The Lost Riders

Tritsteel

Kalise para todos!
Original poster
LURKER MEMBER
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per day
  2. One post per day
  3. 1-3 posts per week
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Adept
  3. Advanced
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Primarily Prefer Male
  2. Primarily Prefer Female
  3. No Preferences
Genres
Modern, Action, Adventure, Fantasy. SCI-FI
Paris... What a city. A place for love, good food, beautiful women... And Dragons. For some reason those creepy bastards found France, and Europe in general, of their liking. It must be the weather, said Aaron all the times the question popped out. Aaron Riley Sanderson, Captain of the Lost Riders. Or as people knew them, those crazy bastards who hunt down evil stuff. Yeah, that may be a pretty vague description, but as soon as something bigger than an plane appeared, you wanted them for the job.

"Right right! No! Left, leeeeft!!" Yelled Aaron as the armored humvee he drove opened his way through the narrow streets of Paris. "Where the hell is that thing!? I can't see it!" Replied the co pilot trying to locate the blood dragon who was causing panic over the city. "Behind Us! Get in!" Said the gunner who quickly got into the car before the dragon puked fire over them. "I just painted it you asshole!!" Yelled the gunner as he got on his position again and fired upon the dragon again.

"Keep it steady damn it!" Demanded the gunner. "Stop playing with him and take it down already!" Ordered Aaron. The chase took them to the Eiffel tower, and without any real care, Aaron drove the humvee straight into the park in front of the tower. "That thing is coming for us!" Said the co pilot. The crimson dragon flew around the tower, visually injured, and then proceed to charge against the team. Aaron pushed the throttle and raced his way against the dragon as the gunner kept firing against it. "Come on!!"

The mythical creature flew real close to them and then, a few meters away, it crash landed, creating a cloud of dust and debris. Aaron braked and turned around, stopping at a safe distance. "Ozone! You stay here! Provide covering fire!" Ordered Aaron. The man on the gunner seat nodded and after reloading the mounted gun, he kept a close look at the cloud as the other two advanced forward.

"I can't see a thing..." Muttered the other man. The breathing of the dragon could be heard close, but into the cloud of dust there wasn't any visibility yet. For their surprise, the dragon shook its wings once, not enough to make it fly, but enough to dissipate the cloud and take the two men by surprise. "Watch out!" Said Aaron as the dragon refused to give up and breathed fire against them. "Distract him!" Ordered Aaron to the other man, who began to open fire at him with tracer bullets. Fun fact: Monsters got really pissed off when exposed to the intense light of bright burning chemicals.

With the huge creature distracted, but not for much more, Aaron ran towards it and climbed on top of it, trying to keep the balance as he got as close to its neck as he could. Climbing those things was easy enough, its big scales made the job pretty simple. Walking over it? Totally different. But with enough skill and as muck of luck, he got to put a charge of Thermite explosive between its scales at the height of its neck before the dragon shook him off. "Fire in the hole!" Yelled Aaron covering himself as he pushed the detonator.

More than a explosion, the Thermite caused a quick and bright fire-burst which burned the creature's neck, and with a loud pain scream, the dragon finally died. Rest in peace, infernal creature. Thought Aaron as he got up. The dead corpse of the huge creature lay over the grass as the other men got close to Aaron. "Well... That wasn't all that hard..." Said him. Ozone slowly drove the Humvee next to the two men, honking with a funny rhythm as he got close to them. "So... Captain, when will we get more reinforcements? Or spare parts. Sasha really needs a new transmission." Said Ozone patting the humvee. Aaron took a look at the dead dragon and sighed. "Let's just get back to base. I heard there were some new recruits coming in this week." Replied Aaron.
 
At the headquarters


The recruits are scattered all over the room talking to each other , laughing and smiling , joking and whispering . It was clear they were all excited to be here each for his own reasons . The place was buzzing like a bar on a Friday evening . Eric is hanging out with 3 other recruits in a corner.
" All i really want is just a chance to pilot the new attack chopper. After that i don't care if i die "
" Knowing you Mark , you probably would crash the helicopter . "
" I don't know about you guys but i'd rather not die at all ! "
" Same here man ! You know , as a little kid , the lost riders were like ... superheroes. I'm just happy i get a chance to be like them "
" We all are Eric ! "

Soon a soldier rushes in yelling :
" Alright now maggots . Captain Aaron is arriving in a few minutes and he probably doesn't wanna see a room full of unorganized children . So line up ! Tallest to shortest ,you know the drill !"
They all align quickly . Eric ends up being the second tallest one in the group.
" Straighten up ! And when the captain gets here I want you to give him a big salute , like he saved your family , because he probably did ! "
Eric stares at the soldier. He could feel the adrenaline slowly building up inside him. Aaron was getting there in a few minutes and he would finally have the chance to meet him in person.
 
The trip back to base in one of those huge, rattling and huge planes was never a comfortable thing to do. It sure was better than being inside some mythical creature's stomach, but was still far from all those fancy planes some of the bigger armies had. But something was better than anything, and having the paycheck the Lost Riders had... Well, the fact the plane was flying was already asking too much. “Valve spring, alternator, calipers... The transmission is shredded... Sometimes I actually thing there is some kind of God keeping this thing together...” Grumbled Oxyde with half body under the hood of Sasha as the vehicle was unloaded. “14 hours and this beauty should be as good as new!” Exclaimed Oxyde as the Humvee was taken into a hangar with him still under the hood.

“Captain, don't forget to go talk with administration. Our guns aren't feed with good intentions, they are feed with bullets. And we are running out of those last ones.” Said Royce as he followed Aaron. “I don't like those guys. They think this whole thing is some kind of... Business.” Replied Aaron. Royce shrugged. “Well, at least the receptionist is pretty cute.” There was a short chuckle and a pat in the back before Royce turned a corner and walked into a different hallway. Probably heading off to check on those 50. cal 'good intentions'.

Aaron shook off some of the dust and dirt he still had on him and walked into the room where all the new recruits where to be meet and introduced. A task Aaron was always eager to take part in. “So, what do we have in here today...” Said Aaron as he took a seat on the table and took a brief look at some of the files of the new recruits. “We have a couple of ex-marines, a few law-enforcement ex-workers... Well, this is new! We have a fireman too!” Exclaimed Aaron in surprise. “Lots of 'ex' in here, that's for sure.” Then he left the files over the table again and got on his feet again.

“I'm going to be honest with you; this is no private army. Here we don't pay a 100k a year. Here you don't get a comfortable job, some mild action a couple of times a month and a warm bed at the end of the shift. In fact, there is no 'shift' in here. We work all day and we are very lucky if we got 5 or 6 hours of rest every two days.” Explained Aaron as he quietly walked from side to side of the room. “Now, I know that wasn't what any of us would like in a job... But let's be honest; you aren't here because you want a regular job. You got plenty of those in the newspapers.” Said him with a brief smirk. “You are here because you want to kill stuff the size of a truck.”

There were some chuckles and a couple of 'marine-brand' hooray before Aaron could continue his brief speech. “But the thing is, this is no game, and most of you just aren't good enough or have the guts to be in a situation like that, and the last thing we need while facing a beast with a claws the size of your head is someone who simply is not made to be in here.” Explained him. “Once said that, you'll understand why I don't really care where do you come from or what kind of tests you've gone through. All and every one of you will will have to go through our tests. And you will pass them with flying colors and breaking some records or otherwise you are out.”

Then Aaron took another good look at everyone before speaking again. “Any questions?”
 
Nobody responded so Aaron gave some instructions to a soldier and then left to do his own thing . The recruits had to wait a few minutes while the test room was being prepared. They weren't told anything about a test before. And now all they knew was that this test would define their careers . Most of them were a bit scared of the test, even Eric. Soon the first recruit was called into the test room. Eric could hear gunshots from the room which made him feel a bit calmer. After all he was a marksman . The recruit never did return to the room , probably because they wouldn't want him to spoil the test . Soon the door to the test room was slammed open and a soldier yelled :
" Next ! "
Eric slowly walked his way trough the door.
"It's my time to shine now !" he mumbled to himself , waiting for the soldier to explain what he needs to do .
 
The soldier took Eric trough a couple of hallways and out of the building. The base was set in an abandoned airfield, so the place was quite huge and spacious. There where some trucks going around, minding their own business, also some helicopters flying around in what it seemed like some kind of training and the firing range felt quite lively bearing in mind the lack of resources the Lost Riders had.

But the most notable thing was the sky. It had a red glow in it, reflecting that hell-ish light on the clouds and making a pretty doom's day like picture. “Since the resonance events occurred and all those stupid creatures appeared weather has gone crazy.” Said the soldier looking at the sky. It wasn't uncommon to have this peculiar weather more often than not, but it still felt quite scary. “It feels like everything is going to hell and we can't do anything about it.” Mumbled the soldier as he took Eric to the firing ranges.

In one of the both there were a couple of high rank-looking soldiers waiting for Eric. “Looks like you got visit, recruit.” Said one of the soldiers briefly nodding behind Eric. It seemed like Aaron and another couple of soldiers were passing through and decided to stay and have a look. “Soldier; assemble a gun and fire at the targets.” Said the soldier pointing at the table of the both. It may have sounded like an easy task if it weren't because there were several dozen parts and pieces of different guns on the table, some of them even looked broken. “Go.” Ordered the soldier.
 
" I'm a soldier not a scavenger " Eric thought to himself before starting to look trough the pieces.They were pretty random , some came from machine guns , other from snipers,and even from shotguns. After separating the pieces , Eric started counting them , then creating the weapon from the group with the most parts . It was some kind of an assault rifle. Eric aimed at the target and fired, but the bullets almost missed the target , hitting the lower left area of it .
" Smart ! " Eric mumbled. The gun was modified so that the bullets would drop faster and tend to go left , a really great way of making the one who fires it think he's just not good . Eric aimed to the upper right part of the target and fired . The bullets ended up either in the bullseye or around it . After that Eric put the gun down and awaited further instructions .
 
The soldier holding the timer nodded. “Not bad.” Said him. The soldier may have not voiced it, but you could see he was quite impressed by the results. “Then one of the soldiers approached Eric and began to talk with him, asking him why did he chose those parts, why did he missed the first shot and other questions regarding his skills with the internal mechanics of various small arms. Overall, a pretty boring test, but an effective way to set apart those who actually knew from those who where here just for the thrill of it.

The soldier kept talking. “Al right... Well, in the next test...” But then Aaron interrupted him. “There's not going to be next test.” Said him looking at the red skies. Then Aaron took out his side arm, looked at Eric and gave it to him. “Let's hope you weren't the fireman.” Said Aaron before ordering him and the other soldiers to follow him. “What... What is going on in here?” Wondered one of the soldiers.

But he answer didn't took to long to come... Or rather sound. A pretty loud and rock-wounding scream, as deep as the most profound of the caves. “New one, you are coming with me, the rest of you, go make sure the triple-A arrays are working fine and are manned properly.” Ordered Aaron as he kept walking at fast pace. “That is what's happening.”

A colossal figure began to be visible at the distance, approaching towards the base at a slow pace but with determination. It was a huge colossus made of stone, with dirt falling from its knees and long roots growing from its shoulders. “If you want to know, next test was the physical one.” Said Aaron. “I guess taking down that thing will have to do the job.” Added him in a humorous note.

Their fast walk took them to a nearby hangar packed with all the vehicles, or better said; junk that was considered a vehicle. “Glad to see you around, cap!” Exclaimed Ozone from a top of the hull of a light-armored tank. Then the alarm of the base went off. “You know what? Forget about the glad thing.” Said ozone as he hurriedly got off the ruble. “What now?” Asked Ozone. “Another colossus.” Was the brief reply of the captain.

Which didn't alarmed Ozone a bit. The man simply nodded and scratched his chin. “Well, last time, if I'm not mistaken, he took down one of those by crashing a plane full of plastic explosive into its face...” Explained Ozone. “But I would rather not trash our only C-130 left, Captain.” Said Ozone. “Yeah, neither do I. So, any brilliant idea before we go fetch our climbing equipment?” Asked Aaron.
 
" What if we fire a few rockets to it's legs and take them out. He won't be able to move . And then we can send a ground team to climb on it and plant explosives all over him !" Eric said out loud . He didn't expect the captain to actually listen to his idea. After all he was still a recruit and nothing more .The room was silent for a few seconds.
" If we're going to do something we have to do it now ! That colossus is getting closer by the second . If he gets too close this whole idea won't work anymore .He'd fall on the base and destroy everything ! Eric said almost yelling
 
Aaron and Ozone looked at Eric, slightly surprised by the hurried tone of the recruit. "Well, you sure look full of energy." Said Aaron. "And let me guess, we are that ground team, right?" Wondered Oxyde, briefly looking at Eric before looking at Aaron. "The SSM batteries will have to do the work. Let's grab some climbing equipment and some explosives and hope whoever is manning the SSM batteries is skilled enough to make that shot." Said Aaron. "Oh, and is Sasha ready?" Asked him. "I just started working with Sasha. Her guts are all over the garage." Replied Oxyde as they all began to walk towards the armory. "Well, then we will have to use your car." Said Aaron. "Mine!? Why my car?" Replied Oxyde. "Because is the only one working properly." Replied Aaron.

But to say working properly was a giving it too much credit. That Ford Crown had rust under the doors, on the radiator support, on the hinges... Well, pretty much all the chassis had rust. The paint was scratched, the insides were dusty and even had some spots of mold. The dashboard had no speed meter, the rear view mirror was hanging from a piece of wire... Seeing that car it was hard to imagine its engine even turning on. "So, we hunting ourselves a mountain today?" Wondered Royce, who just appeared as the others got into the car. "Oh, and with a new recruit none the less! This is going to be exciting." Said Royce as he took a seat in the car and began to put on the climbing gear.

For unbelievable as it may sound, the car actually worked, and although it shivered as if a wheel was about to come off, Oxyde had no issues driving it into the road and not too long after into the fields and straight towards the stone colossus. If it looked big before, now it looked magnanimous, and the closer you got, the bigger and bigger he looked. "Alright; Base? Could we get some missiles fired down range?" Asked Aaron. Soon enough, missiles came flying from base, but hit nothing. "Well, that wasn't helpful at all. Now, Base? Could we get someone else to fire the next volley of rockets? Thanks!" This time it took a little bit more, but a few more missiles where fired, and this ones actually hit the colossus.

But it didn't seemed to do much harm. "Try to go around him. And don't get too close. Let's see if we can get some more fireworks." Said Aaron. And they did got some more fireworks, some of them even hit its knees and legs. But besides slowing him down briefly, missiles didn't seemed to do that much damage. "Hmmm... Royce, remember how much explosives where in the plane we used to take down the other colossus?" Wondered Aaron. "Hmmm... I don't know... Two tons? Maybe three?" Replied Royce. Aaron Scratched his forehead. "Yeah, that explains quite a lot." Muttered him.

"Alright, base. Stop wasting missiles. Get some JDAM in the air and let me know when they are green. And do not fire at the colossus unless I give the order! We are going to climb him and see if we can at least make him stop walking." Said Aaron. "We are?" Asked Oxyde. "What? You can't find where to park your car?" Replied Royce.