Guns and Dust Ch. 05

What we started...

The words seemed to fall out as if she hadn't said them at all.

He still held her arms as he turned back to the wreckage around them. "We don't leave the wounded to suffer and die out here. Giving them a quick death is the only mercy we can offer."

His words hit her like a kick in the guts. Her assumptions of cruelty and brute necessity suddenly slammed through her like the bearcat nearly tearing the first scout vehicle in half. "That's why you killed the wounded?"

She could see the understanding in his eyes. "Yes. I can imagine what you thought. We don't leave the wounded for rats or whatever else might find them out here. It will only take a few minutes."

He let go of her arms and turned to walk away. She grabbed his coat. "I..." She hesitated, watching him, her eyes drawn to the scattered debris and bodies around them. "I want to help."

He stuck his sword point-down into the hard-baked ground and held her masked face between his gloved hands. "Not this time, Adina." He ran gloved fingers over her masked cheeks and nodded to the man she'd shot. "You can help by gathering weapons and ammunition from them." He nodded to the six fighters they'd killed. "The survivors will need anything we can find for them. And there may be things we can use."

She held onto his armored shoulders, not wanting to let him go, then forced her hands to open and nodded. "Alright, I will."

He pulled his sword from the ground and walked away, his heavy coat swaying as he went, a line of blood running down the back from the rent left by the raider's weapon. The bottom flew in the gusting wind as he disappeared into the billowing black smoke.

We don't leave the wounded to die out here.

She knelt and took the rifle from the dead man's clutching hands, looking at his burned, warpainted face.

More kindness than you would have shown anyone.

She searched his bloody, scorched clothes for anything useful.

There was a strangled cry from the smoke. The ache in her heart for Asher was sharp, like her heart wanted to tear itself in half as what he'd said, and more importantly - what he hadn't, took root. He wasn't hard because he was cruel. He was hard because he cared. She could see it clearly now in his seeming indifference when they'd come upon the fleeing caravan. The cold, harsh way he'd talked wasn't without emotion. He was hiding them. She couldn't wipe the tears that ran inside her goggles.

Her hot, angry, confused words echoed. Don't you feel anything?!

When he got back to the bearcat they didn't talk. She didn't know what to say, or how to even begin. He just went to work, salvaging anything they or the survivors might be able to use. And every time he bent, he groaned in pain.

He finally spoke as they rolled up to where the survivors had gathered. "Do you still want to help them?" he asked through his mask.

Most hid as Asher pulled the bearcat up thirty or so yards from them and stopped.

As Adina stared at the filthy, battered survivors, the minutes that had transpired since she'd begged Asher to act flew through her head. They had been some of the hardest, most awful of her life. And the sum of the storm raging inside her stood before her. No matter what happened, she knew she would be safe. The knowledge twisted in her guts like a knife.

They will probably never have any idea what that feels like.

She nodded trying to find words, swallowing hard. "We've come this far."

"Alright. Stay here till I call for you." He opened the door and slid down out of the seat, hitting the ground with a pained grunt.

Adina opened her door and stood in the open doorway, her pistol in her hand as he walked toward the group. A few who stood in front pointed weapons at him, but most backed away, their hands raised.

The fact that any stood their ground was testament to their bravery - or their desperation. Her first response to seeing the bearcat in the dark had been awe and intimidation. But it hadn't been rigged for battle like it was now. As she stood in the passenger door, she heard the snap of the banner that had been deployed with the louvers and wheel covers. It was a large blood-red pennant blazoned with the crossed pistol, sword and wings of the longhunters in black and white. The same emblem that marked the armor on his shoulders. And after what Asher had done to the raiders, seeing him step out of the bearcat like some force of war personified must have been terrifying.

Asher stopped; his hands raised. "We're not here to hurt you." He announced loudly through his mask. He gestured back to the bearcat. "We've recovered some things from the raiders that might help you."

One of the men in front, who was holding an ancient looking rifle, kept it pointed. "Who are you?" He looked past Asher at her and the bearcat.

"LOOK!" one of the survivors suddenly shouted, pointing.

Adina turned and in the heat haze she could see a narrow line of dust rising. It was a single vehicle, tearing across the baked landscape, closing fast. She grabbed the binoculars from the cab.

"Who is that!" the man with the rifle barked, aiming at Asher.

"Whoever it is, they aren't with us," Asher answered calmly. "What is it?!" he hollered over his shoulder at her.

It was someone on a motorcycle. But from what she could see, the motorcycle was like nothing she'd ever seen before. It was big. It slowed, then came to a stop, over a quarter of a mile away.

"It's someone on a motorcycle!"

"It's Shoah!" one of the survivors shrieked and there was suddenly fear, near panic among them.

Adina could see the rider, they sat up and there was a flash of reflected light as he turned.

"He's just looking!" Adina called again. "He's got binoculars!"

"Calm down!" a woman among the survivors called.

Adina turned to the voice. The woman was old, she looked to be in her seventies - at least. But it was hard to tell in the wastes. The hard life of privation and sun aged everyone prematurely. The woman stood slowly from where she'd been sitting and lifted a gun that seemed to be as old and decrepit as she did. "If it is Shoah, or any of his Ghost Eyes, we will fight!" But there was nothing decrepit in her powerful voice. It was a voice that was used to being listened to.

Adina watched the man in front of Asher, he cocked his head, listening to her. She was obviously a leader among the survivors if not their headwoman.

Then there was a distant bang! and Adina spun. An arcing trail rose from where the rider was. A bright white flare that shone hot and bright even in the searing daylight rose in the sky above the rider. Then there was a second bang and a black flare followed it.

Adina turned back to Asher. "They fired a..." He was already marching back to the bearcat. "flare..." His body language was intense and purposeful as he strode past her open door. "What is it?"

He didn't answer, throwing open the side hatch of the truck. He grabbed something from behind her seat and then stepped away from the bearcat. He raised the flare gun and fired. A black flare. Then he loaded a second and fired. A crimson smoke trail rose into the air.

Adina turned back to the rider. As she watched, they raised a pennant above the back of the mammoth motorcycle. "What in Earth and Sky..." She climbed down from her door and met Asher as he returned to the truck. He unbuckled his sword and pistol belt and handed them to her. "Put these on."

She took the heavy belt, watching the intensity of his movement. "What is it? What's going on?"

He reached above the door and opened a panel. "A formal challenge. Whoever that is, is from one of the city states."

"A challenge? For what?"

Like the big rifle that she'd never known was inside the bearcat, Asher withdrew a huge sword from the discrete panel. She stared at the giant two-handed weapon as he stepped down again, pulled the scabbard off and set it on the decking. The shining blade alone was four feet long, the long handle meant that if the point were on the ground, the end of the handle would have reached his chin.

"What... What is that?"

He nodded to the sword belt. "Put that on. Be ready to leave if something happens."

"Wait, what?" She grabbed his shoulder and turned his masked face to hers. "Asher, talk to me! I don't understand!"

He leaned the big sword on his shoulder like it was the beam from a building. "The challenge is for possession."

She didn't like the sound of that. "Possession? Possession of what."

Asher nodded to everything around them, then to her and the survivors. "Everything."

All of her feelings of certainty and safety suddenly shattered into a million pieces. Her emotions see-sawed again. She buckled the pistol and sword belt around her waist, trying to quell the storm raging in her head again. "Do you know them?" she stammered, then took a deep steadying breath. "Who are they?"

He shook his head, then nodded to the survivors. "No. But the name they said is a term from the old world. Shoah means 'a place of suffering and death.' Whoever that is, is probably in charge of this group of raiders."

"The Ghost Eyes, the old woman called them."

He nodded affirmatively and then into the bearcat. "Get inside and if anything happens to me, get away from here."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Just do it!" he snapped. "Slavery is common in some city states. And that is not a life you want, Adina." He jerked his head toward the rider. "If they are out here, they were probably banished from the city states. And that is no one you want to meet. If anything happens. You get out of here. Promise me."

Everything inside Adina was in disarray. She looked at his back. "But you're already hurt."

He gripped her shoulder hard. "Promise me."

She nodded, watching his eyes and holding his hand against her shoulder. "I promise."

He pulled her against him and squeezed her hard. She wrapped her arms around him again, holding him desperately for a moment. Then he turned and walked away from the bearcat into the empty plain.

"I love you!" she called after him. But he didn't seem to hear.

"What's he doing!" one of the survivors called to her. "He can't fight Shoah!"

Adina spun to the voice. The survivors stared as Asher walked purposefully onto open ground. "You saw what he did to the raiders who attacked you!" Adina shouted at them through her mask. "Are you just going to stand there?!" She threw her hand out at the old woman. "She said it. Get ready to fight!"

Adina's heart was in her throat as she checked Asher's pistol and then hers, tucked into the back of her waistband. If anything happened to Asher, she wasn't going to run. There was nothing to run to. She took a deep breath and her hand found the pendant at her throat. Her fingers ran over the polished metal and smooth stone. Then she dropped her hand.

Nothing's going to happen to Asher...

She watched as he continued to walk. He raised the giant sword, gleaming in the intense sunlight, signaling to the rider. She heard the distant roar of the motorcycle's motor and the rider brought it up onto the back wheel, pulling it in tight circles throwing up dust as if the bike were a rearing horse. Then it streaked across the barren earth, straight at Asher.

Wait! That's not fair!

Asher raised his sword and settled into an easy stance, his right foot back, his left elbow up, the blade horizontal across his body at shoulder level. It flashed and glinted in the bright sunlight as he moved. Adina watched the rider. The glints from Asher's blade weren't random. As the rider barreled down on him, she could see him adjusting the blade, then as the rider drew near striking distance, his own sword a glinting arc against the dust cloud behind him, a bright bar of reflected sunlight suddenly flashed onto the rider's face. He continued to bear down on Asher, but Asher moved. He walked steadily to his left, keeping the flash of sunlight fixed on the rider's face. At the last instant the rider pitched the motorcycle on its side into a skid, putting it between Asher and himself. There was a flash of blades and movement. Then everything was obscured by a thick cloud of dust.

Adina heard the roar of the motorcycle engine again. The bike suddenly appeared from the dust cloud, streaking away. Her heart hammered, looking for Asher in the swirling dust. Agonizing seconds passed before he appeared, the big sword on his shoulder again, but he was limping. The motorcycle stopped again, the rider appearing to assess Asher. Asher walked toward the rider and raised his sword then stopped again. The rider raised his sword and the engine roared, tearing up the ground and raising a huge cloud of dust as he held the bike in place with the brakes. Then the motorcycle rocketed forward, shrieking down onto Asher. This time, Asher didn't move. The glint of the blade was on the rider's body again. Then, he blinded the rider again and sprinted forward closing the distance with the screaming motorcycle in an instant. Asher turned the sword point on like a spear and as the bike passed, lunged. She couldn't tell if Asher hit the bike, the bike hit him, or if his tumble across the ground was intentional. But the motorcycle whipsawed wildly back and forth, then slid to one side, disappearing again in a thick cloud of dust.

Asher pushed up painfully from the ground, the sword tip resting on the ground. He was too far away to see clearly, but she could tell he was hurt. He hefted the big sword up onto his shoulder again and waited.

The sound of the motorcycle's engine racing came from the cloud and then it leapt from the dust, straight at Asher. It happened so fast Adina could hardly keep track of what occurred. Asher rolled out of the way and at the finish of the roll, his sword was high above his left shoulder as if he'd completed a rising cut. Adina suddenly remembered the binoculars and grabbed them. She found the rider in all the dust. He was holding a wound on his left leg. As she watched, he pulled a gun from a holster behind the handlebars.

Oh no you don't! I've had it with you.

She climbed into the bearcat and pulled the big rifle from its storage bay. She could barely lift the heavy barrel as she dragged it out and half-stepped, and half-fell down the ladder from the side of the truck. Watching the rider as he swung around out of the corner of her eye, she popped out the bipod, mimicking what Asher had done, finally chambering a round and then laid down behind the big gun. He was much closer than the gun's scope was designed for and she had a hard time finding him. Then, there he was. She aimed as best she could with the huge, unfamiliar weapon and pulled it tight against her shoulder knowing it was going to kick hard. She breathed out like Asher had and squeezed the trigger.

Adina thought she'd blacked out.

The pain in her shoulder took her breath away, her inability to see was because of the huge dust cloud of dust raised when the gun went off. And her ears hurt. She bit her lip and clumsily cycled the action, her right hand weak and uncoordinated. Then she looked for the rider again. Her whole arm was numb, electric shocks of pain shooting through her fingers.

Where are you...

She stopped and closed her eyes, taking a long breath. The world went fuzzy again. She opened her eyes and looked for the rider. He was just appearing from another dust cloud. She'd missed completely. But he'd turned and was racing laterally, trying to see who was shooting.

From some distant place, she could hear Asher yelling at her. It sounded muddy through the painful post-shot ringing in her ears. Then the rider saw her. As she lined up on him he all but laid the motorcycle down again and vanished in a billowing cloud of dust. She heard the motorcycle's engine scream. She looked up from the scope trying to find him. She could just make out the flying banner in the dust as he raced straight away from her, the dust cloud concealing him.

"ADINA!"

Asher was limping toward her. When she put her hands down to get up from behind the big gun, fiery, shooting pain tore through her back, down her right arm, nearly to her diaphragm, and her right arm failed. She collapsed across the hard stock of the rifle. She shrieked in pain, rolling onto her left side, holding her agonized limb. She heard Asher's boots and the clunk of the big sword hitting the ground next to her. But she couldn't see, everything was blurred by tears of pain.

"What did you do!?" he demanded. She felt his hands firmly on her arm. "Hold on. This is going to hurt." He put his knee against her ribs and grabbed her upper arm with one hand and her lower arm with the other. Then he pulled and twisted.

Everything tunneled, her brain shutting off as the excruciating pain locked her whole body in a rigid spasm. She couldn't breathe. Then there was a loud, popping sort of crunch - and the pain was suddenly gone. "Don't move."

She blinked in surprise, suddenly able to breathe again.

"Is that better?"

She stared in amazement at him and then her arm. She raised her hand and made a fist. "Yes. What was that? What did you do?"

"You dislocated your damn shoulder! And you violated the laws of challenge! He has every right..."

"He was pulling a gun!" she snarled, pulling herself up to sitting and ripping off her mask and goggles. Part of her instantly regretted it because of the thick dust lingering in the air. "And..." She coughed hard. "What rules! Him on a motorcycle and you on foot! What kind of rules are those!" As her eyes traveled down, she could see a wide cut in his leg, bleeding freely, the pantleg parted wide with a clean slice.

"Earth and sky!"

He pulled off his helmet and mask, his eyes on her. There was a canyon between his eyes where the crease between his brows normally was. She couldn't tell if it was anger, pain, consternation or all of them. After watching her eyes for a moment, he turned over his shoulder, looking where the rider had gone. "We haven't seen the last of him."

She got to her knees, carefully inspecting the wound in his leg. "I need to stitch this."

"You... You drove him away!" a voice said.

Adina didn't realize the pistol was in her hand and pointing at the man who had been facing off with Asher until Asher put his hand on hers. "Easy there, Pancho Villa." She dropped her hand, the pistol suddenly heavy for her burning shoulder.

The man raised his hands, holding the rifle up and took a step back. But his eyes were wide, looking between them. "You... you fought Shoah and made him run away!" Others were gathering. "Who are you?"

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Thank you for reading Guns and Dust Chapter 5! In case you are unaware, reader ratings drive everything for writers here on Literotica, so please rate my story (hopefully 5 stars!) and tell you friends about Guns and Dust!

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