DeadManTyping
Really Really Experienced
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2016
- Posts
- 401
"Hunter, Huntress, Hunted"
(Closed to AngelEyes1994)
(Closed to AngelEyes1994)
He'd once been known as Robert Evans. These days, those who knew him called him Hunter. Of course, most of the people who had known him by that name were now dead.
He was a bounty hunter. Some considered him an assassin. Others thought of him as an avenging angel. Hunter didn't care which description was used of him. He only cared that he got compensated for what he did.
What he was doing these days was hunting down a pack of raping, pillaging, murderers. He'd tracked them east from Southern California to the Las Vegas Metro Area on Highway 160. Vegas and its suburbs had once been home to over 2 million people and 125,000 registered businesses. It was no longer.
Hunter guided his old, worn, and weary Harley-Davidson through the Blue Diamond gap of the Desert Hills. As he caught his first glimpses of the distant metropolis, he slowed to a stop. The once glorious gambling capital of the Western United States was no more. Even from this distance, perhaps 8 to 10 miles from the Strip, the death of the city was evident.
The downfall of Las Vegas had begun with Covid-19. The downfall of many cities, states, and countries had been the Coronavirus. Its persistence in mutating and skirting around one vaccine after another had ultimately led to more than 300 million deaths worldwide.
Then, in August 2032, the Big Desert Quakes struck. They'd laid waste to half the structures in Las Vegas -- residential, commercial, industrial. A natural gas fed conflagration in 104 degree temperatures after 8 years of drought burned 70% of the city to the ground.
Hoover Dam had cracked during the 6.2 magnitude jolt. It crumbled three days later during the 8.4 magnitude monster. The source of 90% of Las Vegas's water was gone. Most of the wells providing the rest of the vital liquid were inoperable because of the collapse of the electrical grid.
The quakes had also taken down the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. The bridge, opened in 2010 to replace the road over the top of Hoover Dam, was the only crossing over the Colorado from the Davis Dam outside Laughlin in the south to the Riverside Road Bridge in the north. With a handful of powerful shakes, Mother Nature had ceased east-west foot and vehicle travel for over 170 miles.
Hunter pulled out a powerful pair of field glasses and began a minutes-long scan of the terrain from north to south and back again. He's seen devastation before, but the change to this area was simply incredible. What hadn't been destroyed by the series of drought fed fires and the Big Desert Quakes had subsequently been destroyed by man.
With no electricity and little petroleum, wood from homes and businesses provided the fuel needed by what remained of the population. Thousands of blocks of residential neighborhoods were now little more than concrete foundations and empty roads. Hunter could see right through the skeletal structures of two of the tall casino hotels that hadn't fully collapsed. Their windows were gone. Their interiors were partially gutted. The rising sun shone right through their hearts.
Hunter would have been saddened about all of this except for one fact: he didn't give a rat's ass. Not about the city nor about the people who'd once thrived here. He had a job to do, a bounty for which he'd already been partially paid. He had men to find. He had heads to severe and return in order to collect the rest of his payment.
Hunter stored away his field glasses, kicked the bike into gear again, and headed down 160 for civilization. He rode unhurriedly, looking for traps and ambushes. His Harley was the post apocalyptic equivalent to a Bugatti Divo. A smaller, more fuel efficient motorcycle might have been more advisable, of course. But the sheer meanness that came with riding into potentially hostile territory on a rumbling HOG more than made up for the negatives of the bike.
He passed entirely through the devastated remains of Enterprise without seeing another human being. The suburb of Vegas had once had a population of over 100,000. Things began to change once he turned north on I-15 toward the Strip. Passing by the long abandoned McCarran airport, he began to see armed men atop overpasses and along sound barrier walls.
They watched him closely, sometimes through rifle scopes. Anyone of them could have taken a shot at him. That is, if they had any ammunition for their weapons. Post apocalyptic movies during the decades flanking the start of the new millennium had often depicted a world in which firearm ammunition was as easy to find as desperate people. It wasn't true. Rifle and pistol ammo was as valuable as gold, maybe more so since the former made taking the latter from someone who didn't want to give it up easier.
In fact, Hunter's up front payment for this bounty had mostly been ammunition. He'd received 20 rounds for his Winchester Model 70 .30-06 rifle. Another 35 rounds gave continued life to his Beretta Model 92FS 9mm. His employers had spared 12 shells for his Mad Max style double barreled, sawed off 12 gauge shotgun, too. The one cartridge they hadn't had available was .45 Colt rounds for the Colt Single Action Army revolver he carried on his hip. The weapon had been known as the Peacemaker since its release in 1873. Despite the more effective weapons in his arsenal, this one was Hunter's favorite.
Hunter reached the Tropicana Avenue overpass before he found himself again slowing his bike to a stop. Overturned freight trailers blocked the freeway. A half dozen men armed with all forms of weapons guarded the entry.
Hunter remained on his idling, upright standing bike as two men approached. One had a shotgun trained on the bike rider. The other carried an AR-15 style assault rifle. Hunter's hand was placed to make a quick draw possible if necessary. They challenged him as expected; they asked who he was, from where he was coming, what was he doing here, etc.
The bounty hunter was well informed about who ran what in this post apocalyptic world. He responded, "I'm here to speak with Carter Wills. I have a message for him."
Hunter could tell by their reaction that he'd mentioned the right name. They requested he dismount the bike. "No. I'll stay on my bike. And you'll take me to Carter Wills."
The two didn't seem to know how to respond. They didn't know Hunter. They didn't know his business with their boss. They chose the safer route. One of them pointed toward a truck trailer blockade, saying, "Weave through there. Stay with your escort, or we'll be taking your corpse to see Mister Wills."
Hunter did as directed. A pickup truck led him up the freeway toward the strip. A second followed. Each had two armed men in them. Every quarter mile or so, they came upon another blockade. Each was more intricate and more heavily guarded.
He hadn't known exactly where they might take him. Honestly, he'd been expecting the destination to be one of the larger hotel-casinos. Ironically, the escort vehicles delivered Hunter to the front of the Senator Theatre. It was a mid-20th century, single screen movie house that had barely sat 500 patrons during its heyday.
The Senator had been built long before the late 20th century earthquake construction and renovation laws. And yet, the theatre had survived the 2032 devastation with just a few broken windows and some crumbling of the façade. It had subsequently survived the fires and random vandalism, too. An up and coming militia born of a Las Vegas gang, which now called themselves the Gamble, eventually adopted the Senator as their base of operations. And, eventually, Carter Wills came to be their leader.
The Senator had a defendable location, which was grand. But it's most valuable asset was its well. The establishment had been built so early in the 20th century that it had actually operated for a decade on a well just behind it in an outbuilding that still stood today. After the Collapse, the Gamble got the well to working again. There had barely been enough of the old aquifer to supply it, but ironically the lack of population and their consumption had brought the water source back to life again.
This well of fresh, clean water was, in fact, the source of Carter Wills' wealth and power. The man could hire every thug with a gun or baseball bat for a hundred miles. But without the water, he was nothing.
His escorts tried to strip Hunter of all his weapons as he'd expected. He'd only given them a glare, though, telling them, "Take me to your boss. If he wants my guns, he can shoot me dead and take them himself."
They sent word to Carter before they ever took Hunter inside the theatre, though. Better safe than sorry. Eventually, they took him inside. Hunter took notice of an array of men and women of all ages and appearances. There were more militia men with firearms, bows, crossbows, and a variety of blunt and edged weapons. There were women who were obviously whores; some were actually engaged in their trade as Hunter passed by.
Inside the main theatre hall, most of the 500 or so seats had been removed. The big room was now more or less a tavern. There was a long bar behind which were hundreds of bottles that looked as though they contained only a handful of different alcoholic beverages. An open kitchen occupied one corner. Gambling tables filled yet another.
A sign reading General Store hung on one wall. Behind a chain link fence barrier meant to keep out shoplifters were a shelf units filled with a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Hunter took note of things he hadn't seen in years out in the world.
He also took note of the woman beyond the fence. She looked to possibly still be in her late teens, and she was the most incredible creature Hunter had seen in years. One of his escorts noticed that Hunter's eyes had been drawn to the young beauty. He stepped up into the bounty hunter's personal space.
"If you look at her that way again, I'll dig your eyes out with a spoon," the man growled menacingly at Hunter. "If you ever put your hands on her, I'll cut off your balls and replace your eyes with them. Understand?"
Hunter's lips widened in an amused smile. Without looking to the woman, he asked her, "Is this your man, Miss."
"I am," the guy answered.
The woman quickly countered him, though. The escort continued, "She's been promised to me by Mister Wills, and she knows that."
The woman again spoke her piece, which only resulted in the man chastising her, then adding, "You're of age now, Angel! Three days! Your pussy's been waiting for me for three days, and it ain't gonna have to wait anymore now that I'm back from 'Zona."
The man looked back to Hunter, smirked devilishly, then finished, "I've been working a collection job for Mister Wills, one good'nuff that he gave me that sweet piece of virgin pussy. Tonight."
His smiled widened. "Tonight, virgin no more."
"Oh my dear God!" a male voice called down from the balcony. There was delight in his voice as he asked knowingly, "Is that Robert Evans I see?"
Hunter didn't hurry to turn away from the escort. He looked upwards to find a man about his age leaning over the balcony railing. He responded in a casual voice, "Carter Wills. Been a while."
"Three years!" Carter responded. They chatted back and forth about the last time they'd seen each other. It hadn't been a good day for either of them. But they'd gone their separate ways respecting each other. There was a pause. Carter asked with just a touch of suspicion, "What brings you to Vegas, Robert?"
"Looking for work," Hunter answered. It was a lie, which Carter might suspect. "I need a job."
Carter studied the bounty hunter a moment. With feigned disappointment, he said, "Sorry, friend. I don't have anything for you."
"A man like you, doing what you do," Hunter went on, "doesn't have one position available for an old friend?"
"Nope!" Carter said with humor and a smile. "I have all the men I--"
In a flash, Hunter drew his Colt and leveled it. Without looking away from Carter, he pulled the trigger. A round went through the skull of the man who'd been looking forward to getting his cock wet inside the pretty store clerk. The Gamble militiaman fell to the floor like a rag doll.
Two dozen men, startled by what just happened, pulled weapons of all sorts in anticipation of being told to kill the murderous newcomer. But almost before the dead man hit the ground, Carter Wills' voice echoed through the big hall, "Stop!"
A tense moment followed. Carter called down more calmly, "I guess there is one position open after all."
He looked to one of the men who'd escorted Hunter into town. "Bring him to my office. And have the girl bring us food and whiskey, too."