As soon as she saw it, her skin prickled as she realized the sniper would have her in his sights. Slowly, she turned and looked up the fifty or so yards toward the top of the overpass. Sunlight glinted off the scope, and the wounded man began laughing softly.
Suddenly, a red mist sprayed from behind the scope, and the rifle tumbled down out of sight. The sound of a gunshot rang out from the distance a second later. Looking off to her right, Rin saw Reznik lowering his ancient Winchester rifle from his shoulder where he sat on his hoverbike several hundred yards away.
Reznik gave her a thumbs-up. She raised her hand in silent thanks before returning her attention to the wounded man. His face had drained of any humor.
“Not so funny now, is it?” she asked quietly and slid the sword into his chest.
***
They spent about ten minutes searching the marauder encampment. Reznik counted seven bodies, not including the sniper farther up the overpass. There was a battered pot set up over a small cook fire. Some type of stew was burning to a crisp, so Reznik removed the pot and stamped out the fire. A foul-smelling shanty held several bedrolls, a few packs, and some miscellaneous junk. These people didn’t have much to their names, he thought.
Reznik found a number of serviceable firearms to add to his growing arsenal. One of the marauders carried an AK-47 with a spare magazine of thirty rounds. He also found .22 and 9mm semi-automatic pistols. The rifle used by the sniper was a Tachibana, a make Reznik had never heard of before. The high-powered rifle was in good shape and had a nice ACOG 4x scope on it. It took .308 ammo, of which he found an additional twenty rounds.
Other than the weapons and ammo, the only other things of interest were a few of the poker chips Reznik had seen before when he killed Haze’s gang. He followed Rin’s lead and decided not to test his luck with any of the slim pickings of unsavory-looking food available.
Reznik’s earlier trepidation about trusting the swordswoman had slowly dissipated as the day wore on. Although his gut instinct was that Rin would uphold her end of their bargain, he had half expected her to make a break for it at the earliest opportunity. She had simply done as she had promised, however, which was to guide him across the wasteland. Rin wasn’t much for conversation but could more than pull her weight in a fight, and he was thankful for that.
Rin and he sat on the Jersey barrier, which gave them a clear view of the valley. They rested for a bit, eating some of the rations they had packed and hydrating. Thankfully, the air had begun to cool off slightly, and a stiff breeze picked up as the sun sank behind a bank of storm clouds on the western horizon.
Reznik studied one of the poker chips. “What are these used for?” he asked, flipping one up with his thumb and watching it turn end over end. He plucked it out of the air before a gust of wind could snatch it away.
“Skin City chips. They are used as valid currency in and around Skin City and much of the wasteland,” Rin replied in her low, throaty voice. The small woman regarded him with her unnatural turquoise-colored eyes. “Pac-Rim doesn’t accept them, but you can always exchange them for yen. As far as I know, the New USA doesn’t accept them either.”
“New USA?”
“That’s what the eastern part of the country calls itself. The wasteland extends from the southwest desert up along the Rocky Mountains and east across the Great Plains. The New USA’s borders are near what used to be the Mississippi River last time I checked.” She shrugged. “They tend to keep pushing their borders farther into the wasteland, much to the annoyance of the settlers there. I haven’t spent much time there myself.” A stray beam of sunshine broke free of the storm clouds for a moment. The light caused her blond hair to shine and the studs in her cheeks to glitter.
They sat in silence for a while as they ate. Reznik thought about the kill switch ticking down in his head. He had been brought back from the dead and put into this military-spec skin thanks to the efforts of Myrna Kane and her father. When they had activated the genetically enhanced clone, which had been acquired from an unknown source, an “expiration date” timer had begun counting down. The military that had developed Reznik’s type of skin had hard-wired a security feature into it to prevent skins going rogue and being stolen and sold on the black market. The security code, or “kill switch” as he thought of it, would basically give him a massive coronary or heart attack or something similar when the timer expired without the proper code being entered. He checked the counter on his HUD. “TIME REMAINING UNTIL UNIT EXPIRATION: 06:04:26:12,” it read. Just over six days to go—plenty of time to get this taken care of, I hope.
“How much farther until we reach this hacker of yours?” he asked.
Rin eyed the thunderheads. “I would have said tomorrow evening, but that was planning for a few more hours of travel today. I don’t like the look of that approaching storm. I think we should find shelter and ride it out for the evening. Storms in the wasteland can be pretty fierce.”
“We could go into the city over there and find somewhere to hunker down.” Reznik studied the distant city again. A distant rumble of thunder punctuated his words.
“Cities mean people—gangs and scavengers usually. Sometimes slavers use it as a base of operations as well. I do think that’s our best option right now, but keep that in mind for future reference.”
“I’ll remember that.” Lightning flashed in the clouds, and a few seconds later the rumble of thunder reached them. Reznik stowed his new weapons in his duffel bag and packed everything back up. They mounted up and followed the path of the old highway toward the city.
***
Reznik and Rin slowly rode down a deserted street, trash and dirt blowing and swirling around them from both the air disturbance caused by the hoverbike rotors and the approaching thunderstorm’s outflow winds. The crumbled buildings were silent sentinels that witnessed their passage.
One building had been partially boarded up and was covered with graffiti. “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed from his prison” was proclaimed in huge block lettering across the boarded-up window. Reznik felt a chill run down his spine, and he redoubled his effort scanning their surroundings for any signs of trouble.
After they had traveled into the city uneventfully for several blocks, Rin pointed at what looked like an old warehouse. The roof had caved in long before, but the walls appeared sturdy enough, and the building was still partially surrounded by a high chain-link fence. They eased the bikes through a gap in the fence. A crooked, faded sign on the building proclaimed the warehouse had belonged to Day Star Distributors.
Reznik held the AK-47 tightly against his shoulder as he dismounted. He quickly scanned the yawning opening to the warehouse where a section of wall had collapsed, but he couldn’t see anything but darkness inside. He turned in a slow circle while scanning the nearby street and rooftops, but nothing stirred other than debris. Thunder rumbled loudly, and the storm’s outflow wind hurled grit at them. Lightning flared again within the massive thunderhead nearly on top of them.
Nobody appeared to be in sight, but Reznik couldn’t be sure. The hoverbikes made a substantial amount of noise—nothing like a regular motorcycle, of course, but in the eerie stillness of the ruined city, the whoosh of the rotors seemed very loud.
Rin cautiously approached the entrance to the building, her hand on the hilt of her katana. After peering inside for a moment, she relaxed and walked inside. Reznik followed her, his assault rifle held ready.
The inside of the warehouse was deserted. The collapsed roof formed a lean-to shape in the main room. The room was as massive as a hangar, but it looked as though the only approach was from the direction they had entered. As Reznik looked closer, he could see that somebody had thoughtfully blocked the openings around the collapsed roof with loose cinder blocks. It looked as if it would provide a reasonably dry and concealed place to spend the night. A circle of bricks surrounded an ash pit where a bonfire had once burned.
“I’ve passed through here before,” Rin sa
id. “This location is concealed and should keep us dry from the storm.”
“This will work. We should pull the bikes inside before anyone sees them.”
Rin agreed, and they pushed the bikes inside and out of sight. Almost as soon as they were inside the building, heavy raindrops began drumming on the metal roof.
Chapter 2
“Come on… just a little bit closer.” Marcus held his breath as the beast approached the irradiated pool. The creature didn’t look very impressive from his vantage point lying on top of a ridge, but he knew that matters would be different up close.
Marcus was here with his crew on a scientific research expedition to study the mutagenic effects on living creatures found in Exclusion Zone Alpha, the five-hundred-mile diameter hot zone that had once been part of the central USA but now lay at the heart of the wasteland. These creatures had recently begun spilling out of the exclusion zone and into adjoining occupied areas. The problem was that these mutants had proven to be dangerous, so the decision had been made to put a containment barrier around the hot zone.
Section 7, the bio-tech research division of Thorne Industries, wanted to study the robust mutagenic properties of the creatures. Doctor Barbosa, Marcus’s boss and the head of Section 7, had charged him with capturing a mutated mammal and bringing it back intact for further study.
And now Marcus found himself going numb from lying for hours on top of the ridge in his bio-rad suit, waiting for this moment to arrive.
Liu’s breath caught as he studied the animal, and he suddenly shifted his position, his bio-rad suit rustling loudly in the stillness of the night. Marcus frantically waved at him to stop moving about.
The beast raised its head, ears perked up at the sound of Liu’s movements. It might have once been an ordinary mongrel canine at some point in its evolution until the mutations had taken effect. Now it resembled a giant, hairless Rottweiler, its hide a mottled gray color. It was nearly the size of a bull, heavily muscled, with wickedly sharp teeth and claws. The creature’s bite would mean a painful and unsurvivable fate for the unlucky recipient. The people that had been infected from exclusion zone creature attacks contracted an incurable condition and usually met a painful end.
The creature sniffed at the air for a moment longer until it eventually dipped its head to drink from the foul pond. Through the night-vision display on the facemask of his suit, Marcus could pick out the lithe shape of a woman and her team crouched down the ridge a short distance away from the pool. None of them felt the need to wear the suits since they were all skins—their genetically engineered bodies infused with nanobots made them much more resistant to radiation and any other form of damage. The three of them patiently awaited his signal.
“Okay, take it down,” he said softly through his Datalink.
The woman smoothly rose up on one knee and in the same motion fired her electroshock weapon at the creature. The round struck it in the haunch, releasing enough electricity to drop an elephant. The startled creature reared back, and its legs wobbled momentarily, but then it shook its head and roared in anger. It snuffled the air, its massive head darting back and forth, seeking its attacker. Marcus felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck at the raw fury of the beast’s roar.
“Resilient son of a bitch,” the huntress remarked conversationally over the Datalink. “That thing just shrugged off half a million volts.”
The beast spun around and growled at her, saliva pouring from its jaws. Its tail whipped the air, but the fearless woman stalked closer, firing several more rounds into its chest and neck, causing the beast to stagger in pain. It roared in anger again before finally collapsing to the ground.
With the suit’s night-vision display, Marcus saw residual sparks flashing brightly around the barbed rounds piercing the beast’s hide.
The two men accompanying the woman darted out from cover nearby and efficiently began to truss the beast’s legs together. They proceeded to wrap a tape around its massive snout as Marcus had seen alligator handlers do. One of the men produced a long pole, which he slipped through its trussed legs. They hoisted the massive fifteen-hundred-pound beast up on their shoulders without difficulty.
As they began to carry it up the slope toward him, Marcus thought it humorous that they resembled a couple natives carrying a wild boar to roast over a bonfire for dinner. There would be no eating this creature, however, unless Section 7 found some “volunteers” to involuntarily ingest the creature once its useful life as a test subject was over.
The woman sauntered up to the two scientists, her eyes reflecting light like a cat’s in his night-vision view. “You two get what you wanted?” she asked with that sensual smile of hers that sent a rush of heat to Marcus’s face. The woman had had that effect on him for almost as long as he’d known her, which had been most of his life.
“Um… yeah, Bethany, that should do it,” he stammered. “This is an impressive specimen—they should be thrilled with it.”
“Good, I’m thrilled that they will be thrilled. Let’s get the hell out of here then. I could use a drink and a good fuck,” she replied with a bold look as she brushed past, making more contact than was necessary.
Marcus cleared his throat. “Right, let’s get moving then.” He was glad nobody could see his blush in the darkness. “Liu, give it the tranquilizer injection.”
Liu had to almost forcibly pull his gaze away from Bethany as she started back toward the drop ship. “Uh… what was that?”
“Give it the tranq, and then we’re out of here.” Marcus was glad he wasn’t the only one who got flustered in the woman’s presence. Bethany used her sexuality as a weapon as much as her combat skills, and to as much effect. He knew she did that to manipulate him, but he sure didn’t know how to resist her flirting. He wasn’t sure he would have wanted to even if he knew how.
***
“I’m going to scout around a bit,” Rin announced shortly after the storm died down. The thunderstorm had been violent, and she was glad they had taken shelter in the old warehouse. The metal roof had shaken and rattled alarmingly from the hurricane-force winds followed by the drumming of golf ball-sized hail. Lightning had struck very near where they had huddled down, and the deafening crack of thunder had been instantaneous. Fortunately, the solid block walls and metal roof had held fast, and they had remained relatively dry and comfortable.
Reznik just nodded in reply from where he was reclined against his pack, comfortable in the way that people who spent a life on the road could be. Or soldiers, Rin thought. He’s a career soldier. Reznik did appear to be more comfortable on the road than he had during the brief time she had spent with him underground in the bunker.
She unfolded her legs and got to her feet. Even though the temperature had dropped over forty degrees from the powerful storm, the chill in the air didn’t bother her. She slid her katana back through her belt and made her way to the entrance. The night was still; the only audible sound was dripping runoff.
Rin stepped silently on the wet ground, being careful to avoid splashing in any puddles. She slipped across the street and took care to stay in the shadows of the buildings as she moved away from the warehouse. Turning down a cross street, she headed for a spot she knew provided a good overlook of the area. Reception will be better there too.
From experience, she knew there was a weak Datalink signal in this city. Relays were placed sporadically throughout the wasteland, and there happened to be one somewhere in this city. Its signal had been weak the last time she had been through here; it was likely damaged or perhaps partially blocked somehow. She thought of satellite imagery she had seen years ago of the continent at night. The bright lights of civilization had shone in the darkness like stars. The dark places had been few and far between at that time, but now she was sure the whole map of the interior of North America was almost total blackness. She could imagine the thin filaments of Datalink networks like slim lines of glowing spiderwebs criss-crossing the vast, dark void of the wastel
and.
The tower loomed out of the darkness ahead, blocking the gauzy silver-lined clouds with its deep blackness. It had once been the city hall, she guessed, back before the Earth had been shattered, when people still called this nameless city home.
The brick building was three stories high, with a tall clock tower still mostly intact. The front had collapsed long before from an explosion or earthquake. Rin walked up to the front of the building and leaped up, catching onto the exposed floor of the second level. She pulled herself up with ease and repeated the process until she was standing on the roof. The clock tower door was still chained shut as she remembered from her previous visits, but she didn’t intend to take the stairs. The bricks were staggered and protruded enough to provide convenient hand and footholds. She quickly scaled the tower to the small chamber behind the clock.
Exposed on three sides, the viewing platform provided a spectacular view of the city and surrounding valley. Tonight, she was interested only in receiving a decent comm signal. Her HUD showed a weak signal, but it would be sufficient.
She leaned against the railing, looking east across the valley, and made the call she had been dreading for a long time.
“Is that you, my sister?” a voice answered in evident surprise.
“Yes, Seijin, it is I,” Rin replied. She steeled herself for the angry response.
“Where the hell have you been? It’s been over two years since I last heard from you! I thought you were dead.” There was a long pause, and then he continued. “What of Ayane? And Ryu?” Her brother was normally stoic and emotionless; his guard must still have been down from his shock at her call, for surprise, concern, and a hint of anger battled in his tone.
“I’m sorry, brother. I failed you. They didn’t make it…” She trailed off, not sure what else to say. She smothered her anguish deep inside as she had over the long months she had been enslaved by Haze. As many times as she had rehearsed this conversation throughout the day, whatever thoughts she had organized scattered like leaves before a strong gust of wind.
Extensis Vitae: The Shattered Land Page 2
