//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Staking Out The Prize // Story: Sunset Over The Wasteland // by Thunder-Bolt //------------------------------// Chapter 3 The two warboys lead Twilight down the rocky hallway, shouting for her to speed up if her step slowed. Even a little. As the three kept walking, Twilight asked the warboy on her right, what the “safe” was. “Shut it!” was the reply she got.  Twilight kept her mouth shut for the rest of the way to the safe. As the three kept walking, Twilight witnessed something truly horrifying. As she passed by an entrance with no door, she saw something that made her gut churn and do flips. She only caught a glimpse of the sight, but it was enough.  What she saw were several fat-bodied women sitting up in beds with no sheets. The only thing that covered these women, was a pair of panties. Attached to each of their breasts, was a suction cup that was sucking out milk into plastic medical tubes. Similar to the tubes used for blood transfusions, but slightly larger, the tubes deposited the milk into large tanks. The women had masks feeding them oxygen from tanks. They were clearly either asleep, or unconscious. Twilight felt that she about to puke and slowed; not a wise choice. “For the bloody last time! KEEP. MOVING.”The warboy on the left shouted. Twilight quickened her pace. The three of them finally reached the safe. Still shaken up from that last disturbing sight, she barely noticed that the safe was indeed a literal safe. The door had been removed from a bank, long gone now, and was providing the security for whatever was in it. Or maybe she was meant to be the only one in the safe. Then again, other breeders had been mentioned, so maybe Twilight wouldn’t be alone. The warboy on her right approached the safe and turned the wheel that unlocked the giant containers door, while the one the left gripped Twilight’s arm hard. The warboy opening the door held it open. One warboy gave Twilight white cloths that almost looked like bedsheets. “Put these on when you’re inside.” The other shoved Twilight into the safe. Twilight fell, eating dust. She got up quickly and looked behind her, just in time to see the giant door close with a loud Ca-chunk! *** Sigh “Sunset, you’ve really got to stop that sighing.” “Just be quiet, and keep looking.” Sunset Shimmer snapped back, sitting indian-style atop the hood of her modified 1971 Ford Mustang, binoculars to her eyes. “Well I could… if you stopped sighing.” Thunder Bolt said sarcastically, smirking . He brushed a hand through his brown hair. He wore a dusty, brown leather jacket. He also had a torn white T-shirt. Along with jeans and black military boots. He had grey skin and brown eyes. He was about five years older than Sunset. He let out a long breath. “Look who’s sighing now” Sunset joked, smirking. She had on a green camouflage jacket, cap, and pants, along a beige shirt. The jacket had its sleeves cut off long ago, exposing her arms. The pants and jacket had holes in them. Sunset also had brown military boots. “Oh, shut up.” Bolt grunted, placing his eye behind the scope of his Sako 85 hunting rifle, as he lay on the roof of his own 1969 Dodge Charger. The pair looked on, atop a tall, rocky cliff which provided a perch to observe the plateau’s which housed Immortan Sombras citadel. The two had been spying on the place from the cliff for almost a day now. They needed gas, and after the warboys at Gastown had been ordered to shoot Sunset and Bolt on sight, the pair of survivors were forced to resort to pillaging from others. They weren’t proud of the things they had done, just to stay alive. But they knew that, then again, there can’t be a whole lot of people in this wasteland who are proud of what they’ve done to stay alive either. Excluding warboys of course. This was a big leap for them, stealing from a tyrant like Sombra. Sunset and Bolt also understood that it was a stupid leap. But it was one that was necessary for their own survival. They hadn’t come across any other wanderers (the term used for small groups of survivors dwelling within the Wasteland) in two weeks. As such they had agreed the only other option was a hit-and-run heist for several gallons of gas. They still had a good relationship with the Bullet Farm, so they had managed to trade for a fifty-round belt and an M-60. A rogue warboy had said that the gas was stored in a tightly guarded safe near the garage. This made the task a little easier. Sunset Shimmer was to pose as a prisoner. The rogue would pretend to have captured her and then the two would sneak to where the gas was kept. Meanwhile, Thunder Bolt would be taking on the task of distracting all of the palace guards by hit-and-running the outer perimeter of the fortress’s defence. Thunder had been a military pilot before all this, so combat wasn’t a problem for him. The warboys would be distracted, so Sunset and the rogue warboy would have a chance to steal all the gas they could carry, make it to a vehicle, and make their getaway. They would rendezvous with Thunder at Bartertown. Of course, that was all well and good on paper. But to actually perform the robbery was pretty much suicide, the two wanderers knew this. But in this world, it was much better to die of a bullet or explosion trying to steal gas; than run out of it, and be left to the mercy of scavengers, cannibals, and the natural desert itself. They just needed to be patient, and wait for the perfect moment to strike. “I think I’m starting to see a pattern.” Sunset said. “Where?” Thunder asked, getting of the back of his Challenger and walking towards where Sunset was seated. “Right there.” She replied, pointing. Thunder knelt down on the dirt, next to the car, and held out a hand for the binoculars. She passed them down to him, from atop the hood. He looked through the binoculars to where she was pointing. It was the gate through the outer perimeter. At the moment that Bolt looked through the binoculars, a vehicle was let out of the gate. It was a Volkswagen Beetle. He kept looking at the gate as the vehicle drove out of view. “What am I supposed to be looking at?” Bolt hadn’t a clue what Sunset was interested in. “Look, you see the gate?” Sunset centered the binoculars on the gate. “Yeah,” He replied, still holding the binoculars. “And you see the guards hoisting it up now right?” “Yeah, I do.” Bolt wasn’t sure what she was trying to say. “It takes about four guys to lift that thing, the way they do it. So that means, while a lot of the guards will be distracted with closing the gate-” She paused a moment, and saw that Bolt had realized what she was trying to tell him. “-I can take a few pot shots at them, maybe even eliminate a lot of them with the M-60.” He finished, a smirk appearing on his face. “Nice thinking.” “We should radio our contact, now that we have a solid plan.” Sunset got up to get the walkie-talkie, but Bolt stopped her. “Nah, I’ll take care of it.” He headed for the passenger door of her Mustang. Opening the door he found the walkie-talkie on the seat and grabbed it. The seat in Sunset’s car had been modified to fold up for storage purposes, and could be locked in one position if need be.  He sat down and turned on the the walkie-talkie’s power. A small light next to the antennae lit up, indicating it was operational. He turned two dials on the side of the walkie-talkie to the frequency their contact had agreed to communicate. “Rogue One, how do you read? Over.” He spoke into the radio, using their contacts code name. *** Jawsnapper gunned the engine and drove the Beetle out of the garage, with Slash standing on the platform in the rear. They approached the gate, and stopped to allow the guards to open it. Seconds later they were off into the wasteland. “Hey, Slash!” Jaw called over the noise of the engine. “What?” “Do you think we’ll find anyone else out there?” “Of course not! How many patrols have we done together?” Slash was still annoyed from Jaw’s earlier complaining. “Eighty-two!” “ Exactly! Do really think-” Slash paused. “Wait… really?” He had not been expecting an answer. “Yeah!” Jaw answered. “Well, if this was the one patrol on which we found someone, do you really think we’ll find anyone else?” “Well…” Jaw tried to think of a comeback. “It could happen!” Slash grunted in annoyance. Without warning, the radio in his utility belt started crackling. A voice came from it: “Rogue one, how do you read. Over.” He immediately reached down to it and brought it up to his mouth, and pressed the button to speak. Fortunately, the noise of the engine was so loud that Jaw hadn’t heard a thing. “I’m here.” Slash said into the radio. “Where are you?” *** As soon as Slash’s reply came over the air waves, Thunder turned to Sunset. “He wants to know where we are.” “Go ahead and tell him.” she replied. Thunder nodded and turned back to radio, still sitting in the car. “We’re on the cliff to the south of the citadel.” *** Slash got the reply, and turned to Jaw. “We have new orders!” The car nearly drowned out his words. “New orders?” Jaw turned his head, and replied. “What are they?”  “Head for the cliffs to the south, more instructions to follow.” Slash answered. “Alright then!” Jaw turned the vehicle to the left, and drove to the southern cliffs. *** “Are they on their way?” Sunset asked. Thunder climbed out of her car, wiping a few beads of sweat of his forehead. He looked in the general direction of the citadel. “Sounds like it, but we’d better have a firearm on us, in case it’s a trap.” He walked to the driver side of his Charger. He opened the door, and grabbed his Auto Mag. Checking the magazine, he gave a satisfied grunt when he saw that it was full. He grabbed the only other magazine he had and stuffed it in one of his pockets. He put the Auto Mag into his right holster. He reached into the car again and grabbed a M1911, which had a half-full mag and two others that were full. He grabbed the pistol and the other ammunition. He headed back over to Sunset, who was currently taking inventory of the shotgun shells for her Winchester Model 97. “Here.” He offered the M1911. Sunset declined, showing she her M9 Beretta. Thunder nodded and put the pistol into his left holster, stuffing the other two magazines into another one of his pockets. *** Jaw guided the car to the cliffs, heading up the slope that led up to the top of the Earth-made structure. The Beetle had some difficulty climbing up to the top of the cliff. However, soon it was speeding across the hard rock of the cliff. Slash looked into the distance. He could barely make out the outline of two cars. “So, our orders are to keep going?” Jaw inquired. “Yep, keep her a’moving.” Slash answered. Soon,the ride of Slash’s life was about to begin. He could finally be rid of the Immortan’s grasp on his life. Soon, he would be free. *** Sunset had just finished checking the engine on her car, when she heard the faint sound of an engine to her right. She looked over her shoulder to see a Volkswagen Beetle, covered in spikes. She fast-walked to Thunder. “We’ve got company.” He looked up at her, realised what she was saying, and stopped what he had been doing (cleaning his Sako 85). He looked up to see the Beetle fast approaching. Both he and Sunset knew that this was Rogue One. Of course, that didn’t stop them from drawing their pistols. Thunder once again checked the clip in his Auto Mag, Sunset did the same for her M9. *** By this time, Jawsnapper had seen the two cars. His warboy instincts kicked in, and he accelerated to ram the vehicles. He was stopped by Slash. “No! Follow my lead!” Slash made sure Jaw heard that loud and clear. “Stop about twenty feet in front of ‘em.” The younger warboy gave him a confused look, but trusted him. He pulled to a stop in front of the vehicles, about twenty feet away. Two wanderers, a man and a woman, appeared from behind the cars. They remained behind them. *** Thunder and Sunset stayed behind the vehicles, wary of an ambush. Sunset looked to Thunder. “I’ll go ahead and talk to him, alright?” She said. “Alright,” Thunder replied. Sunset walked into full view from behind her Mustang, pistol tight in her grip. She looked between the two warboys, before finally speaking. “Which one of you is Rogue One?” “I am.” Slash replied. Jawsnapper was beyond confused. “What? Slash, what are you doing?” Jaw’s mind was reeling. What in the hell was going on? “Relax, trust me. Just get out of the car.” Slash’s hand went to his holster. “Wha- no, they’ll gun me dow-” The words caught in Jaw’s throat as Slash shoved his Ruger 9 millimeter in his face. “Get. Out.” He said darkly. Jaw complied, shaking. What was Slash thinking? Had he lost his mind? He climbed out of the driver’s seat and into the open desert. Slash continued to point his gun at Jaw’s head. Slash climbed down from the rear of the Beetle. As he did, he spoke loudly to the two wanderers. “You people have a plan for getting in?” Sunset replied. “Yeah, we do, we can discuss that right now.” Jaw turned his head in confuzzlement. “Plan? What’re you talking abou- URGH!!” Slash knocked out Jaw out with the handle of the pistol, before he could say more. His body fell to the sand. “We can discuss the plan after you give me a hand here.” Slash responded. He pulled out a pair of handcuffs, used for prisoners, and attached them to the unconscious Jaw’s hands. Thunder and Sunset eyed each other, and hesitantly walked up to the warboys. They weren’t entirely sure what to make of the situation. Just in case this was a pile of bullcrap, they still had their pistols in hand.