by Leo Nix
But by pulling back to the front of the building it gave Roo an opportunity to get himself and Dog back inside the homestead with his friends. He reasoned that one more defender would be useful.
Roo quickly checked the situation in the small room. He saw his best friend, Bongo, sitting on the floor with a girl in his arms, she looked dead.
In a moment of pure instinct, he crouched over and placed his hand on her wound. Closing his eyes he sent his dream body into her wound and saw the injury. A bullet had hit a rib, the sharp edge of the broken rib had then torn through a vein. The girl was bleeding internally and she was dying.
Roo was no longer in the world of the living, he was between worlds feeling the girl's life force slipping to the other side. He clearly saw her relatives watching. With his mind he pulled the pieces of damaged vein together and sealed it with a web of light. The bleeding eased but Denise was far from safe, she needed professional care now.
Having done what was needed he came back to the sounds of gunfire and screaming. Roo whispered to Bongo that the girl was going to survive. He then crawled next to Riley to help even the odds against them.
“Fortune?” called Obi-Wan. “Those people inside must be in a bad way, they're firing single shot. Can you hear that?” Fortune nodded. Neither moved as they watched the enemy laying down heavy fire on the homestead. “They're trying to take the homestead where our Sundowners are. You lay down fire while I take Murphy and Pipeline forward, then you follow.”
Fortune didn't speak, he nodded and opened fire again. He had used all but a few rounds of his scant ammunition, there were maybe fifteen seconds sustained fire left so he relaxed and tried to make every bullet count. His ancient M-60 was now next to useless. It's aged barrel was bending, spitting bullets off to one side, it was time to retire it.
The terrorists wisely kept the homestead and sand dunes between his M-60 and them. They'd already lost too many to the deadly fire of the special ops team and they didn't want to be exposed to more. The Ravens Claws desperately wanted the Crusaders dead and it seemed they didn't care how many of their own died doing it, but there were limits.
By now Nulla was in position to snipe at the enemy. The terrorists, however, had his position marked. Every time he crawled forward to the top of the sand dune, he was fired on. He looked back at the figures of Blondie, Jaina and Sue-Ellen helping Pedro but didn't expect them to get to him for another few minutes. It was an eight hundred metre run and he could tell the girls were ready to drop from exhaustion.
He could hear the special ops boys to his left controlling the centre of the battlefield with their heavy weapons fire. They were also picking off targets on his own flank so he felt safe from an immediate assault. Knowing these specialists, the elite of the US military, were on his flank, he relaxed. Looking across to the back of the battlefield he saw Sundown's squad go left and along the trough of a small sand dune.
In fascination he watched the vicious hand-to-hand melee through his rifle scope. His hands shook from its ferocity, not just the killing but Shadow, Lucy and Beamy's courageous fight back. He saw Lucy crouch down onto one knee firing at something in front of her but he couldn't see what she was firing at, his view was blocked by the curve of the sand dune. He desperately wanted to provide covering fire but everyone was too close, if he fired he'd hit one of his friends.
He noticed his scope shaking and pulled his hand from his rifle. It was shaking. 'Damn,' he thought, 'this fighting business has got to me too.'
Trying to shift to a better position, Nulla came under accurate automatic fire again. Without warning a blast of sand smacked into his eyes. He let out a scream as he fell back down the dune rolling all the way to the bottom. Knowing not to rub at his eyes, he knelt on all fours, letting his eyes water so as to wash some of the sand away. He pulled his water bottle out and flushed his eyes to remove as much sand as he could. Some grit and tiny abrasions continued to make his eyes water like crazy, his head swam from the pain.
Nulla knew he was a liability at that moment, so he rolled onto his back and pulled out his tobacco pouch and papers. Keeping his tortured, watering eyes closed, he rolled a cigarette by feel alone. Breathing steadily and deeply through his nose, he closed his eyes. Putting the cigarette to his lips he drew deeply, then, as he released the smoke from his body, he fell into his mind palace to gain some level of relief.
“You lazy bastard, Nulla! While our visitors are saving our arses you've gone and done a boofhead job of falling asleep.” Pedro lay above him firing off round after round keeping a squad of Ravens Claws from coming up over their right flank. He had sweat dripping down his weather-beaten face and his three girls were firing frantically with their pistols. Not one of them had an automatic rifle.
One of the terrorists, braver than the others, had crawled right up behind their position to fire on them. Sue-Ellen reacted quickly, spinning around on her heel to fire her Glock 19 pistol almost point blank into the man's face.
Nulla shook himself awake and rubbed absently at the blister on his finger where the cigarette had burned. He blinked several times to clear his vision and was satisfied he could see well enough to fight.
Lulu and Danni were engage in their own furious fire-fight with two Ravens Claws not ten metres away, hidden by a sand ridge. They swapped bullets back and forth as each tried to outflank the other. As one moved so did the other. Within half a minute the girls were twenty metres from Nulla's position, fighting a personal war with the terrorists. It was two against two but the men were players. They could hear the teenage girls talking and when they popped their heads up they could see them clearly.
Two experienced fighting men versus two teenage girls, it was easy for them to decide that they wanted to keep these two prizes alive. The men wanted them for other things before they killed them. They sat with their backs to the sand dune smiling knowingly to each other as they planned their capture.
Lulu leaned forward and spoke softly to Danni, her hands were shaking and she dropped her magazine onto the sand. When she tried to pick it up she couldn't feel anything, her hands were numb with fear.
“Danni, I'm scared girl. I don't want to get caught. I can't go through all that again.”
Danni saw the tears running down her best friends cheeks and began to cry too. “I want my Luke, I just want my Luke with me,” she sobbed.
“Danni, If I die today I'll never know what real love is. You're so lucky, Luke loves you., said Lulu finally punching her magazine into place. She sobered a little as she said,”This is my last magazine, I hope we do a good job. I don't want anyone to say we let everyone down when we die."
Danni wiped at the tears blurring her eyes. “Lulu, you're my best friend, I'd rather you here than Luke any day.” Just as Danni spoke two powerful bodies landed on them knocking the wind from their lungs and their fists smashed into the girls faces.
Chapter 16 - Desert Strike
As Nulla looked across at his squad he noticed Blondie lying face down on the sand but he couldn't work out why. Then he saw a spreading redness around her shoulder. She groaned then moved slowly to roll onto her back.
“Blondie, are you OK?” Nulla called loudly.
“Someone shot me, Nulla.” He could see she was in shock but he didn't have time to go to her, a second squad of Ravens Claws now reinforced the first. The incoming fire forced he and Pedro to crawl backwards, quickly.
“Jaina, help Blondie!” Nulla yelled as he pulled his pistol and fired at the heads bobbing behind the sand dune. It didn't look good for the three girls. They were in a worse position than he and Pedro. They had some cover but only five metres separated them from their enemy. If they stood up or moved they'd be fired on. He and Pedro couldn't do much because the incoming fire forced their heads down too.
Right at this point in time Nulla wished he had been more careful and not put himself in a position to be injured, even if it was just sand in his eyes. He felt responsible for letting the Ravens Claws gain gro
und on his flank. 'I've let everyone down again,' he berated himself.
Sue-Ellen snapped off rounds from her pistol, each time a head appeared she fired. 'Like hitting dummies with a mallet,' she thought to herself remembering the old game, Whack-a-Mole, she was so good at when the circus came to town.
“Nulla, ya boofhead letting these bastards sneak up on ya like this. I'll crawl around the back and come up behind them. You stay here and anchor this point.” Without waiting for a response Pedro began crawling but his tin legs were impossible, they caught on every bush and rock in the desert. Just like their assault on the mines outside Marree, he was stuck if he kept the darn things strapped on. So he undid the laces and began crawling with his stumps. He found it easier but a damn sight more painful. Pedro knew that if he was surprised by the enemy he was a dead man.
Halo, Cambra and Assassin moved silently towards the two enemy squads. Although Cambra was the one who heard the sounds of battle, it was Halo who took command of their assault. He stood on his camel's back like a dare-devil rider in a rodeo and took in the battle, scene by scene. Just as he'd learned from Shamus while training for the Mines Battle, Halo took a series of mental pictures of the battlefield and brought them together. Within a few seconds he had his plan and moved his tiny assault squad to rescue the band of surrounded Commandos.
“On three we go over the top, we empty our magazines and drop down behind the dune. Cambra, you provide covering fire while Assassin and I get around the side there and come up from behind. We'll need fifteen seconds, that's all we need mate, fifteen seconds. Can you do that?” asked Halo, his face flushed from the heat and the excitement of battle.
“What the hell do you take me for, Halo, you prick. I'll give you fifteen seconds if you want fifteen seconds and then I'll give you another fifteen because you're an arsehole.” Cambra was stressed, this was another contact and that meant more heartache and loss.
“One, two, three!” Yelling like idiots they raced the few metres across the top of the sand dune and into the first enemy squad. It was ugly, they had little time to aim and fire, so they just cut down what they could in the first few seconds. They smashed their way through the press of Ravens Claw bodies with their rifle butts and fists.
One Ravens Claw slashed wildly with his knife and Halo parried with his AK taking the knife blade on it's barrel. The large-fisted terrorist kicked and Halo's rifle went spinning out of his hands. The man dived at him while as he tried to recover. His enemy clamped one hand around his throat and the other held his knife ready to plunge into his heart. Halo instinctively punched upwards into the man's jaw. It was a pure reflex punch, no thought went into it nor did he feel anything right then. The man went backwards and collapsed struggling frantically to get back to his feet.
Halo pulled out his own knife and dropped it, he couldn't hold a thing in his right hand. His knife remained on the ground beside him but his hand was useless. He looked at the man now standing and shaking his groggy head.
The sounds of Assassin screaming as he wrestled another terrorist on the ground penetrated his consciousness. The noises sounded like a vicious dog fight. Halo knew he was alone and vulnerable, unless he did something right now, he would die.
'There's got to be something,' thought Halo, and there was. His pistol was in his left side holster, he'd forgotten about it. Drawing it awkwardly with his left hand he slipped the safety off and pulled the trigger, just as the man cleared his head and dived towards him.
Halo stepped to the side and watched as his enemy dropped to the ground. He put a round into the back of the man's head then turned to see what else he needed to do. The squad of Ravens Claws were all dead. Assassin was panting and it sounded like he was quite distressed. Halo saw him shaking as he crouched to wipe the bloodied blade of his knife on the dead man's body. Assassin then turned and Halo saw a look of shocked horror on his face. That's when he felt the pain.
“F… f… fuck me!” Halo stammered dropping his Ruger GP 100 .357 pistol to the sand as he tried to return it to its holster. “Creed, I think I've broken my hand on that terrorist's head.” When Cambra came over the two looked at Halo's hand and saw one of the knuckles was pushed backwards into his fist.
Assassin shook his head to clear it and examined his friend's hand. “Forget it Halo, we've got Revelationists to kill.” Quickly he grabbed Halo's hand and reefed his finger back into place before his friend knew what was happening. Halo bit down hard on his bottom lip trying his hardest not to make a sound. He now had two wounds as the blood poured from his mouth.
“Fuck you, Creed! That hurt you prick!” He was bent over and grunted in pain several times holding his hand.
“You deserved that, Halo. Now get back to work,” said Cambra who now crouched down to fire wildly at the second enemy squad which had come around the dune to investigate. “And for Pete's sake hurry will ya!” he screamed as he ducked to escape a burst of incoming bullets.
While Halo's cameleer patrol was rescuing Nulla's band, Pedro continued to crawl slowly, but surely, behind the enemy position. He could barely raise himself to see where he was going. When he heard voices he had to stop to get his bearings.
“Hey, looky here Ollie, nice tits!” Pedro heard the two men chuckling.
“Look how they jiggle when I shake them. Come on, we don't have much time. Fuck 'em then we'll kill them,” came the second voice.
Pedro went cold inside. He knew what was going on behind the dune. He'd heard that kind of trash-talk during his time in Vietnam and with the CIA too many times not to know. There came a squeal of a female voice and Pedro saw in his mind's eye the terrorist's hand over Lulu's mouth to stop her screaming.
“You stinking bastards!” he cursed softly as he struggled to climb to the top of the sand dune as fast as he could. His every movement ripped more skin from his stumps which now bled freely.
Each muffled scream cut into Pedro's heart like a scalpel as he pushed himself mercilessly up the sand dune. He desperately needed to rescue his two precious friends, they were like daughters to him.
“You bitch, bite me will ya!” The sound of a fist hitting flesh came to him from behind the sand dune. Pedro's blood froze with each savage sound.
“Hurry up and get into her, Ollie, I want a turn!” came the second voice again.
In desperation to get to the girls in time Pedro had ditched his rifle and pulled his pistol, a Vietnam war M1911A1, .45 calibre. One bullet would take a man's head off. As he crawled to the lip of the sand dune he saw Danni held to the ground by a hand around her throat. Her eyes were glazed and open, her mouth formed into a silent scream. Lulu lay unconscious. Her pants were down and a man was leaning into her.
That man lost his head a split second later. The second Ravens Claw looked up and took a bullet in his chest followed by two more before he hit the ground. Pedro rolled down the slope of the dune then crawled across to gather the girls in his arms. He sat holding them to his chest crying his heart out.
Assassin knew Halo wouldn't be able to do much with his broken hand but he knew he would do his best. The two stormed the depleted Ravens Claws squad from behind while Cambra kept them occupied from the opposite direction. Halo fired his pistol wildly with his left hand hitting everything but what he aimed at.
“Shit! Halo, cease fire! Cambra, cease fire! They're dead!” cried Assassin. Another burst of gunfire came from Cambra's position nearly hitting the two Sundowners. “Don't you fuckin' listen Cambra!” screamed Assassin, “I said CEASE FUCKING FIRE!”
Cambra's face appeared sheepishly from behind the edge of the dune. He stood up when he saw his two mates standing over the dead Revelationists.
“Sorry, Creed, I didn't hear you through all the firing,” he said softly. His face was filmed in sweat and dirt, there was blood on his shirt and tear streaks down his face. Cambra, big tough Cambra, was human after all, thought Assassin.
“Come on mates, we'd better get to the girls and help out. We're done here.” Assass
in Creed put his arms around both men and walked them along the dune base to Nulla and Sue-Ellen's position.
Obi-Wan leaped forward a few metres then opened fire as soon as he hit the ground. Up jumped Pipeline who raced a few metres further and did the same. Murphy followed as they worked their way to the edge of the homestead. They covered twenty metres in a matter of seconds. Soldier of Fortune was putting in short measured bursts from his M-60 but pretty soon he'd be out of the fight. He pulled his M9 Beretta pistol and placed it by his side then fired the last few rounds of his aged machine gun.
With a roar Fortune jumped up and raced for the homestead popping off a few rounds from his pistol at the heads peering from behind one of the dog kennels. By now the Ravens Claws knew what was happening and were waiting for him. But the special ops had worked closely together for so long now that they could read each others minds. The three supporting special ops were positioned to provide their buddy with enough fire power to force thirty terrorists back behind cover. Only the very brave, or very foolish, ventured from cover to fire, they didn't last long.
“Why the hell did ya do that for?” yelled Pipeline into Fortune's ear. “I thought now you'd run out of ammo you'd want to have a rest?”
“I saw you sobbing because you missed me, so I decided to come over and comfort you.” Fortune grinned at the enormous black SEAL.
“Delta's always take lunch time naps, Pipeline, we must have woken him up,” called Murphy while continuing to fire short bursts of his M4A1 at the bobbing heads trying to return the special ops fire.
“Hey, Pipeline, why haven't the Ravens Claws used smoke or tear gas on the homestead?” asked Murphy pulling his head back as a burst of machine gun fire sprayed the wall he was hiding behind.
