Chapter 4

Jim had made his voice sound as cranky as possible to suggest that they were being imposed upon well beyond the limits of courtesy, even in this era.

“OKAY, I WON’T SHOOT YOU, BUT I’M STILL KEEPING MY GUN HANDY!”

That was enough to make Jim relax. Just to be on the safe side, Jim shouted, “AJAX, BACK OFF! HE’S A FRIEND!”

Suddenly, there was a screech of surprise and a voice shouted, “KEEP THAT GOD DAMNED MONSTER AWAY FROM ME!”

“IT’S OKAY, NOW! HE WON’T ATTACK UNLESS YOU LOOK LIKE A THREAT TO ANY OF US!”

A man with a white beard stood up. He was holding a hunting rifle, but it looked like he was merely holding it to keep it out of the sand and dirt. Ajax came trotting back to Jim with the air of somebody who had just successfully completed a task. Ajax sat down beside Jim and started licking his balls: okay, I’ve done my job, now you do yours.

The elderly man walked up to Jim and stuck out his right hand. “Howdy, Mister, I’m Bill Ingram. Sorry about that there bullet, but the Wasters have been pestering me again.”

“No problem, Mr. Ingram. I’m Jim Wilson, and this is my new wife, Jane. The dog is Ajax, and he is very protective of us. Don’t take him personally, but he just didn’t know who you were.”

“Howdy, Mrs. Wilson? Y’all can call me Bill. All my friends do. What are y’all doing way out here in the middle of nowhere? It’s a Hell of a place for a honeymoon!” Ingram laughed at his own joke, and Jim and Jane joined him in a chuckle.

“Okay, Bill. Call us Jane and Jim. We ain’t never been to Alberkirk, and we thought to look it over.”

“Well, I guess that y’all ain’t heard about Alberkirk. A big passel of Wasters have taken over the place, and honest folks stay away from there. I don’t know where they came from, but the bastards seem intent to take over the whole country. I don’t know how much longer I can stay here the way they keep pushing at me. Hell, there are so many of them that they could wipe me out any time they took a notion to do it, but I just don’t take to being pushed around!

“Say, Jim, you look kind of familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?”

“It ain’t likely, but you may have heard of me. I’m the one some people call Guardian, and I have a thing about Wasters. I don’t like them and never have. I shoot as many as I can find, and Jane and Ajax have agreed to help me.”

“By God! That’s it. I remember you from the description I got after you cleaned up Horton about a year ago. Well, if anybody can take care of the Wasters around Alberkirk, I guess it must be you. But, dammit, be careful!”

“Thanks for the warning, but I guess I’ll go look the place over. Some people from there killed some friends and took a shot at my wife. I don’t take kindly to that, and I aim to see what I can do about it.”

“Okay, if you say so, but keep your head down and your guns handy. Well, I got to get back to my still, so I’ll bid y’all good luck and goodby.”

The man walked away, and the trio resumed their walk toward Alberkirk. The next couple of days were uneventful, and Jim wondered just how much security the Wasters had put out around Alberkirk. They were getting close enough that some outposts should be seen by now.

It was just after noon of the next day that they ran into two men who were armed with rifles and acted like they owned the Earth. Just moments before they showed up, Ajax growled a certain way, and Jim said “guard!” Ajax disappeared, and the two men acted as if they had not seen the dog.

The two men walked up with their rifles held at the ready. One of them said, “Hey, Tony, look at the bitch what just dropped into our laps.” The other one laughed, and Jane bristled, but Jim crossed his arms and stared at the men.

“John, if I didn’t know better, I’d think it was Christmas! She looks like prime stock, but I think we should make a test run with her before we turn her in.”

Tony pointed his rifle at Jim, and John said, “Okay, Bitch, shuck them clothes so we can see what you have to offer.”

Jane said, “For God’s sake, please don’t shoot. I’ll do whatever you say.” With that, she seemed to reach for her shirt buttons. However, quicker than even Jane thought that she could do it, she drew both of her guns and blasted away at John. Jane hit him with her first bullet, but two more caught him in the chest before he hit the ground.

Meanwhile, Ajax had been waiting for the command to attack. He must have interpreted her first shot as that command because he jumped Tony just as Jane had fired her second shot. It was amazing that the huge dog could make such a gymnastic move while in full flight, but Ajax caught Tony’s throat between his jaws and ripped it out as he flew by. Tony’s gun did go off, but nobody knew where the bullet went.

They investigated the two bodies and found that John had been carrying a radio. However, it was of no value now as one of Jane’s hollow-point bullets had hit it in a very sensitive place. Even the battery was destroyed! They stripped the receivers from the rifles and bent them out of shape so that they could never be used again. This must have been a roving posting of outlying guards because there was not even a foxhole anywhere nearby.

From the conversation between the two guards, Jim deduced that the guards had held off reporting interlopers until after they’d had a chance to rape Jane. That was very convenient because they now knew what they had to be on the lookout for. However, security surely would improve as they got closer to Alberkirk.

They rested in a cold camp that night because Jim did not want to give them away with a campfire. However, they still had a warm meal, courtesy of the transporters from headquarters. Ajax caught his usual rabbit for supper, so everybody was well fed even with the close proximity of the enemy. Other than that, their only change from routine was that Jane tried not to make so much noise during their sex interlude.

The next morning, they topped a ridge and saw Alberkirk in the distance. The town did not have the usual destruction showing from a Waster occupation, so it may well be true that this was a higher class of Wasters than were the usual small bands that roamed the wilderness.

The previous evening, word had come in to Jim from headquarters that it was imperative that they get a good look at the Wasters in Alberkirk. The radio, even though it had markings in English on the outside of the case, had the typical construction of the Chinese military on the inside. Now the question had grown to whether or not the Chinese were actually in league with this batch of Wasters. If they were, was this the only Wasters that the Chinese were working with?

If the Chinese were actually in league with the Wasters, what did they have in mind? Furthermore, was this a prelude to an invasion? If the former, then they were only a nuisance; however, if the latter, then this might be a prelude to a nuclear war as the remnants of the USNA (United States of North America) tried to defend itself. Therefore, the people at headquarters had to acquire as much information as possible as soon as possible.

Now there was no option, Jim, Jane, and Ajax had to enter Alberkirk and learn as much as they could. Following that, they had to get the information back to headquarters so that the proper action could be taken. There were still a few nuclear missiles left to launch at China, but where should the missiles be sent? The whole world was in the grips of the global warming, so it really didn’t make much sense for the Chinese to attack the USNA.

Well, sensible or not, the USNA had to know the answer, so Jim, at least, had to go and search for what he could find. As soon as the topic came up, Jane reacted to the suggestion that Jim was going in without her. Ajax, of course, didn’t comment, but Jim would have had a hell of a time leaving Ajax behind. Thus, the three of them were going into Alberkirk, and no further discussion was warranted!