by J. G. Martin
Rora said nothing. It was all up to Derek now. This was what he lived for, what he had been built for. He was a warrior in the truest sense of the word and he would be forced to prove it. She merely stared down at the unfolding spectacle, unwilling to give the Prince the satisfaction of a reaction.
He grunted in what appeared to be respect and gestured to one of his men. The captain was now led in to join her at the balcony’s edge to watch the battle below. He didn’t make eye contact with her, and looked worried. That made sense; Derek had already proven he knew how to use that machete by slaughtering many of the captain’s people. The Prince turned to his men and raised his hand for silence.
“This fight is to the death!” He boomed, which triggered loud cheering. “Winner takes all. There are no rules, kill or be killed. Now, FIGHT!”
The men crowding around the makeshift arena sheered wildly and stamped their feet. The two Red Berets immediately split up and began circling, trying to position themselves on either side of Derek. The soldier with the samurai sword began twirling it elaborately, which caused the crowd the cheer even louder. The soldier with the sledgehammer moved slowly and began taking small practice swings with the hammer. Derek merely stood still in the very center, seemingly undisturbed by the coming fight.
Then, as the two men reached their desired positions on either side of him; he exploded into action. He turned and suddenly charged the soldier wielding the sledgehammer. Caught mid swing, the man was completely unprepared for Derek’s attack. He had apparently expected Derek to wait for them to attack and didn’t react in time. Derek’s machete flashed out and slashed a deep wound on the man’s left arm. He howled in pain and lost his grip on the heavy sledgehammer.
A vicious backhanded blow cleanly removed his head from his body and it dropped to the ground in slow motion, followed by his body. The crowd was shocked into silence and Rora heard the captain give a small cry of dismay next to her. The odds were suddenly even and it had happened so quickly that even the Prince started in surprise. He growled in anger as he realized that Derek would probably win this fight, and quickly.
So they were all surprised when the other soldier launched a lightning fast attack of his own. With a shout of anger, he moved across the small space with impressive speed. His sword caught the light as it struck at Derek in a blinding series of strikes. Surprised by the man’s speed, Derek barely managed to deflect the blows and circle away. The crowd’s cheering again rose in intensity as the sword wielding soldier chased Derek around the makeshift arena.
His sword flashed as he struck and moved, like a snake striking at its prey. Rora found herself leaning forward and involuntarily gripping the banister tightly. Glancing around, she saw the others were just as entranced by the fight. The soldier followed Derek, always keeping him in front and constantly striking with the sword. Wherever Derek moved he was confronted with brilliant steel. The swordsman opened dozens of small cuts on Derek and the blood began to flow. This only caused the crowd to cheer louder and Rora saw the smile on the captain’s face grow with every new wound.
She couldn’t see the Prince’s face because of the mask, but she could tell he was happy by his body language. The sound of the blades clashing echoed throughout the mall center as the swordsman chased Derek around. The fight continued for several minutes and to her surprise the soldier was able to keep up his frenzied attack without seeming to tire. He didn’t look like he was SuPERHUMAAN like Derek, but maybe the U.S.T.G. had been working on their own super soldier project. That was something that needed to be investigated in the future.
But first, Derek needed to win this fight so they could get out of here. She could tell he was slowing. Even with his healing factor, he was losing too much blood. Eventually he would slow enough that the swordsman would land a fatal blow. Derek was barely keeping him at bay now. He needed to do something different.
Derek must have heard her thoughts because he suddenly changed tactics. He began slowly moving closer and closer to the cordon of men surrounding them. He moved close enough that several of them pushed him away, back towards the center. They wouldn’t harm him or impede him, but they didn’t want him close to them. Despite their attempts to push him away he kept as close as possible. This had the effect of preventing the swordsman from slashing in from the side or he might hit a watching gunman.
The swordsman frowned in frustration and the crowd began to boo. One of the gunmen grew angry enough to grab Derek and hold the arm wielding the machete. That was the chance the swordsman had been waiting for and he boldly rushed forward and stabbed for Derek’s midsection. A fatal blow if it struck. But, it looked as though this was what Derek had been waiting for as well. He tore his arm free and pivoted to his right, raising the machete as he moved.
The blade hissed through the space that Derek had previously occupied and straight into the gunman beyond. It rammed right through his body and came out the back, transfixing him on the blade. Everyone froze in surprise except Derek. He continued his motion and brought the machete down with incredible force. He sliced the swordsman’s hands off just as he had done to the giant cannibal shortly after they had first met.
The gunman toppled backwards, the sword still impaled in his body, and the soldier fell in the opposite direction staring in disbelief at the stumps. He quickly bled out on the tiled floor. The captain screamed in rage and disappointment and Rora cheered. The crowd fell silent and turned to look up at the Prince. Derek merely stood in the center blood trickling down his body to puddle on the floor.
Slow clapping broke the spell that held everyone frozen. “Bravo! Bravo Derek.” The Prince snarled mockingly. “You managed to defeat both of them. I am most impressed…Buuut, you cheated so it doesn’t count!”
“NO!” Rora screamed in anger.
“Kill him!” The Prince shouted as one of his guards held a gun to Rora’s head.
The crowd began to surge forward and Derek raised the machete in a desperate attempt to defend himself. There were too many, but he was going to go out fighting. She heard the captain give a small laugh of satisfaction beside her and saw the Prince looking down expectantly. She tried to struggle but the guards held her tight.
Then the ceiling suddenly exploded as a man seemingly made of metal crashed through. He smashed down onto the tiled floor with a thunderous boom, cracks spider webbing out from his point of impact. He stepped forward and Rora could see that his landing had left two foot imprints in the floor. Everyone stopped what they were doing and just stared.
The metal man stood almost seven feet tall, dwarfing everyone in the building. Concentric rings of metal conformed to the contours of a human form, but he moved and flexed without the normal rigidness of a robot. Rora couldn’t see any external joints or seams other than where the rings fitted smoothly together. Based on her knowledge and limited experience she believed the metal man to in fact be an android. But she was unaware that anyone had made such incredible progress in the field.
The Prince shook of his amazement first and addressed the intruder. “Who, or what, are you?” He demanded angrily.
“You can call me Father.” The metal man intoned in an electronic voice.
“What are you doing in my house?” The Prince screamed at the android.
“I am here for him.” The metal man announced as he pointed to Derek.
“Another member of your fan club Derek?” The Prince sneered. “Well, you can’t have him. He is mine!”
“I don’t think you can stop me.” The android said matter of factly.
“We’ll see about that.” The Prince snapped. “Kill it!”
The throng of gunmen regained their composure and raised their weapons. The android responded by firing a stream of pulse bolts from the palm of each hand. The bolts scythed through the horde of gunmen, sending bodies flying from the impacts of the bolts. The gunmen returned fire and the center of the mall exploded into violence with bolts and bullets flying everywhere. The sound of the gun and pu
lse fire in the enclosed space was deafening. Screams of the dead and dying joined the cacophony of the weapons fire.
Rora saw Derek duck into the crowd and disappear before she was dragged back from the edge of the balcony by one of the Prince’s guards. The Prince disappeared into an abandoned food counter accompanied by several guards. The captain was struggling with one of the guards and managed to disarm him as Rora was being dragged away. He was cutting himself free of his bonds as the android rose up into view.
Powered by a small jetpack he floated up to the same level as the balcony and hung there. The gunfire from below had quieted and Rora assumed they were all dead or had fled. The metal man seemed undamaged from all the fighting, and if his smooth metal face was able to assume an expression she assumed it would be an arrogant grin. The guards dragging her dropped her and opened fire on the android. He cut them down like one might casually swat a fly.
The Red Beret captain gave him one look and fled. He grabbed the hacker and pulled him along with him. The man went along without any resistance. They exited through an emergency exit and disappeared. Rora was alone in the food court with the android. He floated over the banister and touched down in the food court. He slowly approached her, his mechanical eyes focused directly on her. She shrank back and tried to take cover behind a fallen table, but the android merely tossed that aside.
“You!” He said accusingly. “You pushed the button!”
Rora looked around frantically for somewhere to run, somewhere to hide; but there was nowhere to go. She was going to be forced to fight according to Rule # 11. But she was unarmed and still zip tied. Not to mention that traditional weapons hadn’t done any good against the android’s seemingly impervious metal skin.
She was given a brief reprieve when the Prince suddenly re-appeared clad head to toe in bulky, heavy body armor and screaming wildly. His silver latex mask was replaced by a metallic silver mask that looked even more sinister. In his hands was a rail gun similar to the one Derek had taken from the Outfit operative in Pelham, Alabama, only larger. The Prince fired at the same time the android did and the results were spectacular.
The pulse bolts from the android lanced out and struck the heavily armored Prince at the same time a round from the rail gun struck the android. Prince tumbled back into the food counter he had appeared from, his armor smoking from the pulse bolts. The round from the rail gun struck the metal man dead center and the impact knocked him out of the food court, off the balcony, and across the mall center to crash into the elevator shaft.
Rora took advantage of the situation and ran for the exit. She crashed through the exit door and ran smack into Derek. He grabbed her before she hit the ground. She noticed he had taken time to collect his weapons and their gear. He set her on her feet and cut her bonds.
“I was just coming for you.” He stated quickly.
“Yeah, whatever, we need to go.” She said urgently and pushed past him down the stairs.
He gave her an odd look, but followed. They could hear the distinct crack of the pulse bolts and the whine of the rail gun as the Prince and the android resumed their fight. She didn’t look back and just ran down the stairs. She doubted the Prince could stop the metal man and she just wanted to get out of there before he came for her again.
“Where is the hacker?” Derek called as they ran down the stairs.
“The Red Beret captain took him.” She called back as she dashed down the stairs and out into the mall.
“We need to find them!” Derek insisted.
“The only way out of this place is the front entrance; they had to have left through there.” Rora replied over her shoulder.
The center of the mall was a disaster zone. The walls were blown apart by bolt and gun fire. Rubble from the android’s entry and crash into the elevator shaft littered the floor. Dead bodies were scattered all around where they had been thrown after being shot. Rora and Derek picked their way through the mess and ran for the exit. Derek stopped briefly to grab an MP-5 submachine gun with a fore grip and toss it to her. An extra magazine was already taped to the existing magazine with electrical tape, but he tossed her a couple more.
As she slung the submachine gun over her shoulder and pocketed the magazines, he picked up an M-14 like the one Tex had carried and a few extra magazines. Then he pocketed a couple of grenades. Even under extreme duress he still followed Rules #9 and #18, take everything you can carry and you can never have enough ammo. Once they were armed, Derek led the way out.
Both Derek and Rora felt the building shake and lights failed as the approached the entrance. The battle still raging between the Prince and the android must have knocked out the generators. They could still hear the continued bolt and rail gun fire as they exited the building. The outside was empty of any gunmen; all of them must either have died in the battle inside or fled during the battle. One of the SUV technicals was gone and the other two had their tires shot out.
Closer inspection revealed several gunmen with their throats slit or shot at close range with a conventional firearm. The gunmen had all been stripped of their weapons and ammo. It appeared that the Red Berets followed rules #9 and #18. The three dirt bikes were scorched wrecks, and it looked like someone blew their gas tanks. All of the local transportation had been systematically disabled.
“Looks like they have a good head start.” Derek stated laconically.
“We need to catch the Red Berets and we need to get out of here before one of the monsters inside wins and comes looking for us.” Rora replied emphatically.
“Let’s look around back. These couldn’t have been their only vehicles.” Derek responded quickly.
She followed as he jogged around to the back of the building. Derek proved to be right. There were several vehicles at a makeshift garage based around the auto department of a department store. Unfortunately most were under repair and not usable. Based on the scattered parts and tire tracks, there had been more vehicles but they had left in a hurry. Probably gunmen fleeing the scene.
Derek gave a cry of jubilation as he peeled back a heavy tarp. Underneath were four wicked looking performance bikes. They had been upgraded with light armor protecting the gas tank and shielding in the front. All four looked to be in perfect condition. He checked the gas tanks and then grabbed a gas can to fill up two of them. He started one to make sure they ran and it came to life with a loud roar.
Then he tossed her a helmet and gestured for Rora to get on the other one. She didn’t know exactly how to ride a motorcycle but it couldn’t be that different from the ATV she drove in Atlanta. Derek spent a couple of minutes showing her the basics and then he indicated it was time to go.
“Voice.” Derek asked loudly. “Any sign of where they went?”
“No, but the likely route is straight down old Interstate eighty.” The Voice informed them calmly. “I’m sending the route now.”
Derek checked the phone’s GPS and kicked the bike’s kickstand up. “Let’s go!” He announced as he put on his helmet.
“Wait! What about the plane and our extra gear on it?” Rora asked.
“No time. They have a head start and it isn’t that far to Des Moines.” Derek explained. “Besides, the only thing of value was the pulse rifle and it had some sort of smart lock. It’s coded to the DNA of the clones. There’s no way I could get it to work.”
A violent explosion shook the mall and ended their conversation. Flames shot out of the openings in the roof and rattled the tools nearby. Then a slow rumble started and the mall began to collapse in on itself. Derek threw the throttle all the way open and roared off. Rora imitated his actions and followed as close as she could. She wobbled a little bit, but managed to maintain her balance. They were on the highway before the dust settled from the mall collapse.
The bikes were incredibly fast, and they reached speeds over a hundred miles an hour as they chased after the fleeing Red Berets. Rora had never felt such freedom and excitement. The sensation of the wind rushing past
her and the landscape whizzing by was intoxicating. She knew the SUV was much slower and it was only a matter of time before they caught up, but she tried to enjoy the ride as much as possible before that happened.
Chapter 26
September 7, 2029
Interstate 80 East of Omaha, Nebraska
All five of the Surviving Red Berets and the hacker were crammed into the armored SUV technical. Tom had managed to grab the hacker and free his remaining squad members during the confusion. Sasha and Saad had killed the few gunmen outside and then they had disabled or destroyed the other vehicles in the parking lot. Valderra was driving and Roberts was riding shotgun. He was in the middle row with their prisoner, and Sasha and Saad were in the back. He had no doubt that Storm would survive and come after them; the man was tougher to kill than a cockroach.
The bigger question was which of the two psychopaths would win the battle in the mall? The man in the metal suit or the man in the metal mask? It had been quite a shock to discover that Prinz had survived the destruction of his compound. Somehow the Outfit leader had found his way to Omaha and used his skills and possibly cached weapons to take over. It was unfortunate the man had been a traitor; he would have been a great asset to the U.S.T.G.
Hopefully they made it to U.S.T.G. territory and the protection of heavier weapons before either one was victorious. Des Moines was only two hours away; and even though it was the edge of the current territory, it had a good sized garrison. They didn’t even need to make it to the city. Massive fields of food crops surrounded the city and were the primary source of the U.S.T.G.s food.
When the U.S.T.G. had nationalized all critical industries they had seized control of all the seed companies. Once the plant virus had run its course, new plants had been able to be grown. But there were limited sources of seed available; and unfortunately, modern agriculture had created sterile crops. That meant that they could be harvested once and then new seed was needed. So unless you had access to fresh seeds, you were unable to grow anything. And that was pretty much limited to food crops. No one kept seeds for pine trees, and there just wasn’t enough grass seed in the world to come close to replacing what was lost.