Read Pickers 4: The Pick Online
Authors: Garth Owen
The road block up ahead came into view just in time to disappear again behind fire.
They had turned off the old, major roads to head in this direction, and were now following a track that ran straight through the middle of the flames. The road was straight and flat, they could get through the burning barrier quickly. Hopefully, there was nothing too dangerous on the other side.
Spread across the space between the truck and the fire were shapes, moving quickly. Motorbikes, buggies, larger vehicles, all running toward them. Something flickered on the roof of a van, and bullets started hitting the front of the truck.
The windscreen broke into stars as the bullets hit it and were stopped by the layers of laminate. Up above, Fabien returned fire, and the bright dots of tracer danced around the van until it started to slow.
"I'm out." said Fabien, dropping into the cab. "I'd reload, but that bastard clipped me."
The bullet had hit Fabien's body armour where it looped over his left shoulder, breaking bone with its impact and punching a hole through to gouge a nasty wound in the muscle. His feet slid from under him, and he slumped, held up by the harness. Justine was with him immediately.
Remy couldn't see the road ahead so well, now the windscreen was frosted with bullet damage. He moved all around to find the best view. "Hold tight everyone, I think I see the best way through."
One of the buggies that was closing with the truck dodged another car, cutting right in front of the truck. The collision barely registered in the larger vehicle, and the buggy was little more than a tangle of metal when it was thrown aside.
Now, all the vehicles that had been charging away from the fire were behind them. With luck, they were causing chaos amongst the pursuers. The truck drifted away from the track, heading for the edge of the fire ahead. It pushed a wave of flame ahead of it, and sucked long tails after it when it had passed through.
Ahead, the track passed between rows of houses, then carried on up a gentle hill. If the ambush was going to happen as planned, the truck wanted to go between the houses. Remy slowed, and aimed as best he could with his limited vision. "Get ready. We're going to block the road."
The truck scraped render off buildings on its right hand side as it entered the hamlet. It started braking harder, coming to a halt on the cross roads in the middle of the hamlet. The last crazies of the Raiders followed it in.
Even after the extended chase they had been on, with all its chaos and carnage, there were still Raiders willing to charge through the flames and follow the truck. Some had the sense not to follow it into the hamlet, and peeled away, to go around or go back. Some of them tumbled and crashed, picked off by snipers on the slopes above.
The Raiders who followed the truck were caught by surprise when it came to an abrupt halt. Some hit the rear of the trailer, or were crushed against it by the vehicles that followed them. The pack that was left was big enough to fill the road two houses back.
They milled around behind the truck, some with the berserker rage of battle on them, trying to climb aboard the vehicle as they had been ordered, others attempting to get out. Right at the back of the queue was a pickup, the cork keeping the smaller vehicles in place. It reversed into clear ground, then lurched as it was hit by a heavy projectile, and came to a halt.
Maxine pushed herself upright, as best she could with an injured leg, braced the stock of her gun against her shoulder and picked a target in the middle of the crowd. She fired, and he fell. She picked another target.
Armed men and women appeared on the roof tops either side of the street, firing down into the Raiders below. More gunfire came from the windows at street level. There wasn't going to be any chance for surrender. But these were the crazies, the hardcore of the Raider army that had been forming. Few of them would have considered giving in, anyway.
Georges had clambered across the cupola, to lean over the back edge and fire down at any Raider who tried to climb up. There was a gap on the left hand side of the truck, where it was pressed up against the wall on its right. Sarah was out of her cupola and firing on any Raiders who tried to escape down it.
Maxine emptied a magazine. She fed another one in, and raised the gun. She couldn't find anyone to shoot at. Georges fired another couple of bursts, then stopped as well.
It was quiet. The memory of the last hours' of gunfire played a soundtrack in Maxine's head, completely at odds with what she could hear. Relaxing, she let the harness take her weight. Something else held her, and she realised Georges was at her side. They both stared at the knife stuck into her thigh.
"Can I have a medic up here. Quickly." Maxine said.
"I'm on my way." Remy replied.
"Papa. Next time you have a stupid idea, I'm going to poke this hole in my leg and tell myself to say no to it. Okay."
The relief map was no longer in the room. Of all the changes to the Scouts' headquarters, that had been the hardest for them. But it gave them the space that was needed for the audience they now had.
The walls had screens hanging on them now. Each one could display separate information, if needed. For now, they were all hooked up to the same- currently blank- feed.
Standing in the middle of the room was the whole town council, and as many other interested folk as could fit. No matter which way they looked, they would be able to see the images to go with the presentation.
Veronique had a tablet at the ready. She could flip through pictures and graphics as the presentation went on. Luke tried to lean across from where Tony held him, reaching out to touch the tablet and make the images move. Tony teased him by moving closer, but never close enough, and then back again. "The show's about to begin, kid." he said in response to the squirming. "Look at the big screen."
A temporary stage had been constructed from benches tied together. Georges stepped up onto it, then helped Maxine up. Her right leg was still stiff, but she didn't need a stick as much any more. Testing the stage as he went, Georges walked to the front. "Ladies and gentlemen! Ladies and gentlemen!" The noise of conversations stopped almost immediately. "Thank you."
Veronique tapped the tablet, and an image appeared on all of the screens. A view from far, far above.
"This was the Valley, yesterday." Georges announced, pointing at all the screens. He had expected a response other than the awed silence that greeted his announcement. He carried on, "The image was shot by a satellite passing overhead, and shows a lot of detail." Veronique moved fingers across the tablet, and the image zoomed in, until the town square filled the screen. Fuzzy dots that could only be people walking across the open space could be seen.
Veronique tapped the tablet, and a short, repeating video clip of golden wheat swaying in a light wind played. "We went over the hills to find a supply of heritage seeds that might be immune to the blight starving the rest of the country. We brought those, and more, back, and I think you all know about the progress that has been made in cultivating batches from them. It's going to take several years, but we're going to get them out there and create a crop diversity that will, hopefully, protect us from the danger of disease."
"But that wasn't all we found. The equipment being used to put on this display was down in the vault, along with the truck we brought it back in, and so much more. The salvage from our running battle with the Raiders was a bonus."
The image changed to a satellite dish. "We've been working with what we brought back. The raw data on the computer drives is enough to help us immeasurably, but it also pointed the way to live information. We didn't let much out about what we've been doing, just in case it didn't work. Yesterday, we made contact with satellites, up above us. One of them took the photograph we started with, others gave us information of other types. Some simply woke up for the first time in years. We haven't yet managed to communicate with anyone else, but that may come."
Veronique tapped the tablet, bringing up a map of Europe, Northern Africa and Western Asia. There were a number of yellow dots on the map, and two red ones. "The vault was only one of many, a series of stores set up as the world collapsed all those years ago. Stores which could provide the resources and data needed to rebuild after the collapse. Whether or not we find other communities with the level of connection we now have, we know where there are more vaults like the one we opened. Vaults filled with more technology, weapons and information. We are going to investigate them. Not this year, maybe not for several years. But we will go to them. And then we shall expand the number of communities enjoying the benefits reaped. We shall make a safer and more secure future for the whole planet."
The room was silent for a while. Then the applause began.
Maxine stepped up to Georges, and he leant toward her as she whispered, "Quite a speech. Are you trying to take my uncle's job?"
"Hardly. Mayors don't get to go out into the wilds and have adventures."