Wasteland Rules: Die Fighting (The World After Book 4) (3 page)

Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky

September 11, 2029

   The heavy whir of chopper blades and the slight
vibration of motion as he regained consciousness told Derek he was on a
chopper. He assumed they had dragged him onto the Chinook transport chopper. He
didn’t open his eyes and tried to remain as limp as possible to fool them into
thinking he was unconscious. He surreptitiously flexed his arms and legs and
discovered his hands were in zip cuffs behind his back, and that his ankles were
similarly confined. He could feel someone on either side of him, and from
murmured conversations he could tell others were across from him.

   He assumed he was in the passenger section of the
Chinook. Typically a row of canvas seats ran along either side of the section.
That would mean there were probably at least fifteen to twenty Faceless
soldiers in there with him plus the pilot and co-pilot. A huge disadvantage in
numbers, but only a few could come at him at a time because of the narrow
confines of the chopper. They would also be unlikely to try to shoot him for
fear of hitting their comrades or something vital to the operation of the
chopper.

   They also thought he was tied up securely, which
really gave him an advantage. Derek had a high ape index, which meant his arms
were long in comparison to his torso. It also meant he was able to tuck his
legs and get his hands below his feet, enabling him to slide them from back to
front even when clasped. He slowly shifted and got his hands down to his butt
and then he exploded into action.

  Swiftly pulling his hands down and forward he
shifted his cuffed hands to the front. One of the Faceless cried out in alarm
but it was too late. Derek smashed an elbow into the nose of the man on his
right, driving it up into his brain and killing him instantly. Then he grabbed
the man to his left and threw him across the narrow center of the chopper onto
three men across from him. They were only tangled for a moment, but it gave
Derek the precious seconds he needed to yank out the dead man’s combat knife
and cut loose his bonds.

   The four men disentangled themselves, tossed aside
their carbines, and came for him with fury in their eyes. The others were
yelling and scrambling to try to help in some way, but they couldn’t get to
him. Derek and his immediate opponents were at the front of the chopper towards
the cockpit and everyone else was further back. He was pretty sure they
wouldn’t fire for fear of shooting the pilot and co-pilot.

   Derek stabbed the first man in the throat and
pushed him aside. The other three were on him at that point and he managed to
stab one in the stomach before losing the knife. It became a free for all, with
everyone punching kneeing, biting and clawing. It was a desperate fight and
Derek used every dirty trick he knew.  He took a knee to the head and was
momentarily stunned. They took advantage to try to pin him down and recuff him
but he instinctively grabbed hold of one of his opponents’ balls and squeezed.
There was a high pitched scream of pain and Derek felt the pressure on him
lessen. He let go and jammed his thumb into the eye of another soldier. A quick
rotation and a hard yank dislocated the arm of another. Derek gathered his
strength and forced himself upward.

   The three Faceless soldiers went tumbling off of
him and he was free for a second. Seeing an M4 carbine on one of the seats he
dove for it. The soldiers in the back panicked and opened fire even though they
knew not to. Derek barely managed to pull one of his wounded opponents in front
of him as a hail of bullets tore up the interior of the chopper. Bullets
ricocheted off the metal frame and thudded into the body Derek was using as a
shield. The body armor and the body absorbed most of the rounds; but a few made
it through, wounding Derek slightly.

   The helicopter suddenly lost altitude, and Derek
could hear the co-pilot screaming that the pilot was hit. He kept screaming at
the soldiers to stop shooting. Derek ignored him and opened fire into the back
holding the M4 carbine one handed. He fired indiscriminately, knowing that he
was going to hit something. The echoes of all of the guns firing inside the
chopper were deafening and the flashes blinding. The clip ran out and he
grabbed another carbine and resumed firing. The passenger section was a
maelstrom of bullets and blood flying in all directions.

    The chopper rocked violently from side to side and
the shooting stopped as everyone was thrown around. When it stopped Derek threw
the body he had been using as a shield aside and lunged into the cockpit. From
the screaming in the back, he knew that most of them were probably badly
wounded or injured. But they would regroup and storm the cockpit at some point,
if only out of desperation. Derek was wounded as well. He had bullet holes in
half a dozen places and was starting to leak a lot of blood. He needed to get
out of this before he passed out.

   The co-pilot was dressed exactly like the others
and his face was concealed as well. But Derek could see his eyes, wide with
fear and amazement at the bloody apparition that had appeared next to him.
Derek smiled demonically and punched him in the face, stunning the soldier. He
pulled the man out of the chair and threw him into the cockpit entrance. Then
Derek swiftly took his place at the controls.

   The gunships were on either side of them flying
escort and Derek could see the Faceless soldiers manning guns that they were
keeping trained on the transport helicopter. They for sure knew about his
escape attempt and likely had orders to bring the chopper down if he got
control. The Chinook had a machine gun mounted in a window on either side; but
they were back in the passenger section, so Derek had no weapon with which to
shoot them down. That meant he only had one option to take them out.

   First he needed to rid himself of his now unwanted
passengers. Derek flicked the switch to open the rear hatch of the chopper.
Then he thrust the yoke forward sending the chopper into a sudden downward
trajectory. The co-pilot howled in terror and leapt onto him, fighting him for
the controls.

   “Are you insane?” The man hissed in Derek’s ear.
“You’ll kill us all!”

   “No, just you.” Derek informed him coldly.

   A swift elbow to the face sent the Faceless soldier
reeling and Derek pulled back hard on the yoke. The transport chopper swung up
sharply and began ascending rapidly. The engines and blades whined in protest
since the helicopter was not designed for such sudden maneuvers. The screams of
the soldiers joined the chopper’s protests as they tumbled out the back. Derek
gave the co-pilot a well-aimed shove and sent him out of the cockpit to join
them.

   He wiggled the climbing chopper to shake loose any
Faceless who had managed to hang on, and then he turned his attention to the
gunships. They had reacted to his sudden maneuvers by widening the gap between
the helicopters and he could see the gunners trying to track him. But the
sudden maneuver upwards had taken the transport chopper out of their arc of
fire and put him above the gunships.

   They started to climb to match his rise in
altitude, but Derek was ahead of them. They could climb faster than he could,
but he only needed a few feet of clearance for what he intended. He threw the
yoke to the side and took the chopper sideways towards the gunship on his
right. They tried to evade the collision, but they reacted too slowly. After
all, who expected another helicopter to ram you?

   The blades of the gunship collided with the side of
the transport chopper and chewed into it slightly before the blades broke apart
under the impact. The gunship began to lose altitude rapidly as the blades came
apart and there was nothing holding it aloft. Derek had always thought that
man’s ability to fly despite not having wings was the most amazing achievement.
Now he realized how amazing it was that people trusted a machine to carry them
through the air without dropping them. Especially since they had nowhere to go
when that machine stopped working.

   The first gunship fell from the sky and crashed in
a spectacular fireball as he tried to repeat the maneuver on the other gunship.
That pilot reacted much more quickly and was already gaining space and altitude
as Derek moved back towards him. The gunner opened fire as soon as they had a
clear shot at the transport. The heavy rounds from the mini-gun tore into the
armor of the Chinook. The chopper shook with the repeated impacts and Derek
knew it was only a matter of seconds before they hit something critical and
sent it flaming to the ground.

   Throttling back on his speed, Derek took the
chopper down for a landing. He hadn’t taken out both gunships, but at least he
improved his odds. He tried to slow the descending chopper and angled for a
dusty field clear of trees. He did anything he could to minimize the impact so
the impending crash would be survivable.

   As he got closer to the ground, the mini-gun
shredded his rear rotor and the chopper dropped like a stone. It hit the ground
hard and threw Derek across the cockpit. The helicopter slid across the field
plowing a deep furrow in the dirt. Metal cracked and crumpled from the impact.
It slowly came to a rest near the edge of the field. Derek struggled to his
feet and took a glance around. The chopper was totaled, but intact and he was
pretty much undamaged. Any landing you could walk away from and all that.

   He abandoned the cockpit as the gunship hovered in
front and directed a stream of lead into the down chopper. The heavy rounds
made Swiss cheese of the cockpit just as he got clear. Derek raced down the
passenger section for the exit as the gunship punched holes in the chopper
using the two .50 caliber machine guns under its wings. The rounds struck a
fuel tank and it burst into flame. Derek rolled out of the back of the chopper
as the rest of the helicopter went up in flames. The resulting blast blew him
out into the field and left him stunned for a second.

   The fireball and thick, oily black smoke covered
his escape for the moment, but he knew they would be on him shortly. Lying in
the dirt he could feel the heat from the burning chopper and he realized the
blast had been much larger than expected. The entire back of his body felt
singed and he knew it had been close. There must have been ammo or explosives
in the chopper in addition to the fuel.

   His gear had not been in the chopper as he exited.
It must have fallen out with the rest of the cargo. That meant he had no
weapons or any option to take out the gunship, but it also meant he had a
chance of getting it all back. He heard the gunship circling around looking for
him and he was running through his options; or rather, lack of options, when
the gunship suddenly headed away. The roar of a jet engine followed shortly
thereafter and he let out a sigh of relief. He had stalled the Faceless long
enough that the cavalry had arrived.

C.C.A. Forward Operating Base near Bowling Green
Kentucky

September 12, 2029

   Rora and Micah appeared shortly riding in an
up-armored Humvee with C.C.A. markings. Derek was still lying in the field when
they arrived. His advanced physiology had stopped the bleeding and started to
heal him, but he was still badly injured and completely exhausted. He didn’t
resist when they picked up him up and dragged him into the Humvee. He must have
passed out on the ride, because when he woke up they were at the C.C.A. base
camp they had started their little adventure from.

   “Welcome back.” Rora said with a smile.

  “Thanks.” Derek grumbled and looked around.

   They were in a small tent and he was lying on a
canvas cot with Rora sitting next to him. Two IVs were hooked up to him and he
assumed it was glucose and blood plasma; he was probably quite low on both.
Micah was hovering in the background with a concerned look on his face. The
partisan leader didn’t know about Derek’s healing factor and Derek had
sacrificed himself so they could escape. He probably felt he owed Derek.

   “Micah, take a seat and relax. I’m going to be
fine.” Derek informed him.

   “But you got shot seven times and blown up…” Micah
said incredulously.

   “I heal quickly. It’s okay. See” Derek said and
gestured towards his wounds

   “That’s incredible.” Micah whispered as he examined
Derek’s already healing wounds.

   “Enough show and tell.” Rora interrupted
impatiently. “Let’s get out of here.”

   “What’s the hurry?” Derek asked, confused by her
sudden attitude. “We don’t have anywhere we need to be. The ARK wasn’t there,
it’s over.”

   “Not exactly.” Rora replied mysteriously. “We need
to go, now!”

   Derek shrugged and swung out of the cot. “I need
something to eat first. I’m starving.”

   Her attitude was perplexing, but she probably
didn’t want to say anything in front of Micah. He had been through the fire
with them, literally, but that wasn’t enough to build trust. Rule #24, don’t
share anything you don’t need to. So he would give her the benefit of the doubt
and wait until they were alone to ask for more details.

   Once he was up they went to the tent that housed
the quartermaster and scrounged some MREs. They weren’t much in the taste
department, but in the World After they were practically gourmet. More importantly,
they were chock full of carbs and calories which were what Derek desperately
needed to refuel. After chowing down with gusto on three of them, he was ready.

   “What?” He asked the two of them when he noticed
them staring. “I said I was hungry.”

   “Nothing.” Rora said innocently and turned away to
hide a smile.

   Micah couldn’t help himself. “Is that normal for
you?” He asked incredulously.

   Derek laughed. “Only when I get shot and burned.”
He said flippantly. “So like every other day.”

   The partisan leader chuckled grimly as he tried to
decide how serious Derek was. Derek left that to the man’s imagination and
headed for the chopper that had brought them there. He needed to replace his gear
and they had left a pile of weapons and gear on that chopper.

   “Wait.” Rora called to him. “You need to get your
gear.”

   “That’s what I’m doing. I need to replace all the
stuff I lost in the chopper crash.” Derek replied sadly.

   “They found your stuff in the field.” Rora told him
happily. “It’s in the commander’s tent. He wanted to talk to you before we
left.”

   “Sweet!” Derek said with genuine excitement. That
gear had history and those weapons each had a story. He had been disappointed
when he thought they were lost, and he was thrilled to get them back.

   Rora led the way to the commander’s tent and went
inside. Derek followed and Micah did as well after a slight hesitation. The
commanding officer was a colonel in the new C.C.A. Military Intelligence
division. He was young for his rank, and that meant he was either well
connected or very capable. The C.C.A. tried to avoid politics and generally
focus on merit, but there were still big money Patricians who had influence.

    The colonel was dressed in combat fatigues and had
a pistol strapped to his hip. An M4 carbine rested on the table in front of him
along with some maps. Derek’s gear was on another table behind him. His blond
hair was cut short in a brush cut and his face cleanly shaved. He examined
Derek, Rora, and Micah with deep blue eyes. The colonel nodded to Micah as he
entered and received a nod back in return. Derek assumed that meant the colonel
was Micah’s handler.

   “So you are the infamous Derek Storm?” The man
asked in a slightly mocking tone.

   “I don’t know about infamous…” Derek replied back
jovially.

   “Oh, it’s infamous.” The colonel stated with a
laugh. “The path of destruction and death you have left across the country is
becoming quite legendary at this point.”

   “Don’t forget all the vehicles he has wrecked.”
Rora chimed in.

   “Very funny…” Derek snapped back at Rora.

   “I’m Colonel Sanders.” The colonel told Derek and
stuck out his hand. “I just wanted to meet you in person before you left.”

   “A pleasure to meet you.” Derek said formally as he
shook the colonel’s hand.

   “And you.” The man replied seriously. “I have a
feeling I will be telling my grandkids one day about the time I shook your
hand.”

   Derek nodded, slightly embarrassed by the
attention. “Uh, my gear?”

   “Sorry.” Colonel Sanders said. “Here you go.”

   Derek collected his gear, and after a quick check
of his weapons he began strapping it on. His ruined bulletproof vest had been
replaced by an Improved Outer Tactical Vest or IOTV. It was much better body
armor with better coverage and stronger protection, and he gratefully pulled
that on. He slipped the sheaths holding his sawed off shotgun and machete onto
his back and buckled on the tactical holster with his pistol to his hip. His
combat knife completed his kit and he felt whole again. His armor and weapons
were like an extension of his self.

   He was relieved to see the phone and earpiece
amongst the gear. It wouldn’t have surprised him if the Faceless had
confiscated it or even destroyed it. Derek slipped it into a pocket to put on
later. He didn’t want Colonel Sanders to think it was anything special. The
cell towers no longer worked, so he might have wondered why Derek was using it.
And Derek wanted to keep the Voice as his ace in the hole as much as possible.
It was bad enough the Faceless seemed to know about him.

   “Thanks.” Derek said after he was done. “I really
appreciate you finding my gear; we’ve been through a lot together.”

   “I bet. “ The colonel said with a grunt. “It is
unconventional, but I guess what you do is pretty unconventional.”

   “Running the partisans can’t be too conventional.”
Derek pointed out.

   The colonel sighed. “More so than you would think.”
He replied. “No offense to Micah, but most of the partisans other than him are
just looking for handouts. It’s more of a logistics operation than an
insurgency.”

   “We need better weapons and supplies if you want us
to be more offensive.” Micah said defensively. “Give us new rifles, body armor,
and explosives and we can attack the U.S.T.G forces.”

   “Unless you swear allegiance to the C.C.A. you know
I cannot do that.” Colonel Sanders argued. “And you know how independent your
folks are. They don’t want to have anyone tell them what they can and can’t do.”

   “I know.” Micah grumbled disappointedly.

   “All right, enough small talk.” Rora interrupted.
“We need to go.”

   “The chopper you came in on is waiting to take you
to the nearest air base.” The colonel informed them. “NASA sent a jet for you.”

   “Great. Thanks for helping us out even though it
didn’t pan out the way you thought.” Derek replied sincerely.

   “Anything we can do to keep the U.S.T.G. from
taking over, I’m always up for it.” Colonel Sanders told him. “If you ever need
anything just let me know.”

  Derek nodded and then led an anxious Rora out of the
tent. Micah followed along glumly behind them. He walked to the chopper with
them, his head down and sad frown on his face. Derek liked the kid and he had
stuck around to try to help them. It wasn’t his fault the cave had been a trap
or that his fellow hillmen wouldn’t join the C.C.A.

   When they go to the chopper, Derek turn around and
put his hands on Micah’s shoulders. “Look at me kid.” He ordered Micah in a
fatherly voice. “You did really well out there. You should be proud of how you
handled yourself.”

   “I know.” Micah agreed in a defeated tone. “It’s
just that because my people are stubborn and won’t join the C.C.A., we will
probably be wiped out or enslaved by the U.S.T.G.”

   “You just need to keep fighting.” Derek told him.
“Never give up, never surrender.”

   “That seems to contradict Rule #11, since they
could run or hide.” Rora pointed out in confusion.

   “Sometimes you have to break the rules.” Derek
growled. “Dying would be better than being under the U.S.T.G.’s thumb.”

   “But what am I supposed to do?” Micah asked dejectedly.
“We just don’t have the firepower.”

   That was true, Derek thought to himself. How could
he help this kid? All he and his people wanted was to be free to live their
lives without the government telling them what to do. An admirable goal that
Derek himself subscribed to.  He shook his head, at a loss for what to do. Then
it hit him.

   “Give him your rifle Rora.” He ordered her.

   “What?” She asked warily.

   “Give him your rifle.” Derek told her as he shoved
his captured M-18 into Micah’s stunned hands. “And kid. You can take the rest
of the weapons and gear on board the chopper. We can always get more guns for
ourselves.”

   The partisan leader’s face lit up like a kid at Christmas.
“All of this?” He asked excitedly.

   “All of it.” Derek agreed with a grin. “Just make
sure you use it to fight for freedom from the U.S.T.G. and not against other
hillmen.”

   “I will.” Micah replied with complete seriousness.

   Rora helped Derek empty all their looted gear and
weapons out of the chopper and then she got in. Derek took a second to clap
Micah on the shoulder and give him a nod before he climbed on board. They left
the kid there grinning like an idiot surrounded by all his newfound treasures.
Derek hoped the kid made it through the war unscathed, but he knew that was
unlikely. All Derek could do was give him a fighting chance, the rest was up to
Micah.

   “So do you really have a soft spot, or did the Red
Beret captain hit a nerve?” Rora asked as the chopper sped away.

   “Does it matter?” Derek asked. “It was the right
thing to do.”

   “Maybe.” Rora muttered to herself.

   “So what has you so all bothered?” Derek asked her,
trying to change the subject.

   “We have a new lead on the ARK.” She informed him
enthusiastically. “Augie got some intel that the computer core from Olympus
Station has been recovered and it may have the location.”

   “Why would the location be on the core from Olympus
Station?” Derek wondered.

   “Because Doors kept track of everything.” Rora
explained. “He may not have known the literal location, but he should have
footage of the caves. We can see who went in and where they went after. The ARK
was there, but now it isn’t. The Faceless had to have moved it, we just need to
find out where they took it.”

   “That makes sense.” Derek said slowly. “So where is
the core now?”

   “It fell in the desert near Deming, New Mexico
which is west of El Paso.”

   “That’s going to be interesting.” Derek replied
with a shake of his head. “That is disputed territory. Do we have permission
from the N.R.T. to go there?”

   “Not only do we have permission, they are sending a
squad of Texas Rangers to escort us.” Rora informed him.

   “This oughta be fun.” Derek said sarcastically.