Gearing Up

by Daniel Schinhofen

  Shawn nodded. “Works.” Shielding his eyes as the sun broke the horizon, Shawn turned his flashlight off. “Keep the lights handy, you’ll need them for inside the bunkers,” he reminded the others. “We’ll hit the southern set next, work our way down that row, then back up. Stay on the roads there, and don’t go toward the hills. Scary shit is buried there.”

  The loaded semi was locked up, and the driver and shotgun caught rides with other vehicles. At the next stop, Alvin got Shawn’s attention. “Just going to leave them loaded where they are until we’re ready to go?”

  “No reason not to, and it makes the others feel better,” Shawn shrugged.

  “Works,” Alvin said as the teams spread out to open doors and inspect the bunkers.

  A couple of hours later, they found claymores. Shawn’s smile was wide when they began loading those. Alvin shook his head as he went off toward the next set of bunkers.

  They had cleared about half of the southern area another couple of hours later, when they found the third bunker that Shawn wanted to load up. Demolition charges would have a lot of uses, and Shawn was more than happy to load up a truck with them.

  Once the third truck was loaded, an argument broke out over who all got to head back to Beatty with the three loaded 18-wheelers. Lotus, surprisingly, wanted to stay with the looting crew while all the other hookers wanted to leave this area. Shawn finally got everyone to shut up and split the group, sending about half of them to be the escorts and guards for the trucks, while the other half would continue looting the depot and base with the remaining two rigs.

  It was to everyone’s general relief when Shawn called for a lunch break. Marie and Laurel had packed enough sandwiches for everyone, which was good, because at least half of them hadn’t thought to bring food. Most people watched the smoke rising into the sky from where Hawthorne was still burning as they ate. After lunch, people wandered off to use an empty bunker to relieve themselves.

  When everyone was ready to go again, Shawn addressed them all. “Okay, we’re going to skip the rest of the bunkers and head to the north side of town, where the base is. We’ll use roads a little further out, and try to stay as far from the fire as we can. Any questions?”

  “Why don’t we just leave, like the others did?” Francis asked.

  “Because the base has a full machine shop and motor pool, which will have a lot of equipment that we can use for ourselves. On top of that, there might be personnel left that might want to come back with us, and trained military would be a boon. There’s also likely to be some heavier weapons we’d like to take back with us.”

  When no one else spoke up, Shawn nodded. “Okay, let’s find some more loot.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  They backtracked and crossed the highway, entering the central bunker area after Becky opened the gate. Alvin noticed that the smoke from town was starting to thin as he drove slowly along the road.

  “Seems like the fire is burning down,” Alvin mentioned.

  “That’s good,” Becky murmured as she looked at the smoke drifting west. “If the fire kept going, it might spread into the scrub brush around town.”

  “Point,” Alvin nodded.

  They passed another of the train depot buildings, which looked like it been run into by a truck, but there was no sign of any wreck in the area. Becoming more alert, Alvin continued to lead the convoy down the road, aiming for where it was supposed to come back out north of Hawthorne, right across from the base.

  They passed another set of buildings that showed extensive damage that looked new. “Hero, I don’t like the way that looks,” Becky said.

  “I’m with you,” Alvin agreed.

  Alvin found the turn he was looking for and went west, resisting an urge to increase his speed. He was surprised by the modular storage they drove past, having expected to see more ranks of bunkers.

  Looking in the mirrors to make sure the others were still following, Alvin turned back just as Becky slapped his chest. “Hero!”

  Eyes widening at the sight of something with bright red scales coming toward them from the mountains just behind Hawthorne, Alvin started to accelerate. “Why the fuck do we keep running into these things?”

  A plume of flame spewed from the dragon as it came for them. Alvin knew the others didn’t have the option of trying to outrun the thing, but he didn’t have any reasonable way to kill the beast that he knew of.

  He summoned his UMP and rifle, and dropped them in Becky’s lap. “You’re going to have to get its attention. The others won’t stand a chance, so I’m going to see if I can get it to chase us into the northern bunker area.”

  “Don’t those explode?” Becky said.

  “I hope so,” Alvin said as he got ready to go off road. “Shoot at it until it wants to eat us.”

  Becky picked up the rifle first, leaning her head out the window as they sped toward the oncoming beast. Bracing her arm on the door, she waited for an opportunity to fire. Alvin watched the other vehicles brake or turn onto the few dirt roads going south.

  The dragon was closing fast when Becky began to fire, as the Mustang sped toward US 95. It breathed flame again, then snapped its wings open wide to gain altitude.

  “It’s going to dive,” Becky said, dropping the rifle onto her lap and grabbing the UMP.

  “I’ll be turning north in a second,” Alvin told her as she resumed firing at the ascending dragon.

  When the UMP ran empty, Becky let it fall into her lap as she summoned her MP5. “Warn me when—”

  “Now,” Alvin said as he slewed the Mustang onto the highway. The car fishtailed, but Alvin was able to get it back under control.

  The dragon chose that moment to dive at the Mustang. Becky pushed her torso out of the car far enough to bring the gun to bear. The rapid fire wasn’t as accurate as she would like, but one of the rounds must have caused some damage, as the dragon roared in pain and fury. Running dry, she ducked back inside the car just as a sheet of flame washed over the car.

  Alvin and Becky’s heads beaded with sweat as the flame covered the exterior of the car. The flame cut off, followed by the sound of metallic screeching as the dragon’s claws scraped over the roof of the Mustang. Luckily, it missed the grab on the car, allowing Alvin to pull the wheel hard, sending them toward the bunkers.

  Becky hissed as the Type 56 smacked into her head at the high-speed turn. Grabbing the rifle, she shook her head. “I really hate these things.”

  Alvin grunted as the car started bouncing across the desert toward the bunkers. “I wish I knew which of these was more likely to explode.”

  “The last reported occurrence of a bunker at this depot exploding indicates it was in the middle of the northern magazine. In other words, go straight and a little to the left,” Jarvis said.

  “Thank you,” Alvin said, correcting his course to take him toward a road that would line up with the directions Jarvis had given him.

  “Do be careful, sir,” Jarvis said, static cutting in and breaking apart his voice.

  “I think he got in trouble,” Becky said as she looked out the window, trying to find the dragon. “Fuck,” flipping the switch over to full auto, she emptied the magazine before ducking back into the car. “Cut left!”

  Pulling the wheel at her yell, Alvin heard the impact of a body next to them as the dragon hit the ground hard, then felt the heat as it breathed flames at the back of the car.

  “Did it just try to squish us?” Alvin growled. “Motherfuckin’ flying worm!”

  Becky dropped the rifle and snagged both the UMP and MP5. “Cut back right so I have a better shot.”

  The dragon tried to climb into the sky again as Alvin followed Becky’s directions. A barrage of gunfire rang out from further away and Alvin grimaced, not wanting the others to get the beast’s attention. The worry proved needless as Becky began to rapid fire both guns, with better aim this time. The dragon’s wings became visibly tattered and it roared in pain as most of Becky’s shots went into
the thinner wing membrane.

  “You’ll take that and like it, bitch!” Becky sneered as both guns locked open. “I think it’s grounded now.”

  “Is it following?” Alvin asked.

  “Looks like,” Becky said, letting the MP5 vanish back into her glove.

  Alvin took the guns she offered him, letting them sink back into his gloves. “Shotgun?”

  “Yup,” Becky said as she summoned her trusty shotgun to hand. “How are we going to get a bunker to go off?”

  “I think it’ll do the job for us,” Alvin said as he watched the dragon—who had been following and gaining on them—pull its head up. Alvin swerved hard to the left, so the dragon’s narrower jet of flame missed the car, but Becky let out a startled yelp of pain and batted at her suddenly smoldering jacket.

  “Fucking thing can adapt its breath,” Becky hissed. “I lost a few hit points from that near miss.”

  “Just great,” Alvin said through clenched teeth. “Jarvis, you back yet?”

  “Yes, sir,” Jarvis replied, sounding strained.

  “Can you help?”

  “I cannot assist you at this time.”

  “Fucking hell, tell your bosses they suck donkey cock,” Alvin snapped as he finally found a road into the central bunker area, “and please let this work.”

  The dragon hadn’t stopped chasing them when it had breathed, so it was now less than two lengths behind them. Alvin shifted into a higher gear, but he had doubts about it helping as much as he would like it to.

  “I need something, anything,” Alvin muttered as he made it onto the street near the bunkers.

  The dragon came after them, its tail slapping into the edge of a bunker. The building cracked under the force of the blow, which reminded Alvin of the damaged buildings they’d seen earlier. Alvin was fairly certain now that there wasn’t anyone left alive in the area.

  As the dragon and Mustang raced down the road, the bunker that the dragon had hit detonated. Most of the force shot out the door into the blast wall, as the buildings were clearly designed to, but some of it went out through the break in the wall. The concussive force pushed the Mustang into a fishtail, and staggered the dragon.

  With a roar of rage, the dragon turned north and started running. Alvin was torn between going after it and letting it go. He decided on the latter when he wasn’t able to find a road that would let him follow and slowed.

  “What? We aren’t going after it?”

  “No,” Alvin said. “I don’t think the bunker did much besides startle it. I think it's going to run off and lick its wounds.”

  “Then we should chase it down,” Becky said firmly.

  “Nope. Remember what Jarvis said? It’ll take a lot to kill one of them now. I don’t think we really want to tangle with a dragon until we have heavier weapons.”

  As if to prove his point, the dragon took to the sky. It wasn’t flying as fast as it had been, but it was still flying as it headed back the way it had come.

  “Maybe we proved that we aren’t as easy as it thought we were,” Alvin muttered.

  “I thought I fucked its wing up?” Becky said. “Why did it chase us on the ground if it could still fly?”

  A terrifying thought struck Alvin. “Maybe they can regenerate?”

  “Oh, fuck,” Becky breathed as she considered the notion. “The drake didn’t. You think dragons can heal themselves?”

  “Maybe, or maybe it just wanted to play with us, so it chased us on the ground until it got startled by the bunker exploding.” Alvin got Ruffian pointed back toward the others and drove at a sedate pace, keeping a close watch on the retreating dragon.

  “If we had some of those claymores and could lead it into them...” Becky mused.

  “You survived,” Shawn said with a trace of surprise when Alvin pulled up next to him.

  “The exploding bunker scared it off,” Alvin explained. “We should loot the base quickly, though, and GTFO.”

  “We should just go,” someone said, and several others agreed with the anonymous voice.

  “You can all bail right now, if you want,” Shawn said evenly. “If you do, though, you’re forfeiting your cut of the loot. Now, who wants to leave?”

  Silence answered him as he stared them down. “Good. We’re heading for the base. We’ll loot the shops while a handful take a look around the rest of the base.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  The gates here were melted slag, and the guard building was ash. The first few buildings inside the gate were also burned to ash, which didn’t give Alvin much hope. The large building that the railroad tracks led to was partially collapsed. Alvin pulled off to the side and waved Shawn forward.

  “You better lead, I have no idea where I’m going,” Alvin said as Shawn pulled up beside the Mustang.

  “It’s right there,” Shawn said, pointing to the south. “Follow me.”

  Alvin let the Scout get in front of him, then followed Shawn down the first left. Alvin parked behind Shawn just past the ruined building, where a train engine could be seen under the rubble.

  “This is it,” Shawn said. Waving the two trucks up, Shawn had them park just outside the building. “Okay, I need four people in teams of two to start searching all the buildings in the base.”

  “We’re going to go looking,” Alvin said, his arm around Becky’s waist.

  “I figured,” Shawn said. “I want four more.”

  “I’ll go,” Karee said.

  “I’ll go with her,” Han added, making Karee roll her eyes.

  “I’ll go,” Lotus sneered at Han.

  “Umm, I’ll go,” George added.

  “Okay. Karee, you go with George. Han, you’re with Lotus,” Shawn said. “It gives each team a good shooter,” Shawn said, overriding Han’s attempt to say anything. “Karee, your team has the north side. Han’s will take the west. The Lieutenant Colonel’s house should be down there. Alvin, you and Gothy take the south and see if the Marines left anything useful.”

  “We’ll be back,” Alvin said as they started south.

  Summoning the Type 56 to his hand, Alvin took the lead with Becky trailing him. The first few buildings turned out to be offices. A quick tour didn’t turn up anything worth their time, so they breezed through them in short order.

  Past the last office building there was an empty field, then a couple of buildings bordering a fenced-in yard. As they got closer, Alvin could make out a couple of Humvees sitting in the yard, and at least one had a machine gun mounted to it.

  “Oh, I think that’s coming with me,” Alvin chuckled.

  “Does that mean I get the Mustang after all?” Becky asked.

  “We’ll see,” Alvin said as he moved a little faster toward the buildings. “I hope we can find the keys. I don’t like my chances of hotwiring it.”

  The first building turned out to be the maintenance shop for the vehicles. A slower search didn’t turn up any keys. Grumbling, Alvin led Becky into the yard. A number of different trucks sat waiting for care, but Alvin only had eyes for the Humvee with the large machine gun mounted to a pintle on its roof.

  “I wonder what this could do to a dragon or drake?” Alvin mused as he touched the side of the vehicle.

  “Well, the gunner would be a cinder against a dragon,” Becky stated.

  “If it got close enough to breathe on them,” Alvin said defensively. “Think of it, that beauty probably puts a hundred or more rounds out a minute. The ammo box for the belt feed probably holds a few hundred rounds. Even if it does need to pause to reload, that’s worth it for the sheer firepower it can dish out. It’s just too bad it wasn’t a grenade launcher.”

  Becky shook her head. “You’re going to make me jealous if you keep going on like that.”

  “Let’s check the other building,” Alvin said, giving the Humvee another longing look before heading off.

  The second building turned out to be the offices for the shop. An extensive search didn’t turn up any keys, and Alvin grumb
led as he stewed over it.

  “Maybe we should check the Humvees?” Becky suggested.

  Alvin shrugged, “Might as well.”

  Back in the yard, Alvin tried the door of the Humvee. It opened and he got in, looking around, then laughed. Toggling the ignition switch, he waited for the light to kick on, then pushed it to start. A second later, the Humvee fired to life.

  “Find the keys?” Becky asked.

  “No keys needed. It's an ignition switch, you just need to wait for the lights to tell you to start it,” Alvin grinned at her. “Go grab the other one.”