15 Years Later: Wasteland Read Online Free Page B

hurt. He tried to find a way out of the net but was completely entangled by it. He could do nothing. He had little energy left, and no way to fight back, but he had made it to safety. Made it to the city. In his head that made him think he had won. He had succeeded in the mission he set for himself, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
    His dream was soon shattered when he heard the roar of the car engine. A rope attached to the net drew taut as he was wrenched out of the shop and landed hard on the ground outside. He was dragged a few yards and then stopped. He fought once again to get out of the net, but it was impossible. He reached down for the multi-tool on his belt in some hope of getting to the blade, but it was too late. The ball and chain-wielding maniac stood over him now, and he was powerless to act. He saw the man's fist coming for his face and felt the impact before blacking out.
     

Chapter 4
     
    Yet again Zed found himself awakening to a pounding headache, but not in the scorching heat this time. He was lying on cool ground and looking up at a steel grate where the only source of light came from. It looked like it used to be a galvanised steel fence. Around him were earthen walls. He was underground and alone. The smell of old urine was putrid and overpowering, and enough to make him want to get to his feet. He banged on the grate above him and tried to push it up, but it seemed well secured.
    "What do you want from me?" he screamed.
    There was nothing. He could hear voices and activity, but not clearly enough to understand what was happening. It sounded like there were at least a dozen people nearby. That made him lose hope. Even if he could get out of the cage, there seemed little hope of getting away. He held onto the rails of the grate and shook it violently.
    "Let me out!" he screamed again.
    But he soon felt his knuckles being wrapped by a wooden cane. He let go and could see he was bleeding from the impact.
    "Shut up!" yelled a gruff voice from above, and the cane was lashed down on the grate once more.
    He could hear a large bolt being slid across. The grate was thrown open, and the light flooding in blinded him for a moment as he held his hands up to shelter his eyes. His arms were grabbed, and he was hauled out of the little cave and thrown violently onto his back.
    He looked around to see he was in a small square area, little more than twenty feet wide. The walls were made of an assortment of corrugated iron and a few upturned burnt out cars. The seating all around looked as though it had been taken from a college football pitch. This was an arena, and he looked around at the dusty floor. It was stained with what was almost certainly the blood of the many victims who had fallen there.
    Three men stood in front of him. Two were those who had ridden on the truck to capture him, but the third in the centre was unfamiliar. He was about six-feet five and both strongly built and well fed, unlike some of the scrawny creatures he had met so far. His long black hair and surplus body armour further added to his bulk, making him an intimidating figure of a man. His arms were bare and covered in tattoos. Neither of them spoke for a moment as they studied one another. Finally, the huge man stepped aside to reveal another behind him.
    "Is this the one?"
    It was the psychotic schoolgirl dressed maniac of a woman who had tried to kill him the day before. But all that hatred in her eyes seemed to have gone as she looked in on him with curiosity.
    "Well?"
    "Yes," she replied.
    Though she seemed hesitant and almost a little protective in a way Zed just didn't understand. She didn't even seem to want to look him in the eye. That was strange after how the day before she appeared to want nothing more than to take his life, and if possible with her own hands. The man stepped back in front of her and studied him from head to toe once more.
    "What Order?"
    Zed shook his head, but he was dealt a punch to the face from one of