Free Wasteland Rules: Born to Fight (The World After Book 2) by J.G. Martin Page B

to use proxies. Maybe he could figure out a way to circumvent the
effects of the device and attack Derek directly. He would like some revenge on
the Major, and saving Father would make it even sweeter.
       There was only one way that the Major could use
the device to truly harm Father. All he had to do was prevent Derek from
achieving that and he would maintain his place at Father’s side. Maximillian
would travel to the site of the transportation storage and prepare the defenses
there. But just in case, he would also set up a backup plan or two. Derek could
not be allowed to reach Father.

Chapter 11
    June 18, 2029
    Flamingo Point, Everglades National Park
       The chopper dropped them off about five miles
from a known Cartel processing facility southwest of Miami in the Everglades.
The chopper didn’t even land, they jumped out into a barren field and the
chopper took off again almost immediately. The pilot had flown close to the
ground to avoid any radar that the Cartel might have, and they had flown in
without lights and the pilot using night vision goggles to evade possible
spotters. Derek and Rora dropped down into what had been an irrigation ditch
prior to the Aftermath and waited.
       After about an hour had passed and no one had
come to investigate, Derek figured they had gone unnoticed. He tapped Rora on
the arm and they headed out towards the processing facility. It was located at
the southern end of the park in the area known as Flamingo Point. The terrain
was still swampy but had very little vegetation. Without people using all the
water north of the park, the water levels had risen considerably from prior to
the Collapse. At that time the park had been slowly dying because the water
hadn’t been making it to the park and it was also being overrun by invasive
species. Instead of saving a national treasure, the government had been more
interested in foreign adventures.
      The Collapse and the Aftermath had been a boon to
the park and some of the plants had even managed to survive. The trees were
dead, but they were now covered in vines, Spanish moss, and fast growing weeds
that threatened to choke out the entire area. The alligators had thrived as
well without humans to endanger them. But the true apex predators were the
pythons that had been overrunning the park in the final days before the
Collapse. Rumor was that they had gotten big enough to swallow a full grown
human.
       Derek figured that the Cartel guards would not
expect anyone to traverse the swamp in the dark and so would not be that
vigilant. Using night vision goggles borrowed from NASA, who seemed to have
every technological marvel readily available, they slogged through waist deep
water. He didn’t tell Rora about the gators or snakes and tried to ignore the
sensation of things rubbing against his legs. It was slow going and when they
made it onto the coastal trail that ran along the southern shoreline into the Flamingo
Point area, they took a short break.
      Derek recovered quickly and he scouted ahead while
Rora caught her breath. He found a few simple booby traps along the path and
disabled them. It was unlikely anyone would approach the facility from this
direction so they hadn’t spent much time on protecting it. After he exited the
trail into the camping area he did find more precautions including some mines
and barbed wire. Derek cut the wire and disabled the mines.
       The facility itself he found surrounded by a
barbed wire fence and using the night vision goggles he spotted a few sentries
posted around the grouping of buildings. It looked like they were using the old
two story visitor center as the main building with the processing going on
inside. There were several boats parked at the marina adjacent to the visitor
center and guards patrolled the docks and building there. The parking lot was
full of plastic fifty gallon drums and pallets. He marked the patrol routes and
sentry locations in his mind and made his way back