Rage

FOURTEEN

The girl kept her eyes locked on him. Was it from fear, or just the wild-eyed look that anyone living out here took on as their natural expression? It certainly didn’t look as though she trusted him.

Suddenly, letting her out of the cage didn’t seem like the best of ideas. But Raine checked the rusted lock. One of the bodies around him must have a key.

On the other hand He fired at the lock and it shattered into three pieces.

The girl pushed open the wooden poles that had kept her trapped and then stood there, as if expecting Raine to do something to her.

“You okay?”

She nodded.

“Good. Now, what are you doing here? How’d they capture-”

The girl pointed past him, gesturing over his shoulder. “Look-more of them!”

Raine turned and saw nothing. But he felt the girl touch his back, and in one sleek move she had grabbed his knife. When he turned around, he saw her running away, hugging close to boulders, running as fast as she could, her new prize held tight in her hand.

Could she be going for his buggy?

But she ran in the other direction, farther into the surreal landscape of the Wasteland.

Raine shook his head. If the knife could help her, maybe she should have it.

And then he went around to the dead bandits, relieving them of their weapons and ammo. It was the same grisly job no matter where it was done. No matter what an enemy wore. What they believed. The language they spoke or the color of their skin.

You took what they had.

After all, they were dead. They certainly didn’t need it.

Still, unwrapping fingers frozen to a trigger never got to feel like a normal thing to do.

Driving back, he guessed that the radio was still totally useless.

The weapons-his prizes-rattled in the back of the buggy. He half expected to run into more members of whatever clan he had just killed, but-so far-the road was quiet.

Just the deep, throaty roar of the vehicle. The rattling sound of the chassis. It was starting to sound comforting.

He had wrapped a piece of one of the bandit’s shirts around his wound. It stopped the blood, though it was definitely not sterile.

Raine thought about this world he found himself in.

He’d been here a mere two days, and already there was a new normal. He knew he shouldn’t have been too surprised, though. Even a newbie arriving into an area with firefights, IEDs, and snipers learns very quickly: This is the fucking way it is.

Adaptable.

The species was goddamn adaptable.

Still, nothing told him what he was going to do. Strange to be in the future and not have a clue what your future held. So far it had been all about shooting people. Not that they didn’t deserve it.

Not like they didn’t have it coming.

But if that’s what was ahead, he’d better get his head around that idea.

Too many questions -why this, why the hell that -could screw up reflexes. Play games with your decision-making.

So-a first bit of resolve.

Acceptance. This was the world. Forget the other one. That was long gone.

And then, as if to accentuate just that point, the radio came to life.

“Raine? Raine!”

It was Dan’s voice-barely recognizable over the noise. Raine picked up the handset. “Yeah. Here. Where the hell-”

“Listen, we’ve been hit. Watch yourself coming back.”

“Hit?”

Bits of gritty sand flew into Raine’s face as he drove into a steady wind. He kept blinking to keep his eyes clear.

“The settlement-” Dan’s voice broke up. “Big attack.”

And he’d thought he would be the one to have the news. Five dead bandits. Some weapons.

“Watch it coming back. They’re likely to be-”

Another drop-off.

“Okay. I will. About twenty… twenty-five klicks, shit… I’m about sixteen miles from the settlement.”

Dan didn’t even ask about his recon. Guess it didn’t matter much.

“-careful, Raine.”

“Got it.”

He put the handset down and reached over to touch his rifle, making sure it was one quick grab away. The handgun was stuck awkwardly in a side pocket.

He drove fast, dodging the rubble where he could, scanning left and right, thinking what easy pickings he’d be out here.

He saw nothing.

Not another soul until he saw the settlement, the Hagar compound. Four smoky streams showed where they had been fighting fires, one a dark, sooty black. Raine guessed that maybe some fuel had been hit.

Guards by the entrance. He could see one with field glasses. The sun was behind them, nearly down, and they were shadowy figures.

Hope they can see me, he thought. Recognize me.

Friendly fire. It happened. Even here, he imagined.

Especially here.

He picked up the radio.

“Dan, almost there. Can you tell your guards… not to shoot?”

A female voice. Young. “They got you, stranger. Just slow it down a bit. No racing in. And watch your butt coming in. People are hurt here, shit.”

“Thanks.”

The last yellowish cusp of the sun slid behind a hill. Only minutes more of daylight. Torches had already appeared on top of the razor ribbon that served as a wall around the settlement.

He slowed down.

And then something he felt in his gut, that he had indeed felt before, told him the attack here had been real bad.

Abreast of the two guards, one waved him in.

The smell of smoke and gunfire filled the air.

Then… slower still, past the gate, he heard the sound of moans, shouts.

Which was when someone-a woman-walked in front of his buggy, a hand up, stopping him. Raine hit the brakes, pulling himself out of the buggy. He looked around and was shocked to see what had happened.