Wasteland Rules: Kill or Be Killed (The World After Book 1) (26 page)

  “Welcome back.” Derek joked.

  The man just stared at him defiantly without
speaking. The commandos were known for being tough, but Derek knew they were
just bullies at heart. So he put the barrel of the shotgun on the man’s knee
and held the radio towards him.

  “You are going to call the helicopter in for
extraction or I am going to blow your leg off at the knee.” Derek informed his
prisoner.

  The man laughed. “You wouldn’t do that. I’m an
unarmed prisoner.”

  Derek smiled nastily. “Do you know who I am and
what I’ve done? I don’t give a damn about you. Whatever honor I might have had
I lost in the ten years I’ve spent exiled to the wastes.”

  The man paled but still refused. Fine. It was time
for a demonstration. He cocked the hammer on the shotgun and pulled the
trigger. The blast blew the knee apart and practically severed the man’s leg.
The man screamed in agony and terror. Rora turned away and vomited. Derek
calmly applied a tourniquet to the leg using the man’s belt.

  “I’m going to give you another chance before I
blow the other leg off. You can still survive this if you cooperate. I hear you
can get great bionics from the Collective, you might even walk again…Call the
chopper.” He said as he thrust the radio at the man’s face.

  “OK, OK! I’ll do it.” The commando agreed in a
panic. “What do you want me to tell them?”

  “Tell them you killed the targets and retrieved
the device, but you took heavy casualties. Only you and two others who were
badly wounded survived. Have them land near the burning vehicle. If you try to
warn them I will blow off your other leg and both arms. Got it?”

  “I got it. Push the button.”

 Derek activated the radio and listened carefully
for any sign of treachery as the commando relayed the message. The man
delivered the message exactly as instructed and the chopper pilot acknowledged.
They would arrive in five minutes and Derek would be waiting for them. Dropping
the radio he drew his knife.

  “Wait, I did what you wanted. You said you
wouldn’t kill me.” The man screamed in fear.

  “I never said that.” Derek coldly informed him.

  Behind him Derek could hear Rora’s slightly
slurred voice say, “Rule #3”, as he cut the man’s throat. He threw the man’s
body to the side and grabbed his pistol. Derek stashed all their gear inside
the hangar and took a few minutes to stage the scene. Then he pulled the face
mask up over his face and waited. It wasn’t long before the chopper circled and
then apparently believing the ruse they landed near the still smoking SUV.

  The prop wash spread the smoke out creating a thin
haze. This provided perfect cover for Derek when he rushed the helicopter as
soon as it landed. The chopper was a UH-60 similar to the ones the Outfit used.
A gunner sat behind a mini-gun in the open door but started to get up to help
retrieve the wounded. Derek shot him in the face as he jumped into the chopper.
He rushed into the cockpit and shot the co-pilot in the back of the head and
turned the gun on the pilot before they could react.

  “Turn it off and get out.” Derek ordered the
pilot.

  The man froze in confusion and terror. Derek
pulled down the face mask and repeated the demand. When the man saw Derek’s
face and realized he wasn’t wearing the full uniform his face went completely
white. He quickly scrambled to comply.

  “Please don’t kill me.” He begged. “I’m just a
pilot for these guys. I have nothing to do with their orders.”

  The fact that the man was wearing a tan flight
suit and helmet instead of the black flight suit a Federal Police pilot would
have worn did seem to make that true. The commandos had probably commandeered
the vehicle at Eglin when they realized they had to get ahead of Derek and
Rora. Not that the pilot was innocent. Anyone working for the U.S.T.G. had some
blood on their hands.

  “Out.” Derek ordered coldly.

  He disarmed the pilot and followed him out of the
plane. Derek pushed the pilot over to where Rora was. The man flinched when he
saw the dead commando with his leg blown off and throat slit. He started
shaking when he realized the man was tied up. Derek forced the terrified pilot
to his knees and secured him with the zip ties.

  “You can’t kill me. You need me to fly the
helicopter.” The man whined.

  “I used to be rated on everything that drove or
flew, I might be rusty but I think I can still handle it. So don’t do anything
stupid.” Derek informed him. “Just sit here and be quiet.”

  Turning to Rora. “I’m going to go check out the
airfield and see what happened to the contact. Then we can take a quick flight
to NASA. You just sit here and rest a minute. Ok?”

  She grimaced but nodded in agreement. “OK.”

  With the helicopter secured and all the commandos
dealt with Derek had a little time to go examine the plane and hangar that the
contact had used. The plane was a total wreck. Little remained from the blast
and pieces were scattered all over the tarmac. It didn’t look like there had
been a body inside so he went inside the hangar. There were no lights but the
sun shone through all the bullet holes in the walls causing a surreal effect.

  In the back of the hangar he found the bound body
of the contact. The man appeared to have been tortured before they shot him. He
was dressed in basic wasteland attire, a pair of brown cargo pants tucked into
work boots and a gray parka over a white shirt. There was nothing remarkable
about him and he was of middle age. He carried nothing in his pockets and had
no tags in his clothes. The only belongings he must have had were laid on the
floor next to him. They were the keys to the plane and a phone similar to
Derek’s. The phone had been completely taken apart.

  As he searched the bodies of the dead commandos,
Derek dialed the Voice. The phone popped to life in his ear.

  “Major, I show you are at the drop point. Have you
met the contact?”

  “I met him, but he isn’t going to be bringing you
the device.” Derek informed him.

  “What? Why not? I’m paying you good money and giving
you a pardon…”

  “Because he’s dead and his plane is blown up.”
Derek answered. “And before you blame me, I didn’t do it. There was a squad of
commandos that ambushed me when we got here. They killed your man and tortured
him first.”

  There was a brief pause. “That is unfortunate…but
that would explain why his phone stopped transmitting. I assume you killed the
commandos or we wouldn’t be talking?”

  “You are correct.”

  “OK, I will find another place for you to deliver
the device to.”

  “I don’t think so. If they knew about this drop,
they will find out about the next. And next time they will bring so much force
I won’t survive. Besides, I am doubting your ability to come through on my
pardon or payment since the U.S.T.G. is actively trying to stop me. Who are you
really working for?”

  “That is not important. We can still pay you and
provide the pardon. I’ll double the payment. Bring me the device.” The Voice
pleaded.

   Derek considered his options. He wanted the
payoff but he had a duty to Rora to get her to NASA in one piece. He wasn’t
sure he could trust the Voice. At the very least the Voice was somehow
compromised. But they could be at NASA in minutes on the chopper so it probably
didn’t matter.

  “I’m taking the device and the girl to NASA and we
can figure it out from there.”

  “NO! You cannot trust them. Who knows what they
might do with the device.” The Voice replied angrily and almost desperately.
“You get nothing if I don’t get the device first.”

  “You know, right now I’m more worried about me and
the girl surviving. It seems like everyone in North America is trying to kill
me and take the device. What does it do?”

  “I don’t know. I was contracted to get it and
that’s what I am doing.”

  “Who is your employer?” Derek pressed.

  “There are many factions at play here Derek. Some
of them are very, very powerful. Powerful enough to find out exactly where a
small plane would be at a given time even though no one except you, myself, and
the contact knew. These are old factions with many assets and resources. You
shouldn’t mess with these factions. Bring me the device and we both survive
this.” The Voice replied cryptically.

  Derek wasn’t having any of it. “I’m taking the
girl to NASA and that’s that. I’ll call you when I get there.”

  He shut off the phone and removed the earpiece. He
wrapped it in cloth and placed it in his pack just in case it might be
booby-trapped. Collecting the commandos’ weapons and ammo, he headed back to
the chopper. Rora and the pilot were still where he had left them. He loaded
all the weapons and ammo onto the chopper and then helped Rora get on. He cut
the pilot free and led him back to the chopper.

  “You’re going to fly us to Cape Canaveral. If you
try anything, I will splatter your brains all over the cockpit. Got it?”

  “I got it. I’m just the pilot. I’ll take you
wherever you want.” The pilot assured him.

June 16, 2029

Cecil Field near Jacksonville, Florida

  Derek had removed the co-pilot’s body already and
took his seat next to the pilot. Putting on the headset he strapped in. Rora
was secured in the seat in the cargo compartment with all of the gear. Derek
had shut both side doors since they didn’t have a gunner and he didn’t want to
chance her falling out.

   The helicopter whirred to life and they took off,
leaving the smoking airfield behind. As they pulled away Derek could see the
control tower still smoking and the ruins of the plane and their SUV. He was
disappointed they had lost all the weapons and gear in the SUV, especially the
machine gun. But, he had collected a SAW and an automatic grenade launcher. And
now he had a chopper armed with min-guns at his disposal so it probably came
out even in the end. Although at the rate they were going, he would only have
the chopper for a day or so before it was destroyed.

  The flight was short, within minutes they were
approaching the NASA compound at Cape Canaveral. This was where all of the
shuttle missions had launched from before the program was scrapped by idiotic
bureaucrats. Instead of funding the space program and appreciating all the
technological advances it had brought, they had increasingly funded social
programs that contributed to the Collapse. This had allowed private enterprise
and hostile nations, like China, to gain a strong foothold in space. That
mistake was probably what allowed the Collective to seize control of the
satellites.

  As they got closer, they could see clouds of smoke
rising up from their location. Derek frowned. It had been a long shot that NASA
had survived, but Rora had seemed sure they were there and the voice had seemed
like he believed it as well. So he wasn’t sure what the smoke actually meant.
Maybe the U.S.T.G. or Collective had attacked before they could get there? But
when they got close enough to see what was causing the smoke, it was even worse
than he had thought.

  The complex was surrounded by Reapers, thousands
of them. The smoke was coming from the massive bonfires they used to cook their
“dinners”. He gestured for the pilot to swing around the edge of the gathering
so he could see the true numbers. The encampments stretched around the entire
facility. There were tens of thousands of them, more, maybe all of them. He saw
at least forty tribal banners. They blocked all ground access to the grounds
and were only held back by a series of fences.

  There were dead bodies draped over parts of the
fences, and their positions indicated the fences must be electrified. As they
took a closer look Derek could see a wide cleared stretch around the outer
fence with tank obstacles along the inner edge. Within the cleared area were a
few burned out vehicles at various points. Looks like the fences had a
minefield around them as well. The complex was pretty well defended from the
ground so it was likely the people inside were still okay.

  NASA was surrounded by a horde of angry cannibals
all eager to get in and rip the inhabitants apart, but at least they could fly
over them. Derek gestured for the pilot to head into the facility. As they
turned he could see people running around on the ground. Then he heard the
sound of small arms fire hitting the chopper. The pilot responded by taking the
helicopter higher, but then he started yelling and pointing.

  “Holy crap! They have anti-aircraft guns.”

  Derek looked down to see several large vehicles
turning guns their way. He realized with great alarm they were indeed ZSU-23-4
anti-aircraft guns. Light armored vehicles that carried four 23mm cannons
slaved to a radar system. As if on cue he heard the warble of radar systems
trying to lock on to them. Glowing lines of tracer roundss began to reach up
from the ground towards them. He had forgotten they might still have armor and
equipment from the original invasion. The chopper shook as the first shells
found them. Lights flashed in the cockpit and alarms sounded as the cannon fire
damaged the chopper. They couldn’t withstand the fire. They would have to find
another way in.

To
be continued in Book #2 Wasteland Rules: Born to Fight

Coming
Spring 2014