2045
| | May/Jun 2045 |
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`Break, break, break.` As one, the Vanguards swung hard right behind the shelter of a long rising hill. The pirates were undisciplined, ill-trained. Amy heard the crunch of metal from 200 metres away as the rabble collided with each other in their haste to engage their quarry. `Maybe they`ll kill each other before they get to us,` called Esky. `Maybe,` said Amy. `Better to be ready when they get here, just in case they don`t oblige. You got targeting?` `Few more seconds,` he said. The squad headed south, alongside the spit of protective land. Ahead, it rose to a high peak, a rocky mesa rising high above the plateau. `Anthony, can you put Darrell on that mesa?` she asked. `I`ll try.` `Do your best. Put her there and you`ll both have clear shots as they round that bend and head towards us.` Pho-dum. Pho-dum. A cloud of pink paint erupted in front of a Desert Flame, which swerved. A mortar shell landed just where it had been, showering the left side with shrapnel. `Great shot. Now get behind this hill. Darrell and I will sit on the top and shoot them, you guys go around it. When they turn the first corner, they`ll be under our guns for about five seconds before can turn the second one and get to you. I don`t reckon they`ll make it up this steep slope, so it`ll be a turkey shoot. Natalie, stay clear, let Shortarse drop his bombs. Esky, as soon as they come round that corner, hit them with everything we`ve got it.` `You got it, boss.` Pho-dum. The mortar kept up its fire, but the pirates had spread out, probably more by luck than judgement, Amy guessed. Shortarse could only hit one or two at a time. They`d have to settle this the old-fashioned way. Amy lined her dustup besides Darrell`s Apache. She could see him concentrating, hunched over the enormous barrel of the supersize rifle. She targeted her own gatling on the approaching pink Flame, the only car that had rounded the escarpment so far. She checked the distance. It would be several seconds till he was in range. Gunfire exploded from the Valois. The sharp retort of a car rifle, the dull crack of its larger cousin. The Flame shied away, fracture lines spidering across the whole left side. Another crack, and the reinforced steel just fell away. Amy could see the engine, the driver, the whole chassis exposed. A third crack. The driver`s face disintegrated, his head a mist of blood and brains. `Woohoo,` shouted Darrell. `One down, eight to go. They`re gonna treat us in like heroes in Gateway tonight.` `Don`t count your chickens.` The next three came in smarter. In a line abreast. Amy wondered how the Enforcer drew the short straw. She triggered her gatlings as Darrell and Anthony hit it with rifle fire. The engine died, but the Enforcer had done its job. The other two cars rounded the corner to chase after Esky`s Victor. `You`ve got a Blitzer and a Siren coming atcha,` shouted Darrell. `Roger that,` said Esky. Amy focused her attention on the final four. A Marauder and Death Symph turned to charge the slope, while a second Flame and a Stalker hustled round the hill. `They`ll never make it up the hill,` said Anthony. `They don`t have to,` said Amy. `They can shoot at us from there.` As she spoke, the first volley from the Marauder`s twin launchers impacted on the sand at the crest of the hill. The Vedette rattled to the metallic tinkle of casing fragments. `Keep firing, but start moving back,` Amy put her words into action, edging the throttle into reverse. `Christ!` Her windscreen turned red with flame as two rockets exploded on the front grille. The dustup rocked back on its rear wheels, and Amy fought for control. Another volley hit, and she lost the battle for control as the dustup slid down the hill on the far side from the battle. `You`re on your own, guys,` she called. `Sorry.` `We`re rolling,` said Darrell, still shooting at the Marauder. `This damned guy`s good. Each time we hit him, he turns a new side to us.` `Some help would be nice,` shouted Esky. Amy looked round. The Victor was about to be swamped by four pirates. The heavy gat at the front rattled out two bursts and clouds of steam erupted from the Stalker. `Why do they still drive those deathtraps?` Amy wondered. Another shot rang out, a targeted round from Polska`s medium machine gun. The steam turned to choking black smoke and he Stalker rolled to a stop. `Darrell, you stick with those two. I`ll help Esky.` Amy swung the dustup round a small hillock to avoid going head-to-head with a Blitzer. She expected it to turn around and follow her, but it headed resolutely across the sand. `Natalie, Shortarse, you`ve got incoming.` `Got it.` There was a pause in the mortar fire as Shortarse shifted targets. Amy rattled off a few rounds at the Siren in front of her. It jinked right, straight into the path of Esky`s guns. The double impact sent the Siren flying. End over end it rolled. Amy, Polska and Esky each put a round through the thin bottom armour. The Siren landed on its roof, rear wheels still turning. `Reloading,` shouted Darrell. `Me too,` said Shortarse. `And us,` said Polska. This was the dangerous bit of the fight. When the bad guys still had bullets and you didn`t. `Anyone hurt yet?` asked Amy, circling to avoid a Flame. `Front hit pretty hard,` said Esky. `And Polska`s side.` `We`re OK,` said Darrell, `but those rockets are a menace.` `Well, stop talking and take them out.` `We`re working on it.` The Marauder and Symph gave up their assault on the hill and regrouped. `Got four of `em, all at once. Again.` shouted Esky. `We`re getting out of here. Backwards, and fast.` `Darrell, flank `em. Now!` Darrell hit the left, Amy hit the right. The Masher died, so did the Symph. `Christ on a bike!` Round after round hit the side of Amy`s dustup. A Desert Striker, forgotten and fast, rounded the corner. Amy turned, swerved, jinked. Straight in front of the dead Stalker. Blam. The heavy machine gun found its mark, and Amy winced as red-hot metal cut through her leg. She turned to put her intact right armour between her and the guns. `We need to end this now,` she shouted. `We got our Blitzer,` said Natalie. `Glad you put a rear gat on this thing.` The Striker circled. `I`ll get him,` said Amy. `You get the Marauder.` She turned the wheel hard. Strikers were fast, but nothing is as manoeuvrable as a dustup. The pirate must be a novice. He got into a circling game with her, where the car with the tighter circle would be the first to shoot. It was inevitable. The dustup got there first, and Amy pumped rounds into his side. The pirate flinched, tried to flee, but the remorseless gatling kept firing and firing. * * * * * `Not bad,` said Esky. `Not good either,` observed Darrell. `Amy`s hurt, the dustup`s a colander. You`ve got no armour to left or right. We`ve got precious little anywhere.` `Oh lighten up,` said Esky. `They`re dead. We`re not. They`ve left us three cars with undamaged engines and we`ve got plenty of ammo. Gonna be a very profitable trip.` * * * * * The ambush came as a surprise. Right at the gates. The pirates were maybe fifty feet ahead. `Scatter and get clear. This is no time to fight!` Amy shouted. The newbs were in the loot cars and floored it, heading to the safety of the truckstop maybe half a click away. The rest of the crew spread out. One lucky shot, just one lucky shot, was all it took. The scream was high-pitched and horrific, cut short by a bubbling, gurgling choke. A chest strike, maybe the lungs filling with the blood, or the throat flayed by flying shrapnel. `Polska! No!` Darrell roared. The Valois turned ninety degrees, spun on the hill. Darrell raced to put the Valois`s between the pirates and the limp form of Polska in the Victor. They were only four of them, but each had fresh guns, and the Victor couldn`t take any more punishment. Darrell charged down the hill, HCR spitting fire, and threw the Valois into the line of fire buying Esky a few precious seconds to turn the Victor away from the battle. Brave as anything Amy had ever seen. Darrell knew his armour was weak. Amy watched as rifle and machine gun fire destroyed the meagre protection that was left, metal plates hanging loose. More rounds destroyed the weapons, clanged off the the engine block, broke Darrell`s left arm. And he still he drove, keeping the bulk of the Valois in the line of fire. Using its engine, the cargo, even his own body as a shield for Polska. The pirates followed another volley. The crack of a car rifle. Rat-a-tat of machine guns. The dull crump of an anti-tank gun and then silence. Darrell `Hillbilly` Johnstone died, his torso obliterated by two pounds of high-explosive. `No!` Amy saw the Valois roll forward in a final, lazy circle. `Esky, can you get clear?` she shouted. `I think so.` `Head straight for the wall, go through it if you have to. I`ll cover you.` `We`re turning back,` called Shortarse. `No, you`re ing not,` said Amy. `Get everyone to the truck stop.` Time slowed as Amy threw the dustup around one of the strange hillocks outside Gateway. Perhaps they`re molehills, she thought, the leavings of giant, irradiated, sand moles. She targeted the first pirate, an purple Enforcer, shiny and clean. It flinched as she fired, missing its shot on Esky`s Apache. She switched targets, fired again. Another flinch, and the Death Symph lost its bead. She dodged past the twin rifles of a Punisher. She completely forget that it packed a rocket launcher on the back. The dustup rolled under the impact. Dimly, Amy was aware that the fourth car, a Striker was strafing the Victor. As the dustup landed on its feet, she saw bullets race from back to front, leaving gaping, bloody wounds in the slumped torso of Polska, severing the fuel lines, leaving flames leaping into the air. She saw Esky jump free, beating at his burning hair with his hands, half-running, half-crouching for the safety of the walls. She saw four pirate cars turning around, the long barrels of their guns foreshortening, the gunmetal grey cylinders turning into black circles, pitiless holes like the eyes of a hell-spawned demon. In the same instant, each hole turned red, a belch of flame spouting in the desert heat. * * * * * `Amy Banuelos was unique.` Esky cleared his throat. He`d never addressed such a crowd. All the Vanguards were there, even Sylvia had battled her way all the way from Firelight. `She was unique in so many ways. Those who have known here since she joined will remember a scared young woman who was still brave enough to get through to Badlands on rims alone` Esky was startled to see that Jet was there, wiping unseen moisture from dark eyes. He didn`t think he ever left Badlands. `a fighter, a survivor. Equally at home slogging through the boonies or behind the wheel of a deathracer. But that was not where Amy`s genius lay. Her genius lay in how much she cared for people. She cared for everyone. Her friends, her squad, her gang. But more than that, she cared for everyone in Evan. And everyone who might yet be in Evan. She fought, and she died, to make Evan a better place.` `She didn`t die alone. Darrell and Polska died too. Fighting together. And now they will be at peace together forever. They fought because Amy fought. And Amy fought because she was strong. And it is the job of the strong to fight for the weak.` Esky paused, struggled for the words as tears came unbidden to his eyes. `Today, the Vanguards are vanquished. Our heart has been torn out, our souls laid bare. Perhaps we will never recover. But let us all remember that more than anyone, more even than One-Eye, Amy was our leader, and our inspiration.` `We let her go, because we have no choice. We move on, because that is what she would have wanted us to do. But we will never forget her. And every time we do something good, or help someone else, we can look up and say `There you go, Amy Banuelos. This is your legacy. And you can be proud.`` 1. Longos Merry Men (Somerset): $3215. The most active gang on the deathsport circuit has been Wiped Out. Their most favoured type of event has been the combat, although they have also competed in numerous deathrace events. Out of town, the most busy squads have been: |
 Callie Ybarra of Lab Rats died at Northern Farm Land. Debra Clark of Lakeside Lions died at Road to Somerset. `Arcangelo` Gabriel Pardo of BroadRausters died at Gateway Dry Lake Track. `Handsome` Robert Hansen of Mambas Maniacs died at Gateway Dry Lake Track. `Ranger` Cecil Sanders of Comanche died at Road to Somerset. Eddie Brogdon of The Thug Matrix died at Serpentine Road. Charity `Hope` Valentine of The Paradise died at Forever Yellow Skies. Dora Green of Mild Ones died at Somerset Arena. Mattie `Chaingun` Anderson of Mild Ones died at Somerset Arena. `Sir` Martin Dicks of Lattes Raiders died at Gates of Badlands Truckstop. Carmen Johnson of Troubadours died at Gates of Badlands Truckstop. Richard Jameson of the mad mad crushers died at Northern Desert Circuit. Donald Stokes of Jackknife Armada died at Road to Gateway Truck Stop. Brandon Burns of Jackknife Armada died at Road to Gateway Truck Stop. Robin Moore of Jackknife Armada died at Road to Gateway Truck Stop. Wilbert Richards of Jackknife Armada died at Road to Gateway Truck Stop. Vilma Vanish of Jackknife Armada died at Road to Gateway Truck Stop. Juan Mason of Drive Backwards BFFs died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. John Thomas of Jackknife Armada died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. Wade Robinson of Jackknife Armada died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. Omar Goetz of Jackknife Armada died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. Gavin Pardo of BroadRausters died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. Burt Pardo of BroadRausters died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. Kimberly Savage of Mambas Maniacs died at Somerset Arena. `Ragin`` Roosevelt Rockwell of The Puke Punchers died at Blown With the Wind. Brian `Blaztoid` Dunn of The Puke Punchers died at Blown With the Wind. Isabel `Gets` Moore of Gasserz died at Somerset Rally Circuit. Adam Gettinger of Geriatric Anarchists died at Somerset`s Junkyard, Race Track 1. Dick `Bombing Run` Grow of Feeding Frenzy died at Blown With the Wind. Edna `Big Guns` Williams of Mambas Maniacs died at Blown With the Wind. Tracy `U.S.` Grant of Mambas Maniacs died at Blown With the Wind. Jody Stannard of Feeding Frenzy died at Blown With the Wind. Tony Stafford of DreadNaughts died at Scattered Hills. Jessie `THE` Butler of We B Right died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. Ava `Marie` Schwartz of Ricky Ranjits Raiders died at Scattered Grounds. Erica `Spanner` Anderson of The Paradise died at Gates of Badlands Truckstop. David Rouse of SplashandBurn died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. Vesta `Shoshana` Grahm of The Paradise died at Somerset Rally Circuit. William Gibson of Burnt Tree Security died at Somerset Dirt Racing Track. Darrell `Chaingun` Hoover of SplashandBurn died at Gates of Somerset. Thelma Patrick of Smoke me a kipper died at Gates of Elmsfield. Wesley `Wez` Jones of 88 MPH died at Road to Elmsfield. Tabitha Ector of Lost Legions died at Somerset Arena. George Patton of Twisted Sisters died at Road to Elmsfield. Harriet Stowe of Twisted Sisters died at Road to Elmsfield. Buster Blizzard of Twisted Sisters died at Road to Elmsfield. `Speedy` Daniel Chapman of River Bandits died at Somerset Dirt Racing Track. Shawn Carter of Steel Hawks died at Somerset Rally Circuit. Matthew Hunter of Nutz and Boltz died at Lost Trail: Dead River. Sarah Hopper of Drive Backwards BFFs died at Sandy. John Turner of Comanche died at Sandy. Jerry `The Riddler` Riddle of Street Pizza died at Lost Trail: Broken Ground. Darrell `The Warmaker` Warburton of The Crimson Brothers died at Gates of Somerset. Roger Meyer of Collision Force died at Somerset`s Junkyard, Race Track 2. `Jesse` James Lee of We B Right died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. Frank `Four Eyes` Vegas of We B Right died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. Steven Ashby of We B Right died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. Sandra Sheppard of SplashandBurn died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. `The fixer` Shirley Brewer of SplashandBurn died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. Jeanette `Kickstart` Britton of SplashandBurn died at Road to Somerset. Jerry `Can` Pena of Riotous Assembly died at Scattered Hills. Juan `The Gringo` Davis of 88 MPH died at Once Upon a Town. Charlie `The boss` Petty of SplashandBurn died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. Paul Fox of Evan Transit Authority died at Highway to Hell. Terri `Spanners` Bickford of SplashandBurn died at Road to Elmsfield. Cecilia Thompson of The Thug Matrix died at Road to Somerset. Richard `Curve ball` Fitzgibbon of Sargonites died at Somerset Rally Circuit. `Dame` Guadalupe Morales of Lattes Raiders died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. John `Fartknocker` Bernhardt of DeathFromAbove died at Northern Desert Circuit. Brandon `Lucky` Scott of Mans Laughter died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. `Dame` Mary Waddell of Lattes Raiders died at Highway to Hell. Mark `Your Next` Oviedo of Hand Gesture died at Highway to Hell. `Dame` Laura Davila of Lattes Raiders died at Highway to Hell. Jean `Yeah So` Hansen of Hand Gesture died at Highway to Hell. `Sir` Marcos Morgan of Lattes Raiders died at Highway to Hell. Anthony `Pimpoed Out` Johnson of Hand Gesture died at Highway to Hell. Gregory `I`m not a` Dahl of Hand Gesture died at Highway to Hell. Charles Karr of Hand Gesture died at Highway to Hell. David Tarver of Hand Gesture died at Highway to Hell. `Dame` Pamela Austin of Lattes Raiders died at Highway to Hell. `Sir` Keith Plunk of Lattes Raiders died at Highway to Hell. `Sir` Jeffrey White of Lattes Raiders died at Highway to Hell. `Sir` Arron Boehme of Lattes Raiders died at Highway to Hell. Richard `Titty Twister` George of Drive Backwards BFFs died at Highway to Hell. Aaron Beck of Drive Backwards BFFs died at Highway to Hell. Lawerence Lowery of Marloks died at Gates of Gateway Truckstop. `Sir` Jerome Morris of Lattes Raiders died at Gates of Badlands Truckstop. Jacob Conyers of We B Right died at Interstate Mythos. Tammy `Double` Becerra of Advanced Race Labs died at Forever Yellow Skies. Else `If` Hacker of Advanced Race Labs died at Forever Yellow Skies. Brenda Bostic of The Saints died at Northern Desert Circuit. My Paradise of Advanced Race Labs died at Road to Elmsfield. Robert Pearson of Vigilante Sun died at Sandy. Martha `Saucy` Searcy of Riotous Assembly died at Somerset`s Junkyard, Arena. Mira Silverman of Riotous Assembly died at Somerset`s Junkyard, Arena. Kenneth `Special K` Costa of SD Rollers died at Northern Speedway. Barbara Hamilton of Novocaine died at Somerset`s Junkyard, Race Track 2. Juanita McCoy of Wrights Raiders died at Once Upon a Town. Robert Goodrich of Wrights Raiders died at Once Upon a Town. Diego Jones of Zealots died at Under a Bloody Red Sky. Stephen Todd of DreadNaughts died at Road to Elmsfield. John Burgett of DreadNaughts died at Road to Elmsfield. Mary `Patches` Stephens of Geriatric Anarchists died at Road to Somerset. Richard `Oil-Can` Nelson of Geriatric Anarchists died at Road to Somerset. John `The Advocate` Faust of SD Rollers died at Forever Yellow Skies. May `MayDay` Mahurin of SD Rollers died at Forever Yellow Skies. Philip `Twinkles` Sleeper of SD Rollers died at Forever Yellow Skies. Jason `Daddy Long` Holmes of SD Rollers died at Forever Yellow Skies. Eric `Tequila` Boozer of SD Rollers died at Forever Yellow Skies. `Sledgehammer` Jeffery Taranto of SplashandBurn died at Road to Somerset. Michael `Usual Suspect` McManus of Street Pizza died at Lost Trail: Dead River.  As the year progresses, here are the leaders of the major leagues: Somerset Combat League - Riotous Assembly There is currently one minor league in progress also: Northern Semi-Pro Combat League - Advanced Race Labs |