Wasteland Rules: Die Fighting (The World After Book 4) (31 page)

   “Did you get it?” She yelled back to him.

   Knowing she wouldn’t hear him, he simply gave her a
thumbs up. He could see her smile in the side view mirror. She kept the
throttle open as they raced towards the parked plane. Rora had collected
several fuel cans, which were now strapped to the snowmobile; so they would be
able to fly back down to the main part of the U.S. All they had to do now was
get the ARK somewhere safe.

   They hadn’t made it far when Derek noticed the
pursuit. He caught a reflection of a dark object on one of the ice encased
skyscrapers and looked back. There were five snowmobiles chasing them. All five
were larger than the one they rode on and the ones he had destroyed. And all of
them carried the armored Satanists in body armor. Apparently the enforcers had
their own vehicles and these were armed. Each one mounted a machine gun fixed
to the frame.

   Derek tapped Rora on the shoulder and pointed
backward. Her eyes got wide when she saw the pursuit and she looked at him for
suggestions. He pantomimed a wavy course with his hand and she nodded. She
started weaving back and forth around the various buildings and obstacles as
their pursuers opened fire. The zipped perilously close by the tops of several
buildings, so close Derek could have reached out and touched them.

   Bullets began to strike all around them and Derek
felt several rounds hit the snowmobile. Their pursuers were closing in and
managing to stay with them on the wild ride through the city. The other
snowmobiles were larger and more powerful and there was no way they could
outrun them; and if they got to the plane, the plane would be destroyed
stranding them in Alaska.

   He skillfully swung himself around to face
backwards, not an easy trick on a snowmobile moving at full speed and driving
erratically. Derek gripped the snowmobile with his legs and held on while he
reloaded the submachine guns. Once they were reloaded he lifted both up and
blazed away at the lead pursuer. The rounds sparked off the frame and
ricocheted off the windshield. The thing must be armored. He was out of ammo
anyway, time to switch to something bigger.

   There were only five grenades left in the launcher,
but there was no point in saving them. He unslung it and steadied himself. Aiming
carefully he fired at the chasing vehicles. The first grenade missed as Rora
swerved, but the second one caught the lead snowmobile head on and it exploded
in a brilliant fireball.

   The others were undeterred and increased their
volume of fire. The pursuers being close enough now that the passengers could
open fire with their submachine guns. The gunfire became increasingly accurate
and the back of the snowmobile shattered and Derek took a couple of rounds.
Ignoring the pain he concentrated and fired again. It took two more grenades to
blow the driver and rider off of one of their pursuers and the final grenade
struck the skis on the front of one of the snowmobiles causing it to flip
forward end over end before crashing into a frozen building.

   That left two pursuers, and if anything they seemed
more determined. Out of grenades and out of ammo for the submachine guns, Derek
was forced to use what he had at hand. He cut the fuel cans loose and undid
their caps. He tossed them behind the fleeing snowmobile and opened fire with
his pistol. The leaking cans exploded into bright fireballs catching the lead
snowmobile in the blasts and setting the driver and passenger on fire. They
screamed and flailed helplessly as they burned until the driver lost control
and slammed into the icy side of a building. The crash surely killed both men.

   That left only one snowmobile still pursuing them,
but they decided they had had enough and turned around. Derek watched them go
with a mixed sense of relief and concern. These guys were supposed to be
fanatics, why had they given up? Did they have something else up their sleeve?
He decided he couldn’t worry about it and repositioned himself facing forward.
About ten minutes later they arrived at the concealed plane and jumped off.

   “Let me see it.” Rora demanded eagerly, her hand
outstretched.

   Derek handed her the metal case and watched as she
examined it with a greedy look on her face. She popped it open and began
pushing buttons and sliding her fingers on the screen. It was a tablet of some
sort contained within the case. Her smile got bigger and bigger as she scrolled
through the data on it.

   “Are we good to go?” Derek asked anxiously. He
didn’t want to wait around and see what else the Satanists had up their sleeve.

   “Yes, we are good to go.” Rora agreed ecstatically.
“I have everything I need now.”

   “Good, let’s get out of here.” Derek said as he
moved towards the plane door.

   “Not so fast.” A voice boomed malevolently.

   To Derek’s complete surprise, Deimos materialized
from the other side of the plane and Faceless troops in snow gear appeared from
hiding to surround them. He shouldn’t have been surprised; his enemies always
seemed to know where he was. Nothing was ever easy. Derek instinctually stepped
in front of Rora to protect her.

   “I’ve taken everything away from you Storm, and
you’ve served your purpose.” Deimos snarled gleefully. “Now it is time for you
to die.”

   Served his purpose, what the hell did that mean? He
probably couldn’t defeat this monster, but he would go down fighting. Maybe
Rora could escape with the ARK. There was still hope. He prepared to fight and
took a combat stance facing his monstrous adversary. But the former Red Beret
only smiled at him with a smug superior smile and didn’t make a move.

   Derek was considering that when he felt a sharp,
ice cold and yet white hot pain under his right armpit. It lanced deep into his
body, striking all the way to his heart. The pain as intense, like nothing he had
felt in years and he could immediately feel the strength ebbing out of him. But
it was what he heard next that made his blood run cold.

   “It was me Derek.” Rora whispered cruelly in his
ear. “It was always me.”

   Derek collapsed slowly to the ground, his legs
failing him. Rora and Deimos both stood over him gloating. For some reason his
healing factor was failing him as blood continued to pour out of the wound. The
realization that Rora had been the traitor all along shocked him to his core
and he just couldn’t understand.

   “Why?” He gasped.

   She smiled down at him. “Because I needed you to
kill off my rivals and retrieve the ARK for me.” She explained gleefully. “I
set it all in motion by letting the existence of the device leak out. I knew
they would send you to retrieve it. Once you came I knew I could hook you into
helping me. Then it was only a matter of directing you where I needed you to
go. NASA, Homeland Security, the CIA; even Wichita, all part of the plan. All
wiped out thanks to you.”

   “You were the one who sent us to Langley Park?”
Derek whispered weakly.

   “That’s right. I needed some of Dr. Strahn’s
research.” Rora crowed. “It completes the research I got in Zinc when you got
us into the bunker. It wasn’t a coincidence that the device was stored right
next to a building only you could unlock.”

   “And you planned to kill Doors all along.” Derek
stated with a groan.

   “I couldn’t have done it without you.” Rora said
with a wicked smile. “The Faceless Man either, since both Deimos and I had a
compulsion genetically coded into us to prevent us from harming him. But now
that he is gone, we are free and I can take control of the Faceless.”

   “You’re a member of the Discordian Society?” Derek
asked weakly in disbelief.

   “No. They created me, but I was just using them to
gain power.” Rora informed him. “The Faceless in my father’s lab made a few
alterations to my DNA sequence, adding in some DNA strands to the package
before they grew me. The Faceless Man thought I was the reincarnation of Eris,
but that is ridiculous. I used his network of Faceless to run my own agenda
right underneath his nose until I could use you to kill him. Now that we have
the ARK and all my enemies are dead, thanks to you, I can pursue my own plans.”

   “This is insane.” Derek mumbled as he grew weaker.
“This cannot be happening.”

   “Believe it.” Deimos rumbled. “You have been a pawn
all along. How does it feel?”

   “You are no longer needed Derek, but thank you.”
Rora said cheerfully. “And in case you are wondering why you aren’t healing,
the knife I used had a special poison I designed just for you. It prevents your
body’s natural healing properties from functioning. That’s why you haven’t
clotted yet and why you won’t heal from this.”

   “Can I kill him now?” Deimos asked eagerly.

   “No, let him bleed out while he watches. Then leave
his body to rot here. No one will ever find him.” Rora instructed Deimos. “It’s
time to usher in the New Dawn, the Age of Aurora.”

   “Goodbye Derek.” She said as she strolled away.

   Deimos leaned down and plucked the phone containing
the Voice from Derek’s pocket. He looked Derek in the eyes and smiled as he
crushed the phone underfoot.

   “Now you truly have nothing.” The monstrous soldier
gloated. “I told you I would get revenge.”

   Derek watched helplessly as Deimos turned and
walked over to join Rora. He could tell he was dying this time and he couldn’t
believe it was going to end like this; with him bleeding to death in the frozen
wilds of Alaska, betrayed by his closest ally. He cursed himself for not
following the Rules. That was all that kept you alive in the World After.

   He watched as the Faceless led by Deimos dropped
down to one knee to honor Rora. Just as he was starting to fade out he saw a
silver streak in the sky. The android came falling down from the sky to alight
gently in front of Rora and Deimos. There was a glimmer of hope that the
android might stop them, but that was crushed when the android bent his knee to
her as well. Derek’s last sight before he faded into oblivion was Rora standing
inside a circle of worshippers.

   “All hail Aurora!” They chanted.

   In response she held the ARK over her head and
laughed maniacally. His last thought as he died was of what carnage she could
create with the ARK and those two killers under her control. The world was
doomed.

   Snow blew through the empty city of Anchorage. It
swirled around the abandoned Cessna and covered Derek’s body. Rora and her
followers were long gone and any sign they had been there had been erased by
the snow. There was complete silence and no movement except the wind and snow;
until a shadow moved near one of the buildings. A man in a black bodysuit that
covered his entire boy from head to toe shimmered into existence. He approached
the plane, his feet crunching in the fresh snow. He stood silently over Derek’s
body.

   The snow around the body was still stained with
blood. The man ignored that and began stuffing Derek’s body into a black body
bag he unrolled. The body was already frozen stiff in the subzero temperatures
and was difficult to handle. After a brief struggle he sealed the bag with the
body fully inside and stood up.

   “I have the package.” Sterling said calmly into his
headset.

   “Excellent.” The Voice replied smoothly. “Transport
is on the way.”

To
Be Continued????

   
I hope you enjoyed reading the Wasteland Rules novels. 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 [email protected]. 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

6.
     
Mind
your own business

7.
     
Always
pay attention

8.
     
Water
is life

9.
     
Take
everything you can carry, you never know what you might need

10.
 
Always
watch your back

11.
 
If
you can’t fight, run; if you can’t run, hide; if you can’t hide, fight

12.
 
The
safest looking place is always a trap

13.
 
The
weak serve the strong

14.
 
Never
sleep in the open

15.
 
Always
be prepared

16.
 
Don’t
rely on technology

17.
 
Bullets
don’t discriminate

18.
 
You
can never have enough ammo

19.
 
Don’t
draw any attention to yourself

20.
 
Always
carry a blade, it never runs out of ammo

21.
Never give up your weapon

22.
Don’t waste time talking, just kill your opponent

23.
Don’t look for trouble

24.
Don’t share anything you don’t need to

25.
Never leave anything behind for your enemies to use

26.
Know your enemy

27.
Never walk into anything blind

28.
A
lways
make sure your weapons are clean and cleared

29.
Don’t
start a fight you can’t win

30.
Don’t let emotions cloud your judgement

31.
Every man for himself

32.
Always assume someone is a threat