Justice

JUSTICE

S.J.Bryant

Copyright
2015 Saffron Bryant

Published
by Saffron Bryant at Smashwords

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A nearby
explosion rocked the ground, sending a wave of hot air searing
between the broken buildings. Smoke curled up from burnt out
vehicles, while falling bricks and the sound of gunfire filled the
air. Another barrage of shots sounded, followed by an anguished
scream.

Nova ran as
fast as she could towards a section of the fallen tower. Broken
pieces of civilisation surrounded her but she paid them no
attention. To either side she could hear the shouts and running
footsteps of her fellow Hunters. Her gaze remained focused on her
target.

She came level
with the hunk of broken concrete and dived behind its meagre cover.
Enemy fire chipped pieces of rock off the top, raining it down onto
her shoulders. The rough dirt was filled with sharp pieces of glass
and rock that dug into her hands and left bleeding cuts. Other
bounty hunters knelt in the dirt at her side.

“
What the hell is that thing?” a young man with black hair
yelled over the din.

Nova sat
panting as she checked her gun and examined the cut on her palm.
Blood dribbled down, making her hand slippery. Her breathing came
fast and hard; she sounded like a bellows from the Resources
District. Her chest ached with the pain of her mad dash for
survival. It had all happened so quickly; she’d barely had time to
think. Her heart beat out an irregular pattern, thrumming under her
ribs like a tribal drum.

The sounds of
gunshots drew closer. An explosion to their right erupted in a
column of flame and debris. Pieces of broken buildings shot up into
the air and came crashing down, shaking the ground like small
earthquakes and sending out smaller showers of dirt. The percussion
of the explosion washed over her ears and left them ringing.

She ducked her
head under her arms while the chunks of building fell. She took a
deep breath and shot to her feet, eyeing the enemy. A second later
she knelt back behind the wall.

The massive
creature looked human although it towered at least twice the height
of any man she had ever seen. The man-creature wore heavy armour
that repelled any kind of bullet fired at it and reflected the
small fires burning across the broken city-scape. Dark clouds
swirling overhead were mirrored in the metal shoulders and the
sound of its footsteps echoed, making the ground shudder.

The thing had
deadly accuracy. The large gun at its side fried anyone unlucky
enough to be caught in the blast. Blue bolts of energy streamed
through the air, shattering walls, windows, and bodies with equal
ferocity. The air sizzled with the power of the shots as static
electricity built up across the planet’s surface.

Nova tried to
run through options but her head pounded with the sound of battle.
Sweat dripped into her eyes and the cut in her hand ached. Her
lungs wheezed for air as she recovered from her mad sprint. The
worst thing was the screams. They echoed all around her, pained and
anguished. She tried not to think about them too much; terrified
that she would recognise one of them.

It was
supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission; Aart was sure the
Confederacy had a base of operations running from the planet. Too
bad for Nova and the Hunters, he’d been right. Nova winced as the
events of the last hour replayed in her mind.

They’d landed
without a problem, twelve trusted Hunters, and advanced on the
city. Smoke swirled up from broken buildings and charred bodies
littered the road.

“
What the hell?” Gus said, alarmed.

“
They’ve already made their move,” Aart whispered.

Deeper in the
city they found a Confederacy cruiser; a burning hole cut through
the central panels sending black smoke into the air. A trail of
damage spread out from the vehicle into the rest of the city.
Confederacy soldiers in charred uniforms lay alongside dead
citizens.

“
Someone got here before us,” said Orion.

“
I don’t think so,” said Nova. “Look at the way the damage
comes out of the cruiser and just keeps going. The Confederacy
idiots brought it with them. Whatever it is.”

“
But where is everyone?” said Orion.

Nova bit her
lip. “I think they’re either dead or hiding. This place looks like
a ghost planet.”

The Hunters
stood in silence, surveying the damage. Nova’s hands twitched on
her gun, ready in case the enemy leaped from cover. In the quiet a
new noise came drifting on the air. It sounded like construction
equipment, working at full throttle.

“
This way!” Nova called, dashing towards the noise.

Looking back,
they should have left the planet right then, but at the time she
needed to know what had happened. She needed to find out what the
Confederacy were up to, so that she’d be ready. She had no way to
know what they’d discover.

“
Crap,” said Orion.

Nova’s mouth
dropped. In the centre of the city an armoured giant wreaked havoc
on the surrounding buildings. Its arms swung and took out a
skyscraper, sending the top half of the building toppling to the
ground in a spray of concrete.

“
The Confederacy is building super-soldiers,” Nova
whispered.

“
We’ve got to take it out,” said Aart, stepping out of
cover.

“
Aart, no!” Nova said, snatching the back of his shirt and
yanking him back. “We have no idea what it’s capable of. Look at
what it’s already done. We leave, and observe from
off-planet.”

“
No way,” Aart said, shrugging away Nova’s hand. “This is the
Confederacy’s latest weapon. We’ve got to take it out while we
still have a chance.”

He dashed off
before Nova could grab hold of him, running at the creature. He
took cover behind a crashed ship further up the street and aimed
his gun at the giant. He fired once, hitting the soldier in the
centre of its chest.

The soldier
barely stumbled. It whipped around to face Aart and lifted a gun
the size of a cannon.

Nova’s heart
leaped into her throat. Without thinking, she sprinted forward,
collecting Aart in her arms, and threw them both to the side of the
road.

The searing
blast of heat ripped past them, turning the crashed ship into a
smoking pile of ash and singeing the back of Nova’s legs. She
scrambled to her feet and tossed Aart back towards the rest of the
Hunters.

“
Run!” she screamed.

“
I don’t think that’s an option anymore,” he said, his eyes
glued to the creature.

Nova spun
around. The super-soldier bore down on them like a four-tonne
transporter, its feet crashing into the ground and leaving
craters.

From there it
had been a mad dash for survival. Three Hunters died in the first
few minutes, while the rest scrambled to stay ahead of the
super-soldier.

Nova clenched
her injured hand and shook her head to get rid of the memories. If
they were going to make it the rest of the way to their ships, she
had to focus.

“
Aart! Go round to the left. Jones, you go right. I’ll take
centre. Aim for its head. That seems to be the only place that
god-damned armour doesn’t cover.” Nova gripped her gun tight and
clenched her jaw as she shouted commands.

She brushed
sweat from her forehead and licked the sheen from her top lip. She
turned her head to each side to check the others were ready.

“
Fire!” she yelled.

The men to
either side of her stood and fired, screaming in unison. The heat
of battle overcame Nova and her voice joined theirs. Her shoulders
vibrated with the power of her gun. It kicked back into her arms
but she stood firm.

The three
pronged attack slowed the approaching soldier for a few moments;
enough time for the three bounty hunters to take aim. They fired
and Nova’s heart fluttered as she watched their bullets fly at the
creature’s head. She allowed herself to cheer as she watched the
bolts slam into its face and begin to burn.

Aart and Jones
cried with victory and raised their guns into the air. The large
creature stopped in its tracks, the massive footsteps falling quiet
for the moment. A burning hole covered half of its face, smoke
streaming from the charred flesh. But the creature didn’t
collapse.

Nova watched
with horrified fascination as the torn muscle began to re-knit
itself over the gaping wound. The layers came together and wound
around each other, knotting and reattaching. The muscle layers
repaired themselves, followed by the skin. The charred ruins
transformed themselves into a whole and undamaged face.

The skin,
which had been almost completely burnt away spread out from the
uninjured areas. The layers reached across the reformed muscle and
closed the gaping wound. The creature reached a hand up and
tentatively touched the fresh skin. Finding the wound healed, the
beast turned to stare at Nova.

Nova
backpedalled away from the impossible being. Her head moved from
side to side as her mind tried to deny what her eyes had seen. On
either side of her, Aart and Jones were similarly falling back,
mouths hanging open. Gaping confusion was the only thing they could
manage in the face of such impossibility.

A small voice
in Nova’s head screamed at her to run, but for now it was
overpowered by shock, bolting her feet to the dirt.

“
Run!” the voice told her.

“
Run
!” the voice was more insistent
as the monster raised its gun level with Nova.

“
RUN!”

It wasn’t
until a blue bolt careened through the air that Nova’s legs finally
began to work. She pushed herself to the side and narrowly missed
the oncoming fire. She leaped to her feet and sprinted through the
fiery ruins.

“
Get out of here!” she bellowed at the other Hunters. In her
mind she reached out for Cal. “Cal! Get ready to go, we’re in
trouble.”

“
Confirmed,” Cal said.

Nova’s feet
pounded on the ground. The only thought in her head was to get back
to the ships. They’d gone too far in search of the Confederacy
soldiers. Now her life depended on getting back to Crusader.

She could
still hear Aart and Jones on either side of her, and more Hunters
sprinted in front of her. A small part of her was relieved that
they’d at least made it this far. The relief was quickly replaced
by the sound of the pursuing footsteps beating into her
consciousness. The buildings on either side shuddered with the
force of the steps. Nova’s neck tingled as she imagined the
creature levelling its gun at the back of her head.

“
Down, Nova!” Gus’s voice bellowed from somewhere to Nova’s
left.