Wasteland Rules: Die Fighting (The World After Book 4) (30 page)

   Derek quickly ran to a narrow point along the path.
Tying one end of a rope to a metal antenna sticking out of the top part of a
building, he ran and hid behind the corner of the top of another building. Soon
he saw the snowmobile approaching at a high rate of speed. Two figures dressed
in black clung to the vehicle as it raced along. As they reached his location
Derek pulled the rope taught and it sprung up to around neck level for the
riders.

   The rope caught the driver across the throat and
snapped him backwards as Derek held on. The second rider was knocked off the
snowmobile as the driver’s momentum was suddenly arrested and he smashed
backwards into the passenger. Both tumbled to the ground in a heap and the snow
mobile traveled on for a few minutes before slowly sliding to a stop. Derek
rushed over to the crumpled pair. The driver was dead, his neck snapped by the
sudden impact of the rope. But the passenger was still moving around, moaning
pitifully. Derek quickly punched him in the face knocking him out.

   Rora joined him, crunching across the snow. “Nice
work!” She told him enthusiastically. “We have a ride now. I was getting tired
of walking.”

   “We have away in too.” Derek said with a sly grin.
“Hopefully you don’t mind wearing someone else’s robes.”

   She grinned and they began stripping off the heavy
black hooded robes the men wore over their cold weather gear. The two men also
had black facemasks on that Derek and Rora took. The robes and face masks would
provide an excellent disguise. Even though the Satanists probably knew each
other very well having been trapped together for years, it should be enough to
get inside and give them cover for a short time. The robes were impractical and
silly, but fanatics never seemed to worry about practicality. It was always
about the message.

   He also took their walkie talkies and any weapons
they carried; which consisted of two Beretta M9s, two MP5 submachine guns, and
two sickles. Again it was about the message, since the sickle was such an
impractical weapon. He debated leaving the unconscious man alive, but the
weather would kill him so it seemed humane to just snap his neck. He normally
would have followed Rule # 3 without hesitation, but he was starting to rethink
some of the Rules.

   They buried the bodies in the snow just in case
someone else was out looking too. Then they mounted the snowmobile and headed
to the church. It was much quicker going with the snowmobile and they reached
the church in no time. Derek slowed as they got nearer and looked for the
entrance. Only the spires of the church were above the snow pack and he
couldn’t see an obvious entrance. And the snow had covered the tracks the
snowmobile had made on its way out.

   “What are you waiting for?” The walkie suddenly
crackled. “If you didn’t find anything get back inside, we don’t want anyone to
spot you.”

   “Be right there.” Derek mumbled, his voice muffled
by the facemask.

   “There is a heat plume on the northeast side.” The
Voice informed him urgently. “It must be from an open door or hatch.”

   “Got it.” Derek assured him as he gunned the
snowmobile.

   As they circled to the northeast he could see a
small black dot against the white snow. It was inside a small depression that
would function as a ramp down. Derek maneuvered the snowmobile down into the
depression and into a large room that was once the church’s gym. A large door
rolled shut behind them as he brought the snowmobile to a stop. Three black
robed men approached them after Derek parked the snowmobile next to a row of
snowmobiles.

   “Did you find anything?” One asked diffidently.

   “You mean other than snow bunnies?” A second joked
and all three laughed.

   The three men were within a couple of feet of the
snowmobile when one realized something was wrong. “Hey, where did you get that
grenade launcher?” He asked in confusion.

   Derek responded by surging off of the snowmobile
and attacked the Satanists. They were caught completely by surprise and Derek
quickly incapacitated them. He took down all three with a combination of
punches and kicks as he flowed between them and finished off the third man by
snapping his neck from behind. The whole fight lasted no more than ten seconds.
Derek snapped the other two men’s necks and they dragged the bodies into what
had once been the ball room, but was now used to store fuel.

   “Load some fuel cans on the snowmobile and be ready
to leave in a hurry.” Derek instructed Rora. “I’ll go get the ARK.”

   “I’m coming with you.” Rora insisted.

   “It will be easier to blend in if it is just me.”
Derek told her firmly. “Stay here and don’t talk to anyone. We have no idea if
there are any women members.”

   “Fine.” She agreed reluctantly.

   Using the phone to guide him, Derek left Rora
behind and hustled through the church. His disguise wouldn’t fool anyone close
up and it was only a matter of time before someone approached Rora or went
looking for the three missing men. Once the alarm was raised it would be too
late. He had left the grenade launcher and the shotgun with Rora since they
would have blown his cover, again. So he would be limited if he had to fight
his way out.

   Fortunately, the few Satanists he passed in the
hallways ignored him. Derek moved quickly with his head down acting as if he
had a purpose. Being so isolated and having never had an intruder in fifteen
years, the Satanists didn’t even seem to consider that he wasn’t one of them.
That allowed him to make it all the way to the storeroom the Voice assured him
contained the ARK. Outside the door, which looked to be a reinforced steel
vault, were two armed and armored guards.

   The other Satanists hadn’t had body armor, but
these two did and they didn’t wear robes either. Instead they had on black BDUs
under the body armor and they stood guard professionally and alertly,
constantly scanning for threats. These two looked like ex-military to Derek. It
made sense the group would have an elite core of enforcers, probably selected
for their military or law enforcement backgrounds. They put pragmatism first
and looked capable of defending the vault with their UMP40s.

   The vault was unexpected. Nothing on the blueprints
had shown a vault. The Satanists must have installed it after they took over.
The door looked like heavily reinforced steel with a complicated electronic
lock that appeared to include some sort of biometric scanning. Hopefully the
Voice could bypass it, but first he needed to dispose of the guards as quietly
as possible. No time for anything but the direct approach.

   “I need something from the vault.” Derek growled,
trying to mask his voice, as he swiftly approached the two guards.

   “On whose authority?” The guard on the left asked.

   “And why are you wearing a face mask inside?” The
one on the right added.

   Derek charged forward suddenly and jabbed the
combat knife he had been concealing into the throat of the guard on the left.
The man collapsed, gurgling and clutching at his throat as he quickly bled out.
The other guard raised his weapon and tried to fire, but Derek continued to
move after stabbing the first guard. He grabbed the barrel of the submachine
gun and rammed it backwards into the guard. The stock crushed the Satanist’s
windpipe and he collapsed, choking to death.

   Derek took a quick look around to make sure no one
had seen the short fight and then pulled out the Voice. “Can you hack it?”
Derek asked urgently.

   “Plug me into that slot under the panel.” The Voice
instructed. “Let’s see what I can do.”

   “Hold one of the guards’ hands up to the scanner
there.” He added after a minute.

    Derek did as instructed, but the screen flashed a
red DENIED up on it. “What now?” Derek hissed in frustration.

   “Give me a minute.” The Voice advised him calmly.

   “We don’t have a minute.” Derek argued agitatedly.

   “Nonetheless, I need a minute.” The Voice informed
him firmly.

   Patience wasn’t Derek’s strong suit, but he tried
to contain his growing sense of panic. If they didn’t get in and then get out
soon, this mission was going to be a failure. He had come too far and
sacrificed too much to let this end in failure.

   “Try again.” The Voice instructed.

   Shaking his head, Derek tried the guard’s hand
again. Incredibly, this time the screen flashed a green ACCESS GRANTED and the
vault door unlocked.

   “What did you do?” Derek asked in amazement.

   “I found the fingerprints of the Satanist leader
that the Faceless replaced in their database. They must also replace the
fingerprints when they take over that person’s life. Which makes sense because
if they didn’t they would be found out quickly.” The Voice explained, sounding
slightly smug. “I switched them with the guard’s fingerprints during the data
transfer inside the scanner, thus fooling the scanner.”

   “Impressive.” Derek said with a smile as he entered
the vault.

   “You don’t keep me around for my beauty.” The Voice
told him merrily.

   “Was that a joke?” Derek asked with a grin.

   “You are starting to rub off on me.” The Voice
replied mockingly. “Now get the ARK and get out of there.”

   The vault resembled a bank vault with safety
deposit boxes lining both sides and a large metal safe at the opposite end.
Actually, Derek realized it was indeed a bank vault. The Satanists must have
moved it here somehow and added the more sophisticated lock. That indicated
there was something valuable in that safe. Now all he needed to do was get
inside of it. The only problem was that he had no experience as a safecracker
and no way to cut or blow it open. He tried to open it just in case they left
it unlocked, but no luck.

   “Hold me up next to the dial and spin it slowly.”
The Voice told Derek.

   “Really?”

   “Yes, really.” The Voice replied with a hint of
frustration. “I can detect the clicks and I can tell you when to stop. You just
need to go slowly.”

   Derek complied and held the phone up. He spun the
dial slowly, stopping and reversing direction when the Voice told him too. To
his surprise, the lock clanked to show it was unlocked and he turned the
handle. The safe slowly swung open to reveal its contents, or rather content. A
small shiny, silver metal case about the size of a small tablet rested on a
velvet pad.

   “Is that it?” Derek asked, underwhelmed.

   “If it isn’t, we came a long way for nothing.” The
Voice replied.

   Their discussion was interrupted by a voice from
behind them. “What is going on in here?” A large bearded Satanist asked as he
loomed in the vault doorway.

   Derek replied by turning and shooting the man in
the chest with one of the captured pistols. The time for stealth was over, it
was time to do what he did best; and that was create some chaos and confusion.
Besides, they would be aware of the theft soon enough, why prolong the drama.
Grabbing the case, Derek fled the vault; snatching up both of the UMPs and a
couple of extra clips along the way.

   “Intruders in the vault room!” He yelled into the
walkie talkie. “They have on Red Berets!”

   That ought to create some confusion and send
everyone to where he was no longer at. Retracing his steps, Derek rushed back
towards the gym. He kept his head down and ran, trying to maintain a low
profile. That actually worked until he got to the gym. As he got closer he
could hear Rora screaming at someone. He burst into the gym to find her struggling
with two Satanists. Another one was already down, the blood pooling around him
indicated that Rora had shot him.

   Still running, Derek fired two bursts from the UMP,
one into each man. The rounds caught them in the back and the collapsed to the
ground. Rora shrugged free of their clutching hands and jumped onto the
snowmobile. As she revved up the engine, more Satanists spilled into the room
from multiple doorways. During his run Derek had slung the UMP40s across
opposing shoulders and had one in each hand. He spun around and fired both submachine
guns on full auto sending streams of bullets scything throughout the gym.

   The unarmored Satanists in black robes went down in
bloody heaps as Derek sprayed rounds everywhere, filling the gym with a storm
of lead. When both guns ran dry, Derek quickly reloaded and opened fire on the other
snowmobiles. The vehicles’ fiberglass shells splintered under the assault and
began to leak gasoline. Derek jumped on the snowmobile behind Rora while still
firing. He maintained a grip with his legs on their snowmobile and continued to
blast away at the other snowmobiles as they roared up the ramp and out into the
snowy waste.

   The snowmobiles exploded as the bullets sparked
igniting their leaking gas tanks. Flames shot out of the opening as Rora and
Derek zipped out, seeming to chase them as they escaped. Derek fired until the
clips were empty and then dropped the submachine guns to grip Rora tight as she
flew out onto the snowy ground. They swerved wildly as she maintained full
speed and tried to avoid the random obstacles that jutted out of the ground
like icy fingers.