Here is the third part to the story, Journey Into The Great Wastes, if you are only coming across this now, Here Is A Link To Part 1/4.
Also, there is currently a bit of a competition going on at the moment for Author of The Week, and Part 1 of this story was picked as one of the four. If you enjoy that story and want to give me a vote, Here Is A Link To The Poll Over On Threads.
All around them were people, closing in on them. The shot made a few of them jump, and with that Ahren was on his feet, followed by Koni. Instinctively, Ahren started firing at the closest. He couldn’t see them, until after he fired. Green bolts of light helped to see, but after firing it was too late to aim. Koni joined him in firing blindly into the darkness. At the very least they might scare the stalkers away.
He could hear rustling from the tents, and soon they were joined by Sooma and the others. A flurry of gunfire helped to light the place up, and someone powered up a torch which shot a cone of light in one direction. The movement was quick and careless. Having it shined in his face hindered him, and made it impossible to see. His eyes didn’t have enough time to adjust to the light, so now he was truly firing blind. The commission carried on for what felt like hours. Whoever these people were, the shots didn’t seem to scare them off. They were firing back, and with nowhere to take cover, all he could do was move. Move-in the hopes of dodging incoming fire, while returning his own.
Before they knew it, the incoming fire was gone, along with the presence of the raiders. Leaving them firing into thin air. The figures were long gone, and the only signs that they were once there were the bodies they left behind; twitching and twisting in the sand. The Arok woman was the one with the torch, it seemed to be attached to her own weapon. She inspected the campsite for any more of them and found only bodies. “Light that fire,” Sooma commanded. There was no immediate response from the Mulu, instead, there was some coughing and groaning. Ahren assumed it was coming from some of the bodies on the ground, but after the light shone around the area, the body of the Mulu was discovered.
The fire was lit after a few minutes, offering much more light than the small torch could project. Flickering in the background, each of them inspected him. Still alive, they dragged him closer to the light of the fire; an action which caused him to yelp in agony. After inspecting him, they realised the extent of his injuries. It was hard to tell in the light, but it seemed like his leg, and torso had been struck and he was unresponsive to their questions.
“They could come back. We take turns sleeping.” Sooma said, being the only one to not looking at the injured Mulu. “I’ll take the first watch.” Koni offered. “The rest of you get some sleep.”
“What about him?” Ahren asked. Nobody was forthright with an answer to that question. “Put him in his tent, I’ll give him some stims, hopefully, that and some sleep will help him.” The Arok woman said. “Okay, grab his legs,” Koni said as he reached down for his shoulders. Ahren gently grabbed his ankles and as they lifted him, the Mulu screamed. “No, don’t move me!” He managed to get out between wheezes. “We have to, you’ll freeze out here. Come on.” Koni said, finishing by staring at Ahren.
It took longer than expected to get him inside, and once there he was nearly frothing at the mouth. Koni stepped past Ahren, who could only stare at the Mulu. He noticed a hand on his shoulder, pulling him from his trance-like state. “Go on, get some rest. I’ll give him a Stim and make him comfortable for the night.” He turned around, leaving the Arok woman to her work.
Within his tent, he couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned, shaking from the dissipating adrenaline, once he felt tired enough to shut his eyes the sounds of the Mulu groaning took over. It was quiet, but in the silence of the campsite, it was all he could hear. Dying, slowly and in excruciating pain was too torturous to listen to. As selfish as it was, he wished he would be silent.
The light from the fire got brighter and brighter over time until he realised it was already morning. His sleep had been broken many times, waking first to the noise of the Mulu, and at one point there was more gunfire. He would have been ready to charge out guns blazing if he didn’t have a hazy recollection of Koni sticking his head in the tent to warn him. The Trisken must have gotten sick of the noisy raiders, kicking and moaning in the sand, so he took the liberty of putting them out of their misery. It was most likely more mercy than they would have shown them had they won their attack.
Outside, the bodies were neatly stacked into a heap. A second pile had been arranged, which was full of weaponry and random items, and odd bits of armour. “Feel free to have a look through their stuff. I’ll tell you though, it’s mainly scrap.” Ahren glanced at the stuff, none of it appealed to him. He had all that he was willing to carry, anything else would be a burden. “Did you not sleep?” Koni shook his head. “Nah, I don’t need much sleep. Also, I could, not with the Mulu writhing around in there.” Ahren looked at the tent where he was resting. “How is he?” Koni shrugged and then stood up. “Suppose we’ll check in on him. See if the Aroks stim worked.”
Koni pulled back the flap of the tent, and once it was open, Ahren could smell a musky, sweaty odor coming from within, coupled with a putrid stench that lingered. Rot was the only word he could use to describe it. Softly, the Mulu breathed, short shallow breaths, that wheezed with each exhale. “He’s breathing, suppose that’s a good sign.” The Trisken said quietly. “Come on, we’ll get him out of here.”
They both picked him up, this time, the Mulu barely woke. Most of all, he didn’t complain or grimace as he was brought outside. Koni peeled back some of the wraps that the Arok woman put over his wounds. The scabs and dried blood fused to the fabric and peeled away along with it, and even now the Mulu didn’t wake. The smell was horrific, a putrid stench that got stronger the more Ahren looked at it. “We have to take him back to town, he needs real treatment.” He said while covering his face. “No time. We have a job.” Sooma said coldly, and Ahren almost jumped at the sound of the Trisken. “We can’t leave him here like this.”
The Arok woman came out of her tent and walked straight to the Mulu, then inspected his wounds. “He won’t last long. The stims didn’t work, his wounds have become infected.” She looked up at the others, awaiting a response. “I’ll go back with him,” Ahren said. “On your own? You’ll never make it in time.” Koni told him as he scratched at his jaw-cap. “I’ll help take him back.” The Arok woman said as she turned back to look at Ahren. “It’s settled.”
“No, it isn’t. We need to push on, we’re close to the settlement.” Sooma told them in frustration. Ahren did his best to ignore the Trisken. He needed the money from this job, but the idea of leaving the Mulu behind to rot away in the desert wasn’t something he wanted on his conscience. “We can dismantle his tent and turn it into a makeshift splint to drag him. It isn’t the best, but it’s all we can do.”
A gunshot broke everyone's concentration, it came from nowhere and made everyone present jump. Looking down at the Mulu, Ahren could see a small smoke trail leaving his face. “We push on. You can split his wage.” Sooma holstered his pistol and turned back toward his tent proceeding to tear it down while everyone stared at him in silence. “We will be there in a few hours.”
Ahren looked at Koni who stared down at the dead Mulu. “Well, it was a nice thought. But, I think it’s for the best. No way he would have made it back to town.” Ahren looked at the Arok woman as she stood up, and she shrugged. “I think he would have made it, but there was no guarantee that they had the facilities to treat him back in town.”
If You Want To Continue Reading, Here Is A Link To The Forth And Final Part.