Now I’ll move on to something a bit different.
Mr X
The Renegade Chronicles
Prologue
The world ended before I was born.
I don’t have much of an idea what happened. There was a war and the world I was born into was the aftermath. This world is one of oppression. One ruled by a corporation called Absence Incorporated (AbInc for short). The police, army and any other organisation that could oppose AbInc were dissolved and replaced by their private army, the Faceless, named after their identity masking uniforms. My parents where both killed fighting the faceless and I was raised by the freedom fighters, the Renegades. This is my story.
Chapter 1
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The gas tanks exploded with ferocious force. It sent flaming debris everywhere, whilst me and Scout Sparrow flew about a hundred metres back. I don’t really need to tell you, it was fun, although I’d imagine the landing could have been smoother.
As we picked ourselves up, we could hear the sirens of the incoming faceless. Now usually we wouldn’t back down from a fight with them but we’d just been blown half way to Zone 8, so now was not the time.
This was our fifth successful raid on the supply trucks heading for Utopia. We must be the most wanted in Zone 4 by now. The zones are not an easy place to live. The war had a huge toll on the atmosphere. Now the zones are mostly desert, bombarded with radiation. It is a good idea to stay inside during the day. We operate mostly by night. Radiation does strange stuff to you if you stay out in it too long. That’s why the faceless don’t come looking for us that often. A few towns remain under their radiation shields, but hardly anyone who has a choice lives in the zones. Utopia has closed its doors due to over-crowding, which has made the people desperate. The zones are dying on their feet.
By the time we’d made it back to our base, which is a converted old mechanics shop on the outskirts of Jago, just before dawn. It was one of the first Renegade bases in zone 4. It may not look like much on the outside, but under the ground it has living space for about 10 at a time. Not that there’s that many of us anymore. We had a full house at the end of the winter but we’ve lost a few of our team since then. Agent Revenge went in the spring; he got caught by some faceless sabotaging the detention centre. Battery Cola went soon after; she got ghosted by an agent. That one was hard, she was a good fighter and she had a lot of spirit.
Of our motley group, only Venus Hunter was at the base when we got back. Venus is the kind hearted one of the group, always trying to be of help when ever it’s needed. She has bright pink hair, so you can see her coming a mile off. She is very quick thinking when needed and is good at getting us out of difficult spots. Her ray gun usually strapped to her thigh for easy access. But as we walked in she was sitting at the front desk, with her gun out on the table. The radio was on; Satellite Star’s show was coming through over the airwaves. She looked up as I entered. She gave me a nod as I walked over but, as usual, she ignored Scout Sparrow as he walked past. I guess she still hasn’t forgiven him for what happened to Battery Cola, even though he couldn’t have done anything to save her.
“Hey Venus,” I said. “Where’s Doc Dread?”
“Back in the garage, I think. He’s having a go at the ‘vette.”
By that she means my Corvette. It’s 1969 vintage, in gold with a black dragon on the bonnet and massively turned engine. It’s been out of action since we got run off the road by an agent a few weeks ago.
“Good, I’ve been asking him to look at that for ages.” I said as I turned to go to the garage.”Are Crash and Night-Streamer back yet?”
“Nah, not yet. Crash said he wanted to check something out before they came back. Over by the radiation shield generators out west of the town.”
Crash Solar is our leader. Not by choice, it’s just he was the oldest and most experienced when our last leader, Lithium Killer, got ghosted. He’s a good leader, but he has become quite cautious since we lost Revenge and Cola. Night-Streamer is Venus’ sister. She’s a great team member, she’ll help you in any way she can and if anyone gets out of line, she’ll kick them in the balls. Much like her sister really.
As I made my way to the garage I could hear the sound of the local zone radio, DMT (detonation musical transmissions). It’s one of the few stations that have access to music from before the war, as one of the first things AbInc did was destroy any type of subcultures. Doc Dread is really into stuff from back then. Makes no sense to me sometimes, although some of the stuff is quite good, give me Hostile Intent any day.
The garage was a mess. Parts of the car were all over the place. The car (what was left of it) was up on jacks and Doc Dread was underneath, doing something with the suspension. He didn’t seem to notice when I came in and carried on with whatever he was doing. I cleared my throat and he jumped, smacking his head on the chassis.
“S’up” I said as he jumped to his feet and turned on me.
“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT FOR” he shouted at me, getting right up to my face, which is quite a feat for him ’cause he’s about half a foot taller than me. “CAN’T YOU KNOCK OR SOMETHING”
“You wouldn’t have heard me” I said walking round to the worktable and picking up a suspension damper. “You shouldn’t have that radio up so loud. Anyway, how is it?”
“It’s fine” He sighed irritably, snatching the damper from my hand and putting it back on the worktable. “The front left suspension was collapsed. I’ve replaced the lot, it need upgrading anyway. How did you manage to make it collapse anyway?”
“Got chased of the road by that agent, you know that bald guy. We ended up in the Boulder Fields.”
Just then Sparrow appeared in the door. His face was white and he looked worried.
“Quick guys, we need you!” He said. His voice was shaking.
