Renegade Wars

                               by Illegal Eagle
                                   (f/m, qs)


The  year's  2014,  the world has suffered great from World War III. The United
States  and  Great  Britain declared war on Iraq after they attempted to invade
Israel  and  Kuwait. With soldiers stationed in Saudi Arabia, they attacked the
Iraqis with brutal force. While busy fighting in Iraq, militia groups in Kosivo
and  Bosnia  over ran forces in American and British embassies. NATO allies and
the UN agreed to aid in the United States and Great Britain in these battles by
declaring  all  fuel needed to be harvested to support the war. With a gasoline
crisis already taking place, the general public had to suffer.

Under  an  order  given by President of the United States, all gasoline, diesel
and  other fuels were to be seized as property of the government to ensure they
had enough. This brought outrage throughout the world, particularily the United
States where almost everyone had a car. City officials and police officers were
unable  to  control the public's reaction. The entire country was under martial
law.  National  Guard units were activated to restore peace, but the gangs took
control  of  the streets and highways. They would kill anyone who dared to stop
them.  On  the highways, it was a long nightmare. Government trucks filled with
gasoline,  driven under military escort were overrun by anyone with a gun and a
car.

In this chaotic world, ordinary people were struck down by the powers of greed,
hate  and  fear.  Lacy  Seastone and her brother John were two who went through
this  in  sorrow.  As  an  MP in the National Guard, John was called to duty to
guard  a  convoy  going  down a stretch of Interstate 95 through Georgia to Ft.
Bragg,  NC.  Along the stretch of highway, a gang of heavily armed men attacked
John and his unit. The tankers they were guarding were what they were after. 49
men including John were killed in the attack.

After  witnessing her brother's burial, Lacy fled the city of Atlanta and moved
to  a  remote  area  of Kentucky in the Blue Hills. At least she thought it was
remote,  but she soon found out differently. She was driving from the abandoned
cabin  she  was  staying into the town of Restick on what little gas she had to
barter some electrical appliances for some more. She was driving a beat up 2001
Mercury Cougar, a car she had bought new before the war began in 2003. It had a
lot of rust now and only went 12 miles to the gallon, but it was all she had.

Ten  miles before she reached the town, a rusty old black 1998 Firebird and two
2003  Dodge  Ram pick-ups started to speed up behind her. It was the local gang
who  called  themselves  the  Swamp  Rats,  they  wanted Lacy and her car. Lacy
noticed  them  coming  and  began  to  speed up trying to out run them, but her
little  V-6  was  no match for the Firebird's V-8. The Firebird caught up along
side  of the Cougar and a man wearing a black ski mask popped his head and arms
out the window and pulled out a pump action shot gun. He fired a shot inside of
Lacy's  window  and  the  buckshot  shattered the windshield. Lacy screamed and
turned  the  wheel  to  the left and hit the side of the Firebird. The man went
back  inside  the window and the driver went off into the grass. He pulled back
on  the  road behind Lacy and hit her in the rear. She pounced on the gas pedal
trying to get the car moving faster.

When  the  four vehicles passed a side street, a black Ford F-550 turned on the
road  and sped up catching up to the Ram pick-up in back of it all. The drivers
of the Rams paid little attention to the Ford truck coming up behind them. They
were  concentrating  more on Lacy and the Firebird. Then suddenly, the shape of
the black truck behind them began to change. The hood of the truck separated in
the  middle  and lifted open. Attached to the inside of the split hood were two
M134  electronic  gattling  guns,  which flipped down over the front wheels and
rotated around on a pivoting mount. The grill of the truck flipped downward and
two  MRK19  grenade  machine guns drew their barrels forward. And on the top of
the  truck,  the  bed cover raised up above the roof of the cab revealing a ten
round guided missile launcher on a rotating mount to target aircraft as well as
land structures.

The  passenger  in  the  Ram  that  it  was trailing noticed the truck's hidden
features  and  made  the  driver panic. The Ram moved to the left and the right
side  of  the  road,  while the F-550 stayed right in the middle of both lanes.
Then  the  F-550 started to fire the gattling guns at the Ram's rear tires. The
right  rear tire of the Ram ripped apart in a millisecond sending rubber flying
all  over  the road. The Ram fishtailed wildly to the right and the F-550 fired
again. This time hitting the fuel tank and the truck burst into flames. It spun
across the road and into a ditch where it rolled over repeatedly.

The  driver  of  the  other  Ram  watched from his mirrors of what was going on
behind  him.  Radioing  ahead to the Firebird, he told him what happened to the
other  truck,  and about the Ford truck that was closing in on him as he spoke.
And it was coming up really fast. The truck was travelling at 130 mph, but how?
The driver of the Ram couldn't understand how that truck could drive that fast.
What  he  didnt  know  was  the builder had built it to run by a total electric
motor  and  solar  recharged battery system to keep the vehicle running forever
without  stopping  for a rest. He was a design engineer for Ford Motor Company.
He  and  his  colleagues at Ford built this vehicle during the aftermath of the
war.

The  F-550  was  gaining on the second Ram. The passenger leaned out the window
with  a revolver. He aimed at the drivers side of the windshield and fired. The
bullets  struck  the  windshield  and ricocheted into the air. Only black marks
from  where  the  bullets  hit  the  windshield showed as the driver of the Ram
served  all  over  the  road.  The F-550 came in close to the Rams rear as they
approached  the  town.  The  driver  in  the  Ram  just  sped  faster with this
mechanical  monstrosity  on  his  tail, armed to the teeth. Just before the two
trucks  past a church in the beginning of the town, the F-550 backed off of the
Ram  and  fired  the MRK19s. The rear of the Ram lifted off the ground from the
blast  of  the  grenades  exploding the gas tank. The driver and passenger were
thrown  at  the  roof  of  the  cab and snapped both their necks. The rear came
crashing  down  hard on the pavement, sending the Ram spinning down the road in
front of the F-550 in a fiery blaze. The drivers head now soaked in blood stuck
out of the window as the MRK19s let out six more rounds into the cab. The front
of  the truck exploded and sent the Ram rolling over on the road coming to rest
on the sidewalk after taking out a fence in front of a cemetery. The F-550 sped
on in search of the Firebird and the Cougar.

Up ahead, things werent going so well. Lacy was still running from the Firebird
speeding  through  the streets of the slum of a town. The world had transformed
this  little  mining camp into a gang overrun crime haven. Speeding through the
town,  Lacy  was  forced with running for her life while avoiding the people on
the  street.  Today  the  streets  were  mostly clear but a few people who were
walking  and  occasionally  crossing the road. So far both cars had a couple of
close  calls.  A  woman  with a load of laundry was caught in the middle of the
road  when  both  cars flew by her at the same time. And the Firebird clipped a
couple of parked cars while chasing the Cougar.

They  had  just  past  the  center  of  town when a young kid about 6 years old
stepped  into the road. Lacy was coming up on him at 75 mph when she slammed on
the  brakes.  The  tail of the Cougar slid left and right as the tires screamed
and  screeched  to a halt. The kid jumped out of the way of the Cougar and back
between  the  cars  he  came out of before the Cougars headlight could hit him.
Lacy  stopped  and watched as the Firebird flew by her and spun around. Knowing
that  they  werent  going  to  quit,  Lacy collected herself from her scare and
turned  her car around too. She headed back down the roads she was on trying to
escape from them.

The  two  cars  raced back down the same streets. Coming up in front of the old
Walmart  in  town, the Cougar and Firebird flew past the F-550 that was looking
for them. The driver turned the truck around and followed the chase back up. As
they  past  the  cemetery  on  the  road, Lacy noticed the Ram destroyed on the
fence.  It  was still on fire and a few people were gathering around looking at
the wreck now as the three vehicles flew by them.

The Firebird was closing on the rear bumper of Lacys car again when a bump from
the  rear  of  their  car  jolted  them.  The F-550 was right on their back and
hitting them. The passenger grabbed the shotgun between his legs and leaned out
the  window  facing  in  back at the F-550s headlights. He drew out his gun and
started  to  take  aim  at  the  front  tire.  The F-550 struck the rear of the
Firebird  again  and  the passenger went off balance and fell out of the window
with the shotgun. He landed hard on the road and rolled off to the side.

The  F-550  backed  off again and the missile launcher aimed at the rear of the
Firebird. With the push of a button on the dashboards computer panel, a missile
blasted out of the launcher and exploded when it struck the trunk. The Firebird
lifted  off  the ground and flew into the air in a fiery ball. The F-550 passed
underneath the flaming wreck before it crashed down on the road.

Lacy  had  been watching the whole thing in her rear-view-mirror in relief that
some  one  had  come  to  help  her. Lacy looked back to see that the truck was
coming  up  fast  on  her  now.  She slowed the car down and pulled her beat up
Cougar  to  the  side  of  the road. The truck slowed down too and pulled up in
front of Lacys car. The door of the F-550 opened and the driver stepped out.

Lacy  looked  at  him and her eyes grew wide in astonishment. She knew him, but
not  well.  His  name  was Charles McManus, a Staff Sargent who served with her
bother  John  when  he  was  killed. The vehicle was what John and Charles were
doing  special  training  for.  It  was  to  be used to bring back order to the
cities.  But  being  a top-secret weapon for the government, it didn't get used
too  often. John and Charles were trained to drive it. The builders at Ford had
just revealed it to them three eight days before their unit was attacked on the
highway. John took a bullet for Charles in the fight. His dying wish to Charles
was for him to look after his sister. And obviously Charles kept his word.

"Are you alright?" he asked Lacy when he reached her window.

"Yeah." she sobbed. "Thank you so much."

Charles  and  Lacy fell into each others arms on the side of the road with Lacy
in  tears.  They sat down on the hood of Lacys car and he told her the story of
what actually happened to her brother on the day he was killed.

"Your  brother  was a brave man," he began. "We were on a stretch of Interstate
95  heading  to  Ft.  Bragg,  NC when a group of local gangs attacked us in the
mountains in Georgia. They put up a good fight, coming at us with AK47s and 9mm
UZIs  to  take  over  our load. John and I were heading for that truck that was
under a tarp on a flatbed semi when one of the attackers came up from behind me
and  hit me over the head with a pistol. I fell to the ground on my back and he
pointed  the  gun  in  my face. John came around the other side and told him to
drop  his  gun.  The  attacker spun around and fired his gun the same time John
did. Both of them dropped to the ground and I got on all fours and crawled over
to  John. He was shot in the chest. I tried to get him to relax and talk to me.
The  only  thing  he  said was, 'Watch over my sister Lacy, Charles. Tell her I
love her and I always will. Make sure she's safe for me.' I nodded and told him
I would. Just before the Med. Tech. could get there to help him, he died. We've
been following you ever since."

"We?" she asked.

"Yes, we. The rest of the soldiers in my unit as well as air force pilots, some
navy  pilots  and  a  few  marines  joined  Lieutenant  Briggman and I. We call
ourselves the /Renegade Warriors,/ we are the elite. The Lt. and I both respected
your brother. We thought the least we could do for him was help you."

Lacy  looked  at Charles and smiled. A few tears of joy rolled of her cheeks as
she  leaned over towards him. Just as her lips were about to touch his when the
sounds  of  engines  filled the air. Lacy and Charles looked in back of them to
see  ten sets of headlights rising over the hill. It was more Swamp Rats coming
to  avenge  the deaths of their fallen brothers. The kept in contact with their
leader,  who  called  himself the Swamp Lord, with CB radios in their vehicles.
Obviously the men that Charles had killed told them over the radio.

The  cars were drawing closer to them. There were three Monte Carlos one with a
blower  sticking  out  of  the rusted hood, two Ford Explorers, one with police
lights  and  the  other with the rear roof cut off with a man sitting behind an
M60  machinegun  on  a  mount.  Behind that was a Chevy S-10 pick-up with a man
standing  in  the  bed  with a hook on a chain spinning over his head. A Toyota
4Runner,  Pontiac  Grand Prix, and 2 Chevy Silverado pick-ups finished the pack
of cars.

"Go!" Charles said. "Get out of here!"

"What about you?" Lacy said.

"I'll  be fine! You got to go! Here!" Charles reached into his pants pocket and
pulled out a little silver box with a red button on it. "If you get in trouble,
push the red button and I'll come for you! Now go!"

Lacy  and  Charles  leaped  off  the hood of the Cougar and raced back to their
vehicles. Lacy started the Cougar, threw it into drive and peeled out back onto
the road. Charles waited until Lacy had past when he turned the F-550 around at
the  approaching  gang  of  cars. He flipped a switch on the dashboard and once
again  revealed its arsenal of weapons. The gangs cars came to a halt when they
saw  the  missile  launcher  raise. In a panic, the gang of cars swerved to the
sides  of the road and reversed facing the opposite way. They floored it out of
there and the F-550 charged forward after them.

Speeds reached close to 100 mph when the F-550 caught up with the S-10. The man
in  the  bed  swung  the  hook  around  in  a circle and flung it at the F-550s
windshield.  The  hook hit the windshield, bounced and grabbed onto the back of
one  of the MRK19s. Charles hit the brakes and the chain went tight. The man in
the bed flew out of the truck and landed headfirst on the pavement. Charles got
going again and ran over the man.

He had caught back up to the S-10 again when the computer screen began to flash
the  words  "TRACKING  ALERT".  Charles  pulled off to the side of the road and
stopped  the  truck.  The  gang just kept going. Charles pushed a button on the
side  of the screen and a computer drawn image of the area showed. In the lower
right hand corner of the screen, on a road, a little red light was blinking. It
was the transmitter he gave Lacy.

It  was  a  trap.  He  said  to  himself, "They knew I'd chase them away so the
planned  to get her in the other direction." The red light began to move on the
screen and Charles turned the truck around again.

Meanwhile,  Lacy  found herself caught by the Swamp Lord and a few of his rats.
They  had blocked off the road five miles down from where she left Charles. Two
Ford Rangers and the Swamp Lords Cadillac sat in the middle of the road as Lacy
came  over the hill. Four men armed with rifles and the Swamp Lord stood in the
middle wearing a frog mask and holding a shotgun.

"Where's  your  friend,  bitch?"  one of the rats said after she got out of the
car.

"He's gone," she said and tapped her pocket to activate the transmitter.

"Well I guess we are alone then huh?" he said and grabbed Lacys arms. He thrust
himself  upon her and began to feel up her thighs and lick her neck. Lacy cried
out telling him to stop when the Swamp Lord grabbed him and pulled him back. He
thrust the barrel of the shotgun in his mouth.

"Now  that's no way to treat our guest of honor," the Swamp Lord said. "Control
yourself, Sludge." He let him go and turn his attention to Lacy. "I'm sorry for
my brother's rudeness to you. I am the Swamp Lord and I would very much like to
meet  the  man  who killed my brothers." He walked towards Lacy and grabbed her
shoulder.  "You  are  going to get him to come to us. I want that lovely toy of
his and I want his head."

Lacy  spit  in  his  face,  the  Swamp Lord closed his eyes when it hit him. He
opened  them  again and smiled at Lacy. He wiped the spit off with his hand and
curled  it  into  a fist. He struck Lacy across the face and knocked her on the
ground out cold.

Lacy  awoke  to  a  splash  of  water  to her face. She looked around and found
herself  tied up above the ground hanging by her hands to a tree. Her legs were
bound  with  duct  tape as the sun began to set in the west over the swamp. She
was  totally nude and the cool air tickled her breasts making her nipples hard.
Then  Lacy  began  to  hear  the  chanting of the Swamp Rats that were watching
around the tree. She looked across from where she was to see another one of the
Swamp  Rats in another tree with a rifle. Then began the yelling from the crowd
below in sounds of anger. She couldn't see the Swamp Lord now but he was there.
She looked down below her and saw the mud at the edge of the swamp was what her
landing  pad  would be, but when she swung around, she saw another woman in the
same  position  on  the limb. She looked about the same age as Lacy, with blond
hair and green eyes. They were going to die together.

A gunshot echoed throughout the area. "QUIET!" the Swamp Lord shouted, standing
on the roof of a Ford pick-up next to the other tree with the sniper. "Tonight,
we  are  gathered  here  to witness the deaths of these two outlanders who will
perish  in the pit below them. They are traitors to the new society of order we
drive  in  chaos.  The one on the right," pointing to Lacy, "an acquaintance of
those who oppose us. The ones who killed six of our brothers and badly hurt one
more.  The ones they call the /Renegade Warriors/." More shouting in anger came
from  the  crowd  and the Swamp Lord fired the gun again. All was silent and he
continued.  "The  one on the left," now pointing to the other woman. "She is an
infiltrator,  sent  in  by  that  same  wretched  bunch of soldiers who want to
destroy  us.  She  informed  them of our operations and exposed us to them. For
these crimes, there is no mercy, no time in jail. There is only death!" And the
crowd burst out in shouts again.

As  the  Swamp  Lord raised his right hand to give the signal for the sniper to
shoot,  loud  music began to play in the west over the swamp from the hill. The
entire crowd went silent again, not knowing what it was. The music was becoming
clearer  now  and  Lacy  recognized it. It was /Rammstein, Das Modell/ playing.
Then  they saw what were coming, two Apache Warbird helicopters and a Bell Huey
in  the  middle  with  loud  speakers. It was the /Renegade Warriors/ coming to
rescue  them.  The Swamp Rats below started to disperse. They ran to their cars
and  trucks  to  get  away.  But as they headed for the vehicles, the F-550 and
three  military Hum-Vees with gunners, charged into their compound. Each gunner
had  a  MRK19.  The  Swamp  Rats started to shoot their guns at the approaching
vehicles.  The  Hum-Vees  and their gunners went after the Swamp Rats and their
cars while the F-550 headed to the edge of the swamp.

"Shoot,  Skunk,  Shoot!"  the Swamp Lord shouted. As the helicopters flew over,
the sniper fired his first shot and snapped Lacys rope. She dropped thirty feet
before  landing  waist  deep  in  the  mud. The sniper aimed again at the other
woman's  rope  and fired. Her rope snapped and as she fell she watched the tree
on  the  other side explode and fall over with the sniper into the swamp before
she  too  landed  in the mud next to Lacy. The F-550 was now at the edge of the
pit and managed to shoot a missile at the sniper's tree.

The  Swamp Lord was outraged with the F-550s attack and grew red in the face as
the  women in the pit settled in deeper in the quicksand. Their every move sent
them  deeper into the pit, they were now up to their hips and still descending.
With  their  legs  bound  and their toes pointing downwards, Lacy and the other
woman  found  themselves  pulled  down  to  their  naked  breasts. Then without
warning,  a  spear with a steel cable attached to the end of it flew by both of
their heads at a great speed. Lacy and her sinking colleague turned their heads
and saw the other end of the cable was attached under the F-550s bumper.

"Grab  the cable!" Charles shouted over a loud speaker. The Swamp Lord couldn't
stand it anymore. He grabbed his pistol out of its holster and shot at the side
windows of the truck. The bullets ricocheted off the glass and flew through the
air  in the other direction. Charles smiled at him and retaliated, spinning the
gattling  gun and pointed it at the Swamp Lord. He shouted in anger and charged
at  the  truck.  Charles pushed a button on the steering wheel and the gattling
gun fired, cutting the Swamp Lord in half.

Meanwhile, with the Apaches and Hum-Vees taking care of the Rats, the Bell Huey
hung  over the quicksand pit. Then a man dressed in an army uniform came out of
the  side  door  with  a  cable  attached  a  harness  he was wearing. With the
helicopter  holding above the women, he was lowered down as the quicksand began
to  claim  their shoulders. He dropped down into the quicksand and grabbed hold
of the other woman. She let go of the cable to the truck and they began to rise
out  of  the quicksand. Meanwhile, Charles flipped the switch for the winch and
retracted  the  cable Lacy was still holding. The cable dragged Lacy out of her
hole  in  the  mud  and  across  the  pit  to  the  shoreline. She was safe but
exhausted. Charles got out of the truck and pulled out a hunter's knife. He ran
over  to Lacy and cut the ropes that bound her arms and feet. Lacy scrambled to
her feet and gave Charles a muddy hug.

"There's  no  time for that now, we have to move," Charles said letting her go.
"Get in the truck."

Lacy  ran  to the passenger side of the truck and got in. Charles backed up and
turned  the  truck around. He headed up to the fighting on the access road. The
Hum-Vees  and Apaches had pretty much wiped out all the Swamp Rats who tried to
fight,  others  ended  up  surrendering to the /Renegade Warriors/, while a few
fled for their lives.

"Captain Mitchell, what's the status?" Charles said.

"The  rest  of the gang is being rounded up and taken into custody," Mitchell's
voice  said over the radio. "We still have a few stragglers though, but they're
no threat."

"How's Sargent Tibbs, Mister Johnson?" Charles asked.

"A little shook up but she's alright."

"Understood. This is Sargent McManus, Im returning to base."

"Roger, Sargent, we'll see you there," Mitchells voice said.

Lacy was overjoyed to hear that. Her ordeal with the Swamp Rats was over.

"You're in good hands now," Charles said to her. "You're going to be fine."

And for once, Lacy could believe that.