Chapter 10 – Back in the Wasteland
Wasteland
Arlington County, VA
Wednesday, April 29, 2076
14:33 EST GMT-5
So, of course. Now that Aurora got a job, and Ranger, well it turned out he'd be working for the sheriff, now I was left to hunt those power crystals. As promised, I got his hoverbike to go scour for the power crystals. No sooner had I left the city and surpassed its shield walls, that I saw marauders and mutants coming my way on their hoverbike. I engaged the weapon system, changing from the machine guns, to homing missiles. As the marauder and mutant vehicles fired at me, I dodged their bullets, and then fired my missiles. And just my luck, some of them carried those power crystals, they found in the sands. As per Jerry, those power crystals were indestructible to conventional weapons.
"Alright, then!" I said in joy. "Now to find some more. I'll take back ten. Who knows what else they power."
Eventually, I continued to scour the desert for power crystals. They were floating in mid-air once they were out of the ground. And I carry many of them in the hoverbike's container. I did grab a good not ten, but twenty. Yeah, until I couldn't anymore. Had it not been for my years of service, and operating combat vehicles, I'd be dead out here, flat dead in the water.
Suddenly I saw it. What the hell? Is that a rhinoceros? Oh yeah, it was. And what's this? A mutant riding the rhino? With a damn double-barreled sawn-off shotgun?
"Oh, this is rich!" I said to myself. "Not you on a rhinoceros, with a damn shotgun."
Ah well, I did what I had to. I switched over to machine guns and got them blazing. I fired every bullet I could at the rhino, and damn. The bullets didn't seem to have much effect on its thick hides. I could see though, that rhino was getting its ass whupped. The bullets were penetrating its hide, and I could see some blood ooze from the holes made. The rhino then stopped in its tracks and fell over, crushing the mutant sitting on it. The bastard on the other hand, was still alive, but trying to escape. I saw it had a crystal in its hand. I got off the hoverbike and walked over to the mutant. I took the crystal from its hand.
"I'm not gonna kill you." I told the mutant. "I just can't help you, and risk you may kill me then."
"You sure about that?" the mutant asked, and I could tell it used to be a she, used to be a woman, before her mutation. "You have my guns now, and I can't hurt you if I wanted to."
"Alright, then." I thought this through. "I can help you, but then I'm driving away. You on the other hand, I'm sure your fellow mutants may feel you betrayed them. I'd hide from them and leave this place."
I then helped her out of her plight. She got out, and back on her feet. She looked at me, looking grateful but didn't utter a word. Then she opened her mouth.
"Thank you for not killing me." She said to me.
"No issues. I gotta go!" told me to her.
"Happy trails!" exclaimed the mutant.
With that, I headed back with what I found. I knew I needed to get this back to the auto shop. It was better than nothing.