A November Halo Story: Thieving from the Desert Part 3

Bullets rain down all around them, hitting a few men and killing some of them with clean shots in the heart or heads, but many of them were merely wounded. Nova had her pistols free before she ducked behind the wheel with the rifle fire coming from the rocks above. Her brother was next to her with the rifle at the ready as he was waiting for a moment to return fire. Mr. Muninn was shouting orders as many were returning fire on the foes, getting the jump on them.

                “Damn, Red Coats are going to get us killed,” Barak said to his sister before standing up, firing, and hitting someone in the rocks. He dropped back down, racking the bolt with some bullets following him.

                “The question is, who the Hell is shootin’ at us?” Nova asked. “Can’t be the Japs. They couldn’t have followed us like this.”

                Mr. Muninn rolled over to them with his eyes hard and gave Nova a card. “Get to the airport and give the guards at Lionheart Air Ship this; they’ll let you on.”

                “What about ya?” Barak asked.

                “Oh, we will get out of this,” Mr. Muninn said, tapping the case, “but we can’t let this fall into the wrong hands.”

                Nova took the card, grabbed her brother’s shoulder, and looked for a way out of the gunfire. Barak ready himself, glancing over his shoulder to see one of the armor turrets with a heavy machine gun spun to the rocks. The machine guns started blowing apart the stone, with the heavy rounds hitting the enemy. With the roaring, the guns forced the men back, and Barak saw some men take to the sky with jetpacks. Two of the men had rocket launchers on their shoulders and were firing at the still turrets. The rocket turned the armored jeep into nothing more than a fireball close to the sun's brightness.

                “Ah, it’s the bloody Russians,” Barak said as they both ran to another jeep with a few men shooting skywards, hitting one of the jetpack fighters and turning him into a fallen star. “What are they doing here?”

                “Shooting at us.”

                Nova hugged the armored jeep second from the end of the line, moving to get to the door when one of the Russian jetpack troopers dropped down in front of her. His submachine gun laughed at some of the soldiers who didn’t see him; their blood painted the side of the jeep, but he saw Nova; it was all too late for the trooper watching his enemy fall as Nova blasted him right between the eyes.

                “You still think they are mad about the vampire?” Barak asked, taking out one of the troopers, zipping across the sky, and turning him into a nasty fireball crashing into the ground.

                “Don’ think they care,” Nova said, opening the jeep door and seeing it empty. “Get in before I leave your sorry a*s.” She tossed the case onto the floor bed while Barak fired another round, hitting a trooper about to kill Mr. Muninn.

                The jet troopers, known in Russian as Adskiye Volkiv, were great, quick assault soldiers, designed to hit hard and fast and kill quickly before moving on over the battlefield. They were deadly in the skies to ground forces, but the pack didn’t last long, and they had to land often. They also had to be very careful when landing, as they could crash easily. The lifespan of the troopers was low.

                She turned on the jeep, gunning it hard, speeding it out of the circle of the others. It left some of their allies open for attacks, but it didn’t matter. They had to get out of there to get the case to the airship and, most of all, get paid for their work.

                Barak moved to the back.

                “Don’ wreck this time,” he said, passing Nova.

                “The last time wasn’ my fault,” Nova shouted at him with bullets chasing after them, “the trees came out of nowhere.”

                “That’s what happens when you're drunk,” Barak said, holding the wall with the jeep shaking around. He climbed into the turret, looking through the viewing hole. “We got a lot of troopers after us.”

                “Yea, yea,” Nova said, giving the jeep as much gas as she could, hearing the electromagnetic engine shooting the jeep farther down the sandy land. “Start shootin’ back ya?”

                “Workin’ on it.”

                The jeep shook with Barak firing the massive guns at the troopers, trying to take them all out. Some troopers were firing back, but the armor held until the rockets started punching holes in the ground. She jerked the jeep from one side to the other, making it harder for them to hit. The rockets kicked up the dust, making it difficult to see, but she kept going, pushing the engine harder and faster.

                She shut the door to the back with the roaring of the guns; they started to give her a headache with all the noises flying around her. She wasn’t sure how much longer the troopers could keep up, knowing they would soon fall from the sky. All she had to do was outrun them.

                A nasty man landed on the jeep's hood, snarling at her. She ducked as the glass was blown inward with the machine gun screaming at her like some drunk fool. The bullet nailed against the steel behind her, and she pulled free one of the pistols, waiting for the trooper to stop firing. The gasp in the scream gun was enough for her to sit up, punching the man right in the chest with two rounds. He grabbed the holes falling back off the jeep and under the wheels.

                “They’re comin’ down,” Barak shouted.

                “I’m working on it,” Nova yelled back, turning her head back in time. “Oh, no.” She saw the rock too late as it hit the jeep's passenger side, throwing it up in the air. She tried to control the fall, but it was too late. The jeep hit, flipping over like a box being kicked down some stairs, and Nova was upside down when it came to a stop. She shook her head, trying to stop the pain, when the boots of a trooper stopped in front of the door. She went looking for her guns, but her head was killing, and everything was starting to go black.

                She looked back at the boots and saw another pair behind the man, those used by the tribes who travel this desert. Blood poured from the trooper’s neck as he was tossed aside, and Nova faded to blackness.