by J. G. Martin
“Anywhere is better than here.” The man replied.
Their conversation was interrupted by the rattle of gunfire hitting the rear of the vehicle. They looked back to see three other technicals, similar to the one they were in, following them. All three were firing their guns at the stolen truck. Their guns probably couldn’t penetrate the technicals armor, but they could damage the tires or get lucky and have a few rounds go through. Plus, they needed to shake their pursuers before they got to the boat or they wouldn’t be able to escape.
“Get up on that gun!” He ordered Rora as he swerved down a side road.
She clambered through the hatch in the ceiling to the machine gun mounted on the roof. Racking the slide to chamber a round she prepared to fire on their pursuers. Derek swung the vehicle around the corner making two hard rights and a left to get them back on the main road. Rora opened fire on the following technicals as they screeched around the corner in hot pursuit. Bullets ricocheted off the front armor of the pursuing vehicles to no effect.
“Shoot at the tires.” Derek called up to her.
She redirected her fire to their tires with some success. One of the technicals lost control and swerved into a telephone pole. It knocked the pole down and flipped into the air. The vehicle came crashing down onto the road in an explosion of metal and glass and flipped over several times before coming to a rest upside down. The other two technicals were still hot on their tail and began to concentrate their fire on the fleeing technicals tires. Derek could feel the tires begin to shred and fought to maintain control.
He left the main road and started swerving down the side streets in an attempt to lose the technicals chasing them. Rora dropped down into the back and she and the couple help on for dear life as he roared along the side streets at breakneck speed. The technicals hung close and continued to fire on them, but Derek’s evasive maneuvers were causing them to miss most of the time.
He drove onto the sidewalks and through back yards sending debris and dirt flying as they raced through the neighborhoods. He swerved back and forth dodging mailboxes, parking meters, and tree stumps. One of the chasing technicals struck a mailbox and flipped end over end behind them. Rora cheered but Derek was grim faced. They still had one pursuer hot on their tail and they had wasted a lot of time trying to lose them. Other vehicles would be joining the chase soon if he couldn’t lose them.
He saw an old golf course and turned hard to drive onto the course itself. The technical followed hot on their heels. Dead trees whizzed by as they accelerated out into the open. Both vehicles caught air and they launched off of rolling hill after rolling hill, the vehicle’s shocks barely compensating as they bounced hard after each landing. He was driving as fast as he could but the other driver was keeping up with him. Then he saw it.
Ahead of them was a sand trap. In the dark it would be almost impossible for the other driver to see it, even if they were wearing night vision goggles. He drove straight for it at full speed. At the last minute Derek wrenched the wheel hard to the right. The truck almost tipped over, but he managed to keep it on two wheels and then regain control. They narrowly avoided the sand trap. Their pursuer wasn’t as lucky and crashed into it headfirst in an explosion of sand. The impact jammed the technical in and they only spun their tires trying to get out.
Satisfied he had lost them; Derek pulled on to Nicholson Drive and floored it. There was no sign of pursuers behind them or anyone in front of them but there must be others that were out on patrol that were looking for them as well. They would probably block the main road but Derek had to take a chance, it was the most direct route to the boat. He was starting to think they were in the clear when the storefront they were passing exploded outward into the street.
A heavily armored truck blasted through window in a shower of glass and out into the street barely missing them. It hit the street and then turned to come after them. Suddenly it turned on bright lights mounted on the vehicle, almost blinding Derek. Before the lights had come on he had caught a glimpse of the thing. It looked like an SUV on monster truck tires with a steel plow mounted on the front. It must have a powerful engine because he could hear the throaty roar as the vehicle accelerated behind them. It caught up alarmingly quickly and he realized they couldn’t outrun it. It was designed to handle rough terrain so the previous trick wouldn’t work.
Or would it? He swerved into a parking lot and headed for a steel pylon filled with concrete. Stores had added them to prevent people from driving vehicles into the store and robbing it. It should stop the monster truck behind them. He pulled the same trick of swerving at the last second and watched in glee as the monster technical rammed the pylon. But instead of stopping the truck, it merely sheared the pylon of the ground with its plow and crashed into the store, metal and glass flying everywhere.
“What is that thing?” Rora screamed.
“They call it the Uberwagen.” The man explained. “We heard them bragging about it on the ride to the barracks.”
Derek circled back out of the parking lot and headed back on to the main street. As he exited the parking lot a hail of bullets struck their vehicle. He slammed down the accelerator and raced away as two more enemy technicals joined the pursuit. He could hear the deep roar of the monster truck as it resumed the chase. It blasted past the other two pursuers and closed rapidly with the escaping truck. Derek tried to swerve from side to side and lose it but it kept closing. With a final burst of speed it surged forward and rammed the back of their vehicle.
The truck lurched up into the air and sent Rora and the couple sprawling. The woman screamed in fear as she flew onto the floor. The lights from the monster truck shone through the vehicle and were so bright they lit up the entire truck. Derek could see the fear in the faces of his passengers. The monster technical rammed them again and Derek almost lost control. A third ram shattered the rear window and bent the rear door in. A few more strikes like that and they would be run off the road.
Derek did the only thing he could think of. He slammed on the brakes and spun the wheel while accelerating. The truck turned 180 degrees and swung to the side of the ramming monster truck. Then he let go of the brakes and raced back the way they had come. He headed straight at the other two technicals, playing chicken. Despite the others’ attempts to get him to turn away he determinedly kept straight at them.
Bullets sparked off the hood and the grate over the front window as the oncoming vehicles tried to dissuade him. They got closer and closer and he realized that maybe they would be too afraid to turn away themselves. That was ok, he had another plan. Seconds before impact, Derek turned on their headlights. The bright lights blinded the drivers of the enemy vehicles and they instinctively turned away. He drove between the two technicals, it was so close the side view mirrors were knocked off of all three vehicles.
He turned the lights back off and quickly turned down a side road. He watched as one of the two technicals lost control, ran off the road and struck a tree. The other driver managed to get control and circled back. Derek could see the bright lights of the monster truck coming back also. He needed something that would get rid of these two so they could get to the boat and escape before more pursuers showed up. He headed through some fields to try to buy some time while he came up with a plan.
Time to ask for help. He flicked the phone on and dialed the Voice. “I need some help.”
“It’s nice to talk to you too, Major.” The voice answered smoothly.
“No time for small talk. We have a situation here.” Derek snapped.
“I can see that. You can’t shake that big one can you?” The Voice asked.
Derek started to ask how he knew that but bit his tongue. It was obvious that whomever the Voice was he had access to satellite surveillance. That was unusual since all the satellites had been supposedly taken over by the Collective during the Collapse. That event had triggered the Aftermath. The Voice also had access to a secure communications system. Both of which were unaffected by th
e device, so it was unlikely he was connected to the Collective. Yet the U.S.T.G. wasn’t his employer since they were after the device as well. Who was this guy?
“Yes, they have proven very persistent.” Derek agreed through clenched teeth. “Any suggestions on how to lose them?”
“Give me a minute.” The Voice instructed him. A few long seconds passed.
“Got it.” The Voice returned. “There is a creek that runs perpendicular to your current path. A road crossed it but the bridge is out. You should be able to jump the creek and possibly leave them behind.”
“Easy peasy.” Derek mumbled to himself.
He changed course and headed towards the road the Voice had indicated. As they raced through the empty fields he just managed to avoid a rusty old tractor abandoned in the middle. The monster truck never even slowed it merely knocked the tractor aside like a piece of chaff. The crushed tractor flew several hundred feet and crashed to the ground. The other technical avoided the flying tractor but lost some ground.
Derek coaxed a little more speed from their truck and roared by a large barn as he pulled onto the road. The monster truck disappeared from view briefly and then reappeared suddenly as it smashed through the walls of the barn like they were paper. Wood and metal sprayed everywhere as the monster technical came right at them and struck the escaping vehicle a glancing blow. They all hung on as it spun around wildly on the pavement. He managed to regain control and head for the bridge as the pursuing vehicle came back for another pass.
It pulled in behind them as they accelerated away. The bridge was only moments away and Derek held his foot down to the floor as they approached. They hit the bridge and launched into the air. The couple screamed as the left the ground and hung almost suspended in air across the creek. It seemed like an eternity before they crashed down onto the other side. The suspension groaned as they bounced several times and sparks hot out behind them as the undercarriage struck the pavement.
Amazingly, the monster truck followed them over as if the creek was no obstacle at all. Its suspension and giant tires handled the landing with ease. Its driver gunned the engine and came after them as if to let them know he was still there. The other technical’s driver lost his nerve at the last minute and skidded to a halt on the other side of the missing bridge. Now it was just them and the monster technical. Unfortunately, nothing had even slowed it down so far.
“Next idea!” Derek practically yelled at the Voice.
“There is a railroad bed ahead with an underpass too low for that truck to pass under. You can lose them there.” The Voice replied calmly.
Derek wasn’t sure; but it was their last chance, so he kept the accelerator down and focused on avoiding the monster truck repeated attempts to ram them. He managed to avoid all but one attempt. But that one attempt lifted their rear wheels of the ground and caused a worrisome grinding noise. He feared the frame might have been bent. The next blow would probably break an axle and disable them. He gritted his teeth as he aimed the truck at the approaching gap in the railroad bed.
They shot through and monster truck veered off to avoid having its top ripped off. Derek breathed a sigh of relief, but that relief was short lived as the monster truck suddenly came crashing down from the sky. It had driven up the side of the bed and launched itself off the bed to land behind them and continue the pursuit. What couldn’t this thing do? Worse still a turret that Derek hadn’t noticed earlier kicked into operation and began to fire on them. It looked like the monster truck was done playing with them.
The slower rate of fire and size of the flash indicated a much heavier weapon than a machine gun, probably a 20mm auto cannon. The rounds hit the armor with a heavy thud and a few penetrated to whine through the cab. Luckily no one was hit, but the truck wouldn’t be able to withstand too many rounds of that size. They were almost at the boat, but they were running out of chances to lose this pursuer. That cannon would chew the lightly armored boat to pieces before they could escape.
“Drive into the river.” Rora suddenly screamed into his ear.
“WHAT???” He yelled back.
“Drive into the river.” She insisted. “We can bail out right before we go in and run for the boat. They won’t be able to stop and they will follow the truck in.”
He didn’t have any other options so Derek headed straight for the river. They jumped out of the truck as it reached the edge of the road and the truck continued on into the river. It struck the water hard and sank quickly. To his utter amazement, the monster truck followed fearlessly and crashed into the river with a giant splash. It began to sink slowly as the driver and passengers tried frantically to escape. He paused for a minute and gunned down the unfortunate troopers climbing out of the sinking truck.
The couple both froze and looked at him with shock on their faces. Derek stared right in their eyes. “Rule # 3; never leave an enemy at your back.”
“But they were defenseless.” The man argued.
“You need to toughen up if you want to survive out here.” Derek pointed out. “Those men would have raped, tortured, and killed you if given the chance, just because you were black. Now they never have the opportunity to hurt anyone else ever again.”
The man looked like he was going to say something else, but his wife put her hand on his arm. Rora watched in silence, she knew the emotions they were experiencing. It was tough to acclimate to the brutal world outside the safety of their cocoons. She hoped they would learn quickly and adapt like she had, otherwise they would continue to be victims. Derek turned and headed for where the boat was hidden and she followed. She glanced back to see the couple join them.
Chapter 16
June 19, 2029
Gardere, LA
They ran to the boat and began uncovering it. Derek quickly stripped back the camouflage and grabbed his gear. It felt right to slip the double barreled shotgun and machete onto his back, and his pistol felt right resting on his hip. He knew it was weird, but he didn’t feel whole without his weapons. They had the just the right balance and weight and he had history with them. He tossed Rora her gear and they all got in the boat. He fired up the engine and they roared onto the river with no pretension at stealth. Now, speed was their friend.
The Cartel boat may have been old, but it had very powerful and well maintained engines. They tore down the river leaving an impressive wake behind them. He knew the pursuit wouldn’t be too far behind, but the technicals would have to get to the few bridges downstream to be any real threat to them. There were roads that ran along the river, but they were mostly flooded or muddy morasses. The patrol boats were sabotaged or sunk by the blast. The Order might have a chopper or two, but he doubted they could scramble it in time for them to catch the boat on the river. All he had to do was get the boat out into open water and they would be home free.
They were miles downriver before he heard the buzz of fans. Rora pointed them out seconds later, more pursuers visible in the bright moonlight; four airboats that were closing rapidly on them. One was very large, lightly armored and mounted a heavy machine gun on the bow. It had probably been a passenger version for tourists prior to the Collapse, and its fan was huge. The other three were smaller personal airboats and were crawling with armed men. Unhindered by the serpentine shape of the river, the airboats had crossed the swampy outcroppings and caught up with them. Apparently the Order’s Cajun allies weren’t going to let them leave without a fight.
“Seriously?” Rora groaned. “It seems like it never ends. Is this what it’s always like riding with you?” She joked.
Derek chuckled. “It is fun isn’t it?”
The couple shook their heads and huddled in the bottom of the boat as Derek opened the throttle all the way. The speedboat could outrun the airboats, but the constant turning to make the curves in the river was slowing them down. The airboats simply floated over the curves and kept up with them. The machine gun opened up as soon as it was in range and was joined by the guns of the men on the other air
boats. Bullets zipped all around Derek, Rora, and the couple; but few struck the boat. The Cajuns were still at a distance away and the movement of the boats prevented them from taking good aim.
Derek called back to Rora to fire back and she moved to the stern of the boat. She started unloading controlled bursts at their pursuers. He shoved a rifle into the hands of the man and ordered him to fire back as well. The man stared at him in confusion, and Derek realized he didn’t know how to use a gun. Derek growled in disgust. How did anyone survive without knowing how to defend themselves? To his surprise, the woman snatched the rifle and turned towards the back of the boat.
“My daddy always wanted a son, so I learned to shoot early. I killed my first buck at twelve.” She announced over her shoulder.
Derek grinned. “Rule #4, a gun is the great equalizer. Now go shoot some rednecks.”
The man watched in disbelief as his wife joined Rora in shooting at their pursuers. After a few minutes He made some sort of internal decision and take one of the rifles and moved to the stern as well. Derek nodded to himself. Better late than never. Maybe those two would make it. He focused on keeping the boat as steady as possible so the three would have a better chance of hitting something. That effort was rewarded when he heard them make cries of accomplishment.
He glanced back to see one of the smaller airboats dropping back, the driver slumped over in his seat. The other two men on the airboat pulled him from the driver’s seat and one replaced him. The airboat rejoined the chase but it had fallen far behind. The other three airboats continued the pursuit and if anything seemed angrier. The volume of fire coming from them increased and it started to impact the speedboat. Derek became concerned they would damage the engine and disable the boat. If they did that then they would be helpless.
They were coming up on a large hairpin curve in the river if his memory served. The airboats would definitely be on top of them when they came around the curve. With their machine gun and more guns, they would be able to do some real damage; and possibly kill and wound him or his passengers. But, maybe that closeness could work to his advantage instead.
