Chapter 3: Nightmares of the Past (part 2)
Boomer and Diesel continued to ride down the highway at full speed. It had been almost half-an-hour since they left the house and only with a couple of guns as their luggage.
Diesel never talked much but this silence was noticablely different. This silence was very tense, which was usually a symptom that he was mentally unnerved. Boomer caught this but he figured it was best that he leave Diesel alone with it. Nothing he could say would calm Diesel's mind. It was only natural that someone would be mentally unnerved in a time like this one.
Boomer began to slow the bike before he came to a stop. This caught Diesel's attention. Then, all of a sudden, Boomer cranked the throttle and drove off the left side of the road, half crashing into a bush and behind a large rock.
"What is it?" Diesel asked.
Boomer drew his rifle, indicating that Diesel should do the same, "Covie troops."
This was bad; very, very bad.
Diesel asked, "How many?"
Boomer peered around the rock to get a glimpse of the danger, "I count three: two grunts and a hinge-head."
As he continued to observe he noticed that these troops were casually strolling the area. They weren't tense as if ready for battle, and they appeared to be slowly walking without a particular destination. Boomer supposed that these were ground forces tasked with hunting any rural humans in the area.
Diesel's heart rate became very high and he was beginning to shake at that point. Boomer sensed his little brother's fear and gently placed his hand on Diesel's shoulder, "We're gonna be okay," he whispered.
This did little to reduce Diesel's anxiety but he regained his composure and began to control his breathing. He reafirmed his grip on his weapon and nodded, indicating that he was ready.
"Alright," Boomer whispered, "we're gonna sneak past them and make sure they don't even know we were here. We've got to get to Luxor undetected."
Diesel formed a perplexed look on his face, "What are we going to use for transport?"
Boomer seemed to be caught off guard by the question. He hesitantly looked around and found no transport in the area. These Covies must have been dropped off by an aerial vehicle. That ment that it wasn't an option to steal any vehicle. Neither could they use the motorcycle because it would make too much noise. There only seemed to be three enemies at the moment but Boomer wasn't willing to bet his own life or the life of his brother on the assumption that there weren't more Covenant nearby.
Boomer gazed sternly into his little brother's eyes and said, "We're gonna walk."
Diesel looked disbelieving at his brother. Luxor was over thirty-two miles away, even after their highway-cruise that lasted for the past half hour.
Diesel looked as if he was going to protest but Boomer cut him off, "We have no method of transport that's quiet enough to go unoticed. Plus, the Covenant will be watching the roads. We need to go backwoods on this one, bro. Got it?"
Diesel maintained a blank expression on his face for a few moments before he nodded in acknowledgement of Boomer's reasoning.
"Alright," Boomer said, "they're only about three hundred meters away and we have almost nowhere to hide. We need to wait until they've passed us before we keep going. Got it?"
Diesel nodded.
Boomer peeked an eye around the rock to keep track of where the Covies were. It took over ten minutes for the Covenant troops to come close enough for the two brothers to skirt around the rock and remain unseen. There were a couple of close calls where Boomer was almost spotted, but his luck hadn't failed him yet.
"Alright," Boomer whispered, "follow me."
Diesel followed Boomer's lead as they both remained in a crouch. He slowly and quietly moved forward and made sure to not be seen. But, as young inexperience and bad luck would have it, Diesel stepped on a large, dry stick, which made a loud snap.
Boomer, with wide eyes, whipped his head around to where the noise eminated. Both brothers held their breath, praying that nothing else heard the sound.
They had no cover to hide them, other than the boulder, which meant that if the Covies came around the rock, Diesel and Boomer would be caught out in the open.
Diesel heard multiple pairs of footsteps nearing their direction. His heart began to race again. If they were found, their chances of surviving were rather miniscule.
Boomer, however, wasn't so petrified as his little brother. He aimed his rifle and steadied himself, and in the nick-o'-time too. Not two seconds later a pair of grunts came waddling around to side of the rock. They noticed the two humans and where about to make paniced noises of the imminent danger.
However, Boomer was already prepared, and rapidly fired two consecutive shots, both of which were headshots. The grunts never stood a chance.
Unfortunantly, their battle wasn't over. The elite that accompanied the grunts came rushing into view with its energy sword drawn.
Diesel was stupified; unable to move from his squating position. Diesel never saw an alien before, and now that he had, he was utterly terrified. Being that Diesel was closer, the elite charged him with the intent of a swift kill.
Boomer, however, wouldn't let that happen. That split-lip was endangering his family, and Boomer wouldn't have that. Realizing that there was no way to break the alien's shield in time, Boomer dashed a whole five feet before colliding his shoulder into the area just below the elite's right armpit. This threw the oversized iguana off balance, causing it to fall to the ground just in time to miss its human target.
The elite wasted no time in rolling and repositioning himself on top of Boomer. It reafirmed its grip on its sword and thrusted toward the human's abdomen. Boomer used his left hand to push the creature's arm aside just enough to not get stabed. The sword sunk half its length into the ground as Boomer drew his pistol.
This particular pistol was somewhat of an antique from the late twenty-fifth century. It was a five-cylinder revolver based from some older .50 caliber handguns, but had some other features to maximize efficiency and reduce blowback. Boomer called it "The T-Rex".
Boomer wasn't fast enough, though. The elite swiped to gun to the left, which knocked it out of Boomer's hand. The elite then tried to retrieve its sword from the ground but Boomer grabbed the hinge-head by the wrist and began digging his thumb into the elite's eye. The elite released its grip on the sword and raised its upper body upward and retracted its right arm up for a punch. It curled its four-fingered hand into a fist and jabbed it downward; toward Boomer's head.
Being a human, naturally having a predisposition for being able to move more quickly, Boomer shifted his head to the right and avoided the punch. As if planned, Boomer used his head as an anchor against the split-chin's hand. He then swung his left arm and, with all his might, contacted the elite's right elbow, breaking it backwards. The elite suddenly howled in pain but regained its composure just as quickly.
The elite changed tactics. Instead of trying to kill the human with a swift and strategic strike, the elite grappled the vermin's throat with its one funtioning arm, using its imposing body mass to bare down on the opponent's neck.
Proportionally, humans naturally had a superior strength/weight ratio than that of a typical elite, but the lizard-like monster was still too heavy for Boomer to overcome. Boomer was very large for his age, and had the frame to compete with the average adult, but he was still only fourteen, and even a fully grown man would be very hard-pressed to manage an elite's body weight.
Boomer couldn't reach for another gouge to the eye because the elite's arm was too long. He tried to use the same tactic to break the elite's other arm as he did the last, but it was prepared this time, and slightly bent its elbow and seamlessly absorb the impact while keeping its head out of the reach of the human.
Boomer began to feel his limbs becoming cold and his vision becoming spotted. He tried a cheap-shot to the elite's groin area, but he found out the painful way that it was armored.
He could barely feel his his head and realized that he was beginning to loose consciousness by the second. He wouldn't suvive this fight, and he knew it. He began to think frantically of what to do. Without help, he was going to die…Without help…Boomer thought.
"Diesel!" Boomer bellowed as loud as he could, "Diesel!"
Diesel snapped out of his trance. He finally came to wit of the situation, and he knew that he needed to do something fast. Diesel opened fire on the big lizard, letting the volley of metal steadily weaken the energy shields. The shields did break, but not before the gun clicked, indicating that the magazine was empty.
Diesel unhesitantly dropped his rifle and grabbed Boomer's pistol off the ground and shot the elite in the side of the rib cage.
The elite knelt in shock at the sudden pain from the massive hole gaping in its side.
Diesel fired again. This caused the elite to fall to the ground. Diesel fired again. The elite flinched from the shot. He fired again, and again. The pistol clicked against a used primer, indicating that all five rounds had been used.
The elite struggled to breathe for a few seconds as it gurgled in its own blood, and then was still and lifeless.
Diesel stared aimlessly at the body of his victim. Diesel's face was blank and emotionless. He seemed to be in deep thought and mental shock. He felt that something inside him was broken, as if there was an emptiness in his being. This creature that he had slain wasn't human by any means, and he had killed many animals before, but something about this felt different, and Diesel didn't like it.
"Diesel!" came the voice of his big brother.
Diesel came to grip with realiy once more, and realized that Boomer had been shaking his little brother's shoulder to get his attention.
"Diesel, we have to keep moving," Boomer said and he massaged his sore neck.
A silent moment passed before Diesel said with a weak voice, "Yeah…Okay."
Boomer took his pistol from his brother and then retrieved Diesel's rifle for him. They both reloaded their weapons.
"Let's go," Boomer said.
The road that they were traveling was in a valley between two small mountains. They decided to hightail up the leftside mountain and keep themselves as covert as possible, while still making acceptable progress toward Luxor.
Given the recent encounter, Boomer knew that there had to be more alien forces covering the road, and that the closer to the city they approached, the more enemies they would see. That is, if the Covenant had already started their assault on Luxor as they had Elysium City.
Both brothers barely survived the onslaught of one elite. Neither wanted to risk fighting any more of them.
They remained hidden in the timberline and trekked across the mountain slope.
It had been a few hours since the insident with the hinge-head before the sun began to set. After some discussion with his brother, Boomer decided to hunker down for the night.
Boomer had considered that more Covies might be scouting the rural topography for humans. If the two brothers kept moving through the night they might have had less chance of getting spotted. Then again, the enemy troops likely had somekind of night-vision technology with infrared capabilities. If that were true, then Boomer and his brother would be more visible during the night rather than the day. Furthermore, they both needed to be well rested. If the Covenant had already began attacking Luxor, then the Boons needed to be well rested and prepared for tomorrow. Luxor was only about fifteen miles away, so they planned to arrive before noon the next day.
They didn't build a fire for the risk of being seen so they made some beds from some moss and leaves. It was summer so they didn't have to worry about getting cold. They just hunkered down and went to sleep, waiting for morning to come.
Diesel woke with a sudden jolt. He looked around frantically as he regained his bearings. He was back in the cabin, and laying in his hammock with Boomer doing likewise across the room. Unlike Diesel, though, Boomer was sound asleep.
Diesel had that nightmare…again. Those accursed memories of when he lost most of his family, that day when he killed that elite.
Diesel realized that he was sweating, and his pulse was rapidly beating. He needed some fresh air, and, perhaps, a refreshing dunk in the stream that ran behind the cabin.
With cat-like prowess, he silently slinked toward the door, opened it, and quietly shut the door behind him after he exited the building.
He strolled to the stream and squatted down. He inhaled deeply, taking in the soothing sensation of cool night air reducing the temperature of his sweating body. He cupped his hands into the water and brought the liquid to his face. It felt relieving, and he noticed his pulse beginning to slow to its normal pace.
He heard footsteps behind him. He then realized that he must have awoken Boomer, most likely from his sudden stirring prior to waking up from his bad dream.
Boomer sat down at Diesel's right side, and all was silent for a moment.
"Had that dream again," Diesel said somberly.
Boomer knew what Diesel was talking about. Ever since the incident, Diesel had chronic trouble sleeping every now and then.
Diesel shifted from his squat to a sit, with his left knee supporting his arm in a suspened position, while his other leg lay slack on the ground.
"Was it the one where you killed that alien, or the one where everyone else died?" Boomer refered to Dirk, Jacob, and their parents as 'everyone else'.
"When I killed the alien," Diesel answered tersly.
Diesel took the dog-tags off his neck and observed them in his hand reminiscently. His father had given them to him in assurance that he would return. It took over a week for Boomer and Diesel to board a ship for evacuation due to insecure airspace. Once airspace was secure the ship took off in an attempt to escape. Boomer managed to contact their dad by phone, and it turned out that the rest of the family had boarded onto another ship. Then a Covenant supercarrier appeared out of slipspace and destroyed the evacuation ship. The other vessel managed to escape through slipspace just in time with Kholo as its destination.
Boomer saw what was happening so he tried to divert his brother's attention, "Do you remember when we first got here: we almost starved during our first winter?"
A small smirk cracked the corners of Diesel's mouth, "Yeah."
"Remember, when we were so desperate for food, you successfully managed to jump out of a tree with a knife and killed that bear?" Boomer nodded toward Diesel's pants.
"Yeah…"Diesel chuckled, "Good times, man. Good times."
Boomer lightly laughed with Diesel in humorous retrospect.
"Boomer," Diesel questioned, "Why…why do I… I mean… Ever since I killed that elite, I…" Diesel couldn't seem to find the words.
Boomer helped his sibling form the words, "Killing that elite has made you feel empty and hurt inside."
"Yeah, and I don't understand it. I've killed plenty of animals before, but it doesn't feel the same."
"That's because it was a person, Diesel," Boomer saw the still perplexed face on his brother so he continued, " Now, I know what your thinking: you did kill him to save me. But, the fact remains: that alien was a person."
"If those Covies really are people, then how could they do such things? What did we do to provoke them?" Diesel frowned.
"Remember: Humans have and still do things that are just as bad, and to each other no less. Those aliens are misguided people, Diesel. They just need some proper guidance," Boomer dolefully replied with his kinder-than-Jesus tone.
"The only guidance they'll listen to is straight to the grave," Diesel replied in honest truth.
"Not necessarily true," Boomer countered, "They're driven by an idea, and you can't kill an idea with bullets. You can only kill an idea with another idea."
"Your point?" Diesel asked.
"I know you're wondering how humanity's gonna kill the Covenant when they have superior technology and resources, but killing them isn't the answer. They have bad ideas and beliefs. They need to be shown that what they're doing is wrong."
"And just who do ya' suppose is gonna show them that?"
"Whoever has the better ideas, and people that will stand up and defend those ideas," Boomer concluded as he looked at Diesel.
"And just how would humanity go about doing that?"
Boomer shrugged, "I don't have the answer to that, but I do know that's the only way that it can be done."
Diesel added pessimistically, "We're only two people. Even if the UNSC was convinced to establish friendly communication with the Covenant, I don't imagine they would listen."
Boomer responded, "One person can do a lot…" Boomer thought for a moment to give his brother an example, "You probably don't remember this, but dad told us a story about the Martian war; back when Mars was fighting for independence from Earth. There was a guerrilla fighter that managed to single-handedly place tactical demo-charges into a Terran controlled weapons refinery. He destroyed it all by himself and managed to kill over eighty Earth soldiers that day. He almost escaped, but not quite, he eventually was killed."
Diesel seemed intrigued.
"And who knows," Boomer nudged Diesel with his elbow, "Maybe a hillbilly from the mountains of Kholo will change the universe someday," Boomer finished with a laugh.
Diesel joined his brother with a chuckle.
"Well, bro," Boomer changed the subject, "we'd better get some sleep. We've got work to do tomorrow."
With that, they both went back into the cabin and crawled back into their hammocks, and fell asleep in preparation for their work in the morning.
Author's Note: Well, now we have some backstory for the Boon brothers. I suppose that we'll just have to wait for chapter 4 to see what work 'tomorrow morning' will bring. As always, leave your constructive criticism in the form of a Private Message. More reviews are always encouraging to me.