Wasteland Rules: Kill or Be Killed (The World After Book 1) (11 page)

June 11, 2029

Brotherhood of Justice Station House Nevada, MO

  Derek entered the lobby of the Regulator Station
House. From the outside it had looked utilitarian and strongly built. Concrete
barriers blockaded the front of the building and the entrance looked reinforced
enough to withstand artillery fire. He had also noticed that there had been
snipers on the roof and that the windows were narrow slits like gun ports
instead of normal windows. Inside, it looked even more like a fortress. The
lobby itself was sealed off from the rest of the building by what looked to be
very thick armored glass and steel walls. The only entrance to the rest of the
building was double doors in the center straight ahead of him.

  To get through those you had to pass through a
body scanner and fingerprint scanner. Your gear had to pass through an advanced
x-ray machine. Armed guards with H&K G36Cs and in full body armor monitored
the checkpoint and more guards lurked behind the armor glass walls. Derek could
see ports in the glass that could be flipped open to allow them to fire into
the lobby. Security cameras monitored everything.

  There was a small line of people waiting to enter.
Most looked like administrative or legal staff and the rest looked like Derek.
Bounty hunters trying to claim bounties or looking for work. They filed through
quickly and quietly. The only delay was the bounty hunters removing all their
weapons and placing them in large metal lockers on the side.

  When it was Derek’s turn, he removed all of his
weapons including the ceramic knife and placed them in the designated locker.
He threw his bag on the belt of the scanner and entered the body scanner.
Satisfied he was weapons free they waved him over to the fingerprint scanner.
Given the amount of bounties he had collected Derek’s fingerprints were in the
Regulator database and he presumed he would be waved through. Much to his
surprise, after the machine scanned his fingerprint red lights started flashing
and an alarm klaxon sounded.

  He looked around trying to see what had caused the
disturbance when he realized that all the guards were pointing their submachine
guns as him. The other people in line behind him had fled out the door to the
outside. The guards were screaming at him to get on the floor and Derek
complied. Unarmed and severely outgunned he wasn’t going to fight. It must be a
mistake; he wasn’t wanted for anything he knew of. All he had to do was wait
for Tex to come find him and explain the situation and they would set him free.
Although, given the store owner’s comment earlier; there might be more going on
here than a simple mistake.

  The Regulators swarmed over him, quickly and
expertly securing his hands and feet with prison shackles. They dragged him up
to a standing position and hauled him through the double doors. He was whisked
off to what appeared to be a processing area. Any attempts to ask what was
going on were met with a swift blow to the kidney and sharp warning to keep
quiet. His gear was taken and catalogued. He had pictures taken and blood drawn
by a very unsympathetic looking tech. Then he was stripped down and re dressed
in an orange prison jumpsuit and prison slippers. The entire time the guards
kept their weapons trained on him and he remained shackled except when he
dressed. Even then it was only one hand or foot at a time that was unshackled.

  After they processed him he was led down a bare
concrete corridor down a ramp that led down into a basement level below the
building. They passed through a set of steel doors controlled by more armed
guards behind armor glass in a side room. A blue line and a red line were
painted on middle of the floor leading through the checkpoint. The blue line
had started at processing, but the red line had begun at another set of steel
doors along the way. A faint whiff of diesel fuel had indicated that might be
the entrance to the garage.

  The two lines split when the corridor they were in
had dead ended into another corridor. Red went left and blue went right. The
guard leading him had consulted a tablet pc and then proceeded left. The guards
holding him had hesitated and the one on the right spoke up.

  “Hey, shouldn’t we be going to holding?”

  “Computer says we take him down to lockup. I know
it’s not normal but that’s the instructions on his file. He already has a cell
assigned.”

  The man on his left grunted in surprise, but
started moving to the left. “If that’s what it says, that’s what we do. I’m not
getting in trouble with the LT for ignoring orders.”

  The Regulator on the right agreed. “You got that
right. Let’s lock him up and then we can check on the file. Who cares where we
put scum like this anyway?”

  Derek started to ask what was in the file but
received another swift blow to the kidney. He groaned in pain but since he
couldn’t do anything about it, he didn’t resist. Plenty of time for payback
once he was out. Plus, they were just doing their jobs. He couldn’t hold it
against them for following orders.

  He was dragged down a short hallway to another
checkpoint. They were again buzzed through after the lead guard held the tablet
up against some kind of reader next to the door. This led to a small chamber
with another set of steel doors in front of them and armor glass partitions on
either side of them. Armed guards watched them carefully from inside the rooms
on either side. The first set of doors closed behind them with a loud clang and
the doors in front opened.

  The doors opened onto a large open space. When
they moved past the doors Derek could see they were on the top level of a three
level facility. Cells lined the walls on the three sides opposite them. The
side he was on had armor glass partitions for the guards to monitor the
prisoners. Narrow metal grate catwalks circled each floor. At the bottom was
the common area which was filled with steel picnic style tables bolted to the
floor.

   The only way down to the lower levels proved to
be an open platform elevator operated remotely. The three guards led him onto
the platform which was the only thing along the wall on the side they had
entered from.  He looked around as it descended to the bottom floor. As they
went down he could see that the level of prisoner increased as they went down.
Inmates at the top looked smaller and cleaner and were probably thieves or con
men. The lowest level looked to house the hardest of the inmates. He could see
raiders, bikers, and other scum looking out of their cells. Almost every cell
was filled with inmates. They all were at their doors yelling at the guards and
him. Obviously they didn’t get much entertainment.

  Again the guards holding him questioned his destination,
but were silenced by the same reply that it was what his file indicated. They
arrived at an empty cell and the door swung open remotely. He was pushed inside
and told to turn around. He stuck his hand and feet through slots in the door
and was unshackled. The three Regulators left as quickly as they could, to get
back to the safety of the secure areas.

  Derek looked around the cell. It was very Spartan.
A steel bunk with a flimsy mattress was bolted to the wall. A steel toilet and
small wash basin made up the rest of the furniture. The walls appeared to be
reinforced concrete painted a flat off-white. A fluorescent light in recessed
fixture provided the only light in the cell. He lay down on the bunk and
decided to get some sleep. It wasn’t often you could rest in the wasteland and
be completely secure.

  He was awaked by the sound of cell doors opening.
When he looked up he could see his door had swung open. Shouts of excitement
started to echo in form the courtyard outside. As the commotion increased in
volume, Derek decided he should take a look. Since his door was open maybe they
were supposed to exit their cells, but he hadn’t heard any command to do so.

  He looked out into a scene of pure chaos. The
inmates on his floor were all out of their cells. Most were running around
screaming. A few were fighting, and some were standing in small groups looking
up at the guard stations. Inside the stations the guards were obviously upset
and moving around excitedly. One was making gestures for the prisoners to get
back into their cells. The inmates on the upper levels had moved to the
railings of the catwalk to watch the chaos below.

  Derek turned to go back into his cell, but stopped
when he noticed two inmates looking directly at him. They were both large men,
heavily muscled, and covered in tattoos. They had their jumpsuits tied off at
the waist leaving their upper bodies bare. He could tell from their tattoos
they were Death Angels and their tattoos were a virtual rap sheet of all the
horrible deeds they had done including raping and killing children. When they
started towards him, he contemplated going back into the cell. Forcing them to
come at him one at a time might give him an advantage but he would be trapped.
So he walked out into the courtyard to face them.

  The one on the right, a scruffy man with long
black hair a short beard yelled at him as they approached. “You killed some of
our brothers. Time for payback!”

  Other inmates turned to face the new commotion.
Seeing a fight about to ensue they all drew closer forming a semi-circle around
the would-be combatants. Derek dropped into a combat stance and prepared to
face them. He kicked off his slippers to give himself better traction. Both men
stopped about ten feet short of him and the one on the left, a long bearded blond,
addressed the crowd.

  “He’s a hunter. He’s probably killed some of your
friends and family. The guards can’t get in here to stop us. Let’s tear him
apart!”

  Derek frowned. These two obviously knew who he was
and were planning to kill him. Yet he had never run across them before, so they
should have had no idea who he was. This all smelled like a setup, starting
with his arrest and all the way to the cell doors opening and the guards being
unable to get in. Someone had gone through some trouble to get him in here
where he could be isolated without weapons and killed. His frown deepened when
five more inmates joined the two bikers.

  The two bikers smiled the smile of a predator that
thinks it has its prey trapped and produced shivs. They and their new followers
moved forward towards Derek and the other inmates started cheering. Derek
smiled back, which gave the five followers pause. Instead of waiting for the
attack, he rushed forward surprising them. One of the bikers tried to stab him,
but he dodged the strike and grabbed the bikers arm. Pivoting, he lifted the
man’s arm over his shoulder and brought it down sharply breaking it.

  The scream of pain silenced the crowd. Derek flung
the screaming biker into two of the followers knocking them back. He felt the
second biker striking at him from behind. Derek swung around and the shiv just
grazed his ribs as the biker went by. He quickly reversed course and swung
backhand at Derek. Derek stepped in and caught the arm across his body. He
slapped the shiv from the man’s hand and then struck him in the throat with a
quick punch. The second biker crumpled to the ground gasping for air.

  The other five looked at each other. Derek had
disposed of the two bikers pretty easily, but there were five of them. The
other inmates howled wildly for Derek’s blood and revenge for their fallen
comrades. All five were big tough men who had seen plenty of battles and
bloodshed. They were feared enforcers in here and had the scars to prove it.
Fearing the loss of their reputations more than Derek, they all rushed him at
once.

   He kicked the one in front of him square in the
face with a snap kick sending the man flying backwards. The thug bounced off a
steel table and lay motionless. The other four knocked Derek to the ground and
began viciously kicking him. The cheers from the gallery rose in volume as
their champions were winning. Derek pulled his legs back towards his head and
monkey flipped to his feet. This caught the inmates off guard. Once a man was
down they usually kicked the crap out of him until they got bored. The fight
should have been over.

  Derek reminded one of them of that mistake when he
punched the inmate straight in the face. Breaking the man’s nose and sending
him collapsing backwards in a spray of blood. The others reached for Derek, but
he snapped a side-kick into one’s stomach sending him reeling. Derek absorbed a
few blows, dodged a punch, and countered with an uppercut that dropped the man.
The last inmate grabbed Derek from behind and tried to choke him. He responded
with a backwards elbow to the man’s side and when the inmate loosened his grip
Derek twisted free. He picked the man up and slammed him down on a tabletop.
The force of the blow left a dent in the table and probably broke a few ribs.

  Derek looked around. The inmates were all staring
at him with wide eyes and dropped jaws. The silence was only broken by the
sound of the guards pounding on the doors trying to get in and the pitiful
moaning of the seven downed enforcers. Derek had beaten down seven of their
toughest and was barely scratched and not even breathing hard. They all looked
at each other and back up a step when Derek moved towards them.

  “Anyone else?” He demanded confidently.

  To his surprise the inmates started chanting. It
was hard to make out at first, but as it grew in volume he could make it out.
It was only one word.