by Charles Rye
"I was about to take that kill!"
"Sorry, couldn't resist!" He replied with a grin.
"Zxeron, stand down," She commanded coming to stand over the Destroyer he had pinned to the ground.
Zxeron obeyed and slowly stepped backwards as he watched Soraf kneel beside the enemy Destroyer, she dug her dagger deep into its throat severing its vocal chords, leaving the dagger inside the wound as she twisted its neck, a dull cracking sound ringing out.
"Caliphar, take the shot!" Koriphus shouted, realizing he was hesitating.
"Right, got it!"
Caliphar squeezed the trigger and sent a bullet straight into the forehead of the Destroyer standing below him beside the bus, instantly killing it.
"Why'd you hesitate?" Koriphus asked looking at Caliphar.
Caliphar shook his head as he shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know, first time I've done it since killing these things," He explained.
"You shouldn't feel sympathy for those creatures, that's all they are," Koriphus said reassuringly.
"Yeah, you're right. I won't hesitate next time,"
"Good, you can't risk your friends' lives like that,"
Caliphar glanced past Koriphus' shoulder and noticed something trying to climb onto the roof at the back of the bus.
"Duck!" He suddenly shouted as he raised his gun over Koriphus' head.
Koriphus quickly ducked down, flattening his body against the roof as he watched Caliphar pull his trigger, a bullet rushing over his head.
It hit its intended target, which had been a Destroyer attempting to climb onto the roof with them.
Having been struck in the head by the bullet, the Destroyer's limp body fell with a loud thud.
Caliphar knocked on the roof, "Put this bitch in reverse!" He shouted, knowing Aurelia was behind the wheel.
Aurelia revved the bus' engine and quickly shifted it into reverse, backing the bus over the Destroyer's body.
Caliphar leaned over the driver side of the bus and looked at her through the window, giving her thumbs up.
"Thanks for that mate, I owe ya'!" Koriphus grinned, nodding to Caliphar.
"No worries, just surprised that thing was smart enough to try a move like that,"
"Or it had a fucking death wish," Koriphus chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.
"How you doing Soraf?" Caliphar called standing up on the roof, looking down at her.
She turned from the Destroyer's body and glanced up at him, blocking the sun from her eyes.
"Just fine, you two?" She called back.
"We're great! Let's kill the rest of these fuckers," He grinned wide.
"Aurelia, come on I could use a little help out here!" Soraf shouted.
Aurelia ran out of the bus, her gun at the ready.
Without the slight urge to hesitate, she raised it over Soraf's head and fired a round at the Destroyer that was making a leap for Soraf.
Soraf ducked, covering her ears at the sound of the gun going off.
"Damn, nice aim," She said turning around to see the now dead Destroyer lying in the sand just a few feet from them.
"Thanks," Aurelia smiled, cocking her gun again.
Zxeron began to howl, alerting them of the presence of the four Destroyers surrounding them.
"Ready when you are," Aurelia grinned at Soraf.
"Let's get 'em,"
Soraf and Aurelia went into a full sprint towards the Destroyers surrounding them, both jumping at the two in the middle knocking them to the ground as they landed on them.
Soraf thrust her dagger into the head of the Destroyer she had pinned, its blood staining the sand beneath it.
Aurelia pressed the barrel of her gun against the forehead of the Destroyer she'd pinned, pulling the trigger and sending a bullet deep into its brain.
They both looked up as the other two Destroyers began to approach them before exchanging a look of agreement.
"Try us you motherfuckers," Aurelia hissed as the Destroyers came closer.
"We're not afraid of you ugly bastards," Soraf added as she and Aurelia stood up from the Destroyers they'd just killed.
Growling and slobbering the Destroyers continued to approach them, sniffing at the air to catch Soraf and Aurelia's scent.
As soon as the Destroyer near Aurelia was close enough, she quickly lied on her back and hooked her legs around its neck snapping it, satisfied by the loud cracking sound followed by the sound of a bullet piercing its skull as she shot it.
Soraf threw her dagger at the Destroyer near her, striking it directly in the side of its chest causing it to collapse.
She stepped over to its body and put her boot against the hilt of her dagger, pushing it deep into the Destroyer's chest before pulling it out, wiping the blood off with the rag from her pants pocket.
Caliphar and Koriphus made their way off the roof through the hatch and ran to join Aurelia and Soraf.
"Is that all of them?" Caliphar asked looking at the girls.
"I think so," Soraf replied looking at him as she sheathed her dagger.
"Zxeron, can you sense any others around?" Koriphus wondered looking down at Zxeron, who had come to stand beside him.
The tamed Destroyer raised his nose and sniffed at the air before shaking his head.
"Guess that means we got them all," Aurelia said, glancing around at the others.
"Good, I'm ready to get the hell out of here," Caliphar said as they headed back to the bus.
"I want to find this outpost or whatever Koriphus mentioned, see what's there," Soraf said once they had all gathered on the bus.
Aurelia slid into the driver's seat, tucking her gun underneath it as she shifted the bus back into drive.
"I'm curious too; do you remember what it looks like?" Caliphar added, looking at Koriphus.
Aurelia revved the engine before driving off; smiling to herself when she realized Zxeron had come to lie down beside her.
"I just remember it being near an abandoned construction site," Koriphus explained.
"Did you say construction site?" Caliphar asked, a sudden look of excitement gleaming in his eyes.
"Yeah, I did. It's maybe twenty Mordren or so from here,"
"Aurelia, you know what to do," Caliphar said looking at her in the rearview mirror.
Nodding, Aurelia suddenly took the bus into a sharp U-turn to aim it in the direction Koriphus had come from.
"I propose we advise a plan those soldier types will never expect," Caliphar smirked.
"Soraf and I get to do any close range combat," Aurelia announced, glancing over her shoulder at Soraf.
"Sounds good to me," Soraf said in agreement.
"Then Koriphus and I shall take sniper positions so we won't be detected," Caliphar grinned wide.
"No objections from me," Koriphus grinned as he reclined back into his seat.
Collision Course
Beyond the horizon was the distinct silhouette of the abandoned construction site, just as Koriphus had described it.
"We're coming up on the construction site. I'm going to park the bus where any soldiers lurking around won't see it," Aurelia said as she drove the bus off the road behind the ruins of a building nearby.
She killed the engine before reaching under her seat for her gun, swinging the strap over her shoulder as she stood to face the others.
"Ready for this?"
She gazed around at them all as Zxeron came to stand beside her, rubbing against her leg.
Soraf, Caliphar and Koriphus all stood together before her and all gave a quick nod.
"We're more than ready. At least I know I am," Caliphar grinned swinging his gun strap over his shoulder.
"I definitely am, especially after what those military dicks tried to do to me," Koriphus added with a smile.
"After dealing with those Destroyers, I look forward to teaming up with you again," Soraf said grinning at Aurelia, unsheathing her dagger.
"Come on then, let's get this over
with," Aurelia commanded leading everyone off the bus and around to the side of the building.
She glanced around the corner and spotted three men dressed in brown camo jackets and cargo pants, their faces covered up by sandy brown bandannas and black goggles with tinted lenses.
"I only see three of them, standing around a guard station but I don't see any weapons," She whispered glancing back at the others, who were all standing behind her.
"That's good right, maybe they're just like watchmen and unarmed," Soraf said looking around at the others.
"Never assume your enemy is unarmed, I learned that the hard way when I thought those Destroyers were just dumb animals," Aurelia hissed at her before peering around the corner of the building again.
"Do you see any others?" Caliphar questioned, looking over Aurelia's shoulder.
"Negative, just the guard types. But I'll bet you anything there's more of them around the site, just out of sight,"
"Soraf and I'll go ahead and take care of the guards,"
"You and Koriphus get up somewhere high and do a quick survey of the sight, try to find some more soldier boys playing hide an' seek," Aurelia commanded.
She and Soraf snuck around to the other side of the building, crouching low behind the remains of a concrete wall as they kept the guard station in their line of sight.
"How are we gonna get close enough to take them out?" Soraf whispered looking at Aurelia.
"I have an idea, or two. How good of an aim are you with a gun?" Aurelia replied.
"Good enough to keep my ass alive, why?"
"I wanna borrow your dagger, you're gonna be my back up," Aurelia said smirking slyly at her.
"Okay, here," Soraf said handing over her dagger as she took Aurelia's gun.
"This is gonna be fun, just follow my lead," Aurelia grinned tucking the dagger into her back pocket.
Aurelia leaped over the wall and began to march towards the guard station, Soraf stayed several feet behind her swinging the gun over her shoulder by the strap.
The guards noticed Aurelia in the distance, unable to see Soraf behind her.
"Stop right there!" the first guard demanded as Aurelia continued to approach them.
She quickly stopped and raised her arms above her head to show them she was unarmed.
"Didn't mean to alert you, I'm simply a humble wanderer and I've gotten a bit lost,"
"I merely noticed this place and was hoping you fine gentlemen would help a damsel in distress," She lied as the guard who spoke approached her.
The guard checked her out, in more ways than one but she wasn't about to let him notice how close he was to being kicked in the balls.
"What's your name?" He asked looking into her eyes.
"Death," She replied suddenly pulling the dagger from her back pocket, holding it out before her.
In one swift motion, she had managed to grab the guard by his arm and twisted it behind his back as she pulled him against her, the blade against his throat.
"Any last words before I cut out your vocal chords?" She growled pressing the blade harder against his throat.
"Yeah, you can go to Hell you bitch," He spat angrily.
Aurelia was suddenly surrounded by the two other guards, each holding M1-10 rifles against either side of her head.
"Drop the guns or else," Soraf growled appearing behind Aurelia.
"Think this is high enough?" Koriphus asked as he and Caliphar had reached the top of a construction crane overlooking the entire site.
"This is perfect‚ Wait a sec, I see the girls from here," Caliphar replied spotting Aurelia and Soraf by the guard station surrounded by the guards.
"Don't worry, I got this one," Koriphus said, locking sight on the guard to Aurelia's right with his PP2000.
He squeezed the trigger and sent a bullet flying straight into the side of the guard's head, watching as he dropped to his knees.
"Where the fuck did that come from?" the guard on Aurelia's left demanded as he pressed the barrel of his rifle against her temple.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Soraf said calmly as she pressed the barrel of Aurelia's gun against his forehead.
"You see, we've got some back up of our own,"
"And they're damned good with their aim so I wouldn't temp them to demonstrate again," She added glaring at him.
Aurelia glanced sideways at the guard as he slowly removed his gun from her head and took a few steps back from her.
"Now we already know about the rest of your military pals but me and mine feel there's an unbelievably huge chunk of info missing and I would really appreciate it if you'd fill me in on the details," Aurelia explained.
"We ain't telling you shit,"
"I have a slight problem with that, I mean the last guy we had talked a little more than he should have,"
Aurelia looked into the eyes of the guard she held against her with Soraf's dagger pressed against his throat.
"Right before my friend put a hole in his head," She whispered into his ear.
"These bitches are fucking crazy,"
"Calling me a bitch is what got your talkative buddy killed, so I'd watch your language," Soraf growled angrily.
"I'd listen to her and if you call me a bitch again I have no problem with aiming this dagger a lot lower," Aurelia hissed at him.
A gunshot rang out as a bullet went flying right past Aurelia's shoulder, quickly followed by the sound of something large hitting the ground as it collapsed.
Soraf glanced behind them to see the body of an extremely large Destroyer lying dead in the sand.
"Did you even hear that thing come up on us?" Aurelia asked glancing over her shoulder at the Destroyer's body.
"I never even noticed it, one of these fuckers probably called it like the asshole before them and those things can supposedly burrow underground like a damn mole on steroids," Soraf replied.
"Thank God the others spotted it, they just gave us an even better reason to kill you little bitches," Aurelia said.
"Just answer this before we off you. Are you really that incompetent you had to call your attack dog on us?"
"Fuck you,"
Aurelia glared into the guard's eyes as she slowly slit his throat, slicing it wide open as blood gushed down the front of his uniform.
"You're not my type, sorry," She said letting him drop to his knees before collapsing into the sand, his blood pooling around his head.
Soraf pulled the trigger on Aurelia's gun, firing a bullet into the other guard's brain before he collapsed on top of his partner.
She glanced up at Aurelia with a half smile on her face.
"Think we should leave 'em like that to be found by their commander or whoever?" She asked.
Aurelia looked at her but before she could reply, Caliphar and Koriphus came running up behind her.
"You two alright?" Caliphar asked looking at Soraf and Aurelia.
"We're fine, thanks to you and Koriphus for spotting that Destroyer," Aurelia replied with a smile.
"Yeah, we'd probably be dead if it hadn't been for y'all," Soraf added.
She and Aurelia swapped back their weapons.
"We can't leave these bodies here, this is one of their outposts and they will come to check it out if their men don't report back or whatever the hell their jobs were," Koriphus said looking around at the others.
"What do you suggest we do?" Aurelia asked looking back at him.
"I may have a small suggestion," Caliphar said walking past Koriphus into the guard station.
He rummaged around until he found what he was looking for.
"Perfect!" He explained, almost excitedly.
He returned holding a can of gasoline and a box of matches.
"I don't think this is the right time for a bonfire, mate," Koriphus said looking at Caliphar.
"I object, it is the perfect time for a bonfire," He grinned as he proceeded to soak the guards' bodies with the gasoline, spraying a trail of it to the guard station before soaki
ng it down with the rest.
"I think we should move," Koriphus suggested as he grabbed Aurelia and Soraf by the arm, quickly dragging them away from Caliphar.