A Tale Of The Wastes (Celebstars x DeRe)

[DeRe]

The sun hung high in the egg-blue sky, a burning disc of gold bleaching the yellow desert beneath. Little more than jagged, man-sized rocks and clumps of cacti dotted the hostile landscape. In this particular patch of the waste, two figures broke up the emptiness. One was a man bound naked and spreadeagled on the burning rock, scorched red by the relentless sun. The other stood over him, a hulking bulky figure clad entirely in black leather despite the heat. His face was hidden behind a mask, his piggish bright eyes the only thing visible. When he spoke, his already sepulchral voice was amplified by a crude vocoder, making him sound even more feral.

"Did you think, Svensen, you would get away with this?" the masked figure asked in a cool but cruel growl. "For months now you have been reporting on my activities to the Rangers, broadcasting from your wretched little shack." He gestured to a building a little way off, now totally enveloped in roaring flames. A column of thick black smoke rose high and slow above it, dodged deftly by vultures beginning to circle over the bound body.

"After all I did for you," the masked figure continued. "I brought you supplies and even some nice things I took from the people on the borderlands. And yet, you repay my generosity with betrayal". He sighed, but it sounded more like the guttural hiss of a snake.

Through cracked and bloody lips Svensen rasped out a few words. "I b-beg you...B-Beast, please...please, kill me now...don't leave me like this...I'm begging you..."

The black figure, known throughout the Wastes as Beast, stared down dispassionately at the writhing figure. "It is the most terrible shame you had no womenfolk, Svensen. I would have greatly enjoyed taking them to the men in the hills." The mainstay of Beast's trade was capturing healthy young women and selling them to the feral mutants who scratched out a living in the caves and mountains that overlooked the desert. There, these unfortunate girls would have their eyes and feet removed, enslaved for the rest of their short brutal lives as breeders to the mutants. Unable to sustain themselves from their own poisoned genes, these slaves provided a new generation that they could not. In return, they provided Beast with numerous items and relics from before the Great Collapse, including useful weapons and equipment he now employed on his hunts.

Looking over thoughtfully at the burning remains of Svensen's shack, Beast considered his next moves. The wretched man had revealed - after Beast took most of the skin off his face - that he had tipped the Rangers off to the slaver's movements only yesterday, and they would have someone here in just a few days. Beast reflected carefully that this could work in his favour. He would leave a trail leading into the Broken Hills, an area swarming with a breed of mutants called Ghouls. Rumour had it they ate their victims, and Beast knew this rumour to be true - a careless pack of them had once tried to add him to their menu, but after he had dispatched a dozen or so with his repeater rifle they henceforth avoided him. Nonetheless he knew they would give any potential pursuer a hard time, and allow him to arrange a perfect ambush.

Beast contemplated the idea of taking a Ranger alive. There was no relic or treasure the mutants could give him that would be worth such a trophy. It would send terror among the sheep who cowered in their fortified towns on the edges of the Waste, and boost his prestige immensely. It was dangerous prey, but he was not adverse to such a challenge - in fact, he felt his foot-long cock begin to swell in excitement at the thought. Leaving the agonized Svensen to his futile screams, Beast walked back to his wagon - an armoured steel box (long ago an RV) drawn by four tough, violent mountain ponies he had tamed in the local hills. With a satisfied glance over his afternoon's work, Beast mounted up and rode away, heading into the black rocks of the Broken Hills.

 

[celebstars]

After receiving a message yesterday regarding the whereabouts of what some called 'Beast' the Rangers had to respond. Although they were just a community, their resources and power with in their territory caused others to go to them to seek help. In a way, they were slowly turning in to some kind of police force in this new world.

One person never saw herself as someone willing to help. Her bringing up was awful, born in the pits where slavers forced children to work all day and night without so much a break. Many didn't survive and the ones that did were believed to be true warriors. When she was sixteen, Lauren, or Venus, which was her slave name managed to escape and was found by a ranger who took her in to the community where they all helped her. Given her fighting skills, ten years later she was one of the highest ranking members...but also the most unpredictable.

Harboring a hatred for all types of slavers, when the knowledge reached her about Beast, Lauren looked down at her bare arm. A branding on the inside showed the banner of the pits and she felt this burning desire to kill the man.

That was why as of now, she was making her way to the source of the information. Walking along the sandy surface which was once miles under sea water, Lauren traveled a vast distance on foot, occasionally taking shelter behind large rocks so she was out of the sun. Her companion, a German Shepherd, was shaven so his fur was no more than an inch thick. He would have died otherwise.

Offering the canine some water, it's tongue lapped up the liquid before Lauren finished it herself. The pair slept that night in the same place, sheltered by the overhanging rock.

By next day, the ground covered was nothing short of a miracle. Her fitness was stamina was nothing compared to the determination and motivation to see Beast's head on a spike for all slaver's to see. Entering Svensen's land, she finally saw his shack burned down in nothing but a burnt rubble. A noise from a vulture turned her attention to the left, the lone animal, which was probably the weakest in it's pack was finishing up the remains of a man. Investigating it further, the bird spread it's wings in a threatening stance but as soon as the dog growled it flew off, unappreciative of it's meal being interrupted.

Scouting the area, Lauren looked at the ground and saw tracks. Smiling to herself, she followed them, unaware that Beast had left them deliberately.

 

[DeRe]

The old road wound slow up into the Broken Hills, like a black snake with cracked tar skin climbing through the rocks. It was hardly an ideal surface for moving anything across, but the ponies were surefooted and Beast was extremely familiar with the path. The heavy, solid tires of the coach broke up the already shattered tarmac even further but that would be all the better for leaving a trail. It was hard going for even a fit person on foot, with the jagged piles of rocks that gave the hills their name obstructing almost every step of the way. The few barren spots around were covered with scraggy cacti and joshua trees fighting through the stone like black claws.

A little way into the Hills, Beast passed the Throne. This was a natural rock formation which had taken on the aspect of a massive chair, and a hideous figure had been carved into the seat. It was a site of religious importance to the Ghouls; they venerated it for some forgotten reason. All around there were neatly arranged rows of fingerbones, taken from the severed fingers of their slaves, laid out as some kind of ghastly tribute. Even Beast, for all his profound callousness, could not help feel a shiver at the thought of these fiends.

Some hours further the sun had grudgingly begun to descend, and was retreating behind the spurs of the western side of the Hills. Long black shadows now began to engulf everything. The old road finally disappeared into a box canyon, known as the Hundred Ladies after the innumerable spindly salt columns that filled it. The bizarre white, bulbous spires climbed to nearly thirty feet in some places, and were clustered together like a claustrophobic maze. This was Beast's local hideout when visiting the hills, as there was only one entrance and anyone familiar with the area would immediately get lost in the thirst-inducing salty forest.

He had long ago found a cave inside the canyon, caved out centuries prior for whatever reason. It was a sanctuary from the heat and the salt, with a natural spring burbling from a fissure in the wall. The coach was camouflaged outside, and the ponies comfortably stabled inside, with ample nutritious moss to munch upon. Settling them to feed, Beast then heated up a can of kibble over the fire, and quickly wolfed down the tastesless fibrous meat. Glancing at the sky, he estimated three hours of light left. In two, he would head out and prepare his ambush. As the sun fell the Ghouls would emerge, and then it would be a race between them and him as to who fell upon his pursuer first.

 

[celebstars]

Lauren herself had found the old road by now, hours after leaving the burnt out shack. Her boots laid on the tarmac, creating smaller pieces of rubble and helping to make the road even more inaccessible. Sharp little fragments were nothing to her, but for dog, it was a nightmare, his yelps constantly gave away their position which annoyed her. "Damn dog" she muttered out of frustration, although she loved him so much that she picked him up threw his upper half over her shoulder so he was keeping look out behind her. Dodging between large boulders which had helped nearly destroyed this road Lauren wondered how secure she was standing with the surface soft and forever changing. She half expected herself to fall through in to a sink hole at any point.

Progress was slow, especially when carrying an animal. Stopping in her tracks, something daunting sent a shiver down Lauren's spine. This vast stonework appeared with a huge figure sitting in a chair. She had heard tails of it, but it sounded like a myth. Lowering the dog, she walked forward, the pooch now looking downwards trying to find the best path to take without hurting itself.

Tilting her head back as far as she could, she gazed up at it before coming to a halt. What Lauren had stumbled in to frightened her, and she was never frightened easily. Bones were lined up, neatly stacked in rows over and over again. There must of been hundreds, if not thousands of the small pieces, all pointing to the large stone figure above.

Due to the progress they had made, which was slow, the sun was setting around this tormented place and the woman had no choice but to camp where she was. Looking around, eyes scanned every space large enough for her and her companion. To the left of the large carved out figure was a set of stairs. Climbing them, there must have been at least fifty steep steps and when she reached the top, Lauren was surprised to see a door. Trying to open it, the wooden structure creaked and moaned at the pressure she put it under but it dare not budge. Moving back and lifting a foot up, her body weight kicked the door down off it's hinges and to the floor. Inside there was just pure darkness, she had no idea what was inside or who owned this, but it would serve has a safe haven for the night.

Seeing a lantern, Lauren pulled a match out of her pocket and lit the object, giving the room an orange glow. Writings on the wall said the same thing over and over. "Bless us....Bless us.....Bless.....us" investigating closer, it was all written in blood. What had Lauren walked in to?

 

[DeRe]

In the cool, silent, sightless passages beneath the Hills, the Ghouls waited. They spent the whole scorching day in the dark; not really sleeping, more like a kind of peculiar trance during which they were totally alert. Capable of going days without food or water, they had attained a kind of mutant constitution at a terrible price to their minds and bodies. Although they were technically human, most of their flesh had rotten away and all lacked noses. Infrequent feasts upon unwary strangers were enough to sustain them for months, especially if they preserved the carcass. More often they ate moss and cacti, occasionally catching a few lizards or other scavengers for some lean meat. Yet despite all this, they retained excellent strength and fitness, moving with astounding speed and silence.

They had heard the passing of Beast deep down in the gloom, and knew well enough who had meant. The 'black traveler' had decorated the Bone Garden with more than a few of their own, and that had long since been enough for them to ignore him. The Ghouls may have been ravening feral cannibals, but they knew how to pick their battles. Their strength was in surprise and speed; many of their victims believed they were a myth anyway, finally learning otherwise when it was too late.

But this new series of sounds and smells filtering through to them was truly alien, and exhilarated them with a fixation they had rarely known before. Even the least sensitive of them could still detect a quality breeding female when one approached, and they were all perfectly attuned to the mingling of sweet and spicy sensations that announced the approach of one. As soon as they heard foodsteps echoing down from the Anteroom, they began scuttling pell-mell through the pitch dark, coursing through different passageways and tunnels like feverish ants.

Slowly they began closing in on the source of the intoxicating scents. The tiny orange glow of light was like a beacon to them, and they centered on it with speedy stealth. Lurking in the shadows, they began to surround the source of light in an instinctual pack mentality - then in a hissing mass rushing out to converge on it, ready to attack whatever was there.

 

[celebstars]

Holding the lantern up still, her eyes gazed over the bloody wall with the letters and words repeating. The room was still black in some areas so she investigated further, walking around and allowing the light to open up the darkness. There was a table in the far corner, it looked long enough for a human to sit on and it was covered in dry blood. Tools such as saws and hammers laid rest on it, making Lauren feel uneasy about her decision to rest here.

Suddenly, dog's ears perked up, standing tall above his head. His growl was enough to signal to her that there was someone out there, or something. "We are going" she said, throwing the lantern against the wall, the glass broke and a small fire landed on the floor. Heading outside, Lauren herself could hear something, she wasn't quite sure what it was but she didn't want to find out. Running down the stairs carved in to the rock, the woman saw a herd of ghouls coming from the left forcing her right in to the open sandy desert.

Dog was barking uncontrollably as his four paws sunk in to the white sand making his way from the howling hungry cannibals behind. Lauren couldn't believe her luck as she was running, constantly looking over her shoulder so see they were gaining on her. There was no use wasting energy trying to evade them, she knew they would catch up.

Pulling her sniper rifle she aimed it through the scope at the crowd and fired quickly, the bullet spinning through the air and hitting a dozen ghouls in the head one after the other. Around five of them fell to the ground, lifeless. The whole herd had stopped and looked down at their brothers. Lauren was confused at this point, why did they all stop? Lowering her weapon, one of the ghouls which carried a chain and ball looked at her with anger seething from his face. "GET HER!!!!" Howls were deeper and more violent now, their speed was unquestionable, Lauren had a fight on her hands.

 

[DeRe]

The Ghouls were utterly unused to resistance from their prey. Normally their trademark weapons of terror and surprise would carry them to victory before their victim even knew what hit them. But this one fought back, and that was a response which genuinely shocked them. The noise and flash of the weapon was bad enough - such a thing had never been seen or heard in their caves before - but the first few shots took down the most senior and motivated of their vile band. The ragged wretches who remained were completely unprepared to be on their own, and stared in a stupifed bewilderment at their slaughtered comrades.

Then rage - an emotion they had also forgotten - filled their rotting bleached frames. Hissing and roaring like a feral pack of rats, they raced towards to the warmblood and her beast, determined to butcher this intruder and decorate the Garden with every last part of her. They knew no pain or tiredness, their bodies long since inured to all suffering and their minds bent purely on death. Speed and numbers were their advantage now, and they raced out into the cool desert night like a nightmarish undead wave, seeking to swarm their prey.

Beast was idly flicking through an old, crumbling magazine of lewd images he had once found in a wreck, when the sharp clap of gunshots rang out. He recognized the weapon right away - it was the distinctive, clean sound of a Ranger's rifle, modern and precise. Apparently, one of these self-righteous flies had wandered right into his web, just as he had anticipated. Now they had clumsily tripped over the Ghoul's nest and the lower Hills would be swarming with the wretched cannibals.

Snatching up his weapons and ready bag, Beast moved with the speed and grace of a mountain goat as he raced towards the sound of shooting. He knew the side paths and hidden pockets like no-one else, and had the distinct advantage of being able to pick his ground. Adrenalin pumped through his sinewy limbs and the taste of blood was on his tongue. Tonight, he thought with steady determination, I will make a Ranger my own.

 

[celebstars]

More shots were fired and once again, because their bodies were skinny, bones weak, the bullets killed more than one, ripping through the pack and leaving a few dead on the floor. Every time the ranger took her stance to shoot however they were nearing her, catching up until one grabbed her arm. Using the other to punch him, she dislocated his shoulder. As more caught up, it was all about hand to hand combat now for the woman. Her experience in the pits would help her with this.

Dog would go around biting their ankles, running between their legs and using the cover of others to escape before launching another attack. This was no cowardly dog, but a partner who she would rely on. Probably more so than any other human. An axe came flying at her face, but her balance was great, managing to swerve underneath it before lifting the ghoul up by it's throat and slamming it down on top of another. The pair falling in to the sand which seemed to be sinking before them. "What?" The grains of white sand were collapsing, a hole appearing and Lauren had to get out of there quickly. Gravity was now against her, forcing her downwards with the rest of the ghouls but she managed to jump at the last minute to safety. Laying on the firm sand, she caught her breath before standing up and looking behind her.

All the ghouls were in a container, to deep to climb out. "She put us in our own trap!! They screamed, over and over again before talking among themselves. Dog was barking, his teeth full of blood as well as the fur around his mouth. It was a lucky escape, very lucky, she had no idea there was something underneath the sand.

 

[DeRe]

It had been a very long time since any of the Ghouls had properly hunted. Out of practice, unled, and overeager, they were easy prey for the ruthless Ranger and her honed instincts. The dog unsettled and distracted them; easily vulnerable to its harassing attacks they were unable to bring their weight of numbers to bear. Hand-to-hand combat was no strength of theirs, and the Ghoul's clumsy efforts to overpower their foe were easily defeated piecemeal. They knew their last - their only - chance was herding her back into one of their pit-traps, where she would be totally helpless.

Moving with something like a coordinated force, they almost managed to push the unwary Ranger back into the yawning black hole that opened in the sand. But instead their clumsiness saw them all topple in themselves, like a herd of aimless sheep heedlessly wandering over a cliff. Blinded by the dust and their oblivious rage they were now trapped up to their waists in the pit's soft sand, stranded until they could clamber out or dig through the pile of smooth, fast-pouring grains. Either way they would not be free for a long time, and definitely would not last long under the wilting heat of the daylight.

From his vantage point on a nearly broken cliff face, Beast watched all this through an infrared scope. He allowed himself some wry amusement at the Ranger's antics; her survival owed more to luck than cunning, and she already seemed hopelessly outclassed by the perils of the Wastes. She had the look of easy prey, he thought to himself leisurely. Tomorrow he would run her ragged through the Hills, pushing her to collapse in a futile attempt to catch him. Then he would confront her in person and the fun would begin. But first, he intended to wait until she camped, and make a raid on her gear while she slept. The dog presented something of a threat, but it could also be exploited as a liability, he thought. Sentiment killed out here, and something about this feisty girl suggested that element of weakness. Certainly his appetite had been whetted by her attractiveness and spectacular physique, and he longed to get a closer look at her.

 

[celebstars]

Walking away, Lauren continuously looked behind her, no matter how far she got. No matter the distance traveled she still kept that eye over her shoulder in case the ghouls had got out of their own trap. Carrying a rucksack on one shoulder with her hand on the strap, the ranger used the other to keep a finger on the trigger of her rifle. Lauren always thought herself tough and she was. But running after 'Beast' with no preparation or help may have caused her own downfall. How she wished she did things differently.

The open space of the desert didn't hide her well. Lauren was easy pickings if she stayed in this environment. She needed shelter and fast. A ship was not to far out west, it was brown with rust from years of service at the bottom of the ocean. A large hole in the side was probably the cause of it's sinking, hitting a rock as it sailed through the seas. Lauren often wondered what these vast oceans were like.

There were probably snakes and other creatures inside the structure so Lauren entered carefully. Using a flashlight as it was now evening the woman checked every corner and found it to be surprisingly empty. Maybe even animals knew now to camp anywhere near ghouls. Without a choice, Lauren had to rest, she had been travelling a long time trying to track down the slave trader and deserved a rest.

Undressing herself so she was now in a tank top, her jacket acted as a pillow. The dog came over and curled itself up next to her but kept it's head up, always on the lookout for trouble that may come there way.

 

[DeRe]

Beast moved with every caution, afraid to even let a small stone slip as he approached the Ranger. He knew to be wary of the dog; the creatures were used by both homesteaders and the Rangers to pursue men like him. Despite every effort to camouflage himself, Beast could not mask this particularly strong scent, all the more so in the alien environment of the hills. He had to make every effort to ensure to hound did not detect his odour.

He moved forward with the supple, muscular grace of a lion, edging over the rocks at barely an inch per minute. Small black spiders scuttled to and fro before him across the still warm stone, oblivious to the mass tearing through their busy column. Beast could smell the night air cooling rapidly, the bite of the post-midnight chill beginning to descend. Far off, across the immensity of the wastes, some kind of animal emitted a bloodcurling howl. All the while the moon looked down impassively, uncaring of the drama unfolding below.

As he reached the cave mouth, Beast drew his long baton from his belt. One end was sharpened to a vicious point, while a tonfa-like grip at the other end allowed him to use the bar to block or deliver bone-breaking blows. Crouching in a combat stance, he entered the cave, the vast blackness swallowing the whole of his infrared view for a few moments. But then he saw the shapes in the dark, flickering through the green digital haze. Raising the baton back high and slowly, he released an ear-splitting roar that echoed through the cave and brought the black steel rod down hard on the shapes below him.

 

[celebstars]

"Grrr......" Dog's ears pointed up, upper lips tensing and lifting, showing it's white teeth which looked sharp and a danger to anyone bitten by them. She hadn't slept long when the noise from her companion stirred her. "What is it" she said, watching the animal move up on to all four paws and show it's teeth towards the entrance of the rusty old ship.

Lauren didn't know what it was out there, but she had to find out so she stood up and started to leave a trap. Leaving all of her belongings where she was sleeping, she looked through the items inside and found some old sheets. They were hard and crusty, filled with the salt from the oceans that used to swallow it but dragging them across, she molded it in to a sleeping shape before putting her jacket over the top. In the darkness it would have been easy to confuse it for something real.

Hiding behind a corner in the shadows, she couldn't believe it when she saw who the man was. Hearing his loud roar as he pierced the sheets with his weapon, Lauren had a nervous feeling about her, all the torment she suffered when she was younger because of the slave traders came flooding back to her. But she had to stay strong, it would seriously harm the trade if she could put Beast's head on a spike.

Echoing his roar, she screamed as she came out, giving him no time to react as she jumped up, rested her hands on a bar above and swung her feet forward, landing on the man's chest and making him fly backwards and land on a wooden chest, smashing it to broken pieces. She had to quickly get to her rifle, so she turned her back and ran for it.

 

[DeRe]

The shock of the blow to Beast's chest was greater than the actual pain. He could not remember the last time he had been hit like that, and was caught totally flat-footed. Despite being considerably bigger than his target she nonetheless shunted him across the empty sand-strewn space. As he crashed into the box he emitted a loud grunt, as much of annoyance as of discomfort. The rod fell from his grip as he staggered about, steadying the infrared goggles as the view phased in and out.

The looming bulk of the dog came bounding at him, and he deflected it with a well-aimed kick. It made a loud whelp as it was hurled across the room, tumbling through the dark. Beast fumbled at his belt for his hatchet, a jagged cleaver he kept strapped to this lower back. Pulling the vicious weapon free he began to swung it in front of him as he advanced, searching for the woman's outline in his green glowing goggles. He saw her moving towards the back, and released a bellow of rage that echoed through the small steel space.

Beast released he had to make a choice; go for the dog or for her. If he got one then the other would probably take him down immediately afterwards. But he possessed sheer animal cunning, hardened through a life in the merciless Wastes, and wasn't about to accept such an inadequate solution. Instead he threw the hatchet towards the Ranger, aiming low to try and get her in the legs. He then swiftly turned his attention to the dog, leaping on the animal and grappling it to him. Spinning around to face the woman, he used the kicking canine as a shield while struggling to he an arm around its trunk-like neck in order to break it.

 

[celebstars]

Dog was in trouble, his whelp pulled at the heart strings of the woman who wanted to try and help him. But out of the darkness came a blow to her right thigh, a blade pierced her flesh and went deep to the bone but stopped short of breaking it. "Agggghhhh!" Lauren screamed, resting a hand down on the hatchet, trying to see the damage done. She wasn't sure if she should pull it out or not but the squabble between the animal and man made her forget about it and bring her attention back to the fight.

Picking up her rifle, she used the scope and changed the sights so she could see in the poor visibility. "Stop! Or I blow your fucking head off!" The little cross-hair was directed between his eyes. "Let the dog go, or I will end your life right here." But it was now hard to get a shot away as he used the canine as a shield and her leg was starting to feel the aftermath of the blow. Lauren was no longer able to put pressure on her right leg so she had to lean against a wall to get some type of standing.

"Even if you kill the dog your dead, I'll get my shot off." Wincing in pain herself she sounded less that convincing.

"I've waited so long for a chance at you. As soon as I knew you were in the area I had to come looking for you. Now it is time to make you pay!"

Using her cunning, she lowered her weapon down to his boots and fired a bullet in to his toes. The canine dropped, staggering over to Lauren. "You piece of worthless shit!" She said, anger now clouding her judgement as she got closer to the man, believing she had won.