Wasteland Survivor – Union - ch12
#13 of Wasteland Survivor
Ok, a quick heads-up for the non-Aussies:
Ute - Pick-up truck
Dry-as-a-bone - BIG heavy leather oiled trench coat that is water proof, when worn with a wide brimmed hat you can stand in a torrential downpour all day and not get wet at all
The trucks made good time after they cleared the roadblock, I managed to find a path to the rendezvous site that would bypass any further such problems. Drathnial found a flock of griffons that were some good sport at first, but they proved too fast for us.
~"Must be the better eating out this way, that one we chased back west was a lot slower on its wings than these."~ the dragon decided.
"We better be heading back now anyway, I should be helping set the camp up for the others tomorrow."
~"Very well little sister, we have hunted enough this day and I have eaten well."~
"By the way big brother, I believe the count is ninety one to me, eighty six to you." I taunted him.
~"Impudent whelp! I let you have those as practice, so you may hope to one day be as proficient a hunter as myself!"~
"Pfft, practice, whatever. Ninety one to eighty six!"
-
"Sir, Fox and Drathnial are currently circling the compound, but uh..." Private O'Brian lost his train of thought.
"Scouting around us, no doubt. Making sure our position is safe?" Huh, who would have thought the mad pair could actually find it within themselves to work for the greater goo-
"No, the dragon is flying upside down and Fox is screaming at the top of her lungs, uh, one soldier thought it was 'Ninety one', Sir!" He cut off my train of thought, well scratch that, they are acting as a warning of what civilisation will drive you to.
I sighed, "Very well, thanks for the report soldier. Dismissed!".
"Sir!" he turned and left.
-
Rain, it seems quills are a reasonable defence against more than just enemies, thankfully.
"I don't see what your problem is Fox, its just a little rain." Crystal was commenting to her partner that morning.
"Oh. OH! Just a little moisture, LOOK AT ME, I look and smell like a drowned rat." She growled upward at the sky, "I can't even stand to be near me, and I am me, this is horrible. And you! Your using your telekinetic whatsits to keep the rain off, of course you don't mind!"
She was right, Crystal was as dry as you please, the rain stopping about thirty centre-meters from her fur.
"Well, if you've got it, flaunt it!" The Boss replied, first pushing her chest out, then tipping her hips to the side.
"Its fine Fox." I soothed, "You can spend the day under a tent, or... Damn your right, you do smell like a wet dog." This wasn't going to be a good day, but I will be damned if I let her play the martyr.
She ran over to Drathnial and vaulted to his neck, muttering something to him.
~"She is just out of sorts, her mood is rather mercurial this day"~ He sent to me as he took to his wings.
~"Just keep her from doing anything stupid, please."~ I implored him.
~"Ahh, manners will get you everywhere. I will try to stop her doing anything more stupid than usual."~ He quipped back.
~"That is the best any being could do, short of a god."~ and we both laughed at that, letting the link fade.
"Ok, lets get this together, those planes will be coming in this afternoon and they will need a safe place to put them and a strong point to hold on to." I reminded the soldiers around me who were lolly gagging at the recently departed dragon.
"Sir!" They replied, putting their backs into the task.
Later that day, after all our toil, the big hercules aircraft landed on the nearby highway and taxied to the make-shift camp.
~"Ma'am, itss good to ssensse you again!"~ Sergeant Cope greeted me, even before the planes had opened their doors, my god he even lisped when using mind-speech.
~"Good to have you here Sergeant, we have a nice strong-point here, you should be good to hold this until we can secure the airport."~ I replied.
I briefed the officers and Cope on the 'demon hunters' we had encountered, the officers were of course present in body, Cope was out organising his diggers and co-ordinating with Nicols as to what squads would swap, but none the less, he could follow my mental report and his work with little difficulty, this was the man, after all, that could now boast being able to mentally dominate up to four people completely, controlling their movement and speech, at the same time.
~"They could posse a problem, although thosse men you brought in have reported that thiss area iss reassonably clear of humans."~
~"Agreed, they seemed surprised to have even seen us."~ Gah, how could he stand this, I was losing track of my regular debriefing. ~"Got to focus on some things for now Sergeant, damn good to have you back with us."~
~"Good to be back Ssir!"~
-
The next dawn was barely noticeable, the rain was even heavier, Fox had wanted to go our anyway, but I pointed out to her that even if she didn't mind flying in this weather, she would have very limited visibility anyway.
"But Sergeant, Drathnial doesn't mind flying in this, he said he would relish a good hunt." The miserable fox moaned to me.
"As a matter of fact he does mind, and while he said he would like a good hunt, he also added this is not the weather to hunt in. Right?" Ha, score one for sneaky sergeants and getting to know even the most unusual of your troops.
~"Very correct, Sir!"~ He added for emphasis, laughing after he added the 'Sir'.
"Hey, no fair ganging up on me. Wait, when did you start 'Sir'ing people brother?" She threw at him.
~"Since he is as sneaky as an Alpha should be, as level headed as an Alpha should be and can talk at you for more than three hours on how you put his soldiers at risk... like an Alpha could. He walks and quacks, so he is a 'Sir'."~ Praise, from Drathnial, what was happening to the world?
We pushed out that day, keeping most of the APCs to the front of the column just in case we ran into any problems, Fox and Drath stayed back at the camp, Drathnial had claimed that the rain would ease off over night and that they would fly up with the hercs.
"Another road block Sir, we could probably clear this one though, looks only a few cars deep." I reported, watching the turrets display, and zooming the optics in a little. "This smells like a trap, permission to take one squad to the other side while the troops work this side?"
"Granted Sergeant, take a squad that came with the hercs, they could do with a stretching of their legs." Crystal confirmed for me.
I picked up the comm and blurted out six names to accompany me to the objective.
We gathered outside, several of the troops had managed to scavenge some dry-as-a-bones from a store, so we were quite the sight stalking among the wreckage, but thanks to the cloaks and hats, completely dry.
We were almost to the other side of the three hundred meters of wrecks when our pointman, O'Shea gesture us to halt and crouch, up till then I had been cursing the choice to stop, now however every sense was blaring at me, something bad was going to-
Darkness.
I woke from it locked in a cage, rain pouring over me, I was freezing cold and half naked with my hands tied in wire behind my back.
"Damn son, you got some nice toys here, shame your so cozy with those damn demons, or we might have been friends, as it stands, well, we needed some more slaves." An older man drawled at me, he was carying my steyr crooked in his arm.
I tried to talk, but a dirty rag had been tied tightly around my head and was biting into my jaw, holding my mouth open.
"By the time they finish moving all those wrecks, you, me and all your toys will be long gone, shame about those others though, the boys musta hit them on the head a little too hard, your the only one that's woke." I had to think, surely Crystal would light this place up once they found us missing.
The guy whistled and a few men came over and heaved the cage into the back of a ute and jumped on with it, they were wearing our cloaks, and one of them had a steyr strapped over his shoulder.
I can't be sure how far they drove me, I can only guess that it was directly away from the trucks.
"Hey Jed, some things coming damn fast up the road!" One of the men in the back with me yelled. The vehicles stopped.
"Yeah I see it, someone on a bike, where's my rifle..." the older guy muttered.
~"Nicols, I found you!"~ Was the Captains first thought to me.
Then I heard the rifle's retort.
I started screaming into the gag, I couldn't see what had happened, I couldn't feel her any more.
"You got them Jed!" One man called enthusiastically, and something snapped within me, I bit down on the gag, and somehow I bit right through it, my vision clouded red, I reached up at the bars that comprised of the cage, and pushed. I felt the metal moving, my mind didn't care about that, there was one thing that did matter, and it was lying behind me on the road.
I roared my anger and charged for where I knew my commander was, she had managed to lift her head, the sight filled me with hope and strength, I reached a hand down to her.
~"Wow, I like-"~ Was all she managed before passing out again, although this close I could feel her life still flowing.
A sound roared behind me and I felt something tap me on the back, turning to face the object of my growing anger, I saw the men raise the steyrs and light blared at the muzzles, knowing that nothing I could do would stop the impending metal hail, I just roared one last word into the sky...
"MINE!"
I felt the pain ripping over my body, then my rage coalesced into a huge flash of light that half dazed me and new smells intruded on my dark world. One was ozone, the other, burnt flesh.
"Holy fuck" I heard a voice behind me, my fur was standing on end after the massive electrical discharge. Wait, fur?
-
Pain, lots of it, in my shoulder, but something warm was beside me, it felt great, soft but firm at the same time, the fact that whatever it was seemed to be ignoring my quills sticking into it was unusual.
"Ahh, your awake" Crystal said from above me.
"What happened, I remember feeling a weak pull to the Sergeant... Don, and I grabbed a bike and then, and then..." Oh shit, it all came back. 'We have lost cabin pressure'.
"You were shot by the same 'demon hunters' that assaulted his squad, he..." She explained, but left me to fill in some.
"He-" I began, and jumped to my feet, fighting the nausea that rushed to my head.
There, lying on the second stretcher beside me in the APC was what could only be described as a were-wolf, it was nothing like Crystal, it was huge, brutishly built with muscles on muscles, claws that looked like they would rip through steel. And he was suddenly awake and fully aware.
"Jenni-" He began.
I had my arms around him so quick he couldn't even finish my name.
~"I love you, don't scare me like that again, please!"~ I implored of him.
I pulled back so I could see his face, and his eyes widened at the implication of my words sank into him.
"I..." he began, sub-vocalising, "Nothing, not even a tank could stop me from being at your side now, Hellen. Love."
-
"Well, what I miss, I heard there was some bad-" I stalked into the back of the APC, still damp from winging it here as fast as Drath could but was cut short by Crystal's elbow in my gut.
"Shush you, let them have some time" She grabbed me by the scruff of the neck on her way past, my last vision of the inside was of an eight foot tall wolf-man with the Captain sitting in its lap staring into its eyes. Something bothered me about the wolf-man though, it was almost like his fur was tinged a blue-white, but bright, like lightning.
Fox was not happy with me, she likes showing off, and in this she was not even second or third fiddle, heck she was barely even in the orchastra pit at all.
Hellen Jennings however is very happy I finally let her show Don how much he means to her.