Wasteland Rules: Born to Fight (The World After Book 2)

by J. G. Martin

  It was good for her to have some companionship, being alone sucked. But having friends or especially lovers was very difficult before the Collapse, and it was ten times harder now. You never knew when you might have to pick between them and survival, or whether they might be forced to choose survival over you. The World After was a very harsh place and losing friends didn’t make it any easier. But he decided not to intervene, she was old enough to live her own life and learn her own lessons.

  After a roughly six hour drive, they arrived at the airport. The security fence topped with razor wire that surrounded the area was still intact. But within it someone had piled junk and debris to create an eight foot high wall that surrounded the airplane graveyard. Derek left the convoy and scouted around. He found the rest of the airport seemingly deserted. Other than an abundance of cobwebs the terminal areas looked just like they had the day the bombs had dropped. The chemical weapons had killed quickly without leaving any collateral damage. That had been a deliberate move by the U.S.T.G. as they planned on reclaiming Atlanta at some point in the future. There were no bodies though, which could indicate possible Drinker activity.

  After an hour or so, he discovered no signs of life; Drinker or otherwise. So he made his way back to the convoy to report. He climbed inside the lead MRAP with the captain to discuss the situation. As he entered he could tell everyone was nervous except Rora and they were all clutching their weapons very tightly. For many of them, it was their first real combat mission.

  “It looks all clear.” He reported. “But there is only one entrance to the airplane graveyard which makes me nervous. It would be the perfect place for a trap. However, there are no signs of life anywhere in the area. I can’t see inside the graveyard area too well, but it appears to be clear.”

  “We go in then?” The captain asked.

  “Let’s leave one MRAP at the entrance to prevent anyone from sealing it and we will take the other MRAP and the transporter in to get the shuttle.” Derek replied.

  “Roger that.” The captain said, and began issuing orders.

  The lead MRAP entered the graveyard with the transporter right behind. The second MRAP took up a position facing outward to guard their flank. As they entered into the graveyard, Derek was struck by the fact that all the planes seemed clear of weeds and were in fairly good condition. At some point in the past, someone was taking care of them. Still there were no signs of life and the Voice had performed some sort of sensor sweep and declared it devoid of any heat signatures. He was sure someone had been living here recently, but they seemed to be gone.

  The planes were mostly commercial jets of varying sizes parked in neat rows. But junk and spare parts were piled all around and created blockages they had to maneuver around to reach the shuttle. The shuttle was parked almost at the far end of the area, which was probably five acres in size. It rested in an open area with few other planes nearby. The ubiquitous piles of junk were here but looked to have been moved away from the shuttle recently. Something just didn’t feel right to Derek.

  As they all got out and moved towards the shuttle, Derek called the Voice one more time. “Hey, do another sweep of the area. This feels wrong somehow.”

  “Doing it now.” The Voice replied smoothly. “Major, I cannot sweep the area. An unknown energy source is causing interference.”

  “Where is the energy source?” Derek asked quickly, hoping he was wrong.

  “Right on top of you.” Came the unfortunately expected answer.

  Chapter 23

  June 21, 2029

  Hartsfield-Jackson Airport Atlanta, GA

  Derek started to scream for them to get back in the vehicles, that it was a trap; but he was too late. There was a metallic twang followed by loud whirring noises as three circular saw blades suddenly flew through the air from one of the piles of junk. They buzz-sawed into one of the soldiers and he went down in a bloody mess. The others reacted by trying to form a perimeter around the techs, but it didn’t do much good.

  Human forms burst out of their concealment in the junk piles firing odd weapons. Their attackers were hairless men covered in metal plates that seemed to be riveted onto their flesh and had body parts that had been replaced by robotic or machine parts. At first he thought they were Humeks, but Derek quickly realized they were Machineheads; members of the Cult of the Machine, wannabe cyborgs that worshipped Doors and the perfection of the machine.

  One of them fired some sort of rail gun contraption that used rebar pieces as ammo. The makeshift bolt punched through the armor the captain was wearing and knocking him down. Without his direction the soldiers broke and ran. Screaming metal clad madmen chased them and the battle broke into chaos. Derek grabbed Rora and headed for the relative safety of the MRAP. As they ran he fired his M4 carbine at several approaching cyborgs. Rora followed his lead as they raced to the armored vehicle. The rounds mostly bounced off the cyborg’s metal plates, but the volume of fire drove them back.

  When they reached the MRAP they discovered that the soldiers inside had panicked and locked the doors. Derek banged on the vehicle and yelled at them, but no one inside would unlock the doors. He and Rora were trapped outside the vehicle. At least the soldiers inside got over their stunned inactivity and opened fire with the machine gun. They mowed down several of the cyborgs, the heavy .50 cal rounds easily penetrating the makeshift armor of the attackers.

  That didn’t last long though. Derek heard the launch of several missiles and pulled Rora down to the ground and covered her seconds before the missiles struck the MRAP. The armored vehicle was catapulted over them by the blasts and rolled over several times before coming to a rest on its side. The vehicle was a smoking wreck and everyone inside was surely dead. Derek looked up and saw a large cyborg holding a type of missile launcher he had never seen before. Before the enemy could reload Derek put a single round through the scope-like eyepiece the freak had in place of his right eye.

  Derek wasn’t sure where the other MRAP was, but the remaining soldiers and techs had scattered and were taking cover behind piles of junk, planes, and the transporter. A few had formed small groups and were fighting back to back. Cyborgs were now swarming all over the area, there must be at least thirty of them. They had a wide variety of homebrew weapons, ranging from jagged axes made from scrap to projectile weapons. All of the weapons were attached in some way to their bodies.

  The Machineheads had very few guns but were using projectile weapons that threw circular saw blades and rebar pieces with alarming velocity. Those projectiles were punching and slicing through armor with ease. Their metal body armor was protecting them from the worst of the gunfire, and they were slowly overwhelming the outnumbered soldiers. Derek heard the fwoosh of a flamethrower and watched a cyborg with flamethrowers on each arm torch several soldiers and then ignite the wreckage of the MRAP. It blew apart as the gas tank exploded, sending scrap flying.

  This was more than a simple ambush. No missile in the current military arsenal should have been able to do that to an MRAP. Add that to the unusual energy signature that had cloaked the ambushers. That meant advanced tech was being used by crazed cultists. Their old friend from the Collective must be behind this. Now that Derek focused, he could hear an electronically enhanced voice exhorting the cyborgs to kill for their creator. He needed to end this before all the techs were killed or the transporter destroyed and they couldn’t get the shuttle.

  He finally spotted the source of the electronic bellowing; a large man wearing a large powered exoskeleton. It looked like a modified version of an orthotic suit originally designed to help paralyzed people walk. The suit made the man stand almost nine feet high and consisted of a network of metal spars all along his body that looked like they were bolted into him similar to a Halo neck brace. Motors and a complicated pulley system helped enhance the wearer’s strength, but limited their mobility. Armor had been added for protection and large powered pincers had been added to the hands. Some sort of contraption covered the leader’s f
ace and included a large speaker on the front.

  Taking out the leader would demoralize the rest and then he could rally the troops. Derek gestured at the leader to Rora and got up to attack. She screamed and he dodged just in time to avoid a buzzing circular saw blade as it came down by his head. One of the cyborgs had snuck up on them in the commotion and had almost decapitated Derek. This one was a very large man with a large circular saw attached in place of his right arm. The cultist recovered quickly and swung again at Derek’s head.

  Derek reacted without thinking and blocked with the barrel of his carbine. The blade struck the barrel in a thunderous roar of fiery sparks that showered both of them. The blow knocked Derek back slightly but gave him room to aim the carbine. Just before he pulled the trigger he realized the blade had cut most of the way through the stock and the barrel rendering it unusable. Quickly reversing it, Derek used it as a club to block another strike from the hulking cyborg. This blow cleanly sliced off the folding stock and sent it flying. The blade must have been diamond tipped because it was cutting through solid steel and vanadium.

  He stepped back to create distance and buy time. He was afraid to do anything other than block because he could chance getting cut. That blade would easily slice through flesh and bone. The cyborg smiled as it advanced on him and the next blow would most likely slice his rifle in half. Rora ended the debate by simply shooting the man point blank in the back of the head with a burst from her carbine. Derek smiled; it was good to have someone who had your back.

  He looked back to the cyborg leader and watched him crush the skull of a wounded soldier and cast the body aside like a piece of trash. Rora screamed in anger and rushed towards the monster. Crap, that must have been the young soldier that she had been getting close to. He ran after her but was cut off by two of the cultists. One had both of his hands replaced with chainsaws which whirred menacingly and the other had blades welded to the metal plates on his arms.

  Derek didn’t even hesitate. He pulled the sawed off shotgun from the sheath on his back and unloaded a barrel in each of the Machineheads’ faces, one after the other. They dropped with their heads blown off, and Derek leaped over them to chase after Rora. But the slight delay had enabled her to get to the cyborg leader in his massive exoskeleton. The monster turned to face her and roared electronically, causing her to flinch.

  She held her ground though, and opened fire on full auto. The monster raised his arm and the rounds ricocheted off of the metal plated armor. Derek could hear the electronic laughing as the behemoth stalked towards her. She frantically reloaded but couldn’t get the carbine back up before the metal monster was upon her. She dodged the first swipe but was caught by the backhand before Derek could get there to help her. The blow sent her cartwheeling through the air to land on a pile of junk with a loud crash.

  The second MRAP arrived, distracting the cyborg leader. It opened fire on a group of cyborgs with its heavy machine gun and its heavier rounds penetrated their metal armor turning them into Swiss cheese. The remaining soldiers rallied with the support of the armored vehicle. The tide turned as they began to slaughter the engaged Machineheads. The cyborg leader roared in anger and charged the armored fighting vehicle turning his followers into bloody pulp. He reached a surprising speed and struck the side of the MRAP with surprising force, creating a massive dent in the armor.

  The vehicle shuddered but didn’t flip and the turret turned towards the new attacker. But the metal monster used its pincers and strength to rip the turret right off the top of the armored vehicle rendering it useless for combat. Then it grabbed the bent edge of the armor and started to peel it off the vehicle trying to crack it open to reach the soft targets inside. Metal screamed as a piece tore loose and the cult leader flung it away. If Derek didn’t do something, the cyborg leader would dismantle the MRAP.

  A quick glance assured him that Rora was okay and only stunned, and that nothing stood between him and the metal monstrosity. He had reloaded the shotgun during the action and advanced towards the cyborg leader. The sawed off had very short range and wasn’t going to do any damage unless he could shoot that thing in the face. Which meant getting very close, something that was unlikely to happen. He needed another way to kill or disable the metal monster.

  Derek tried to think of something that would slow this thing down. The heavy weapons were lost and he had nothing else that would penetrate the metal armor attached to the exoskeleton. Then it hit him, metal conducted electricity. He could cook the leader inside his suit if he could just find a source of power. Another piece of armor flew as the cyborg leader tore open a hole in the side of the stricken armored vehicle.

  The transporter sat almost untouched behind the burning wreckage of the other MRAP and Derek saw the massive generator that sat behind the vehicle’s cab. The generator was normally used to power the shuttle’s internal systems when the engines were shut down. That allowed the techs to work inside to prep for transportation. There were large power cables that unspooled to connect with the shuttle, but they could be used to transfer power to just about anything.

  Derek holstered the shotgun and drew his pistol. He stopped about fifteen feet from the metal monster that was tearing the MRAP apart piece by piece. Taking careful aim he peppered the back of the exoskeleton’s head with fire from his Glock. The rounds bounced off but they caught the monster’s attention. As the thing turned around to see who was firing on him, Derek gave a rude gesture and ran towards the transporter.

  As he expected, the cyborg leader followed with an enraged look on his face. The thunderous footsteps of the metal monster’s steel feet shook the ground and sounded loudly in Derek’s ears, but he dared not look back. He ran as fast as he could to the transporter and jumped up to the generator. Feverishly working the controls, he fired it up as the cult leader arrived. The leader swung a huge metal claw at him, but Derek leapt aside. The monster cackled maniacally as it smashed its pincers repeatedly on the giant vehicle as it tried to crush Derek.

  He scrambled under the vehicle and rolled to the other side, buying precious seconds as the metal monstrosity was forced to circle around the long vehicle. He grabbed one of the heavy power cables and began to unspool it. The end was a giant rubber plug with the prongs well inside, so he wasn’t sure how he was going to shock the cult leader with it. The exoskeleton clad cultist rounded the vehicle and rushed him with surprising speed. Derek tried to jab the metal arm with the plug as he dodged a pincer, but failed and was almost smashed. He gave up on that and simply threw the cable into the grasping pincher as it closed on him.

  As Derek dodged aside, the pincer closed on the cable slicing through the heavy rubber sheath. As the metal of the pincer contacted the now unprotected wire of the power cable a brilliant blue flash occurred. There was a loud bang and a blast of concussive force of the initial discharge knocked Derek down. The cyborg leader screamed horribly in electronic pain as the electricity coursed through the frame and into his body. The exoskeleton glowed as enough power to run a small town rippled through it. The generator finally shorted out and the screaming stopped. Smoke rose from the cooked body of the cyborg leader inside the fused and now useless exoskeleton.

  An eerie calm settled over the graveyard as the surviving cyborgs fled the battlefield. Soldiers and techs lay dead or wounded all around and the survivors were too exhausted to speak. Rora staggered over to Derek, bleeding from minor wounds but otherwise okay. She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the smell from the roasted cult leader. Derek got to his feet and surveyed the damage. The battle had only lasted about fifteen minutes, but the effects had been devastating. One MRAP was a smoking ruin and the other was disabled. The transporter was okay but the generator was shot. Amazingly the shuttle seemed completely undamaged. As long as a tech survived they could probably get it on the transporter and all return to the NASA complex in it.

  Chapter 24

  June 21, 2029

  Airplane Graveyard Hartsfield-Jackson Airport Atlanta, GA<
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  The survivors regrouped next to the transporter. Two of the techs had survived, both by hiding in a nearby plane. Neither one was injured; they were just scared to death and were still shaking from the encounter. The two soldiers from the disabled MRAP were unhurt, but only three of the soldiers from the squad had survived and all three were seriously wounded. One had a piece of rebar through his leg, another had been sliced multiple places by saw blades, and the third had been burned by the flamethrower. Derek and Rora tended to their wounds while the techs worked on the shuttle. Even patched up, none of the three were combat ready; and only two of them were conscious.

  A tech gestured to Derek to come over. When Derek joined him the tech began to explain the situation in a low voice. “We think we can get the shuttle onto the transporter since the winch has a different power source than the generator. But with only two of us plus you it will take some time to get it up. The ride back was always going to be slower because of the weight, so it will probably take us nine hours to get back.”

  “What are you saying?” Derek asked.

  “There is no way we will get on the road for another couple of hours at least. That means the trip back will have us traveling at night through the wasteland. With the MRAPs it wasn’t that big of a deal, but without protection we will be sitting ducks.” The tech replied quietly. “And some of them will have to ride on the outside of the vehicle.”

  “So you want to wait here until morning?” Derek asked. “I’m not sure it’s much safer here; there are still some cyborg cultists out there running around.”

  “We could create a perimeter around the MRAP with the soldiers and ourselves. We could put the wounded inside and at least they would have a firing position if the cyborgs come back.” Rora suggested, having quietly joined them.

  Derek thought it over. It was dangerous to travel at night, especially now that their escort was destroyed. The cyborgs were probably long gone and it would be better to wait to move the wounded until they had more time to stabilize. The smoke might attract scavengers but they would probably wait until everyone was gone.