“You got much ammo for that?” he asked, pointing to the M14 lying against the wall.
“Three.”
“Shit, that’s it?”
He nodded and winced in pain as he tried to get control back in his left arm. Zed got back up and looked down the wall. Their people were fencing off the Braves at the wall, but this was just the beginning. The horn of the fire truck rang out as if announcing its arrival before jamming on the brakes as it drew near. The ladder sprung forward and had been widened out into a much larger assault ramp, for exactly the purpose it was being used for now.
The ramp struck down onto the wall, and Zed knew there was little they could do to shift it. He drew out his sword.
“Come on, Johnnie, time to earn your wages,” he joked.
“Like we get paid for this shit,” he said, as he got up and followed Zed to the ramp.
Five Braves were already running up it, and more were piling on at the back of the truck to join them. Two of the townspeople with crossbows fired. One struck a Brave square in the chest, and he dropped dead off the side, but the other was hit in the arm. He sprung back slightly as the bolt pierced his right arm, but he quickly recovered and rushed onwards like a fanatic.
As the wounded one reached the end of the ramp, Zed swung his sword with a strong horizontal slash over the wall at their elevated attackers. The sabre connected with the man at his right ankle and severed his foot. He crashed down onto the ramp and collapsed over the side bleeding out. The next jumped at Zed, and he thrust his blade forward and impaled the man as he landed. He turned and threw him off the blade and down inside the town. Three of the people there jumped on him with hand weapons like a pack of wolves.
He looked back to see a Brave leaping towards him with a spiked club. But Johnnie’s blade swung towards him and cut at both the arms wielding it. The heavy cuts beat them down, allowing Zed to cut down and split his head open. Another two crossbow bolts finished off the last two of the initial wave.
“We can’t keep this up forever!” Johnnie shouted breathlessly.
Zed looked over the edge at the fire truck. It was a hulking monster that seemed immoveable.
“Just hold here. I’ve got this.”
“Wait!” Johnnie called out.
But it was too late. Zed jumped up over the barricade, onto the ramp, and rushed on down it at high speed. Only two more Braves had made it onto the ramp ahead, and in the chaos of battle, nobody else had noticed him. He ducked under a swing with an iron bar from one and shoved him off the edge, spinning around and hacking at the other in the flank.
It was a vicious wound, but not enough to completely incapacitate the man. He still lifted his arm to cut down with a tomahawk. Zed grabbed his hand and prised his sabre out before headbutting the Brave and tossing him off the side. He rushed to the bottom of the ramp and onto the roof of the truck. He leapt to the front and lay down to look over the edge in through the driver’s door. To his amazement the door was open, and a single Brave was sitting inside watching the show. He noticed Zed too late, who thrust his sabre in through his ear and killed him instantly. He swung in through the door and tossed the body out. He quickly slammed the door shut, pushed the lock down, and started the truck. The big old engine roared to life. He slipped it into reverse and floored it.
The vehicle rocked and raced backwards. He smiled as four Braves fell off the front of the ramp and dropped all the way to the ground. They landed hard and were at least incapacitated if not dead. He spun the wheel around and brought the truck about, slamming the brakes on as Jay and his army came into view.
“Let’s see if we can’t even the odds,” he said to himself, putting it into drive and his foot to the floor.
Jay was shouting orders to those around him, but made no attempt to move, and Zed knew why. None of them would risk hurting Wyatt and Frankie. Lannie already wanted him dead, and she’d really do it if he were the reason any harm came to Wyatt.
Zed aimed the truck right for one of the pickups packed with Braves, part of the next wave of attack. He could see the vehicle rock slightly as the driver tried to turn the engine over, but it wouldn’t start. He was gaining pace quickly now, and the Braves began to leap off the back in every direction. He banked to the left at the last minute and clipped the front of the truck rather than take it head on.
The hood was ripped off, and the motor smashed within as the truck was shunted out of the way. The driver was trapped. He hit two Braves as they ran, and he heard the crunch when they went under the wheels and hit the undercarriage. It was a sickening sound, but he had no sympathy for them.
He turned the wheel sharply and brought the truck around to do as much damage as he could. The police cruiser lay ahead, and he aimed right for it, but it soon pulled out of way. Suddenly, a Brave flew in through the open window of the passenger side door. He drew out a knife and came right at Zed. He parried the first thrust off, but he couldn’t get a hold. The Brave drew the knife back across his face and slashed him just below the eye.
Zed back fisted him to the face, grabbed his long hair, and hauled him in close. But somehow he still had his blade in hand and drove it into Zed’s arm. He was in confined spaces and tightly compressed against Zed, so he could only slowly push it forward. Zed couldn’t reach the knife, so instead he smashed the man’s head down on the steering wheel repeatedly until he was dead. He tossed him back and drew out the blade. It had gone in less than an inch, but it still hurt like hell.
He got back to driving but noticed most of the vehicles were darting out of his way, and in the hulking fire truck he couldn’t stop them. He raced up to Jay’s truck. He was the only one not moving. He drove right for it as if he intended to ram it, but Jay defiantly stood calmly and watched. At the last minute Zed turned, and Jay smiled. He wasn’t surprised at all. Zed turned the wheel hard and drove around Jay in circles.
“I am coming for you, Jay. I am coming for you!” he screamed.
Jay remained still and just smiled. He turned off and ran a length along the wall of Calico to get as close as he could. Two trucks were parked up with Braves still throwing ropes up to the top. A few had gotten onto the wall and were fighting there, and more were on the way. He skirted the wall with the fire truck and aimed for the nearest one. He clipped the bed of the truck, and it flipped over. Two Braves were crushed beneath it while others were tossed out.
The next one he hit even harder and shunted it towards the stone foundations of the town, crushing it onto the wall before turning off and narrowly clipping it himself. He smiled as he saw his brother on the wall waving his sword in support. The townspeople were chanting his name as they excitedly watched him wreak havoc amongst their attackers. Then he heard a loud pop and looked in the mirrors. There were trucks either side of him with harpoon guns firing at his wheels.
The wheel snapped to one side as one of the rear wheels was blown out, and the truck started to fish tail. He snapped it back into line, but he was losing control and knew he couldn’t last much longer the way he was going.
I have to do the most damage I can, and also disable the fire truck all in one. But how I will get out alive, I have no idea.
He turned the wheel and looked around for the most substantial target he could find when he sported a semi car transporter. It was armoured up and carrying dozens of Braves. It had an extended ramp over the cab and was the perfect assault vehicle. He took aim for the coupling and floored it. He felt the back end slide out once again, and he had to fight the wheel all the way.
An engine sound roared off to his flank. One of the trucks with harpoon guns tore up beside him, but it wasn’t aiming for the wheels. It was coming for him. Three bolts all lashed together in sequence. He ducked down and shifted as much bodyweight as he could away from the door. The first bolt flew right through the window above him while the other two struck the door. One went under the seat, and the other embedded in the door. It had just pierced his leg by the smallest margin. It stung, but not enoug
h to worry him. He couldn’t believe his luck, and yet just when he thought he was okay, the lines on the harpoon went taut, and the truck began to pull the front end of the fire truck off to the left side. The tip of the harpoon in his leg was ripped out and locked onto the door as the vehicle was pulled out of line.
He fought back on the wheel, but he had so little grip or control with the tyres out. He looked down to where the harpoon had gone through the door and noticed a flare gun in the door card. He drew it out and just prayed that it still worked. He took aim at the open window of the truck and began to squeeze the trigger. He had just one shot, and he knew it. The flare burst out of the gun, soared through the open window, and ignited in the cabin.
Zed couldn’t believe it. The truck veered back towards him as the gunner on the back leapt off for dear life. The vehicle smashed into the side of the fire truck until it ran in line with it. He looked out of the window and tugged on the wheel one last time. He smiled as he watched many of the Braves leaping from the top of the trailer. It didn’t matter how far the drop was, because he was coming at them with eight tons of steel.
Zed closed his eyes, but it wasn’t the memory of his old family that came to him this time. It was of Sasha. He ducked down and braced. Seconds later, there was an almighty crash as he hit just where he had intended, and he blacked out on impact.
Chapter 26
Zed coughed and spluttered. He opened his eyes. There was very little light around him. He was still in the cab of the fire truck, but it was on its side, and he was compressed against the wheel and the driver’s seat. Not in a seated position. He had clearly been tossed about the cab before finally coming to a halt. There were many more aches and pains, but it was hard to tell what was what anymore. He reached down to check he still had his sword and was pleased to find it on his side. That was a relief at least. He looked around some more. Where the windshield had blown out was just more debris, and the driver’s door was flat against the ground.
He began to climb up towards the passenger side over the body of the Brave he had killed and out through the open window of the door. As he pulled himself out of the top, he paused to see if the coast were clear. The semi lay on its side, and smoke was rising from the hood. The trailer had been cut clean off the vehicle and was on its side a little further over in the sand. Bodies were scattered all around. Some that had been thrown, and others crushed under the weight of the vehicles.
The driver of the semi was alive and crawling out like he was. Zed tried to duck down to avoid being seen, but it was too late. Instead, he pulled himself up and rolled over the edge so that he fell off the top, landing on the ground below. It was a longer drop than he had expected, and his legs buckled as he went into a roll and landed head first in the sand.
He got up to find a hand crossbow pointed at his face. He righted himself. Two Braves were standing over him. One was the driver he had just seen escaping, the other one he had seen before, the Mohawk, still sporting the scar beside his haircut.
“Jay wants you alive,” said the other with the crossbow.
Zed could see the conflict in the Mohawk’s eyes. He suddenly rushed at the other, who noticed too late. The Brave tried to turn his weapon around, but the Mohawk was on him. He picked him up and tossed him back against the truck, impaling him on a piece of debris sticking out from the vehicle. He took the crossbow and looked back at Zed, who still wasn’t sure what was going on.
“Come on!” the Mohawk shouted at him.
He grabbed Zed’s arm and helped him up as they rushed on. An ex-military sand rail buggy raced up beside them. The Mohawk didn’t hesitate. He just threw Zed into the passenger seat and leapt onto the back.
“Go!” he yelled.
One of the Braves from the truck came rushing at them as they pulled away, and he aimed the crossbow. It hit him in the stomach as they raced away. The driver led them between three other vehicles as he tore off towards the town. Zed didn’t even know what to say. He recognised all three aboard the vehicle. They were all the prisoners he had set free.
They ducked and weaved between vehicles. As they passed one of the trucks, a salvo of javelins was launched at them from the Braves on the back. Most missed as the high speed vehicle tore past them, but one struck the Mohawk. He growled from the pain but pulled it out as Zed turned back to check on him. He nodded as if to say he was okay. He was as tough as he was stubborn.
Jay noticed that all aboard wore blue. The Mohawk had on a faded blue vest, the driver had painted the shoulder pads of his hockey armour, and the other passenger painted his torso blue. It was something he didn’t see on any other Braves. They had marked themselves out for a reason, and he was starting to see that it had nothing to do with Jaytown.
“You mean to join us?” Zed asked.
“We heard that you were the Boss. The real Boss, and we owe you,” said the Mohawk.
That wasn’t the reply he expected, but he was glad of it nonetheless. They raced up towards the edge of the town and ran the length of it as he had before. An airport stairs truck had been brought up against them like a siege tower, and a number of Braves were running up the steps for their first attack. A roof and walls had been fabricated all the way to the top from scraps of wood, and anything else they could find. It was more than enough cover against the crossbows and thrown weapons that much of the town were now using. The first two had already reached the top.
They pulled up beside it and leapt off to engage them. The Mohawk was the first at them, despite his injury. He carried what looked like a dumbbell bar that had lead wrapped around the far end, bolted and taped on to create a primitive maul.
It was certainly effective, as when he struck the first Brave on the head, he dropped down dead.
“Come on!” he yelled.
He rushed to the front of the truck and beat the driver before slipping it into neutral and then rushing back to the steps. He didn’t need to say a word, as Zed rushed up the stairway with the others close behind. Not a single Brave had noticed them coming. Zed drew out his sword and hacked the first across his back. He didn’t even pause as he ran past. The man fell down dead, and he cut into the next.
In seconds, he was at the top and burst out onto the wall. Five townspeople lay dead there, and as many Braves, too. Two were still fighting. Sasha was at the front on her knees with one of them trying to force a blade down onto her neck. She had locked his hands and was desperately reaching for something by her feet. Zed rushed to her aid, but he needn’t have. She picked up what looked like a butcher’s meat cleaver and hacked at the side of her attacker’s left knee.
The Brave screamed as he dropped his weapon and collapsed down onto the other bodies, but Sasha showed no mercy. She went straight for his head. He held up his hands to defend himself, but they were beaten down, and another strike soon followed that embedded in his head. She ripped it out and turned to look for a new attacker but froze as she saw Zed. She looked past him to the Mohawk and his Blues. She raised the blade to attack them, but Zed ran and grabbed her arm.
“It’s okay. They’re with me,” he insisted.
“Clear the way!” Johnnie shouted.
They turned around to see him approaching with a Molotov cocktail in each hand, both lit and ready to go. They all drew back as he launched the first one down the spout of the stairway entrance as the first Brave neared the top. It smashed inside, and the flames soared through the shaft. He leaned over the side of the wall and launched other straight down onto the cabin of the truck.
Zed rushed to the edge and put force against the top of the stairway entrance.
“Come on, push!” he shouted.
The Mohawk and his people joined in, as well as Sasha and Johnnie. They heaved the vehicle back and pushed so that it was at least a few feet away from the wall before it rolled to a halt and went up in flames.
“These boys fight for us,” he said to Johnnie, pointing to the Mohawk and the others.
“Yeah? Well, we’ll tak
e what we can get, Zed.”
Something passed overhead, and they looked up. A crane was extending over their heads. Three Braves were grabbing onto a hook hanging from it and another three on the crane’s arm.
“Ah, shit,” said Zed, “Do they never give up?”
Zed went to move when he heard a large engine fire up nearby. He looked over to see the exhausts of the dump truck bellow out black smoke as it roared to life. There was a Brave at the wheel.
“No! Stop him!”
He rushed along the wall as quickly as he could, but the engine roared as it drew back and the rear end turned out. The front gates that had been attached to it for anchorage were ripped from their mounts. The gearbox crunched as the Brave wrenched it, and it started moving forwards. He got to the walls beside the broken gates just as it pulled off down the ramp.
The gates scraped down the ramp as they were pulled by the truck, and the massive breach in their defences was opened, just as it had been before. He couldn’t believe that no one had been sensible enough to ensure the truck couldn’t start, but it was too late to worry about it now. Half a dozen of Jay’s trucks raced forward for the breach, the Braves aboard screaming in an excited frenzy. The first was on the ramp in seconds.
The crane had already dropped a number, and there was now fighting all the way through the town. Johnnie was still up on the walls desperately trying to keep others from climbing up and over. He hacked down at one with his sword. A Brave smacked him across the head with a machete, but his riot helmet took the blow. He stumbled aside before coming back with a cut of his own. They were on the brink of defeat now.
People were fighting for their lives everywhere. Zed looked out over the edge. Jay was still commanding from his truck, with a car and a truck either side of him as protection, and at least a dozen Braves. He watched one of the groups below push the El Camino into the breach to stop them getting any further. The first truck rammed into it and stopped as Braves leapt off.
15 Years Later: Wasteland Page 20