Driving (80%) – SUCCESS!
One truck had been eliminated, but the other still chased them, and with the damage that the Falcon had taken, the truck was gaining.
“How is that bigass truck moving faster than we are?” Lucas asked from the back. He continued to fire at the thing, trying to take out the driver, or the tires. It was no use - the windshield was bulletproof and the tires were protected by near impenetrable steel fenders.
Mariko rode her motorcycle behind the truck. Every time she tried to get along the side, it swerved towards her and forced her to move back once again or get hit. She fired her backup pistol at its rear to no effect.
“Not working,” she said.
“Hold on,” Boothe said, an idea popping into his head. “Marty, move up and give me a view from above the car. Mariko, stay to the side of the road.” He turned to Scarlett and Lucas, then reached down towards the hand brake. “You two, hold on.”
“What are you doing?” Scarlett asked, her face a picture of panic.
“Don’t worry,” Boothe said with a smile. Then he pulled the handbrake and turned the steering wheel hard to the right.
Driving (65%) - FAILURE!
Tires squealed. Scarlett screamed. Lucas slammed into the side door, and had to hold tight to the passenger seat to avoid flying out the window. The Falcon swerved and tilted onto two wheels, almost tipping over.
Driving (75%) - SUCCESS!
Boothe regained control just in time to stop it from rolling.
“What the hell was that Boothe?” Lucas asked, rubbing his chest where it had hit the door.
“It would have worked in Mario Kart,” Boothe said.
“Mario Kart?” Lucas yelled. “This isn’t freaking Mario Kart!”
“Try it again,” Scarlett said.
“What?” Lucas yelled. “We almost flipped, and that truck is nearly on us!”
Boothe glanced up into the rearview mirror. The truck was less than twenty yards behind them now. Four-foot-long spikes emerged from its grill, reaching out towards the Falcon. Had those been there before?
“I saw what you were trying to do Boothe,” Scarlett said. “Try it again. You got this, I know it.”
Boothe’s hand gripped the gearshift in the space between their seats, and she put her hand over his. He nodded, then reached for the handbrake again.
“You people are freaking crazy!” Lucas said. He sat back and put his seatbelt on - Boothe didn’t even know the Falcon had seatbelts.
He lifted the handbrake.
Driving (65%) - SUCCESS!
This time when he spun the wheel, the car drifted perfectly, turning 180 degrees. Boothe quickly released the handbrake and shoved the gearshift into reverse before stomping back down onto the gas pedal again. Now Boothe kept one eye on Marty’s video feed. The drone flew above the car giving him a bird’s-eye view of the road. Boothe steered in reverse as they faced down the huge armored truck that was closing in on them.
He pressed the button on the steering wheel to activate the machineguns on the side of the Falcon, and fired. The guns spun up and started blasting bullets at the front of the truck, which was only about ten yards away now. Most bounced off the armor, sparking and ricocheting away, but some did damage, wearing away the steel plating. Scarlett and Lucas both stood up in their seats, rising through the T-top roof, and fired at the bulletproof windshield. Shards of glass blew outwards as the bullets chipped away at the glass until it was a completely opaque spiderweb of cracks.
Still, even though there was no way the driver could see where he was going, the truck gained on them, growing closer and closer, until the spikes in its grill slammed into the front of the Falcon. The car lurched and Boothe found that he no longer had any control. He let go of the wheel and pulled his foot off the accelerator, but the car was completely hooked to the truck now.
“We’re stuck!” Boothe yelled over the gunfire. “I can’t do anything!”
He looked into his rearview mirror and saw a curve ahead on the highway. If they didn’t change direction soon, the truck would push them right off the road.
“Stop shooting,” Mariko said through the headset. “I’m inside.”
“What?” Scarlett asked. “How the hell?”
Boothe pressed the button on the steering wheel to shut down the machineguns, and Lucas and Scarlett stopped firing at the windshield. They couldn’t see what was happening in the cab, but the truck swerved dangerously, every movement dragging the Falcon with it. Then the unmistakable splash of blood darkened the windshield.
The truck began to slow, the driver’s side door opened, and the bandit flew out, a wicked gash across his throat.
“Got him,” Mariko said, as the truck and the Falcon both slowed to a stop.
Boothe almost cheered when Mariko stepped out. Scarlett ran up and hugged her.
“Not bad,” Lucas said.
“How did you get in there like that?” Boothe asked.
“Picked the lock,” Mariko answered.
“You picked the lock on the back of the truck while going 90 miles an hour down the highway?”
She shrugged.
“Everybody okay?” Braddock asked in the headset.
“Yeah,” Boothe said. “Everybody’s fine.”
Braddock soon caught up to them on his motorcycle. He gave Mariko a ride to recover her bike, which she had to abandon when she jumped onto the back of the truck. While they were gone, Boothe, Lucas, and Scarlett worked together to get the Falcon and the truck disconnected. They disengaged the spikes with a button on the truck’s dashboard, then put both vehicles in reverse to separate them.
When Braddock returned, he popped the hood and examined the Falcon’s engine to see what was slowing the car down. A bullet had tore through a hose, which he simply patched and said “Good to go.”
Before they continued, they searched the truck. Inside, there was a stash of ammo and grenades, so they loaded up with what they needed. The bandits had guns and armor, but nothing as good as what the group was already equipped with. With that done, they got back into their own vehicles and started off down the highway again.
The whole ordeal had slowed them down quite a bit. Boothe had to remind himself that this was still a race, and they needed to move fast.
They found Highway 35 and turned south, then a couple of minutes later, the giant giraffe statue came into view and they arrived at the Dallas Zoo. A quest marker on Boothe’s overlay showed that the tungsten cache was somewhere inside of the place.
A tall cement wall surrounded the zoo and a heavy metal gate on electronic rails blocked the entrance.
Boothe parked the Falcon and they all walked towards the gate together. As they got closer, Boothe was amazed at what he saw on the other side.
While the area all around them was a dusty wasteland, green grass and trees grew within the walls, turning the zoo into a verdant jungle.
3
“You guys climb,” Lucas said. “I’ll watch your backs.”
Together, the team scrambled up the metal gate that blocked off the entrance to the zoo, then hopped down on the other side. With his grapple glove, Boothe didn’t have to climb. He launched himself over, landing on the other side without even touching the gate.
“Show-off,” Scarlett said with a smile.
When they were in, Lucas climbed over behind them. They each held their weapons at the ready, watching for enemies.
“There could be anything hiding in here,” Braddock said. “Keep your eyes peeled.”
Vines and brush had torn through the cement and consumed the entire zoo. Boothe spotted what was once a gift shop on the right, now broken apart by trees that had grown right through the brick walls.
“Where do we go?” Scarlett asked.
Boothe looked around, hoping his goggles would highlight the target, but it only showed that the tungsten cache was somewhere inside the zoo. No indication of where in the zoo it might be.
“I don’t know,�
�� Boothe said. “It’s not showing me anything specific.”
“Maybe we should split up?” Lucas suggested.
“No,” Scarlett said. “That’s a bad idea. Have you never seen a horror movie? We have no idea what’s in here. We need to stick together.”
“I agree,” Braddock said. “We might find the tungsten faster by splitting up, but getting back alive should be top priority.”
“I just hope that the other teams are having as hard a time as we have been,” Lucas said. “Or there’s no way we’re winning this race.”
“Less talking,” Mariko said. “More searching.”
So they walked into the jungle of the zoo. There was still a discernible sidewalk past buildings that had crumbled and fallen. Eventually the path split to the left and right where an old sign stood, hanging crooked on a rusty metal pole. Arrows on the sign labeled the parts of the zoo. To the left - Wilds of Africa (featuring Giants of the Savannah). To the right - Zoo North.
“Which way?” Scarlett asked.
Boothe looked down both paths and then said, “Left - Wilds of Africa.”
“How do you know?” Lucas asked.
“Look,” Boothe said, pointing. “To the right the whole area looks darker and less alive. Branches have fallen off the trees and the brush has started to turn yellow. It’s like the place is changing into the same kind of wasteland as the rest of the world, just a little slower.” He turned to the left and pointed towards the Wilds of Africa. “That path though, seems to get more green, more alive, as it leads further in. It’s like the zoo is telling us exactly where we should go, if we just pay attention.”
“Alright,” Lucas said. “I’m convinced. Wilds of Africa. I just hope we don’t run into any ‘Giants of the Savannah.’”
“Oh come on!” Scarlett said. “Since you said that, we’re definitely going to now! I swear, it’s like you guys don’t even listen to yourselves.”
The path to the left led into a long tunnel beneath what used to be a highway. Inside, vines had grown along the walls and ceiling. Grass and thorny underbrush covered the ground. All the gray cement was now covered in green leaves, with yellow flowers growing in patches from the vines.
“It’s pretty,” Mariko said. She had lifted the visor from her helmet, and her eyes were visible underneath. Boothe couldn’t see her mouth, but could tell by her eyes that she was smiling.
“It really is,” he agreed. He reached out and plucked one of the flowers from the vines on the wall and then slipped it behind Scarlett’s ear - the yellow contrasting against her black hair.
“You’re so corny,” she said, but she smiled and she didn’t take the flower off.
“This is still a race, you two,” Lucas said. “We should be running right now.”
“He’s right,” Scarlett said. “Let’s move.”
They jogged through the rest of the tunnel. On the others side, the jungle was more dense than it had been before. The sound of birds chirping and cawing came from the thick canopy above them.
They passed a sunken area on the right that was surrounded by metal railing. A worn sign on the rails said Mandrill - Mandrillus sphinx.
“Wonder where all the animals went?” Boothe asked.
“Who said they went anywhere?” Scarlett replied. She pointed to some scrapes on a tree nearby - large claw marks, and fresh. “I’ll take the lead – with Caustic gone, I think my Survival skill is highest.”
Nobody argued, and Scarlett stepped ahead, watching for more signs of animals. They passed other overgrown exhibits as the path curved towards the left: elephant, giraffe, zebra, ostrich, warthog, and perhaps most terrifying - the lion’s den, which was also empty.
“How are the plants growing?” Lucas asked.
“If I had to guess,” Braddock said. “I would say that this zoo had its own reservoirs and filtration. When the bombs dropped and the ecosystem was destroyed, the rain stopped, but this park still has not ran out of water and has developed its own cycle. It will run out eventually - probably soon, if I had to guess.”
“Does that mean somebody is here operating all of it?” Boothe asked.
“It’s possible,” Braddock said. “Though it could just as likely be automated.”
“There’s definitely a person here,” Scarlett said, pointing at a trail of footprints in the dirt. “Unless the animals started wearing boots.”
“I honestly would not be surprised,” Boothe said. “Either way, let’s follow them.”
They walked towards wherever the bootprints led, when a roar in the distance stopped them all mid-step. They turned as one and aimed their guns at the trees in the direction of the sound. Through the tangle of overgrowth, it was impossible to see what lay beyond.
“We need to move,” Boothe said.
“We don’t even know where we’re going though,” Lucas said.
“There.” Scarlett pointed towards a squat cement building fifteen yards ahead. The vegetation around it had been trimmed back and the bootprints led directly to a metal door.
Boothe ran up to the building and tried the handle - locked of course. A keypad was embedded into the wall next to it. Marty quickly connected to it and started working on the password.
Hacking (100%) - SUCCESS!
Another roar, somewhat closer now, and the screech of a smaller animal - a monkey of some kind maybe? Boothe shoved the metal door open and said, “Get in.”
They all quickly piled into the top landing of a narrow stairway inside, escaping from whatever had been stalking through the jungle. Braddock was the last one in, and he shut the door behind him. Fluorescent lights ran down the middle of the ceiling that steeply declined into the ground.
“Somebody is down here,” Scarlett said. “Somebody has been maintaining this place.”
“Yeah, I guess we’re on the right track then,” Boothe said, leading the way down.
“This feels creepy as hell,” Lucas said.
“I agree,” Mariko added.
“Do you think there will be dinosaurs?” Lucas asked. “This reminds me so much of that scene from Jurassic Park, where that guy is looking for the power switch and the raptor…”
“There’s not going to be dinosaurs,” Scarlett interrupted. “Why would there be dinosaurs?”
At the bottom of the stairs a hallway went forward a few yards before splitting to the left and right. Doors line the walls on both sides.
“Which way?” Boothe asked Scarlett.
She examined the ground and said, “I’m not sure. There are prints all over, going both directions.”
“More than one person?” Boothe asked.
She shook her head. “No, all the bootprints are from the same person. There are animal prints too though. Looks like some kind of ape here, and that one looks like a big cat.”
“Great,” Boothe said. “Okay, watch your backs. Let’s start left and then check right afterwards.”
So they moved to the left, looking through the doorways one at a time. Some of the rooms were large with stalls and food troughs and were connected to the exhibits by big sliding metal doors. Other rooms had tables and medical supplies. There was a restroom, a break room complete with several broken vending machines, and finally they opened a door to see what looked like a bedroom.
There was a cot in the corner covered with thick blankets. A crate sat next to it with an oil lamp and a worn book on top. A shelf - well stocked with animal reference manuals and a couple of paperback romances - leaned against the wall in one corner. Next to it, a desk littered with papers. In another corner, there was a pile of blankets covered in orange fur.
“Put down your weapons!” A woman’s voice called from the hallway behind them.
The video feed from Boothe’s drone popped up with the words Enemy detected.
“Yeah thanks Marty,” he said. “Very helpful.”
The voice at the end of the hallway belonged to a thin, haggard looking woman - she seemed to be in her sixties with long white h
air and glasses perched on top of a beak-like nose. She held a bolt-action rifle against her bony shoulder, pointed directly at them.
“We’re not here to hurt anybody ma’am,” Braddock said.
Lucas put a hand on the robot’s chest, holding him back. “Just a second, let me deal with this. Charisma is my main stat.”
“Really?” Scarlett said, raising an eyebrow.
Lucas stepped forward, lowering his pistol and said “Hello! We don’t mean any harm. We’re just here looking for something.”
“I’ll give you one more chance,” the woman said. “Drop your weapons and walk out of here the way you came, or else we’ll start firing.”
A low growl came from behind Boothe and he turned to see a large orange and black tiger prowling towards him from behind. He hadn’t heard the creature approaching at all, every step it took was completely silent. Behind the tiger, standing in the doorway at the end of the hall was an even stranger sight.
A huge silver-backed gorilla stood on two legs, as straight as any human. It wore a pair of cut-off blue jeans and held a large chrome revolver in one hand, aimed directly at Boothe’s head. Its finger barely fit inside the trigger guard. The gorilla’s forehead scrunched together, and his upper lip raised in a terrifying snarl.
“Guys,” Boothe said. “Maybe we should drop our weapons.”
4
Boothe knelt and placed his rifle on the floor. Even without a weapon, he still had Marty if things went too bad. Lucas put his gun down as well, followed by Braddock and then Mariko.
“You too, girly,” the old woman said jutting her chin towards Scarlett.
“This is stupid,” Scarlett said. “We should just shoot her and be done with it.”
“I’m old, but I ain’t slow,” the woman said with a near toothless grin. “You even raise that scattergun towards me and I’ll blow your pretty face off. My eyes aren’t as good as they used to be, but even if I miss, my friends will tear you apart. You might kill us, yes, but we’ll take some of you down too. You want to risk that, or you want to drop your weapons?”
Scarlett put her shotgun on the floor.
Apocalypse 2020: A Wasteland LitRPG Page 32