Wasteland Rules: Die Fighting (The World After Book 4) (5 page)

   He had been pursuing a bounty in New Mexico when he
had encountered a small band of Texas Rangers. They were out of their
jurisdiction but they had apparently been pursuing the same man. Derek had
caught the bounty, but the Rangers had showed up seconds later to demand he
turn the man over to them. Derek had refused and things had become heated.
Ultimately he had challenged the Ranger Sergeant to a fist fight. Derek had
been handily winning the fight when the others had jumped in and clubbed him
down with their rifle butts. When he had regained consciousness the Rangers and
his bounty were gone. They had never gotten his name so it was unlikely these
Rangers would connect him, but you never knew.

   “Lieutenant Daniels, Texas Rangers, Company L.” The
Ranger said in a thick Texas drawl as he stuck his hand out. “Welcome to
Texas.”

   Rora introduced herself and Derek as she shook his
hand. Derek shook the man’s hand and breathed an internal sigh of relief when
the Rangers didn’t react to his name. Derek gave the lieutenant a quick once
over. The man was tall and fit with blue eyes peering out from a browned face. Some
of that was due to the burned in tan a man gets from spending a lot of time
outdoors. His uniform, like all the others, was neatly ironed but had signs of
wear.

   He was also surprisingly young to be a lieutenant,
but the constant state of war had necessitated the rapid expansion of the
Rangers and the military. That meant that a lot of younger people had been able
to rise quickly in the ranks based on talent and not having to wait for the
“appropriate” time to pass. Derek liked his look though. He and his men all
looked like they were squared away, but routinely saw action and were not desk
jockeys sent to make a good impression. If this was a trap, they would need
good men fighting beside them.

   “Have you been briefed on the mission?” Rora asked
him.

    “Yes and we are ready to go as soon as you are.”
The lieutenant informed them.

    “We are ready right now.” Rora replied quickly.
“Let’s go. We don’t want to give anyone else an opportunity to pick up the
core.”

   “All we need are the GPS coordinates.” Lieutenant
Daniels told Rora as he gestured for his men to mount up.

   “Head west out into the desert, I’ll give you the
exact coordinates as we get closer.” Rora answered coolly.

   “Okay, have it your way.” The lieutenant chuckled
as they climbed into the SUV. “We have a deal; I’m not going to screw you
over.”

   “Rule #24, don’t share anything you don’t need to.”
Rora quoted to him.

   “Whose rules are those?” The young lieutenant asked
inquiringly.

El Paso, Texas

September 12, 2029

   The convoy exited El Paso and headed through the no
man’s land that surrounded the N.R.T. The N.R.T. maintained a buffer that was
kept clear of brush and obstacles and constantly patrolled. Sensors marked the
border and warned of anyone entering without permission. Beyond that was the de
facto demilitarized zone between Aztlan and Texas. But everyone knew that the
Rangers and the Aztlan paramilitaries operated in that area all the time.

   The lieutenant and Rora spent the next hour or so
of the drive debating the rules and their merits. The young man seemed
particularly opposed to most of them on the basis that they wouldn’t work in an
organization, especially if everyone seemed in it for themselves. Derek knew he
was right, but the rules were for survival in the dog eat dog world of the
wasteland. Not the civilized confines of the N.R.T. But they were young and it
meant he didn’t have to talk, so he tuned them out and focused on the task at
hand.

   They were very likely heading into a trap. The
trick was to spring the trap without warning the would-be trappers that you
were on to them. Then you could capture a few and find out who sent them and
why. Maybe it would help him get a handle on who the traitor was inside NASA.
Someone seemed to be one step ahead of them in revealing where they were going
to be and why.

   While the other two were talking, Derek quietly
asked the Voice to scan the area they were approaching. He instructed the Voice
to look for any activity like tire tracks or disturbed dirt or sand. It was
pretty remote, so the odds of someone else being out their randomly were very,
very slim. The Voice also checked for communications or electronic signals in
the vicinity.

   “No communication signals on any frequency Major.
But I did find an impact crater and tire tracks to and from it.” The Voice
informed him. “It looks like someone else got there first.”

   “How many vehicles?” Derek mumbled.

   “Looks like just one.” The Voice replied. “The
tracks lead into Deming, I lost them once they hit hardtop.”

   “Thanks. Check out Deming for any activity.” Derek
requested quietly.

   “Did you have something to add Major Storm?” The
lieutenant asked.

   “No, just talking to myself.” Derek replied calmly
and pretended to go to sleep.

    They arrived at the impact site roughly twenty
minutes later and it was exactly as the Voice had said. Everyone got out to
inspect the site and the Rangers fanned out to search the area. The lieutenant
carried a USAS-12 CQ automatic shotgun, but the rest carried M-16s or M-249
SAWs. They operated in teams of four with every fourth man carrying the SAW.
The Rangers took up defensive positions around the SUVs and the crash site
without needing instructions.

   It quickly became obvious that the core wasn’t
there. Only an empty impact crater that looked entirely too large to be caused
by something as small as a computer core. Derek pointed out the tire tracks
heading north northwest. The tracks looked like they had been made by a single four
wheel drive vehicle with oversized tires.

   “Looks like someone was here first.” Derek
ventured.

   “How is that possible?” The lieutenant asked.
“Nobody else knew the location.”

   “I suppose a scavenger could have seen it fall and
recovered it.” Derek pointed out. “It is only one set of tire tracks.”

   “Maybe we can get it back before they sell it.”
Rora suggested anxiously.

   “What’s in the direction those tracks are heading?”
Derek asked Lieutenant Daniels.

   “The only thing out that way is the town of
Deming.” He responded. “It’s not technically within the N.R.T. so we don’t go
there often.”

   “Who does it belong to?” Derek asked.

   “No one really. It has a small population of old
timers and scavengers, but it doesn’t have any value tactically. Neither the
N.R.T. or Aztlan claim it.” Lieutenant Daniels explained. “We have sort of a
tacit agreement to stay out.”

   “Let’s go check it out.” Derek suggested.

   “All right.” The lieutenant agreed. “Mount up.”

  Everyone jumped back into the Ranger technicals and
off they roared in a cloud of dust. They headed northwest towards Deming,
picking up a small highway that led north into the town. The Rangers were very
professional, Derek noted, the gunners kept a watchful eye and they each were
rotated towards a different 120 degree arc so they had full coverage of their
surroundings. According to the Ranger lieutenant the town had once been the
county seat and had a sizeable population, but now was virtually abandoned.

   It was right off Interstate 10 but hardly anyone
traveled that route anymore since Aztlan controlled the territory to the West.
No one in North America shipped anything to or from Aztlan so not even the
Haulers came down the interstate anymore. Derek had also heard the N.R.T. had
blown up all the overpasses between Tucson and El Paso to prevent an invasion
force from using that to head straight into the heart of the N.R.T. The town
essentially occupied a dead zone with little value.

   They traveled up Route 11 until they reached the
edge of town and it was worse than Derek had expected. It started where the
agricultural fields that had surrounded the town were overtaken by the ever
encroaching desert sands. The buildings were coming apart and falling down. A
combination of sand, wind, and neglect had ravaged the small town. Rusting
remains of buildings thrust like fingers out of the ever encroaching sand.
There was no sign of any inhabitants or any sign that anyone was even living
there.

   “This is odd.” Lieutenant Daniels said as they
reached the edge of town.” There should be someone around. It’s been awhile
since I was here, but reports said at least fifty people still lived here.”

   “Could they be hiding from us?” Rora asked.

   “Unlikely.” The lieutenant answered slowly. “They
have no reason to fear us.”

   “This smells like a trap to me.” Derek insisted.

   “There are no reports of anyone else operating in
the area and no sign of hostiles.” The lieutenant pointed out. “We have a duty
to check on the inhabitants, maybe they need medical attention.”

   “Okay, but we need to be cautious.” Derek grumbled.
“Can we get a satellite view of the area?”

   “We don’t have anything like that available to us.”
The lieutenant said in a slightly annoyed tone. “We have to do everything the
old fashioned way. Just like the Rangers always have.”

   “You weren’t talking to him were you?” The Voice
spoke in Derek’s ear.

   “No.” Derek subvocalized, the roar of the engine
covering it up.

   “I have a commercial satellite but the resolution
isn’t great. It’s such a remote area that there isn’t any good coverage. Much
of what I used to use has been retasked by the U.S.T.G. to cover their war
effort.” The Voice explained. “But, I see no movement or vehicles at all in any
part of town.”

   The three Ranger SUVs slowly turned right and pulled
onto the main street that ran through town. The traffic light that had once
controlled what looked like a sizeable intersection had long rotted away. Interstate
10 loomed in the background. The main stretch looked like the only part of town
to survive the ravages of the Collapse and the Aftermath. Dilapidated store
fronts with empty windows stretched all along both sides of the street. There
were a few signs of habitation here. Some of the storefronts had been boarded
up and hand painted signs advertised liquor and water. The largest was a three
story building that looked like it had been a hotel. And one had a small sign
out front with a silver five pointed star painted on it.

   The convoy rolled to a slow stop in front of that
building. It looked like an old store front that had been fortified. Unlike the
other buildings it had concrete road barriers placed in front of it and the windows
had been covered with sheet metal rather than plywood. Small firing slits were
cut in the metal over the windows and in the steel door in the entrance. Barbed
wire rimmed the rooftop.

   “The Town Marshall’s office.” The lieutenant
explained. “He’s a retired Ranger who moved out here to get away from
civilization. If anyone can tell us what is going on around here it’s him.”

   “You sure he’s in there?” Derek asked skeptically.
“Wouldn’t you think he would come out when he saw a convoy of Rangers?”

   “He’s probably just napping.” Lieutenant Daniels
said dismissively. “Nothing much goes on around here. The only thing he deals
with are the drunks at the saloon.”

   “Be careful.” Derek warned. “Rule #12, the safest
looking place is always a trap.”

   The lieutenant snorted flippantly and shook his
head as he exited the SUV. He knocked on the door and then pushed it open. He
took a quick look inside and then grinned back at Derek. Obviously he hadn’t
seen any trap or threat inside.

   “Gordon, you old dog! Wake up!” The lieutenant
hollered as he went inside.

   Anything else he might have said was swallowed up
by the explosion that ripped through the building and blew his body back out
into the street. The lieutenant tumbled limply a few times and lay there
smoking. Cries of anger and dismay echoed throughout their SUV and over the
radio. The other Rangers moved to exit the vehicles, but Derek stopped them.

   “Stay in the vehicles!” He ordered. “There might be
snipers or other explosives!”

   Amazingly they obeyed him. The tone of command he
had developed when leading troops caused them to instinctively obey him. Derek
knew they didn’t technically report to him, but he was the most experienced
person in the group and he was best suited to get them out of this.

   “We need to get out of this town; it’s a trap for
sure.” He commanded.

   “Major, there is movement in the southern part of
town.” The Voice suddenly interrupted. “Looks like six, seven, no; nine pickup
technicals heading your way. Seven have machines guns swivel mounted on the
roll bar but two of them have some sort of launcher system mounted on them. All
of them are full of armed men.”

   “Why didn’t you spot them earlier?” Derek asked in
frustration.

   “They were concealed inside an old trucking depot.”
The Voice explained. “Without infrared it would have been impossible to see
them. They must have been there for a while or I would have spotted them on
satellite.”

   “So this is a well-planned trap…” Derek said with a
grimace.

   “What do we do sir?” The Ranger driving their SUV
asked.

   Derek risked opening the door to take a look
around. No one shot him, so that was a good sign. He noticed that rubble had
been piled to block any alleys between the buildings, but the main street
seemed clear. Then he noticed the patches of road that seemed newer than the
others. They were too uniform to be repairs and they were on either end of the
street. IEDs or mines had been planted to block their exit. The only way out
was through the approaching technicals.

   Normally he would risk the combat with the
technicals. Regular machine guns couldn’t penetrate the armor of the SUVs they
were in and he might risk an RPG or two. But if they had mounted launchers that
meant they had weapons capable of damaging or even destroying the SUVs. The
Rangers might win the confrontation but they would take heavy losses.

   “How much time do we have?” Derek asked the Voice.

   “They will be on you in five minutes.” The Voice
replied anxiously. “I have identified the launchers as M3 MAAWS recoilless
rifles.”

   Derek knew the M3 was definitely capable of
shredding these SUVS. They needed to find a place they could mount a defense
from, something that would provide a measure of protection.  The old hotel
looked like their best option. It would provide a good vantage point to fire
down on approaching vehicles. They could array the SUVs to give them a good
field of fire when the attacking technicals rounded the corner onto the main
street. Their 360 degree arc would allow them to fire before the swivel mounted
guns on the pickups could be brought to bear.

   But, it was likely the ambushers had other troops
hidden inside the town. They were probably inside the old hotel waiting to open
fire when the technicals arrived. They needed to clear that structure and take
control quickly. He didn’t want to get caught in a crossfire or have his
gunners picked off by snipers.

   “There are nine pickup technicals with machine guns
and recoilless rifles full of gunmen heading up the road we came in on.” Derek
informed them. “The other roads out are mined and the alleys blocked with
rubble.”

   “So how do we get out?” Rora asked nervously.

   “We can’t, we are going to have to make a stand
here.” Derek told them calmly. “Move the other two SUVs to the southern side of
the street and prepare to fire when the technicals round the corner. But stay
inside until we can confirm there are no snipers. Take us over in front of the
tall building there.”