Wasteland Rules: Die Fighting (The World After Book 4) (15 page)

   A large man in stained denim jeans and jacket
wearing body armor and carrying a SPAS-12 combat shotgun draped across his
shoulders stood to her right. Bandoliers of ammo crisscrossed his large chest
and a large shiny belt buckle drew attention away from the raider tattoo that
had been scraped off his forehead, leaving heavy scarring. On her left was a
wiry smaller man with wild hair and eyes wearing mechanic’s coveralls under body
armor. He fidgeted nervously with the tricked out M4 carbine in his hands.

   The blond woman stood in a sexy pose with her hands
on her hips as she smiled at Derek. An MP7A1 personal defense weapon with an
extended clip and suppressor hung on a sling from her right shoulder under her
armpit. Extra clips were on a harness under her left armpit. Derek noted the
MP7A1 also had laser and optical sights.

   “Devil!” Derek snarled as soon as he saw her.

   “Hi Sweetie.” She purred. “Long time no see.”

   Derek shook his head in disbelief. Would every bad
decision he ever made come back to haunt him? He had hooked up, literally, with
Devil years ago. Angela Scott, or Devil as her friends and enemies called her,
was an exiled Red Beret turned bounty hunter. She and her crew were known as
some of the most vicious hunters out there. Many marks turned themselves in
when they found out she was after them. He had worked with them for a short
time before getting into a fight with the big man in the dirty denim known as
Grunk, over his execution of a handcuffed prisoner.

   The split had not been amicable and Devil had never
forgiven him. She had already tried to kill him once before in Casper, Wyoming.
He had managed to disarm her and leave her tied to a bed. Something she had not
taken well. Now she had a million reasons to take his head, so this wasn’t
going to end peacefully.

   “Hey!” The biker shouted. “You never mentioned a
bounty.”

   “Who are you talking to?” Derek asked in confusion.

   “Your friend there.” The biker said pointing to Sterling,
who smiled ruefully. “He never mentioned a bounty when he paid me to pick a
fight with you.”

   Derek groaned inwardly. “Really?” He asked Sterling
over his shoulder.

   “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Sterling
said defensively. “I was just trying to help you get back to normal. I figured
a good rumble would help you get back in the saddle.”

   “The bounty is alive or DEAD…” Devil called out
sweetly.

   All eyes in the room turned towards Derek. He saw
the biker’s demeanor change from angry to predatory as the man considered what
he could do with the money. The other scum in bar moved slightly closer and
Derek could see them reaching for weapons. He heard Rora and Sterling moving
their chairs back to allow easier access to their weapons. And he saw Devil
smile as she watched the events unfolding.

   “I saw him first!” The biker insisted as he turned
to Devil.

   “He’s all yours.” Devil told the biker with a smile
and wink to Derek.

   The biker turned back to Derek and opened his mouth
to speak, but Derek didn’t let him. He hammered a right cross to the biker’s
face dropping him like a felled tree. The whole bar froze for a moment as the
biker crashed to the ground unconscious. Then the bar exploded into action as
everyone went for their weapons.

   Derek seized the heavyset biker and dragged the
protesting man in front of him as the remainder of the scum opened fire. The
big biker screamed in agony as Derek used him as a human shield and hundreds of
rounds and pellets tore him apart. Derek threw the bloody body at the third
biker as he dove over the table Sterling had flipped up. Rora and Sterling
frowned at him as he hunkered down next to them.

   “Old girlfriend?” Rora asked acidly as bullets
thudded into the wooden table.

   “You could say that.” Derek said with a grin.

   “You’re enjoying this aren’t you?” She asked him
coldly.

   “I am.” He stated simply before popping up to
return fire with his pistol.

   He dropped several raiders who had been trying to
flank them and he caught a glimpse of a smiling Devil and her crew backing out
of the saloon. Splinters flew as the raiders and bikers directed their fire at
the table in the corner. The table was of solid wood construction, but it
wouldn’t last forever.

   “Any ideas?” Derek asked Sterling and Rora.

   “Here.” Sterling said gruffly and shoved something
into Derek’s left hand.

   “Now we’re talking!” Derek exclaimed as he looked
at the grenade Sterling had given him. “Any more of these?”

   Sterling nodded and showed them a small satchel
with more grenades in it. Derek smiled and pulled the pin before hurling the
grenade towards where he thought the highest volume of fire was coming from.
The blast was followed by screams of pain and agony and a brief lull in the
gunfire. He risked a quick glance and saw that the grenade had taken out a
small group of bikers. The scavengers, bartenders, waitresses, and hangers on
had fled leaving only the hardcore scum; bikers, burners, and raiders.

   They had gathered into their respective groups and
had overturned tables as well. More scum were entering the saloon from the
other building, all eager to collect the hefty bounty on Derek’s head. And
likely more were coming, called in as reinforcements. There was a back room and
Derek needed to clear them a path to it, if they hoped to escape.

   Derek held out his hand and Sterling slapped
another grenade into it. Derek was about to throw it when he saw movement
through the large windows at the front. An armored RV pulled up in front of the
building and lurch to a stop. On top there were two M2A1 .50 caliber machine
guns mounted on swivels. His keen eyesight allowed him to see the smiles on
Devil’s and Grunk’s faces as they chambered a round and then opened fire.

   The front windows exploded inwards as the .50
caliber rounds blasted through them sending shards of Plexiglas scything
through the room. Scum screamed as the Plexiglas and bullets tore through them.
Tables disintegrated and men were sent flying as Devil and Grunk sprayed the
saloon indiscriminately with heavy rounds. The scum all panicked and scrambled
for their lives, but the two bounty hunters gunned them down mercilessly. Derek
could see Grunk laughing as he blasted away with the machine gun.

  The thundering roar of the machine guns and the
clatter of brass hitting the ground drowned out all other noises. Then the two
stopped to reload and the saloon fell silent except for the crackle of broken
glass and the low moans of the dying. Amazingly Derek, Sterling, and Rora were
unhurt even though everyone else seemed to be. The interior of the saloon was
completely demolished. Nothing except the table they had been behind had
survived.

   “Move!” Derek ordered Sterling as he grabbed Rora.

   He dragged her behind him and threw her over the
bar as Sterling followed. They scrambled into the back room of the former
grocery store and ran for the loading dock. The two bounty hunters resumed
firing and bullets chewed through the wall and began whizzing through the back
room. They reached the back door and Sterling was about to leave when Derek
suddenly cursed and dragged him back and down to the ground.

   “What?” Sterling cried in surprise.

   “We can’t go out that way.” Derek informed him
through gritted teeth. “There is a fourth member of Devil’s crew. Pappy, he’s a
sniper. He’s out there waiting for them to flush us out.”

   Pappy was an older man who worked with Devil
because no one else would work with him. He was an amazing shot when sober, but
he was usually drunk. Only Devil seemed able to get him sober enough to work a
mission. Pappy was former SWAT and had been a Regulator briefly before getting
kicked out for his drunkenness. He was quiet but had a mean streak a mile wide,
a perfect fit for Devil’s crew.

   “We can’t stay here. They’re shooting the building
to pieces. It’s either going to collapse or we’re going to get hit.” Sterling
argued as bullets passed overhead.

   “If you don’t mind a little cold, I have an idea on
where we will be safe.” Derek said with a grin.

   Without waiting for their answers, Derek crawled
along the ground to the store’s freezer. As he suspected, it had been turned
into a cooler for the saloon’s beer. The walls were thick with insulation and
made of steel so it should provide protection from the gunfire and a possible
building collapse. He sat back and popped a bottle open. Both Sterling and Rora
gave him astonished stares.

   “What?” Derek asked jokingly. “We came for a drink
didn’t we?”

   They both shook their heads and tried to stay low
to the ground. Bullets thudded into the freezer’s walls repeatedly but didn’t
penetrate. Dust floated down from the lights on the ceiling as the freezer
shook under the repeated impacts. Derek calmly drank the pilfered beer as he waited
to see what would happen next. He didn’t have to wait long before the machine
gun fire stopped.

   “Come on out Derek!” Devil called over a
loudspeaker.

   “Come out and I’ll let your friends walk.” She
offered when he didn’t respond.

   “Okay, we’ll do this the hard way.” She announced
in response to his continued silence.

   “Derek’s way is the hard way.” Rora muttered
grimly.

   He laughed and nodded slightly. That was true; he
did like doing things the hard way. He always had. It had driven his parents
nuts that Derek needed to experience something to learn, he couldn’t just take
their word for it. That had driven commanders and instructors nuts as well.
But, he had never repeated a mistake twice and that was the key.

   Once before he had believed that Devil had forgiven
him and believed her promises that they were good. He had allowed her to seduce
him into coming to her room where she and Grunk had immediately tried to kill
him. Derek had escaped by jumping out of a window but had been shot by the
waiting Pappy. He wasn’t going to make that mistake again. He would wait
patiently and see what she did next. He thought he had a pretty good idea.

   A few minutes passed in silence as they waited to
see what Devil and crew did next. Then a loud explosion rocked the freezer
followed by loud crashing and snapping noises, followed by rumbling that
sounded like an avalanche. The lights in the freezer went out and the
refrigeration unit stopped. Silence again fell broken only by the sounds of
shifting rubble and creaking metal. As expected, Devil and her crew had thrown
some sort of explosive into the saloon to blast Derek out. As he had hoped, the
freezer had protected them from the blast.

   “Grunk, you idiot. You used too much explosive
again.” They heard Devil admonish Grunk just outside the cooler a few minutes
later.

   “Don’t blame me. Spuds made the devices.” Grunk
retorted.

   Derek knew Spuds was the wiry man who had been with
Devil and Grunk. He was the crew’s mechanic, driver, explosives expert and mad
genius. He had no formal training but could fix just about anything. The man
was also socially awkward so he usually kept quiet and followed Devil’s lead.

   “But you didn’t have to use three of them.” Devil
chided him.

   “That’s true.” They heard Grunk say with a laugh.
“But you know how I love blowing stuff up.”

   “We won’t get paid if we can’t retrieve the body.”
Devil reminded him.

   “Mhm. Good point.” Grunk agreed sheepishly.

   While they were talking Derek made his way to the
freezer door and tested it. It didn’t move, rubble must be blocking it. That
was a big problem. With the refrigeration not working, fresh air wasn’t being
cycled back into the freezer. Eventually they would run out of air and the
freezer would become their tomb. But he couldn’t just blast his way out,
because it would give away their position. He couldn’t see the others, the
freezer interior was pitch black and even his enhanced night vision needed some
light; but he could hear their breathing. And it was much faster than usual,
indicating fear.

   “Voice.” Derek murmured. “Can you see what they are
doing out there?”

   “Sorry Derek.” The Voice replied smoothly. “I can’t
get a signal through the walls of the freezer.”

   Derek cursed and then clicked on a small pocket
flashlight to examine their current prison. He scanned the freezer and stopped
on the fan from the refrigeration unit. It was too small for him to fit
through, but Rora should fit. He walked over to examine it and Rora and Sterling
joined him.

   “What are we going to do?” Rora whispered.

   “Shhhh…” Derek replied quickly.

   Outside he could hear Devil continue talking. “They
couldn’t have gotten out could they?”

   “I saw them go into the back room, maybe they got
out the back?” Grunk replied doubtfully.

   “No way!” A third voice answered. “I had it
covered. Don’t try to blame me for your mess Grunk.”

   “Take it easy Pappy.” Grunk said placatingly. “I’m
just trying to cover all the options.”