Wasteland Rules: Kill or Be Killed (The World After Book 1) (21 page)

  A round skimmed his ear and one struck him in the
arm, but Derek’s aim was good. His rounds struck a flash bang grenade causing
it to go off. The explosion knocked the bounty hunter down and startled the
others. Continuing this tactic, Derek fired at the grenades on the waist of the
man now in the center. This time two grenades went off from the spray of
bullets. A flash bang went off knocking him down as well and a tear gas grenade
detonated releasing its potent fumes.

  The two still standing released their rifles and
fumbled for their gas masks. Derek rushed the man on the left, using the now
empty AK as a club. The bounty hunter saw him coming and lowered his head
catching the blow on his helmet. He dropped the gas mask and grabbed for his
rifle. Derek dropped the AK and grabbed for it at the same time. They struggled
for control of the weapon. Derek kneed the man in the groin, but it had no
effect. The riot gear was designed to defend against attacks just like that.

  The room was starting to fill with tear gas,
making it difficult to see. But in the mirror he caught a glimpse of one of the
other men coming at him from behind. It was the first one knocked down by the
grenade. He had recovered from the blast, but he didn’t trust enough in the
body armor to shoot at them for fear of wounding his kinsman. So he was rushing
at Derek with some sort of blade.

  Derek tried to turn the man he was struggling with
towards the new attacker, but wasn’t quick enough. He felt a knife blade plunge
into his side. He ignored the burning pain and continued to turn the man he was
fighting. Derek guided the rifle barrel towards the knife man’s face and
squeezed his man’s hand causing the assault rifle to fire. At point blank range
the riot helmet couldn’t stop all the rounds and the second man went down in
spray of blood as his head blew apart.

  The bounty hunter and Derek continued to struggle
for the gun. Neither could gain the upper hand, but Derek felt his strength
slipping as he continued to bleed from the multiple wounds. He could see the
man smile a gap toothed smile as he realized Derek was weakening. It was time
for a new strategy. Ripping the knife stuck in his side out, Derek let go of
the rifle. Suddenly without any resistance the man stumbled back for a second.
Seizing the opening, Derek lunged forward and shoved the knife into the slight
gap between the helmet and the body armor. The bounty hunter gurgled and
clutched at the knife stuck in his neck before sagging to the ground.

  Derek wearily turned around to see what the two
remaining armored gunmen were doing. The second man he had knocked down by
shooting the grenades was still on the floor. He was choking on the tear gas
and crawling for the door. Unfortunately the fourth man had gotten his mask on
and was raising his rifle to fire at a now uncovered Derek. He watched in slow
motion as the man raised the rifle. He watched helplessly as the man’s finger
tightened on the trigger and a triumphant smile lit up his face. Derek’s vision
narrowed to the end of the rifle barrel. There was nothing he could do to
prevent being gunned down.

    Then the man’s head exploded out the side and
the world snapped back to real speed. As his vision expanded to cover the
entire room, he could see Rora standing a few feet from the body. She had the
pretty blouse she had bought covering her mouth and nose and the smoking pistol
in her hand. He had been wrong, that blouse had served a purpose. He slumped to
the ground, blood pouring from his wounds and soaking his clothes. Before he
passed out he heard another gunshot, likely Rora killing the disabled bounty
hunter.

June 14, 2029

Craighead County Prison

  She pondered the ease with which she had
essentially executed both of the bounty hunters. A week ago that would have
been unthinkable, but the new world she had been thrust into demanded it. Rule
#1 was kill or be killed, so she had killed. Derek had seemed a monster to her
when the first met, but now he was her mentor for lack of a better word. Seeing
him lying on the ground bleeding was upsetting, but not paralyzing like it
would have been a week ago.

  Rushing over to him, she stemmed the flow of blood
with the impractical blouse she had Derek buy for her only two days ago. It
wasn’t going to be enough, there were too many wounds and he was bleeding too
heavily. She searched through the gear and found a trauma kit. She wondered
where he had found that in the wasteland. The guy was a complete pack rat, but
she had to admit Rule #9 did come in handy. They had used all sorts of things
she had thought worthless.

  First she checked and then bandaged the bullet
wounds, pouring sulfa powder into the wounds themselves. It looked like all
three had gone through and hadn’t hit anything vital. Then Rora sewed up the
knife wound in his side and bandaged that and the few cuts he had from the
knife fight. She gave him a shot of antibiotics and poured some water down his
throat. When he still didn’t move, she tried slapping him and splashing water on
him with no success. She decided to give him a few minutes to recover and
started searching the bodies of the armored gunmen. Rule #9. They probably
didn’t have a lot of time, but maybe Derek would wake up on his own shortly.

  One of the men was roughly her size so she
stripped him of his body armor and slipped it on herself. It smelled a little,
but she probably didn’t smell too great either. Being safe was more important
than looking good. Ooh, that was good. Maybe she could convince Derek to add
that to the rules. She also took one of the rifles for herself. Looking at it
she identified it as an M-16A4, standard weapon of the U.S. military and police
forces from before the Collapse. She wasn’t sure how she knew that, she just
did.

  Gathering all of their extra clips, she shoved
them into their packs. She also grabbed two of the gas masks and their
unexploded grenades. Those would surely come in handy. By the time she had
collected everything useful at least fifteen minutes had passed and Derek still
hadn’t come around. Rora checked his pulse and it was steady and his breathing
was good, so he was ok. He just wasn’t waking up. She couldn’t carry the gear
by herself and he was too heavy to drag so she needed him awake. She had no
idea how many more bounty hunters there were, if any. Hopefully they had killed
them all, but they needed to get out of the prison ASAP. Whoever had hired
these goons would show up eventually.

  Searching the packs and trauma kit for another
option, Rora came across a needle labeled adrenaline in the trauma kit. Bingo.
That ought to get him up and running. Straddling Derek she plunged the needle
into his chest and pushed the plunger. The adrenaline jolted his system and he
came awake almost instantly, knocking her aside as he suddenly sat upright. She
squealed as he dumped her on her ass.

  “Aaaaaah! What just happened?” Derek asked before
looking at his chest. “Did you just stick me with adrenaline?”

  “I had to wake you up. You didn’t wake up after I
bandaged you and we need to go.”

  “Right. Who knows how many more of them could be
on their way here or if they called the cyborg to let him know they had us.”

  Derek started to get up before he noticed she was
wearing body armor and had an M-16 slung over her shoulder. He paused and
cocked his head examining her. Then he noticed he was expertly bandaged and his
knife wound sewn up. He checked her work and locked eyes with her.

  “This is expert work, I’ve seen field medics do
worse. Where did you learn to do field medicine?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I saw my dad do it?” She
suggested.

  “Your dad was a science doctor not a medical
doctor. This is something a trauma surgeon or combat doctor would do. There is
no way you would have seen that before, much less practiced.” He pressed.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Can we get going? I
don’t want to be here any longer.”

  “What’s with the armor and rifle?” Derek asked as
he climbed to his feet.

  “I got them off them.” She said pointing to the
corpses. “I also collected their ammo and grenades. Rules #18 and #9.”

  “How long have I been out?” Derek joked. “Where’s
the girl I rescued a week ago?”

  Rora laughed. “I guess she is growing up.”

  “She sure is.” Derek said with pride in his voice.

  Rora blushed slightly and turned so he wouldn’t
see her reaction. She needn’t have bothered because he was too busy collapsing
on a table. Still weak from the blood loss Derek looked like he needed help
even walking. She rushed over to help him stay on his feet. At first he seemed
like he would reject her help, but then he put an arm across her shoulders for
support. Together they gathered the packs and gear and slowly made their way
out of the prison. She thought she heard a pop as they exited but there was no
sign of other members of the redneck clan outside.

 They exited into a small parking lot in front of
the prison and inside the main gates. Two small guard towers bracketed the gate
and there were two more at the corners of the property connected by chain link
fences topped with razor wire. One of the towers had holes in the bulletproof
glass and blood on the glass facing the yard. It was odd that the bounty
hunters hadn’t cleaned that up. The gates were chained shut with large
padlocks. The parking lot held the hillbilly armored vehicles but there was
still no sign of anyone still chasing them.

  The bounty hunter’s vehicles were parked
haphazardly in front of the main building entrance. The car’s hood was up and
it was obvious someone had been working on repairing it. Rora considered the
options and decided against the pickup with the machine gun. It was too
threatening and Derek wasn’t in any shape to man it anyway. The SUV with the
dog cage smelled horrendous and the car didn’t run, so she helped Derek to the
SUV with the plow on the front and eased him inside.

  She stowed all the gear in the back with their
extra weapons. Then she got into the driver’s seat. Derek was slumped over,
almost passed out. The exertion of walking to the vehicle was almost too much
for him. Fortunately the rednecks had left the keys in the ignition. Who was
going to steal it parked inside the prison yard? The engine purred to life and
she backed up the SUV and spun it around. Flooring the gas she rammed the SUV
through the gates and out into freedom. She felt exhilarated as they blasted
through the gates.

  “Hey Derek, I’ve got a rule to add.” Rora said
excitedly.

  But there was no response. Derek had succumbed to
exhaustion and was fast asleep. She sighed and buckled his seat belt across
him. He never moved. Not knowing where to go, she pulled his phone out and
looked for the GPS directions to Jacksonville. The phone was locked but she
remembered his password from watching him move his finger on the screen. The
route took them south and then east, so she started following the route. The
phone was very cool, she would have to examine it further once they got
somewhere safe. It seemed like it might do more than just make calls and give
directions.

June 14, 2029

Outside Craighead County Prison

    He had followed the hillbilly clan as they raced
off across the wasteland, staying at a discreet distance. Sometimes just
following the dust clouds created by their vehicles. They were too busy hunting
their prey to notice Mark following them. Even when they suddenly stopped to
inexplicably kill some dogs, they never noticed the small bike screech to a
halt behind them and topple over as he sought cover. When they took the dogs he
assumed they used them for meat. Disgusting, but you did what you had to do to
survive in the wastes.

  He then followed them to the Express Station where
he listened in with the laser mike as they met with the owner. It turned out he
was a cousin of theirs and was more than willing to help for a small cut of the
bounties. Mark was actually impressed as they laid out the plan. Fairly clever
for a bunch of inbreds.

  They would leave a man on the roof to scout for
the bounties and kill them if he had a shot, otherwise he would hide. If he
failed to kill them the station owner, Otis, would suggest they leave the
county via an abandoned railroad crossing. Where of course, most of the bounty
hunters would be waiting in ambush. The rest would be hiding nearby to cut off
any escape. The route to the railroad crossing was long and winding so Otis
would be able to alert them via CB that the Major and the girl were on the way
and still give them time to set up the ambush. Meanwhile they would fan out and
keep searching just in case.

  Mark decided to follow the main group of bounty
hunters since there were few places to hide near the Express Station and he
wasn’t convinced Storm was going there. They should have passed him and the
girl along the way there and they hadn’t. It was likely he had gone a different
direction, but the bounty hunters would eventually find out where and Mark
wanted to be there when that happened.

  So he had followed them for about an hour as they
drove around the area looking for their quarry. Eventually they stopped at an
abandoned strip mall and took a break. They actually broke out bottles of
moonshine and started drinking. A couple even had sex in the back of one of the
SUVs while the others watched. They were carrying on when they received a
frantic call from the station owner, Otis.

  He informed the hillbillies that Storm had killed
the man on the roof and beat him up. He told them that the Major had stolen a
truck and was probably on his way to the ambush site right now. Mark was
impressed; the Major was living up to his billing. He had somehow evaded the
bounty hunters and Mark even though they must have driven right by him and the
girl. Then Storm had sniped the sniper and procured transportation.
Unfortunately he was currently heading into a trap.

  The rednecks had scrambled into their vehicles and
set off to put their plan into motion. He followed them to the railroad
crossing and watched them set up their ambush. Storm and the girl had arrived
not too long after the ambush was set. They almost fell for it, but skidded to
a halt just outside of town. Mark didn’t know what had alerted Storm to the
ambush but was again impressed. This was how the man had stayed alive for so
long in the extremely dangerous world of special operators.

  Mark had watched from a knoll nearby as the bounty
hunters had chased after the rusty pickup Storm and the girl were in once they
knew their ambush was blown. The short rolling battle had been entertaining to
watch. Storm’s use of the gas cans had been particularly exciting. But the
numerical and vehicular superiority of the hunters had been too much and they
had managed to crash the pickup using barbed wire and then capture Storm and
the girl. The angry hillbillies and kicked the Major unconscious and must have
done some damage.

  He had followed them to their base of operations,
the former county prison facility. Once inside they had locked the gates and
dragged the girl and an unconscious Storm inside. He took a position five
hundred yards away in a small stand of scrub pine and eyed the prison. It had
two high chain link fences topped with razor wire that surrounded the facility.
Guard towers were located at the corners and at the gate, but they only had one
guard in them. One man had been stationed with a hunting rifle at one of the
entrance towers. He had been instructed to watch for their employer and make
sure Storm and the girl didn’t take a vehicle on the off, off chance they
escaped.

  Mark considered his options. With Storm
incapacitated and the device presumably in the hands of the bounty hunters, the
mission had taken a detour. The Humek would arrive in the not too distant
future to retrieve the device. So he could either enter the facility and
retrieve the device himself, or he could wait for the Humek to arrive and then
take it from his dead body. That option appealed to him because it meant he
could exact some revenge while also completing his mission. Both options
disappointed him because it meant he wouldn’t get to match skills with the
Major.

  As he surveyed the facility to determine his entry
and exit point Mark heard a disturbance from inside the building. The sounds
were indistinct but they sounded like screaming and gunfire. At one point he
thought he heard a chainsaw. What the hell was going on in there? There was
brief silence and then a sharp explosion near the front of the building. There
was more gunfire, a few explosions, gunfire, and then silence. He decided to
wait and see what was happening before he entered the facility.

  Then about thirty minutes later the front door was
flung open and Storm and the girl came out. He was badly wounded and she was
almost carrying him, his arm across her shoulders. As the door opened Mark saw
the sniper in the tower raise his weapon to fire. He realized he couldn’t let
them die and risk having the device fall into the Collective’s hands. Who knew
what tech that cyborg had available. The Collective had wiped out entire
brigades of U.S.T.G. troops with only a small cadre of drones and that was
eight years ago. Who knew what they had developed since then.

  He sighted the XRG and fired one shot at the
sniper. The tungsten round flew straight and silent ripping through the
bulletproof glass of the tower. It traveled through the sniper spraying blood
throughout the small space and then exited through the glass on the other side.
The only signs of its passing a small popping noise as it broke the glass and
the bloody holes in the tower. The girl and Storm didn’t even seem to notice.

  He watched her place the Major in the SUV with the
ram and get in the driver’s side. The Major almost immediately slumped over and
as they burst through the gates, Mark could see that he was white as a sheet
and passed out completely. The Major was missing his jacket and shirt and
looked to have at least three major wounds. He was probably out of commission
for days if not longer. All Mark had to do was follow them to their next
location and take the device. The girl would be only a minor obstacle for him.
He swung onto the motorcycle and headed out after them.