Steele's Journey

(Continued from The Terror's Massacre)

Steele leaned back against the cabin wall of the scrap helicopter. He and his men - the ones that survived, at least - had just been the target of a horrific attack by the ferocious monsters of the Wastelands. He had never seen such an organized, deliberate attack before, and he was lucky to have survived...even though the entire camp, the only place that he and his group had been able to call home, was literally up in flames. Everything he had owned, everything he had worked for, and the only refuge for him had been destroyed, and most of his men were dead.

He sighed and glanced around - there were about a dozen men huddled inside the cabin of the helicopter. Even though it was large and designed to transport personnel, it was still crowded and uncomfortable. Many of the raiders were wounded, and had nothing more than what equipment they had on their backs when they left the camp. There were some seats lined up against the cabin walls, but not enough to accomodate everyone. Some men, especially those who were wounded, were forced to lay on the floor of the chopper. Steele cleared his throat and addressed his raiders.

"Well...fuck. Not much to say, is there? We did what we could, and we'll just have to restart someplace a little less likely to get overrun by a bunch of fuckers out of a goddamn horror flick. Anyone got any ideas about what the hell we do next?"

One of the younger survivors no more then 18 spoke up shaken "Those....those thing...they...they actually fought, they were..organized...HOW!? how is that even possible their just...just animals right? and that one on the mesa! WHAT THE FUCK was that? It could talk...."

Steele nodded, perfectly understanding of the young man's attitude. He walked over to him and clapped him on the shoulder reassuringly.

"Well, son...I don't have a fucking clue. Of course they're just animals. They're...monsters. I never saw nothin' like that before, but...well, you all saw it. Whatever the hell they were, they were there for a reason. And I don't think we're ever gonna find that out, because I'm sure as hell not going back just to be demon-chow in some god-forsaken desert. So it doesn't matter. Let's worry about what we're gonna do, not what just happened."

The scared 18 year old boy would nod understanding "Alright,,,th-thank you sir." One of the other mean spoke up less shaken "What about Aratta? Its close and its raider controlled. We go there we can stock up and see if any of the raiders there want to join our group...its abit close to those Sa'kage pricks but i think its our best choice."

Steele took a few moments to consider it.

"That's what I was thinking. Arata's not bad...I've spent some time there. Bunch of nasty raider clans hanging around, and the Sa'Kage can be real assholes. But there's nothing left for us in the Wastelands, and we need supplies, at least. It's the closest city that we have any chance in."

He stepped up towards the front of the cabin and knocked on the door of cockpit to get the pilot's attention.

"Pilot, take us due southwest down the coastline. We'll head for Arata."

The pilot would nod "Alright, Steele." He would radio to aratta telling them they were coming with survivors from a strange creature attack. Aratta radioed back saying alright. One of the other raiders would speak up he was older and would probably be one of the first people to join up with steele "So Steele , what are we goin to do now? Stay in aratta? Find supplies new raiders and head out to start over somewhere else?"

"Hard to say. We'll go, and see if we can get some things taken care of. Other than that...I can't say what else will happen. We might stay for awhile, and then move on and find somewhere else to stay...somewhere to start over. I know we need supplies, and we'll pick up some new raiders, maybe. We'll just have to see."

The man would nod and not much talking except whispers of the strange creature with the power of the others, speaking broken english. What is it? What did it used to be? The pilot would notify steele when they were coming up on Aratta

It would take several hours for them to even come within sight of Arata. It was one of the few remaining cities on the outskirts of the Wastelands, partially bordered by the Rikujou Mountain Range which was visible in the distance. It would start to get dark outside soon, and they had little daylight to lose.

"There it is. We'll land outside the city a decent distance...hard to tell what we'll run into in the city itself, so be careful. Anything goes wrong, and I want everyone ready to take off again on my orders. Let's see...you, you, you, and you," Steele paused to point to a few of his more experienced and seasoned raiders, "Come with me. The rest of you, you'll wait for us in the choppers until we decide if it's safe for everyone else. Pilot, you ready to bring this bird down?"

The raiders would all nod and the pilot would say back "Ready Steele" They would begin their decent to hopefully a new home...atleast for a while.

As soon as the helicopter landed, Steele had his few men ready. He made sure that they were all ready and equipped with some of the nicer weapons, but nothing too fancy - he didn't want to attract any undue attention from the other raiders.

"Well, men. Let's go."

He disembarked from the chopper, leading the others, and stepped out to see what kind of activity there was in the city.

The other raiders in the city would would know who steel was and people who either look at him full of envy, admiration, or hate. Steele would pass by an older man who would ahve heard about the encounter with the desert terror he would say to him though he looked blind "Steele.....come here....i know..what u saw."

Steele kept his grip on a holstered handgun at his side, next to his spiked metal war club. He had an assault rifle strapped onto his back, and a sawed-off combat shotgun tucked into his armored combat harness - all clearly visible.

"Do I know you? How do you know...what I saw?"

He examined the man very carefully, watching every other raider around him like a hawk for even the slightest movement that might be a threat.

He would cough showing he was unwell and he would shake his head "No...you dont know me." He would smile a bit and chuckle into a cough. "I heard what happened from some of the other raiders....i can tell u what it was. Ive seen one before."

Steele nodded.

"Well...any information you have might help us. I know that nobody else has got a clue what the hell it is."

He gestured for his men to wait, and he stood and listened to hear what the old man had to tell him.

He would nod "It was a terror. A being of the wastes, pure evil, just wanting to kill everything and burn everything. They can control the other beasts but how no one knows.... The one you had tussle with, it spoke i heard?"

"Yeah. Huh...a terror. Sounds appropriate. And where did you see one?" Steele was interested, but he tried not to let it show.

He would nod 'I saw one in the wastes, near a mesa. Pretty early on. I think it was where u and your boys set up shop." He would sigh " We might be talking about the same one. Did he have a horn missing?"

Steele glanced at the old man. "He did. I think we're talking about the same motherfucker here. Why don't you tell me about your story? The enemy of that ugly son of a bitch is my friend." He nodded politely at the man and leaned against a wall near him so he could listen - and, of course, watch the other raiders nearby.

He smiled and went into his shirt and pulled out a necklace that had the horn of the terror attached to it, he smiled and looked at steel though he was blind " I was wandering the wasteland and one night i took refuge under the mesa and the terror.....well he didnt like it that much. He came down and tried to kill me but before he could i blew one of his horns off. He apparently also didnt like that and ran. So i got a trophy, sadly a wound i recieved got infected and i lost my eye sight. Last thing i saw was this horn."

Steele nodded, examining the horn, and decided that it seemed like the old man was telling him the truth.

"Well, damn. That's impressive. I like that story. Tell you what...if you can help me and my boys out since we're lookin' to start back up again after what that 'terror' did, you've got my word that I'll make it worth your while. What do you say?"

He extended his hand to offer the man a handshake.

The man would shake steele's hand and stand up, no steele might see the older shotgun slung a the old man's side and the old US marines insignia tatooed on his arm.

Steele shook the man's hand firmly and smiled at him a bit.

"Devil-dog, huh? Nice to meet you. The name's Steele. Welcome aboard."

The man smiled " Sergeant Johnson's the name, my friends all called me Sarge" He would chuckle a bit "Oo-rah."

"Oorah," Steele grinned back at the man. "Sarge it is then. Well, Sarge, you know of any place around here where we could stay for a bit? We're looking to restock, recruit, get our shit in order, and then be on our way."