ICC- Kilrick Salvage Chapter 2- On the Road to NYC

Status
Not open for further replies.
It took a few minutes to unhitch the cart. And time was everything now.

Static on the radio.

I was in the front seat, Edden next to me and Eric on the .50.

"Rama has a radio." Said Edden.

"Yep. But probably can't communicate because it's either damaged or interference."

I kicked the big rig in gear.

Rohan was up and running for the rig. "Dire." He said.

"Keep them away if they come too close. They are fast and nasty, but you got range. Kill a couple and they will keep their distance."

A nod to Jake. He knew to keep on the turbine. We were still on the clock. Already they had begun to load parts into the Tinker cart.

I took the rig as fast I thought I could down the steep gradient. In front I could see that Reik had his weapon trained on the new comer. The new comer was holding his side, and then I saw him pitch forward and fall to the dirt.

"Edden. I want you to see what you can do for his wounds. No offence but Reik and Eric are stronger. We'll use the back winch to try to pull up what we can with the truck but chances are we'll need to go at it with pick and shovel."
 
Edden gave a hiss of disdain. From merc to nurse maid. "Fine," she sneered, she gave the new player a look of disgust. "But don't expect any massages." She reached in her pouched and pulled out a hemostat and some medicated bandage raps.

She walked over to the wound man and grabbed him roughly by the collar, forcing him into a sitting position. He groaned, but Edden ignored, her mind more on Wolf and Rama and hoped that the guys could pull them out alive.

She began to dress the man's filithy wounds and gave him two shots with some stimpaks. "So," she began, her tone more humane, "what is a big bad boy like you doin' in a maggot infested hell hole like 'dis?"
 
The air was still cloudy with dust when we got the the site of the blast.

"Reik, what the fuck happened?" I said. Eric was removing a pick and shovel.

"Dunno, I heard this guy come up and warned the others. Then I went to give him a pat down and the tunnel went up. I think the explosives got triggered." Said Reik.

"Alright, I want you to pull the truck up and around, get the winch ready to pull up the heavier obstructions." I said. "Edden keep an eye on our stranger and any Maggots. This would be a damn good time to suprise us."

Eric had come up with our shovels and pickaxe. He looked at the stretch of tunnel that had caved in. "Shit. Hope they weren't there."

"They weren't. They're still alive. We got a radio signal coming down." I said.

"Blast them out?" Asked Eric.

"Too dangerous. Too much structural damage to the tunnel as is. I'm already worried that working here might cause more of the tunnel to collapse below us."

"There's a drainage vent about 30 meters up the road, and an air vent further up." Said Reik.

"Good probably less damage to the tunnel further back. We might have a better go at the conduit from there. Let the dust settle here and then we can figure out what we have on this end."

Impatient for the dust to settle I hustled down to the drainage vent. It was too narrow for a man to crawl through, but it could easily be knocked or pulled open. I called through the vent.

"Wolf? Rama? Can you hear me? "

There was an echo but I head no one else.
 
Rama couldn't shout through the barrier of granite, so his reply was another session of quick beeps.

"Well, at least they know we're alive." Rama said, again, his voice had all the comfort of a Doctor giving a patient the bad news of some terminal disease.
 
The dust slowly settled near the manhole, but Eric didn't like what he saw.

"It's all caved in from this side. Looks like the sides of the tunnel came in together. A lot of loose dirt, but it will take time to dig it out." He called out.

I had already begun working on a sewer grate further up.

"Not much time for that. Reik bring the rig around here and let's get the wince up. I think we can pull back the work on this grate."

Reik brought the rig around and began to undo the winch. "The radio beeped a couple of times after you called. There's someone alive down there."

"Let's get this damn thing cleared then. Edden?" I called out.

Edden was helping the stranger to the truck. She had already begun bandaging his wounds.

"He's kind of fucked up. Maggots by the look. Put some ointment on to stop infection but he needs to rest." Said Edden.

"Can you work the winch."

"Yeah." She called out. She helped the newcomer into the truck and then went to the winch, which Reik and I attached to a big slab of concrete.

"Do it."

The winch struggled with it, and I could see the cable pull, but in the end it was the concrete slab that cracked and moved open.

I didn't wait long before hoping down into the conduit. Flashing a light down, I could see that the tunnel had caved in cutting off Rama and Wolf.

Reik helped pull the cable free and fed it down the tunnel. I grabbed it and crawled down to where the tunnel had caved in.

A lot of loose rock. Using the winch to pull the bigger rocks free would help but we'd have to do the job with pick and shovel. Because the fragility of the tunnel, I feared another cave in.

Moments later Reik and Eric were down the tunnel with me, trying to find ways to brace the tunnel and pull out the rocks we could.
 
There was a odd bleeping sound. Edden saw one of the motion sensor's laying ignored near her foot and she could make out the bleeping dots and there seemed to be some sort of activity brewing all around.

"Umm, guys..."

Kilrick and the rest turned around to see what Edden was talking about. "Don't look now, but I think the nest has just gotten active."

The bleeps were getting frantic now, actually forming a vanguard around the group.. from the underground.
 
"Could be that the little fuckers are trying to dig their way to Rama and Wolf, figuring that both are trapped." I said, wiping off the grime and the sweat. THe conduit wasn't offering much room to work.

"We got a case of incidiary grenades in the rig. You could drop a few in the sewer vents if they get too intense." I called back. "But only use a few. We need to make those supplies last."

Eric was trying to prop up a long piece of metal that had come down. We couldn't be too far.

I called out. "Rama, Wolf, if you can hear me. dig this way. Company is coming."

___________

Up on the hill, Jake was concentrating on bringing down the gears within the turbine when Aaron called up to him. "Jake, something not right on the horizon."

down the valley, almost on the horizon, a plume of dust. Like something come this way. Something fast.

Jake fished out a pair of binoculars. It was hard to make it out in the dust, but finally he knew what it was.

APC. With a gun turret. Moving this way.

But whose?

"Lets get going folks, we got company coming. Maybe 30 minutes."

Jasmin and Deeds were now looking through their binoculars as well.

"Damn." Said Jasmin. "We don't have one of those."

The APC was a gator, eight large wheels over a hardened armored body frame, over a plasma engine.

Deeds nodded, agreeing with Jasmin. "That's not Greens. We don't have anything like that anymore. But the Greys have been getting them."

Jake knew what that meant. If it were Greys they were outside their normal territory and coming in this direction. They could only have one target.

Jake put down his goggles. "They're after us."
 
I noticed Jake watching something. I looked there and saw it. I could see the driver's head through the little window, no one else, but I was thinking that there is an organized group of mercs in there. If they were unfriendly, we would be dead. But if they were friendly, we could get out of here faster. 10 minutes more and I could start trying to kill the driver and make them our slaves. Unless they had a sniper. And probably they had bulletproof windows. And we needed firepower from what Edden noticed.

"I'd better get back to watching Dire"
 
Rama and Wolf began to work to dig out. "C'mon, Wolf. Helps on the way." His hands dug between the rock groves and losened some of the slacker remnants of rock and rubble.

Wolf helped, even though the pain was eating into his leg.
 
While digging my blood started to pump faster and faster, I started feeling dizzy and sick, until I finally collapsed on the floor:

“I need… my bag…my head …it’s burning! Poison … and radiation… antidote…in my bag… quickly…”

After that it all went black.
 
Rama scrambled to the darkened floor and began to search through it. It was hard to see since there was little light to work with. Switching the small flash light from his hand to between his teeth, he shun the shaft of light into the bag and searched for the small keg bottle marked 'antidote'.

He came across it finally. It was dark, looked kind of like maple syrup. He grabbed it and removed the capsule cover. and brought it to Wolf's lips. True it wasn't time to play nurse maid, but in all, Rama couldn't leave the man to die.
 
OCC- if you have not posted recently, be warned. This engagement might be the end of your character. Remember the 5 day rule- don't post in 5 days and you can be killed.

ICC-

Jake watched the vehicle. This was bad. The rig was away and vulnerable. Hell the entire crew was vulnerable. They were only half finished with bringing down the wind turbine.

Jake radioed in to Kilrick. "Kilrick, come in. We got trouble."

Reik picked up the radio. "Kilrick is in the conduit trying to dig out Rama and Wolf."

"Tell him that we got company coming and it's really fucking bad."

"Got it." Replied Reik.

Deeds was still watching. "We got reports that the Greys used them against the Yankees up in Maine. Part of their slave hunt."

"Where in the hell did they get them?" Asked Jake.

"Same place where they get their artillery, where they get most of their weapons, I'd bet. IF you haven't noticed, the Greys have been outgunning us for the better part of the last two years." Replied Deeds.

The Greens had been looking like a defeated force. High casualties and lost territory. The war was going against them. Jake privately wondered if this was why they were going to New York.

"What about the APC?" Asked Jake.

The eight wheeled vehicle had disappeared behind a ridgeline, but that gave Jake little hope. It was coming there way.

"Amphibious. They come in different armament. SOme have those turret guns with 40 or 20 mm auto cannons. Most have fixed machineguns in the front and adjacent to the main gun. SOme carry mortars but most will carry a squad of grunts." Said Deeds. "Armor is impervious to most small arms fire, but our. 50 could nail it. We might be able to break it with a couple of armor piercing rockets if we could get close enough, but the machineguns and the autocannons have the range over any rocket launchers. Head to head with the rig, I'd give it to the APC."

The APC came up over a ridge and stopped. The turret moved the gun to point in the direction of the crew, and the turret popped open and a man's head appeared. Out of range to any of the team's rifles. He looked around then climbed out of the top turret.

Two forward hatches popped open at the same time. They were not alone. The back door of the vehicle opened up and a squad, about 8 men in armor, came out and spread out around the vehicle, one, who Jake supposed was the squad leader, giving directions. They seemed relaxed. The squad leader walked to the APC commander and they both started talking and then looking in Jake's direction through their binoculars.

They seemed to be taking a break, observing. THe commander waved a hand. Jake, despite himself, waved back, and whispered harshly to Deeds, "What the fuck are they doing?"

"Watching us. We are out of their range, they are out of our range. But they seem to be waiting until we are through to hit us. Probably can't figure out where the rig is." Said Deeds.

The rig was below them, between the turbine and the APC. "They don't see the rig?"

"Not yet. Probably can't see it past the smoke of the fires on the bridge. But when they do they will probably try to take out the rig just to immobilize us."

"Range?" Asked Jake.

"Favors them. The rig will be within range of that autocannon before our rockets can hit it." Replied Deeds.

Down by the river, Edden and Reik were the only ones near the rig. Kilrick and Eric had both gone to ground.

_________________

The conduit had grown hot and full of dust, clogging our throats making it hard to breath. We'd dig what we could, and then pull out the larger stones using the winch from the rig. Slow work but we were making progress.

"I think this is it." I said. "Just a little more." It was so damn hard to swing the pick in the narrowness of the conduit tunnel.

Eric had nailed a spike into a rock and had slid through the cable when finally, we broke through to air. "That's it. Just pull back the rock and we're through." I said. "Rama? Wolf? You still with us?"

Reik was calling down. "KIlrick, Jake on the radio. Says expect hostiles. And they are better armed then us."

OCC- Ok, I plan to clean house a bit of players that have gone absent. So if you are still here, it's time to post.
 
"Yeah," Rama replied, his voice booming through the rocks. "Send a line down. I am going to send Wolf first. He ain't too good. And I'll come up after."
 
*Maggotville*

"Alright, go on 3. One, two THREE, PULL".

Although difficult, the cramped tunnel with its dust choked air would not hinder the mens resolve to rescue their compatriots.

"So I hear we have company?", asked Eric

"Then we will just have to work that much faster won't we", replied Kilrick.
 
Edden grabbed her shotgun and looked to Reik. "I'm guessin' the APC comin' is friendly."

Reik gave a nod.

"Didn't think so." She picked up the radio and clicked into Kilrick's frequency. "Boss... we have a situation. Some boggies up ahead... and I think they ain't nice. Orders?"

She could feel the low rumbling, and that means the enemy was getting a lot closer to them.
 
It's always like this. Choices.

Leave now and let Rama and Wolf stay behind. They wouldn't stand a chance. Even if we got away, it was doubtful we could get back.

Even if Rama and Wolf stayed through the night and escaped the unfriendlies, well, there was still the maggots.

"Prudence,.we hold. For now. Tell Reik to get behind the wheel. Soon as we have Rama and Wolf we leave. But if you see the Unfriendlies start coming in, then leave. The rig is our only out. Go up and get rest and head out."

Fuck. If the APC came down and hit us, then we'd leave the turbine behind. We'd still have to rehitch the trailer to the rig to get it out, and it was unlikely to happen if that APC could help it.

But right now we had no time left.

"Rama. We got company upstairs and did to hustle. It's that or we get left behind."
 
Rama grabbed the cable and binded it around his waist and gripped, Wolf and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Two tugs on the line.

"C'mon... Let's get moving."

Then a shuffling was heard and roar.

A maggot sprang from one of the holes it was clawing through. Its nose touched the end of the magnum in Wolf's hands.

The next sound was a heavy bang and a thud.

Stryfe was off his feet as he felt his body being lifted. "Thanks." Rama said from over his shoulder.
 
REIK! Get this shit into gear... Boss says we make a break for it soon as we spot the bad guys."

Another beep. A whirl of red dots were buzzing about, probably aware of our new guests. The maggots were stirring. Not good.
 
It was the hideous smell of the maggot that snapped me back to reality. Seeing its eyes gazing at me, I only had time to react.

“Thanks” – said Rama.

We were being lifted from the collapsed tunnel. So we had been rescued!

Looking down I could still see a couple or more maggots looking up, at us. I shot a few more rounds at them, so did Rama, with a desert eagle on his spare hand. After a few shots they were all down and we were on steady ground and breading fresh air.

On the surface were Kilrick and few others.

I looked down my leg, to the wound. It was nasty, but I should’ve been worse, it appeared I was the one that needed to be thankful, not Rama.

“We need to go, now!” – Shouted Kilrick.

What was going on? I could see everyone jumpy and looking into the distance.
I looked and saw an APC heading thins way… this had to be bad news!

I was still somehow dizzy and nauseous from the poison, but still I grabbed the magnum and headed with all the others to the rig…if something was going down, I was still bloody capable of doing my share.
 
I hadn't seen the APC until I came up for air. All I had been told was that we had unfriendlies.

Armored vehicles are a rare find in the wastelands, but a few of the older power cell fueled vehicles still operated. Spengler had found one for the trip to New York. It was possible that a group of adventerous raiders and also gotten one.

If that was the case than they might leave us alone. If not leave us along, perhaps they just wanted to make a deal.

But it wasn't Raiders, it was Greys.

"Edden, get a look at Wolf's leg. How is our newcomer?" I asked.

"He'll live." She replied.

"Rama, get on the .50." I said grabbing the radio. Once in my hand, I called up to Jake, "Jake what's the story with the turbine?"

Jake's response was fast. "Got it partly broken but we need more time. And I don't like bringing it down for the Greys."

I didn't like the Greys being there at all. We had been lucky that the fires on the bridge were masking our presence as long as they had. But our luck was running out.

"How is your position?" I asked.

"Pretty damn exposed, but we got the top of the hill. I they are planning to come up, we got the elevation. Still, not much but small arms to hold them back. Once they are up, they'll wipe us out."

"Alright, I am bringing the rig up. We got the launcher and the rockets from O'Neils." I said.

"What did you see?" I asked.

"Looks like an autocannon and a few MGs on thick armor. A squad of armored grunts to flush us out."

We had barely gotten everyone in when Reik floored the accelerator and we were climbing up the hill.

I was watching the APC. They were moving closer to us but the driver must have figured we would be out of range, so they stopped at an overhead but kept the motor running.

When we got to the top of the hill, I told Reik to let the engine idle.

THey were already unloading the crades to get at the rocket launchers. We had retreaved four launchers, and over a dozen armored piercing. That and some of the energy weapons we had grabbed were are only defenses.

"What's the plan?" Asked Deeds. "If they get serious about coming up the hill, those rockets won't be enough."

"We aren't leaving without that damn turbine. We might not be able to stop them from coming up, but we can make it expensive." I said. "But maybe we can bait them into a trap."

"What do you have in mind?" Asked Jasmin.

"A few of us stay behind to help finish up with the turbine. The rest will go back to town. We need to offer bait and if they think they can take down the truck in town, they might come for it. But that would also bring them within range of our missiles. We can tag them from behind where the armor is weaker."

"They will use their grunts to flush you out, and don't forget about the maggots." Said Stowe who with Dr. Edwards was listening.

"Hopefully they don't know about the maggots, and perhaps that will be a surprise." I said. "Look, this is dicey. A couple of us might not come back. So volunteers?"

OCC- note the five day rule. If you have been absent a lot, this might be your last chance to participate.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top