" Sam !! Sam!" little Tjon hollered out as he clambered down a tall grass laden hill. In some areas the grass was so tall that he could barely see through it. Tjon was the youngest and smallest boy in the group, but Samuel had grown a soft spot for the short scruffy blonde orphan. " I see it !! Wait for the signal T, no jumpin' the line." Samuel grew up hitting convoys, he was a Dusk Raider afterall, it was in his blood. It wasn't something that he looked at as wrong, it wasn't stealing to him. He had no choice. He and his Raiders, male adults and children cast off by civillization, exiled into what barren land the ninaites didn't destroy yet had no use to the people. Samuel wasn't like the rest of them though, he never was inside, he never saw the lush farms and gardens, the gigantic water filtration and storage systems. Samuel was born in the Badlands, as it was so adorningly reffered. Women and female children were never exiled from the civillization, their fertillity being far to valuable a commodity. Males on the other hand could be left behind without losing much, according to the new society. Manual labor was mans' only benefit, women being over valued for half a century and the practice of exiling excess men deemed useless had left only a small blood line of men permitted to breed. " Get ready T !! Here we go !!" Tjon pulled out the chaulk holding an empty tanker on the incline, signaling at the same time Kodo to do the same on the other side of the gorge. The two tankers went rumbling to roaring down the steep incline of the gorge almost instantly. It wasn't so much that the tankers were empty as it was they weren't filled with gas. Instead the Raiders had filled then with stones and sand, doubling then tripling the weight to 12 tons each. Below in the gorge the leading truck in the convoy caught a glimpse of the rock slide preceding the tankers by about 100 yards. The driver of the lead truck locked up his brakes, finally seeing the two, well at least one of the giant tankers before they collided with a massive, thunderous explosion. The trucks cab was completely flattened, the tankers release timing had been perfect, Tjon grinned inside. Not to get ahead of himself though, the raid had only begun. Altogether the convoy was rolling with 5 vehivcles, 3 tractor-trailer trucks one of which was a water tanker, 1 escort heavy terrain vehicle and 1 scout rider. " The Scout, get the scout !!!" Samuel couldn't believe he was losing the Scout, if he got back he would relay their position and air support would be imminent.
Tjon jumped on a ski jet and raced after the scout, Samuel came running up a moment later, as if he had the same idea, only to see the ski jet gone and a trail of dust, " Tjon ! No!" Samuel rushed back up to the top of the gorge, where there was another ski jet. Wind screamed through his hair, he had no time to grab a helmet and goggles, but he couldn't let Tjon get killed, not on his whatch. On the floor of the gorge Tjon was making up the pace, only 20 yards back now of the scout speed quad. Up above, Samuel can't see Tjon or the scout, the angle just won't permit it, but that's not enough to cause any doubt for the determined Sam. He closes his eyes, gives the throttle all it has, and cuts hard over the side of the gorge" Gggrrrh Aaahh" Tjon was sharply focused, seeing only a tunnel between him and his target, when suddenlly a glimmer from above breaks his concentration. For a fleeting moment Tjon thinks a second scout has now joined the chase, coming down in front of the scout rider Samuel hits hard. Without totally losing control Samuel swerves side to side bumping off the ground, finally Samuel lets go of the controls and leaps backward. Landing square on the scout riders lap. The sudden shock to the scout cause his vehicle to start swerving side to side, smashing into the side of the gorge and then back to smash into the other side. Just when it looked it's bleakest to Tjon, who had stayed right behind the out of control speed quad through Samuels entire ordeal, Samuel came flying into his sights, literally. They collided so hard that Tjon was knocked right off the back of the ski jet landing on his back with Samuel embracing him in a tight hug, or just still clinging for dear life. As they started the long walk back to the camp, the Sun began to set behind them. Surely the rest of the Raiders took the convoy down to every last nut and bolt, and there was a water tanker. Enough to supply their camp for a month, so the it was all in all a good one. One thing was for certain though, no scout would be sending out a distress signal today