Wasteland Rules: A New Dawn (The World After Book 3)

by J. G. Martin

  Derek caught sight of one of the gunmen and recognized a U.S.T.G. uniform. He fired a quick burst at the man, but the volume of fire forced him down. Ray crawled over to Derek, and he could see the man was severely wounded in several places. Their guide left a blood trail as he came over. The young man groaned in pain as he managed to drag himself next to them.

  “We are pinned down.” He informed Derek. “They have a sniper up in Mammoth towers that will shoot anyone who tried to make it to the other side or to attack down into the ruins. There are at least five of them in the ruins in excellent cover and more behind us. What do we do?”

  “Most of your guys are dead or dying. We have to surrender.” Derek replied sadly.

  “We can’t!” Rora insisted.

  “We don’t have a choice. I might be able to fight my way out on my own, but the rest of you wouldn’t make it.” Derek told her calmly. “If we surrender I don’t think they will kill us. They need us to take them to the ARK. Once we know who were are dealing with, we can plan our escape.”

  “Fine.” Rora reluctantly agreed.

  “Stop shooting! We give up!” Derek yelled to the attackers.

  The gunfire slowed and then stopped as an authoritative and somewhat familiar voice shouted for the soldiers to hold their fire. “Throw out your weapons.” The voice shouted at them.

  Derek and Rora tossed their weapons off the path, followed by the partisans. “The machete and shotgun too, Storm.”

  That startled Derek a little. This wasn’t some random officer they had sent. This person knew him personally and well enough to know what weapons he carried. Once their weapons were tossed, soldiers came out from behind the rocks and began collecting them. Derek could tell they were regular Army soldier, not Red Berets. That at least was a good sign. Common troops would be much easier to trick and defeat than the Red Berets.

  More soldiers came out of the passageways in front and behind them. All of them kept their weapons trained on the partisans and Derek and Rora at all times. They seemed nervous, but managed to stay calm. The troops secured all of their prisoners’ hands behind their backs with zip cuffs before the officer revealed himself. All of the prisoners were forced to their knees and guns put to their heads as the commander came out from behind the rocks.

  Derek and Rora were stunned to see that it was the Red Beret captain. He wore clothes similar to the partisans, but he was obviously in command. Bruises on his face were not fully healed and he looked terrible, but he carried himself with confidence. The man had a huge smile on his face as he strolled over to gloat.

  “I thought Rule #21 was never give up your weapon?” The captain mocked.

  “I don’t need a weapon to take you out.” Derek snapped petulantly.

  “Really?” The man said with emphasis. “I finally have you right where I want you.”

  “Good for you.” Derek replied sarcastically.

  The man slapped Derek as hard as he could. “You really are an insolent bastard, aren’t you?” The man muttered as he massaged his hand. “I could have just had my boys kill you, but you took everything from me so I wanted to do this personally.”

  The Red Beret captain drew a pistol and aimed it at Rora’s head. He smiled and stared directly at Derek as he began to pull the trigger.

  “Wait!” Derek shouted in desperation. “We have something you want. If you kill us you will never get it.”

  “The only thing I want is you dead.” The man stated with finality.

  “Don’t you want to get back into the government’s good graces?” Derek asked quickly.

  The man paused and moved closer to Derek. “Go on.” He said forcefully.

  “We are here to get something of great importance.” Derek told him. “It’s so important that your government would move mountains to get it. If they knew it existed.”

  “What do you mean?” The man asked, intrigued.

  “There is something down here that was so secret and so well hidden that the U.S.T.G. government doesn’t even know it exists.” Derek informed him.

  “They must know.” The man said slyly. “Why else do you think we are here?”

  “Please…If they knew how important it was, they would have sent an army of Red Berets.” Derek responded smartly. “How are you even in command here anyway?”

  The man glanced sideways at his troops before responding. “That doesn’t matter.” He said quietly as he moved within inches of Derek’s face. “What matters is that I outsmarted you and now I can kill you.”

  “That was impressive.” Derek agreed. “How did you manage to get everyone in here without the partisans realizing it?”

  The captain paused; he was torn between just killing his nemeses and gloating. Gloating finally won out and he bragged. “I had them walk in each other’s footsteps so it looked like less people. I used to go hunting with my father and I know a few tricks.”

  “Didn’t do you much good in the past though, did it?” Derek needled him.

  The captain snarled in incoherent rage and struck at Derek with his pistol. That was what Derek had been waiting for. Using the knife he concealed on his wrist, he had sawed through the cuffs while they are talking. When the gun moved up for the blow, he surged forward before it descended. They collided with a meaty thud and staggered backwards, locked in a bitter embrace.

  The Red Beret captain lost all semblance of sanity and bit, head butted and clawed at Derek. His rage gave him incredible strength and Derek could barely hold him back. They shuffled back and forth struggling for control. The soldiers stood by impotently, unable to shoot for fear of hitting their leader. They battled back and forth for several minutes before Derek found himself pressed backwards against the safety railing with the man’s hands around his throat.

  The man’s crazed fury was giving him incredible strength and Derek was starting to have trouble breathing. He had the Red Beret captain by the wrists and was trying to pry his hands apart, but he just couldn’t manage it. The captain laughed evilly as he continued to squeeze tighter and tighter. In desperation Derek pushed forward slightly and then slammed their weight backwards. The railing snapped loose and they tumbled backwards into the rocks.

  They fell down a short incline and bounced off of one of the formations. The collision jolted them apart and they rolled to their feet facing each other. Both had lost their weapons in the fall, but the captain had lost none of his anger. He leapt at Derek with his hands and fingers outstretched like claws. He landed on Derek and knocked him down. As they fell Derek caught both hands by the wrists and held the gouging fingers at bay. But the crazed captain was sitting astride his chest and pinning him down.

  The man was literally foaming at the mouth and Derek feared the man may have gone totally insane. His strength was unbelievable and his pupils were completely black. The captain let out a hideous cackle as his fingers got closer and closer to Derek’s eyes. Above them, Derek could see the soldiers looking down on them. They were watching in stunned disbelief and were not even aiming their weapons down; they were so engaged in watching the spectacle below them.

  Then there was a bright flash quickly followed by a deafening boom. The flash blinded Derek but he could feel the pressure from insane Red Beret lessen slightly. Taking advantage of the brief lapse, Derek bucked up hard and rolled. He managed to flip the maniac onto his back and ended up on top of the man. Several quick elbow smashes to the face of the Red Beret rendered him unconscious.

  While he was knocking out his opponent, Derek could hear gunfire and screams above him. Once the man was unconscious Derek used him as a shield and waited for the situation above to sort itself out. After a few minutes, Rora appeared at the gap in the railing and offered him a hand up.

  “Everything okay up there?” He asked her suspiciously.

  “Yeah, Shilling was amazing. He just showed up out of nowhere and took out most of the soldiers, and the rest fled.” Rora told him with awe in her voice.

  “Really? The guy who di
dn’t want us to shoot anybody?” Derek asked in disbelief.

  “Really.” Rora said as she helped him drag the captain up. “I don’t think he killed anybody though, just wounded them.”

  “That’s correct.” Shilling called out. “I didn’t kill anyone. You can win the battle and not kill anyone you know. You should try it sometime.”

  “Smart ass.” Derek muttered before calling back. “Good job!”

  “Thank you.” Shilling replied, looking pleased with himself. “I took out the sniper while they were focused on you and then I used a flash bang to disable the rest before shooting them in the legs.”

  He stood over six soldiers who were now bound with their own zip cuffs. All six had minor wounds to their legs but they would live. They looked completely demoralized and when Derek looked closer, he could see how young they were. The U.S.T.G. must be getting desperate to send children off to war. Although it was less mouths for them to feed and the government could care less about the masses dying.

  The partisans were finishing freeing the few survivors and regaining their weapons. Ray was talking to one of the older men and glanced over at Derek. He nodded to the man and came over to speak with Derek and Rora.

  “The others are going to go. This is too risky for them, we are primarily guerilla fighters. We hit and run. More soldiers will come and they want to be gone before that happens.” Ray told them bashfully.

  “We understand.” Derek assured him. “They need us to take care of themselves first. But how are we going to get where we need to go?”

  “I’m staying with you. I know the caves well enough to take you where you need to go.” Ray said confidently.

  “Okay, let’s go.” Derek said firmly.

  “What about them?” Rora asked, pointing to the soldiers and the Red Beret captain.

  It dawned on Derek that he knew nothing about the man besides his name and rank. How funny was that? The man was essentially his nemesis, and had chased them across the country; but they didn’t know who he was. When the man woke back up, Derek resolved to ask him. Rule #26, know your enemy.

  “The soldiers stay here, but he is coming with us.” Derek said as he picked up the still unconscious captain. “We might need a hostage or bargaining chip later.”

  Chapter 36

  September 11, 2029

  Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky

  The remainder of the trip to the coordinates on the cylinder was uneventful. Ray did manage to lead them to the right spot, but it took longer than expected. They had to backtrack several times before they found the right path. The spot they arrived at was deep into the cave, but it looked as though there had once been some sort of mining operation there. The chamber they arrived in was hollowed out and enlarged from its original size.

  A large steel fence with a gate in it blocked their way. There were warning signs about the danger of cave in plastered everywhere. The gate was triple padlocked with large carbide steel padlocks. Behind it, what looked like a manmade passage roughly eight feet in diameter went for about twenty feet before curving to the left.

  “The coordinates are behind that gate and down that passageway.” Shilling informed them.

  “Anyone have the keys?” Derek joked before looking at Rora.

  She nodded and went to work on the locks. Within twenty minutes she had all three picked open. Shilling actually looked impressed. She knew Derek wasn’t surprised or impressed, he had seen her do it before. One of his problems was that he became jaded so quickly. She tossed the locks aside and opened the gate. Rora gave Derek a funny look as he picked up the padlocks.

  “I know rule #9, but what use could they possibly have?” She asked him.

  “There’s always someone who needs a good lock, but I’m more worried about someone else picking them up and locking the gate behind us; trapping us inside.” He explained.

  She nodded in agreement. Good point. Sometimes his paranoia came in very handy. She pushed that thought aside and passed through the gate. The excitement was building inside her. She was so close to achieving her goal. The ARK would soon be hers. Oh the things she could do once she had it. How she could change the world.

  That excitement turned to frustration as she rounded the corner of the passageway and discovered a huge solid steel door blocking her way. The passageway had opened up slightly before the door and it was probably ten feet in diameter. It looked like a perfect circle embedded in the rock. In the center was a small circular recess with an even smaller hole inside. She waited for the others to catch up before examining it further.

  “I think the key goes in here?” She told them as she pointed at the recess.

  “Let me try.” Shilling said.

  They moved aside to allow him access. He inserted the cylinder and it was a perfect fit. He rotated the cylinders sections and pushed the plunger. Nothing happened to the door, but he gave a small yelp of pain and began sucking blood from his thumb. They all stared at the door in incomprehension. They had come this far and the key didn’t work?

  “Wait.” Derek said suddenly. “Right before he sacrificed himself, your father said you were the key.”

  “The key pricked me.” Shilling interrupted. “It was taking a blood sample…The key must be coded to your DNA. You try pushing it.”

  Rora reluctantly pushed the plunger on the cylinder and felt the needle prick. At first nothing happened, but after a few seconds there was a loud click followed by the sound of moving gears. The door slowly rolled away revealing a large cavern beyond. Derek went in first, a flare in his left hand and his shotgun in his right. Everyone else followed behind, entering slowly.

  The cavern was considerably larger but it was hard to see with only the red glare of their road flares. Derek located a breaker box near the entrance and threw them all. Lights in the ceiling suddenly filled the cavern with bright light revealing the contents within.

  Rora gasped in disappointment as she saw it was almost completely empty. The only thing in the cavern was an empty steel pedestal at the far end, and what looked like large metal boxes along the sides. There were no freezers or cold storage units, no computers, no generators, nothing that would have held biological samples. The pedestal was roughly five feet high and had a slightly angled top. A large plug of some sort extended from its surface.

  “No!” She screamed in frustration.

  Derek and Shilling glanced at each other. It was disappointing that the cavern was empty, but it didn’t warrant that level of anger. Ray merely stood watching. He had been unaware of what was supposed to be inside so he didn’t know anything was missing. The captain had come around during their trek and been surprisingly quiet since then, but now he laughed at her reaction. She turned on him and grabbed him by the collar.

  “Where is it?” She demanded.

  “How should I know?” He retorted. “I have no idea what was even in here.”

  “It was the future, you idiot.” She hissed at him. “Now the future is lost.”

  “Maybe not.” Derek interrupted as he looked around. “Something was here. Someone else must have taken it.”

  “It would have had to have been taken a while ago.” Ray pointed out. “There were no signs of disruption when we entered and any marks on the stone have been covered up. The moisture in here constantly creates a thin new layer of rock.”

  “Could your father have built this as some sort of decoy?” Derek asked Rora.

  She considered that possibility for a moment. “No, this was it. Whatever was here is gone now.” She stated with confidence. “But how? It was locked up tight and this was the only key. And it required me to get in.”

  “What’s odd is that there doesn’t seem to be any power supply for freezers or cold storage. Even if someone took what was here, they wouldn’t have removed those.” Shilling mused. “The only power seems to have been run to that pedestal.”

  He was right, Rora realized. What if the ARK wasn’t what she thought it was? What if it was some
thing smaller and more portable? She moved towards the pedestal to examine it. Maybe there was a clue about what it was and who had taken it?

  “Wait!” Derek cried out as she reached the pedestal.

  She turned around in confusion. He was looking at her legs with a look of concern. She looked down and saw she had broken a laser beam with her passage. She had unwittingly triggered some kind of trap. Rora yelped in surprise as the lights went out, leaving the room lit only by their dying flares. There was a brief moment of silence where all Rora could hear was their breathing before a horrible and familiar sound echoed through the cavern, the hunting cry of a Drinker. More howls echoed in reply until the cavern was filled with the terrifying cacophony of hungry Drinkers.

  To Be Continued in Wasteland Rules: Die Fighting

  Coming Winter 2014

  Author’s Note

  I hope you enjoyed reading Wasteland Rules: Born to Fight. As a new and independent author, the hardest thing to get, but perhaps the most valuable, is feedback. So please take the time and review the book. Obviously I would prefer five star reviews, but be honest even if it is negative. I know the book is not for everyone. If it is negative, please explain why.

  If you have feedback you would like to share with me directly, please feel free to email me at wastelandrules@gmail.com. I would really appreciate any constructive criticism or even that I missed a word or misspelled something. Thank you in advance for your time.

  The Rules

  1. Kill or Be Killed

  2. There are only Friends or Enemies

  a. The enemy of my enemy is my friend

  3. Don’t leave an Enemy at your back

  4. A gun is the great equalizer

  5. Don’t Waste Ammo