Wasteland Rules: Born to Fight (The World After Book 2) (11 page)

  “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.

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 airboats. 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.

   “Get to the front with me!” Derek ordered.

   The others hesitated. “I’m going to put them in
front of us and you need to be ready to shoot. Concentrate your fire on the
larger airboats engine.” He yelled back at them.

   The three climbed up to the front with him and
took up positions aiming forward. He could see that that all three had taken at
least superficial wounds and were bleeding from multiple places. Either a round
had hit them or splinters had gouged them or both. But none of them were
complaining or quitting. That impressed him; maybe there was hope for this
couple. You never knew what people were capable of until they were tested. That
was part of what had led to the Collapse.

   People had grown soft and used to the easy life
where everything was handed to them. Overcoming adversity built character and
forged who a person was. Someone who faced adversity and emerged on the other
side was stronger and more capable. Those were the people Derek wanted by his
side. The people who skated through life were weak and crumbled when faced with
true adversity. Fortunately most of them had died in the Collapse and the
Aftermath. The World After was no place for the weak.

   As they reached the curve, he slowed the boat
dramatically. The airboats buzzed across the spit of land that stuck out into
the river and were ahead of them as he exited the curve. They hesitated as they
realized that their quarry was now behind them. Derek took advantage and
throttled up to full speed. The speedboat lurched forward and he aimed it at
one of the smaller airboats. The airboat tried to get out of the way at the
last minute, but Derek was faster and they were confused.

   The larger speedboat struck the airboat
broadsides and knocked it aside like a leaf in the wind. It flipped into the
air and came crashing down upside down in the river. The men onboard flew
through the air like rag dolls and splashed down into the cold water. The speedboat
jolted at the impact but kept going. Derek could see some damage to the front,
but it didn’t look serious. The others were knocked down but quickly got back
up.

   “Fire! Fire!” He screamed at them.

   That startled them out of their shock at the
collision and they opened fire on the larger airboat as they sped by. The men
on board the boat returned fire but it was disorganized and sporadic, their
confusion at becoming the hunted preventing them from reacting in time. Sparks
flew from the airboat fan and engine as Rora and the couple poured it on. All
three fired their entire clips into the engine and it died in a small explosion
of flame. The airboat stalled and the men on board watched helplessly as their
quarry raced under a bridge and disappeared.

   The other two airboats pulled back and returned
to the disabled boats, apparently deciding that it wasn’t worth it to continue
the pursuit. Derek looked back and smiled. The others dropped down in the boat,
sagging with relief. Rora began bandaging their wounds as their adrenaline
began to fade. The Cajuns were gone, but Derek knew they weren’t out of trouble
until they hit open water. There were still several bridges where the Order
could cut them off.

   He tossed them a canteen of water and told them
to drink. “Rule #8, water is life. You need to stay hydrated.”

   All three took turns slurping greedily at the
canteen. Derek kept the throttle open and they raced towards New Orleans. After
a few minutes passed with no pursuit, the others visibly relaxed; but Derek
couldn’t. Rule #7 always pay attention echoed in his head. As they approached
the first of the three bridges that crossed the river into New Orleans he saw
activity. There were headlights on the roads running parallel to the river
entering the city. Too late to get to the first bridge ahead, but very possibly
they could reach the second first.

   They roared under the first bridge and headed
into the curves before the second. When they exited the curves and the bridge
popped into view, Derek knew they were in trouble. There were lights from
multiple vehicles on the bridge and he could see a lot of movement. Within
seconds floodlights snapped on stabbing out towards them.

  “Hang on!” He called to the others as the bullets
started to fly.

  Based on muzzle flashes Derek counted at least ten
men firing on them. The air filled with lead and the rounds tore into the
speedboat. Fiberglass splinters flew as the bullets shredded the frame of the
boat. They all pressed themselves as flat as they could inside the boat.
Miraculously no one was hit, but the boat couldn’t take too much more damage or
it would begin to take on water. The river was narrower here so there wasn’t
much he could do to avoid the gunfire. They would be through soon and he would
just have to hope nothing critical was hit.

   A more pressing problem presented itself as he
saw the telltale flares of RPG ignitions. A single hit from one of those would
obliterate the boat. The two rockets raced towards them and the others looked
on in horror as they got closer and closer. Derek held firm and waited until
the last second. Right before the rockets could hit them, he wrenched the wheel
hard to the left. The boat lurched and dodged the rockets with only inches to
spare. The rockets hit the water and exploded. The resulting waves launched the
boat into the air and they nearly capsized. But Derek regained control and
narrowly avoided striking the center pylon of the bridge as they blasted
through.

    Gunfire and more rockets followed them, but the
river had another hairpin turn shortly after the bridge and they were able to
get away without any more damage. He knew they probably wouldn’t be so lucky at
the next bridge, and it could be worse if the Order blocked the channel. They
had to find another way out. There was really only one other way, so he turned
the boat around.

   “What are you doing?” Rora screamed.

   “There is another bridge ahead and I don’t think
we will be as lucky the next time. I don’t know much about New Orleans, but I’m
pretty sure that the lake on the other side of the city is now a bay with
direct access to the Gulf. So I’m going to head through the city and hope it’s
flooded enough for us to make it through.” Derek explained.

   He had spotted a break back towards the curve they
had just passed. He motored back slowly. They didn’t have a lot of time, but
this wasn’t a river channel. There could be all sorts of things sticking up
from under the water that would tear out the bottom of the boat. As they got to
the break, he could see it was shallow. Their current draft wouldn’t allow them
to pass, but he could see it was deeper further in.

   “Everybody out.” He ordered. ”We are going to
lift and push the boat across the road here and then we should be able to go
through the city.”

   They all climbed out, albeit with grumbles from
the couple. The water was freezing and everyone started shivering, even Derek.
That just motivated them to quickly slide the boat through the shallow water,
the hull scraping on the pavement. The boat caught for a minute and it looked
like they might be stuck, but Derek gave a herculean shove and it popped free
with a loud screeching noise. They all got back in quickly, grateful to be out
of the frigid water but worried that their pursuers had heard the screeching of
the hull.

  Derek eased the throttle up slowly. They had to go
slowly and quietly through the flooded ruins of the city. He knew that the
Order could catch up to them anytime, but he couldn’t risk damaging the boat.
Keeping the engine low would also make it harder for the pursuers to locate
them. So they drifted slowly through the ruins of the city. Technically they
were west of the city in what looked like what had been an industrial park. The
burned and twisted ruins spiked out of the water like the fingers of a giant
metal god. He kept moving them forward slowly; the only noise the low hum of
the engine.

   Rora and the couple barely breathed as they tried
to keep all sounds to a minimum. They made their way slowly north towards the
lake and possible escape. The boat eased past an abandoned shopping mall, the
water covering most of the first level. The massive windows that had graced the
entrances were long gone and the opening looked like a giant mouth waiting to
swallow them. Ahead of them loomed the heavy concrete structure of an
expressway and they had to travel along it until they found an underpass they
could squeeze under.

   The underpass must have been for a drainage
channel and allowed them to bypass the next expressway as well. They passed
through a tunnel underneath that was so tight the top of the windshield scraped
the roof. Lights and engine noises on the roads let them know the Order was
still looking for them, but had no idea where they had gone. If they kept
quiet, they should be able to get through the city undetected. So they rode in
eerie silence broken only by the occasional animal cry.