Church's Crusade #27: Insolitus recedentia
Upon leaving Blood Gulch, they rode for several days, across a vast area of wilderness until finally they came to a long highway, and Penny called a stop. She turned to Church.
"If we follow this highway then we should be in the general vicinity of the facility within a few days. After that we will have to move carefully."
Church nodded, before pulling off his helmet and running his fingers through his hair. He saw Penny watching him and shrugged, "I guess that's what we do then."
Penny nodded before starting up her bike. As she turned away, Church saw Tucker watching him speculatively. Church gave him a pointed look and Tucker turned away with a small smile on his face. Church shook his head then pulled on his helmet and rode after Penny…
Over the next few days as they drew closer to the facility the group passed through several small towns and even a few larger ones.
All of them were deserted.
"I don't understand it', said Anna one evening as they prepared for the night on the main street of one of these towns, 'This town was obviously abandoned recently, there aren't any major signs of disrepair, but then why did the people leave? Were they scared off? Did they leave willingly? Or were they forced?"
--She makes a good point. --
Church sighed inwardly.
What do you want?
--Nothing. I'm just saying that she is asking the right questions. Look at the tracks in the dirt roads outside of town. That should give us some of the answers. --
Church looked up, "Perhaps we should check the tracks outside of town. Maybe we can find out something from them."
Rourke nodded, "That's a good idea. Shall we go now?"
Church nodded, "Lets…"
--Ahh yes. I thought so. --
Church was confused. He couldn't make any sense of the mess of tyre tracks in the dirt, Would you care to explain?
--All the most recent tire tracks are going in one direction. So are the few footprints that you can see here. They are all leading north-east. --
"The people are going north-east,' said Church at the same time as Penny said, 'It looks like they are heading north-east." They stared at each other for a second then burst out laughing. The others in the group looked confused or in the case of Anna and Tucker, shared a knowing glance. Finally the two of them stopped laughing and Penny looked up at the others, "Lets get some sleep. We've got another long day tomorrow…"
They started out early the next morning and rode for several hours. It was around midday when Church once again felt O'Mally's presence at the back of his mind.
--Riders, on your six. They're armed! As an after thought he added, This should be interesting. --
Church spun in his seat and looked back. Sure enough, directly behind his little force was a cloud of dust, rapidly moving closer. Church could see figures on cycles of their own, he counted at least thirty individuals. Quickly he activated his radio and spoke, "Penny!"
"I see them."
"Yea, and so do the rest of us." Paul's voice crackled over the radio.
"Should we try to shoot them before they reach us?" Anna's voice sounded anxious.
"Negative,' said Rourke calmly, 'We can't be sure they mean us any harm until they shoot at us. Until then we should-"
He broke of as a shot sounded. The bullet would have hit him right in the spine, had Church not thrust his hand out to block it. He smiled grimly.
"Well I think we can safely rule out them offering us tea and biscuits. Everyone ready?"
There was a chorus of assents.
"All right. Here they come. Scatter!"
With that Church hit the autopilot button on his bike so that it would avoid obstacles, flipped himself about so that he was facing backwards on his bike. He drew his pistols, raised them in a brief salute and opened fire…
Penny looked about as at least five soldiers broke of from the main group to follow her. They swung in beside her and started trying to batter her off of her bike. She pushed back, managed to force them away. One of them fell in a sprawl of limbs and she felt a small thrill of triumph. However, this quickly faded as one of the other riders drew a baton and began to swing it at her. She raised her arm to fend off the blow and heard the crack of one of the bones breaking as the baton connected with her forearm. She yelled in pain and almost lost control of the bike, but managed to pull it back into a straight course. She tried moving her arm, but a lance of pain seemed to stab into her wrist. Gritting her teeth she had Sig give her a dose of anaesthetic and lock up the armour about the break to prevent bones rubbing together. As this was happening she looked up to see the rider with the baton drawing closer again. With her now numb hand she reached for a pistol, while the other hand locked the steering of her bike before also grabbing a weapon. As the rider came within reach, Penny flipped backwards of the back of the bike and unloaded both barrels into the man's face…
Anna saw Penny pull off a spectacular flip from the back of her bike then she was back, focussed on the battle. She raised her SMG and fired, trying to hit the target, but she couldn't! The weapon was so bloody inaccurate! She thought for a second as she tried to hit another assailant who was moving in. What she needed was her sniper-rifle. But she couldn't use it while steering the bike!
She would just have to risk it.
She turned to Caboose.
"Caboose take the wheel, and DON'T go round in circles."
They changed positions while riding and Anna was surprised when Caboose actually started to weave between the riders. She finally brought her rifle to bear and felled four men in quick succession. The fifth was a problem however. He kept weaving out of her line of sight, never presenting a clear shot for more than a few seconds. She tried a shot but it narrowly missed as the rider swung his bike behind a bush. She tried two more, but these missed also. Frustrated, Anna was about to give up when the rider began to turn about.
She saw her opportunity.
She raised her rifle.
She fired…
The explosion caused by Anna's bullet hitting the bike's fuel tank knocked Church from his hover-bike. He hit the ground hard, but quickly rolled to his feet, snatching up his pistol as he went. As he came to his feet he heard O'Mally's voice crackle in his head.
--Fist coming, 10 o'clock. --
Church ducked, and as the blow sailed over his head, reached up and caught the attacker by the wrist. He dragged the man from his seat, threw him into the dirt and delivered a blow to the neck that neatly snapped the man's windpipe. He stood up and looked around. Tucker was shooting at a man with his battle rifle, while Sister covered his back. Anna and caboose were riding through the turmoil, leaving a path of bodies. Penny could be seen using her Freelancer speed to keep pace with speeding bikes and shoot the riders from them. Doc was hovering around the fringes of the battle, and at times, running from the mysterious attackers. But it was obvious that Church and his team mates were winning.
--Behind you!--
Church spun about to see two more riders heading his way, batons in hand. In an instant his sabre was in hand and activated. He swung upwards, cutting straight through the front wheel and up through it's rider's waist. He caught the next man about the waist, spun and hurled him through the air. The man did an unbelievable twist in mid air and landed on Church's bike where it was idling nearby. He looked at his new position and began to turn the bike to bring the machine-guns to bear. Church smiled and activated a small compartment in the arm of his armour. A grenade shot into his hand and Church hurled it in the direction of his bike. The man tried to jerk away as the grenade stuck to his armour and he gave out a scream as the explosive detonated, destroying the bike and him along with it.
Church straightened slowly, and looked around. The battle was done. He walked over to the remains of his bike and sifted about until he found one of the machine guns, still intact. He found a piece of rope and made a strap before slinging it across his back. He then wandered across to where the rest of his team was gathering…
"It should be fine if you don't put too much strain on it', said Doc, finishing his examination. Penny flexed her fingers, looking at the strong, lightweight bandage on her wrist, before looking up. Church was looking at her with a concerned expression, "Does it hurt?"
Penny felt a small thrill of excitement and appreciation as he asked, and wondered why this was the case, "No it's fine thanks. Sig is keeping the pain to a minimum."
Church nodded, before pulling up one of the attackers bike to replace the one that had just been destroyed. "In that case we should be moving on, to find a safe place to camp for the night. I think we all need a good rest after that." He thought for a moment before amending, "Well all of you could do with a rest…
They rode for several more hours until they found a good position under a rock overhang. Most of them got some rest while Anna and Rourke went out scouting. It was just beginning to get dark when Anna's voice crackled over the radio, "Church? Church, are you there?"
Church flicked on his radio, "Yeah Anna? Have you found something?"
"I think so. But I'm not sure what it is. You had better come look at this…