Reward: 1 Eagles Armory Ticket
“Sounds easy enough,” Caustic said.
“Why do you have to say things like that?” Scarlett asked. “You’re totally jinxing us. Nothing is ever easy enough.”
“Sorry,” Caustic said. “My bad.”
“Same strategy as normal?” Braddock asked. “We go in quiet, until we need to be loud?”
“It’s a sound strategy,” Boothe said. “Let’s scope the place out before we decide on anything.”
It only took a few minutes before Boothe’s goggles pointed out a feature on the horizon and he slowed the van to a stop. Demolished cars were piled on top of each other to form a wall that stretched off into the distance. A narrow path wound its way through the wall, revealing even more cars - an entire field of them that seemed to go on for miles.
“I guess this is the place,” Boothe said.
“Do you see any enemies?” Scarlett asked.
Boothe’s goggles weren’t picking up anything. He sent Marty out the window to fly up and take a look. The field of broken cars stretched in about a half-mile radius away from a large warehouse in the center. Paths cut through the field making it look like an enormous steel spiderweb.
Enemies Detected: 4
“I don’t see any enemies in the outer area,” Boothe said. “But Marty spotted some on the roof of a building in the center of the place.”
“What do you think?” Braddock asked. “How do we do this?”
Boothe shook his head. “It’s not going to be easy. There is a main path through the junkyard, but its blocked by several armored vehicles. We’ll have to go in on foot. The other paths are too narrow for the van - I would have no maneuverability. I’ll park it next to the wall.”
He tried to position the van where it would blend in with the rest of the vehicles and hopefully go unnoticed. Then they stepped out and readied their weapons. Boothe carried his carbine in his hands, and had his backpack strapped over his shoulders, just in case they needed supplies. It was now full of medkits and ammunition that he had bought from Wulfa back at the Palisades. The backpack was so well balanced, that he barely felt the weight.
Scarlett carried the explosives over her shoulder, but kept her axe ready in case she needed it.
Caustic led the way down the path, the minigun that he had taken from the Palisade robots pointing forward. Boothe walked right behind him, with Braddock in the middle, and Scarlett and Mariko in the back. Marty flew slightly above the stacks of cars, scanning for enemies. Soon, the walls of steel blocked out the sun, allowing only a narrow stream of light to shine down the center of the path. Boothe looked up at the cars, stacked precariously, and hoped that they would not tumble and fall, crushing them all to death. What a way to die - killed by an avalanche of rusty metal.
They crept down the path until Marty highlighted two bandit guards standing around the curve ahead. Boothe held out his hand and whispered to “Stop.”
“Two ahead,” he said, “Just around the corner.”
Without saying a word, Mariko walked up to him. She put her arm around his waist and pointed up at the wall of cars.
“Uh…” Boothe said, not understanding.
Mariko pointed more insistently to the top of the wall. Then to his glove, then to the top again.
“Oh!” Boothe wrapped his arm around her thin waist, aimed his grapple glove up of the stack of cars and launched the hook. It hit metal with a loud clang and dragged them both through the air to land on top of the smashed roof of a brown Oldsmobile. The tower shifted precariously below them.
Boothe looked down at the two guards, who were searching around for the source of the clanging noise. They looked up and saw Boothe standing there only a moment before two suppressed gunshots fired from Mariko’s rifle, and blood sprayed out of the back of their heads.
Mariko gave Boothe a thumbs up, then she jumped back to the ground. Boothe hopped down behind her and they continued down the path.
Soon, the narrow corridor opened to the area immediately surrounding the warehouse. Marty scanned the grounds and saw that there were at least five guards standing around, along with a robotic turret mounted on each corner of the building. The warehouse itself was actually an old Walmart Supercenter. The walls were all still standing, but the sliding glass doors that had once welcomed customers were now torn down, replaced instead by gaping holes at three points along the front and right side of the building.
Loud clanking, mechanical grinding, and bursts of flames came from inside the building, but Boothe couldn’t see what was causing the noise through the dense smoke that filled the place.
Several vehicles were parked around the area, many looking more like tanks than cars. They had been heavily modified, cutting pieces off one car and welding them onto another, then adding guns and spikes and other more powerful weapons. This place had been busy. It looked like the Eagles were not the only ones preparing for war.
The group took cover behind one of the tank-like vehicles and Boothe searched for some way to infiltrate the building.
“The side entrance looks less guarded than the front,” Boothe said. “If I can hack the turret on the corner of the roof there, we should be able to sneak in and get a look at what’s inside.”
“I’ll cover,” Mariko said. She turned and climbed the stack of cars on the edge of the open area. When she flattened herself on the top of the wall, she completely disappeared. Only the barrel of her rifle was visible, and Boothe wouldn’t have even been able to see that if he hadn’t known she was there.
“I’ll stay back here to cover too,” Caustic said. “I’d just draw attention if I tried to move in closer.”
“Okay,” Boothe said. “Be ready.”
Caustic nodded.
Boothe, Braddock, and Scarlett waited for the enemies in the area to face the other direction, then took the opportunity to creep across the yard towards where more vehicles were parked near the side entrance. They had to cross a wide-open area to get there, but Boothe hoped that they had timed it right and the guards would not notice them.
Group Stealth (70%) - SUCCESS!
They made it to a large armored truck and took cover behind it just as the guards turned around to scan the area.
The turret on the corner of the building was the next obstacle. Boothe sent Marty hovering towards it, being careful to stay out of the eyeline of the guards. The drone flew up to the roof and connected to the circuit board on the back of the turret.
Hacking (90%) - SUCCESS!
“Okay, we’re clear,” Boothe said.
“I’ll wait and cover from here,” Braddock said. “Scarlett should be the one to plant the explosives. They’ll never see her.”
“I hope so,” Scarlett said.
“I’ll be right behind you to watch your back,” Boothe said.
“You better.”
Boothe looked down at his drone’s video feed. Marty gave him a good view of all the enemies from above, so he could easily time their movements.
“Okay, it’s clear,” Boothe said. “Go now.”
Scarlett ran towards the side entrance of the building, with Boothe close behind her. A lone guard stood, facing away from them towards the front of the building. Scarlett crept up behind him and with a single swing, sent the blade of her axe halfway through his neck, killing him before he could even make a noise.
Boothe stood with his back against the wall near the open doorway. The inside of the place was hot and stank of oil and fire from the machinery. He brought Marty down to scan for enemies.
Enemies detected: 28
Robots worked along a conveyer belt, tearing apart old vehicles and putting them together in new ways. Two bandits walked along a catwalk that stretched across the ceiling, looking down and monitoring the work.
“Twenty-eight enemies,” Boothe whispered. “Maybe more – it’s hard to see through all the smoke.”
“Good,” Scarlett said. “It’ll provide more cover. You stay out
here, and I’ll go in and plant the explosives.”
“If you can get one onto each of the central pillars, that should be enough to take the whole building down,” Boothe said.
“Got it,” Scarlett nodded, then she disappeared into the building.
Boothe turned his infrared sight on, trying to follow her movements. The place was so hot that everything turned into a rippling orange and red pattern. He watched her form move through the warehouse, creeping mere inches behind robotic enemies, but none noticed her.
She planted the first explosives, sticking them onto one of the central pillars, then flipping a switch to arm them. Then she crept along to the second pillar, and planted explosives there as well. Only two more. Then they could sneak out, explode the place, and no one would ever know they had been here.
Piece of cake.
Suddenly, like the bells of an alarm clock amplified up to eleven, a ringing noise came from Boothe’s backpack. Every robots and bandit in the building turned and looked directly towards him. He ripped the pack off his shoulders and opened it. Inside, he found the source of the noise, a small device like a Walkman, with a note taped to it.
Only one cell is going to get to fight Orion, and it isn’t going to be Atomic Massacre.
XOXO
-Lucas
Then the gunfire began.
3
“If we make it out of this, I’m going to kill Lucas,” Boothe muttered under his breath.
Bullets pounded into the wall beside him, then one cut through his armor and into his leg.
Boothe takes 2 DAMAGE!
Boothe HP - 4/6
He saw a bandit crouched at the corner of the building, preparing to aim another shot into his head, just as Marty fired his laser. With his new upgrade, the laser beam appeared to be wrapped in electricity as it cut through the bandit like a bolt of lightning. The bandit shook with convulsions, his arms and legs spasming uncontrollably. Boothe took the opportunity to lift his rifle and fire a single shot into his face.
Further messages of dead enemies and XP gains appeared at the bottom of the screen, but Boothe paid no attention to them. The robots who had been assembling vehicles rotated their arms, somehow turning the claws that they had been using to move things around on the conveyer belts into the familiar miniguns that most of the robotic enemies had. Then they marched noisily towards the exits searching for the intruders. Boothe couldn’t see Scarlett through the commotion, and had to duck back around the corner when one of the bandits on top of the catwalk fired at him.
“Boothe and Scarlett, are you guys clear of the front of the building?” Caustic asked through the earpieces.
“I’m clear,” Boothe said.
“Me too,” Scarlett whispered. She was trapped inside somewhere, but it seemed that the enemies still had not noticed her.
Moments later, a huge explosion rocked the warehouse, sending robots clattering in every direction. The metal struts that held up the ceiling melted and bent, and the front end of the structure screeched as it collapsed to the ground. With the smaller doors around the place being blocked by machinery, that left the side entrance as the only way into and out of the building. The entrance that Boothe still stood next to. Enemies would be pouring out of there soon - he needed to get away fast.
He aimed his grappling hook to the roof and soared upwards. The two turrets at the front of the building had already been destroyed by Caustic’s explosion, but the two in the back were still active. Boothe quickly sent Marty to disable one, while he ran to disable the other on his own, before they could notice him. He and Marty both hacked their turrets simultaneously, the miniguns whining to a stop.
“Good work buddy,” he said to the drone. “Now let’s go kill some dudes.”
From the rooftop, Boothe had a great view of the situation. The rest of the team had taken out the bandits that were on guard at the front of the building. The only enemies left were inside, and filing out of the place through the single exit. As they emerged, bullets and laser beams tore them to pieces. Boothe fired his carbine on full-auto, nearly every bullet hitting one of the many enemies, Braddock shot round after round from his two revolvers, and Marty floated above, firing a perfectly accurate laser every few seconds.
“How’s it going in there?” Boothe asked.
“Almost ready,” Scarlett responded, then “Shit! They see me!”
Gunfire echoed from inside the building. Boothe looked down at the doorway, now piled high with the broken remains of robots, while more continued to march out. They had the entrance blocked. There was no way in to help her.
“I’m pinned down in here guys!” Scarlett yelled. “The bombs are in place, but I can’t get out! I’m in the back of the building on the left. I need some help here!”
Boothe ordered Marty to hover into the open doorway and above the other robots, hoping that the drone wouldn’t be noticed. It flew across the smoky warehouse, scanning for Scarlett and notifying Boothe of enemy placements. The flashes of automatic weapons and flamethrowers lit the place up, all aimed at the back corner where Scarlett was hiding behind a partially assembled armored truck. Bullets slammed into the side of the vehicle, bouncing off its steel plating and ricocheting in every direction. The robots marched steadily forward as they fired, closing in. Soon Scarlett would have no place left to hide.
“I’ll try to take out a few of them,” Boothe said. “Caustic, move around to the northeast side of the building and make an exit.”
“Got it,” Caustic replied.
Boothe used his drone to target the closest enemies to Scarlett, firing his laser over and over again as fast as he was able. The laser took some time to recharge, but each blast was near guaranteed to hit, and he could take out the robots in two shots, or even just one if he got a lucky critical.
One dropped, then another. Marty’s lightning shot stunned one robot, so he shifted focus to different one, trying to slow their forward movement as much as possible. Trying to protect Scarlett for as long as he could. Until…
BOOOOM!
The explosion shook the building and Boothe wobbled on the roof. He dropped down to one knee as the northeast wall opened. On the drone’s camera feed, light poured into the smoky interior as brick shattered and metal braces tore inward.
“Door’s open,” Caustic said, then he launched a grenade into the building at the robots, sending them flying backwards.
“Watch the explosives!” Scarlett yelled. “You’ll set off the dynamite and blow us all up!”
Boothe ordered his drone towards the opening that Caustic had created, hovering above Scarlett as she ran for the hole in the wall. She leaped over the smoking debris and finally escaped from the warehouse and into open air.
“Let’s get the hell out of here!” she said.
“Up front,” Braddock said. “I have our getaway car ready.”
Boothe ran to the front of the building while his drone followed Scarlett and Caustic around the side. Braddock sat in the driver’s seat of an SUV with a heavy plow on the front and a mounted minigun on the roof. Mariko held the gun in both hands and fired a barrage of bullets at the robots as they emerged from the other side of the building. Boothe jumped from the roof, his boots absorbing the impact of the fall, and he ran to the vehicle. Caustic and Scarlett rounded the building moments later, with Marty floating in the air just behind them.
When they had all climbed into the car, Boothe yelled “Okay, go! Go!”
Braddock slammed his foot down onto the gas and the vehicle jerked forward. Mariko continued firing on the robots while Scarlett dug the detonator from the explosives bag. She extended the silver antennae, flipped the switch on the side of the blocky device, then pressed the large red button in the middle.
Two seconds later, the building exploded into a fiery ball that Boothe had to turn away from or be blinded. A wave of heat rolled down the path and across the junkyard. Walls of cars toppled over in a cacophony of bending steel and crunching glass, closing o
ff the path that they drove down. A truck fell and slammed into the side of the armored SUV they rode in, pinning it in place.
No matter how much Braddock pushed on the accelerator, the car would not move.
“Everybody okay?” Braddock asked.
When they each replied in the affirmative, he said, “Looks like we are walking from here.”
“What happened back there?” Scarlett asked. “We were in the clear, I almost had the explosives set, then all hell breaks loose?”
Boothe handed her the note that had been strapped to the noisy device in his backpack. She read it to herself and then looked up at him.
“I’m going to kill Lucas,” she said.
“Not if I get to him first,” Boothe replied.
Interlude 9
Future
“So how are things going?” Dad asked.
I hated this question. Did he really want to hear everything about my life, spilled out here over the dinner table? Probably, but I still wasn’t going to do it.
“Pretty good,” I said.
He picked up another slice of Hawaiian pizza, which was both of our favorites, and shoved it into his mouth. Tonight, Dad hadn’t brought the five-dollar junk from Little Caesars, but the good stuff from a local place called Urban Crust. They put jalapenos on their Hawaiian, which only made it better.
“You bringing your grades up?” Dad asked with his mouth full. “Getting your homework done?”
“Yeah, I’ve been doing better,” I said. “I’ve gotten good grades on all my homework.”
I was glad that I didn’t have to lie to him about this. Despite playing Apocalypse 2020 quite a bit, I’d still managed to get everything done and made A’s and B’s. Graduation still wasn’t a guarantee - I’d still have to get high scores on my finals - but it was much more likely than it had been a couple weeks earlier.
“Have you put more thought into your future?” Dad asked. “Do you still want to go to college in Austin?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe.”
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