by J. G. Martin
They had three technicals, large pickup trucks with machine guns pintle mounted in their beds. All three looked to be in pretty good condition considering they were made twenty or more years ago. They had three more SUVs in the ring and what looked to be a limousine parked inside the ring of vehicles. The leader or leaders apparently liked to travel in style. All of the vehicles had hillbilly armor on them. Hillbilly armor was metal plates welded or screwed on them and grates covering the windows. It gave them a Mad Max look. The device would be in that limo or in the leader’s tent.
Despite the fact they were lax keeping watch, the camp was fairly organized. Men and a couple of women moved around a grouping of tents cooking food, checking equipment, or quietly playing cards. Torches burned on poles around the periphery of the camp. The tents were in good shape and all the same style except for one larger one that looked slightly nicer. That had to be the leader’s tent. Of course it was in the center. Derek also noticed that the slavers all wore basically the same outfit. They all had on work boots, jeans, and a jacket or sweatshirt in varying shades of red. Clever, it made it easier to determine who was on your side during a fight. That could be used against them in this situation though.
Derek targeted a sentry on the far side of the camp. He was bigger than Derek so his jacket would fit over his gear. He silently stalked the sentry as he wandered back and forth beside one of the SUVs. When the man turned to look into the camp Derek struck. He covered the man’s mouth with his left hand and slit his throat with the knife in his right. He quickly dragged the man behind the SUV and stripped the red jacket off him. He shoved the body under the SUV and slipped the jacket over his camouflage jacket. Then Derek calmly walked into the camp like he belonged there. No one even spared him a glance.
He figured he would try the limo first since it wasn’t in the middle of the camp. He wandered over to the car and surreptitiously tried the door. It was open, so he glanced around to make sure no one was looking and slipped in. The inside was in surprisingly good shape. There was even liquor in crystal decanters in the mini bar, but no device. It was either in the tent or maybe the doctor still had it. Either way, he would need a distraction to get it.
Derek slipped back out of the limo and made his way to the wagons. He identified the doctor from his picture. He looked older than the picture. It was probably from before the Collapse, possibly a work ID or driver’s license photo. Now he had gray hair instead of light brown and it was cropped very short. He was definitely thinner, of course who wasn’t. Food wasn’t exactly plentiful now. Still he didn’t look to be in good shape.
The doctor was in a wagon with six other people. Three men, one of whom looked badly wounded, one woman, and a girl. The doctor was huddled with the girl in the corner and the others were clustered around the wounded man. Maybe it was his wife, but more likely it was his daughter. All of the villagers were clean shaven and dressed in simple work clothes. The wagon was formerly a flatbed truck the slavers had constructed a six foot high cage on. It looked like they had placed straw and some mattresses on the truck bed for the prisoners. All the prisoners looked tired and very scared.
Derek slowly made his way to the wagon and stood near the corner the doctor was in with his back to the wagon. He whispered to the doctor. “Doctor Anders. I’m here to help you.”
He heard rustling behind him and assumed the doctor was moving close to the cage bars so he could whisper as well. “Who are you?”, came in a slow whisper.
“Not important. I’m here to get you and retrieve the device.”
“It is important, are you Collective or U.S.T.G.?”
“Neither, and it’s not important. Do you want to get away from the slavers or not?”
“The device cannot fall into the wrong hands. The fate of humanity could depend on it.”
“Doctor, you are being melodramatic. You are not in a position to argue. Give me the device or tell me where it is and I will get you out of here.”
“It isn’t here.”
“WHAT?” Derek snarled.
Whoops, that was a mistake. He noticed one slaver glance his way. He was running out of time. Soon there would be a sentry change and they would find the body. Plus he was standing to near the wagons for too long. Someone was bound to notice. He decided to try something different.
“What about your daughter? Surely you don’t want her sold as a sex slave?”
Derek heard the doctor take a deep breath. Bingo, he had hit a nerve. The doctor got close enough Derek could feel his breath.
“I will tell you where the device is if you promise to rescue my daughter.”
“I promise.”
“Let us out and I will give you the location. Take my daughter with you.”
“Deal.”
Derek swiftly moved to the back of the wagon and started to pick the lock. That got the attention of not just a few slavers, but the other prisoners as well. Two of the men moved towards the back and Derek. His body was blocking what he was doing with the lock from the slavers, but not the prisoners.
“Hey, let us out too.”
Obviously, they had overheard the negotiation. “I can’t take any more of you with me. The slavers will just catch you again and probably beat you.”
“We would rather die than be slaves. Let us out and we can help you fight them…”
“I’m not fighting them, I’m taking the doctor and his daughter and we’re running. I only have enough room for the three of us.” That wasn’t really true; the bike would only fit two. But Derek wasn’t expecting to take them with him. He just needed the device.
“Please, help us.” They begged. The other man and the woman had moved closer to him as well. They were starting to make a commotion as they all begged and pleaded with him.
Derek glanced back at the camp. The slavers were getting up and coming towards him. So much for sneaking back out of the camp. He cursed the other prisoners under his breath, but he couldn’t blame them. Who wanted to be a slave? He still had the two extra pistols and the knives, the other prisoners could create the distraction.
“OK, I’ll let you out. Here are some weapons. Make for one of the machine guns and try to use it on the slavers. If you are lucky you can take one of their vehicles.” He said as he shoved the pistols and knives into the wagon and went back to work on the lock.
“Hey, what’s going on over there?” He heard a slaver yell.
Other shouts arose as the camp realized he was letting the prisoners out. They started scrambling for weapons and coming towards the wagons. Derek finished picking the lock and the four prisoners dashed out. The two men with the pistols started firing at the slavers while the other two made for one of the technicals. The burst of gunfire made the slavers hesitate and instinctively duck for cover. He used the momentary reprieve to grab the doctor and drag him behind the cover of the wagon. The daughter quickly followed.
“All right, you are out. Where is the device?” Derek demanded while holding the doctor by the throat.
“She isn’t safe yet. She is the key. It is crucial she is safe. Once she is safe I will tell you.”
“Old man get real.” Derek snarled. “The odds of all of us making it out of here alive are slim. If you die on the way I won’t get the device.”
“She knows the numbers to find the device. She can tell you if you take her to safety.”
“Find the device?”
“It’s far too valuable and dangerous to keep with me. I knew eventually someone or something would come for it. I hid it in a safety deposit box hundreds of miles from here before the Collapse. Rora knows the numbers. Take her to NASA in Cape Canaveral and she will tell you.”
“Wait, what? Cape Canaveral. That’s over a thousand miles away. I have a deadline to meet. Wait, where will you be?”
Now Derek was confused and irritated. This simple pick up mission was becoming increasingly complicated. Meanwhile, the slavers had started shooting at them. Their earlier hesitation to damage the mer
chandise had evaporated when a man in a red silk shirt had appeared out of the nice tent. He was screaming orders and directing the slavers. The volume of fire was significant but not really aimed at the escaping prisoners. Bullets were ricocheting off the wagon and the roar of gunfire was starting to drown everything else out. Derek could tell it was designed to pin them down while other slavers circled behind them and forced their surrender. The two making for the technical had been cut off and were pinned down also. Unless they did something soon, it was all over.
The doctor looked at him, and then looked to his daughter and said, “I love you.”
He grabbed a grenade off of Derek’s belt; and when Derek stepped back in surprise he ran towards the camp, calling back over his shoulder, “You need a distraction. Keep your promise.”
Derek watched in shock as the doctor ran screaming into the surprised slavers, who hadn’t shot him because he had caught them completely off guard, and detonated the grenade in their midst. The explosion took down several of the slavers and scattered the rest. Silence fell for a few minutes as the slaver’s tried to regroup. Taking advantage of the lull in firing, the two prisoners made it to a technical and started shooting into the camp. The heavy roar of the fifty caliber machine gun on the back off the pickup was music to Derek’s ears. The heavy rounds tore up the tents and cut down several slavers who were running for cover. The escapees turned the machine gun on the vehicles that the other slavers were using for cover. Glass shattered and metal screamed as the bullets tore up the SUVs and the limo.
The doctor’s daughter was standing there screaming, with tears running down her face. Derek grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder. The doctor had sacrificed himself to create a distraction so they could escape and he wasn’t going to let that go to waste. He raced towards the edge of the vehicle circle, if they could get into the darkness they could escape. As they reached the circle, three slavers approached with guns drawn. The group sent to flank the escaping prisoners.
Derek drew his pistol and fired at them while still running. He emptied the clip into the group without really aiming. One went down with half his face missing and another fell from several shots to the chest. He had on a vest so he probably just had the wind knocked out of him and would be back in action by morning. The third must have taken a shot to the leg or legs because he stumbled and fell, but he managed to return fire. Derek swung behind one of the SUVs to take cover and reload.
By himself he could probably shoot his way out, but he had the girl. He could hear more slavers coming to join the man pinning him down and the roar of the machine had just fallen silent. Out of ammo, jammed, or the prisoners were dead; he didn’t know. But if he didn’t do something, none of them were making it out of here. With an inward groan of disappointment Derek acknowledged what he had to do.
He rolled his last grenade under the SUV they were using for cover and then sprinted away. The blast sent the SUV up into the air slightly, but the following blast as the gas tank blew sent it soaring into the air. The blast lit up the sky and likely blinded anyone looking. Derek had closed his eyes right before it blew and therefore maintained his night vision. He double timed it into the scrub and continued to run until he reached his bike.
He could hear some shouts in the distance, but none seemed to be heading their way. He stuck the girl, who was still in shock, on the bike and roared off into the darkness. Derek drove until it became light out. He figured they had put enough distance between them and any pursuit, so he stopped to take stock of the situation. He pulled over and got off. The girl, her name was apparently Rora, just sat there in silence and stared at him.
He looked her over carefully. She was about sixteen years old, thin, stood about five feet three inches tall, with short blonde hair and blue eyes. She was dressed in very simple gray cargo pants, white shirt, and tan jacket. Her shoes were brown work boots. All of it was worn but in good condition and clean. Her nails were cut very short, her hands had slight callouses, and she wore no makeup. From what Derek could see she was used to working but had lived a very simple life. She would only have been seven when the Collapse happened, so she probably remembered little of life before it. Something was off about her though. He couldn’t put his finger on it. She was wearing plain clothes, her hair was cut very simply, and she had no makeup; but she would have been a knockout with makeup and styling. She wasn’t drop dead gorgeous but she had perfect features. As a matter of fact she looked flawless, but he doubted she had had plastic surgery.
She reminded him of his daughter. Tracy would have been her age had she survived the Collapse. He had lost a lot in the Collapse. Both his wife and daughter had died during rioting in Charlotte and his parents had died when the U.S.T.G. had gassed Atlanta. The loss of his wife and daughter had been what caused him to join the U.S.T.G. in the beginning. Their promise of law and order, of protecting citizens from the chaos and anarchy that had swept the world; and jobs for everyone had sounded great. In the beginning, that’s what they had done. Various warlords were taken out, bandit gangs captured and execute; looters, thieves, and rapists were rounded up and put in work camps. But the jackbooted thugs in their black uniforms, known as the Federal Police had filled the vacuum. People in the U.S.T.G. worked for the government, there was no private enterprise. No freedoms. No more America.
Chapter 4
April, 2020
Old United States
Derek had tried to overlook the increasingly totalitarian regime. His patriotism had allowed him to keep believing the lies that it was all temporary and in the cause of the greater good. But the battle in Savannah had proved a turning point for him. His actions were reprehensible and had caused a terrible scourge to be unleashed on the country.
There had been a period of calm following the nuclear, chemical, and biological strikes as the surviving governments put themselves back together. When the rest of the world had learned that the U.S. had survived mostly intact, they tried to lay claim to her resources. With the UN gone in the nuclear strike on New York, there was no world governing body or place to peacefully resolve differences. Not that it had done much good since everyone fired on each other without any hesitation. The governments that remained grouped together along regional lines. The European Union government had survived mostly intact and they blamed the U.S. for the Collapse and the ensuing Aftermath.
As compensation they demanded the U.S.T.G. supply them with food and medical supplies. When the U.S.T.G. laughed at them, they took military action. With the satellites gone and most of the world’s electronics dead, it was a simple matter to send a small fleet of cargo ships and freighters to American shores. The fleet simply sailed into Savannah harbor and began disgorging troops and light combat vehicles. Mostly Eastern European, they were ill equipped; but there were a lot of them and they were desperate. The EU had solved two problems at once. They had gotten rid of hungry, idle men with guns; and found a way to get more resources. The troops were well dug in by the time the U.S.T.G. could prepare a response.
With limited ships and aircraft having survived the EMPs and the Collapse, the U.S.T.G. was forced to send ground troops to repel the invaders or lose all credibility as the putative national government. A protracted siege had lasted for a year before the U.S.T.G. got frustrated. They needed those troops to secure the areas around their power base in Chicago and regain the rest of North America. Already other rival governments, like the Republic of New Texas, were rising up. So, the U.S.T.G. leadership approved a simple solution.
They sent Derek in to take out the EU commanders. He had worked with local partisans to get into the city and sneak into the headquarters. The commanders had taken over City Hall and were trying to establish a legitimate government under the UN flag. Derek had told the partisans he would blow up the building leaving the EU troops leaderless and then the U.S.T.G. troops would rush in. But he had lied to them and the bomb was in fact a backpack nuke. After he exfiltrated and the U.S.T.G. troops had pulled back, they
detonated the nuke.
The EU commanders were indeed killed, along with most of the city. The surviving EU soldiers had scattered into the countryside. The U.S.T.G. didn’t even bother to hunt them down. Technically Savannah was well outside their zone of control and it wasn’t their problem. Maybe soldiers rampaging in the countryside would convince some of the holdout in the South to join the U.S.T.G.. Unfortunately, the EU soldiers became very desperate and hungry; and they resorted to cannibalism to survive.
Still armed with guns and some combat vehicles they spread out over the Southeast killing and eating people. Some people joined them rather then become victims and their numbers swelled. As they continued they became more and more deranged. Clans formed along ethnic lines and they claimed territories for their hunting grounds. To this day, those clans of cannibal raiders still roam the Southeast. To his great shame, Derek was indirectly responsible for the creation of the Reapers.
On the way back to U.S.T.G. territory the small army had stopped to attack Atlanta, which was becoming the center of the burgeoning Republic of Georgia. Georgian Regulars had been their allies in the siege of Savannah, but they were a threat to the ultimate control of North America by the U.S.T.G.. Derek and a number of Special Forces units had ambushed the leadership elements of their supposed allies. The suddenly leaderless troops returning to Atlanta were then easily scattered and wiped out by the better equipped U.S.T.G. forces. Again, not something Derek was proud of. Betraying allies was not something he found honorable.
