Free Rage by Matthew Costello Page A

crate of them.”
    “Okay. And I call in if I see something?”
    “Yes,” Dan said. “And Raine—do this and you can, well … stay here.”
    “For a while,” Halek added.
    “For … a while.” Dan’s expression relaxed a bit. “Also, the buggy is yours. And the guns.”
    “If you come back,” Halek muttered.
    Dan ignored his brother. “We’ll be—guess what you’d call them back in the pre-asteroid days—friends.”
    Halek spit on the ground. The future wasn’t turning out too friendly.
    “When do I leave?”
    “Now. If there are some Wasties out there, we best find out sooner rather than later.”
    Raine stood up.
    The sudden move made his head turn a bit dizzy. Fiery specks in his eyes. He didn’t react, though. Didn’t want to give Halek the satisfaction.
    “Then—let’s do it.”
    Raine sat down behind the wheel of the small buggy.
    “Look familiar?” Dan asked.
    “Yeah. Think you have pieces here of a Humvee mixed in with—God—could be a Mustang?”
    “Cars? Lot we don’t know. About your days, your stuff. Okay, the tires have been reinforced with an extra layer of steel cord. Takes a lot to puncture them. But I won’t kid you, it’s not much of a vehicle, even by our standards.”
    Raine could believe it.
    Dan leaned into the buggy.
    “Use that radio. See anything, let us the hell know.”
    “Don’t worry. I will.”
    “We don’t have a map to give you. It wouldn’t be too accurate anyway. Just head northeast once you’re through that end of the settlement. You’ll see what looks like a road. Forty miles out, and then back. Maybe you’ll see nothing.” His eyes did nothing to convince Raine that he thought that was a possibility.
    Dan reached behind his back to his belt buckle and pulled out a knife.
    “Take this. You never know. I’d give you more …”
    Raine took the knife, looking at the five-inch blade. Serrated. More of a fisherman’s blade than anything else. But it looked nasty and sharp.
    “Thanks. I appreciate it. My first road trip in the new world. Feels like, I dunno, a driving test.”
    Dan nodded and grinned. “Yeah. Well, guess it
is
a test.”
    He backed away from the vehicle.
    “Time you’re off.”
    No key. Just a switch to start the engine. Raine threw it. The unmuffled roar made hearing any other words from Dan impossible.
    Though Raine could see that he mouthed something.
    Good luck.
    With that, Raine started pulling away from the collection of metal buildings, heading down one of the dirt roads to the way out of the settlement.

THIRTEEN
RADIO SILENCE
    R aine took the smoky, coughing buggy slowly through the streets of the settlement. He noticed that people came out of their podlike buildings to gawk at him.
    Drawn to the sound, or the fact that he was a stranger? Looking at his suit and knowing he was from the past?
    No one smiled—though he saw a kid staring, his face smeared with what looked like oil. Raine wondered … did everyone here work at keeping the settlement’s buggies running?
    The boy’s eyes widened. Then he smiled. Raine smiled back. His father pulled the boy close.
    Guess it’s not a good idea to get too close to me, Raine thought.
    Though I’m still not sure why the hell not.
    He followed the winding dirt street as it funneled to an entrance. The barrier—it was a stretch to call anything this crudea “gate”—was constructed of chunks of metal, girders, seemingly anything that could be piled together to make the settlement secure.
    Two guards, gun barrels held high, waited at each side of the way out.
    They didn’t react as he went by.
    Okay, he thought. He wasn’t the most popular person in the Hagar Settlement. Maybe a few good “services” would change that.
    But even if he could change their opinion of him, he couldn’t help but wonder, Was this his life now? Was this where he’d stay?
    If not, where do I go?
    And more to the point:
What the hell do I do?
    He looked at his buggy’s compass, a