Wasteland Rules: Die Fighting (The World After Book 4) (27 page)

   “We have company.” Derek informed the other two.

   Grunts and howls started to echo throughout the
facility, coming from all around them. The metal shop only had one entrance so
the monsters would have to come through it to get to them. But they had limited
time to get into the Supermax and retrieve the ARK, so they couldn’t wait out a
siege. Derek grabbed the remaining fuel canisters for the cutting torch and
moved towards the door.  He yanked the door open and tossed the fuel canisters
out.

   “Follow me.” He ordered Sterling and Rora.

   Derek charged out into the hallway and fired a
grenade in either direction. The resulting explosions lit up the dark hallways
and revealed hordes of the snarling and howling deformed creatures from
outside. Their eyes filled with rage and their mouths’ foaming. He assumed all
of them had gathered together for this assault. The resulting mob courage would
be hard to break. The explosions blew dozens of the monsters apart and
triggered the fuel canisters to explode with white hot flame. The flame filled
the corridors and lit them up with a blazing light.

   The explosions and flames set many of the creatures
ablaze, and they screamed horribly as they burned. He didn’t wait to see if
they ran and continued to fire grenades down the corridor they need to travel
to get back to the tunnel. Derek led Sterling and Rora through the holes in the
horde created by the explosions. They leapt over wrecked and mangled bodies as
they ran for the tunnel room. All three of them fired blindly behind them as
they ran. The screams of pain and agony indicated that they were hitting
something, but none of them stopped to look.

   After a panicked run they broke free of the
monsters and ran to the tunnel room. They closed the security doors and jammed
them shut. Dozens of the creatures slammed up against the glass partitions in
the doors and the doors shook violently, but held. The monsters continued to
scratch and claw and throw themselves at the doors in their attempts to get in.
It looked like their bloodlust had overwhelmed their fear.

   Derek ignored the creatures and got to work with
the torch. He cut through the door while Rora and Sterling watched the security
doors with great trepidation. They gripped their weapons and kept them aimed at
the door while Derek worked. After what seemed like an eternity he had cut enough
of a hole for them to squeeze through. They raced down the concrete tunnel as
the screams and howls faded away. The howls stopped by the time they reached
the other end of the tunnel. A large steel door blocked the way and Derek
swapped his shotgun for the cutting torch to cut out the lock.

   “Can you detect anyone on the other side?” Derek
asked the Voice softly.

   “Something is preventing my access to the
satellites.” The Voice informed him regretfully. “I think it is the thick
concrete of the tunnel.”

   “I guess we’ll have to chance it then.” Derek
muttered.

   “Give me the phone and we will split up as soon as
we enter.” Sterling requested.

   “I still don’t like this.” Derek told him as he
handed over the phone. “Screw us over and I will find you and kill you.”

   “I got it.” Sterling replied with a smile. “Don’t
worry I’m on your side.”

   A few quick minutes later he was through and they
cautiously entered the Supermax facility. The entry room was dark, but they
could see light through the glass partitions in the double doors. This room was
a mirror of the one in the other facility and just as empty. The difference was
that this room was inside of a larger one and this one had active cameras.

   “Did you disable their security?” Derek asked the Voice
desperately.

   “I am unable to access their system.” The Voice
replied calmly. “I am trying to regain access to the satellite, but they are
jamming me.”

   “We need to move.” Derek stated urgently. “They
know we are here.”

   The doors were locked but Derek blew them open with
a grenade. He had reloaded during their flight down the tunnel, but he was
getting low on grenades. He only had three left after the five in the launcher.
He kicked the smoldering doors open and dashed out into the hall with Rora
following. They only made it a few steps before the lights flashed on and there
were Faceless in their familiar black garb and body armor surrounding them.
There were simply too many and in too many directions for the trio to fight.
Derek might survive, but the others wouldn’t.

   He dropped his grenade launcher and put his hands
up. As he turned to tell the other two to surrender, he noticed Sterling was
gone. Somehow the hacker had managed to disappear from a sealed room and leave
Derek and Rora to the mercy of the Faceless. Most of the Faceless kept their
weapons trained on Derek and Rora as two of them warily moved closer to secure
them.

   “Where’s Sterling?” She whispered to Derek.

   “He disappeared before the ambush.” Derek said
acidly. “He left us for the wolves.”

   The Faceless soldiers secured both of them with
heavy duty manacles and stripped them of all their armor and weapons, even
Derek’s ceramic knife. Their hands were cuffed in front of them and secured by
a chain to their feet which were also cuffed. Derek and Rora were forced to
shuffle as their captors led them through the prison into the dining hall.

   The hall had been extensively remodeled and now
resembled a throne room. On a large steel “throne”, that Derek recognized as an
electric chair, sat a man in an expensive suit. What caught Derek’s attention
was that the man had no face. There was no mouth, even though the man was
speaking, no ears, no nose, no eyes; it was totally blank just like a mannequin
head. One of the creatures that had accompanied Deimos stood motionlessly on
either side of him, riot shield and axe in hand. More Faceless soldiers in
their standard black gear stood guard around the room. Two of the soldiers that
had captured them remained right behind them with the barrels of their carbines
practically in Derek’s ribs.

   The man rose to greet them as they shuffled in
front of him. “I am so glad you finally came to see me.” He said
enthusiastically. “You have rebuffed my previous attempts to invite you.”

   “I hardly think that shooting at us and trying to
kidnap us counts as invitations.” Derek replied sarcastically.

   “I don’t think you would have come any other way.”
The faceless man responded with mock sincerity. “You do have a reputation for
being very violent.”

   Derek snorted. “And you are just a peaceful man?”

   “Heavens no!” The faceless man replied jovially.
“But I am performing my anointed tasks and sometimes you have to break a few
eggs to make an omelet. Or in my case kill a few hundred million people.”

   “You are sick.” Derek spat.

   “I’m not sick.” The man scolded Derek. “I am the
Faceless Man, it is my duty…NO…my destiny, to bring pure chaos to the world. In
fact, you are my best agent.”

   “Are you insane?” Derek asked angrily. “I don’t
work for you.”

   “But everywhere you go, destruction and chaos are
left in your wake.” The Faceless Man pointed out. “You have created more chaos
in the last year than anyone or anything else.”

    That gave Derek pause. That was factually accurate.
Wherever he went, he did leave destruction and chaos in his wake and a long
trail of bodies. But that wasn’t his plan, they were merely unintended
consequences of his actions.

   “Oh I know you don’t mean to.” The man said, as if
reading Derek’s mind. “But pure chaos is all about the unintended. If it was
planned or intended it wouldn’t be chaotic.”

   “Isn’t that contradictory?” Rora contended,
suddenly breaking her silence.

   “Maybe. But who can really define pure chaos?” The
Faceless Man asked rhetorically. “Isn’t it supposed to be contradictory?”

   “Enough of this silliness!” Derek finally snapped.
“What do you want from us?”

   “I want you to join me and I want her to rule
beside me as my queen.” The man stated simply as he sat back down. “It is why
she was made after all.”

   Rora and Derek shared a quick glance before she
responded. “What do you mean?” She asked icily.

   “I did all of this for you.” The Faceless Man said
with a sweep of his hand. “I destroyed the existing order so we could bring
true chaos to the world and discord could reign.”

   “You destroyed the existing order?” Derek asked,
bewildered. “What does that mean?”

   “The crop virus didn’t just magically pop up all
over the world.” The Faceless Man crowed. “I spread it around. And when that still
wasn’t enough, I had the Drinkers unleashed. I engineered the Collapse and then
triggered the Aftermath. My Faceless were everywhere and involved in
everything.”

   Derek was astounded. If this was true it meant that
one man had caused the downfall of society and was actively trying to prevent
its rebirth. He had trouble believing it though. There were too many people
involved for him to have had control of everything. His maniacal ravings were
just that, the ranting of a lunatic.

   “I don’t believe you.” Derek stated firmly.

   That caused the Faceless Man to freeze. “You don’t
believe me?” he asked incredulously.

   “No. You cannot be everywhere at once.” Derek
argued. “Too many things happened that were spontaneous for you to be the
cause.”

   “That is precisely the point, Major.” The man
replied smugly. “I set everything in motion and gave it a nudge here and there,
but chaos took care of everything naturally once it was unleashed.”

   “Check behind your belt buckle.” The Voice suddenly
whispered in Derek’s ear. “And then get ready.”

   Tucked behind his belt buckle, Derek found a
handcuff key. Sterling must have placed it on him at some point. Talk about
being prepared. Derek smiled and prepared to move whenever the Voice did what
he was planning.

   “And Deimos?” Derek pushed. “Was he a product of
chaos?”

   “Yes.” The Faceless Man agreed jubilantly. “He is
my greatest creation and in some ways yours. I used the chaos you created to
give him purpose and then I unleashed him. He is a true child of Eris.”

   “What is Eris’ place in all this?” Derek asked.

   “She is to be the ruler over all. The goddess of
Discord!” The Faceless Man preached.

   “What about the ARK? Did you destroy that too?” Rora
interrupted angrily.

   “Of course not, my dear.” The Faceless Man replied
dismissively. “The ARK is simply too important to destroy. I locked it safely
away where no one could use it until it was time.”

   “And where is it exactly?” Derek pressed.

   “Come now, Major.” Do you really think I would tell
you that?” The man said condescendingly. “I might have you chained up at the
moment, but you have an annoying knack for getting out of situations like
this.”

   At that moment the lights went out. Derek had
already surreptitiously unlocked his hands while everyone’s attention was on
the Faceless Man and the second the lights went out he was moving. He screamed
for Rora to get down as he launched himself at the closest of the Faceless.
Grabbing the stock of the man’s weapon with his left hand Derek pulled the man
towards him and slammed his fist into the man’s face. The Faceless soldier
dropped to the ground unconscious and Derek gained control of the carbine.

   Using the carbine as a club he lashed out and
knocked the other soldier that had been on the other side of him. The emergency
lights flashed on as Derek reversed the carbine and dropped to the ground. He
had kept his eyes closed during the brief moment of darkness knowing the lights
would come back on. The Faceless were not so thoughtful and were blinded by the
sudden brightness. Derek trusted Rora had followed his instructions and dropped
to the ground, so he opened fire on the remaining guards.

   The roar of gunfire in the closed room was
deafening and the flashes blinding. Spent brass flew in every direction as
everyone with a gun fired on full auto. Ricochets flew off of the concrete
walls and metal support columns sending concrete chips and shrapnel spraying in
every direction. Errant gunfire shattered the emergency lighting and the room
plunged back into darkness lit only by muzzle flashes before the gunfire
ceased.

   When the lights came back on, Derek and Rora lay
inside a circle of dead Faceless. They quickly dissolved into goo as the
Faceless did when killed. The Faceless Man was gone; but the two monsters were
still there, kneeling behind their bulletproof riot shields. They stood and
moved towards him as Derek quickly unlocked his feet. He pitched the shackles
aside and looked for a weapon. His weapons and gear were in a pile next to the
“throne”, but the monsters were in between him and his weapons. The carbine
wouldn’t do him any good, they would simply hide behind their shields. He
backed away slowly as they steadily advanced on him.

   He tossed the handcuff key to Rora, but she didn’t
move. He didn’t see any blood on her so she had either fainted or was playing
dead. Either way she wasn’t a threat to the monsters, but he would draw them
away to make sure. He still needed a weapon though. These things were not
powerful as Deimos, but two of them were going to be all he could handle.