Chapter 5

Their unmolested retreat lasted for one block before they were noticed by a Waster guard with a rifle. He was in a hurry, so his shot went wide. Probably the fact that there was limited light also made him miss. Anyway, Jane popped off a shot at him and hit him in the chest. He fell so quickly that both she and Jim assumed that the man was dead. That was confirmed when Ajax checked him and left him with no more than a sniff of disdain.

They were afraid that the sound of the shot would bring people to investigate, but everybody seemed to be more interested in the fire. They reached their hideout and gathered up what they needed to make a run for safety. Jim swapped his RPG for his shotgun, but asked Jane to stick with her pistol. Ajax always had what he needed, so no time was spent worrying about him.

The time for speed seemed to be past, so they crept out of the hideout and began to look for Wasters to shoot. After all, that was the other part of their instructions. Their next encounter was with four men who were all armed with rifles. They spotted the guards before they were seen. Ajax was well trained and would stay put when told to do so, even when he didn’t like it.

They all sheltered around the corner of a building and waited for the guards to get a little closer. As soon as they were close enough, Jim stepped out in front of the guards and fired his shotgun. He fired at the other three guards so quickly that it might seem that his gun was operating on full automatic, even though it was actually only semiautomatic. The four men were killed, each by one shot, so quickly that they had no chance to return fire. Jim looked around and did not see anyone approaching, so he led the trio along the sidewalk.

Ah, here came a man on a bicycle. He just had to be a messenger. He was wearing a pistol and had no rifle, but he did have a pouch on a strap slung over his shoulder. Ajax growled as if he were asking for his turn, so Jim waved him on. Ajax proved his metal by hitting the messenger from the side and ripping out his throat before the man fell from the bicycle. He probably never knew what hit him!

They were having such good luck that they decided to circle back toward the middle of town in hope of catching more Wasters unprepared to fight. They were doing fine as long as they managed to stay out of a lengthy firefight. They could hold their own as long as they were not greatly outnumbered, but they could be caught by too many attackers if they were pinned to one spot for very long.

They caught single Wasters on four more occasions that night, but it was getting hard to find targets. Not only that, the sun would be coming up soon, so they needed to find a place to hide during the day. They were still in Alberkirk, so they had no trouble finding an empty building to hide in until dark.

Jim suggested that he send the RPG back to headquarters because he did not think that he would have any more opportunities to use it. His suggestion was accepted, so he broke the RPGs and launcher back into components and sent it home. They ate a light meal sent from headquarters and had a serious sex romp before going to sleep. Ajax received a raw steak in appreciation of his efforts that night, and he enjoyed the treat: it sure beat rats!

The two humans slept until nearly dark and were fully rested. They ate supper and considered whether or not it was worth the effort to hunt more Wasters in Alberkirk. They decided that they had already hit the point of diminishing returns, and planned on leaving Alberkirk as soon as it got dark enough. It was suggested by headquarters that they head toward Lasvag. There was a rumor of gold being found again nearby, and that was likely to draw Wasters.

Jim and Jane agreed to give it a shot; Ajax did not have an opinion. They left Alberkirk that night and never saw a Waster the whole night. Apparently, they had eliminated the majority of them already, so they would be very hard to find in among the buildings, if, indeed, they were still there.

They received the GPS coordinates of Lasvag so they had no trouble finding a road leading in that direction. Now they were traveling over hills and through valleys, so Ajax was ranging far and wide to make sure that they were not ambushed.

They had walked for three days and ran into another rainstorm. This was not as pleasant an experience as it had been when they were in the open desert. However, it was still hot, so the rain did break the heat. Neither one of them knew much of the weather at this high elevation, but it did seem to them that two rainstorms in a month was something to marvel at.

They got uncomfortable when the rain stopped, and the high humidity made the air hard to breathe. Hell, this was too much to put up with, so they walked back among the trees to find a reasonably dry place to rest until there was a break in the humidity. They got about 150 yards from the road and heard the sound of several men talking.

This was something that needed investigation so they tried to be quiet as they made their way toward the sound. What they found were nine men lazing about and not paying much attention to anything. Suddenly, there was a buzzing noise, and a man on the far side of the group picked up what had to be a radio. He talked for a couple of minutes and put the radio into his pack. He said, “Okay, Boys, it’s on its way. Grab your guns and come on. That wagon don’t wait for nobody!”

The trio scrunched down to hide while the nine men made their way toward a spot near the road. They had no doubt that the gang was a bunch of Wasters who belonged to that group back in Alberkirk. After all, who else had radios?

The gang strung themselves out along the road, and that was when they saw a 10^th man walking toward them and carrying one of the Chinese radios. That was the clincher as far a Jim was concerned, and he directed Jane to ready her shotgun: they were going hunting!

He sent Jane to his right and Ajax to his left with the command to attack. Jim fired his shotgun at the nearest man and disabled him with the first shot. That was enough to make the other men scatter. Apparently, they were somewhat experienced, and knew what to do when they were attacked. Jim fired again, but he missed this time. Shit! Oh, well, you can’t win them all!

Jane fired then, and a man screamed in pain. That was good, but there were still eight more men to deal with. The Wasters were now shooting, and the bullets were coming close. Jim moved to his left and fired another snap shot. This time, he could see that he had hit his target, but not badly enough to put him out of the fight. Dammit, it was taking too long to shift his aim with that heavy shotgun. Okay, he had made a mistake, and he should be using his .45.

Jim switched weapons, and he heard Jane’s shotgun. She probably missed, too. Jim hoped that she would recognize the problem and switch to her pistol. That was when he mentally kicked himself because he finally remembered the combat radios that the two of them had. “Jane, switch to your pistol! This is the wrong fight for the shotgun.”

“Roger.”

At that moment, he heard a scream of pain from his left and figured that Ajax had found a victim. As expected, the scream had ended in a gurgle, so he was sure that Ajax had accounted for a Waster.

Jim now had his pistol out and was looking for a target. There was a rustle among the bushes to his right, and he swung around to that direction. There was a man taking aim at him with a rifle. Jim snapped off a shot with his pistol, and nailed the man in his chest. Jim had always been fast and accurate with his snap shooting, and this was a good time to demonstrate it. The man fell, and Jim ignored him.

Jane was now switched to her 9mm automatic, and she was searching for a target. A flash of movement behind a bush was enough to draw Jane’s attention, and she fired. She also seemed to have a knack for snap shooting, but this was a wound, not a killing shot. However, the hollow-point bullet had made enough of a hole that the man would never use his left shoulder for anything again. He was no longer a threat with the rifle, but he could be a problem if he had a handgun.