The Hunted

Josam had never witnessed anyone dry heaving without making a sound, but there was Ishik double over on his hands and knees. When the latest round of spasms subsided and the “Ghost Soldiers” specialists could breath again Josam crouched down next to him.

“You think you can make the raid?” He asked ensuring not to lose his balance so close to the sick man.

“Sure… sure, I ca…” and he doubled over again with spasms threatening to bring his toes up through his nostrils.

Josam stood up, rifle cradled in his arms. “We’re too close, and we can’t wait any longer. Ishik, you stay here amongst the shadows and keep low. We won’t be long.”

Ishik nodded his head feebly and managed to get back into a seated position where he then placed his stub pistol in his lap.

Josam signaled for the others to move out. Without another look back the nomads prepared themselves for the task at hand. As he walked away he silently admired the fact that Ishik, despite his obvious discomfort, was able to keep quiet and ensure the nomads kept the initiative.

Without another word between them An-Nur took Shuvah the juve with him. The plan was for the pair to make their way across the ruined industrial zone and free their leader, Urartu. He had made it easy for them to track him through the twisted tunnels and alleyways that his captors had dragged him so the tall gantry where their new found enemy had put him was easy to pick out. It was Josam’s job to cover their advance and take out any guards that noticed them.

As Josam settled into his hide he adjusted his scope out of habit. The ranges that he would be engaging his targets here within the hive were much shorter than he was used to out amongst the wastes of Necromunda. Scanning his surroundings his visor picked up the heat signatures of only three sentries, one of whom was practically right on top of Urartu. There was no way for him to signal the other two so he alternated his attention primarily on the other two.

An-Nur and Shuvah were half way across the floor of the dome when they stopped their slow advance. One of the guards was looking their way so Josam sighted in on the man. After a few breaths he turned and walked away and the nomads resumed their advance. Once the sentry had turned away the pair focused on something at their knee level briefly, then with some exaggerated movements continued on their way.

Without any more close calls An-Nur and Shuvah managed to get to the floor just below the last guard between them and their intended target. Shuvah did not wait for An-Nur to signal the assault and launched himself up the ladder and assailed the lone defender before An-Nur could follow.

The juve’s blows failed to land upon his intended victim. Instead the man began shouting at the top of his lungs that he was being attacked. An-Nur was upon him, and unlike Shuvah’s failed assault, he landed two hits, but failed to dispatch their opponent.

Josam wasted no time in focusing on the next nearest guard who was already taking aim in the direction of the combatants. ‘Relax, breath, squeeze’… the Long Rifle jumped as it launched its lethal projectile. The cross hairs settle right back on their target. The round impacted upon the arm just below his left shoulder and the man was down in obvious pain. ‘Frak, that should have been a kill shot,’ Josam thought to himself. Still, the hooded man was no longer a part of the equation that was playing out in the dome in front of him.

As Josam shifted his aim towards the one unengaged sentry he looked to see how things were progressing for An-Nur and the kid. The two men were working well together and the kid was obviously distracting their opponent and before Josam shifted his attention further An-Nur managed to impale the man’s leg with the double bladed knife in his left hand and quickly followed up with a one handed butt stroke of his Assault Rifle in his right. The cowl on the man’s head spun ninety degree throwing blood and spittle wide as he collapsed in a heap.

‘Well done,’ Josam thought to himself.

The sniper’s next target seemed to heed the alert of his last shot. As Josam sighted in on the lone remaining sentry his quarry had managed to get a tangle of pipes and conduits between himself and the sniper. ‘Patience’, he told himself.

Just then several of the sentry’s hooded companions, stirred by the alarm, began to approach from the left. With no clear line of sight to his intended target Josam shifted his position to gain a better angle at the reinforcements.

“Sniper! Atop the lifting platform!” The now concealed foe warned his companions.

One of the men stopped dead in his tracks to try and locate Josam’s hiding place. ‘Perfect’, he said as he smiled to himself. The report of his rifle almost startled him. When the scope returned to where his target should have been Josam saw him disappear off the edge of his line of site. Using the scope to track his new target he noticed a stain of blood on the man’s cowl. The round had apparently had done nothing more than graze him. ‘That should make him a tad more cautious.’

An-Nur, Shuvah, and the now freed Urartu had managed to get down to a gantry that spanned the distance of the factory floor. Although exposed it was the most direct route to make their escape. An-Nur stopped every so often to take aim at targets below.

“Move it!” Josam now shouted. ‘No need for silence now, they are aware of my location by now’, he thought to himself. “Get off that killzone!”

Shuvah and Urartu were moving at full tilt, all the while las-rounds and slug shells danced in the air around them. An-Nur either did not hear his call, or was ignoring him. He shouted something down at the approaching men and loosed another salvo from his rifle. Josam could see a smile appear on his face as he looked over the barrel of his weapon. Seemingly satisfied with the result of his last shot he took off at a run to follow his fellow nomads.

Josam sighted back in on their pursuers and let fly another shot in haste. Although wide it still had the desired result of causing them to think twice about stepping out into the open.

The three nomads were halfway across the gantry now. Seeing that their captive was about to make good his escape the remaining hooded men became emboldened and were stepping from their cover to get better shots as they fled.

‘Relax, breath, squeeze…’ Josam’s shot caught his target in full stride. As he settled the scope back on his new target he could tell he had hit him as he was now sprawled out on the factory floor. But it had not been a solid hit. Before he even stopped sliding he was up and running again, picking up his shotgun as he went.

Only twenty more meters and they could all just disappear back into the shadows and Emperor willing… ‘who do you call on in time of need!?’ That voice again. This time it totally un-nerved him.

“Who…, or wha.. what, are you?” he spoke out loud, looking around. Nothing, the voice did not speak out again.

“A little help here!” An-Nur called out.

Josam turned his attention back to the matter at hand. Several more men had darted out from their cover in pursuit. ‘Just shoot the closest one’, he thought to himself. They were close enough that the targets were now filling his x10 powered scope, their infrared signature well defined.

Josam’s last shot noticeably creased the shoulder of his latest victim causing him to drop to his knees and cease his pursuit. Seeing that his three compatriots had cleared the gantry and were beyond the reach of their pursuers Josam spun around and dropped down the nearest ladder to make good his escape.


An-Nur came up fuming. “You need to get your head out of your…”

“I had them where I wanted them. I can’t shoot them when they are cowering behind cover”, Josam interrupted.

“I don’t like being the bait just so you can put another notch on the stock of your long rifle Josam! Next time just keep ‘em pinned!”

Josam hesitated, trying to think of something to say. Instead he just nodded, “agreed, my apologies.”

‘It’s probably not a good idea to tell them I’m hearing voices in my head’, Josam said to himself.

With the distance gained from getting the high ground in their escape the “Ghost Soldiers” made good their escape, stopping only long enough to pick up Ishik on their way back out into the wastes.