Staying in a triangle formation to keep from splashing one another with their wakes, the three men urged the motorcycles on ever faster, staying low behind the cracked windshields.
In their wake, stickies rushed to the empty windows attracted by the noise, then hooted loudly as the acid rain washed over their naked forms. The flesh bubbled, falling away in gooey strings, with their thin blood pouring out until the beating internal organs simply fell onto the dirty floors.
High above the sagging metropolis, lightning flashed and the thunder rumbled but the rain was coming with less force, the brunt of the terrible storm already over. Soon, the peace of the desert would return and what scant cover the hellish tempest offered the desperate people would be gone completely.
“MOVE OUT!” Kate ordered, and War Wag One lurched into motion.
Driving at top speed, the massive rig churned through the stormy desert, staying a good distance from the edge of the cliff, navigating purely by the fire lit skyscrapers within the sunken city.
“Where the hell is Anders?” Blackjack asked, returning from the main corridor. “The bastard said he would watch my blaster while I took a whiz.”
“But he left right after you,” Jessica started, then her face sagged as she realized the truth. “Oh, no.”
“So the coward finally ran,” Kate said, uncaring of any hurt feelings the truth might incur. “Good riddance, waste of fuel hauling his useless ass along.”
“Damn right,” Jake said, reaching out to pat the other tech on the shoulder. “Stay razor, pretty lady, we got a job to do.”
Jessica slumped at the pronouncement and returned to her work in sad silence.
However, nobody else was really surprised, and had been expecting it for a long time. If Kate could, she would find the bastard and hang him from a tree, but they had a fight to finish first. Hopefully, the rain would chill the dirty bastard and save her the trouble of tracking him down.
“Missiles are primed and ready, Chief,” Jake reported briskly, his hands moving across the controls. “Four in the pod and that’s everything. The rest were with Susie in the cargo van.”
Kate merely grunted at that.
“The L-gun is fully charged,” Eric announced over the speakers, “but we only have one full shot, mebbe two short ones, so make it count, Chief.”
“That was the plan,” the Trader muttered, listening to the gentle rhythm of the softening rain. The woman had gone into battle with less and emerged alive. Hopefully, she could manage to pull that off one more time.
GNAWING ON A RATION BAR from an MRE pack, Kathleen jerked up her head to listen as a strident crashing shook the behemoth and banks of lights flickered in rippling rainbows.
“Son of a bitch,” Gaza said, leaning into the monitor. That last shot had really done the trick. A good hundred yards of cliff had broken free to fall into the city, crushing several one story buildings. Loose rubble spread across the widening gap of destruction, forming a gentle ramp to the rougher sections of the ragged cliff. By the nuke, this was going to work!
Just then, a whole section of the board lit up and a soft beeping sounded a warning as the turret traversed a sharp arc, the cannon stopped humming as the side mounted rapidfires cut loose. A split second later, the tank rocked as something slammed on the roof with triphammer force, silencing the twin .50-cal machine guns.
“Report!” Gaza barked, starting to rise from his chair, then stopping, unable to decide what to do or where to go.
“Source unknown, possible rock splinter recent collapse,” the tank reported with machine calm. “Zero penetration to primary hull, but both antipersonnel machine guns have been disabled. The service droids have not responded and may also be damaged. Should I call for assistance?”
Snapping fingers for his attention, Kathleen touched her throat and shook her head hard. Gaza nodded in understanding.
“There is to be no communication to anybody except me,” the baron commanded, feeling a touch of fear in his belly. “Total silence. Got that?”
The damn thing was old, but smarter than most humans. He didn’t want it trying to talk to anybody else, mebbe learn the truth that the war was over for a hundred fragging years and this was a private fight.