Apocalypse Redemption

Chapter 3: The Bandits Arrive

Slamming the truck into reverse, Alex couldn't help but scream to the back to get ready. He heard everybody stand up in the back and looked over to Kathy who was suddenly wide awake. She reached to underneath her seat and pulled the machine gun out.  She rolled down the window and stuck her gun out.  She began blazing away at the oncoming bandits, successfully striking their suits, and making one of them flinch by grabbing their arm.

"Nice shot."  Alex called.

"Keep focused on the road.  You need to find a way to turn us around!"  She screamed.

Alex concentrated on his rear view mirror and saw a turn behind him.  He swerved the steering wheel, causing the bed of the truck to go sliding into the right side of the intersection, and the front skidding across the center of the intercection. He immediatly shifted the steering wheel, causing the bed to go straight through the intercection, and the bed followed slowly behind. Alex opened the panel that seperated the bed from the front and called back, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Darwin called. "We're fine."

Alex looked back at the road ahead, and heard machine gun shots from behind. He looked in his mirror and saw the two bandits chasing after them closly behind. They both had odd symbols on their arms, and one aimed their hand upwards towards a cliff face near the road. He fired, and a rocket flew onto the target, obliterating the rocks, and sending more hurdling down to the truck. The bed and front were battered by small rocks, and Kathy kept her arms inside while the rocks showered from above.

When they stopped, she resumed opening fire on the group of bandits that trailed behind. Alex looked in the mirror and saw that one was grabbing onto their helmet, and another stopped in their tracks. The one that stopped turned around to look at their fallen comrade.

Alex continued driving, struggling to catch his breath. He made a right hand turn off the road he was on, and followed the sings to the highway to find another gas station.  He looked over at Kathy, who threw the gun to the ground in anger.  "Why can't we catch a goddamn break!  I thought that the apocalypse would bring everyone together, not make them more likely to kill each other!"  She yelled.

"The ELR and the Bandits are terrorist groups.  The laws of war and laws in general do not apply to them by their standards.  Unfortunately, they don't care who they kill or hurt, but they want dominance over the world."  Alex explained in an attempt to calm her down.

She looked back up from the floor and caught her breath.  "I hate people."  She declared.

"I hate people too."  Alex said quietly.

They continued driving until they finally reached a gas station that had nobody surrounding it. Alex saw it as the perfect opportunity.

When they stopped near a truck gas pump, he told Kathy to stand gaurd with the gun, and went to fill up the truck. He headed to the back of the truck to open the container, and opened it to see a bunch of alert passengers.

"Is everything alright?" Brittany asked.

"Yeah. You guys okay?" Angela echoed.

"We're fine. Kathy shot one in the helmet and broke it. The other one stopped to take care of the fallen one." Alex responded. "But for now..." He reached into his pocket and grabbed out a folded map of the area. "I want you guys to check out the map and give me various updates on where to go. I'm doing this because if we run into more Bandits, I'll need to focus on the road."

Darwin quickly grabbed the map and began searching through it.

"I'll keep the hatch open so we can keep good communication going and you can see better." Alex concluded before heading to the gas nozzle.

"Thanks." He heard Darwin call from behind him.

Alex yanked the nozzle out of it's position, set up the fuel, and injected the nozzle into the fuel tank.  While waiting, he looked over at Kathy, who was admiring the rising sun and hills that cast shadows along the valley floor.  She turned around, gave a thumbs up, and turned back.

When the truck's tank was full, Alex threw the nozzle on the ground, and made his way back up to the front of the truck.  He signaled Kathy to get back into the truck, and she followed the command.  They both jumped imto their respective side of the truck, and Alex started the truck.

He opened the sunroof and let the light in.   As he drove towards the highway, he noticed a new shadow emerging from in between the two hills they had gone through.  He quickly made the turn onto the highway, looked back, and the the figure of a bandit not paying attention to the truck driving down the road.

Alex kept his eye on his mirror, and watched as the bandit sprinted over to the gas station, twisted it's arm, and fired a large missle towards it that caused it to explode.  Alex slammed on the gas and kept driving away from the gargantuan explosion while Kathy stared in awe of what used to be a gas station.