Wasteland Rules: Die Fighting (The World After Book 4) (13 page)

   “What do you suggest?” She snapped.

   “There should be a couple of SMAWs in there,
shoulder launched missiles.” He replied unflappably.

   “I know what they are.” Rora informed him in an
annoyed tone.

   She dragged cases into the passenger area and
quickly searched for the missile launchers. The hillbillies continued to carry
on as they chased the SUV. Obviously they were enjoying themselves. Sooner or
later they would get bored or realize their gunfire was having no real effect
and take another approach. Rora needed to find the missiles before that
happened.

   Sterling slammed on the brakes to buy her more
time. The SUV slowed suddenly in a screech of tires on pavement and the smell
of burning rubber. The police Interceptor didn’t slow in time and despite the
driver’s best attempt to avoid it slammed into the back of the SUV. Rora flew
forward with a yell at the impact.

   “What are you doing?” She screamed at Sterling.

   “Trying to slow them down a little.” He informed
her evenly.

   “Well stop it!” She yelled. “I can’t find the
missiles if I’m up front with you.”

   She climbed back into the back as he smiled. He did
like her spirit, even if she was annoying at times. Stepping on the gas he
accelerated away from the damaged Interceptor. The brush guard on the front was
mangled and the frame looked slightly bent, but the car was still moving just
fine. The hillbillies weren’t carrying on any more though, now they looked mad.
He watched in alarm as one of them reached into the back seat for something.

   “Hurry up Rora, we are running out of time.” He
insisted anxiously.

   “I got it!” She said triumphantly as she popped up
with the SMAW in her hands.

   The SMAW, or Shoulder Launched Multi-Purpose
Assault Weapon, was a man portable rocket launcher that fired 83.5 mm rockets.
The newest version, which this was, had a modular ballistic sight allowing for
better targeting. Rora rolled down the window and leaned out carefully. One of
the pursuing hillbillies popped out of his window at the same time and he aimed
the RPG-9 he was holding at the fleeing SUV.

   “Shoot!” Sterling screamed at Rora.

   She fired almost immediately and the rocket slammed
into the front of the police car. The explosion tore the machine gun off the
hood and covered the front of the car in flames. The impact must have disrupted
the hillbilly’s aim because the RPG rocketed by the SUV, just missing it. The
rocket propelled grenade exploded harmlessly ahead of them but he looked back
to see the man reaching for another RPG.

   Rora was reaching for another rocket as well. It
would be a race to see who could fire theirs first. Rora had hit them the first
time, but it looked like their armor had deflected most of the blast. The SUV
could probably withstand the RPG, but he didn’t want to take any chances. He
was surprised the police car had withstood the blast, but then he glanced back
and noticed the problem.

   “Use the anti-armor rocket!” He yelled back to her.

   “What?” She called back.

   “The red banded rocket!” He yelled. “Its armor
piercing!”

   She nodded and switched the blue banded one, which
was high explosive, for the armor piercing red banded one. The switch gave the
hillbilly time to reload his launcher and lean out the window again. Sterling
began swerving wildly to throw of his aim, which caused Rora to slide around in
the back. She frowned up at him, but resolutely continued to load the launcher.

   She got it loaded just as the hillbilly fired the
RPG-9 again. The rocket struck the rear of the SUV and the blast lifted the
rear wheels off the ground slightly. The security screen on the rear window
blew off and the window blew in showering Rora and Derek with glass fragments.
The SUV wobbled wildly when the rear wheels touched again, but Sterling managed
to regain control. He could see the two hillbillies fist bump each other before
the one with the launcher reached for another rocket. If the next rocket came
into the SUV through the shattered window they were all dead.

   Rora must have felt the urgency of the situation
because she loaded the SMAW in record time. Repositioning herself on the back
seat she took careful aim out the back window. Sterling could see her lining up
a shot at the grill area of the pursuing car. If she hit there, the rocket
would penetrate and destroy the engine. The odds of that were much better than
risking a shot at the front window. The rocket might go straight through or it
could deflect off and do no damage. There was only one small problem with her
plan.

   “The back blast!” Sterling screamed at her. “You’re
going to hit me with the back bl…”

   He scrunched down and ducked towards the window as
she fired. The rocket raced away towards the Interceptor and struck it dead on.
The front of the police car erupted into flames and the blast lifted the car
into the air as the rocket penetrated and then detonated. It came crashing down
and began swerving crazily before rolling off the road and into a ditch. They
lost sight of the vehicle as they skyrocketed down the highway. A fireball
seconds later indicated the gas tank had exploded.

   Rora gave a little cry of victory and a fist pump
as Sterling furiously batted at his smoldering jacket. The back blast from the
rocket had flamed past him on his right and singed his right shoulder and arm.
They had taken out the pursuers, whom Sterling assumed to be more bounty
hunters after Derek. But it hadn’t been without a cost. He was slightly burned
and the SUV had taken serious damage, and they still needed medical attention
for Derek.

   What was more concerning was how the bounty hunters
had found them. It was possible the Discordians had put the word out, but he
wasn’t sure why they would do that. It was more likely the bounty hunters knew
they were coming for the computer core and the path they were likely to take,
which meant another possible traitor within the CIA; although they were
probably dead now. Sterling hoped there weren’t too many more road blocks on
the way to Wichita.

   “Sorry about the jacket.” Rora said apologetically.
“I didn’t think about the back blast.”

   “Just take the wheel so I can use the first aid
kit.” Sterling said through clenched teeth.

   The two switched places and Sterling pulled out the
first aid kit. He cut off the scorched arm of his jacket and shirt and then
smeared burn cream on his blistered arm. It was not good, but he would be fine.
He also took a painkiller to numb the pain. He didn’t really want to, because
he wanted to be clear headed; but the pain was intense. Unfortunately he didn’t
have a healing factor in his DNA like Derek, who lay unconscious on the floor.

   “We are almost in Mission.” Sterling informed Rora.
“Keep an eye out for road blocks or check points. The Native Americans had set
them up the last time I was here, but there might also be more bounty hunters.”

   “Got it.” She replied succinctly.

   It wasn’t long before they were at the outskirts of
the little town of Mission. The population had been small before the Collapse
but had actually grown post Aftermath. It was now the de facto capital of what
was called the Lakota Nation. It was heavily fortified and so far had
vigorously resisted any attempts by raiders or the U.S.T.G. to take it. Their
constant struggle had made them wary of outsiders and he was worried they
wouldn’t even be allowed in.

    Abandoned and disabled cars began to appear on the
highway and it was obvious from the zigzag pattern that they had been placed
there to slow down incoming vehicles. Rora slowed to pass through them and then
stopped several hundred yards from a roadblock manned by armed men. Concrete
barriers and disabled vehicles had been placed to block the road for at least
five hundred yards in either direction with a functional school bus used as a
mobile gate in the center of the highway. Sterling couldn’t tell, but he
assumed it to be members of the Lakota Nation.

   “Should we approach and ask for help?” Rora asked
cautiously.

   “We don’t have much of a choice.” Sterling
responded glumly.

   “Okay, here we go.” Rora said with a sigh.

   They rolled slowly towards the roadblock, not
wanting to panic the guards or demonstrate a threat. As they got closer, he
could see they were in fact Native Americans, he assumed Lakota, manning the
roadblock. They were dressed in denim jeans and flannel shirts and wore black
cowboy hats. The men were armed with a mishmash of shotguns, rifles, and
pistols; all of which they kept aimed at the SUV as it approached.

   Rora pulled slowly up to the road block and
stopped. They waited as an older man cautiously approached the vehicle. He had
a wind and sun burned appearance and long gray hair braided in the Lakota
style. The man examined their vehicle carefully and then walked up to the
driver’s side window.

   “What do you want?” He asked gruffly.

   “We want to trade for medical supplies.” Rora told
him. “We have a seriously injured man back here.”

   “Can’t help you, you need to move on.” The man
informed them abruptly.

   “We have stuff for trade you will want. Like
assault rifles.” Rora offered cajolingly.

   “Can’t help you.” The man said shaking his head.
“You need to go.”

   “Is it because we are white?” Rora asked
caustically.

   The man laughed breaking his serious character.
“No. It is because the U.S.T.G. wants you and we don’t want any trouble with
them.”

   “We should go Rora.” Sterling told her. “We don’t want
to cause any trouble for these people. We can get supplies somewhere else.”

   Before she could respond, they saw the man’s eyes
grow wide as he looked down the highway behind them. Sterling glanced back and
shook his head in disbelief. Was it going to be like this all the way to
Wichita? It seemed like Derek and Rora were trouble magnets, bringing death and
destruction anywhere they went.

   Behind them an armored truck cab was barreling down
the highway towards the roadblock. A massive steel plow on the front was
smashing the disabled cars aside like a bull in a china shop, leaving a path of
destruction in its wake. Cars flew into the air and were tossed aside and
others simply exploded; sending a cloud of glass, plastic, and metal into the
air as the plow sliced through them. Exhaust poured from the twin pipes of the
cab as it accelerated to full speed. The driver even pumped the air horn as it
got closer. The man at their vehicle and all the guards fled in terror and
abandoned the road block, leaving Rora and Sterling stuck in front of the
rampaging truck.

   “What do I do?” Rora yelled frantically.

   Sterling thought furiously. They couldn’t go
forward because of the road block and they were too close to it to try to go
around. They couldn’t sit here because the truck would pulverize them. And the
SMAW would have very little effect on the truck. The plow would deflect any
shot at the engine and thick steel plates covered the windshield. But they
could go backwards.

   “Move over.” He instructed Rora.

   She gave him a puzzled look but moved from the
driver’s seat into the passenger seat. He scrambled into the driver’s seat and
threw the SUV into reverse, but didn’t take his foot off the brake. He simply
waited as the truck got closer and closer. Boom! It plowed through another car,
glass and metal spraying as the car exploded. BOOM! Another vehicle
disintegrated as the truck smashed it to pieces and the truck got closer.

   “What are you waiting for?” Rora screamed in his
ear.

   Sterling ignored her and focused on the oncoming
truck. It was getting larger and larger in the rear view mirror. BOOM! The last
obstacle between the SUV and the onrushing truck was tossed aside and the truck
had a clear shot at them. Just when it was almost too late, Sterling switched
his foot from the brake and the gas and turned the wheel hard.

   The SUV’s engine roared to life and they abruptly
shot backwards and to the side. The armored truck cab whizzed past them nearly
clipping the front of the SUV. It was so close that the passage of the truck
rocked the SUV violently from side to side. Rora screamed as the truck passed
within inches of her. As it passed they could see that an additional section
had been added onto back the extended cab and on top of where the truck would normally
couple to a trailer. The entire thing was armored and Sterling estimated it
weighed at least two tons.

   After missing them the truck hit the school bus at
the roadblock without slowing. There was a deafening crash and shrieking of
metal at the plow on the truck bent the school bus nearly in half around it. The
truck and the school bus slid to a halt about a quarter mile past the now open
roadblock. Smoke and steam poured from the mangled bus’ hood.

   Not wasting any time, Sterling threw the SUV back
into drive and accelerated through the gap in the road block. The truck tried
to back up, but dragged the bus with it. Sterling smiled. It would take some
time and effort to get free of the bus. Time they would use to get out into the
wasteland where the bounty hunters couldn’t find them. He swerved around the
wrecked school bus and the truck entangled in it. The Native Americans might
not want them passing through the Lakota Nation, but they didn’t have much
choice. The main road and the most direct route to Wichita lay right through
their little paradise.