Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2011 11:47:46 +1300
From: Arthur <artcart65@vodafone.co.nz>
Subject: elios 8

ELIOS

CHAPTER 8

GATHERING STORM

BY ARTHUR


Bunker #42 was, for the next thirty deis, a hive of activity and learning
as the newest members of the family were immersed into learning about
weapons and how to read either the ancients writing or how to make use of
the fig pictures. Most of the teaching was left to Elam and Elvan as Elios
had decided to learn all he could from the admin room and the strange
`COMPUTER' machines.

Most dark times every one was to tired to play boys games and were only to
happy to eat as fast as they could and retire to the new and comfortable
sleeping rooms, Elam had taken three boys with him into the galley and was
teaching them how to prepare the trays of food and keep the galley clean,
Elam spent a lot of time teaching both the weapons and the fig pictures but
it was Mita that had the most fun, he had been allowed to have the big
rifle to himself as the other boys were just to small and light weight to
handle it and, along with the fig pictures, he spent every waking moment
with it in the underground `RANGE' area.

First he taught himself how to `FIELD STRIP' it and clean its many parts,
once he was happy that he could do it as fast as his hands could move, he
began to follow the fig pictures for the looking glass that went on top,
this he had learnt was called a `RANGE AND NV INTERGRATED SCOPE' he wasn't
aware of what it meant until he had spent six days going over and over the
fig pictures and finally had worked out what he could do with the large
weapon, what he did learn almost frightened him when he saw the power of
the rifle for the first time as he fired it at a `TARGET' at the far end of
the `RANGE' room.

He knew that there were three types of `AMMO' for it and had tried one of
each, the `AP' had made a large hole in the `TARGET' and the loud bang had
nearly been to much for his ears even though they were protected by the
`EARMUFFS' as the fig pictures had shown him to do, the next one as an `AT'
round, that had made the same loud sound but had almost destroyed the
`TARGET', the last one was called a `DPU' round, this one made the same
sound but the results not only shook the room he was in but brought a lot
of the boys running, when the dust from the far wall settled, Mita gulped
in horror at the damage.

Elam was the first to get into the range room and saw Mita standing above
the big rifle he had taken a shine to, the look of horror on his face as he
stared open mouthed at the far end of the room made Elam turn and look in
the same direction, when he saw what Mita was looking at, Elam broke out
into a huge smile and ran up to hug Mita with all his might. Mita looked
down at his once captor and shook his head at the unusual reaction, all
that was running through his mind was how much trouble he would now be in
for causing so much damage, he again looked down the range and shook his
head.

Where there had once been a target was now nothing, the bags full of sand
behind had been splashed all over the floor and the hard ancient stone wall
now had a large hole punched into it that Mita though he would be able to
put his head into, the destruction was amazing from such a small looking
round, Mita began to shake with the realisation of the damage that this big
weapon could do, he then heard Elam talking to him.

"Mita, what was that?"

Mita shook himself again and looked at Elam standing there waiting for an
answer.

"I...I was trying out the rifle, the first round only put a hole in the
target, the next one destroyed the target and I had to put a new one there,
the last one sort of blew up everything."

"Which round is which?"

Mita stooped down and took one of each round from there respective metal
boxes, he then took the first one and showed it to Elam; it had a red point
at one end.

"This one just made a hole in the target."

Mita showed the next one, it had a green point on it.

"This one destroyed the target."

Taking up the final round he showed Elam the grey point on the end.

"And this one did everything."

Mita could only stare at the three rounds laying in his palm and then
looked down at Elam again with the awed look still on his face; Elam smiled
back and patted him on the shoulder.

"Do the fig pictures show what they all are for?"

"I'm not sure, from what I can work out, the red one is for people, the
green one is for things like your APC and other transport, but the grey one
is for something called a `TANK' or for shooting into something called
`FORTIFICATIONS' whatever they are."

Mita had had to spell out the new words as he wasn't sure how to say them
but Elam got the idea of what he was trying to say.

"Can you get me your manuals so I can find out more about it, maybe we can
help you understand it better."

Mita nodded and went to the small table at the wall behind him and gave the
manual to Elam who, immediately sat on the floor and began to go through
the manual, the other boys that had run in with him slowly went back to
what they had been doing before the large shaking had taken place.

Elios was enthralled by the many things his `COMPUTER' could do as he
learnt more and more about it, he felt the shudder through the floor but
was to engrossed in what he was doing to give it much thought, his young
mind was being opened to new and wondrous things the more he learnt about
his new toy, he was totally amazed at the amount of things the ancients had
done and could not work out how they could have just disappeared in the
Horror of ancient times.

Elios was learning a new way of working out time and numbers, he now knew
that it had once been a habit to break up each dei into shorter parts so
the ancients could work more efficiently, that numbers did not stop at
multiples of ten, that distances were also worked out to the smallest part,
every night he went to sleep with all this new information running through
his head until it almost ached from to many new ideas but at the same time
he felt a great satisfaction at what was now inside his head.

Elios had decided that it was almost time to teach these new ideas to the
other boys so they would all have the benefit of them, he had been about to
start the new teaching now but had opened a `FILE' that was all about
`BATTLE TACTICS' and had then been enthralled again at what he was seeing,
there was so much there that he was sure would help them to avoid having
one of their number hurt again by the Renegs, much of what he saw now made
sense when attached to the various weapons they now had and would be very
useful in future, he was still mindful of the fact that the Renegs were
probably camped outside their big door waiting for them but he now had a
small idea how they might be able to get out again soon without having to
fight head on with them.

More time passed as everyone tried as hard as they could to take in the new
ideas, hardest of all was the new type of breaking up the deis as well as
the way the ancients measured the distance from one place to another, Elios
was insistent that every boy could understand each of these new ideas so
that they could all be more precise, for some unknown reason, Elios felt
that this was going to be very important in the future of the boys
survival.

At the end of thirty five days, all the boys were close to understanding
the new scales of time and distance, it was now time for the boys to go out
and search for more members to join their underground home. Elios called
all the boys into the admin room to tell them about how he thought they
might be able to get out without all dying at the hands of the waiting
Renegs, if they were still out there, and Elios had a funny feeling that
they would be waiting for the young boys to come out.

Once everyone was crammed tightly into the admin room he lit up the far
wall to lots of oohs and aahs at all the little lights shining on the gles
wall, next he hit some buttons on the computer and an outline of their
bunker showed up as well as the surrounding land, although the land of
today was not exactly the same as on the wall picture due to the number of
yarn that had passed since the Horror.

Elios began to tell them of his plan.

"What we need to do is find out where they might be so, we have to find a
way of going outside without them seeing us, to do this we will have to
clear all the sand out of the hole we first came in, it will have to be
done carefully so they don't hear us although its on the other side of the
cliff, next one of us will have to go up to the top of the cliff and draw a
picture of where they all are camped, ok?"

All the boys nodded their heads and continued to listen intently, this
sounded like a good plan to them all.

"Next, once we know where they all are we have to have a group to scare
them away so we can get out transports outside, what I think is best is
that Mita with his big rifle, along with two others to protect him, should
go to one side of the hole until he can see their camp, another group under
Bax and with six boys go out and hide on the other side of the hole to stop
any Renegs getting to close to the big door. Mita this is how you should be
when you find the right place to hide below the cliff top so you can see
them but they can't see you and the two boys with you. You are in the
middle with your big rifle; one boy will lay on each side of you watching
out for anyone trying to sneak up on you from the side, once you're there
and you see Bax and his boys in place then you start to fire on their main
camp, use the red rounds for that and try to kill as many as you can."

Elios looked at Mita and saw the determination on the older boys face as he
nodded his acceptance of his place.

"Bax, you lead the other boys to the top of the cliff on the other side and
set your boys out in a line along the top so you can see the front of our
bunker and the doorway, when Mita starts to fire you do the same at any of
the Renegs that are close to the door, both of you, if the Renegs try to
attack you and they are getting close then get back to the hole and come
inside, close and lock the little door so they can't get into our bunker."

Elios looked at Bax and some of the other boys for agreement, when he was
satisfied that they understood their jobs he continued.

"We all know how to use the small com units so we have to keep in contact
with each other all the time but only Mita and Bax are to talk so we don't
all mess up the coms, when we hear you start to fire, Elam, Elvan and I,
along with some of the other boys will use the APC and one of the Humvee to
escape outside and make as much trouble for them as we can, I've made a map
of where we can go and look for more boys, we will be away for a while so
don't worry, when we get back with new boys we'll call you on the com units
and we do the same again to get back in if the Renegs are still stupid
enough to be waiting outside again. Bax, you will be in charge while we're
gone, keep everyone safe and make ready some new rooms for any new boys we
can get."

Elios looked at Bax and got his understanding of the position they would be
in.

"The last thing is, when we have enough new boys we can go out and look for
more of these bunkers to live in, if we can get enough we might be able to
form a group big enough to fight off any more killing raids by the Renegs
and save more new boys when they leave their breeding caves. Ok we need to
get all the sand cleaned out of the back hole and make everything ready to
move, Mita pick two boys to go with you, Bax get your six boys, the rest
will come with me in the Humvee and Elam and Elvan in the APC, everyone
check their weapons and make sure your webbing is good and tight, you'll
need three mags for your Beretta and four mags for you rifle, three boys
with me and one more with Elam, Elvan will be on the big weapon on the APC
like before."

Everyone set about doing what they had been asked and for the next two deis
they set about practicing what they would need to do, Mita would crawl
along the floor of the range room and when he was looking over the small
lump of sand bags they had made, the two boys would take a place on his
left and right facing away so they could see both directions as well as
behind the boy on the floor. Bax did very much the same as he set about
putting his boys in a spread out line along the floor of the training room
so they were about two lengths apart, both sets of boys spent long hours
practicing their places while all the other boys were helping to pull all
the sand from the round hole that the three original boys had used to get
into the bunker, the storm had really packed the sand in hard but working
from the inside was easier than trying to go outside and face the Renegs
without a plan.

At the end of the second dei the boys had broken through the sand barrier
and could now see outside into the small valley on the opposite side of the
cliff from the Renegs large camping place, Taking his binoculars with him
as well as one other boy to watch over him, Elios crawled through the short
tunnel to the back of the cliff and then both of them made their way to the
top as quietly as the could. Once at the top of the cliff, Elios and the
new boy lay flat and carefully poked their heads above the last small ridge
of sand.

Below them was more than Elios had bargained for, somehow the Renegs had
managed to call in more men, the main camp was well out in the middle of
the valley as well as smaller camps dotted about and closer to where their
big doorway was, closer to the door was another small camp that was
obviously put there as a first warning of the boys coming out, the Reneg
had placed a line of broken stones across the track that lead into the door
space, Elios smiled to himself as he though of what the APC would do to the
line of stones, while he had not taken a Humvee outside he had driven it
inside the garage and didn't think the stones would be a problem.

Elios smiled at the thought of the alterations that Elam had had to make so
Elios could reach all the pedals and be able to look over the wheel to see
where he was going, they would be taking extra boxes of mags for the three
boys so they could each fire out of the side of the Humvee, Elios would
have a map and tell Elam which way to go from the coms units once they were
well clear of the Renegs, the big door would be closed by one of the last
boys inside the bunker, they all had now been given a card to operate all
the doors in the bunker and had practiced with them until they all knew how
to do it.

Elios looked down at the valley below him and, carefully taking out a piece
of paper, began to draw the camp set up down below him, when he was sure he
had all he would need, he signalled the boy with him to carefully crawl
backwards and then down into the tunnel. When they had closed the small
door and got to a table, Elios spread out his paper and called all the boys
to the room to look it over, especially Mita and Bax.

For the next half a dei they went over and over the rough map Elios had
made until they were sure where they needed to be, Elios was only concerned
about the big camp as it was a long way from the top of the cliff but Mita
assured him he would have no trouble with the big rifle to reach that far,
Mita now knew what the numbers were when he looked down his scope and the
fig pictures had told him he could easily reach a target as far away as
2000mt, he wasn't sure what a mt. Was but he had a reasonably good idea
what the 2000 was so when he got outside and up to the cliff top he would
be able to see through his scope how far way the camp was by the numbers
inside the scope.

Finally the boys thought they were ready for the next sunrise, the two
groups going outside to the cliff top would leave as soon as the first
light showed, as they would be along the cliff top with the rising sun
behind them, they would be almost invisible to the Renegs down in the
valley, when they started firing, they would tell Elios and the others when
to start out the big door.

That dark time they had a huge meal and went to sleep earlier than usual so
as to be ready for the fighting next sunrise, until Mita and Bax returned
to the bunker there would only be two boys left inside and their job was to
get the big door closed as soon as possible after the others left. Sunrise
seemed to come quicker than usual but all the boys were ready, Mita lead
the way out the small door and into the tunnel while it was still showing
dark outside, Bax along with his six boys followed quickly behind, the
tension and excitement was thick in the air as the boys felt for the first
time a new determination to retaliate against the Reneg for the first time
in their lives, the ancient weapons gave them a new sense of worth and a
way to fight back against an evil that had killed so many new boys over the
history of the new world.

Elios looked around the garage at the collection of young boys, all of them
held their rifles ready, their webbing belts were adjusted to fit their
smaller frames as well as the new shirts being cut down to fit, their new
boots covered the slender legs and their side arms looked heavy on their
slim hips but all had the same look of determination on their young faces,
they all understood that they were going out to fight for a new life as
well as a new life for other boys out there alone.

Mita carefully crawled outside the tunnel and, along with his two boys went
to the left and began to climb the short distance to the top of the cliff
as he heard Bax lead his boys to the right and begin their climb. Once on
top of the cliff, Mita moved along until he could see down into the other
valley below, sending his two lookouts to each side of him to watch for any
Renegs trying to get up to his position, he settled down and set up his big
rifle, making sure he had the two short legs firmly in the sand, he took
off the two black caps on the scope and settled himself down like he had
taught himself from the fig pictures, once he was comfortable, he began to
sweep left and right to see where all the camps were, when he found the big
main camp he began to search for signs of life and to try to work out who
the leaders were.

Elios had suggested he try to pick out the leaders and kill them first so
it would hopefully cause a lot of panic in the followers and so make it
easier for Bax and his boys to kill as many as they could before all the
boys would go back into the tunnel and disappear from the sight of the
Renegs before they could react to the attack, they knew they had to keep up
their fire until they saw the transports take off through the ranks of the
Renegs camps and escape into the far wilderness in search of new boys.

Mita felt the first touch of the suns heat as it rose above the horizon
behind them, son the glare if the sun would hide them from any eyes below
and that would be the time for him to start their attack, Mita waited
patiently, doing his breathing exercises like he had learnt from the
manual, slowly his breathing quietened until he was hardly breathing at
all, his body felt relaxed and comfortable as he took sight at the big camp
in the middle of the valley, the numbers in his scope told him he was 1400
mt from the camp, he made the needed adjustments as he had learnt and
settled down to wait.

As the first rays of the rising sun broke over the main camp, Renegs began
to make themselves seen as they rose for another day of waiting for the
boys to appear from the big door that they had run into in their strange
artefact so many deis before, some of the Renegs were getting tired of the
waiting game but their leaders had a tight hold on them and wanted all the
new and terrible weapons the boys had used on them so they sat and waited.

Most of the Renegs were both hungry and thirsty as the means to fill their
bellies and slake their thirst had to be carried from a long way away so
most of them were lucky to get one meal a day and the constant need for
water had made a lot of them very short tempered, fights broke out
constantly over the amount of water being shared and the leaders were
always having to break up the fighting and arguing every day, tempers were
very short indeed and they didn't know how long they could keep their men
satisfied, pressure was building as they had to wait out in the hot sun
every dei.

The six leaders sat in a circle as one of their men brought them some water
and the dry tough bred they usually had for the first food of the dei, the
rest of the Renegs were starting their own meals as the sun rose higher, it
looked like another dei of waiting for the boys to come out, boredom was
the hardest part of this dei but they were determined to take what those
boys had, if they could get those fantastic ancient weapons they would be
the leaders of the whole world that they knew, no one could fight against
them.

Mita looked through his scope at the circle of six leaders, each was seated
opposite another as they seemed to be talking and eating, Mita adjusted his
scope until he was sure he had it set right then, taking careful aim and
letting his breathing follow his self training, he squeezed off the first
round, the sudden shock of firing pushed back into his shoulder as the
rifle went off with a loud crack that could be heard right down the valley
in the stillness of the air.

Mita watched as the Reneg he was aiming at was lifted bodily from his
squatting position and thrown forcibly into the small fire in the middle of
the group, what amazed Mita more was that the Reneg opposite the one he had
aimed at, was also thrown backwards as the round went right through the
first one and punched heavily into the chest of the second leader, Mita
would have smiled at the effect of the big rifle had he not been sighting
in on another leader as the Reneg tried to look around and find out what
had just happened to the other two who were now lying on the ground with
large bloody holes in their chests, he never got to work out what it was as
he felt a very hard punch in his own chest just before blackness took him.

Suddenly there was pandemonium as the sharp sound of crackling erupted from
the far off cliff top, around the entrance to the cave where the Reneg had
been camped to stop the boys escaping, there were yells of fear and fright
as the top of the cliff seemed to light up with small flashes of fire,
below the guards were falling or running for their lives as the sound of
angry bees appeared to fly around the heads of the guarding Renegs. Small
spurts of sand kicked up around the Renegs feet as they tried to scramble
for cover from the hail of death coming from above them.

Further out from the cliff, other Renegs were looking for the cause of the
death that had come out of the stillness of the rising sun but nothing
could be seen against the glare at the cliff top, only the deep booming
sound of death as another Reneg fell to the sand with the appearance of a
boneless bag or a small animal skin hut would disintegrate in a flash of
flame and sound, Haws were screaming in fear as they pulled mightily on
their tethers trying to pull free so they could flee from the loud sounds
that echoed around the valley bringing death and destruction in the
stillness that had been the dawn of another dei.

Mita carefully picked his targets as he methodically dealt death to the
Renegs as his friends on the other side of the entrance took care of the
Reneg that were too close to the entrance, then Mita felt the rumbling in
the earth of the big door rising which was shortly followed by the deep
rumble of the APC as it sped out of the doorway before it was fully open
and was followed quickly by the lighter sound of the speeding Humvee.

Mita stopped firing as he saw the Humvee speed past the APC and take the
lead once the APC had crushed and pushed the line of stones out of the way,
through his scope Mita could see the three black barrels of the boy's
rifles poking out of the windows as the Humvee charged wildly through the
nearest camp while the APC was firing its weapons further out into the rest
of the Reneg camp areas.

Mita stopped his firing and gave a short whistle to get his two boys to
pull back from the top of the cliff as he again felt the rumble through the
ground as the big door closed once again, once below the rim of the cliff,
Mita gave out a long loud whistle and was soon answered by Bax and his boys
as they too pulled back and began to make their way to the tunnel leaving a
number of black bundles lying on the sand below them.

As soon as all the boys returned to the main room in their bunker they all
began to yell and laugh as the tension of their first ever attack on the
hated Reneg was over, not only over but was a bigger success than they
could ever of thought, the two remaining boys that had stayed below had
already made a huge amount of food for the returning hero's and hurriedly
filled a table with it as the boys carefully lay their weapons on other
tables ready for cleaning.

A though flashed through Mita's mind as he sat down to eat, from the
carnage they had caused this dei, there would be feasting as well for the
black Skavs for a long time to come, the birds were very quick to attack
any carrion that was disabled so the bodies of the Renegs would probably
cause a huge number of the Skavs to appear and begin to feed, Mita knew
that the Landers, the people who hid in small valleys and produced the
plants needed to make the bred that everyone ate, also called the Skavs,
Soul Eaters as they believed that the black birds took away the life force
of any person unlucky enough to be eaten by them and that the souls could
be seen living in the black unwavering eyes of the Skavs.

On the valley floor, once they were well clear of the Renegs camp sites,
Elios pulled his Humvee to a halt and waited as Elam stopped the APC beside
him, Elios got out of his still running Humvee, his young body still
shaking a little from the excitement of the wild dash from the bunker and
sound of the rifle fire as the tore through the small groups of running and
scared Renegs, not a crossbow bolt had been fired at them as the fear of
death from above the cliff had taken all of the Renegs attention.

Elios put his binoculars to his eyes to look back at what had once been a
Reneg camp of somewhere around four plus ten men and was now nothing more
than a place on the sand that had less than half of them now running
towards the far off hills, on the floor of the valley were burning skin
huts and small black dots of the dead, already Elios could make out the
black dots in the sky of the Skavs, the black birds would fill their
bellies this dei, Elios looked over at where Elam stood beside the still
running APC and signalled for him to come over.

Once Elam had joined him, Elios got out his map and they began to discuss
where they would start their search for more boys.

"I think we should make a big circle around here and come into the breeding
cave area from this direction." Elios said as he traced a circular line on
the material of the map with his finger.

Elam looked and nodded his head in agreement, Elios was the one with the
good mind for this type of thing and Elam was happy to go along with any
plan he made.

"How many boys do you think we can get this time?" Elam asked.

"As many as we can fit in both transports, even if we have to squeeze them
as tight as we can, the more we can save now is better for us all."

"Ok, I'll just follow you, what about those Renegs that escaped the camp?"

"Well all of them are now on foot so if we see any on the way I think we
should finish them off, the ones that get away will tell all the others
that this place is a valley of death so they might stay away and leave us
alone when we're here, I think they will try to take us when we go out on
searches so we will have to be more careful then."

Elam nodded and then with a big smile returned to his APC while Elios got
back into his Humvee where he told his three boys how good they had done on
their escape from the bunker, the three boys blushed with pride at the
words of encouragement and gave small shivers as they felt the effects of
their first battle with the Renegs. Elios took the lead and turned the
Humvee towards what he now knew was called the North point on the small
round compass he had carried with him.

For the next half dei they travelled across new sands towards the far side
of the breeding caves, while the circular route was longer it also gave
Elios a chance to get used to driving the big Humvee and to get used to the
thick blocks of wud attached to the pedals that Elam had made for him so he
could reach them, the thick pad under his butt made it easier to see over
the wheel but was also a small danger when he hit a hole or bump in the
sand as he tended to bounce upwards and had it not been for his metal hat
he would by now have a very sore head.

By high sun, the two transport had come up close to where the outskirts of
the breeding caves were, Elios climbed up on top of his Humvee and, with
his binoculars to his eyes, began to scan the surrounding landscape, while
he was doing that his three boys along with Elam and Elvan from the APC,
got out and walked around to stretch their legs and take out some of the
kinks that had built up from the long drive, Elvan got out some food and
water for them all as Elios continued his search.

Whenever he saw a small black dot moving on the sandy ground far away along
the valley, he would stop looking and carefully place a mark on the map
that was open at his feet then he would go back to searching, after quite a
while on top of the Humvee, Elios thought he had seen all he could and came
back to the ground with his friends, folding the map as he did so, taking
some food from Elvan and a sip of water he began to report to the others
what he had seen and how they should go about collecting all the boys out
there.

After their food and water stop the boys returned to their transports and
headed out towards where Elios had seen the small black moving dots of the
newly dispersed boys from the breeding caves, in the back of Elios mind was
the idea to start to search for more of the bunker systems that he ad seen
in his computer pictures, he was well aware that theirs was not the only
one as he now understood the counting system of the ancients and was also
aware that there must be at least four plus one, or in the numbers of the
ancients which he now understood as 41 more of them.

The two vehicles travelled onward and it wasn't long before Elam and Elios
saw the first boy ahead of them, at the strange sound of the vehicles, the
boy looked back over his shoulder with evident fear on his face at the
large things headed his way, his only response was to take to his heels and
run as fast as he could away from the approaching terrors, Elios watched as
the small boy looked over his shoulder again, fear and dread was plain on
his young face, Elios sped up a little more and pulled to a halt in front
of the fearful boy.

As soon as he came to a halt, Elios opened his door and jumped out waving
his arms in an attempt to calm the boy who, seeing he had no way to escape
from the beast or the boy that controlled it, had collapsed on the sand and
began to cry tears of fear and desperation as Elios slowly approached him
with a container of water in one hand and a little food in the other with a
soft smile on his lips to try and calm the boy.

The closer Elios got to the boy, the more the boy cringed in fright, slowly
Elios got closer and then with a calm voice began to talk to the new boy as
he held out the food and water in a gesture of peace, slowly the boy
stopped crying and looked up at Elios and the food and water he held, there
was still fear in his eyes but he was beginning to calm a little as Elios
didn't move any closer.

"Hello, my names Elios, what's yours?"

A very soft whisper came from the boys trembling lips.

"Pita."

"Well Pita, you don't have to be scared, we're here to help you and offer
you a new safe home if you want it, here, take the food and water." Elios
said as he held out his gift to the still trembling boy.

"What is that thing?" Whispered Pita.

"It's called a `Transport' it was made by the ancients, we found it along
with a lot of other stuff in a hidden place and we learnt how to use it so
we can beat the Renegs, we're looking for more boys to join us because we
don't like what the Renegs do to new boys when they go roving, we really
would like you to join us."

Pita took the food and water from Elios and quickly took a mouth full as
soon as he the food in his hand, immediately a new and wondrous look came
over his face as he got the first taste of the new and strange food, it was
like nothing he had ever eaten, quickly he took a mouth full of water and
then went back to hurriedly eating the rest of the food, when he was
finished he looked up again at the young boy standing waiting for him.

"Can I really join you, that thing's not dangerous is it?"

"Yes we would like you to join us and, no it's not dangerous, well not
unless I drive it wrong."

Elam had kept the APC far back from Elios as he could not go as fast as the
smaller Humvee, he sat and waited for Elios to call him on his com unit
before he would go close to the new boy.

Pita looked again at the Humvee and noticed for the first time that there
were another three boys sitting inside holding funny looking black pipes,
they also had funny metal hats on that made their small heads look under
sized, each boy was smiling at him.

"There's not much space in there for me." Pita again whispered to Elios.

"That's ok, we have another bigger transport to carry you in, this one is
just for looking and finding new boys, would you like to see the bigger
one?"

"Uhm... yes, ok."

Pita watched as his new friend Elios, put his finger to his neck and talked
softly to nothing.

"Ok Elam, come up slowly, Pita is still a little scared so be careful."

Pita watched as Elios nodded his head at something and then heard a deep
loud growl from behind him, with fear again in his eyes he spun around and
saw a new transport come over a slight rise in the ground, it was bigger
and looked very dangerous, from the top of the transport stood a round
thing that had two larger pipes coming from it, these pipes were going
around as though searching for something, Pita felt Elios put a soft steady
hand on his shoulder to let him know it was ok, as the new transport got
closer, Pita continued to tremble as he realised just how big it was.

When the large transport stopped a little way away, Pita saw a small metal
door open in the side and then heard it begin to wine like a small dog as
the back began to come down, from the side door another young boy jumped
out smiling at Pita.

"Hello, my names Elam, I'm Elios friend, are you going to come and live
with us?"

Pita looked from Elios to the new boy Elam, his mind was close to being
made up when he saw that the boys were just ordinary boys and not demons or
Renegs, slowly he nodded his head that he would like to live with them even
though the big transports still scared him.

"Great." Elios said. "Why don't you go with Elam and he'll show you how to
get inside so your safe from any Renegs that we may find, we're going to go
looking for more boys so we might be out here for a couple of deis looking
but don't worry we have plenty of food and water."

For the first time since their meeting, Pita smiled and still with a little
trepidation he moved with Elam to the back of the APC, when he saw inside
he couldn't believe how much space there was, also he felt a little better
when he saw Elvan sitting and smiling at him as he sat at his small screens
watching the surrounding country, Elvan gave him a small wave and a smile
then turned back to his business.

Elam took Pita inside and showed him where to sit and how to tighten the
belt around his waist, explaining that sometimes the APC would hit a hole
or bump and the belt would keep him safe.

"If you get hungry or thirsty just help yourself, its all in those two
boxes, you open them like this."

Elam showed Pita how to pen the boxes and what was inside, Pita could only
stare in disbelief at all the food, he suddenly felt happy to be with his
new friends, he was not going to be lonely or scared of the Renegs again
while he was with them, Pita settled into a seat and pulled his belt tight
as Elam went to the front and sat in the drivers seat, with some movement
of his hands on some buttons and a stick, the APC began to move forward,
Pita let out a small gasp as the APC moved smoothly away from where they
had stopped.

By high sun, the boys had collected another four boys all showed the same
reaction as Pita at first but soon saw how much better it would be with
these boys that had the secrets of the ancients, Elios began to look for a
place to sit out the high sun time and finally found a deep overhang of
rock where they could park both vehicles in the small amount of shade it
gave, the outside of the two vehicles were now very hot from the string sun
and the inside was like being cooked, all the boys were glad to get out and
stretch their limbs under the shade.

Elios asked the three boys from the Humvee to keep a look out for trouble
while the rest of them rested in the shade, each of the three boys would
take turns watching so they didn't get to tired and miss something out on
the hot shimmering sand of the valley, when the sun had lowered a little
later in the dei they would resume their search for new friends.

When the highest heat of the dei had passed, the boys began to ready
themselves for the next move, Elios had been inspecting his new map and
trying to plot out their next direction to move in, talking with Elam and
Elvan they all agreed on a direction and then loaded up the new boys as
Elios took the Humvee out to the front and lead the way in another curving
passage towards what he now knew was called the `WEST' as he looked at his
small compass, between the compass and his new understanding of the
ancients distances, he was able to plan their travel for the rest of the
dei.

By the time of the approaching dark time, the boys had collected five more
new boys and they all felt it was time to start looking for a place to camp
in a safe place until the new sun rise, slowing is speed as he turned
`SOUTH' Elios told his three guards to keep a lookout for a good place, one
that they could defend if attacked by any straying Renegs and at the same
time be easy for their transport to get too.

It was almost dark when one of Elios boys spotted a small cave on the edge
of a towering cliff, on getting closer, Elios saw that they would be able
to place the Humvee in the mouth of the cave with all the boys behind and
the APC could be parked in front of the Humvee as further protection, they
would have to set up a guard routine during the dark time but Elios thought
that wouldn't be too much trouble.

Elam stopped and unloaded all the new boys and then waited while Elios
backed the Humvee into the cave mouth until only part of the front could be
seen, Elam then parked the APC across the front of the Humvee and Elvan
turned the big weapons outward to cover any approach. When the other two
boys joined Elios in the cave, they sat and discussed what they should do
for guard duty, Elvan volunteered to do the first part along with one of
the guard boys and give Elam and Elios a chance to rest after all the
driving they had done and then they would each take a turn until sun rise,
Elios checked that Elvan had his NV binoculars that fitted onto the top of
his hat and that the three guard boys had brought theirs as well, once
satisfied that they were all set for the dark time, the three boys went
back into the cave to eat and talk with the new boys.

Elios found all the new boys sitting at the back of the cave with the big
box of food still closed tight and none of the water containers opened,
they were all just staring at the box with hunger on their faces but would
not open or eat for some reason, Elios asked one of the boys why they
weren't eating, there was plenty there for everyone, the boy replied.

"We didn't want to take something unless it was ok by you guys." The small
red head boy told him.

Elios smiled at the lost looking boys and told them.

"There's plenty of food and water, any time you're hungry you can just help
yourself, if we run short we'll just head for home and get more, when you
see your new home cave you'll see what I mean, we should only be out here
for one or two more deis, when we have enough boys we will go home and
start to train you."

The group of new boys looked up at Elios to see if he was genuine and,
after studying his open expression for a short time they all smiled and
began to move towards the large box, Elios looked at his two friends and
smiled at the hesitation of the new guys but it was only a short time
before all the mouths were full of food and water was being passed around,
Elios did not want to light a fire while they were out in the sands in case
there were any Renegs around so they had their food cold and, even though
it wasn't quite as good as when it was hot, it still filled the new boys
and satisfied the others for the time being.

When everyone was finished eating, Elvan got up and checked his equipment
and asked one of the three guard boys to come with him to sit on top of the
APC to keep guard while all the others found a place to settle down and
sleep, some for the first time in deis as they could not afford to take any
chances when they first went out into the wilds on their roving.

Elios and Elam didn't know how late or early it was when they both felt a
hand on their shoulders shaking them, opening their eyes they saw Elvan
with his finger to his lips indicating they should stay silent and come
with him to the entrance of the cave, once there the two boys saw that the
guard boy was now lying down on the top of the APC so he wouldn't stand out
to much, Elvan signalled them to follow him around the unit and lay down on
the sand near the tracks of the APC.

Elvan pointed to his head and pulled down his NV binoculars, the two boys
did the same and began to scan the sandy wastes before them, it took no
time at all to see why Elvan had come to find them, out on the sand, not
too far away was a small Reneg camp, by counting the Haws they could see
there were about six Reneg sitting around a small fire, it was lucky they
thought, that they had decided to park so close to the cliff as they
blended into the rough face of the ridge, the Renegs didn't seem to know
they were even there.

Elios could only see one problem, when the sun rose they would be very
close to the Reneg camp and totally visible and as soon as they started up
their transports, the Renegs would be on top of them, there was only one
thing to do, Elios signalled for his two friends to join him back inside
the cave, once there he told them his idea and asked for there input.

"Elvan." Elios whispered. "How did they get so close without you seeing
them?"

Elvan lowered his head and the other two boys heard a slight snuffle from
his throat.

"I'm sorry, we were both sitting there so long and we must have just sort
of dozed off for a little, when I heard a small sound and opened my eyes
they were all sitting their in their camp, I told the other boy to stay up
there while I came to get you, I'm sorry, really sorry, I know I've put
everyone in danger." A small sob came from Elvan as he buried his head in
his arms.

Elios and Elam quickly sat at his side and put their arms around Elvan to
comfort him and tell him it was ok, they were still safe and nothing bad
had happened.

"Besides," Elios said, "we've all had a long day and all of us are tired so
let's forget this and make plans to get out of here."

"What are we going to do about the Renegs out there?" Elam asked.

"Well, I thought we would wake all the new boys and warn them about the
Renegs then tell them to stay here but be ready to jump into the APC when
they hear us firing, Elam you get in the APC and get ready to start it up,
Elvan you get on the big weapons and keep them lined up on the camp, I'll
take the three other boys with me and move in on the camp from the left
side so you know where we are, we'll attack them before they know we're
here, there's only six of them so our rifles should take care of them
pretty quick, if it looks as though it's going wrong then Elvan can fire
from here, remember, we can see in the dark, they can't so we should be
able to surprise them."

"Sounds good to me." Elam Replied

"Same here." Said Elvan.

"Ok, let's go tell the boys." Elios sent a soft whistle to the boy on top
of the APC and when he got to the ground, Elios told him what they were
going to do, the boy nodded and went to get the other two ready as Elvan
went and woke up the new boys and softly whispered to them and explained
what was going to happen so they wouldn't get to frightened by the rifle
fire, when he was sure the new boys understood everything he went back to
Elios and Elam by the cave mouth.

"All ready." Whispered Elvan as he passed Elios on the way to the APC's
small door, Elios gathered the three guard boys to him and explained the
plan, the boys nodded and, along with Elios made their way to the front of
the APC and lay down on the soft sand, their NV binoculars pulled down over
the eyes, the green tinge lit up everything in front of them and they could
see the nearby Reneg camp clearly, the six Renegs were now laying in front
of the fire and looked to be asleep or close to it.

Elios signalled his boys to start to crawl to their left away from the cave
mouth and closer to the Renegs, the boys spread out so there was a bout
four lengths between each of them and slowly came up to one knee as they
had learnt in the fig pictures, flicking on the small button on their scope
they could now also see the Renegs clearly in the greenish yellow light,
Elios switched on his com unit and whispered. "now"

The four shots sounded loud in the still night air and echoed around the
open valley floor, three of the Reneg barely moved apart from a sudden
shudder, the fourth ne screamed loudly and clutched his shoulder, the other
two jumped to their feet with weapons in their hands as they tried to see
past the light of the fire into the darkness around them yelling at each
other as they tried to work out what had happened.

The darkness was suddenly split apart by a loud roaring sound as Elam
started up the APC, for the first time in their lives the Renegs were
afraid, an unknown roaring sound, one man holding his shoulder as his blood
dripped from between his fingers as he swayed back and forth from the
shock, three of their brothers not moving even with the loud roar so close
to them, the remaining Renegs lifted their crossbows towards the new
roaring sound but still could not see anything past the firelight.

The three remaining Renegs never saw the four flashes in the dark behind
them, they only felt the heavy shock of something hot hitting them in the
back and side and the dark sand rushing up to meet them, then, nothing, the
Haws broke their tethers and rushed away into the dark as Elam turned on
the lights of the APC as Elios and his three boys turned off their NV
binoculars and lifted them from their eyes.

"Come on." Called Elios as he began to lead the three boys back to their
Humvee, as he reached the door of his transport, Elios looked up at the
dark sky and judged by the stars that they had only a short time before the
new sun rise would be here, it was close to the time for moving on any way,
Elios got into the Humvee and started it up as his three guard boys got
their belts on, they knew what it could be like if they forgot to wear them
when Elios was in a hurry.

Elios hit the noise button on the wheel to let Elam know they were ready to
move, as soon as Elam was away from the front of the Humvee, Elios pulled
out and around him to take the lead and show them the new direction they
would go in, as quickly as they could, in the darkness, they hurried away
from their latest killing field and drove down the valley floor as far away
as they could before the sun rose, when it was light they would decide
where they wanted to go in the hope of finding more boys, they felt that
there was still space for about ten or more boys in the APC, if they could
find more then they would try to take them as well even if they were
overloaded.


TBC

Artcart65@vodafone.co.nz