The colour of the armband – Echoes 01

Hod yawned and looked at his shadow on the sand; he felt that even his shade was sweating under the heat of the two suns. The relentless suns that beat down on the dunes of the long desert, baking the sand into a shimmering golden sea. Here, amidst the vast expanse of shifting sands, the wind danced with sighs of ancient sagas, carrying whispers of a tribe shrouded in mystery.

They were the Echoes, a tribe etched by the unforgiving landscape, their skin the colour of sun-baked clay and their eyes reflecting the steely glint of the planet’s crimson sky and Hod was one of them.

To the rest of the tribes, the Echoes were little more than a primitive and backward people, relegated to the fringes of civilization. Tales of their ‘barbaric’ customs and perceived lack of intellect had spread like wildfire, branding them as savages unworthy of interaction. Yet, beneath the surface of these harsh judgments lay a truth few dared to acknowledge, a truth that soon would challenge the very foundations of what it meant to be civilized in this deserted planet.

At the heart of Echoes society lay a deep reverence for the land that sustained them, a mystic connection passed down through generations. For centuries, they had roamed the desert in search of sustenance, drawing upon the wisdom of their ancestors and the shifting sands to survive in an unforgiving landscape.

But it was not just their intimate knowledge of the desert that set the Echoes apart; it was their ability to harness the power of the elements themselves. While other tribes clung to relics of past wars, relics often with expired dates and no future, the Echoes possessed a deeper understanding of the natural world, a knowledge that bordered on the supernatural.

Their movements always dictated by the whisper of the wind and the subtle shifts in sand patterns. They could predict sandstorms with uncanny accuracy, reading the subtle changes in air pressure and the behaviour of desert creatures. Even the Elephines, the monstrous carnivores of the dunes, held no mystery to them. They moved with a grace that belied their rugged appearance, their steps guided by ancient wisdom.

But amidst their reverence for the land, there was also a sense of isolation, a feeling that they were outsiders in a world that had long since turned its back on them. They lived in isolation and secrecy, their customs and ways incomprehensible to those who dwelled in the dune-towns of the armband tribes.

And yet, despite the disdain with which they were often regarded, the Echoes harboured a secret that few outsiders could fathom. It was a secret whispered in hushed tones around campfires, passed down from elder to child like a sacred rite of passage—a secret that spoke to the very essence of their existence.

Deep within the heart of the desert, hidden beneath layers of shifting sands, lay the source of their power, a network of ancient ruins, remnants of a civilization long forgotten. These ruins held secrets beyond imagining, relics of a time when the desert teemed with life and the echoes of laughter rang out across the sands.

For decades, the Echoes had guarded these ruins with a fierce devotion, protecting them from outsiders who sought to plunder their treasures or exploit their power. They believed that within the crumbling walls lay the key to unlocking the true potential of the desert, a power that could reshape the very fabric of their world. Even their name Echoes was an echo of their purpose,  to preserve the secrets of the past and ensure they weren’t misused.

But the Echoes’ sanctuary wasn’t absolute. Whispers of the lost city, fuelled by stolen artefacts and embellished tales, had reached the ears of those beyond the desert’s reach. In opulent, marbled cities, far removed from the unforgiving sands, greed and ambition took root. Men, consumed by a lust for power and unimaginable wealth, sought to claim the ruins. They were the Hunters, a loose network of individuals united by a singular goal: to exploit the secrets of the lost civilization.

The desert was an ally but the tribes weren’t. And so, amidst the shifting sands and swirling winds, a silent hunt raged, a hunt for the lost tribe.

Hod knew nothing of this, he was there observing through his newly found in the ruins binoculars, the red horizon. His sift his guard.

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The colour of the armband – Eli 05 – END

Silence fell again. Somewhere deep in the dune the haze was slowly coming with whatever it carries with it, Kevin was holding his riffle and his fear close to his chest and the others seemed lost in their own fears and troubles. Jan was calling Eli.

“Come sweetheart, come to daddy and eat the bad guys,” he was calling the baby beast from the dark. Then the engine roared again this time louder and closer and a voice called “Rikuuuuuuu,” again. But Riku didn’t come. A quick swivel of light somewhere above their heads and the roaring spent away fast leaving behind his partner crying. Literally crying and Kevin was sure for that. No sound from Eli.

“Who thas?” A panicking voice heard in the dark.
“Surrender or become dinner,” Jan shouted.
“Sreder, sreder, elp me.” The voice answered immediately.
“Through you riffle and stand up so I can see you.” Jan shouted again while Kevin kept quiet in a case the other tried to be clever or something.

The sound of a riffle falling in the sand a few yards away made Kevin jump but the man was obviously obeying Jan and that was however small, a relief. “Mi leg, elp.” The man said in a quieter tone. He was wounded.

“Just stay there with your hands up so we can see them and we will come to you,” Jan ordered again and then turning to Kevin’s direction he shouted, “Kevin, are you allright?”
“I’m fine man, just come closer so we can end this, the haze is coming fast and I can feel it in my bones.” He wasn’t planning to start a conversation but after all this tense the words came out of his mouth without any control from his brain. Jan laughed loud, he understood. But then the laugh turned into a loud howl and a light suddenly hit them all three while they were trying to stand up, friends and foe. What followed was a single pap-pap and a groan. Then for a second silence and back again an engine getting fast closer.

“Kevin…” Jan shouted. “I’m fine, I’m fine, wasn’t me.” And they both dived into the sand looking desperately for a cover. Then silence again.

“Are you going to wait for the haze?” A familiar voice came and the same time a heavy doop-doop broke the silence followed by a storm of pap-pap-boom-boom-pap-pap…
“What the fuck was that?” The voice said again. “Ida, stay under, they fucking trained Elephines now?” 
“Eli…” Jan screamed and ignoring any danger he stood up and started running towards the voice.

“Don’t shoot, don’t shoot. It’s Eli.”
Kevin had recognized Sven’s voice and he was trying to stand up while Ida had opened the door of the bus checking around, riffle in hand. “Who the hell is Eli?” Sven asked.

The baby beast was lying next to the dead soldier. Brown ribbon on his left arm, three legs with claws instead of fingers in the hands and a huge emptiness instead of head. Trunk and tusks on the ground and next to the beast was Jan on his knees crying.

“No shit,” Sven cried. “Them again.”

THE END

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The colour of the armband – Eli 04

For a bit absolute silence fell on the dark dunes. The dark was also becoming thicker preparing all senses for the haze. Kevin felt his spine shivering but he kept quiet waiting to see what was coming next. Nothing moved.

“Kevin,” the whisper came suddenly in the dark soon followed with a series of bullets. This time all bullets departing from the same direction. Perhaps that was a sign that only one of them was left, Kevin thought wishing that this was not a hopeful thought but a groan on his left drawn his hopes. He pulled his riffle closer to his chest. Its warmth made him somehow and in a very twisted way feel safe.

“Yo ri surroundud,” a voice came from the same direction the bullets had come before. What the fuck language is this? Kevin wondered. “Fuck you,” Jan answered and this time no bullets followed but Kevin felt some movement to his right. Somebody was moving closer.

Kevin started crawling to his right very slowly. Jan should be somewhere to his left and if Jan remembered anything from his training he should have started doing exactly the same towards the enemy he might have spotted, so Kevin’s best chance was the noise at his left. This was a battle for their life, it was them or them.

Two of them must have been wounded, one silent one groaning. Jan was also wounded, Kevin didn’t know how badly and he obviously had a bullet on his thigh but he was alright. He would survive if he could survive this. He heard something and he stopped where he was trying to heat better. Understand distance, smell something, feel something in the air. Nothing came.

But then a louder noise came and something like crawling to his right, not close but close enough. A few seconds later a groan heard followed by a scream.

“What thi fis…” somebody screamed and then another scream clearly from his left. “Mi ledg,” the voice came back louder this time joined by a strange roar Kevin had never heard before.

“Riku help,” the voice had reached hysteric levels not carrying who could hear him or who would go to him next. “Riku, mi ledg.” He repeated and his voice, whoever he was, had turned into a mixture of crying and mourning. And then nothing. Silence for a bit but another new noise came from the same direction. Chewing sounds.

“Eli,” Kevin heard Jan saying slowly. “Eli is hungry.” Kevin had totally forgotten about the baby Elephine in the back of the sledge. Can’t be true he thought but another crack, this definitely the crack of a broken bone verified a new fear. And a hungry Elephine is beyond terror.

The other side – however many were left alive or standing, obviously hadn’t understand what was going on but the screams had put the fear in their souls so they all kept quiet listening the steady chewing and the sound of bones breaking.

“The biest wit the,” another voice came. “Tran?” the other one, probably the one shooting answered. “Yo, tran.” The first one answered.

It took Kevin a few seconds to make sense but when he understood he thought that he would have thought exactly the same if he was in their place. Trained beasts. The reds had trained Elephines. He wanted to tell them that they hadn’t and the Elephine was equally dangerous for them, especially a hungry Elephine however young, but he decided to keep quiet.

Jan obviously had also understood because he kept really quiet even thought Kevin was sure he could hear him chuckling.

While Eli kept chewing loudly, movement came from Kevin’s far right side. He wasn’t sure if it the enemy or Jan but stimulatingly another sound came from his far left. Obviously the two left started moving. Towards what unknown but he had better be ready. Jan shot twice and he knew it was Jan because he could recognize the sound of his old riffle. He didn’t hit anything but he made sure that Kevin knew where he was. Kevin pulled his riffle and he also shot twice towards the movement he had sense making sure that Jan also understood where he is.

The other side also understood the trick so immediately after Kevin riffles sounded from two different directions. Now they all knew where everybody is. And then they all fell silent again. Really silent. Eli had stopped chewing and breaking bones. She might be in the move and who knows whose next, Kevin thought.

However Jan had something totally different in his mind because while Kevin was checking the shadows for the least beast with his riffle ready, Jan shouted: “Eli, come, food. More food for you. Can you smell them?” “Riku, ge at her,” a panicking voice came. A roar followed and then sudden commotion from all sides including Jan’s riffle. Kevin couldn’t see very well the way he was laying on his chest but soon after he heard the sound of an engine starting. “Riku, da let me,” the panicking voice again. But before an answer come a sound like a thunder came and a blinding light hit the night. “Oh, shit. More are coming,” Kevin thought.
“Now we are doomed!”

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The colour of the armband – Eli 03

“Jan, we can run and we can not hide,” Kevin said still watching in the direction the flash had come from. “I think we best stay here, cover with sand and hope that they will miss us among the other sand hills.” Jan didn’t say anything; he just stood there listening the air.

A few minutes later another flash and a ray of light that came very close to them. “They don’t know we are here, they just patrolling, probably hunting.”
“Brown or blue?” Kevin asked.
“Let’s hope brown,” Jan answered checking around them. “Let’s move a bit more to the left and then we are doing what you said.” And very-very slowly without any sound they started moving to their left next to a small sand hill.

They half covered the sledge with sand and then they both lay hiding behind the top of the hill, riffles both ready watching towards the last two flashes. Immediately after settling another flash came, this time closer to where they were just a few minutes before. “Fuck,” Jan whispered.

“Are they closer?” Kevin asked.
“I’m not sure, the last flash seemed closer but …I’m not sure.”
“Do you have enough ammunition?” Kevin asked again.
“Three more rounds. How you doing?”
“Four full.”
“Well, we have some hope.”
“Depends how many they are.”
“Usually they are never more than four.” Then they both fell in silence watching the dark horizon.

More silence. “Kevin, you know,” Jan started saying something but another flash silenced him. This time it was a bit further. “They haven’t seen us; they are just looking for something, anything. Lets hope that the haze will scare them soon and they will return to their base.”
“Jan the haze should scare us as well,” Kevin said quietly.
“You know man, I was going to say something nice but then you have to come with the end of the world to make me regret everything I was going to say.”

Unintentionally but obviously angry, Jan said all of that a bit louder and straight after he finished another flash came this time much closer to where they were hiding.
“Damn fool,” Kevin murmured. Jan didn’t say anything. But then just like the flash appeared suddenly and out of the dark the sound of a roaring hard engine reached them.

“Shit, they are coming this direction.” Jan said and pulled his head over the hill to check.
“Can you see them?”
“I think so.”
“One or more?”
“Just one. I don’t know how many on it but definitely only one cart.”
“Is it a cart or something heavier?”
“From the sound of it, it must be a cart.”
“We might be lucky.” Kevin said with a sigh.
“Why?”
“A cart means two maxi three of them.”
“OK, that’s good.”
“And we can surprise them.”
“If they haven’t seen us or smell us or something,” Kevin added but then he pulled back seen the angry look Jan gave him.

The cart was closing and both Kevin and Jan took place to start shooting. “Let them come really close,” Jan whisper and the same time a bright flash hit to their right.

They obviously felt that something was there but they couldn’t see what so they were sending flashes just to get a glimpse of something to attack.
“They are three,” Jan whispered with the sound of the engine getting even closer. “Wait till I tell you,” he added.

The engine stopped just like it had appeared. Suddenly. Then a bright yellow light flashed all around them but thankfully not on them. Silence again. Then another one, this time a bit further. Small sounds came from their right side. Jan touched Kevin and pointing to his right and up made a sign of somebody walking.

“Can …see …thing.” They both heard it and it was close. Somebody was checking the area on foot just behind the sand hill.

Next came Armageddon, hell and the end of everything the same time. The next flash hit just above their heads and while it momentary blinded them bullets started flying from all directions. Jan started firing blind while Kevin was trying to sake the light from his eyes and avoid the bullets he could not see.

A scream roared in the dark and Kevin wasn’t sure of it was somebody else’s or his but soon after Jan’s voice reinsured him that it was neither of them.
“I got the bastard.” He screamed and kept shooting.

Kevin could see now and the first thing he saw was the way the coming bullets were following so he emptied his riffle that direction without really been able to target something specific in the dark.

It was pure luck that another scream joined the end of his round. “Lucky Kevin,” Jan shouted from somewhere on his right. “Two out of three. One more and we might get a cart to pull the sledge.” But before finishing his sentence Kevin heard him groaning. The sound of the riffle came just after and then, “Kevin, I’m hit.”

“How bad?” Kevin asked not wanting to know the answer.
“I can still shoot,” obviously a warning for the other side. Kevin tried to stand and reach for Jan’s voice direction when something like a needle hit his thigh and a burning his brain. He sat down and when he tried to scratch the burning spot he felt his fingers fill with something sticky. “Shit, I got hit,” was the only thing he thought.

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The colour of the armband – Eli 02

The slaughtered beast was covering his view, hiding the battle or the slaughter, between Jan and the new monster leaving Kevin in pure panic and fear on what he was going to face in a minute. What he faced was Jan laughing and a miniature Elephine roaring and squalling at him showing a toothless mouth and four baby tusks.

“She was pregnant. The damn thing was pregnant. That’s why she was so big. She was pregnant.” Jan kept saying again and again not believing what was standing in front of him, half inside and half outside of the slaughtered beast.

“We cut half her body and we didn’t hear a damn thing, sneaky devil.” Kevin said looking in shock the tiny Elephine trying to come out of the beast’s body, fat and blood all over it.

“He looks kind of cute, isn’t it?” Jan asked smiling.
“How do you know it is a he?” Was the only thing Kevin thought to say.
“You are tight, with this attitude, must be a she.” Jan continued laughing with the small creature while still sitting on the sand.

“Jan is getting darker, we must go.” Kevin pointed.
“Yep, you are right again. The always careful Kevin. Fine, let’s start loading the sledge.
“What about this?” Kevin asked pointing at the miniature Elephine that was almost out from the mother’s belly.
“Lets finish the work and then we see,” typical Jan to answer like that.

It took them more or less an hour to load and secure the whole lot and it looked heavy. This time both of them had to pull which meant no watcher. They had to pull and watch the same time. And the castle was two to three hours away. It was going to be a long road.

A squeal behind them remind them that they were not alone in the dune. “No fucking way,” Kevin said sure for what was coming next. “Come on Kevin, we can’t leave Eli here.”
“Eli? Eli? You gave her a name?”
“Well, you are too slow in loading, I had to keep my mind busy.” Jan gave him a smile.
“Listen, we put her in the back of the sledge and if we find a pod or something, we leave her there. You know she will dinner if we leave her here.” Kevin held the world dinner and decided not to say anything else. Perhaps Eli could come in use later, he thought and waited for Jan to bring the miniature beast and lay it softly in the back of the sledge ironically on top of its mother’s familiar smells.

After an hour and despite the fact that temperature had fallen a lot compared to the daylight time it was still hot making both men sweating and pulling the sledge with all the meat weight every step more and more tiring. Neither of them said anything for long time, they were both trying to pull as hard and as fast they could while scanning the horizon for any worrying sign.

After exactly an hour pulling they stopped for a few minutes for some water and a piece of dry meat. Jan went to the back of the sledge, obviously to give some water to the newborn beast but Kevin remained in the front scanning the dark sky. The good news were that there was absolutely no sign of anything beyond dark dune everywhere around the. The bad news were that there was absolutely no sign of anything beyond the hill on the north were they were heading. No light, nothing. The castle was still far away.

Jan returned to the front having pulled his small direction meter from his bag. “If that still works, we are only three max four miles away. If we keep the tempo we will reach the castle in less than an hour and then help might come to assist.”

For a flash Kevin thought to ask about the small beast but then he decided not, let him deal with it and the community, not his business and they had to hurry. One hour was barely enough before the night haze comes and you never know what the haze brings. That’s why they should be inside the castle by then.

Without saying anything between them visibly the haze had reached simultaneously both their minds so they both immediately lifted the leather robs and started pulling with all the strength remaining in their bodies.

For a while the only thing you could hear in the dark was their heavy breathes and the slow hiss of the sledge on the sand, but suddenly the hiss became a loud roar and somewhere in their south a quick flash of a light made them stop. “Shit,” Jan said quietly. “It must be a patrol or something but if they see us we are fucked.”

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The colour of the armband – Eli 01

Kent had heard a lot of stories about hunters finding their end from a prey they thought dead. Preys they had killed themselves like they had done hundred other times with other kills but then one of them turned to be their last. So he let Jan reach first. He was standing a few feet in the back, riffle ready, watching.

“Kent, you are an idiot.” Jan shouted laughing. “Better an alive idiot than a dead Kent.” He answered back bitterly. Jan was always after him. He never said it straight but he took Kant’s carefulness for cowardice. That was obvious. But Kent was stuck with him. Since the day their families died.

Kent shook his head, he didn’t want to remember, plus this was very bad timing for remembrances. Jan reached closer the animal he had shot just minutes ago and then slowly he kneeled in front of it. “Dude, what the fuck,” Kevin shouted.

“I want to have a better look,” Jan said.
“Is it dead?”
“I shot it, it is dead.”
“I mean…”
“I know what you mean Kevin, you hear too many stories and you believe them all, that’s what you mean Kevin,” Jan interrupted him obviously tired with Kevin’s alertness.

“Things don’t die easily here…” Kevin started but Jan dismissed him with a move of his head then he stood up and moved to the side of the animal. It was big and suddenly Jan disappeared from Kevin’s eyes.

“Don’t do that,” Kevin said.
“Don’t do what?” Jan’s voice came from behind the animal.
“Stay somewhere I can see you.”
“You only have to come around and see me,” Jan answered and Kevin sensed the sarcasm again. But he did move around the gigantic animal and he saw Kevin just in time cutting the belly of the animal with his sharp hunting knife.

Black thick blood run out of the deep cut and Jan pulled back not to get any on him. Soon a small black lake formed on the yellow red sand, a heavy contrast of colours under the strong sun.

Elephines were decedents of the elephants of the old times that had evaluated through radio and hell into thick skin monsters, twenty to twenty-five feet tall with long sharp teeth except their inherited tusks which now were four and a small trunk, much smaller from the one their ancestors had. This was definitely female. Something was missing, Kevin thought giving a momentary luxury to himself for a smile. 

“Do you something funny,” Jan asked looking at him angry. Some of the animal’s blood had reached his boots, his trousers, some his hands and there was some like spat cross his face. Kevin turned his look at the other side; he was in no mood with confrontations with Jan.

“Listen chicken shit, you need to leave the riffle down pull up your sleeves and come here to help me. This beast is not going to cut itself in pieces while we are having a laugh and watch the sun going down.” Jan said angrily coming closer to Kevin.

Kevin returned the angry look but he knew, Jan was right. After all that’s why they were here. Hunters, prey, chop-chop food. The chain of survival.

“We better hurry,” Jan added calmer. “The sun is going soon down and dark should not find us here with a fresh prey in our hands.” And while saying that he was checking the horizon for any kind of unwelcome sign.

Soon after, they both started working. Kevin cut the trunk away from the head and then he started working with the tusks. All valuable pieces for the community. Kevin started working with his knife till he felt Jan’s hand on his arm. “Let me do that,” and without any other word he took over. Ken moved away looking at the pile of meat gathering in bags ready to load on the slide.

He moved a bit further with his boots deep in the soft sand and black blood. He walked slowly towards a small sand hill a few yards away and when he reached the top he put his binoculars in his eyes and checked the horizon. Nothing from all sides. That was a good sign. They would finish the job and then return back victorious and trophy carriers. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he heard Jan shouting and turned his way still having his binoculars on his eyes. The sight he saw took his breath. A huge mouth, four gigantic teeth and a trunk on their way to Jan’s face. Another Elephine? Where did come from? Why they hadn’t seen a sign of it? They hadn’t heard anything, Jan was definitely dead. Nobody survives an Elephine attack and without another thought Kevin started running towards Jan and the new monster while the screams of the beast were becoming deafening.

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Read all the Helsinginkatu 10 chapters in order, HERE!

The colour of the armband – The Bus 04

Sven had tears in his eyes and a strange itch on his arm. Death silence all around him. Literally. The other vehicle, an old open car with a lot of metal improvement looked a mess with one body hanging out from a window on the side and another one laying on the wheel half in half out.

This was not Sven’s first fight and most likely was not going to be the last, but he knew when he was the winner and when to celebrate. This time he felt neither. He looked up for Ida. “Ida, are you OK?”
“I’m OK.” He heard her answering from just behind him. Obviously she had come down from the tower.

They both stepped carefully out of the bus and reached the odd vehicle. Sven moved to the rear to check if there was anything they had missed and have a look inside in case there were surprises waiting. The same time he kept looking in the horizon in a case more were coming. Ida stood near the head of the man laying on the window.

Sven felt confident that there was no sign of hostile movement in the horizon so he returned into checking the insides of the vehicle but after not hearing anything from Ida for a while he turned back to the side where she was still standing still looking at the dead head.

“What are you thinking?” He asked her reaching closer.
“Look.” She said pointing at the head.

A twisted face, a lot of burned skin and three eyes, one on the top of the forehead with something like horns on each side. Pointy teeth and a hole where the nose suppose to be, he or she, Sven wasn’t sure, was looking sidewise at the endless sand.

“A black armband?”
“Look again,” she said without taking her eyes from the three eye head.

He looked again. A brown ribbon tied on the right arm.

“Look at the other,” her voice steady, the tone sounded like an order. He looked. A blue ribbon tied on the right arm of something you would never call human. A bullet on the face had saved Sven from a better view but the rest of him was enough.

“I thought they were brainless. Animals like.” Sven squealed in the sight of the creatures. “Animals, perhaps but brainless …I have my doubts.” Ida said, “look at them. Different brands driving an improved vehicle. That takes brain.” Sven didn’t answer, just stood there looking at the three-eyed head. “What do you think?” Sven asked again.
“I’m supposed to think?” She pulled her riffle and pat, pat she shot the middle eye. “That black armbands don’t have a third eye and horns to start with.”
“So, what are they?”
“A new day.” Ida said and started walking towards the bus.

The colour of the armband – The Bus 03

“Ida, I need you up in the tower,” he wasn’t sure if she had heard him and he had used all the strength that remained inside him to say it but it was true. The only picture he had was from the front and no idea what was coming from the back. He thought he heard a sob but then he heard her climbing to the iron tower. She hadn’t said anything since she moved to the back.

“Can you see anything?” he asked trying to sound calm.
“They are at the house,” she answered with trebling voice.
“How far?” He asked again knowing that she will understand and give him the right answer.
“Not far enough,” she understood.

For a bit nothing else said with Sven pressing the engine for more power, more speed. Ida was watching.

“He’s dead,” she said after a couple of minutes in silence. Sven didn’t say anything.
“Elias is dead,” she repeated.
“I know,” he just said trying to keep his focus in front of them.
“It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have said anything.” Another sob came from the tower.
“Ida, they were obviously watching us but now we must escape from them so please …please watch.”

He knew that he was hard with her but there was no time for mourning or guilt now, if they wanted to come out alive. “Yeah,” came her answer and then again only the sound of the engine trying to get faster.

“Sven, two of them coming after us,” suddenly there was panic in her voice and that made him instinctively to press harder the accelerator hoping that it will give more speed and distance between them and their hunters.

“Fuck them,” Ida screamed and Sven heard her riffle’s sound. Pap, pap, pap. He wanted to tell her to stop wasting bullets but he knew. It was for Elias. So he kept quiet and she send another round, pap, pap, pap.

“Are they closer?” He asked her again after a bit.
“No, I actually think that I got something because one of them has stopped. Only one follows us,” Sven smiled almost unwillingly. Of course; the famous Ida luck.
“OK, we can make it, only one, soon he will be tired and feeling alone and he will return to the rest.” Sven tried to sound hopeful, Ida didn’t answer.

Again silence filled the cabin except the roaring of the engine. “We will make it,” Sven said more to himself than to Ida. She didn’t answer but a loud thumb from his side, outside the bus made them both jump. And then another and another. Boom, boom, boom. “Sven they are on our side,” Ida screamed and she starting shooting with her riffle, pap, pap, pap.

“Ida, get Elias riffle, its better,” Sven cried.
“Never,” came the answer from the tower accompanied with another round of pap, pap, pap.

“Got you, bastard.” Sven pressed the accelerator more hoping that there was something more in there. Boom, boom came from the side closer to his seat.

They were aiming for him to stop the bus. Pap, pap, pap, came from the tower and then another boom, a closer one. This time he even felt the metal next to him vibrating. Pap, pap, pap, pap Ida answered.

“I got him, I got him, I got him!” Ida screamed from the tower. “Stupid dick, he came to close,” she kept screaming. And then a louder bang but this time it was from outside!

“Two vehicles left,” Ida shouted, “One out of commission.”
‘Let her luck last’, Sven prayed inside him. Pap, pap, pap.
“He’s leaving, he’s leaving,” Ida cried. “I can’t believe it, he’s leaving. The coward. One left, one behind us.”

“Ida, can you hear me?” Sven shouted.
“Yeah, I can hear you.”
“Listen; there is no way to keep it like that, you know it and the engine is not going to take it for long.” She didn’t say anything waiting for him to continue.
“If there is only one left our best chance is to face them.”

“Right,” she answered immediately. “For Elias.”
“For Elias,” he added.

“So how are we going to do it?”
“Are they still behind us?”
“A couple hundred yards. Perhaps less.”
“Can you see how many they are?”
“I think two, both sitting in the front.”
“Even better,” he said. “Listen, I got an idea.” he added loud to make sure that she would focus to his words.

“There is only sand in front of us so I was thinking to continue like that and in some point to let the bus roll with its own speed without me in the wheel, move to the back, open the back window and the tower windows the same time and start shooting at them together. All we have. We might be lucky and finish them.” Nothing came from the tower.
“What do you think?”
“We will aim for their wheels first.” She answered and she sounded hard and determine like he had never heard her before. “For Elias,” she added.

“Their wheels, right. Give me a few more seconds to get ready and when I start the countdown be ready.” She didn’t answer but he knew she heard him, so he gave another push to the accelerator and the same time he looked for his riffle. No, Elias riffle was better and luckily was standing in the back next to his body. Sven looked back to check but all he saw was Elias laying there. “Damn you Elias,” he murmured angrily.

“How far are they?”
“Nearly a hundred yards and getting closer.”
“Good, when they are half that distance tell me,” and he let the accelerator from his foot.

Everything happened in between seconds or that’s how it felt. The bus started loosing speed while the other vehicle seemed to accelerate literally eating the small distance between them. The same time the back window of the bus and the window of the tower opened all the way letting Sven with Elias’ riffle  and Ida’s riffles, pat, pat, boom, boom, pat, pat, pat, boom, boom. Boom.

Sven felt tears in his eyes, “for Elias, monsters.” Boom, boom, boom.

The colour of the armband – The Bus 02

Elias had gone hunting too many times to make an elementary mistake like that but here they where in the middle of a death-trap they dag for themselves. Sven felt fear scrabbling on his back and the fact that he saw Ida shaking her hand to him when she was already out of the white door and into the open made it even worst. He should have seen her earlier when she moved out of the door not thirty feet away from the bus.

He jumped quickly down the small platform of the iron tower to the main cabin of the bus and pressed the button next to the door to disarm the alarms.

“I know, I know, I fucked up but we don’t have time, take this bags and return to the tower till you see me again,” she said and left three heavy bags on the floor in front of him, then she turned back towards the house. “Don’t forget the alarm,” she shouted while running for the white door.

Sven activated the alarm and run to the iron tower, binoculars back in the eyes checking all around. He would check later what was in the bags, no time now. His hands were trembling a bit and he thought that the binoculars might fall, but he grabbed them tighter and checked again. One hole after the other moving clockwise. Nothing. Only this time he saw Ida at least earlier, when she was coming out of the white door. Obviously inside Elias was loading bags and she was bringing them to the bus. Stupid, he was bigger and faster but who knows how the great strategist thinks. Sven was angry and he blamed Elias for the mistake. They should have never say anything, they should have just come to the bus with the first bags and then tell him.

“Two three more max,” she said leaving more bags on the floor and run straight back to the house. This time the bags were heavier. Sven moved them fast next to the others and returned to the iron tower.

Just on time. Somewhere to his left, still far away and beyond any house in the horizon, he saw a clod of rising sand. He acted instinctively without spending time to recheck. “There is a coming, there is a coming. Do you hear me? There is a coming.” He screamed at the wireless.

“We hear you,” came back with Elias voice this time and then silence. Ida reappeared but Sven remained at the tower. This time Elias was just behind her, both carrying bags with Elias carrying a small rusted tank on his back.

Sven watching the cloud of sand getting bigger and bigger waited till Ida literally touched the first outside alarms before climbing down to disarm them and open the door. Both Ida and Elias came threw bags and tank inside the bus and without a word turned back and run for the house. Sven decided to stay there, by the door; there was no time for the iron tower anymore, there was no time for all of them. This had to be the last round and then leave. He couldn’t tell them, they had already disappeared behind the white door.

The cloud and Sven’s fears were increasing by second and this time when Ida and Elias dropped the bags into the bus he literally screamed at them, “we have to move, this was the last time, come inside sand lets start the damn thing to get out of here, NOW!”

But it wasn’t going to be. While Ida stayed in, taking place on the iron tower with Sven standing by the door riffle ready, Elias returned to the house. “For one last time,” he said before turning his back to Sven and the bus.

“They are coming fast,” Ida screamed from the tower and Sven thought if he should move outside to have better view to what was coming and a better aim. “Two or three trucks and something else, smaller.” Ida shouted again and the second Sven started moving outside the bus, Elias appeared from the door carrying a huge track and bags rapped in both arms.

Sven turned to his left and he saw the small black dots moving fast between the gray sky and the yellow ground, appearing and disappearing behind small sand hills and buildings. They had crossed the sand land entering the housing area and getting closer fast. Elias was moving slowly under the heavy weight of the tank but Sven stood there without move to help. He aimed at the small dots trying to spot a head or something alive on them to shoot. Nothing. Not even a sound. Then a small thunder hit next to Elias rising sand and gravel.

“They are shooting,” Ida screamed from inside, voice in panic.
“I cannot see anything, cannot aim…” Sven shouted back while a second thunder hit closer to Elias.

“Elias, come inside,” Ida kept screaming from the iron tower but Elias couldn’t hear her or anything else. A third louder thunder hit, this time even closer to him. Forty more feet and Sven couldn’t just stay there watching and waiting for the next thunder to come. He jumbled out of the bus and run to Elias but the next thing he saw was Elias eyes, wide open in shock and surprise.

This time the thunder came with a deafening sound and the tank fell from Elias back. The same time a small red blot appeared on his waist. “Oh god, oh god…” Sven whispered getting fast closer to him just in time to hold him up from fully falling down. Too late. Sven knew. It wasn’t the first time, but never before so close to him, never before to Elias.

“Help him, help him, help him,” Ida was screaming behind him having left the tower and exiting the bus in a last minute attempt to help. Sven grabbed Elias from his arms and started pulling him towards the bus when another loud thunder hit Elias body with another red bolt appearing immediately on his chest.

“Ida, start the engine,” Sven cried pulling the body closer. Fifteen feet, ten feet, five feet, they were inside the same time the roaring of the engine filled the room. He closed the door, draw the safe and sat next to the body while Ida was driving fast the bus the opposite direction away from the coming vehicles. “Oh god, oh god…” he let himself murmur not daring to look at Elias.

“How is he?” Ida asked but Sven didn’t have the power to answer. “Is he bad? We are two three hours away from the castle but we can make it. Keep him hot.” Sven didn’t know what to say but logic somehow kicked in. How is he? Did he check how he is? He just presumed him dead. No, he hadn’t. He saw his eyes but he didn’t check. He rolled closer to the body and tried to find Elias’ pulse putting his finger on the man’s neck. Nothing there. He put his ear on the man’s chest. Nothing. The only sound he could hear was the small thunders hitting the metal of the bus here and there. From outside. Nothing from inside. Nothing from Elias.

“Sven, take the wheel, I know better with these things.” Ida screamed again and Sven stood up and moved quickly to the driver’s cabin without saying a word. She knows better, he felt, she might find a pulse where I missed it. I might be wring. Elias might be alive. Elias eyes returned to haunt him again. “Did you see them?” she asked while trying to stand up without stopping the bus and giving him space to take over the wheel. “Where they blue or brown?” Sven didn’t answer, only sat in the seat changed gear and increase the speed of the bus. They were running for their lives and let’s hope that the engine could sense it and help.

The colour of the armband – The Bus 01

Sven had remained inside the bus after the other two left for outside running to inspect the old red-brick house with the big white door at the front and shuttered windows. One of them stayed always back for security reasons but he also wanted to take a better look at the engine and the remaining gas before adding a new exaggerating haunting story to so many others he and his friends shared with other travellers.

Elias and Ida had checked their rifles and carefully tied their red armbands before going out whilst Sven left his on the driver’s seat since he wasn’t going outside. It wasn’t really necessary for him to wear it anyway; the bus had a red stripe all around it identifying its collusions to anybody curious.

Colour armbands and stripes was the only rule everybody kept and respected in this new world probably because there was no way to enforce it or protect you from ‘friendly’ fire. It was about survival and survival is enough reason to enforce even armbands with colours you never liked. Like Sven who never liked red.

Funny reason why. It all had to do with football and even though nobody played football anymore and most likely people had forgotten what football was about, didn’t help Sven’s dislike to the colour.

The other fear and dislike Sven carried was to find himself in a bus with an engineering problem without gas in the middle of a bunch of yellow, brown or blue armbands. Blue were the worst, still no compared with the green who were the hellangels on earth but nowhere around this part of the globe. At least not at the moment.

He ticked with his gloved finger over the dashboard to make sure that no needle was stuck and all the pointed indicators were right indicating and then activating all the alarms, inside outside, he opened the small engine hutch, down and on the right side of the river’s seat. That part of the bus was were its heart and its Achilles heel lay.

Sven breathed in the mixture of fresh air and oil that entered the cabin when he opened the small door. “Fresh but no clean,” he murmured to himself in the empty bus and bitterly smiled. ‘Well, at least the mixture of gas, old engine oils and radio’, he thought and regretted the thought immediately. Radio was not a thing to laugh with and there were a lot of black armbands to prove it.

The thought of the black armbands made him shiver but this was no time for day-dreaming or in this case a day-nightmare. He put his head through the small door, checked left and right the little gaps of open space and then pulled up again reaching the bag with the tools. After getting a -sharpen by him- small screwdriver, he returned to the engine and started checking one after the other wires, tubes, connections.

“Sven, are you there?” Ida’s voice in the absolute silence of the bus scared the shit out of him and made him hit his head the way he jumped half inside the engine cage, half outside in the cabin. Massaging his head he took a deep breath waiting for his heart to return to her place in his chest and then pulled out, reached the wireless and trying hard to sound calm he answered, “Everything OK Ida?”

“Everything is fine, actually everything is more than fine, “she said pointing the word ‘everything’ and he could hear her smiling. “We found a fucking treasure; food, cans of juice, even gas for the bus. Everything.” And the smile came wireless again.
That made the pain on his head go away.

“Do you need help?”
“No, no, we are fine. We might have to come and go a few times but I think, especially with … mmmm …our hands full, it might be better if you stay there watching.”
“Right,” Sven answered.
“Elias says that it might be better if you move to the tower so you can have a better look around us.” Of course Elias thought this. Elias, always the strategist. But he was right, he had to admit. “OK, I’m finishing with the checks and I’m moving to the tower.”

“Right, see you in a few.” Ida ended the conversation and Sven checked the last tube for a leak. Everything looked fine, but then it hit him.

He jumbled out of the engine hutch, he closed carefully the door and grubbing the riffle and the binoculars he rushed for the tower, an iron extension on the top of the bus with small holes here and there for observation. “Idiot, idiot, idiots,” he murmured loud and immediately started checking the horizon. No movement. Yet!

There were a few more houses around but there was a good empty distance between them to let Sven see if anything was moving between them. Still, Sven had only two eyes and the ability to check only one side at the time; he was not a black armband after all; and the realization of that triggered more his paranoia and fear. “Damn idiot,” he murmured again. “The great strategist thought of the tower and he let Ida tell me and the wide armband world that they found plenty of food and gas! Fucking idiots.”

The same time the wireless rang again. “Sven, Sven? Can you hear me?” Sven practiced his deep breathing again while keep turning around and looking through the holes of the iron tower. He wanted to scream, ‘yes I heard you idiot, so the rest of the armband army out there.’ But he didn’t say anything, just an angry, “yes.” “Sven, false alarm, there is nothing here. We are coming back.” Right, the great strategist got his mistake and he’s trying to fix it. Well, great Elias, it didn’t trick him; it won’t trick anybody out there. Actually now they made it worst. Now the hunters became the hunted.