Author's Note

Edited some small shit

Prologue: A Rangers Duties - Part 2

1 Day Later
The A2 Highway, Campgrounds, Queensland, North East of Fort Alice.

"Dude, get up." Rohan mumbled sleepily to me, shaking me awake.

"Huh, what?" I asked, confused and sleepy.

"It's morning man, surprised you slept the whole night through." He said as I rubbed my eyes and looked around. Rohan was standing in the open doorway, metal can of coffee in one hand and the other on my shoulder. Looking to my left out the passenger side window I saw Cameron was outside starting a fire in the middle of a clearing and Jeremy was keeping a lookout further off. The early morning light pierced the trees giving the area a warm, natural look. I had driven all afternoon and late into the night. As it was dangerous to travel the countryside by night so we decided to sleep in the car and have someone on turret lookout in rotation with me taking a nap. Yawning loudly, Ro moved away from the car door letting me out. As I stretched the tired joints in my shoulders and back I decided to do a 360 of the area, slowly spinning to take it all in. The landscape was beautiful to say the least. Before everything went to shit this used to be a popular camping site, the torn tents and scrapped SUVs scattered around the area both a testament to this fact and a sign that some poor fuckers thought going native was a good idea. closing the door behind me, I walked around the car to the clearing, but was stopped when I noticed something different about the car.

"When the fuck did this happen?" I asked as I turned back to Ro, who was now standing next to Cam who was grinning at the small fire he had lit.

"Huh? Oh yeah Jeremy did that." Cameron said quickly before going back to his fire, his eyes looked baggy, he must have had last shift.

"Oi! The fuck?!" I shouted at Jeremy.

"What? Don't like it?" He shouted back, not looking away from the trees lining the clearing.

"It's cool and all, but why and where did you get the supplies for this?" I asked as I turned around to look at the new symbol spray painted onto the passenger side door. A large white Kookaburra had been painted on the side. It was mostly white with light brown eyes and wings and had cream colors around the wings and brown parts which acted to highlight it. The bird was both mid flight and laugh with its wings stretched out and its large bill open wide. Under the bird was written in white paint 'Sierra Team, Smile on our faces and a bullet in yours' on a painted, and torn, red banner.

"Well, remember those militants we saved about a week ago?" He asked.

"Yeah, dickhead and the overly cocky chick, what about them?" I asked as I ran a quick finger over the banner. The paint was already dry.

"Turns out she used to be a graffiti artists, I asked her to make up some stencils and if I could borrow some paint cans. Thought it would be cool to add something new to Sheila." He said as he kept his eyes on the trees.

"Well it definitely adds some 'flare' to Sheila. What's in the pot?" I asked as I sat down next to Cameron who was now placing a metal pot over the fire.

"One, fuck you for that pun. Two, its soup. Chicken and corn." He answered sounding a bit annoyed.

"Holy shit, I didn't even know chicken was back on the list of rationale food. The farmers finally got enough chickens or did they trade some moonshine for it with those Chinese traders?" I asked hungrily.

"Yeah, the farmers chickens finally bred and now their back on the list, but only for the militants and us. Still not enough to go around but at least we got enough beef and veal for Fort Alice to not turn vegan." He said as he opened the pot and poured some milk in. I looked to my right and saw Ro walked away from the cars boot and sat down next to me.

"Hey dude, want some coffee? I packed a few cans of the powdered stuff, taste horrid but better than nothing." He asked as he handed me a metal can with the top off.

"Thanks. Hey Cam, pass the water." I said as I nudged him. He silently past over his canteen. I poured some water into the can and looked around for a stick. It didn't take long to find a stick with two long branches in a Y shape. After sticking the can in there I waited it out till my can heated up and breakfast was ready.

10 Minutes Later

"God, you weren't lying this stuff sucks." I said as I took a sip from my can. It was bitter, but not in the good way. While a normal cup of coffee can be improved with one to three spoonfuls of sugar, this stuff tastes like the beans are punching my tastes buds with their strong flavor.

"Yeap, not great. At least it wakes you up." Rohan said as he went back to his soup.

"Why are you drinking it if its so bad?" Cameron asked as he went for his second helping, already done with his serving.

"If I don't wake up now then I'm going to be half awake for about half an hour." I said as I forced myself to take another sip and then went back to drinking from the small plastic bowl in my lap. Cameron, Rohan and I were currently seated around a small campfire with three bowls all sat in our laps. Jeremy had downed his soup and coffee and moved inside Sheila and was currently standing up through the cars roof hatch, manning the turret and keeping an eye on the cars shortwave radio.

"So, what do you think the Blue Coats are planning?" I asked everyone.

"Well, if they were going to pull another Hobart on us we would have seen their forces from a mile away, especially if their moving inland. Maybe they're looking for something?" Rohan suggested as he put his coffee can down.

"Yeah, from what the reports suggest their not heavily numbered so it can't be an invasion force. No tanks, APCs, AA turrets, planes, helis or even a goddamn jeep. And Canberra's dead. No power, clean water, healthy food and enough radiation and infected that im surprised we haven't seen a Glowing One. Somethings up." Cameron muttered suspiciously.

"My moneys on their looking for some big government secret. We all know the world went to shit because various agencies and governments all had skeletons in their closets and when one got out they tried covering it up. Maybe Abbot had some uranium in his desk or some kind of super weapon?" I added, curious about what we would find.

"Heh, Tony was gonna drop a nuke on the boat people. Shame America beat him to the punch." Cameron added with a bit of humor.

"Guys! The radio!" Jeremy shouted. In a second we were up. Cameron put out the fire and ran to the passenger side door, I picked up the pot from the fire and put it in the boot along with our cups and bowls and closed it then hopped in the back and Rohan got into the drivers seat.

"Help! Raiders ambushed u- Ucking bastards killed my driver and my men are injur-. We're just near the Queensland/NT border on the A2! Pl- End He-." The radio stuttered. In between the static and shouting gunfire could be heard loud and clear. Soon the faint claps of gunfire could be heard way off in the distance as it broke the calm of the early morning.

"This is Sierra Team, Border Patrol come in, I repeat this is Sierra Team, over" Rohan said calmly into the radios microphone.

"Sierra Team this is the NT Border Patrol, what is the emergency Rangers?" A calm female voice said over the radio.

"We're reporting a Raider attack in progress a few miles down the A2. We're moving in to engage. Requesting a medical team and a small squad of militants for backup and medical assistance. Over."

"Your request is being approved of, there will be a medical team on the scene in under the hour, over." The voice replied.

"Understood, Sierra Team is moving in, over." Rohan said as he turned on the car and put the microphone down into its clip on top of the small radio sticking out of the dash under the radio. Soon we were barreling down the countryside heading towards the gunfire.

"Hey check it! Our phones are still in the glove box, and you said they were broken." Cam said to me as he fished out our phones. He handed my phone, earphones and all, to me. Its protective orange and black casing cracked from cams fuck up.

"I never said they were broken I said they were probably broken and that Rohan should check. Why the fuck didn't you?" I asked as I looked at Rohan.

"To spite you. Hey Cam, put something good on the radio." Rohan said as cam plugged a cord into the bottom of his phone and started playing a very familiar song. After a few minutes of driving we turned onto a long stretch of road and could see the ambush in the distance. In the distance a large black truck was under fire from what looked like armored Utes. I looked out the left window and saw a hill that went higher than the treeline with a cliff face in the direction of the fight.

"Hey, stop for a sec I think I see a good vantage point. Remember, If I throw up a red flare i'm in trouble." I said as the car slowed down. Jumping out I ran to the boot, opened it up and pulled out my rifle and bandoleer. Shutting the boot I banged the cars side to let them know its safe to drive off. As I made my way through the trees at a brisk pace I started humming to myself.

Two Minutes Later
Aaron

"We are SO fucked!" I shouted to myself. My driver was dead, the raiders outnumbered us, half of my hired guns were injured or scared and I was running low on bullets for my M9. Looking over the side of my truck I saw they were setting up a light machine gun on the roof of one of their cars. I guess if they can't kill us they'll just blow up the car. Before I had to duck back behind the car before they shot my head off I got a good look at the fuckers. They drove around in old SUVs, Jeeps and Utes, All off roaders, that they had either painted red with peoples blood or strapped a bunch of bones to it, animal and human. They had three Utes, the ones on the left and right just had two guys with assault rifles shooting at us but the one in the middle had a tripod mounted machine gun currently chipping away at my truck and its supplies. As I rested behind the sturdy machine I heard a pop and felt the truck sink a bit, the tires where shot out. Great...The trees and bushes are so thick we would barely make it into the trees before we get gunned down, we can't drive away and were running low on ammo. fuck, what the hell do I do?! As I continued to brainstorm I heard the sound of someone scraping a blade against metal and a manic laugh. Turning around I saw a raider had ran right past my guards, who were paralyzed with fear.

This man was hardly human. He wore simple leather armor that covered most of his chest and legs but his armor was torn and stained red from the countless victims he had claimed. His face was obscured by the broken mask he wore, whatever it used to be was now a stained red mask with cracked holes for eyes and straps connected at the back of the head. His eyes pierced into my soul as he stared at me, his cold look promised only intense pain. His head was shaved bald and his skin was cut open in various areas, spilling blood onto his torn and diseased looking skin. In his hands where two sharp kitchen knives, the blade was dirty and cracked but the man wielding it no doubt thought the knife would do the trick. He wore no shoes and his stained brown feet looked cut up and infected by all the rocks and other sharp things like broken glass. He looked like a broken man and he was no doubt one of the many crazies Raiders throw at their enemies. As he lunged forward at me, knifes ready and laughter ringing out across the open road, I realized I had no time to raise my gun. Closing my eyes I awaited my death...Only to hear the insane laughter replaced by a loud gun shot, a thud and silence. Opening my eyes I saw that the now dead raider lied in a pile at my feet, and his head was cracked open like a watermelon, spilling grey matter and viscera all over both myself my my truck. Hearing a low rumble I look to my left and saw something that inspired hope; an armored Humvee.

Matt

"Man I love my job." I said as I looked at my kill. Splattered the pricks brains all over the side of the black truck. It was at that moment Rohan decided to drive onto the scene. Everything was quiet until I saw Jeremy open the roof hatch and shout.

"Drop your guns and stand down! We will not harm you(speak for yourself) if you surrender and don't attempt to resist arrest. Any attempts to escape or fight back will result in a lethal response. This is your only warning!" He shouted loud. The Raiders laughed in response. I saw the raider on the light machine ready his gun so I looked down the scope, aimed for the head, breathed in half a breath, steadied the gun and-

"Boom." I muttered as a bullet tore straight through the eye socket of the ugly bastard and out the back, spraying fresh blood and bone chunks all over the back of the Ute. The dead body fell forward onto the gun, bumping the trigger and making it fire down at the hood of the car. It didn't take long for the cars engine to blow which killed two of the bastards who were using the cars doors as cover. As I looked over the scene of fiery carnage I saw there were only six of the bastards left; two where hid behind the broken cars to the left, two behind the right car and two who were running straight for the truck. The road was littered along the sides with old and destroyed cars from when people were trying to evacuate all the cities and escape further inland, aldo some made it a large amount of people died on the way leaving husks of cars littering the highways and roads. Aldo they were a minor inconvenience as our car was made so it could move them out of the way with our cowcatcher, a couriers truck would often have to slow down to avoid ramming them and swerve around them, making them easy to ambush and provide excellent cover for any would be ambushers. These raiders weren't anything special and I could see the guys were in control of the situation, but if these raiders are familiar with the area that could be a problem. I decided to switch focus between all the different raiders and lay down suppressive fire as I switched the gun to burst fire and began singing to myself.

"Oh there ain't no rest for the wicked, money don't grow on trees..."

Jeremy

"They never surrender do they?" I questioned out loud as I ducked inside Sheila to avoid the machinegun fire. After I saw the gunman get his left eye blown out by Matt and the car blowing up. Man, raiders really need safer cars its just too easy to blow up their stuff, what the hell do they put in their cars? C4? Anyway, After that happened I put my welding mask on and lowered it. The others had their helmets already on but as mine was mostly metal with a leather strap It wasn't something overly hard to put on and off. Standing up I grabbed hold of the mounted machine guns handles and looked down the iron sights. Two raiders ran around the truck and were rushing straight at me with a hand grenade in each hand. Great, suicide soldiers, there always a pain to clean off the car if they get to close. Their so inconsiderate. They wore next to nothing, only wearing pants, boots and some loose metal they wore as armor and a few bandoleers. They weren't smart and just rushed you. Thankfully their easy to kill. Aiming for the one on the left I leveled the gun and aimed for his head. Pulling the trigger for a second let loose a volley of about ten bullets. The bullets tore through the guys head and left arm at the shoulder and elbow, which burst like a watermelon and painted his friend in his blood. Instead of shooting the other guy through the head I aimed for his legs. After I pulled the trigger his legs seemed to disappear as red paste and gore replaced them. Falling to the ground, the raider didn't scream for long before his and his friends grenades exploded. The area around them was bathed in blood, destroyed bone and viscera and torn metal. Didn't even get ten feet towards the car. Looking around I saw Cam sneaking around the side of the road and Ro was heading towards the survivors of the attack, who were hiding behind a group of ruined cars near the truck. Looking around I saw what Cameron was planning. A group of raiders where planning to jump Ro and the traders so Cam was going to probably sneak up on them and finish them off. Matt was still laying down fire on the two dicks over on the right who where trying to get close to the car, but they weren't going anywhere and I can't hit them from here so I decided to just shot at the guys on my left. Needless to say, a constant stream of 30.cal kept them locked down.

Rohan

"Who here is in charge?" I questioned as I got near the group. They were fucked, plain and simple. The mercs were a joke, their armor being poor made, their guns matched in quality and their fortitude was shit. They were weeping and crapping their collective pants in fear. Clearly their anything but mercs or survivors. Probably some bar owner's or shop keep's sons. If the truck was anything to go by then the courier was at least aware of what he was getting into, armor and spare tires, so I guess he thought he could skim on the hired guns.

"I em, Courier Aaron, independent. Thank fuck you guys showed up. Who are you? NT Border?" One of them asked. Aaron looked terrible. His flannel shirt was torn open showing bad flesh wounds, his jeans were cut open around the knees showing someone had taken a knife to him and his legs and his gun was out of ammo if his handguns open slide was anything to go by and he looked like he was about to faint. His blonde hair was stained by blood and his blue eyes looked tired. He looked like he was about to drop dead.

"No. We're Sydney's Rangers. What happened?" I asked as I pulled my first aid kit off my belt and approached him. He, along with a few of the mercs, seemed shocked and then relieved.

"Well shit, didn't think a Ranger would be saving my sorry ass. Me and these guys were driving down the highway like any other day until we came across a large group of wrecked cars. It wasn't impossible to get through, just difficult. As we made our way through I was suspicious, something wasn't right you know? About halfway through I hear engines start up and these guys come barreling out of the treeline. I tell my driver to gun it and the mercs in the back of the truck to start shooting. We made it about ten minutes down the road before someone shots my driver. It was tough stopping a truck while getting shot at. I got behind the truck and hoped these boys were ready. Buts that just what they are, boys. Sorry bastards were too shocked to even react, the damn fools. Clearly never been outside a city. Anyways, I was on my last leg till you troops showed up." He said, bitter about the whole thing. While he was talking I was quickly cleaning off his wounds and doing what I could. I saw something to my left but then quickly disregarded it as I heard a shot, some shouting and a slicing noise.

looking to my right I saw two raiders running towards me, one with a Spaz 12 in his hands and the other a fireman's ax. Rising from the ground I reached for my pistol and aimed at the ax wielding man hands and the shotgun guys chest. Aim, breath, steady and boom. the first guy was now missing a few digits and the other guy was in enough pain to drop his gun. running up to the first guy I grabbed the axes handle before he dropped it. He didn't have time to scream as I stepped back and swung it into the raiders abdomen, right into the smaller intestines, and pulled out bring a few pieces of organ with me. His friend was horrified, watching his partner crumple to the ground into a pool of his blood and organs as they fell out of his torso. I ran up to him as he slowly tried to grab his gun, pistol whipped him in between the eyes, which knocked him back, then kicked away his gun and reached for my crowbar.As he stumbled back onto his feet I swung hard right into his jaw, I heard it break with a satisfying crack as I saw blood and teeth fly out off his mouth. I readied another swing and hit him right in the balls. I watched him fall over again, grabbing both his cracked jaw and broken dick. Kicking him in the side he rolled over so I could stand over him. Raising my weapon over my head I slammed it down onto the man's forehead repeatedly until I could see brain. By the time I was done his jaw was dislocated and visible through torn flesh, his left eye was burst and his forehead was caved in. After quickly wiping off my crowbar on the mans pants I went back Aaron who was looking at me, both horrified and in awe.

"Now, why don't you tell me where it hurts most?" I asked with a genuine smile. As I went back to work on my patient, I wondered what happened to the guys on my left.

Cameron

"Think we can take them?" I heard one of them asked, his voice raspy and annoying.

"Not with this fucking prick shooting at us! Who the fuck are these guys?!" The other guy asked.

"Did you see the badge on the guy on the turret? It looked like a Ranger's badge." The first guy said, clearly worried.

"Fuck. We picked a bad day for highway robbery. I was hoping for a few good kills, a few good meals, a box of ammo and some bitch to take back to camp. Man fuck today." Second said, pissed. After getting close enough, being right next to them hidden behind the next car over, I unpinned my badge, raised it over the car and waved it towards Jeremy. After I re-pinned my badge I heard Jeremy stop shooting.

"Hey, he stopped. Think hes reloading?" First asked.

"Na, hes just letting me do my thing." I said nonchalantly as I un-holstered my magnum and shot Second right in his heart, killing him quickly. First jumped up and tried to grab me. With my freehand I grabbed his right fist, twisted it and broke his arm, and threw him into a tree. As he shouted in pain and slowly got up I got my machete out of its sheath and approached him. As he was getting up I swung my machete and hacked right into his left leg, the blade only stopping once it had dug into his bone. I quickly yanked the blade out and letting his blood spray onto the trees and grass around us. As he clutched his leg he fell to the ground. Raising my weapon I swung hard and true right onto the guys neck, separating it from his body. I silently cleaned off my blade and picked up the guys head. He had some brown hair, enough to grab a hold of.

"Hey man, I wish I could say I'm sorry, but you head it coming." I said with a chuckle as I threw his head further into the trees.

"Oh fuck, Matts puns are starting to rub off on me." I said with mild annoyance as I walked back onto the highway. Looking around I saw we had done a fine job of fucking these punks up. Matt's kills were smeared all over the truck and burnt to a crisp, Jeremy's kills now stained the concrete roads, mine are lying in the grass with one being headless and I'm not going to even talk about what Rohan did.

"Hey Patches, you good? I don't need to calm you down do I?" Jeremy asked as he got off the Humvee and approached Rohan. Rohan was currently inspecting some guys wounds. Looking around I thought I saw movement along the treeline. Turning to face the trees I saw Matt walk out of the foliage.

"Damn, you got here fast." I said, surprised he somehow made it down a small cliff and through thick bushes and trees without anyone noticing.

"Years of practice Flare, keeping trying and maybe one day you can run for more than five minutes without getting tired." He replied snarkily as he hooked his rifle to his bandoleer and unhooked his hip flask from his belt. As he and I walked back to the others I could hear the sound of approaching cars.

"Huh, they got here quickly. Maybe the Border Patrol is finally getting their shit together." Matt said as he went back to drinking whatever possibly lethal drink was in his flask. When we got to them Rohan had almost finished patching up some dude and Jeremy was salvaging any and all tech from the dead raiders.

"Man, they got nothing. Fucking assholes, can't even spare a few shells." Jeremy muttered.

"Why the hell do you care about loose shells? We got boxes of those things back in the Humvee." Rohan replied.

"It all adds up...Holy fuck man you really went to town on these guys Patches." Jeremy said as he got up and looked around.

"Why the fuck do you care, they had it coming. Now then, take some of these if you feel the pain start to come back." Patches said as his tone of voice shifted from malice filled to caring. As Rohan got up we heard a group of doors open and shut behind us. Turning around we saw a brown jeep and an ambulance and a group of soldiers and paramedics. Both of the cars were heavily armored and had the initials N.T.B.P painted onto the doors in black paint. The soldiers wore heavy bullet proof vests that would have been used by riot police in the past. Their heads were covered by a black riot helmet and in their hands where various guns ranging from an M4 Carbine to a Akdal MKA 1919, all Courtesy of a few Turkish traders and American gunsmiths. Their legs where protected by light bullet proof pads around their legs and thighs while also protecting their navy blue pants. The Northern Territory Border Patrol, after being confused for other Patrols, had decided to paint all the N.T soldiers vests and helmets with a black, white and red that ran down their sleeves, chests and sides of their helmets and proudly wore Sturt Desert Roses. Despite the pale pink flowers giving them a girly look, they wore them with pride. The paramedics where similar colored aldo they wore fake flowers to avoid allergic reactions and wore lighter armor and helmets.

As I walked over to Rohan I could see one of the soldiers walking toward us. If his Captain insignia painted onto his shoulder and his walk was anything to go by he was probably the commanding officer here.

"Captain Robert Reagle. Who's in charge here?" The man asked. He had a deep, gruff voice but sounded calm. Me, Rohan and Jeremy just kinda looked at each other before Rohan finally spoke up.

"I guess I em? We don't really have a CO. Ranger Patches, and you are?." Rohan said, slightly unsure.

"Huh, the infamous Sierra Team. Patrolman Robert, now what happened here?" Robert said as he raised his visor which obscured his face. He had black hair and a scruffy beard and had a few scars on his cheeks. If his accent was anything to go by, he was a fucking American...

Rohan

"Raiders ambushed an independent caravan and killed their driver, leaving them stranded. We dealt with the threat." I answered truthfully.

"Yes, I know we were informed before we left, what I want to know is how did it end like this?" He replied slightly annoyed. As he was talking to me a group of paramedics went about assisting any of the injured men and helping the shocked ones up/.

"What do you mean?" I asked, unsure what he meant.

"Injured guardsmen, dead civs and mutilated bodies, both raider and non. You were meant to apprehend the criminals, not kill them, and you were meant to keep the civs safe." He replied as he inspected the area.

"Hey, maybe if you guys hadn't dragged your fucking feet getting here you could have helped you fucking Turncoat cunt!" Cameron said, rage in his voice as he pushed the officer back.

"Flare, calm down!" I shouted as I put an arm over his chest to hold him back. The officer seemed shaken but went back to being calm surprisingly quickly.

"We arrived as quickly as we could and demanded their surrender but they refused and we were forced to open fire." Rohan continued.

"Thats all fine, but what the fuck happened to those raiders? They look like they got into a fight with a Tormentor, smeared blood and guts, mutilated bodies and burnt husks..." The officer continued as he pulled out a notebook and started writing stuff down, no doubt a report of some kind.

"I used our cars 30.cal on some of them, Patches used as much force as I thought necessary-" Jeremy said as he approached the group.

"And I shot someone who blew up..." Matt quietly muttered nonchalantly as he walked past the officer, startling him, and stood next to cam.

"Fine, but the guys in charge back at the B.P HQ ain't gonna like this. They don't think the idea of a team of rangers going postal helps the militants view of us." He said with a sigh and continued to write.

"Not our problem." Matt replied casually as he looked around, seemingly bored.

"Of course its not..." He muttered as he continued to write something. "Expect a message from the B.P within the next few days, no doubt asking for your side of the encounter. I would ask you to fill out a form now but I get the feeling a group of rangers wouldn't be out on the Old Freeway without a reason." He continued as he finished writing and put his pad away.

"Got an order from the Great Divide, that's all you need to know." Cameron muttered darkly.

"You don't have to stick around if you don't want to but I get the feeling that guy wants to talk to you." Robert said as he walked around and periodically took photos of the area on his phone. The guy he was talking about was Aaron who seemed to be arguing about something with the paramedics before they begrudgingly let him walk over to us, limping in pain.

"Thanks for saving my ass back there, I know that isn't much so have whatever you want from my truck. Its mostly rations for the N.T frontier towns, so don't take those, but there's some miscellaneous crap I was planning to sell, but I get the feeling you guys don't give two shits about a thanks." He said with a slight smile as he walked back to the paramedics who sat him down in the back of the armored ambulance.

"Sweet, free stuff!" Jeremy said eagerly as he walked up to the wrecked truck and looked inside the back of it. It was an old M35 Cargo Truck, used by the Americans before the end, a group of Australian traders came across an abandoned military base and 'acquired' them. A surprising amount of cargo trucks have been salvaged over the years but are mostly used by Independent traders. This particular truck had dessert camo cargo covers on, probably to hide the amount of cargo and guards that were stationed in the back. As moved the cover we saw he wasn't kidding when he said it was mostly ration packs.

"Fuuucckk, I didn't even know these things could carry this much food. MREs, astronaut food, salted and preserved meat, dried fruits, soda, whisky and sterilized water by the crate load. Where the fuck is all this going too?" I asked no one as we jumped into the back and looked around, using the open cover flap as our only light source.

"I don't know man but this guy would have been set for a year or two with this kinda haul." Jeremy replied as he looked behind a few crates.

"Hey look, wireless headsets." Cam said as he opened a small crate. Inside where a large amount of in ear headsets that were small enough to wear with a helmet on and connected to a small hub. The box and headsets were painted black and looked easily concealable.

"This is the stuff patrol teams use to communicate with homebase. Shit the range on these things are amazing." Jeremy said as he inspected them.

"Well, he said we can have whatever." Cam said as he put one on to try it out. it fitted into his ears and the wire and plastic casing went around the back of the ear to the other one and the hub box sat in his trench coats chest pocket.

"Damn, these are nice." I said as I put one on.

"Looks like we don't need to borrow walkie talkies anymore." Matt said as he put his on and opened another crate to his left.

"Wow, I never thought I would see some of these in such good condition." Matt said as he reached inside the crate.

"What is it? A China Lake?!" Cameron asked excitedly.

"No, better." He said as he pulled out a wooden acoustic guitar.

"Instruments? Really? Got my hopes up for nothing" Jeremy asked with clear disappointment in his voice.

"Well what the fuck else are we gonna do in our spare time." Matt said as he pulled out more instruments.

"An Acoustic bass guitar for Patches." He said as he handed me a well made wooden orange guitar with fine tuned metal strings.

"A Harmonica for Flare, don't give me that look you can't play anything for shit." He said as he handed Cam, who took it reluctantly, a scratched red harmonica.

"A Acoustic guitar for me." He said as he pulled out a plain wooden guitar with a fine polish with black painted lines.

"Anything for me?" Jeremy asked as he continued to look inside different boxes.

"Nope, unless he has a whole drum kit here, you ain't getting shit." Matt said as he closed the box.

"Well fuck. So, why are we taking a bunch of musical instruments. If you expect us to start a band then I hope you remember how well that went down in High School.." Jeremy said slightly disappointed then curiously.

"Na, nothing like that. I'm just saying it would be cool to actually play music from time to time on the road instead of listening to a bunch of songs we can sing line for line. Besides, its a fun distraction." Matt said as he walked out of the truck. As we were walking out, instruments in hand, I looked down to the floor and couldn't help but laugh as I picked up a new collectible.

"Hey, I found a replacement for Kevin Rudd!" I shouted as I picked up the Julia Gillard bobble head with a oversized nose. It's paint was scratched and the overly red hair was starting to fade but it was in remarkably good shape.

"Heh. Finally, Parliament is back in session." Matt said with a small laugh as we made our way back to Sheila.

Three Days Later
The A32 Highway, Gas Station, New South Wales, Thirty miles out from Bathurst
Matt

"I swear to god Matt, if you let something creep up on me I'm going to break your nose." Rohan threatened through his headsets mic. I was currently watching him take a piss in a field through my rifle scoop, keeping anything that would want to kill him away from him.

"Don't worry man, I got you." I said as I concentrated on surveying the land. I was currently lying down on Sheila's roof, With Jeremy sitting next to me, drinking some kind of soft drink he packed. Cameron was sitting on the hood, eating chips and listening to music. We had been driving non-stop since the ambush and we were making great progress if you don't factor in the detours we had to make, fucking hordes. We had parked in a gas station parking lot while Rohan walked out into an empty lot and took a call from nature. We had taken a piss break on our road trip at one of the many dilapidated gas stations and convenient stores that used to plague highways and towns, but now they just sit there on broken concrete, collecting rust for the old gas pumps and wrecked cars and mold on all the shitty healthy candy bars. Kinda surprised no one touched them even during the apocalypse. As we sat on top of Sheila I couldn't help but appreciate the cool morning light and the cold winter breeze. As I swept the area, I saw movement. No slow to be a human, but not loud enough to be an infected. Must be a Sentry. Muting my mic, I signaled the others to do the same.

"OK, how far do you think its gonna get before he notices it?" I asked as I looked away from the scope.

"Ten 9mm bullets says it only makes about ten feet." Cameron said, he's mouth stuffed with salted potato.

"An MRE says about twenty feet, beat that." Jeremy challenged with a confident smirk.

"OK, I beat a bottle of bourbon at the next town we stop at if he doesn't notice the Sentry till its right next to him." I said with a smile as I looked back through my scope. Sure enough, out of the bush slightly behind him walked out a busted Sentry.

The Sentries get their name from the fact that most seem to be stuck walking in a loop, often guarding something, but you can find a few rogue ones here and there walking without a set program. The Sentries where going to be a huge thing apparently, both for the military and the big corporations, as they were seen as cheap labor. The militarized ones are a bunch of mean motherfuckers as they tend to be armed to the teeth with anything ranging from a simple carbine to a rocket launcher with a nail gun built into its chest for some goddamn reason. This one thankfully looked like it came from a pizzeria. Its wore a weird suit that wouldn't look out of place at a furry convention with its blood stained purple fur, half torn bunny ears, scratched and broken metal feet and its creepy red eyes and weirdly realistic teeth. It was slowly shuffling towards Ro, not unlike an infected, and seemed to be reaching its arms out towards him.

"OK, lets see how far it gets..." Cameron said excitedly.

"Hey, how long till your done?" I asked as I turned my mic back on.

"umm, not long? Listen can you not talk to me as I'm holding my dick? Kinda makes me feel awkward." He responded sheepishly.

"Why? I mean i'm watching you with a high powered rifle, its not like you're alone. I could probably shout and you would hear me." I responded, smiling as I saw the boy had gotten within twenty feet, pissing off Jeremy as he placed the MRE he was about to eat on the cars roof.

"Listen, I feel safe knowing you're watching me but that doesn't mean I want to talk right now." Rohan continued with a hint of annoyance as I kept him distracted from the robot who was quickly approaching.

"Oh, I never realized you felt that way Ro, If you feel safe with me watching maybe I should-"

"Oh fuck off you twat, you know what I meant now shut up and cover me!" Rohan shouted angrily through the mic as the robot was right behind him.

"Oh its a bit too late for that..." I muttered evilly.

"What?"

"HI THERE FRIEND!" The Robot said with a distorted, annoyingly high pitched feminine voice as it grabbed Rohans shoulders.

"GAH FUCK!!!" Robot shouted as he tried to push it off, but only feel over. After having a short laugh with the rest of the Rangers, I aimed for the robots head and let a bullet rip straight through its metal casing and furry cover. I was a bit sad at the lack of blood but a guess a missing servo and pee stained paints was going to have to be good enough.

"I can't fucking believe you did that! You shiting wanker!" Rohan shouted as he pulled his pants up and ran over with his crowbar over his head.

"Heh, time to get inside boys." I said as I slowly got off the roof and opened the drivers side door and locked the doors with everyone else, but Rohan, in.

"Open the doors so I can kick your ass!" Rohan screamed with an angry scowl on his face as he helplessly banged the crowbar on the drivers side door. The only response he got was a chorus of laughter and a slight bump on the window.

A few hours later
The Bathurst Circuit, Mt Panorama
Jeremy

"WOOOWWHHOOOHHHOOO!!!!" Cameron shouted as he hacked off yet another dead racers head at 110 mph down a race track. Likewise Rohan was laughing his head off as he caved in a monster's head with his crowbar while I mowed down a horde of beasts in front of me on the turret while Matt was driving Sheila into said horde. Many Rangers found visiting Mt. Panorama and reducing the local infected population while driving stupidly fast one of the best things since fertilizer was mass produced again. So here we were, two of my friends laughing like a jackass, Ro in the passenger seat on my left and Cam next to me in the back on the right, while I concentrated on shooting a wall of bodies.

"This almost makes up for you letting that prick sneak up on me!" Rohan shouted over the inhuman screeching of the pale, yellow or white skinned dead ex-residents of Bathurst. The infected ranged from mostly human, with their skin still hanging on loosely, their eyes still having some color but was mostly milky white and their hair falling out onto their blood stained clothes and torn open wounds. They tend to have most of them limbs attached and could pass of as a man or women with a bad limp if they wore a mask, but then there's the mutants. Aldo most infected just look like your run-of-the-mile reanimated corpse there are also a few variants mixed in.

"Oh fuck!" Matt shouted as a Vulture landed on the hood of the car. Speaking of mutants, these ones are the most annoying. Vultures get their name from their strange, leathery wings that break out of their backs from grotesque wounds. Vultures lack legs, instead they drag around useless stumps that bleed putrid liquid that looks like it could be pus mixed with blood. Vultures have shortened arms that barely reach as far as a normal arm but from their grey, cracked wrists grow rows of sharp bone like claws that are used to slash open carcasses. A Vultures two most unsettling features are their elongated heads, which look more like a birds skull then a humans, and their chests which are so skinny and boneless that you can see their organs clearly through their near translucent skin which also gives a good view of their...eggs. As the vulture was seemingly hiding from my turret I watched Matt wind down his window, pull out his revolver and and starting haphazardly at it. Aldo the first shot missed, the second and third ones hit true and pierced its left eye and heart, which only seemed to annoy it as it flapped up and above the car while howling in pain in a strange, scratchy voice. Aiming at it, I let loose a volley of bullets which made quick work of its exposed organs, causing it to seemingly explode in mid air, spraying yellow and red blood all over the ground but thankfully avoided the car.

"Fucking sick!" Cameron yelled as he continued to behead more and more corpses. As we neared a corner Matt slammed on the brakes and power slided into the horde in front of us, causing many of them to be run down or get impaled on the cowcatcher. As we turned sharply right Ro and Cam held onto the car with their free hands and I just held onto the turret. As Matt slammed down on the throttle we speed off down the now cracked raceway speeding past hundreds, if not thousands, of dead people. Some of them looked somewhat familiar, whether they may have been a relative a long time ago or someone from some movie, some of them looked familiar, still didn't stop us from killing them and taking anything valuable.

"Hey, I was wondering, why the hell are we doing this?" Rohan asked as he went back inside the car and rolled up his window, leaving cam to do all the hacking.

"Why the hell not? I think we should make this an annual thing." Matt said excitedly, aldo he seemed a bit sad for some reason, almost distant.

"Meh, All the famous racers are already dead or working for a gang or the military, so its not as fun just killing randoms." Cameron said over the sound of screaming monsters and his blade cutting through said monsters like a hot knife to a stick of butter.

"Not all of them! Eat shit Paul Morris! OK, now we can go...Just after this." Matt shouted joyfully as he ran down a familiar ex-racer and speed down the hillside race track. The day continued like this for quiet awhile with Matt running down anything in his way, Ro and Cam hacking down anything that got too close for comfort and me shooting down any Mutants that I saw, Vultures seem to nest near Bathurst, don't know why aldo it could be all the rotten food, but after a few hours of driving up and down the race track, damaging both the local population and our bullet count we decided to take a few photos next to the now faded white Mt. Panorama with the decapitated head of Paul Morris, you know for Christmas cards, and then went back on the road. Before we left New South Wales, there was one more place we had to visit.

A few hours later...
Rohan

The laughter and sound of mayhem seemed like a distant memory as we all stood there on the cliff face overlooking the now infamous stretch of radioactive land. The sky was grey and cloudy with the distant sound of thunderclaps and rain being the only sound that could be heard. The ground beneath us, once vibrant and green was now a filthy brown and grey, showing no sign of the live that once inhabited this land. The jagged cliff we stood upon looked out a scene of death and decay, a harrowing sight that is both all too familiar to us yet so foreign and depressing. The land was dusty and dead, the only things that still stood was the destroyed buildings and wrecked skyscrapers, the only sign that people once lived here, and the burnt husks of plants and animals. The only things that lived here where creatures that lived in the shadows of this desolate place. Whether they're alive or dead is of no matter, they won't ever leave this kill zone. The ocean was far on the horizon, eventually stopping the spread of destruction. The tide seemed to come in further and further with each passing year, it was so close now that the once beachside houses and businesses are submerged completely underwater, the only things marking them are the scattered signs that request help. Who ever put those signs there are now long dead, their bodies never to be seen again. Some people try and go further into the wastes to scavenge for anything that the rescue teams missed, but the rapid clicking of a Geiger counter quickly detours the smart ones. The scene almost looked like a dark painting of the end of the world with the small shifts of dust and sand, the slowly encroaching storm clouds and the raging crashes of the oceans waves breaking the stillness of dead land.

It was a strange light seeing my friends and I look so different than we do now. Matt had given up on smoking years ago, but it seems every time we come here he smokes a few cigarettes and empties his hip flask. He had just taken a few sips of his hip flask before Cam light one of his cigarettes which he proceeded to take a long drag off. His face was emotionless. This never looked out of place at first, as he often goes 'in the zone' as he puts it but when ever he zones out during a mission he never looks so dead. When hes in the zone hes calculated, prepared and distant, but now he just looked vacant. Gone was the happy man who tends to over indulge and so was the hardened Ranger. He was dead to the world right now and the only thing that came close to showing emotion on him was his eyes...And they just looked hurt beyond belief.

Cameron was angry, this much was clear, but it wasn't the anger he feels towards most things in life or even the anger he reserves for his enemies. This was a primal rage. His eyes seemed to sink into his skull as he his most of his face beneath his black stetson, but what I could see was a twisted scowl and a pair of cold eyes burning with pure hatred. he was feverishly opening and closing his lighter while turning it on and off, casting a small orange glow over his hardened expression. The first few times I tried talking to him he would often snap and try and hurt someone, so now we just stand in silence.

Jeremy was depressed beyond compare. Jeremy prides himself of going out of his way to be cheery in a dreadful situation often just to piss off everyone else, but this was one of the rare times his mask cracks. He was openly crying as he stared out at the empty landscape, never blinking or breaking concentration as he wordlessly vented. He was going to be fine, but in this moment we knew he needed to let it all out, so we just let him cry for awhile. His eyes were puffy and red, his cheeks had a constant stream of tears running down it and his slouched posture and lack of his signature cocky and stupid grin all pointed out he was not in his usual happy state of mind. He seemed to be turning his necklace over and over in his hands and periodically mumbled something to them.

I stood there. I'm not really sure how I felt. Angry? Sad? I felt both of those but I was never as far gone as the others. When I stare out into the ruins I never know what to feel. When he came back here many years ago I was angry beyond belief, we all were, but as I got older that anger and sadness started changing. It changed into hope. As I stare, I feel a small sliver of hope somewhere inside me. Many people see this as one of the greatest tragedies of our time, but I see it as the catalysis for something great. A beacon for us all to stand together for and a war cry for us all to fight for. Our focus and thoughts were broken by the soft pat of rain on our heads and the echoing clap of thunder. I'm not sure how long we stood there, but it was long enough.

"Remember Sydney..." I said dejectedly.

"Remember Sydney." The others echoed with a matching tone of voice. Wordlessly turned around and slowly made our way down the cliff towards Sheila. Once I had gotten in the drivers seat the rain started pouring down, drenching our cars exterior. Matt, from the passenger seat, reached forward and grabbed bobble Tony Abbott's head, face it towards Julia Gillard, pulled it back, and let it go causing it to slam into Bobble Julia Gillard's oversized nose causing them to bounce into each other again and again.

"We should probably move on, An anomaly is gonna hit soon, hell its already at Bathurst by now." Jeremy said, his voice still a bit choked up, from the right of Cam as he inspected his phone. We silently drove off in the direction of Canberra, hoping to get there by tomorrow morning if we don't have to take shelter from the storm.

The Everfree Forest
???

Deep in the Everfree Forest, as the night was nearing its end, a dark storm was brewing. The clouds where dark and sickly discolored, giving off an alien look and feel, and the usual thundery boom was now a distorted copy, now sounding more menacing than ever before. The animals fled in terror at the strange sight, but no one was around to document this sight, much like all the times before elsewhere in the world. As the storm grew so did the discoloration, which now gave off a sick, neon glow. Lighting struck the ground haphazardly, killing all the animals and plant life in a ten foot radius and leaving nothing behind but death, burnt plants and a radioactive glow. But, as the storm was coming to an end hours later in the early hours of morning, as the final bolt of lightning struck the ground, something was left behind. If anyone were to see it, they would think it to be some burnt metal or a shiny rock that had been painted black. But, as the figure rose from the ground they would have been able to notice its singed purple fur and one floppy ear. As the figure stood up tall it seemed to rub its eyes, or more correctly its one glowing purple eye and its empty socket. The figure quickly look around and seemed to be surprised by where it was, despite having a permanent grin on its artificial face. It quickly inspected itself, wiping off any dirt or grass it found on itself and then seemed shocked at its mangled right foot and the huge bullet hole in the front and back of its head. It sighed in an over the top and comical fashion before merrily walking off in a random direction. After what felt like to the figure minutes of walking it strutted into a clearing. The early morning light lit up the small area and the only things that seemed out of place was a moss covered log and...

'A bunny!!' the thing thought happily as it walked towards the sleeping bunny. As he approached it he noticed it was a white rabbit with two cool purple stripes running horizontally along its sides. After getting down on all fours and poking it, the rabbit woke up and panicked at the giant creature. Breathing heavily the rabbit backed away from the giant purple thing until it hit a log on the ground and then closed its purple eyes in fear. After about a minute of heavy breathing the rabbit opened its eyes and saw the thing was offering an outstretched paw(?) in a way that looked like a hoof shake of some kind.

"HI BUDDY! WANT TO BE FRIENDS?" The giant thing asked with a chipper voice.