Wasteland Rules: A New Dawn (The World After Book 3) Read Free Page A

territoriality and
their propensity to shoot first and ask questions later.” Derek replied.
       “Now you see why I’m
worried. “ The colonel chimed in.
       “Let’s wait and see.” The
commander insisted. “If the plane is there we should be okay.”

Chapter 3
    June 26, 2029
    Edwards Air Force Base,
California
       It turned out they had
just enough gas to land at Edwards. The shuttles thrusters gave out just before
they landed, but Colonel Brandt was able to glide them in for a landing. It
wasn’t pretty, but any landing you can walk away from is a good one. The
shuttle’s landing gear failed and they ended sliding off the runway and into
the desert in a trail of flame. Once the shuttle had settled they unbuckled and
deployed the emergency hatch to exit.
       As they staggered out of
the shuttle they were greeted at the edge of the tarmac by two black Humvees
without any markings. Men in black BDUs, body armor, helmets, and face masks
manned machine guns on top. The Humvees screeched to a halt right in front of
the stunned crew, Derek, and Rora. More men in black piled out of the Humvees
and pointed guns at them.
      Derek drew a pistol, but
they were hopelessly outgunned by the six armed men wielding M4 carbines. He
slowly lowered the pistol, realizing that even if he could somehow survive the
fight; the others would surely be killed. The gunmen kept their weapons trained
on the group, but parted to allow another man to come forward. He was obviously
the leader as the other deferred to him, but he had no insignia and his face
was also covered.
       “Derek Storm. You need to
come with us.” The man announced.
       “I’m guessing they aren’t
our ride?” Derek asked the commander sarcastically.
       “We don’t have much time.
You need to come with us.” The man in black repeated.
       “What about the others?”
Derek asked.
       “We don’t need them. Our
orders are to pick you up.” The man replied coldly.
       “Yeah, I don’t think so.”
Derek told him. “I’m guessing you need me alive so you won’t shoot and I’m not
going anywhere without a fight.”
       “Have it your way.” The
man said, and then drew a Taser and hit Derek with ten thousand volts.
       Derek crumpled to the
ground as Anna screamed. The gunmen rushed forward and herded Rora and the
others away as two of them grabbed Derek and dragged him into one of the
Humvees. Without a further word the gunmen got back into the Humvees and raced
away. The four of them were left standing dumbfounded on the edge of the runway
as the gunmen disappeared into the airfield.
       “What was that?” Colonel
Brandt finally asked.
       “I have no idea.” Rora
replied in confusion.
       “Who were they?” Anna
asked slowly.
       “More importantly, where
are they taking him?” The commander interrupted.
       “I don’t know, but we need
to find out. We have to get Derek back.” Rora insisted.
       “Let’s get out of here
first!” The colonel stated emphatically. “If someone else was here before we
were, they may have alerted G-21 to our presence.”
       “Too late.” Anna moaned.
       There was a squeal of
tires as three heavily armored and garishly painted technicals roared onto the
tarmac from inside the base. Two extended cab pickups with men manning machine
guns and a mini-van with a 40mm automatic grenade launcher on top screeched to
halt in front of the still shocked group. All three vehicles had an eagle and a snake atop a flaming circle over
crossed knives painted in black on their doors.
       Armed men in a variety of clothing and armor exited
the vehicles and surrounded the crew and Rora. Most of their clothes were red,
green, or white; and a few wore bulletproof vests or flak jackets. The one
thing they all had in common was that they were all armed with AK-47 assault
rifles. This new group of gunmen screamed at Rora and the crew to get on the
ground until they fearfully