Chapter 2

About fifty miles away from the cities and suburbs was Buy N' Large's STRI-KR forces' main base of operations. What was once a large and mighty power plant, now holds thousands of BnL's death machines and their ground transport vehicles. At the top of the structure was the main control and watchtower. Inside the control tower was General Victor Hammer, warden of the death camp and commander of all STRI-KRs. Hammer was in the middle of a voice call meeting with one of the higher-ups, who had been up in space in the elite starliner known as Horus.

"We'll take care of the cleanup bots. I guess this means you guys aren't coming back to Earth then." said Hammer. "We have no need to restore it." replied the voice. "These star liners have made everything easier for us. The citizens don't seem to care about being contained and still believe we are making an effort to cleanse the Earth. Sugar-coating their captivity will keep them in line." "What about the STRI-KRs and I?" asked Hammer.

"There is a possibility, as unlikely as it may sound, the humans that we've ordered you to kill may achieve space travel. After hearing your report of these so-called 'Thunder Warriors' for example, we're not going to take any chances. Therefore, you and the STRI-KRs will resume the extermination as planned. Once completed, we'll have transports prepared to take you to our ship." replied the voice. Hammer smirked maliciously. "That time's gonna be soon, sir." replied Hammer. "The gangs won't last another year. The more they keep fighting each other the sooner they'll kill themselves. We'll start doubling our efforts as well, then the job will be done quicker." "Excellent work, General. Contact us as soon as the operation is complete." said the voice. "End of line."

The transmission ceased. Hammer sat back in his chair and lit a fresh cigar and took a few puffs. Smoke flew out of his mouth, then dissipated into the air. His head turned to his left to look out the windows. Down below he watched as STRI-KRs herded malnourished survivors and captured road warriors like cattle. The STRI-KRs in the camps, ordered to make their lives a living hell until their last dying breath, showed zero mercy to the captives. Men, women and children all resided in the camp, forced to do horrific things to each other. A torturous death camp, similar to ones of the second world war from the twentieth century.

The relaxation and bliss Hammer was feeling was suddenly interrupted by the door to Hammer's control room whooshing open. One of the STRI-KRs floated in and stood to attention. Hammer turned to face him. "At ease, soldier. State your business." ordered Hammer. "A Wall-E had escaped out into the wastelands. Requesting permission to deploy search squads." replied the STRI-KR. Hammer laughed. "So what? Let it rot, it won't last." replied Hammer after removing the cigar from his mouth. "Is that really all you came to tell me?"

"With all due respect, that Wall-E is more of a threat than you realize, sir." replied the STRI-KR. "It single-handedly wiped out a few of our comrades unscathed!" Hammer's carefree feeling soon morphed into concern as he sat up and took notice. "Do you have any idea where he could be going?" asked Hammer. "We're not sure," replied the STRI-KR. "The last time he was seen, he was heading past the garbage incinerators on the southeast side of the city."

"Go ahead and send a search party." ordered Hammer. "Is he armed?" "As far as we know, he is not," said the STRI-KR. "Exterminate him as soon as you see him." ordered Hammer. The STRI-KR saluted the general and left the room. As the door swooshed closed, Hammer leaned back in his chair and took another puff of his cigar. "A Wall-E." he said to himself. "And it killed some of my troops, unarmed no less." He looked out of another group of windows. Out in the horizon, he could see the city of Chicago. "No matter," he continued. "I like a challenge."

-

Wall-E 1596 continued through the desolate lands. Dirt, debris and garbage crunched and crinkled underneath his old treads. He saw an old pickup truck that had flipped over, along with the decaying remains of a human still in the cab. 1596 began scavenging the wreck and found what looked like an old assault rifle, along with a few weird looking ammo cartridges. While scavenging, he heard the sounds of familiar robots heading his way. The STRI-KR's were scanning every square inch of land that they could, in search of 1596.

Thinking this would be a good time to test out the new rifle, he loaded the gun and aimed directly at the first STRI-KR. As he pulled the trigger, a laser blast rocketed out of the barrel and struck the huge robot right out of the sky, burning a hole in it's torso and killing it instantly. The STRI-KRs were in shock and quickly began searching for where the shot came from. The rogue Wall-E, still hidden underneath the dune buggy, was astonished by the power of such a gun. He took aim once again and fired at another STRI-KR, but missed and only disabled it's right arm. "There!" called one of the STRI-KRs "Under that car!" The robots shot down the car, and 1596 sprinted out just seconds before it exploded. " All units, rock and roll!" shouted the lead STRI-KR. They began flying after the Wall-E, firing away as they chased him down. 1596 managed to dodge their attacks while weaving through the heaps of garbage, desolate small buildings and destroyed cars on the roads.

Just then, one of the STRI-KRs was shot down, but not by 1596. The other STRI-KRs turned around to see where the shots had come from. Before they could react, a scratch-built dune buggy jumped from a small heap of garbage and ran into the STRI-KRs, knocking them to the ground and only damaging them a bit. The car raced towards 1596 and stopped next to him. "Get in if you want to live!" called the masked driver. Without hesitation, 1596 hopped into the passenger side of the car just before shots were fired in his direction. The driver switched on the cannon on the top of the car and it turned around, aiming and shooting down the rest of the STRI-KRs. The driver raced off with 1596 in the passenger seat.

"Are you alright?" asked the driver. "Yeah, I'm ok." replied 1596. "Who the hell are you?" The driver removed his mask so he could speak more clearly. "My name is Rusty, scout and computer engineer of The Talons." Rusty told 1596. "I was just heading back to my campsite after my convoy got ambushed a few hours ago." 1596 knew what he was talking about. "Yeah I think I saw that when I was up on one of the trash towers." said 1596. "We were on our way to our base delivering fuel, ammo, food, etc." explained Rusty. "But we got ambushed by a rival gang. They hijacked our trucks and all the other scouts got destroyed. I managed to get away and shot down our petrol tanker." "So you destroyed all that stuff?" asked 1596. "I had to!" argued Rusty. "I wasn't gonna let them have shit!" 1596 said no more, dumbfounded at what he had done to supplies humans see as most essential for survival.

The rusted old buggy rattled and rumbled down the broken, trash filled streets of what was once a beautiful suburbia. Houses that stood tall and proud, filled with life, now lay empty and dilapidated, on the verge of collapsing. 1596 had never seen this side of town before at all. Just then, the crushing sound of trash under wheels could be heard growing louder. An old green car with guns and spikes covered all over it drifted onto the same road as the dune buggy and began chasing after it. Three dirt bikes and a heavily armored pickup truck followed. Rusty looked back and knew who it was. "Shit, I thought I left them in the dust!" he said as he began driving harder. "Who are they?!" asked 1596. "Hold on to something!" called Rusty as he floored the gas pedal as hard as he could. His right mechanical arm pushed a red button, which was to activate the automatic turret on the top of his buggy. Instead of aiming and firing at the vehicles behind them, sparks flew from the battle worn connectors that made the gun automatic. "Great timing, the automatic firing system is busted! You'll have to get up there and shoot 'em down if we're gonna get out of this alive!" said Rusty.

1596's hands grip onto the metal frame of the buggy and climbed to the top where the gun stood. Taking position, he began firing away at the cars. The bullets poured out of the gun like water out of a hose and rained down upon the cars. The three bikes backed off so as to not get shot down. 1596 continued shooting at the cars, but the gun seemed to be causing barely any damage to the cars. "This gun isn't doing jack shit!" he called to Rusty. While talking to him, 1596 noticed the road dipped down a little, and there was a building which had a staircase that went up to a long balcony on the second floor that was as long as the structure itself. It was just wide enough for Rusty's dune buggy to drive through. 1596 jumped back down, grabbed the wheel and swung the car through the building. This act took Rusty by surprise. "The fuck are you doing?!" Rusty yelled. "Calm down, I have an idea!" replied 1596.

The dune buggy drove right up the steps and slowed down a little as it crashed through the chairs and tables that were left on that balcony. Before long, the buggy crashed through the other end of the balcony and began its descent to the ground. The pickup was now right next to the buggy, the timing couldn't have been better. 1596 jumped out of Rusty's car and into the bed of the pickup, while Rusty and his car landed perfectly back onto its wheels and continued driving.

Immediately after jumping into the bed of the truck, 1596 shot down the gunners with his new laser assault rifle. The driver in the pickup looked behind him through the window while trying to quickly figure out what had happened. The very second he turned his head around to face out of the rear window, the Wall-E blasted his head clean open. Chunks of the driver's skull and brains splattered all over the inside of the windscreen. The driver's lifeless body was still on the gas pedal and his torso fell onto the steering wheel, causing the truck to swerve violently. 1596 quickly broke through the rear window and took the wheel, spinning the truck back straight forward. After quickly wiping down the windscreen just enough so he could see, 1596 aimed the truck towards one of the bikers and ran him over, crushing the biker under the wheels of the pickup and smashing the bike into pieces.

The other vehicle, an older two-door sport sedan, was trying to speed up alongside Rusty. The bumpers, sides and wheels were covered in rusty, blood stained spikes. The side windows rolled down as the driver loaded his shotgun, ready to fire it at Rusty. As Rusty kept driving while avoiding garbage and other obstructions, he pulled out his pistol and started firing back at the sports sedan, which was coming up fast on his right. 1596, still in the pickup, rammed the front end into the back of the other car. The driver looked back in surprise and began swerving to try and get away from the pickup, causing the vehicle to go out of control. The driver, not focused on Rusty anymore, tried his best to get the car driving straight again. As the sport sedan fishtailed to the left, 1596 drove the truck straight into the sport sedan, smashing the sedan to oblivion and causing the truck to end up on it's side.

Rusty screeched to a halt to look at the damage. The other two bikers who had been left far behind a while ago, had caught up to the wreck. The driver side door busted open and 1596 came out, shooting down the other two bikers. Their bodies flung off their bikes as the laser bullets pierced through their bodies. He jumped out of the truck and headed back towards where Rusty had stopped. While heading back, he could hear the driver side door of the sports sedan open up, with the driver crawling out, bleeding like crazy and screaming in pain. 1596 turned around and shot at the sedan's gas tank until it exploded into a great ball of fire, incinerating the wreck and the driver.

Rusty had never seen such a raw display of power in his life, and it was all done by a single Wall-E. He stared at the fiery wreck as 1596 climbed back into the buggy. "You got a name?" he asked. "No" replied 1596. "Just a number I guess." "How about I call you Slayer?" asked Rusty. "Slayer? Why Slayer?" asked 1596. "Isn't it obvious?!" replied Rusty as he started up the dune buggy. "Now let's get outta here before more shitbags get here." The dune buggy raced off down the trash covered roads and out of the small, desolate town.