Wasteland Rules: Kill or Be Killed (The World After Book 1) (4 page)

  June 9, 2029

  Near Colorado-Kansas Border

  The girl just stared at Derek. Finally he sighed
and approached her. She shrank back a little as he got closer. He put his hands
up in front of him to show he wasn’t armed, “I’m not going to hurt you. I made
a deal with your father. You give me the device and I will take you to NASA.”

  He felt a little guilty about lying, but he needed
that device ASAP, and a long trip to NASA first would be way too long to get
it. Plus he wasn’t convinced she really knew where it was. There was also the
possibility that NASA didn’t exist anymore. He had heard there were people
holed up there, but that was years ago. Anything could have happened. They
could get the device, collect payment, and he could drop her at NASA or
somewhere safe. Then he could go enjoy his retirement.

  She glared at him. Obviously trying to figure out
what her next move was. Finally she responded, “I don’t have the device. My
father hid it.”

  “I know, he told me you had the numbers that would
lead to the device. You give them to me, I confirm it’s there, and then I take
you to safety at NASA. That’s the deal.”

  “You let him die, why didn’t you save him?” She
demanded in an accusing tone.

  “He sacrificed himself for you. We would never
have gotten away otherwise. Where is the device, we don’t have much time.”

  “What is to stop you from killing me once you have
the numbers?”

  “I didn’t come all this way and rescue you from
slavers just to kill you once I know where it is. Plus you could lie to me. I’m
keeping you with me until I have it and then I can take you to NASA or you can
go wherever you want.”

  “Take me to NASA first.”

  She literally stamped her foot as she said it. She
had a pout on her face and looked like a petulant child. Derek groaned
inwardly, this was proving challenging. She had been isolated for years
probably, and was also probably spoiled. Not having real world experience would
make her very difficult to deal with.

  “Look, NASA is very far away and will take us at
least a week to get there. I need the device today. I am on a deadline. If the
deadline passes and I don’t have the device, you are of no use to me anymore
and there is no deal. Besides if I was a bad person I would be torturing you
for the numbers not negotiating with you.”

  She thought about it for a while and looked Derek
up and down. “What do you want the device for?”

  “What?” Derek was a little caught off guard by the
question.

  “What do you want to use the device for?”

  “I don’t even know what it does. Someone hired me
to retrieve it and that’s what I’m doing.”

  “Who hired you?”

  Derek didn’t really want to explain the
helicopter, the phone drop, and the subsequent conversation. Nor did he want to
share his theories on his employer. Who knew what she thought or had been told
about the U.S.T.G.. So he played dumb, “I don’t know. They are anonymous.”

  “How did they hire you then?”

  Damn, she wasn’t stupid. Actually now that she had
calmed down she seemed rather intelligent.

  “They called me.”

  She laughed, “I’m not stupid, no one has cell
phones anymore and you don’t look like you lived in a town.”

  “They dropped it out of a helicopter.” He held up
the phone to show her.

  She snatched it from his hand. Quick reflexes too.
Derek was faster than almost everyone he ever knew and she was faster. She
turned it over in her hands examining it. She started pushing buttons and
playing with it. Not knowing what that would do, Derek grabbed it back from
her.

  “Cutting edge. Very cool. Do you have an earpiece
for it?” she asked.

  “Yes” he replied simply.

  “Can I see it?”

  “No. Enough with the twenty questions. Where is
the device?”

   “You don’t know what the device does, but you are
just going to hand it over? What if it contains a sample of the crop virus that
decimated the planet?”

  This was getting old. Derek had had enough of her
questions. “Tell me where it is or I will leave you here.”

  “But then you don’t get paid.”

  “I’m not getting paid enough to deal with you. You
are a spoiled smartass brat who has no clue how the real world works.” He
replied cruelly.

  At that the girl started to cry. Great, now he had
hurt her feelings. Derek sighed internally and attempted to recover the
situation. “I’m sorry I said that. I’ve been living out in the wasteland for
the last couple of years and I don’t have a lot of social interaction. You just
got grabbed by slavers, watched your dad blow himself up, and your home is
destroyed. I know this must be very hard for you. But I did save you and your
father and we made a deal.”

  Derek felt some remorse for twisting the truth,
but he needed that device. He would still take her to safety after he had it and
had gotten paid. She stared at him through red, tear filled eyes.

  “The device is at 36.1, -92.33, -6.21.”

  “GPS coordinates?”

  “I guess…Daddy never told me what the numbers
were, he just made me memorize them.”

  Derek plugged that into the GPS system on the
phone. “Well; if they are GPS coordinates, that’s near Harrison, Arkansas. That
is approximately a three day ride from here. What is the box number?”

  “I’ll tell you that when we get there. Daddy told
me to keep that to myself as a bargaining chip.”

  Derek rolled his eyes. This girl was impossible,
but also smart. “I need to make a call.”

  He walked off a short distance and hit the contact
button for the Voice. The phone rang twice before it picked up.

  “Major Storm, you have the device I presume?”

  “Not exactly, but I know where it is.”

  “What do you mean you don’t have it? The deadline
is in six hours. Will you have it by then?” The Voice sounded frantic.

  “The doctor had been captured by slavers by the
time I got to his location. I searched the location, but the device wasn’t
there. I tracked down the slavers and attempted to rescue him, but he blew
himself up in the escape.”

   “WHAT?”

  “He created a distraction so I could escape with
his daughter. She gave me the coordinates for the location of the device. But
it is approximately a three day ride from here.”

  “Unacceptable. We need the device now. Where is
the location, we will send someone else to get it.”

  “No way. Our deal still stands. I get you the
device and I get a pardon and gold. You just need to extend the deadline.”

  There was long pause as the line went quiet. Derek
assumed the Voice was checking with his superiors.

  “We will pay you two hundred and fifty thousand in
gold plus the pardon for the coordinates.”

  “No deal. I will retrieve the device and you will
pay me full price for it. It’s in a bank vault and the girl still hasn’t told
me which box. You need me.”

  “Very well. You have three days. After that the
device will be worthless.”

  Derek grinned. There was some urgent need for the
device, maybe he could get even more money after he had it.

  “Deal.”

 With that the line went dead.

June 9, 2029

Slaver Camp Near Lamar, CO

    Maximillian stood amongst the wreckage of the
slaver caravan. All of the vehicles in the outer circle were blasted apart and
burning. The bodies of the slavers and their prisoners were scattered about the
site. They lay where they had fallen, the bodies scorched and broken. The only
survivor knelt before him begging and pleading for his life. The leader of the
slavers was a short man. He was heavyset and it was obvious he indulged himself
in whatever pleasures he could find. He was becoming increasingly desperate as Maximillian
stared down at him.

  “Please, don’t kill me. I have a family.”

  Maximillian laughed. “You traffic in human misery;
breaking up families and ruining lives and you think that because YOU have a
family, you deserve mercy.”

  “It wasn’t my fault. Someone intervened and
rescued the girl. The crazy scientist blew himself up.” The slaver leader
whined. Sweat was beginning to run down his face as he became more and more
afraid.

  Maximillian’s face was a stony mask as he talked
to the man. No emotions were visible as he spoke, “You failed to get the device
or keep them for me. That was the arrangement. You assured me it was a simple
task. I need the device. Failure is not an option.”

  “He didn’t have the device and it wasn’t in the
village anywhere. We looked.”

  “Then you should have brought me the scientist and
his daughter.”

  “I’m telling you, this guy came and got her. He
must have been ex-military. He moved like a ghost and shot like a sharpshooter.
He freed the other slaves and gunned down four of my guys plus slit the throat
of another. Blew up a truck too. He moved so fast and was so accurate it was
inhuman.”

  Maximillian smiled at that. It wasn’t a pretty
smile; in fact he knew it made him look predatory. The reconstructive surgery
on his face had left many of the muscles inoperable along with his nerves. So
the smile did not look natural at all. This only made the piece of scum
kneeling in front of him more afraid. The fact that much of the rest of Maximillian
was made of titanium alloy and was therefore inhuman was probably not helping
either. The slaver froze when he realized what he had said. With his enhanced
senses Maximillian could smell the urine as soon as it started trickling down
the man’s leg.

  “One last chance to redeem yourself.” Maximillian
told him, “Where did they go?”

  “It was dark, I have no idea.” The man stammered.

  “Then I have no use for you.” Maximillian informed
him as he drew his pistol.

  The energy blast vaporized the slaver’s head and
his body slumped forward to the ground. Maximillian turned and surveyed the
camp and scanned for any possible clues to the escapees’ route. The cybernetics
in his left eye was able to process the site in several spectrums and with
greater focus than his human right eye. He detected nothing unusual. It had
been too long to see the footprints they had left and there were no emissions
or tire tracks to indicate a vehicle. His drones walked among the ruins
searching bodies and making sure no evidence of their attack remained.

  Maximillian turned his focus inward and accessed
the LINC. The Layered Integrated Neural Connection allowed him direct access to
the entire Collective. The entire Collective was connected to the LINC at all
times. Every drone, humek, and computer system was all linked together. Created
by Father before the Collapse, it allowed them to utilize the processing power
and data of the entire Collective simultaneously. It made them the most
powerful supercomputer ever created. He had heard it compared to a hive mind by
those not a part of it. At first it had been difficult to get used to something
being open in his mind all the time, but after a while he got used to it. Now
it was comforting that he was never alone.

   He accessed the satellite system and viewed the
satellite tasked to the now dead scientist. He ran the footage backwards until
he reached the slaver attack. He zoomed in and watched the slaver attack in
great detail. They had indeed overrun the village and quickly captured the
scientist. Then they had searched the houses and properties. Finding nothing
they had bundled him and his daughter onto the wagon and headed off.

  The satellite followed them as the caravan moved
away and then camped for the night. The footage switched to infrared and he
could no longer follow individuals except the scientist, who appeared as purple
blob instead of green due to the radioactive markers the Collective had placed
in his body. Maximillian could see them set up camp and set up the sentries.
New heat sources indicated campfires and torches lit as they settled in for the
night.

  A figure approached from the outside and obviously
killed one of the sentries. One of the heat sources cooled rapidly and
disappeared right after the approach. That person then approached the slaver
wagon with the scientist and apparently engaged in conversation with him. After
a few minutes, the person released the prisoners in the wagon and firefight
broke out. Maximillian could see the muzzle flashes and the explosions. He
could see the prisoners engaging the slavers with small arms and then the heat
bloom of the scientist blowing himself up. Then the tracers from a heavy
weapon, one of the truck mounted machine guns, firing on the slavers.

   Two people, presumably the hero and the girl,
used the distraction to make a run for it. Upon encountering a small group of
slavers who had circled around, the hero did in fact gun several of them down
while running. Then he blew up a vehicle to cover their escape. Impressive work
for one man. The two of them disappeared into the scrublands outside the camp. Maximillian
zoomed the satellite out and saw the heat from a small vehicle probably a bike
leave from about a mile from the camp site. It headed north to the main road
and then stopped for a little while. Then it headed east.

  Maximillian pondered who this man was. It couldn’t
be a coincidence that someone showed up to rescue them right after capture by
the slavers. Who else knew about the device and was after it? Was it the U.S.T.G.?
But they would have sent more than one man if they knew the value of the
device. Who else could possibly know?

  He knew it was imperative to get the device. Their
entire existence was in jeopardy if it was used for its intended purpose. They
should have retrieved the device sooner and killed the scientist instead of
risking it falling into enemy hands. Instead they had watched him for years and
done nothing. Now the knowledge of the device was out there and others were
trying to get their hands on it. Maximillian could not allow that. Father must
not be threatened in any way.

  As if on cue, he heard Father’s voice in his head,
“First, do you have the device?”

  “No Father, Doctor Carter did not have the device
and the scum I hired to take Doctor Carter to conceal our involvement allowed
him to be killed.”

  “WHAT?” Maximillian could hear the roar in his
head and staggered as it physically hurt him.

  “Someone else is involved. A man intervened and
rescued the daughter. Doctor Carter blew himself up to provide the distraction
for them to escape. Someone else is after the device.”

  “Do you know who?”

  “No Father. The slavers could provide no
description and it was dark so the satellite footage is all infrared. He is
military or ex-military from their accounts and based on the footage.”

  “U.S.T.G. perhaps?”

  “I don’t think so Father. They would have sent
more than one man if they knew the importance of the device. I will track him
down and retrieve the daughter and get the device or its location from her.”

  “It is imperative you succeed. The device could be
the end of us. As my first, you most of all know what we will lose if it is
used.”

  “Yes Father, failure is not an option.”

  “What is your next step?”

  “I have other assets in play; they will find this
man and the daughter for me. Then I will get the device from them and end their
existence.”