Chapter 4
"get out here" shouted Sa'jon back to him. "you are coming with us, you got us in to this". Sa'jon had a quiet word with Dicks, then "at the moment son, your chances of survival are, at best, not good, and that is only if you do as I say".
Din climbed out and just as Sa'jon turned to join his team Din quickly turned and darted into the forest behind him. He put on a burst of speed, looking down at his feet to ensure he didn't loose his footing. He knew that all the Scouts were in the clearing, and he was running into the jungle, if he kept up his speed, they would never catch him with their heavier equipment and armour. He was wrong.
Vidir was half as tall as Din again, but not so thick set as the others, and was the fastest man in the Scout team. He immediately disconnected his webbing through a quick release, most of his equipment dropping from his body with his webbing. He made rapid progress through the jungle, easily clearing obstacles in his path, and quickly caught up with Din, tackling him to the ground. Their entwined bodies tumbled down and hit the jungle floor with a thud, Vidir cleverly angling himself so that Din took the brunt of the fall. As soon as they had ground to a halt Vidir was straight up to his feet, and following a quick, but excruciating jab to Din's arm, he pulled Din to his feet and marched him back to the hide. The others had already departed, but had gathered up his equipment and left it in a neat pile for him to collect.
"well mate, looks like we have some catching up to do" and pushed Din in front of him "you had better get going – start running. They went that way" as he pointed into the jungle. They slowly caught up, and they all spent the next 2 hours in total silence re-tracing their steps until they reached the spot in which they had left Horne. Din wasn't quite sure why they were holding him hostage, but part of him didn't really care. He just knew he didn't like it. Dicks, the lead scout, picked up the first clues of the fire fight. He spotted some spent ammunition cartridges, not from Horne's weapon, but another, not even Ork. He bent down, his worn hands scooped up a handful of cartridges and dirt, showing them to the rest of the squad, who remained silent. Sa'jon stopped the squad moving with a wave of his hand, and then made a signal to spread out into a search formation. He pointed at Din specifically, indicating he wanted him to remain close.
The scouts were quick and efficient, they secured the area with little fuss. What they found was very interesting. Plenty of ammunition casings, plenty of blood and a few bodies, both Orks and Humans, but nether Horne nor Boxy Nero could be seen, dead or alive. As Dicks was sifting through the undergrowth he saw two huge gouges in the undergrowth, the warbikes had been here too. He could see from the trail of destruction however that they had arrived too late to join in the fun as neither of the twin bolters mounted on the war bikes had been used.
"Sarge, come and take a look at this" he had found a couple of grubby ammunition cartridges "this is from the bolt pistol that Horne was carrying. He was definitely here Sarge, and he let off a few bursts". Dicks analysed the cluster of shells and the surrounding undergrowth. Dicks had fought many campaigns as a Scout, and specialised in intelligence and tracking, a prime candidate for this mission before the threat of the Orks had been understood, but now his skills were invaluable. Sa'jon checked the communications link with Horne again, but nothing.
Dicks tracked across twenty metres of lighter undergrowth, following something into the denser Jungle as he did so, inspecting each and every plant, occasionally investigating rocks and stones that may have moved, he even licked one. He worked for five minutes, while the rest of the Squad held the perimeter.
"They got out here" he finally said over the comm. link. "the firefight was over there" he pointed to the Western edge of the clearing where three humans and one Ork had been slain. "Horne wasn't part of fire fight though, I'm not even sure anyone knew he was here. It looks like a small group of humans got into a fire fight with a couple of Orks, and our buddy was unwittingly caught up in the middle".
"they were prison guards" pitched in Din. He had been doing some investigation of his own, "they were equipped for a search party, and only relatively lightly armoured. They had no chance. Your man took one of them with him, look" he pointed to a patch of undergrowth that had been flattened. Dicks came across, placing his feet carefully as he did so as not to disturb the evidence. "look, the prison guard was out of the main group when the fight started" he pointed to a patch on the ground "he was hit there, the Ork probably thought he had put the guy down for good but he hadn't. Look" Dicks followed Din around as they walked to where Horne had been then nodded in agreement.
"I agree, it looks like he crawled over to Horne, who managed to get both Nero and this guy out of the danger area. But where the hell are they now". Sa'jon was watching Din closely, he had clearly just made a bond with Dicks, and although he had been extremely angry at his team for letting Din get a shot off earlier in the day, he was quietly impressed with Din's skills. If only they could sort out that attitude.
Throughout their investigation they touched nothing, not wanting to arouse suspicions of their presence to the prison authority or even the Ork clan if they came to recover their fallen. The Scout team moved on, and rested and fed half a click away. Sa'jon sat on an old log, the tree must have once been huge, this log lain for a very long time and probably been used for many weary traveller to rest. It was the first time they had stopped in 24 hours, unlike Din, they had not rested the previous night. Although the Space Marine Scouts had endurance way beyond any normal man, the terrain was difficult, the humidity high and the workload intense. The men had been using their brains as well as their braun and Sa'jon had not brought provisions to sustain such a mission for long. They must be out within 24 hours, or their capability would be compromised, he would return to the drop ship as soon as they had recovered Horne. He was also unsure of what to do with Aegus Din, a man he intensely distrusted but who may still have useful information.
He threw a ration pack over to Din, who eagerly opened it, not realising until they had stopped that he had not had anything substantial to eat since breaking out of prison. He opened the ration pack and cared not that he didn't recognise anything inside, he picked out the first thing he saw and bit into it. The food was gone in minutes.
Sa'jon surveyed his surroundings once more. The training that the Scouts had been through had been long and intense, and had all but shaken them out of them their preferences for heavy or light, hot or cold, or dark or light, wet or dry planets. But on every campaign Sa'jon had fought through, every planet he had visited, every City he had conquered, he had compared to his home planet. This one was hot and humid, as his home world, one of the chosen recruiting grounds for the dogs of war Chapter of the Space Marines, was largely temperate, and much cooler than this with the gravity also at a similar level, 1.1 times Terra standard gravity.
Sa'jon let the men eat their rations and gather their thoughts, then issued the orders they had been expecting.
"Dicks and Mullrack, I need you to both scout ahead, scope the Ork camp. We need numbers and locations of guards. We will follow thirty minutes behind. We will re-convene one click out, South East of their position. Leave a mark".
When they sat down Dicks and Mullrack had both removed the burdensome weight of all their equipment, which was now neatly heaped in front of them. Din had been impressed by their equipment, not only the high tech gadgets, but also amazed by the sheer volume of kit they carried.
Dicks clambered to his feet, his joints had slightly stiffened as they cooled from inactivity. They would quickly regain their previous fluidity, but he did look slightly cumbersome as he stood and straightened his back.
"You sure you are up to this old man?" joked Mullrack, who was quick to his feet and had already begun to strap on his webbing.
"at least I got to this age" Dicks retorted "if you are skilled enough to survive long to get to my age, you won't be able to do this" he said as he bent over and touched his toes. Mullrack laughed, firing a quick glance over to Sa'jon who was not amused. He knew that Sa'jon wanted to get off this planet, so decided against continuing the antics. He surveyed his equipment inventory spread out over the ground, and considered what to put on next. His combat knife was a good a place to start as any, and he holstered the first next to the shin of his left leg, then one at his waist and another strapped to his back upside down under his kidneys. Next he stowed a selection of hand grenades in the appropriate compartment, crack, frag, blind and melta, each in the right compartment. It was the same every time, so he instinctively knew where each grenade would be in the thick of battle.
Mullrck took the opportunity to stock up with provisions and water, most of this was stowed inside his ruck-sack strapped to his back with his spare ammunition. His bolt pistol was already safely holstered on his left hip, he never took it off as a rule, but his shot gun was resting against the log he sat on. He checked it was fully loaded, and the safety catch was on, and this was slipped it into his back holster.
The last item was his helmet, and when he had secured the chin strap he stood to his full height and Din looked up in awe at the fighting machine in-front of him. Mullrack finally pulled the most important piece of equipment to a Scout, his cloak. Din looked on with interest as this final item was pulled lovingly over his head, and could see Mullrack check to ensure it was properly unfurled at the bottom. The cloak's was flowing, its movement silky, almost unreal and Din had to blink a few times to clear his eyes but the cloak continued to deceive the light around it. Even though Mullrack's equipment and clothing was already well camouflaged it further broke up his outline against the jungle, rendering him almost invisible.
Dicks was also pulling on the last of his equipment, but rather than a shot gun, Dicks only ranged weapon was a silenced bolt pistol with a short power sword against his right hip. He tapped this instinctively as he prepared to depart, Din could see from the way he touched the sword that it was a natural extension to his body.
Sa'jon approached the pair of Scouts while Vidir sat guarding Din. Din said nothing, he knew of a number of dangers in the jungle that he could warn the Scouts of, but it was not in his interest to tell them. The sooner these men were dead, the sooner he could get away, still acutely aware that the prison guards were still be looking for him.
The trio spoke quietly and briefly, and then Dicks and Mullrack departed in total silence into the jungle. They were out of sight in seconds and absolute silence fell over the camp, it was as if they were ghosts floating over the terrain. He was starting to see how this team had so successfully captured him without him even knowing who or what they were.
"If you want to eat tonight, you had better get to work" Sa'jon announced as he turned back to Din. "We only had supplies for 48 hours for 5 men, but it looks like we will need to go another 24 hours and there are at least 2 extra men. We need to gather water, berries, and lets try and shoot something for dinner. Not sure I want another ration pack tonight". Din knew the area fairly well, and knew what animals were easy to catch and how to catch them.
"Take this" he said to Din "get us something to eat tonight" he threw Din his needle sniper rifle. "Make sure it is big enough to feed 8" he added.
Din caught the rifle, and admired the workmanship of the weapon. It was light and perfectly balanced. He looked down the long barrel, gripping the snug wooden butt, and ran his hand over the finely oiled metalwork. He had never seen a weapon quite like it, and he marvelled at how a weapon of war could be so exquisite.
The mechanism for use however was as any other weapon he had used, with a bolt action, and a magazine of what looked like 12 rounds of needles. He pulled back the bolt, revealing a needle ready in the chamber as his fingers found the safety catch. He looked up at Sa'jon, a flicker of unease rested in Din's eyes, and Sa'jon winked back at him – almost saying "go for it, knock yourself out, see if I care". Vidir had hardly noticed the exchange and had already started hunting for roots and berries, uninterested in the non-verbal discussion between Sa'jon and Din.
Din again looked down at the weapon, his finger itching to pull that trigger, aimed at Sa'jon, but something inside stopped him. Sa'jon kept half an eye on Din, but he also began to speak into his headset, passing information to and from his control vessel in orbit. Half way though the discussion Sa'jon broke away from the commands,
"Go" he shouted to Din "get me some food" and then continued to speak into his microphone. Din flicked the safety catch back on and strode into the jungle, he knew the perfect place to find dinner.
By the time he had returned with a stag strapped to his back, and only one shot fired, it was time to leave.
"nice work" Sa'jon commented as the stag hit the ground with a thud "but we have to go, you will have to carry it like that". Din humped it back onto his back, and the three of them followed in the footsteps of Dicks and Mullrack.
They trekked for approximately 2 hours, and Vidor found the marker left by Dicks.
"Okay" he said "this is where we leave our kit and its also our muster point".
Vidor and Sa'jon dropped much of their equipment, including most of their supplies and back pack, only holding onto a small supply of water, Din copied.
"where are we going now" he asked. He felt a glimmer of concern for Dicks, a feeling he had rarely experienced in recent years "where are the others".
"they" explained Sa'jon "will be inside the Ork camp, wiring the place to blow and checking the encampment to ensure Horne isn't there. And we are the diversion to ensure they can get out". Din looked back at him blankly.
"you mean you are the diversion" there was no way he was going back find out how tough those Orks really were. Sa'jon ignored the comment, and threw his needle sniper rifle to Din.
"Take this. You will need it Later" Sa'jon said. He threw his cloak around him, the background beyond fizzing in and out of focus as he did so "follow me, and make sure you are ready to use it, we don't know what we might come across next". Din grasped the rifle, Vidor already on his way into the Jungle, spreading a light dusting of a powder onto a tree stump as he left. Once settled, the marker was invisible to all but him.
Din checked the weapon was loaded and followed, jogging a little to catch up. Din considered himself an expert tracker, stalker and hunter, but had never heard anybody move as silently as these Scouts. He even felt ashamed as he trod through the jungle, every time a twig snapped underfoot either Sa'jon or Vidor turned and gave him a look of disapproval. The two men in front acted as one mind, there was no communication between them, but when one stopped the other instinctively knew where the potential threat was, and either stopped dead or moved to an appropriate spot to confirm identification. Each sound was carefully assessed and matched against the surrounding environmental conditions before being disregarded as immaterial.
Din was trudging along when suddenly in front of him Sa'jon stopped dead. This time it was different and Vidor also knew it was serious so he indicated for Din to stop and crouch down. Nothing happened for a minute which was unusual, the Scouts had usually moved on within 30 seconds. For the first time since Din had been with the Scouts, Sa'jon back tracked to Vidor's position.
"We are there" said Sa'jon. "up ahead is a perimeter guard. He's carrying a heavy load, probably a heavy bolter".
"did you see him" whispered Din, intrigued how he knew what lay ahead as he hadn't seen anything.
"I can tell from the way it walks" said Sa'jon "if you do as I say, you will live, if you don't, you will probably be killed. He believed what Sa'jon said about getting killed and had a suspicious feeling that even if he ran in the opposite direction to the Orks, he would still be found. He nodded to the Sergeant.
"I need you to skirt 50 metres to the North West and climb the tallest tree you can find, visibility is low, so take these" and Sa'jon pulled off his goggles. "Put them on, you will be able to see more clearly through the foliage. When you are there look out for my signal to cover us. Whatever happens don't climb down until I signal you to", Din pulled the elastic over his head and they rested on the top of his skull.
As he looked up Sa'jon and Vidir were already disappearing into the jungle. Without thinking again, he quietly moved off in a Northerly direction, counted his paces and found a suitable tree. It had plenty of foliage to provide cover and hand holds, and began to climb.
He reached the top, and scanned the horizon. Sa'jon was right, just beyond the Ork guard's position stood a small encampment. The tree he had chosen had a particularly good vantage point over the camp although it was still mostly obscured by foliage. He pulled the goggles over his eyes and the image shimmered as the goggles focused to give him clarity. They didn't allow him to see completely through the foliage, but it made everything translucent, so he could see what was beyond solid objects, and could now clearly make out the layout of the camp. It looked surprisingly quiet and could not make out Horne nor his Boxy Nero.
He arched his neck as he looked around trying to find Sa'jon and was surprised to find him very close by. Following Sa'jon's direction, Din then found Vidor through the rifle sights who was just a few steps away from the Ork. The Ork did carry a very heavy looking weapon, to Din it looked very similar to the vehicle mounted chain guns that some armies used on his world.
Din brought the sniper rifle up to bear and trained it on the Ork. He guessed that Sa'jon didn't want him to fire unless it was entirely necessary. As the cross hairs fell onto the Ork's torso, Vidor made his move, his cloak flowing behind as he made the final quick steps to the huge creature. It never knew what hit it as Vidor bypassed the Ork's armour by leaping up onto its back. It was only then that Din realised the Ork must be half again taller than Vidor, who had quickly wrapped his garrotting wire around the Ork's neck. His arms bulged as he pulled it tight around the Ork's neck, which seemed surprisingly resilient to the garrotte's razor wire, though Vidor's strength overcame the thick skin within a few seconds and as soon as it did so the green blood poured out over the Ork's armour and neck. The Ork was still struggling and Vidor continued to load pressure on the wire, practically severing the Ork's head, which finally went limp. Vidor jumped to the ground and to reduce the sound of the fall he caught the huge body as it tumbled down in a heap.
Din could not believe the speed of the attack which was over in seconds, Vidor's movements so fluid, almost artistic. Din barely had time to focus his sight before the Ork had fallen. Sa'jon was quickly up to Vidor's position and the two of them dragged the body under a bush. They carefully made their way forwards into the unknown, Sa'jon taking the lead, Din tracking them through the sights of the rifle.
Once Sa'jon had established a new position he looked back to Din, who made a hand signal, Din understood. They were going in to the camp. Cover their retreat. Sa'jon began to move forwards but out of nowhere John Dicks appeared. After a rapid dialogue Sa'jon motioned to Vidor and Din to come forwards.
"This camp is huge" said Dicks "we found everything from war bikes to battle wagons to skimmers and parked at the far end they even have a shuttle capable of taking them back to orbit. Not only that, it looks like this is one of a few camps".
"So where is everyone" said Sa'jon "except for a few guards this place is deserted".
"Except for the guards that were left behind I think the Orks have gone on a recce mission. They were clearing out as we arrived so we kept our heads low" Dicks looked at the nearly decapitated Ork nearby and chuckled "easy there Mullrack, you didn't have to take its head off, although I think that was the last guard we have taken care of the rest" smiling he added "But there is less blood pooling around the others".
"where did they go" asked Sa'jon, checking over his shoulder as if he had heard something returning to camp.
"Mullrack followed the Orks, but they had so much comms kit we had to keep radio silence so I have no idea where he is now. The Orks have probably been tracking our comms since we have been here, this is not your typical low tech Ork operation".
"but any idea where" Din asked this question, worried by what he had heard.
"Not sure" replied Dicks, towering over him "a nearby village we think, we heard some of the boyz talking as they left the camp".
Din had a de-ja-vu occurrence of his nightmare. He knew that village was the closest to this camp. He edged his way to the back of the pack as the Scouts remained focused on their discussion. Nobody noticed. He could ask this team for help or go alone. He choose to go alone. As he slipped away he kept hold of Sa'jon's rifle, and also picked up the Ork bolter, he had feeling he would need both. The Scouts were still discussing the motivations of the Orks, how they got to the planet and what their mission was. Din was pleased they were distracted and reached the undergrowth un-noticed.
Now it was Din's turn to move through the trees like a ghost, he found he was able to move over and around obstacles as if they did not exist. After a few minutes he was bloodied and bruised from minor wounds inflicted, but did not care. He had not seen his home village for six months and he had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach as he approached it now.
There was a deep rumble in the distance, then he saw a giant fireball reach into the sky, that would be the fuel store going up then he thought. His determination doubled, and he picked up his pace. He was soon at the perimeter tree line, his village beyond, but he did not stop and burst through into the open at full pace. What he saw was worse than he could imagine.
His eyes took in the horror as he moved to cover behind an old barn. He scanned the surroundings, and realised Sa'jon's goggles were still on his head so he flicked them down. It was a sea or Orks, everywhere he looked he could see the monsters, firing their weapons, riding their bikes and destroying the buildings. He moved onwards, he couldn't wait, and made his way to his quarter of the village, which meant he had to risk exposing himself. As he crossed a clear patch of land he saw the shapes of at least five Orks through the smog nearby, their awkward hunched posture grotesque against the background of fire. He was glad of the goggle not for the vision enhancements, but to protect his eyes from the eye watering smoke. In the hand of every Ork was a deadly weapon, and one turned to face Din, its face covered in a metal mask painted blood red in colour, only its sharp yellow and black teeth visible. Din dived, not knowing if he had been seen but could have sworn he had seen it grin at him. He landed with a roll behind the closest building and moved to the far corner away from the Ork. He heard a woman cry out in the distance, it was a plea for help and it distracted him for a second, he glanced round but even the goggles couldn't help him locate the scream. It came from an unfortunate soul who had been cornered and it was cut short by a burst of gunfire. The distraction had slowed him, and as Din moved around the corner a chunk of concrete as big as his head flew off the old building. Then more chunks followed as the Ork with the red facemask found its sights and the rounds poured to Din's position.
He spun round, dropped to his stomach and raised the first weapon to his hands to fire back, it was the Ork bolter. His eyes were wide with terror as the Ork ploughed towards him, its weapon raised and spitting fire. Luckily for Din, a running Ork can't hit a barn door at ten paces, so although he didn't realise it, he was relatively safe for a few seconds. Din took aim and squeezed the trigger, the kick of the butt into his shoulder nearly broke his collar bone, this weapon had been designed for a tougher race. The slugs however did find their target, at least three rounds landed home, but the Ork just soaked up the rounds into its gut and continued, hardly even slowing. Din squeezed again, for longer this time and he had no idea how many shots found their target as his aim had veered wildly off during the burst but he quickly realised that this Ork was not going to fall. He squinted at it, it was still closing, though its pace had slowed and it had discarded its bolter and pulled an axe from somewhere. He had no more than four seconds before it split him in two with one blow of the axe. Lying down he had no time to move away so had no choice but to keep firing. He aimed for his head, it was going to be the only way, he tensed and held the trigger down hard. His whole right hand side was numbing at the pain of the kick back, his watering eyes were focused only on the target. Fear now leaving him in anticipation of his last few seconds. Time slowed for him and suddenly the Ork fell. He wasn't sure if it tripped, or a limb torn off, or if the manic beast had just run out of life, but after falling it did not move. It slid to a halt just a few metres from Din's nose. It also stank. He had to get away, but risked one quick glance at it, and as well as being riddled with holes, most of its head was now missing, all that was remaining was the stump of a spinal chord and a bloody tangle of skin, metal and bone.
Thank the Emperor the other Orks had not followed the first. Din slipped around the corner of the building nearest to him and began to make his way to his house. Progress was not difficult, he knew the village well and moved in and of buildings and shadows, even underneath the local health care clinic which had been built on stilts. The battle raged outside of Din's sphere of conscious, as he moved it was a miracle he was not hit by stray rounds. By now most of the population had either fled, been killed or been rounded up into a pen, though he was encouraged by the fact that his home was on the less affected side of the village.
As he moved it seemed that the Orks were themselves confused. He had often seen rank and file soldiers scampering too and from one a particular vehicles. It was the one with the most decorative adornments, including weapons, bones including human skulls and a number of other skulls that were un-recognisable. He guessed that was the chief.
He spotted his own home, the door was open. He was about to make his run across a small field when he spotted two Orks patrolling, but they weren't directly heading towards his house. He ducked back behind a fruit tree that had been torn down. He raised his bolter to take a shot, but thought better of it after its apparent ineffectiveness against the one with the red helmet and he didn't think the needle rifle would be effective given the flimsy needles. Seconds later there was commotion and the taller of two who had been patrolling ran over to his house, and met another coming out. Din hadn't realised that there had been one inside already. The Ork emerging was extremely hunched over, Din thought he didn't look well at all, but that was irrelevant because behind the hunch back were two humans. A pain stabbed through Din's heart as he saw Aleila and Saif emerging also. Their hands bound, mouths gagged, Aleila also limping and looked battered and bruised.
The tall Ork who had been patrolling spoke to the hunchback, Din could hear the short sharp words but had no idea of their meaning. After an acknowledgement from the other, the Ork who had spoken looked at Aleila and drew his pistol, Din had been using weapons long enough to know a draw intending to fire. He was ready for it, and unsure of its real capability he squeezed off two rounds from the needle rifle as he knew it would be far more accurate over this range. Both shots landed squarely in the head of the taller Ork, killing it instantly. Immediately afterwards he launched from his position and fired again, this time his aim was not so good, but the distraction achieved its purpose and the hunchback fumbled its weapon. Aleila looked across and locked eyes with Din for a second. It was the fist time she had seen him in over six months and she hadn't known he had even escaped. The relief on her eyes was overwhelming, and her eyes filled with tears, her lips trembling. He cried out to them to drop down as he had no clear shot to the remaining Ork. He still had some ground to cover, and was moving fast but he wasn't sure if he would make it.
Suddenly his right leg went numb, his whole body tumbled to the floor and his weapons scattered. He looked again to his family, Aleila was being held by the hunchback, and Saif was on his knees sobbing uncontrollably, he was only eight years old. Din had no idea why he had fallen but looked down to his leg and could see the spread of blackness on his dirty prison uniform, his blood was seeping from a deep wound. He cared not, and ignoring the pain he pulled himself up and crawled to the sniper rifle a few metres away. A shadow appeared across his vision and looked up. Fear gripped him like never before, as his eyes fixed on sight more terrifying than any Ork he had seen.
A heavily armoured figure with a fully sealed helmet approached. He knew not what lay beneath the thick layers of black ceramite plate, but he knew this was his final moment. His could not tear his gaze from the bright white eyes of the figure, which appeared to bend the surrounding light making it difficult properly make out. In its left hand it held its only visible weapon, which was a fabulously exquisite sword that was completely black. He knew that aggression was his only chance, there would be no negotiation, and launched himself at the giant, pulling his hunting knife as he did so because it was all he had left.
His attack did take the figure by surprise as Din landed a blow around the giants hips. It was an attempt to penetrate the a weak joint in its armour. However, there was no weak spot to be found and Din was shrugged off into the dirt. A quick flash of its sword and Din was disarmed and the figure stared down at Din as if laughing off the pitiful attack. It drew a bolt pistol from an unseen holster, and without looking down, shot Din once in the chest.
It didn't give Din a second glance as it moved away to Aleila and Saif. First it pointed to Din's Aleila and barked an order, then another order to the hunch back Ork which pulled Saif onto his feet and shoved him hard towards the Chaos Space Marine.
Din could hardly breath, he tried to move his body but couldn't move at all, so instead he tilted his head towards his family. He opened his eyes, he had to keep them open, he must see. He watched as Saif stepped towards the giant, and stopped half way. Din knew that the only way the child would have any chance of survival would be to do as he was told. Saif's blood shot eyes found his father's, who, unspeaking, urged him to continue. He did as asked, although tears flowed down his cheeks.
Then he heard a scream, it was one he recognised, and had come from his wife. He moved his eyes just in time to see the hunchback Ork pull its bolt pistol out of its holster, level the weapon at Aleila's head and fire in a single smooth motion. Her body slumped down in a bloody heap, and the Ork simply turned and left. It had new orders, and was now back on patrol like all the others. Din's eyes were getting heavy, he just wanted to go to sleep but he forced them open once more. He saw the giant Chaos Space Marine scoop Saif up in on arm and carry him out of his view. He tried again to move but couldn't. He tried to cry out but instead blood bubbled out through his mouth, broken ribs and torn skin. The ground around him was now deep red. The world went quiet, and his eyes shut once more as he slipped away.
Din never knew how long he was out cold for, it was long enough for the enemy to have withdrawn, and the fires extinguish, but he could still feel heat from embers and still smell the smell the foul stench. He lay there, un-moving for several minutes before he even dared try and open an eye. He didn't want to rush anything, he was amazed he was not dead, although from the pain in his chest he knew he was near to death, perhaps, he thought, the soldier who shot him should have paid more attention to his aim.
He heard movement. It was time to find out what the world looked like and opened his eyes, the glare flooded in but his eyes quickly acclimatised. He lay, unmoved, where he had been shot, in the middle of the clearing. He twisted his body to see the spot where he had seen his wife murdered, he wanted to go over to be with her, but she was not there. He would never get a chance to say goodbye. At that moment he promised himself he must find Saif. He must protect him. What could these monsters want with the people from his simple farming village.
Movement again, from behind, his mind refocused on escaping. What was the enemy doing coming back, surely nothing had been left behind. He scoured the area for cover, but there was none close. The thought occurred to him that he could play dead, but he was so exposed, it was too great a risk.
He forced himself up, pain flooded through his chest as he did so but he worked though it reached his knees. Crawling through the dust and dirt he felt like an animal, and as he scraped his hand through the dirt it fell against a rounded stone. He would not have looked down had it not been for its unnaturally smooth, almost liquid feel. What he saw was not what he had touched, for it did not look shiny, nor did it look smooth which made him more inquisitive. He picked it up and inspected his find, it was not from this village, probably not even from the planet, so what was it and where was it from. It was oval, off black in colour, with no distinct features save for a faint marking on one side. He handled it and ran it through his fingers, it slipped easily into his palm, and as it did so, his fist closed over it, almost involuntary.
Not really thinking why he slipped the stone into his pocket and continued. The movement he had heard was no more, so he dragged himself to small mound of rubble and settled behind it. His heart was pounding, the crawl had taken all his energy, and all he could hear was his own body working. He dared peer over his cover, and saw some rustling in the distance, he tried to detect the source.
Coming silently from behind, another shadow suddenly stood over him. He was on his knees, and still had some agility left, so he swung round to engage his attacker, but his blow was easily blocked. His swivelling round revealed a cloaked figure clad in light armour, Din knew this was not from the same army that had attacked earlier. This one was nearly as tall, just as menacing and with more weaponry in evidence, but the man wore no helmet, and his face was smiling. The figure lowered himself to one knee, and while inspecting Din's wounds said into a mouthpiece
"I've found him, he's alive, but only just". It was John Dicks who then spoke to Din,
"I'll get you fixed up" he said. Then Din's eyes closed, the outside world turned itself off.
