Ora Noc Terrol: The Road to Paradise (rated M)

Several rounds peppered the area of Bannon’s outstretched hat, as two bandits turned their attention there. The shouts and taunts of the bandits were punctuated by gunfire and more than one promised to kill, cook, and eat members of the group. Curses also filled the air as the stray bullet from the crowd made a few close calls; spraying chips of rock into the air or grazing the more exposed of the bandits.

708 sucked in a breath, glancing up to try and see if she could place where the bandits were. “Fuck.” She muttered after a moment. It was no use, she couldn’t see anything and her hearing wasn’t of much use either. The gunshots and the shouts were blurring together so that even with her enhanced hearing she couldn’t pick out exact locations, just the general areas.

She looked back across the road, her eyes landing on the wreckage that was closest to her. She could make it, if she was lucky and that sniper’s aim hadn’t gotten any better in the past few seconds.

Maybe if I used one of the bodies? Could use it as a shield, won’t everything, but it’ll be able to soak up the majority of the fire and protect all the important parts. She glanced down at the closest body, then back at the wreckage. It’ll have to do. I can’t stay over here for much longer. Sooner or later one of them will figure out that I’m here and then I could have the whole damn bunch of them shooting at me.

With a final glance up, she scooted forward and grabbed the collar of the dead bandit’s shirt. Her free hand reached beneath her jacket and grabbed her pistol, pulling it out. She quickly flipped the safety off before lifting the body up and standing.

She spun so that she was facing the rock formation, then began backing across the road. The body jerked as bandits began taking aim at her, and she grunted when she took a poorly aimed round in her left leg. The wound did nothing to slow her and in the next instant she threw the body aside and slid behind the wreckage, dimly registering the Merc hiding beneath it.

Jack’s eyes widened and his heartbeat raced like crazy at the sudden sense of a person entering area. The reflection was simple, in a matter of milliseconds he turned, cocked his pistol and aimed to where he felt the body but before squeezing the trigger his eye caught view of who it was.

“You are going to get yourself killed by my hand that way!” The mercenary shouted angrily. Lowering his weapon he laid his head against the hard steel wreckage he was below of and closed his eyes for a second.

“How many have you taken out girl?” he asked before opening his eyes once again. Jack turned his head a little bit and met her eyes.

708 glanced over at the Merc, not in the least bit phased to of been staring down the barrel of his gun seconds before. “It would take far more than you to kill me.” She stated simply. There was a calm certainty in her voice, betraying her statement to be no mere bluff. She turned her attention away from him, peering out from the cover to mark where a bandit was.

She jerked her head back suddenly, and a clang announced that she had just dodged a shot. “I killed three.” She looked back at the mercenary, “You?” She frowned slightly, cocking her head to the side. The two remaining shot-gunners were getting closer, judging by the sound of the retorts of their guns. They need taking out quickly, before they got too close.

“To your left. Two o’ clock. Gut shot. When he drops, second shot to finish the job.” Her instructions were simple and she didn’t waste anytime lining up her shot on the second of the pair. She popped up above cover for a brief second, and squeezed off two shots in the center of the bandit’s chest who dropped with a gurgle. She ducked back down into cover, waiting to see if the Merc would heed her instructions.

Bannon jerked back as the bandits fell for his trap. None had hit his hand luckily, as he had been holding the hat by the brim and keeping his hand behind cover.

Snake Eyes! It worked! A bit close for comfort and my hat is a bit more ventilated than it used to be, but it worked!

Using both hands, Bannon gripped his gun, and visualised where the two mussel flashes had been. Problem was that if he was shooting at one, the other would have the time to shoot him. He looked over at Bandana Girl.

“DID YOU SEE THEM? OVER THERE, HALFWAY UP THE SIDE OF THE ROCKS! YOU TAKE THE ONE TO THE RIGHT, I’LL UNLOAD ON THE GUY TO THE LEFT!”

He squatted, ready to pop up and shoot just over the edge, but waited for a sign that Bandana Girl was in on the gig.

Maria Zal

Maria looked over her cover for a moment, sending two more shots at where she believed the bandits to be, before ducking down again. Damn, she needed better practice! It was doubtful at all that she had hit any one of them. How could she survive out here if she didn't learn to properly shoot? Well, hands on experience would have to do right now. Still, from this position, Maria doubted she'd have any luck in actually hitting any of them. What could she do, then? It seemed too risky to crawl or run over to another wrecked vehicle...

"I guess this will have to do for now," Maria muttered to herself. Her pulse raced so hard, she feared her pounding heart would burst from all the excitment and stress. This, fending for her life against these bandits, didn't even come close to the normal amount of stress she felt as a doctor, working to save the lives of her patients. This was a stress all on its own. Maria was lucky she just wasn't going hysterical; with all the jumbled emotions she was feeling, Maria was suprised she wasn't so. Still, she preferred being in this state of mind (whatever it was) than to being hysterical. Being that could and would get her killed.

Taking a deep breath, Maria got up once more and to fire--

Only to have a bullet whirl past her head, barely missing her. The doctor immediately ducked again, rather than tempting fate anymore. Damn, they'd spotted her location. Now what?

“First of all, I don’t shoot to the gut. Shots made in the lower stomach aren’t as lethal, I shoot to kill. And second, I do not take orders from you. However, we can work together to eliminate the biggest threat.”

Clink!

Another bullet hit directly above them. And since some of the shots had been awfully accurate and constant, that followed the same pattern, it was obvious what was going on.

“We need to take out the sniper or we’re going to get screwed pretty fast.” Jack’s tone was the one used when a person was very annoyed. That damn rifle would have been a very good help right now! Stupid old bastard… He thought of the moment he was discussing prices with the shop keeper.

“Can you jump just as fast as you can run?” he asked now without a surprise of her abilities. He saw her run at the speed of a damn racing car and if she could jump higher than normal, then he would be even more surprised and shocked. Even still, he wouldn’t give it much thought since the priority is to get out of there alive.

At the first gunshot, Eve felt her heart leap into her throat, and her eyes widened in panic. Having drifted off to the back during the trek, she hoped for a moment that the bandits would pay more attention to the others which would allow her to slink off and avoid getting shot in the head. This hope soon found itself crushed as the others rapidly found themselves cover.

Standing stock still, her eyes danced over the large rock face, praying to whatever deity happened to be listening at the moment. If she had any luck, the bandits wouldn’t notice…

A loud crack followed by a mound of dirt flying up mere inches from her cause the spitfire to yelp, before her feet took charge and began hauling her towards the wrecks as fast as they could. Another crack sounded, and she flung herself towards the welcoming cover, only to fall a few inches short and have to scramble behind it before a trio of bullets tore up the ground where she had been laying only moments before.

Panting for a moment, she glanced at the two hidden behind the wreck with her, and grimaced when she saw the altercation they were having. “Seriously?! You two can’t get along for five minutes just to deal with these guys?!” She sat up, unaware of how she was exposed because of her position. “I should shoot you both ri-”

A sudden crack sounded, and she felt a line of fire across her cheek as a few rivulets of blood fell to the ground. For a moment, she was silent, her eyes wide with a strange mixture of before an unholy roar tore itself from her lips and she rose from the protective shield of the wreck. Her eyes found the rapidly approaching shot gunner, as her fingers coiled tightly around the handle of one repeater.

In a single fluid motion, the weapon was free and its snarling mouth aimed at the unfortunate man before it. Squeezing the trigger, the harlequin barked out its deadly contents, as the full twenty rounds of the clip crashed against his frame. Eve’s roar died down after the steady click of the expended magazine began to fill her ears, before another crack sent her ducking down behind the wreck. Pressing a hand to her cheek, she sucked in a breath. “Ah piss! This is going to hurt like a bitch for days!”

708 blinked once, not in the least bit phased with the tone or the words that the Merc used. Typical military. They always went for precision, never mind the fact that sometimes the messier kills were the most effective. If you could kill something in the bloodiest way possible, you could often prevent others from attacking you. That was a lesson that she and her friends had learn quickly in the testing. If they could inspire fear, that brought on caution and could often buy them a few extra minutes of time to prepare.

“The sniper’s gun isn’t sighted in properly. It drifts to the left, three, four inches.” She noted aloud as the purple haired woman was clipped by a shot. She paid no mind to the short woman’s rage, simply noting that another enemy was dead. She looked back down at the woman when she exclaimed about the pain of her minor wound. She cocked her head slightly to the side, as if not quite believing Eve could be in pain from the slight cut. “That hurt?” She asked curiously.

Without wait for her to respond, 708 returned her attention to the Merc, wondering what he was planning. “As for how fast I can jump, yes, I can jump as fast as I can run.” She peered over the top of the wreckage and quickly ducked down. A second later a clang announced a round from the sniper hiding on the rock face.

“What are you planning?”

Not only do super human physical strengths, but reflexes also. This might just be good for our advantage.

After snapping out of his small trance, Jack thought of it of a moment but was kind of distracted by the whining of the tomboy archeologist, that’s how he saw her at least.

“You already know its weakness so you’re the one most likely to dodge his bullets. Run towards that tall column of rock right there.” He pointed with his left hand towards the column that was on the opposite direction of the sniper. “After, you only got to make him stand up. He’s not very well trained because if he was, he would have gone to a higher position and a much farther one too. But he is extremely close, making his rounds more effective, but making himself more exposed to us. If you could only get him to stand and get a shot at you, I’ll be able to get him from here.” It was a risky and well…suicidal plan, but it might be the only way to get the sniper.

“No.” Her answer came almost before he had finished speaking. She had weighed the options herself and though she could take quite a few bullets, she didn’t relish the thought of exposing herself like that. Not when it was a near suicide mission.

If he intended to expose himself to get a better shot, he would of done so by now. No, I’m betting that he’s the cautious type. He’s not going to expose himself. I’ll just wind up having all other guns trained on me.

“It would be a wasted effort. He’s holed up good and tight. If he was going to expose himself for a better shot he already would have.” She peered over the wreckage again, this time able to take a longer look, since she timed it for the sniper’s reload. “No, his job is to keep our heads down. Maybe take out anyone stupid enough to expose themselves.” She ducked back down, flexing one hand. “It’s the ones with the combat rifles that are really intent on killing us.” As if to back up her claim, a fresh wave of gunfire began peppering the wreckage of the two vehicles.

She glanced over at the Merc, the faintest of amused expressions crossing her face. “In fact, they’re starting to press the attack right now.”

And sure enough, they were. Three of the bandits had dropped down the far side of the rock face to set up a flanking maneuver while the other four kept up a steady rain of fire to draw the attention of the group.

(Okay guys, in case anyone has lost count, there are 8 bandits left. Seven have combat rifles and one is holed up at the top of the rock formation with a sniper rifle.)

Bannon decided to take his chances without waiting for Bandan Girl. Just a few pot-shots on the one to the left, then back down.

Let’s hope they haven’t moved since my little hat-play

He straightened up just enough to get his gun over the edge of the wreck and sure as day, there was the bandit, partially hidden behind the rocks. Another one was situated a few feet to his left. Bannon snapped of three rapid shots. The first went high, ricocheting of a rock and making a distorted sound that sounded like a screaming cat. The second he really wasn’t sure of, but at the third (Lucky number three, Bannon mused to himself) seemed to pass straight through the man’s lower neck, sending a splash of blood that was visible even at that distance. He didn’t feel like a hotshot though. He had aimed for the upper chest.

He took it all in as he was diving back down into cover. A few bullets slammed into the wreck around him, but they were too late. He stayed rock-still and curled up for a full ten seconds after the last bullet zinged past. He realised he had just risked his life. Then he realised he had just shot someone. No reel regrets about that. Maybe later. Too much adrenalin now. In fact, a small verbal celebration was only fitting.

“YEAH! HOW’S THAT FOR A LOVE-BITE?"

Bannon was pretty sure one of the body’s main blood veins vent down the side of the neck, so this guy was bleeding out and as good as dead, unless a miracle should happen and the bandit found a blood bank hidden in the dessert within easy walking distance.

'Well...They where smart bandits up till two minutes ago.' Innokenti thought. And to thik he had almost be afraid of these armatures. The bandits had the clear advantage of the high ground and superior weaponry and they threw it away for a flank. "All right assholes you've had your fun but your in my range now." Innokenti said more to himself then to the bandits. He was on the farest side of the flank and he could clearly see three of the seven remaining bandits. 'Bandit one...To far I'll try him later. Bandit two... awkward shot, better not risk it. Bandit three....perfect.' He thought. Said bandit had chosen a wrecked car as his cover of choice. While he was sheltered from the rest of the groups gun fire he was open to Innokenti's, though he had yet to realize this.

It wasn't that far of a shot. No more than maybe 19 feet. Innokenti went into a crouch and took careful aim and let two shoots fly. One bullet lodged itself in the mans foot, while the other hit the mans torso. Innokenti heard a faint gurgle from the man as he fell. Lung or heart, either way the man was good as dead. The bandit twitched for a second and then finally became unnaturally still. 'Dead...Rest in peace...Now where did your friend get too?' Innokenti thought as he scanned for a new target.

Maria Zal

Maria did her best to calm her pounding heart, though was failing quite badly. The situation was really getting to her now; it fet like her heart would explode any moment now due to the stress and fear of dying. She hoped that most of the bandits had already been taken out by the others.

Maria then raised herself up some, and took another shot at where she believed a bandit to be. Before she could duck down again, however, a bullet flashed by. It only grazed her shoulder, thankfully. She went down again and spat out several curses while putting her gun down for the moment. Maria pressed her hand to the wound to stop the bleeding, and with her free hand rumaged through her bag, looking for something to patch herself up with.

That had been too close for comfort. She'd barely avoided getting shot in the shoulder, which could have been potentially fatal for her. How long would it bef until she was actually shot? At this rate, not much longer.

"Hurry guys...I know I won't be able to kill those thugs...so go ahead and get rid of them!" Maria muttered through gritted teeth. Finally she found her first aid kit, and began to patch up her bleeding shoulder.

“Well you aren’t as stupid as you look, that’s actually good.” Jack smirked after his previous comment.

Jack took a quick glance around, and noticed that the bandits weren’t getting closer to them to attack as a strategy, they were positioning themselves higher up the rocks and getting better coverage. “Right now they are pressing but from up top. They started to move higher in order for us to have a lesser chance of getting them, smart but troublesome for us.” The mercenary added. “Even after all their fallen men they are still going on at it.” Jack sighed deeply. “The only way is to get close to them or higher than them, both quite difficult tasks.”

(I AM SO SORRY! I'm sorry! I got wrapped up in Mass Effect 2 and making a species for a personal project and unfortunatally this fell to the waysaide. But no longer! As of right now, I'm getting this baby back on its feet! Also, we are now down to six bandits. Five with combat rifles and one with a sniper.)

"There is no higher ground for us to get to. They have the advantage there." Her voice was calm and impassive as ever, taking a quick stock of the situation. "They need bait." Her eyes shifted over to where the short man was taking cover, watching as the two remaining bandits of the trio cautiously brought themselves closer, trying to catch him before he could squeeze off another shot.

Her hand shot out and she shoved the merc down; her other hand came up and she fired off a shot, pegging one of the merc's in the side of the head. The short man would have to deal with the last one. She couldn't line up a straight shot.

The only feasable way for us to get closer is if we were able to move this cover with us. While I can move it, after seeing me do so there will be no hiding what I am. They will ask questions, and I won't be able to dodge them.

She let out a quiet sigh, before peering over the wreakage for another cautious look. "Something will have to draw them out, or we will have to find a way to make this," she rapped the twisted metal of the wreakage. "move with us. That's the only way we'll be able to get closer." She ducked back down as a new spray of bullets began to pepper the area once more.

(Okay, we're now down to five bandits, four with the rifles and one with the sniper. And again, I'm so sorry I neglected this!)

Angel was trying to concentrate on shooting, but with all the chaos that was going on it was hard to. She cursed and looked at the gun again. Like she was going to be able to shoot anything! But Angel felt if she didn't try, she would get chewed out by the others later.

"This is ridiculous. I can't believe I'm going to die like this."

Bannon had no idea how who was winning, but there seemed to be less gunfire now.

It’s still utter chaos, but someone must have accounted for a few bandidos by now. That merc is probably having the time of his life.

He overheard Bandana girl and her doubts. He was no warrior, but sitting there, waiting for death was no option. The survivor in him also noted that she would also draw some of the attention away from him. He leaned in closer, because his throat was getting sore from all the screaming and the dessert heat.

“It’s not as hard as it looks. I have hardly ever fired a gun, but the basic principle is just aim and squeeze. You might get lucky. I sure did” He said it with a smile, like he was discussing some schoolyard game. What the outside world didn’t know was that Bannon was trying hard not to puke. All his bravado was gone, and the thought of having actually killed someone was catching up fast. For now, the survivor instinct was spurring him on.

Angel looked at the guy who spoke to her and nodded. She raised her gun and fired blindly at what she hoped was where the bandits were. Angel really hated this. She would be better at close combat. But she had to deal. At least she might get out alive.

She wasn't sure how many rounds she had left, but she raised her gun again and this time tried to shoot to where some of the gun sounds were coming from.

Anger raised spontaneously on Jack’s body as he felt the push of the freak upon him. With a smooth and fast move of his arm, the mercenary pointed his gun at the girl’s head followed by a menacing gaze. “Dare to even touch me one more time, and those bandits will lose interest in killing you since I’ll be the one committing such deed.”

“Are we clear?” Jack said after a brief deep silence but still firmly with the gun upon the freak’s face.

She leveled her gaze on the merc, her face curiously blank for having a gun trained on her face.

"If you shoot me, by the time you have recovered from the recoil, you will be dead." There was absolute certainty in her voice, and her black ringed eyes hardened on his. "Next time I'll be sure to shoot through you. Will save time and effort in the long run."

For a split second the corners of her lips turned upwards, as though she was remembering a humorous joke. However, her face soon dropped back into its neutral mask, and any who had noticed her slight smile would be left wondering if they had merely imagined the emotion.

"Now, if you are done, prehaps we should return our attention to the bandits. We now out-number them. It would be best to come up with a plan of attack and execute it. We don't know if they have the capability to call re-enforcements or not. If they do, we should kill them before they get that chance."

She’s not taking me seriously. This thought made Jack even angrier.

She will son enough…

Jack cocked his pistol, moved it a little to the left and squeezing the shiny piece of metal he shot a round passing right besides 708’s neck. The steam that came out of the gun filled the small gap of space between the two of them. “I won’t miss next time.”

He lowered his gun and moved a few steps away from 708. “They won’t be able to communicate with anybody via any type of technology. This planet doesn’t have any kind of advanced technology; it’s the reason why I came here in the first place. It’s a desolate place.”
“As for the plan, those other fools can barely hold a gun and won’t be much of assistance. ‘We’ need to take them out” the ‘we’ part was clearly emphasized by the tone of his voice.

She blinked, clearly unphased by the warning shot. "As I said, by the time you recover from the recoil, you will be dead." Her slight smile returned and her eyes flicked down her hand, which held her gun clearly aimed at the man's stomach. A shot from such close range might not kill him right away but it would definentally cause a great deal of pain.

"As far as we know. They might have short-wave radios. Or they could have buried wires for long range communitcation. We have no way to know what they have." Her face dropped back into its usual mask, as she reguarded the Merc. "They provide a distraction. With them firing blind, they keep the bandits busy. It could help to our advantage."

Or they could wind up shooting us in the back.

"If we are the only ones capable of taking them out, then we should craft a plan before the decide to bring out any heavy weaponry they could have up there."

“You wouldn’t have been able to pull the trigger, millisecond is what takes for my bullet to enter your brain and shut you down. Alright then, if you think they provide enough distraction why don’t you go right now out and the open and take them all out. They aren’t focusing on you after all so you got nothing to worry.” The sarcasm was obvious on Jack’s voice. She was too trusted and obviously the fighting scenarios she’s been on were few.

They would have brought anything that they had as backup already since we’ve taken half of their team. And I know that there isn’t technology on this planet, my search was thorough enough.

A frown etched itself deep into her features, her eyes hardening. Bravado. Doesn't know what I can do, thinks that he can take on the world by himself. Trying to undermine me, pushing to see if I will snap. He's very easily irritated. Will need to watch him once this is over.

"If I intended to kill myself I have a gun and am perfectly capable of pulling the trigger myself." She closed her eyes, listening to the gunfire around her. Four with rifles, it sounded like. It was hard to tell, with the all the extra noise or cursing and the Merc's ranting. "We will have to get closer. There's no other option." She spoke as though the threats they had been exchanging seconds before had never happened.

Her eyes snapped open. "Soon as anyone gets out of cover they'll be riddled with bullets. There's fewer of them now, less chaos. They could get more organized." She pressed her free hand against the metal of the wreckage. "The only way to get closer is if this moves with us."

She flicked her gaze back over to the Merc. "Unless, of course, you have some brilliant plan, Mercenary."

Innokenti was surprised. Why would that woman even bother giving him assistance?'Doesn't matter. You owe her now' he thought grimly. One day on this rock and already he was in dept. Not a good sign. But, at least he was having a better day than the last of the bandit trio. With both of his comrades shot the last bandit had started to panic. 'Guess he isn't used to prey that fights back.' Innokenti thought. Innokenti slowly peeked from behind his cover and was pleased at what he saw. In his panic the man started firing from the hip and wasn't going to bother himself with aiming. The only thing he was going to hit today was the ground. Though the blind fire was still deadly and Innokenti could swear he felt a bullet whiz by his head once or twice. He continued to watch the bandit, as it was only a matter of time before he ran out of ammo.

Then, as 708 and Jack began their discussion on who would kill who in a fight, he bandits clip went empty. It took a second for the bandit to realize that he was out. As he fumbled to eject the old cartridge and load a new one, Innokenti came out of his cover a pumped three rounds into the man. All three hit the chest dead center. There would be no last thoughts for this bandit, where he could beg to a higher being than himself for divine forgiveness. His last moments would be only his terrified realization that he had't reloaded fast enough and nothing more.

'He lived as he died.' Innokenti thought. 'Pointlessly.' Innokenti to cover behind the truck again. If he remembered correctly there were only three bandits left. Nothing the meat shields couldn't handle. "Hey!" He shouted at the rest of the group. "Not that I don't enjoy doing all the work, but could someone please put forth a LITTLE effort?'

(whew! Long post is very long. Let me know of any major errors, as I'm haiving to do this without a grammar check program.)