by J. G. Martin
Derek heard the door behind them lock and turned to see a maniacally grinning hillbilly at the small window. He looked around and noticed a group of bounty hunters watching through a large viewing window on the second floor. The only other exit was a set of double doors on the other wall of the yard.
The doors opened and a large heavyset man came out into the yard. He was dressed in denim overalls and brown work boots and nothing else. Thick hair covered the exposed chest and arms. His head was shaved completely bald and he wore a brown leather mask. In his hands he carried a large chainsaw already chugging away. Behind him came a shorter muscular man and a tall well-endowed woman who entered the yard and stood on either side of the masked man.
The second man was built like a tank and had that juiced look of a steroid abuser. He involuntarily flexed muscles as he stood there with barely concealed anger. He had short blond hair in a buzz cut and wore denim and more of the homemade armor. He had a fire axe slung over one shoulder as he stared with hate at Derek. So far this was too cliché for Derek and he couldn’t help but laugh, which only served to infuriate the blond man more. All this needed was some banjo music or someone to yell that they would make him squeal like a pig.
Now the woman, she was a different story. Tall, dark haired, and really hot; she was the exception amongst these characters. Her large breasts were barely contained by her denim top, and her jean shorts barely covered her shapely ass cheeks. She wore leather boots with stiletto heels. Really impractical for fighting, but she looked great. Unlike the others she seemed unarmed. Derek gave her a wink and a smile. She smiled back and licked her lips. Too bad he would have to kill all of them.
He could hear the others watching from the window screaming and cheering. Based on the blood stains he could now see in the ground and on the rusted equipment, this probably happened a lot to the hillbilly clan’s victims. They were expecting a bloodbath. Well, they would give the rednecks one. He looked at Rora expectantly.
“What are you waiting for? Shoot them.”
She gave a sheepish ‘oh’ and raised the shotgun. She pulled the trigger but the hammer fell with a loud clack. She was out of ammo too. As if that was the sign for the combat to begin the two men rushed Derek and the woman attacked Rora. The masked man sent the chainsaw whirring with a loud roar and the other man swung the fire axe as they approached. Both reached Derek about the same time, almost colliding in their eagerness to cut him to pieces. Unlike the kid in the kitchen, these two seemed to rely on brute strength instead of skill.
Derek dodged back and used the shotgun to deflect the axe into the whirring bits of the chainsaw. They collided in a shower of sparks and grinding blades. The axe was pulled free of the hunter’s hands and sent spinning away. The chainsaw’s chain jumped free and fouled the motor causing it to seize up. Both men stood there stupidly, stunned that they were so easily disarmed. Derek never paused and took advantage of their momentary inaction.
He slammed the butt of the shotgun in the muscular man’s face, dropping him to the ground with a broken nose. Spinning around Derek swung the shotgun like a baseball bat and caved in the side of the masked man’s head. The shotgun’s wooden stock snapped off with the force of the blow. The masked bounty hunter collapsed to the ground in a lifeless heap. Derek stepped back to the other man who was clutching his shattered face and moaning. He calmly walked behind the man and snapped his neck, leaving him lying dead with the other bounty hunter.
With a quick look up Derek could see that the spectators had gone quiet. They were looking at their dead kin in utter shock. It had only taken Derek a minute to effortlessly kill both men. Amateurs he laughed to himself. But there was still one left. He turned to see how Rora was faring with the other bounty hunter. What he saw stunned him.
The female bounty hunter proved to be very skilled and she was unleashing vicious and unrelenting martial arts attacks on Rora. More surprisingly; Rora was not only holding her own, but striking back. The two women were engaged in a brutal all-out bare knuckle fight. Fists and feet flew and blood and spit sprayed as they struck each other. There were battling back and forth, neither getting the upper hand. They were moving so fast it was almost a blur. Derek’s first reaction was to aid Rora, but she was doing pretty well; and the action was, well, kind of hot. Plus he had learned years ago never get involved in a chick fight.
So he held back just watching as they continued to tangle. The bounty hunter almost won when she caught the younger woman with a stiletto heel to the leg, actually drawing blood. But Rora recovered quickly and caught the bigger woman by her long hair. Rora moved around behind her so quickly it seemed like she was floating. She jumped on the redneck’s back and caught her around the neck with a choke hold. The woman quickly succumbed to the hold and sagged to the ground unconscious. Rora didn’t even hesitate and snapped the woman’s neck.
“Nice! Where did you learn that? And why weren’t you doing that before?” Derek asked as he snatched up the fire axe.
“I don’t know. It was kind of instinctive. I guess I saw you do it and imitated that.” She replied, somewhat mystified.
He pointed to the shotgun she had dropped. “Go wedge that in the handles of those doors. Quickly!”
Rora picked up the shotgun and rushed over to the set of double doors. She stuck the shotgun inside the handles effectively jamming the door shut. That wouldn’t hold the angry rednecks off for long, but it would buy them some time. Derek considered trying to cut through the fence with the axe, but that would be very difficult and time consuming. Plus he would have to get through the second fence before the bounty hunters caught up with them again. He doubted they would be as stupid as last time and not just shoot them.
So instead he attacked the door they had come through with the axe. The hillbilly behind it had pulled back in surprise at the first attack. The door shuddered under the repeated blows and started to come apart. As Derek had suspected it was a steel hollow core door. Once he had ripped open the thin steel shell, there wasn’t much underneath to stop him. He glanced back to see what Rora was doing and was impressed to see she was searching the bodies. She had come a long way from the scared girl he had rescued.
With a loud screech, the lock tore away from the door. Derek pulled the door open and stepped to the side. The panicked bounty hunter behind it fired blindly through the open doorway. He ran through his clip in seconds and frantically tried to reload. Derek stepped in and hurled the axe at the scrambling hunter. It caught the man square in the face. He went down blood spraying from his ruined face. Waving to Rora, Derek rushed inside.
“There can’t be that many of them left, but we need our gear.” He told Rora urgently.
“I think I remember the way, we should be close.” She replied confidently.
Derek picked up the dead man’s AK-74 and expertly reloaded it. He pulled a pistol from the bounty hunters waistband and handed it to Rora. He flicked off the safety and showed her how to reload. Searching the body he found a couple more clips for each and gave the pistol clips to her.
“Remember, point and shoot. Don’t aim at them unless you plan on shooting them. Got it?”
She nodded. “Yes, I think I’m getting the hang of this.”
He laughed. “I would say so. Get anything good off of the ones in the yard?”
“Nothing…except maybe a disease from that dirty woman.” Rora said disgustedly.
With that they headed towards the entrance and their gear. Oddly, they saw and heard no one as they made their way there. Derek grabbed Rora and pulled her to a stop right before they entered the visitor’s area. They could see their gear piled on the tables and strewn about. But there was no sign of the bounty hunters.
“It has to be trap. They aren’t just going to let us go.” Derek mused.
“I don’t see anyone and there isn’t anywhere for them to hide.” She replied.
Derek looked around and could see she was right. The visitor’s area was a wide open room filled with
small steel stables and chairs. The room had plenty of windows but they were all reinforced glass. There were four other doors but they also had panels to see through. Mirrors in the corners showed every angle of the room. There was just nowhere to hide. Maybe the hillbillies had decided it wasn’t worth it? No, more likely they were waiting outside to ambush them.
Cautiously they made their way into the room and started grabbing their gear. Amazingly everything seemed to be there, although it did look like it had been searched. Derek realized their mistake when he heard a metallic snap and then heard something bounce onto the floor. He looked over at Rora’s horrified face and then down at her feet. Right in front of her, still rolling slightly was a flash bang grenade. He gave her a shove away from the grenade and tried to close his eyes and open his mouth before it went off. The flash and bang still disoriented him and he dropped the assault rifle.
Shaking his head and blinking wildly, Derek tried to regain his faculties. Rora was on the ground completely blinded and clutching her ears. He started to go to her when the doors burst open and armed men rushed in. Derek snatched up his shotgun and let them have it with both barrels. The buckshot had little effect on the men since they were wearing body armor and riot gear. He dropped the gun and ducked as all four opened fire on full automatic with their M-16s that they had slung over their shoulders. Rolling to the floor he grabbed for the AK-74 he had lost.
Staying low to avoid the hail of gunfire Derek angled for a better position. The tables were providing some cover. The angle of fire from the bounty hunters was such that several tables were between Derek and their rifles. Rounds were ricocheting off the tables and chairs. He tried to flip one over, but they were bolted to the floor. A round went through his leg and he grimaced in pain. He returned fire, emptying a full clip in the gunmen’s general direction. Reflexively they pulled back but once the rounds were absorbed by their armor they gained confidence and began to advance.
He reloaded and tried to shoot them in the legs, but that didn’t work either. They were wearing heavy duty combat armor. He wasn’t sure what the Sheriff had been preparing for, but he had certainly acquired an impressive arsenal. When the hunter’s stopped to reload, Derek chanced a look. He popped up and examined his opponents. Amateurs. They were actually wearing the flash bangs and what looked like tear gas grenades on their belts, but they didn’t have on their gas masks. He reloaded the AK. He would have preferred the M-14, but he couldn’t be sure they hadn’t unloaded it or disabled it somehow.
The AK-74 wasn’t the most accurate of weapons since it was designed for the conscript armies of the former Soviet nations. But it was highly reliable and if you knew how to shoot it, it could be a potent weapon. Fortunately he had trained with and used in combat almost every known gun. Braving the renewed fire from the approaching armored bounty hunters, Derek took careful aim at the grenades on the man second from the left.
A round skimmed his ear and one struck him in the arm, but Derek’s aim was good. His rounds struck a flash bang grenade causing it to go off. The explosion knocked the bounty hunter down and startled the others. Continuing this tactic, Derek fired at the grenades on the waist of the man now in the center. This time two grenades went off from the spray of bullets. A flash bang went off knocking him down as well and a tear gas grenade detonated releasing its potent fumes.
The two still standing released their rifles and fumbled for their gas masks. Derek rushed the man on the left, using the now empty AK as a club. The bounty hunter saw him coming and lowered his head catching the blow on his helmet. He dropped the gas mask and grabbed for his rifle. Derek dropped the AK and grabbed for it at the same time. They struggled for control of the weapon. Derek kneed the man in the groin, but it had no effect. The riot gear was designed to defend against attacks just like that.
The room was starting to fill with tear gas, making it difficult to see. But in the mirror he caught a glimpse of one of the other men coming at him from behind. It was the first one knocked down by the grenade. He had recovered from the blast, but he didn’t trust enough in the body armor to shoot at them for fear of wounding his kinsman. So he was rushing at Derek with some sort of blade.
Derek tried to turn the man he was struggling with towards the new attacker, but wasn’t quick enough. He felt a knife blade plunge into his side. He ignored the burning pain and continued to turn the man he was fighting. Derek guided the rifle barrel towards the knife man’s face and squeezed his man’s hand causing the assault rifle to fire. At point blank range the riot helmet couldn’t stop all the rounds and the second man went down in spray of blood as his head blew apart.
The bounty hunter and Derek continued to struggle for the gun. Neither could gain the upper hand, but Derek felt his strength slipping as he continued to bleed from the multiple wounds. He could see the man smile a gap toothed smile as he realized Derek was weakening. It was time for a new strategy. Ripping the knife stuck in his side out, Derek let go of the rifle. Suddenly without any resistance the man stumbled back for a second. Seizing the opening, Derek lunged forward and shoved the knife into the slight gap between the helmet and the body armor. The bounty hunter gurgled and clutched at the knife stuck in his neck before sagging to the ground.
Derek wearily turned around to see what the two remaining armored gunmen were doing. The second man he had knocked down by shooting the grenades was still on the floor. He was choking on the tear gas and crawling for the door. Unfortunately the fourth man had gotten his mask on and was raising his rifle to fire at a now uncovered Derek. He watched in slow motion as the man raised the rifle. He watched helplessly as the man’s finger tightened on the trigger and a triumphant smile lit up his face. Derek’s vision narrowed to the end of the rifle barrel. There was nothing he could do to prevent being gunned down.
Then the man’s head exploded out the side and the world snapped back to real speed. As his vision expanded to cover the entire room, he could see Rora standing a few feet from the body. She had the pretty blouse she had bought covering her mouth and nose and the smoking pistol in her hand. He had been wrong, that blouse had served a purpose. He slumped to the ground, blood pouring from his wounds and soaking his clothes. Before he passed out he heard another gunshot, likely Rora killing the disabled bounty hunter.
Chapter 32
June 14, 2029
Craighead County Prison
She pondered the ease with which she had essentially executed both of the bounty hunters. A week ago that would have been unthinkable, but the new world she had been thrust into demanded it. Rule #1 was kill or be killed, so she had killed. Derek had seemed a monster to her when the first met, but now he was her mentor for lack of a better word. Seeing him lying on the ground bleeding was upsetting, but not paralyzing like it would have been a week ago.
Rushing over to him, she stemmed the flow of blood with the impractical blouse she had Derek buy for her only two days ago. It wasn’t going to be enough, there were too many wounds and he was bleeding too heavily. She searched through the gear and found a trauma kit. She wondered where he had found that in the wasteland. The guy was a complete pack rat, but she had to admit Rule #9 did come in handy. They had used all sorts of things she had thought worthless.
First she checked and then bandaged the bullet wounds, pouring sulfa powder into the wounds themselves. It looked like all three had gone through and hadn’t hit anything vital. Then Rora sewed up the knife wound in his side and bandaged that and the few cuts he had from the knife fight. She gave him a shot of antibiotics and poured some water down his throat. When he still didn’t move, she tried slapping him and splashing water on him with no success. She decided to give him a few minutes to recover and started searching the bodies of the armored gunmen. Rule #9. They probably didn’t have a lot of time, but maybe Derek would wake up on his own shortly.
One of the men was roughly her size so she stripped him of his body armor and slipped it on herself. It smelled a little, but she probably didn’t smell
too great either. Being safe was more important than looking good. Ooh, that was good. Maybe she could convince Derek to add that to the rules. She also took one of the rifles for herself. Looking at it she identified it as an M-16A4, standard weapon of the U.S. military and police forces from before the Collapse. She wasn’t sure how she knew that, she just did.
Gathering all of their extra clips, she shoved them into their packs. She also grabbed two of the gas masks and their unexploded grenades. Those would surely come in handy. By the time she had collected everything useful at least fifteen minutes had passed and Derek still hadn’t come around. Rora checked his pulse and it was steady and his breathing was good, so he was ok. He just wasn’t waking up. She couldn’t carry the gear by herself and he was too heavy to drag so she needed him awake. She had no idea how many more bounty hunters there were, if any. Hopefully they had killed them all, but they needed to get out of the prison ASAP. Whoever had hired these goons would show up eventually.
Searching the packs and trauma kit for another option, Rora came across a needle labeled adrenaline in the trauma kit. Bingo. That ought to get him up and running. Straddling Derek she plunged the needle into his chest and pushed the plunger. The adrenaline jolted his system and he came awake almost instantly, knocking her aside as he suddenly sat upright. She squealed as he dumped her on her ass.
“Aaaaaah! What just happened?” Derek asked before looking at his chest. “Did you just stick me with adrenaline?”
“I had to wake you up. You didn’t wake up after I bandaged you and we need to go.”
