“Rubberfaces?” I gasped. “All the way out here?”
“Yes.” Natalie already had her backpack over her shoulder and her AK-47 in her hands.
I quickly stood up, tossed on my backpack, and slung my pistol holster back around my body. Then I fastened the harness on my waist and readied my shotgun as I slid my feet back into my boots.
Meanwhile, Natalie’s eyes were fastened to the tree line as she studied it for movement.
“I don’t see anything,” I whispered.
“I went patrolling while you were asleep,” she mouthed below a whisper. “They didn’t see me, but I certainly saw one of them.”
“Could it be a straggler?” I questioned. “A lone wolf?”
“That’s not how Rubberfaces operate,” the blonde woman explained. “He was armed, which means he’s probably with a patrol. I’ve never seen an armed Rubberface out on his own before… If I had to guess, I’d say there’s at least four or five of them out there. We’re going to have to—Shit!”
A rustling noise arose from somewhere in the forest, and Natalie crouched down and then motioned for me to do the same. I lowered my body so I was behind hers, then we high-tailed it down the beach.
We ran for only a few paces before Natalie took a sharp right turn and sprinted into the forest of Radon Root. She halted in front of one of the larger trees as she put her AK-47 over her shoulder before she clasped her hands together palm-up and nodded between them and the branch above. Then the woman crouched down in a squat.
That was enough for me to get the gist.
I tossed my shotgun over my shoulder and then took off at a full sprint toward Natalie. When I was only a step or two away, I jumped up and outstretched my foot toward her hands.
The second my leg hit her palms, the Scavenger let out a soft grunt and pushed my momentum upward.
I flew up about two feet into the air, but that was more than enough to grab onto the branch above. My arms wrapped around the wooden appendage, and then I instantly did a sort of pull-up as I hoisted myself onto it. Next, I turned around and extended my hand for Natalie.
The blonde Scavenger gripped my wrist, and I used both of my hands to pull her up beside me. We began to climb up a series of branches until we were about twenty feet off the ground, and our position was covered by the combination of darkness and foliage of the tree itself.
“What are Rubberfaces doing all the way out here?” I asked. “I thought you said they all congregated in the Fallen Lands?”
“The ones in this area usually do,” she explained. “That or Carsville… Detroit, I believe is what you know it as. It’s what my father used to call it. But that’s hundreds of miles away.”
“So, you think this is a conscious effort?” I frowned.
“Maybe,” Natalie admitted. “You never find whole groups of the bastards wandering about in the wild. This is unheard of.”
“Unless they’re evolving again,” I offered. “You said they’ve been getting smarter over time, right? Well, what if they’ve finally figured out that they have to go out further to find the humans?”
“I can’t believe that,” Natalie muttered and shook her head. “I just can’t.”
“Why not?” I demanded.
“Because… ” Her tone took a dire turn. “The Rubberfaces are already stronger, faster, and more aggressive than us humans. If they somehow were to rise to our intellectual level, the human race would be fucked.”
“I don’t see any other explanation,” I said. “If that really was a scout you saw, then that means there might be even more of them somewhere around here.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of… ” the blonde woman trailed off. “And that’s why we absolutely cannot be seen. If they’re given the chance to sound the alarm, it will be bad for us.”
Suddenly, we heard more rustling further off in the forest, and we both went as silent as a snow-covered mountain at midnight. Then, down the beach, about ten feet or so from where we’d set up camp, two figures emerged from the tree line and stepped out onto the sandy ground.
Both of the figures were wearing dirty, toga-like cloths over their bodies, and they had assault rifles in their hands. Massive growths were protruding from every angle on their heads, and their skin was a sickly color as it stretched downward toward the ground.
Definitely Rubberfaces.
The two mutants jabbered to each other as they began to patrol the beach and headed in our general direction. Then one of the ugly bastards froze in place before he slapped his partner on the arm, pointed toward our campsite, and readied his rifle.
Both of the Rubberfaces approached the campsite tensely as they scanned the area for any signs of life. When they finally got to the fire, one of the mutants softly prodded it with his bare foot, and then he turned to his partner and snarled.
“Iktunar!” he bellowed in a voice so loud we could hear it clearly all the way over here. “Iktunar ik param!”
“Fuck,” Natalie hissed. “That’s not good.”
Suddenly, we heard a few more garbled voices call out in the dark.
“Nalb Iktunar!” one of them cried from somewhere deep in the forest.
“Oh… really not good,” the blonde woman sighed.
Hunter? Karla’s voice spoke up. Your heart rate and adrenaline are both back up. What’s going on?
“Mutants,” I whispered to the voice in my head. “They’re here in the forest with us, so we’re hiding until they pass.”
Hiding? the voice scoffed. You can’t just sit around and hide, Hunter. We’re paying you by the hour, after all.
“Very encouraging, Karla,” I snarked, “thank you.”
How many of them are out there?
“I’m not sure,” I admitted, “we only have two in our sights, but there’s at least one or two more out in the forest somewhere.”
That’s actually perfect, Karla noted. If they’re separated, then you can kill them off one by one, preferably without any direct confrontation.
“That’s easy for you to say, miss badass action woman,” I grumbled.
You will just have to use your available resources, Karla said as she completely ignored my sarcasm. You’re currently with a “badass action woman,” if you hadn’t noticed. She’ll know what to do, and I can walk you through anything you can possibly come up with.
“What’s the voice in your head saying?” Natalie whispered.
“She’s telling me we need to get moving,” I explained, “and to do that, we’ll need to use stealth takedowns on as many of these Rubberfaces as we can.”
“That’s it?” the blonde scavenger scoffed. “I could have told you that… She sounds useless.”
“I won’t refuse help,” I snickered, “but you can tell her you think she’s useless when you meet her.”
“Okay, are you ready to do this?” the blonde asked.
“Yeah,” I said as I nodded.
Describe your surroundings, the voice in my head demanded.
So, I told her what I saw. I told her about the two armed Rubberfaces just up the beach, and how we were currently hiding up in a glowing, formerly radioactive tree. There was silence on the other line for a moment as Karla tried to formulate a plan, and finally, her deep voice arose once more.
Get them over there, and then drop down on them, she explained. You can kill them with one swift, silent blow.
“How on Earth do we do that?” I mused. “It’s a long way down from here, and all I’ve got are my guns and my E-Tool.”
“She’s suggesting we do ‘Death from Above,’ isn’t she?” Natalie guessed. “I could have thought of that. Follow my lead.”