Nomads deployed into the shadows to await their prey.

Several minutes later Josam saw two heads appear and without stepping into the clearing looked around. ‘Hold!’ Josam signaled the others. ‘Let’s see what these rats are up to first.’ He thought to himself. Just then the man with the heavy machinegun darted out into the open. The move had caught Josam by surprise and before he could get the crosshairs to settle on his target for a shot the man was behind several girders of a long abandoned building. ‘Frak!’ he cursed himself.

One by one the enemy darted across the clearing. All except the last man who had Urartu in tow. Josam followed this last pair with his scope. Urartu tugged at the ropes connecting him to his captor and the man in a hooded cowl responded with a kick to his abdomen. Urartu doubled over and dropped to his knees. As he kneeled there he was biting on something. The hooded man yanked on the ropes pulling Urartu to his feet and pushed him off in the direction the others had run. As they got to the edge of the clearing Urartu looked over his shoulder – right at Josam. The man shoved him into the shadows and they were gone.

Josam hesitated just a minute before he left his hide to pick up the pursuit once more. The four nomads converged on the spot where Urartu has been knocked down. At their feet lay a small scrap of bloody cloth. Looking up in the direction they had moved out each man could see fresh drops of blood.

“Looks like our boss has given us something to follow,” Josam said.

Without another word they moved off after their boss.

Josam didn’t bother to keep mental notes of the trail. Urartu’s blood would serve as a marker to return along. After another hour of cat and mouse the trail opened up into another open area. The scent of cook fires wafted down as they approached.

“Looks like they intend to bed down here for the night. We’ll wait here until they doze off. Then we’ll spring Urartu.” And with that each man pulled back into the shadows to await their opportunity.