Escape: The Wasteland Chronicles Book Two

by Rashad Freeman

  ~~~**~~~

  Maddox let the door close slowly behind him then shuffled silently to catch up with Tim. His shoes kicked up a thin layer of dust that had accumulated on the ground. It floated into the air and he sneezed loudly. Tim whipped around and gave him a look of death and Maddox shrugged his shoulders.

  The building was almost completely dark. A single UV bulb glowed overhead casting a dim light over the room. The air smelled like stale corn chips and aside from a few knocked over cardboard boxes the place was completely empty.

  “Which way?” Tim asked as he turned to Maddox.

  “Follow me,” he replied in a hushed tone.

  Maddox took the lead and began to follow a painted brick wall around the perimeter of the building. He stopped as they came to a wooden door and placed his hand on it. It was thick and solid and a small, square window was centered at eye level.

  Maddox peeked into the room then turned back to Tim. “This is it,” he whispered. Slowly turning the handle he pushed at the door, but it didn’t budge. He nudged it harder, ramming his shoulder into the solid wood, but got the same result.

  “Let me try,” Tim insisted.

  He stepped forward, grabbed the knob and thrust his shoulder into the door. The handle turned, but the door didn’t move. “Fuck!” Tim shouted.

  With the butt of his gun Tim knocked the knob off of the door and tried pushing it again.

  “That was smart,” Maddox said. “Now how do we open it?”

  Frustrated, Tim stepped back and let off three shots right in between the frame and the door. He lifted his long leg and brought his boot crashing down and the door swung open.

  “That’s how.”

  Outside, Mark had fallen asleep lying on a pile of leaves and sticks. When the gun went off he jumped and grabbed his rifle.

  “What the fuck?” he mumbled to himself.

  Leaning forward he looked through his scope and stared down into the valley. He focused in on the weapons depot and then moved out to look at the surrounding area. Something caught his eye and he lowered his rifle. Blinking, he rubbed his face and slapped himself to make sure he was awake.

  “Get it together.”

  Mark brought the rifle back up to eye level and hesitantly stared through the sights. Four blurry, black dots were moving across the lawn. He adjusted the scope and the images cleared, showing armed men heading straight for the building.

  “Goddamn it!” Mark whispered.

  He zoomed in closer. He could tell these were not your everyday stragglers. They wore tactical gear and moved like they knew what they were doing. And if that was the case, there were probably more of them than he could see.

  Mark grabbed for his bag blindly, not wanting to take his eyes off of the men. He slid it across the ground then reached inside and pulled out his last magazine.

  He contemplated unloading on them. Killing them all would be ideal, but would also give away his position if anyone else was out there. No matter what, he knew he couldn’t let them go into the rear access door where Tim and Maddox would be exiting any minute.

  Back inside Tim was busy stuffing boxes of ammunition into a duffle bag. Maddox was on the other side of the room shuffling through the various guns that hung on the wall.

  “I can’t believe they left it all. All these guns they’re all still here,” he said with excitement.

  Maddox sat a bag full of rifles and handguns onto the floor then he started filling another one with random explosives. Frag grenades, flash bangs even tear gas canisters lined the walls, categorized on metal shelves.

  “Do you even know how to use those?” Tim asked as he watched him grab armfuls like a kid in a toy store.

  “Nope, I was a systems analyst, but I always wanted to blow up stuff when I was a kid,” Maddox said with a grin on his face.

  Tim laughed and shook his head. He looked around the room scanning the walls for anything else they might need. “What’d they do here anyway?”

  “Defense contractor. This was one of their storage locations and testing for prototypes.”

  Tim nodded then zipped up his bag. “Okay, we’re gonna catch hell lugging this shit around, time to head out.”

  “Your overgrown buddy can carry it all,” Maddox mumbled then slung the bags over his shoulder.

  Together they crept back to the main room. Maddox propped the splintered door closed and they made their way towards the exit.

  Outside, Mark was sweating nervously as he watched the team of four move closer and closer to the back door. His index finger rested on the trigger of his rifle, the muzzle aimed at the head of the point man. Any second now he was going to have to make a decision.

  They rounded the back of the warehouse and walked up the long ramp to the rear access door. Mark took a deep breath and steadied his hand.

  Suddenly, the door swung open and Tim and Maddox stumbled out. They were both weighed down with bags, barely holding onto the straps. Tim stepped onto the ramp and froze as he came face to face with the barrel of an assault rifle.

  ~~~**~~~

  Lenny froze. He stood there stunned like a deer in headlights. Very few times in his life had something taken him completely by surprise and this was at the top of the list.

  He slowly raised his hands away from his gun and put his arms into the air. The rifle dangled on the sling and rattled to the ground. Lenny took a moment to compose himself.

  “Just…just be calm. Nobody’s gonna hurt you,” Lenny said with his voice barely above a whisper. “Anything you want, it’s yours.”

  Pointing back at him was an AK-47. Even under the dwindling light Lenny could make out the unmistakable silhouette. The hands that held it shook feverishly making the magazine rattle in the receiver. They were twenty feet away standing to the side of a row of small boulders and thick bushes. Lenny could hear their excited breathing, their fear seeping out which each rapid breath.

  Rebecca and Crimley couldn’t see the gunman from where they were. Their vision was obscured by the rocks and heavy bushes that made their location so hard to find in the first place. Probably a good thing Lenny thought, there was no telling what either of them would do.

  Taking a deep breath Lenny swallowed hard. His throat felt like sandpaper, like he’d swallowed a cactus and washed it down with dirt.

  He followed the barrel of the gun upwards until he was staring into the stranger’s eyes. Lenny could tell he was scared by the way he shook nervously and swayed back and forth. Lenny didn’t want to do anything that would frighten him anymore.

  He looked back at Lenny, his face riddled with confusion. His soft, blue eyes soaked in the surroundings trying to process a million things at once. Sweat ran down his forehead and into his eyes, but he refused to blink. He didn’t want to lose sight of Lenny, he’d been taught that much.

  Lenny still hadn’t moved. He kept his hands in the air, his eyes firmly planted on the rattling AK-47. This was one situation he’d never planned for, one scenario that he would lose either way.

  A branch snapped and Lenny turned at the sound. Rebecca emerged from the other side of the thorn bush, her gun held high in her hand. Her eyes met the stranger’s and she paused, but it was too late.

  He was startled. He hadn’t been expecting anyone else. He stumbled backwards, inadvertently squeezing the trigger. The rifle crackled like thunder as a triplet of bullets ripped from the barrel.

  “No!” Rebecca yelled.

  ~~~**~~~

  There was a loud snap and blood splattered all over Tim’s face. A body collapsed in front of him and collided with the door. Gunfire erupted from all sides before he could even think about reacting.

  “Run!” Maddox yelled, shoving Tim forward as he tried to rush out of the building.

  The door swung forward and the dead man slid down to the floor, leaving a crimson trail across the gray metal. Blood gushed from his head, his assault rifle falling from his lifeless hands.

  “Get back in you crazy bastard!” Tim
yelled.

  He shoved Maddox backwards and they fell inside just as a hail of bullets tore past them. Staggering to his feet, Tim reached for the door handle and slammed it shut. Stepping backwards, he grabbed his pistol and aimed it at the door.

  There were three other men outside on the ramp. After seeing their friend shot, they started firing blindly and retreated around the far side of the building.

  Mark grinned and took aim. He squeezed his trigger one more time and the rifle squawked. Another body instantly dropped, bouncing off of the railing and tumbling into the lawn. The other two disappeared around the corner before Mark could take another shot.

  “We can’t stay here.” Maddox declared as he tried to move past Tim. “If we don’t move now we’re gonna be trapped. Mark can only cover us for so long.”

  Tim looked at him with an angry scowl. “You almost got my head blown off!”

  “You don’t stop! You don’t ever stop!” Maddox yelled back. “You open that door you keep going.”

  Tim fumed, but he knew Maddox was right. “You ready?” he growled through a clenched jaw.

  Maddox nodded and Tim slowly cracked the door open. The dead body was blocking the door so he rammed it with his shoulder. The lifeless corpse slid to the side and Tim peeked outside.

  Blood was smeared across the metal ramp that led into the field. Bullet holes littered the outside wall like Swiss cheese. An abandoned rifle lay discarded on the ground, smoke still rising from the barrel.

  “There’s at least two more.” Tim declared as he stared at the body that had fallen into the grass. “We’re not gonna make it to the trees. We gotta take them out.”

  He looked to Maddox for agreement. Maddox tipped his head slightly and they slowly began to descend the ramp, remaining as close to the wall as possible.

  “We should sit these bags down.” Tim said as he straightened up and started pulling the straps over his head. “We’ll come back and get em.”

  Maddox agreed and they both began to remove their bags. There was a sudden crack and Tim was spun around then fell onto the ramp. The duffle bags fell to the ground next to him as he struggled to keep a grip on his gun.

  Two more deafening explosions shook the air as bullets hit the metal flooring in front of them and ricocheted off. Tim scuffled backwards and grunted in pain. His arm was limp, uselessly dragging across the grated meal.

  Maddox grabbed him by the collar and slung him over the railing, leaving the bags behind. He fired back over his shoulder then jumped the railing behind Tim. As soon as his feet hit the ground he pulled Tim up and they ran to the other side of the building.

  Up the hill Mark frantically searched for the other sniper, but he couldn’t tell where the shots came from. Out of options, he picked up his gun and headed down the slope, still covered under the thick vegetation. He slid to a stop behind a patch of bushes and knelt down.

  “It’s just my arm.” Tim said to Maddox as he gasped for air.

  He stuffed his gun into his waistband then pressed his hand over his shoulder. Blood seeped through his fingers, oozing out with each breath he took. The entire sleeve of his shirt was drenched.

  “Can you shoot that thing?” Maddox asked.

  “Yeah…yeah, just not as good with my left.” Tim replied and pulled the gun back out with his bloody hand.

  “Good. You think Mark’s got eyes on anything?”

  “Not sure, but looks like they brought a sniper of their own.” He groaned and slid the small bag off of his back off and threw it to the ground.

  “Well we definitely can’t stay here.” Maddox peeked around the corner then looked back at Tim. He didn’t look good, his face was pale and he’d lost a lot of blood. Maddox worried if he’d be able to make the hike to the vehicle storage in his current condition.

  “Help me with this,” Tim said as he tossed Maddox a bag of Quick Clot.

  Maddox caught it and tore it open. Sighing, he sprinkled the crumb-sized granules over Tim’s wound. Tim growled and bit his lip as Maddox laughed.

  “What’s so damn funny?” Tim asked.

  “Just that you wanted to leave me tied to a chair at the civic center and now here I am saving your life.”

  “Whatever, just pack it in there.”

  Maddox took a bandage and pressed it against the wound. “That’ll have to do for now.” He tossed the rest back into the small pack and zipped it up. Then he helped Tim pull the bag back over his shoulder.

  “We gotta get those guns,” Tim declared, grimacing in pain.

  “Are you fucking crazy? We go back around that corner and that sniper is gonna eat our lunch.”

  Tim opened his mouth to say something else, but a loud, booming voice echoed down into the valley.

  “Hey assholes, I hope stealing our supplies was worth it!”

  Tim looked at Maddox in confusion. Neither of them had a clue where the voice was coming from, but they were sure it was the other shooter.

  “Fuck you!” Mark’s menacing growl yelled back.

  “Ah, there you are,” the other voice responded.

  There was a loud crack and then another and another. Mark groaned and then the rapport of a fully automatic machine gun rattled the air. When the shooting stopped everything fell silent, neither of them said a word.

  Tim looked to Maddox with worried eyes. He leaned his back against the wall and kept a sharp look on the far corner.

  “This isn’t good,” he mumbled. “You think he’s…you know?”

  Maddox sighed and wiped the sweat from his face. He shook his head from side to side and bit his lower lip. Reluctantly, he looked back at Tim, a sense of worry drawn across his face.

  “I hope he’s not,” Maddox finally said. “I really hope he’s not. Otherwise we’re stuck out here.”

  Straining their ears they listened for anything, a grunt, a moan, any sign that Mark was still alive. The buzz of swarming flies was the only recognizable sound. No Mark, no shooting, just silence and the flapping of hundreds of tiny wings.

  The sun was quickly fading. The sky turned a deep, amber red as it gave way to the night. Pretty soon the sniper wouldn’t be their only problem.

  Tim took a deep breath and looked down at his arm. Blood was still seeping out, but not as fast as it had before. He tried to hide it from Maddox. He was losing feeling in his fingers and a lightheaded sensation was starting to overwhelm him.

  “We gotta do something with that soon,” Maddox whispered.

  Tim turned away. “I’ll be fine,” he said dismissively.

  “You fucking missed dipshit!” Mark screamed, breaking the silence.

  “Thank God,” Tim whispered.

  “I won’t next time!” the man yelled back.

  “Do a headcount. Those are your buddies with their brains spread out on the lawn,” Mark heckled.

  The man didn’t respond. There was a rustling sound then he fired two more shots. Mark moved sideways through the brush towards the sound of the gunfire. For such a large man he moved quick and silently.

  “What the hell are we gonna do?” Maddox asked frantically. “We can’t…we can’t stay here.”

  “Calm down. We need to get those bags and find out where those two guys went,” Tim said. “Hopefully Mark will take care of the rest.”

  Maddox started to shake his head in protest. He wasn’t a soldier like Tim and Mark. Surviving was one thing, but a shootout with some kind of paramilitary unit was another.

  “You said it yourself. We can’t make it to the storage unit without more weapons,” Tim declared. “So we don’t have a choice.”

  “So how do we get the damn guns and get the hell out of here without getting our asses shot off?” Maddox asked.

  “We can either shoot our way out of here or we can…well I got an idea,” Tim said and then he cleared his throat. “Hey!” He screamed at the top of his lungs. “Let’s work out a deal.”

  “Shut the fuck up Tim. I’m gonna kill this son of a bitch,” Mark yell
ed back.

  “Look, we didn’t take much. We just needed a little, there’s still tons of stuff inside.”

  “And what about my dead brother that asshole friend of yours shot?” the man yelled back to Tim.

  “Well…well that’s just gonna have to be water under the bridge. You did shoot me in my arm.”

  “I didn’t kill you. I could’ve, I could’ve shot you in your damn face.”

  “So you want a prize for being a shitty shot?” Mark said with a laugh.

  “Mark!” Tim screamed. “Shut up!”

  Mark swallowed back his last words. Shaking his head he continued creeping through the twisted branches. His rifle was slung across his back and a knife clenched tightly in his hands.

  Tim flicked his hand and Maddox inched around the corner on all fours. He stayed low to the ground, slowly crawling towards the two duffel bags. A triplet of bullets suddenly thudded into the grass in front of him and he scuttled backwards and dove back around the wall.

  “So that’s your deal?” the man yelled out. “Next time it’ll be your head.”

  “Look, we just wanna go. Let us take our bags and we’ll be out of your hair,” Tim pleaded.

  “I don’t think so. You leave the bags and leave your guns. Maybe I’ll let one of you get to your boy in the trees.”

  “Fuck you!” Tim screamed.

  Maddox laughed. He stared at Tim with a rebellious look in his eyes and then firmly gripped his gun. “Let’s find his two friends,” he mumbled. “Give him a reason to negotiate.”

  Tip toeing around the far corner Maddox moved quickly. With his back against the wall he edged to the very end and slowly leaned forward so he could see around the other side. Two men were stealthily moving across the grass in the opposite direction. They were both dressed in black tactical gear with black boots and masks covering their faces.

  “They’re running, heading for the parking lot,” Maddox whispered.

  “Well let’s do something about that,” Tim replied.

  Sliding closer to Maddox, Tim gripped his pistol tightly and grunted. His arm burned like boiling water with every movement he made. Dried blood stuck to his hand and his fingers felt like he was being poked with millions of needles.