Through the Dust and Sand

[The Mammoth]

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." -John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

Meridius Rembrandt sat in a small room, his face clean shaven, and his jutting features and black hair the only standout. Upon his forehead was a long cut that went down the middle of his nose and across his mouth, given to him by a shrapnel explosion years back. His hair was spiked up, but was short, and he sat in a chair awaiting the man who would be giving him his mission briefing.

"Meridius, old friend." A older man said, walking through the door, "It's been a long time... I'm glad you're alive."

"Obviously not enough for you that I'm living, or you wouldn't have brought me out here, huh old man?" Meridius said in his gravel-like voice, a smiled on his face through his Cuban cigar in his mouth.

"Hm... Indeed. Nonetheless, your country needs you again. Again an enemy of ours is making a weapon that we don't want them to be making, and we need you to find it, and them, and eliminate both of them." Vars said, a series of pictures coming onto the screen before them, "Deep in Saudi Arabia, we have reports of soldiers of a unnamed terrorist group, not Al Queda, are conducting military experiments with biological weapons beyond our comprehension. Word has it the weapon is nearly complete and if used, its devestation would be nearly 100 times worse than the atomic bomb. It might even be a global catastrophe. Needless to say, this can't be allowed. We have pinpointed the area that we believe them to be hiding down to a few miles of dust and sand, outside a small villiage mainly used to hunting and a break through the harsh desert." Vars finished.

Meridius nodded, looking at all the pictures and information presented before him.

"We'll be in contact on your embedded radio."

Meridius nodded, looking up, he had a radio at a higher frequency than possible by commercial radios that he used to contact his support back in America. They were his information crew, providing him with everything he needed information-wise, but the job was his to complete, as a team would be too dangerous, as always the case. One man could move faster, and with less interruption. Among them was Delta, his geographical expert, and Sarah, his assistant in mental analysis of enemies, as well as mission support. These two people were the only friends Meridius had, the only people he trusted with his life, because they had saved it more than once.

He prepared himself, knowing the Vulcan Drop technique would most likely be used as the sand is a perfect target for it. He would be dropped a few miles outside the small town, and then he'd have to make his way inland from there...

[knightc3]

Priest stood about a mile away with a highly sophisticated 'gun' pointed at the room, smiling as he heard the conversation take place. It was a device his employer had generously provided and it turned out to be quite useful as long as you could point it at the subject. It was easy to use, no different then a sniper rifle. It even had the trigger, which he had kept pressed as he tried to hear if the 'correct' information was being passed to the hunter.

Once the conversation was done, he retracted the device and placed it in the small casing, putting it back in his back and retrieved his rifle from his back and placed it down. There was no order to take down either of the subject but it paid to be ready.

(Bloody hell. Didn't know I left this post incomplete)

[Da Pwny]

*ok... wasn't sure exactly how to start this out, so here we go >.> just PM me if anything's out of whack, M x-x*

"Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate."
-Sun Tzu

Wind howled about the rolling metal gas tank, otherwise known as a cloth-covered pickup, whipping sand into the interior and generally making a mess out of the already dirty interior. Only a cushion separated Noria's bottom from the hot, rust-covered bed of the truck, a thick, tan cloth hanging overhead being the only protection from the 110+ degree heat outside. Sitting quietly, she chewed on the remains of a jerky strip, her eyes slowly observing her companions- or, rather, acquaintances.

Several wore wrapped cloth around their faces, while others wore bandannas, balaclavas, and pretty much anything else to cover up their faces. Clothing was all the same for the most part, with little color difference between them; she herself wore a cloth around her mouth along with a hood to keep the sun and sand out as much as possible. Not that it mattered; between the sand and the sun, even the paint on the vehicles had changed colors to a dark tan of sorts. It all helped them to blend in just a little better, although the roar of a half-ton's diesel and the black crap it spits out thereafter don't help at all...

The sapphire blue eyes scanned back towards the rear of the vehicle, at which the first signs of trouble appeared to her sharp vision; a blue-white flash popped out from behind a hill, barely visible through the dust and sand that was being kicked up. "Get out!" she screamed in Arabic, whipping out an impressively-sized knife and slashing the wall of fabric behind her as the others soon realized the danger bearing down upon them. Even if the first warhead missed, there was sure to be another following soon afterwards.

Flipping backwards as she returned the knife to its primary slot in her boot, she landed hard as the RPG flew past, barely missing the truck by inches as a few of the men fell out the back, and burrowed into the sand to the left of the pickup before detonating, sending a blast that quickly obliterated the ground it sank into, rearing the truck up a bit before sending it into an irrecoverable crater. Most certainly, the driver was dead, and it wouldn't be long before gas leaked into the still burning hole, detonating the wreck.

Whoever was still alive quickly raced out, scattered about the sides of the road, and burried their heads just as the pickup blew impressively skyward, most likely taking the contact that she had met only hours before with it, if he hadn't died already. But that wasn't the end of the ordeal, by any means; men with AKs swarmed from over the hills, soon outnumbering the seven or so fighters who had been in the truck three-to-one, but the men didn't go down easy. Noria didn't stick around to find out how they did; her mission had gone wrong from the start, and things would most likely only move downhill from here. Ignoring the bruises and cuts she'd received, the Surgeon packed up and got the hell out of the area as soon as she could.

Bullets wizzed by her head, but contrary to popular belief, at least these rebels were terrible shots. Offering no resistance, Noria fled on foot, deciding that making it over the hill would be better than standing out here in the open. Hopefully there weren't many more of them, or she'd be screwed. Pulling some shaded goggles from a grungy pack she carried, she hurriedly placed them over her eyes to protect them from the sand blowing over the top of the hill, as well as the wind that could rip flesh from bone if one were stupid enough to expose themselves to it. 'Dammit... and so close too.' she swore under her breath to herself. 'Guess I'll have to hide out for a bit until nightfall.'

Diving over the top, Noria found the destroyed and abandoned city just in sight, no more than another few miles ahead; beyond it, a small village. But with this sand, it would be d**n near impossible to run that distance before she'd be gunned down. Talk about an ugly predicament... Noria would need a plan, and fast. And, of course, at the worst possible moment, memories of how all of this began came back to her. Fun times...


*~One Week Ago~*

Seated at a plain metal table- or, more correctly, strapped into her chair- Surgeon's dirty blond hair fell down past her waist, having not been touched by a razor in about a year by now. Her legs left to their own, she had been more concerned about outlasting her enemies rather than personal appearance. Even her face had plenty of peach fuzz on it, and her legs had a good amount of hair beneath the jeans she wore.

In contrast, the man,who was supposedly her client, but seemed more like her kidnapper at the moment, sat at the other end, his clean-shaven, fair-skinned face, well-sized folded hands which rested on the tabletop for now, and immaculately tailored suit being the only visible parts of him. As she nipped at and struggled against the restraints on her, he commented in a calm, almost mocking manner, his voice deep enough to let on that it was a man's voice, but nothing beyond that, "Please, Miss Malzignov, there is no reason for resistance. Its not as if I wish to have you done in... yet."

Pulling out a vanilla envelope, he pushed it across the table as the top was pulled back like clockwork. "I represent a corporation that has over twenty-five years of experience in highly-specialized... fields. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to disclose any more than that for reasons of confidentiality, of which I'm sure you understand. Anyhow, I believe that enough of your time has been wasted on chit-chat, so let us get to the point."

Sliding closer but still managing to hide his face, the man stated "A top-secret formula of ours was taken several days ago, and quite frankly, we want it back through any means necessary. Considering your record for success, we found you to be highly qualified, albeit a bit... oh, what's the word... unwilling." His fingers drummed impatiently on the metal surface as he continued "To be blunt, you have no other options. Either you take this job, or-" "Or you'll kill me?"

The abrupt and almost masculine growl of a very angry woman perpetrated the room like a knife. Still, the man was as cool as if he were talking about the weather to a friend. "Oh no no no, nothing of that sort of brutish nonsense. T'would be something far, far worse than that. No, what you will see is your name be strung up to dry, and for the most part you'll be going hungry for a very, very long time. No one hires has-beens, as you should know yourself..."

[knightc3]

To put it in very simple terms, he was hired by the employer of the employer of Meridius, or so he had found out. It had been a bit too easy which meant they wanted him to know. It was the orders he could really comprehend.Don't stop them, but slow them down. Don't kill the leaders, rest are free game. He wasn't a politician or a diplomat who could understand the meaning behind such orders. What he could say was that they wanted the mission of these teams, which was to stop the bomb making, delayed.

He blinked once as he saw the truck through his scope. His eyes moved to the ranger and calculated the change in wind. He made a minor readjustment to the scope. He went back to the ranger and watched the truck roll forward on the only road to the region. He began counting the heads. He could see the depressions made by seven heads leaning on the canvas, that mean 7 to 8 on the other side as well. The eighth place... was empty? Or was the person smart enough not to lean back on the canvas. He shifted back to the rifle as they were about to come into range. He took aim of the front tire and was about to fire when an he heard the familiar whosh of an RPG. "Oh come on!", he uttered quietly to himself and started closing his gear up even before the RPG hit the ground. He was packed as the troops began fighting.

He brought the ranger up to his eyes and watched as a single soldier escaped the massacre. Oh heck that's a woman, he realized as he watched her sneak away. So he knew who not to kill now. That was the second commander he guessed. He turned around and jogged down the sand dune, sliding partly, getting the irritating sand in his shoes again.

[The Mammoth]

He sat in the back of a small jet, a capsule carrying nothing but what it needed for the dangerous technique. They wouldn't allow him to hang in the air and give away his position, so they had to use the Vulcan Drop to avoid the locals from catching onto it and overrunning him within minutes. Over the sand, the air was like sandpaper, and it burned when he breathed in. But that was his life, it was always this way, he was the man for the missions that nobody else could do. He was the gun to stop all those things that couldn't even be released to the public. He was the reason that people slept safe in their homes at night. Because the things that go bump in the darkness, the things that even the government hates to acknowledge, are his to handle. Always, he learns more than they let on, and each time he never pays attention in the briefing because there are lies, misinformation, trouble. Thats why Vars was always working alone when he sent Meridius.

Vars knew better than to include the others in knowledge of Meridius' actions. He was a General, a head of the US military and in far deeper than he let on. He was the advisor to the president, and he knew much more than people ever imagined. He sent Meridius on these missions in order to handle the things that were not even mentioned to him. The president and his closest advisors knew the information in depth, and never did they have the idea that it would be best for their agent to know what he was up against. But that was why they used Meridius, he didn't need to know, he was smart enough to gather the information, and find out what was needed. He never failed the missions because he could stay alive, and he knew everything, even things that the president and his cabinet were unaware of. Trust was never something he could allow to anyone in the white house. If they saw him as a threat to national security, or to the secrets they have been hiding through him, he was expendable. This he knew all too well...

If there was one thing he knew he couldn't trust, that was the US Government. Nothing was more corrupt than politicians, and if it meant votes and them feeling that they ruled the world, he would be fighting the best they had. Vars could be trusted, as he felt the same way that Meridius did, he was the only man with his head on straight, and somehow had managed to survive the multiple times he had crossed the president. I think he even knew something felt wrong about this...

Sliding into his capsule, Meridius punched in a few numbers, and a familiar voice, that of Delta, came over the radio.

"Drop in 1 minute."

Meridius checked his gear with his hands, the capsule too small to move his head. It was good he wasn't Claustrophobic, because this capsule was too small to do anything besides stare at the frame of it. The outside had been painted to camouflage with the sand and the air, and once it dropped it would explode in 3 minutes, so he had to be out of sight. He typed in coordinates, impact strength, and other information that he had been informed to type in by Delta. Sarah was most likely getting coffee because she knew better than to offer psychological advice to Meridius, who might as well have been a psychological brick wall. As the thoughts of the landing and ensuring his gear came through his mind, the capsule fired from the plane.

Flying with insane speeds, he slammed into the sand, holding onto the bars along the side of the thing. He pushed open the top of the capsule, crawling out and groaning as the pain of the sudden stop was never light. He hated this technique. He unsnapped a few slots in the capsule, arming himself with his gear.

Making a break through the sand, he selected his camo to adapt and quickly laid down, within seconds it had turned into a lifelike sand camo. It looked and even felt like sand, if someone stepped on him they might not even notice. He stood back up and began running towards the camp to the north of where he landed. Once he ran over a dune, he laid down in the sand, his head on the ground as he heard the explosion of his capsule behind him. The sound of gunshots were already in the air, coming from the east. He waited for contact from Delta, not moving until he heard from them. Within moments, he heard the com link connect.

"Delta, what is going on over there." Meridius questioned.

"There seems to have been an ambushed truck, nobody escaped from what I can tell... Wait... There's a woman west of the dunes where it occured, east of your position. Careful of her, you don't need your cover blown early." Delta responded.

"Good, thanks, I'll get to work."

[Da Pwny]

Those pursuing Noria ran recklessly over the crest of the hill, stopping for a moment as they looked for the woman. Upon seeing her cloak upturned and plastered to the lower end of the short mountain of sand, they went on alert, unaware that they were already very much f**ked; nearby, in a small patch of greenery behind a fairly good-sized rock, Noria took count of what she still had; several of the grenades she'd wanted were lost in the explosion, but it seemed she had most everything else. Leaning forward a bit, she pulled the .50 from its back holster, listening and preparing herself to be rid of these annoyances.

When the first one came around the rock on her right side, she sprung into action; spinning in a whirl of motion, the weapon came to bear upon the enemy before he even had the time to recognize her. The automatic bucked as two shots hit point-blank, snapping his head backwards and turning his face into a bloody pulp. Before he'd even hit the ground, she was out, taking the men by almost complete surprise as she fired five more shots: one went wide, two slammed into the chest of one, and two hit the neck and just above the nose of the other man. Moving swiftly, she grabbed one of the AKs, which would be useful until she at least had a good placement within the abandoned city...

More were coming over by what she could hear, but the chances of them getting off anything close to an accurate shot was very slim. Picking up her cloak, she advanced towards the city, holstering the Eagle as she ran. It was mid-day, and not a time to be moving so much, but with little choice and sparse items, she would have to make due for now with sprinting for safety. Several shots hit around her, but they were wild and sporadic, only one of them coming close enough for concern. That one nicked her shoulder, but didn't do anything more than damage the cloth. As soon as she found a spot, they would all be dead anyhow, so what matter was it for her?

*gah x-x took too long to write >.<*

[knightc3]

He smiled as he watched the cloak flutter in the desert wind through his scope. His body was slowly getting used to the heat and the scarcity of water in his system that seemed to be more of less a normal phenomenon here. He watched quietly and with a smile as the woman put down a few of the aggressors very quickly. He knew this woman. It was the Surgeon. Not killing her and not have to worry about her anymore had been really tempting but then he wasn't going to get paid for the job and would probably have a lot of people after him.

He changed his target to the rebels who seemed to be chasing her. He wondered it he should put them down but thought it probably wasn't worth showing his existence to this woman. He knew of her reputation and he would want to delay the discovery of his existence as much as possible.

He had been waiting on the most peculiar drop he had seen in his life and he had seen a few. He had been told of an approximate location and that was it. He had seen the drop and had barely caught the man move and hide himself, merge himself with the sand before the capsule exploded. Now he really wanted a camouflage suit like that! He continued to watch the woman move, his finger still itching to take the shot at her covered head. The cross of the scope tracking her as she moved.

[Da Pwny]

Finally reaching the abandoned city, Noria shed the cloak just as she ducked behind the first pieces of wreckage. She wasn't completely unaware of her presence being watched, a "sixth sense" one learns to develop and utilize when in combat very quickly, and with the rebels chasing her down, she didn't have much choice. From here, it would be a dash from cover to cover as she attempted to outmaneuver those following- and watching- her. Not an easy thing to do, considering the lack of cover around here.

Quickly, she checked the gun in her hands; the clip was half-full, enough for a few good shots. Of course, aiming an Kalashnikov was a whole different story, since they were made less for accuracy and more for simply shooting everything in the way. Not that it mattered, as until she found a place to stage from, she'd be in close combat often. That also meant plenty of ammunition, which would help immensely since scarce ammo equaled an impractical weapon. Replacing the clip, she took a last look around, then dashed off diagonally for the next set of cover, a good wind tossing sand all about as she leapt over the short part of the wall, rolling as best she could as a few bullets tinked nearby, making small holes in the cement barrier. Only about two more bombed-out structures laid between her and the first usable building, and they didn't look like much better protection than where she was at right now...

[The Mammoth]

Meridius watched closely as he crawled forward along the sand, inching forward bit by bit so as to not give away his position to anyone that wasn't watching with complete focus. Seeing him would be impossible from a range, but someone nearby could see him. His movements were slow enough that spotting him would be extremely difficult. He continued crawling for a while before the sounds of battle had carried off to the north, it seems his drop had brought him far closer to the town than he expected, meaning his presence was most likely known by anyone attempting to stop him. His cover was not blown yet, but without a doubt the guard of wherever this compound was would be cautioned.

He inched forward over another dune and saw the woman that was mentioned by Delta running from soldiers that were firing poorly. He laid still for a while, watching the ordeal as she ran foolishly. She darted around like a confused mouse, not knowing where to escape the maze and find the cheese. Rather than escape line of sight and get hidden among the rubble, using the area to her advantage, she made things obvious, and foolishly started a fight where she was extremely outnumbered. Meridius watched, not moving as the men got closer and closer to her position. Thinking about the sounds of the gunfire and where they came from, he figured that her clip was nearly half empty, and the soldiers chasing her were reloading judging from the silence. Knowing your enemy, their tendencies, and most of all their ammunition, was invaluable information for someone who was going on a solo mission. With a disadvantage of being outnumbered, you have to be able to out-think your opponent, and prove you are more skillful beyond that.

Meridius didn't expect this woman to live much longer in this battle with the way she was handling it unless she had a trick up her sleeve. But he didn't mind, she was a distraction, and with it he could continue forward into the town.

He moved forward slowly, keeping an eye on the situation before him, avoiding any chance of being between the soldiers and the woman. Avoiding their line of sight was important, but it shouldn't be hard because most soldiers in a battle situation are oblivious to everything around them but what they were focusing on, which is why traps are so successful, and why this woman's distraction was so useful....

[Da Pwny]

By the time they found the next body, stripped of munitions and most of its grenades, Noria was already gone, having disappeared into the run-down two-story house. And they didn't have time to avoid the pineapples that already had their pins pulled, hidden in the dead guy's pockets; most standing around him were killed instantly by the near simultaneous explosions. Finally behind some acceptable cover, she went to work.

It wouldn't be long before they'd get into the house, so she had to make things quick. Rushing up the stairs but taking care to avoid some of the weaker spots, one of which she nearly fell through, Noria swiftly took stock of what she had. If she could get her hands on just one of those rocket launchers, things would be plenty easier, but apparently they were guarded well and stuck to the back. So these people weren't too dumb after all, even if their aims collectively could hit the broad side of a barn... once.

Without that firepower, and with it against her, she was at a disadvantage. Still, it was one thing she was good at; coming out on top, no matter how bad the odds were. Blocking the stairwell with an upturned table just as the first of the majority stormed inside, she tossed a live grenade over the top and prayed silently. When the explosion hit, she was closer than she wanted to be, and was lucky for the table being of fairly nice quality, as it caught a good majority of the shrapnel that would've torn her backside to hell. Not wasting much time, she fired blindly over the top, mowing a few down as more came.

Abandoning her spot, she lept to the window and jumped into the next closest building, rolling off the floor in front of the sill just as it collapsed. This house had been shot up worse than the last one had, and was probably as close to collapse as they come. Stepping cautiously but quickly, she made her way to the other side of the house, where she dropped through an older opening just in time to see an RPG hit the side of the house she had just been in, shaking it horribly enough to threaten collapse and opening what could be a possible future sniping point when she needed to make an exit.

No emotion showed on her face as she went out the nearest window, disappearing into the alleys. The good news is that they'd soon be splitting up, whereby it'd be easier to pick them off in smaller groups rather than having to take the whole place on at once... The bad news was two-fold: first, the ammo recovery, if she even did any at all, would need to wait for later, as she could come back for it anytime; then there was the unshakable feeling of being watched that was stuck to the back of her mind now...

[knightc3]

Priest watch her enter the building and knew it would be very difficult to track her in there from his current position. He scouted around quickly and moved to another position almost a mile away in the dunes to take a better look. As he setup his rifle again and set up in the new position, he thought he something move in the sand a bit further away from the building but. His rifle had been aimed at the thing by chance before he had readjusted it to track the woman again, thinking the movement was probably due to a snake.

He was just in time to watch the RPG hit the second building and opening a sight through the side wall. He had been hearing a lot of firing and explosions. She was by no means in a position to do this covertly he admitted. He frowned as he tracked the rebels chasing the woman. He could see a man with the binoculars mouthing something and the two man team came in view from behind him with another RPG on the shoulders.

They had just as clear a sight of the woman as he did from the angle he guessed. He had to make a decision quickly. The commanders were not supposed to die and so he would make sure she didn't. "I am gonna regret taking this shot...", he said to himself that it was probably bot the best time to reveal his position (or rather existence) to the other players. He calmed his breathing and took the shot, bullet hitting the launcher just as it was going to be fired. He realized that he was probably lucky. The sound of the sniper shot would reach the woman about the same time as the sound of the explosion of the rocket on the man's shoulder taking the three people in the blast. He just might go undetected still.

The spent casing of the bullet popped out and he collected it off the sand. He looked back at the woman to see how she was doing with the others following her.

[The Mammoth]

As he moved forward, the sound of a gunshot echoed out, barely audible over the ignition of an RPG. Meridius stopped moving, knowing the sound of a sniper rifle from anywhere. He pinpointed the direction and instantly radioed in to Delta.

"Delta, where the hell is the sniper?" Meridius said as quietly as possible.

"I can't tell from the satellite, you're on your own..." Delta responded.

Meridius ended communication and slowly turned in the sand, facing the sound of the shot, seeing if he could see anything. He reached into his pockets and pulled out binoculars, seeing if he could see anything, but to no avail. The sniper was good, he moved quickly, and masked his shot with the RPG. A lesser soldier wouldn't have heard it. Meridius knew that he couldn't spend time hunting for the sniper. He had to move slowly and make sure he wasn't shot at. He slowly turned back around and crawled into the reaches of the city. Within seconds, his camo adapted to the stone and he rose to his feet, leaning against the wall as a few soldiers walked right by him in pursuit of the woman...

[Da Pwny]

Ducking down instantly at the sound of the explosion, Noria heard the shot from amidst the blast echo. Now she knew there was at least one more party involved. Things were getting hairy, and fast. It was time to find a quiet spot to sit tight until these boys did as well. They were desert raiders; although technically terrorists, they were acting merely on the fly, attacking sporadically just to cause mayhem and murder, although this time they had picked the wrong caravan...

Some of the buildings further in were less run-down, so she placed her bets on there. Using the walls for cover, she made her way past active patrols and other annoyances, nearly giving herself away a few times. And she moved swiftly, wasting no time lingering in open spaces now that she was sure she was being watched. On top of the fifty or so men bearing down upon her, one unknown sniper, and god only knew what else, it was midday, and not the time to be running around in this kind of heat, no matter who you were. It was killer... and so was the deep rumbling coming from the north.

Hearing- and feeling- the sudden sandstorm before seeing it, Noria didn't need to; this was a shamal, the kind of Middle-Eastern sandstorm that could tear the paint from a car. And even though it was a long ways away, the building was already shaking slightly from it, and the wind was picking up. Noria had to find a safe place for the time being; figures she got an assignment that would turn out to be a three to five day waiting game. And from the sounds coming nearby, her pursuers weren't going to risk looking for her now either, which was a definite indicator that the storm was a big one...

*hehe ^-^*

[knightc3]

If there was one disadvantage of being thrown into unfamiliar territory without proper preparations was to get some half-assed arrangements done for mother nature. He heard the wind pick up before he saw the cloud in the distance, "d**n...", he murmured to himself. His mind did quick calculations and he guessed he had a couple of minutes before it would be too fast to move out in the open.

He was literally on loose sands and would be covered by a dozen feet of sand if he didn't find something that could stop the dunes moving in on him. He was looking at such a structure, but it was also towards the area he had shot at. He made a quick decision and collected his gear in about 10 seconds and was on the run towards an abandoned shack close to the higher structures where the assault would be going on. All he could do at this time was that no one was looking in his direction of they would know his location. But he highly doubted his luck was that good.

Then the time after the storm would be very crucial.

[The Mammoth]

Meridius was camouflaged against the wall of the building as the storm started rolling in and he was instantly glad that he made it from the sand before it came. But a sudden thought shot into his head as a few more soldiers ran right by him in the shadows of the alley, he could spot the sniper now, and get an idea of what to look out for if he or she showed up again. There was no doubt that he couldn't fire on the sniper without giving away position, which was something he didn't want to do, so he watched. Finally, there he was, moving quickly along the dunes of sand toward a shack on the opposite side of the town. Meridius looked around and found no signs of the fact that this was the site he was looking for, the coast had some distance yet, and from the looks of things the next town toward the coast was the target. He took a mental picture of the sniper and then continued inward in the crumbling town. He knew that he had to find a place to lay low while the storm blew through or he would be in some major pain, so he slowly moved along the wall and into one of the more stable buildings. Upon being inside, the roof of the concrete structure partially blown open, Meridius quickly ran to a dark section of floor in the shadows and laid down, his camo adjusting to the new area. He laid there motionless watching the two entrances to the place. If any were to find him here, they'd be dead. He pulled his pistol and laid completely still. This was where he would stay until the storm rolled through.

So there he laid, not moving a muscle, prepared to wait at that spot for days if need be, just like he was trained for....