The Blastlands Saga

by DK Williamson

  “There’s the cockroaches. That’s pretty much what they look like, except they got eight legs and can get up to two feet long. One of’em bites you and the bite probably won’t kill you, but the toxins very well might. A couple or more bite you and you’ll be hurtin’ for certain.

  “A little bit of advice concerning any and all aliens you come across, don’t touch’em and don’t let them touch you. Even if one comes up all friendly-like and offers his hand, claw... whatever, don’t take it,” Art said as the trainees either smiled or laughed. “Run or kill it.

  “Seriously, remember why the aliens came here. They came here to get rid of us. I don’t have any other explanation that fits. I think the nukes put a kink in their plans and the ones that are left are just following a program: kill all life on this rock. I think the gasbags had nastier things to drop, but they never got the chance.”

  Art pointed at Thomas Young who had his hand raised.

  “You mentioned the gasbags. Are there any of them left?” he asked.

  “Good question. I doubt it unless one of’em is trapped in Australia and it’s afraid to cross the ocean,” Art said as most of the trainees chuckled, “Seriously though, I think if they were still here, we wouldn’t be.

  “Anyway, back to the cockroaches. One round through the head or the front quarter will stop them cold. You can put a few rounds through the mid section and it’ll kill them as well, but you’d be wasting ammo way out where you ain’t got no resupply. Besides, your gonna need that ammo for bigger game.

  “Which brings us to the ladybug. It’s called that because it looks like a giant ladybug, except it ain’t orange and it don’t fly, thank goodness. They’re usually dark brown like the cockroaches. They grow to maybe five feet long. They seem to prefer carrion, but they’ll eat fresh Ranger if offered. They are not much faster than the cockroaches, which mean you can outrun them if you’re young and fast enough. They are easy to kill if you shoot’em in the head and harder than hell to kill if you shoot them anywhere else.

  “Then you got the bipeds. This gets a little confusing and I only want to go over this once, so pay attention. Biped means two-footed and there is more than one kind of two-footed alien creature. There are three, but the one we call the biped is the human-sized, two-footed, two-armed, headless one. Clear? Good, then we’ll move on.” As he said this numerous trainee hands went up.

  Art grinned. “I guess you weren’t paying attention. Or did I not explain it to your satisfaction? I’ll try again. The smallest two-legged alien is the critter we call the biped. It’s more or less man-sized. It’s arms and legs are longer than a human and runs with a wide-legged gait. They are faster than you, so don’t get into a foot-race with them. They are stronger than you, so don’t get into a wrestling match with them. They have no fingers, so you should be able to out-shoot them in a gunfight. If you ever see one of them use a gun you let me know,” he said as everyone either laughed or shook their head.

  “If you paid attention when Marian Tyler read to us, you might remember Frank Parkes mentioning these. Shoot them in the maw and they will drop like a stone. The maw is in the middle of their chest area. If you don’t, you will have to riddle them with bullets to stop them.

  “Their brain, or whatever they have, sits just behind and slightly above their maw. Just like with most living things, put a bullet through the brain and you’ll stop it.

  “You saw the video of the aliens.” He smiled. “It might make you rethink your choice of profession. Outside of infested areas, the biped is the most common alien you will encounter. They will range far and wide, alone or in small packs.

  “The next two-legged alien is the shambler. They get as large as twenty feet tall and walk in a way that looks like they drag their feet, but their tracks tell us they don’t. They look slow, but they can go as fast as you can and do it all damned day. They have a bit of a hump on top, like a head that didn’t grow out all the way. They drag tendrils around that look like a squid or seaweed, if you know what those are. They use those tendrils to get into small areas, holes and the like. If they grab you with one of those tendrils you are in trouble. I repeat, do not let them grab you!” he said loudly.

  “They are easier to kill than the biped because they have a bigger soft spot. They got a maw just like the biped, only bigger. You hit them in the maw or anywhere above it to the top of the hump and it’ll die. The catch is the area above the maw is tough. You’ll need something that’ll penetrate well, a deer rifle, shotgun slug, or your issue AKM will do fine.

  “Now we come to the Behemoth. You know it, you’ve seen it on the television. Big bastard, and fortunately rare. The big thing that chased Frank’s group out west was a baby Behemoth. They get to fifty feet, or more fully grown. They are brown and drip brown alien crud. Unless you got a tank, do not try one of these things on. Once they are mature you pretty much ain’t gonna hurt’em with small arms. You saw what it took to kill that beast in South America.

  “There is a small bump a couple of feet above the maw a little bigger than a baseball. You hit that and you’ll probably get the thing to drop, but good luck trying to hit that if he’s running at you. They cover ground fast. Your best bet is steer clear of the things.

  “Last, but not least we got the Pachyderm. They tell me that means elephant in some other language. I ain’t never seen one, but there are enough reports and pictures that I believe they are real. I hope I never lay eyes on one. They are supposed to stand thirty or forty feet high and are as long as seventy or eighty feet. They have four thick legs and a mass of large and small tendrils that stick out the front to pull food into a huge maw. If you are stupid or unfortunate enough to figure out how to kill one, you let me know.

  “There may be other kinds of aliens out there, so keep your eyes and ears open.

  “Remember, all of these aliens spawn from the gas clouds over the brown muck piles. If you see a gas cloud, you can bet there are aliens around. It seems like the clouds will generate a large group of aliens at once at certain intervals. Some folks call this a spawn or a bloom. Also remember, the bigger the gas cloud, the bigger the alien it can produce.

  “One last thing. It looks like Mother Nature is starting to fight back against the alien infestation, making the infested areas recede. It ain’t going very fast, but it’s happening. Maybe someday the aliens go extinct, but until then it’s our job to deal with them.

  “Last we got the raiders. We all know what they are. They are the most common foe y’all are gonna have to deal with. They don’t strike into the heart of the Freelands much anymore, but don’t think they may not try sometime.

  “Mostly they go after travelers, merchant trains, caravans, and homesteaders. Sometimes they’ll try piracy on the rivers, or try on a settlement. They will attack Ranger checkpoints on roads and at little settlements.

  “On occasion they will launch attacks in large numbers. The trouble down south at Kings Town is caused by a large group of raiders.

  “Because there are so many raider groups and because they are changing leaders and members so often, it makes it hard to keep track of them all.

  “Some groups are fairly stable, with strong leaders. These are the more dangerous groups, like the Cuervos, Mollies, Angels, Leavenworths, and the Cornhusks. That last group was started by Corn Huxley’s idiot brother after Corn was killed down in Heaven. The brother didn’t live long either and they got better leadership, but the stupid name stuck.

  “You will encounter raiders outside the Freelands when you are on Ranger business at places like the Deva State, Hellwithit, or some of the other independent settlements and trading posts. Generally they won’t start anything with Rangers inside those places, but they will try it outside nearly always if they got the numbers, and often even if they don’t. Rangers ain’t their favorite group of folks.” He tapped his Ranger Star. “This is like flipping them the middle finger.

  “They fight among themselves as much as they raid regular folk. They
fight within their own groups so often and kill each other off so fast we gave up trying to keep up with all that.

  “Raiders get their people from all kinds of places. Some folks leave towns or homesteads and join up, for whatever reason. Some are raised in the gangs either because they were kidnapped as children or born and raised in raider society. It doesn’t always stick though. Some will see what they are doing is wrong and walk away.

  “Some groups are flat-out barbaric. They’ll try and kill every last person and animal when they attack, then burn everything they can’t carry away to boot. Some groups are mostly out for loot, but they won’t mind killing if it suits them. Bottom line is this: they are bad folks.

  “The last bit I have is about knowing your limitations. We all got’em, even me,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “Seriously though, it’s important to understand what things you don’t do well. Some of those things you can overcome, others you can’t.

  “I give you an example. Not to single anybody out, but I’m going to single out Miss Hays,” he said with a smile.

  “If you haven’t noticed, she’s not a large person, right?”

  Most of the trainees nodded or said, “yes.”

  “Now I would imagine most of you know of Jim Barstow’s cousin, Ben. Big Ben as he is affectionately known among his fellow Rangers. The largest known human in the Freelands it’s said. Imagine Amanda trying to drag Big Ben to cover in the middle of a fight if he went down. It ain’t gonna happen, right?”

  Again all of the trainees agreed.

  “There’s nothing Amanda can do to overcome that. The reverse would be true if you asked Ben to climb into a culvert and disarm a baby, right?”

  The trainees looked at him with bewildered smiles.

  Art smiled. “Good, you’re paying attention. Ben has his limitations as well. We all do. Training will expose those limitations. That’s a good thing. Fix what you can and plan around what you can’t. When possible.”

  Art looked over the group. “Everybody get what I’m saying?”

  Everyone nodded.

  Art paused and then said earnestly, “One last thing. I’ll give you a word of advice about most of the groups you might encounter out there. When you put on the Ranger star and get out there and see some of the shit these folks pull, and the results of their actions and the victims, it gets real easy to hate the people that do these terrible things. Don’t. Hate the act and leave it there.

  “You let yourself get filled up with hate, because you hate this guy or that group, you will start making mistakes. Your judgment gets clouded. Sooner or later you will do harm to somebody you are supposed to be helping and not even see it. It happens every time. Every time. It ain’t easy to do and you’ll never get used to it, but you have to make a conscious effort at it. If you can’t, you will not last long as a Ranger and it will chew you up the same as an alien maw will, but from inside out.

  “We start field exercises in a couple of days. The exercises are real missions, remember that.”

  . . . . .

  The next few days were filled with refresher courses, practice patrols, rifle drills, and packing gear for the first field exercise, an overnight reconnaissance in an area to the northwest of Geneva in an area called the Ravaged Lands.

  The evening before the recon exercise all of the trainees were in the HQ training room for a mission briefing.

  “I am sure you already have all this down pat, but just to be sure we’ll go over it one last time before you set out at dawn,” Lieutenant Geiger said.

  “Team one will be Corporal Braden, Ranger Daley, Trainees Barstow, Lewis, and Young. Team two is Ranger West, Trainees Hays, Sikes, Trahearn, and Traipse,” he said reading from a piece of paper.

  Geiger moved to a map on the wall.

  “Team one will head four and a half miles northwest and establish a recon position approximately one mile west of the town remnants of Leroy where you can observe the bridge located there. Remember, there is a recon post in Leroy currently manned by Rangers Pitts and Stark. Team two will proceed north-northwest to a position approximately one mile east of Leroy to a position of observation overlooking the railroad, road, and bridge indicated on your map.

  “You will use both compass and map navigation plus the TROG to get to your positions. You will also use the TROG to communicate with the Ranger HQ here, with the recon post in Leroy, and with the other team. Everyone should have the frequencies.

  “You will maintain your observation post until 1000 hours the following morning, at which time you will return to Geneva.

  “Are there any questions? No? Okay, get some sleep and we’ll see you dark and early in the morning.”

  . . . . .

  The trainees and the Rangers accompanying them gathered in the morning darkness at one of the western gates that would lead them north over the Nosho River and northwestward to Leroy. They checked their gear and weapons and prepared to move out.

  Lieutenant Geiger was there to wish them luck and see them off.

  The teams moved north as one element until they were about a mile out, where they would split up. Before they did so they performed a commo check with the Ranger HQ, Leroy observation post, and each other. That accomplished, they moved out. As Jennifer Lewis passed near Jack, she softly said, “You be careful, Jack Traipse.”

  Jack smiled squinting his eyes in the early morning light and replied, “You do the same Miss Lewis.”

  She laughed quietly and went with her team.

  Sean approached Jack and asked, “What did she say?”

  “She wished us luck,” Jack replied.

  “That was nice of her,” he commented.

  “Yeah... nice girl.”

  . . . . .

  By midday both teams had reached their positions and contacted the other Ranger elements. Within a couple of hours they had settled in, camouflage in place.

  At the west observation post they saw some traffic, a few individual travelers moving quickly while looking cautiously about, but mostly merchants making their way to Geneva on the old highway that ran east-west through Leroy.

  At the northeast OP, they had nothing. From the top of a small hill overlooking their observation area they saw very little activity. Empty roads connected to an empty bridge. The birds sang and the sun shined, but other than Rangers and trainees there were no people or aliens to be seen. Ranger Brian West was filling out a watch roster for the night while Sean and Amanda observed the bridge and countryside. Ralph and Jack were putting the last of the team’s gear in order.

  “Ranger West, how many people do you keep on watch at night?” asked Ralph.

  “It depends on how many people you have total. If there were just two of us it’d be one. We have five, so I’m setting up two-person watches. Maybe it’s overkill, but two is safer. A lot less danger of the watch falling asleep when you can keep tabs on one another.

  “It’s real hard for someone to sneak up on you on a pitch-black night, but if it’s clear and moonlit, well you better keep your ears peeled and eyes open.

  “By the way, y’all can call me Brian. We’re working together here and Ranger isn’t a rank. Besides, calling people by their rank only really applies in training and paperwork for the most part.”

  “Okay... Brian,” Ralph said, “How is the watch set up in twos if there’s five of us?”

  “Pretty simple. I sleep and you four do the watching,” he said with a straight face before chuckling, “No, we are going to start with two people. After an hour, one of them goes to sleep after waking up one of the three sleepers, then an hour later the guy who has been up for two hours wakes one of the two original sleepers on his way to bed, then an hour later the guy who has been up for two hours wakes the remaining original sleeper, and so on. Does that make sense?”

  “Yes it does. That’s pretty smart.”

  “It is, too bad it wasn’t my idea,” said Ranger West.

  “Hey Ranger, I mean Brian,” whispered Sean over
his shoulder, “how come the other post has two Rangers? Is it to make five-person teams?”

  “That’s right.”

  “How come they have the Corporal? I thought they might want a higher rank over the bigger group of trainees,” Sean said.

  “Normally that would probably be the case, but they seem to think I might make a good Corporal, so they put me here as a trial. I guess that makes you test subjects.”

  “You don’t think you would make a good Corporal?” asked Jack.

  “I don’t know. I love being a Ranger, but I don’t know how well I’d do leading others. I look at Art or Lew Braden and I don’t know if I measure up.”

  “I think you ought to give it a try. Do what Corporal Braden does, follow Art around everywhere and do what he does,” Jack replied. “The man has a wealth of knowledge stored between those ears.”

  “Hah, Lew does do that doesn’t he. Thanks, Jack. If they offer it to me I might just do that,” Brian replied.

  "You’d make more money too, being a corporal,” Sean said.

  Brian laughed. "No I wouldn’t.”

  The look on Sean’s face showed that he didn’t understand.

  “You joined the Rangers without knowing the pay?" Brian asked.

  "Yeah. I just wanted to be a Ranger."

  Brian laughed. "Good for you, Sean. Truth be told I'd do this for food and board."

  "Why don’t you make more money with a higher rank?"

  "Rangers all get the same pay with small increases each year served. Art Sierra makes more money than the LT. He’s got more than twenty in. The pay is not good compared to most jobs, but that's not why you stay a Ranger. You'll see, if the job suits you and vice versa that is."

  “Hey, Brian. How do we tell the time once it gets dark?” Ralph asked.

  “I think we skipped over that in training. That’s not good, I’ll mention it to the LT. I guess this falls under the OJT thing. We have a clock, one of the craftsmen in Hell makes them for us. They are made by converting old alarm clocks. They have a big open face so you can feel the hands in the dark, or if you set it in the sunlight the hands will glow in the dark for ten or twelve hours. Make sure you wind it and set the time before dark. There isn’t a second hand on it, but it still makes a ticking noise, so set it somewhere to block the sound from the outside.