Wasteland Warlords 1: Wasteland Warlords, #1

By James Hunter and eden Hudson

"You keep what you kill. That's one law everybody out here respects."

Twenty years ago, the Merge brought armies of monsters flooding into the West Coast.

Dungeons popped up in shopping malls, airports, and Starbucks. Walls were built to contain the spread, but the promise of priceless loot dropped by the creatures inspired a new type of gold rush. Magical weapons, powerful gear, potions to cure every ill… If you survive long enough to kill the mob, whatever they drop belongs to you.

Clay Jaeger has nothing left outside the walls. Civilization took everything he worked for, chewed it up, and spat it out. Now Clay, his wife Alex, and his beer-loving, chainsaw-toting brother Joe are going west to try their hand at monster killing.

The loot from the low-level mobs is enticing, but it isn't the real reason they risked the Infested Zone. They need to kill a Dungeon Lord. Only one in ten thousand hunters pull it off. The rest become fertilizer for the wasteland. But the few who beat the odds gain riches, glory, and most importantly, the Dungeon Lord's magical powers.

They have nothing left to lose, and everything to gain. If they survive.

Want more epic adventures inside the Rogue Dungeon universe? Check out the Wasteland Warlords Series, narrated by Travis Baldree, and unlock a whole new world of awesome monsters, killer dungeons, and unforgettable characters. See what life is like after The Merge!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shadow Alley Press
• Release date: Mar 18, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224616916

James Hunter

James A. Hunter is a man of many talents. He’s a former Marine Corps Sergeant, combat veteran, and pirate hunter (seriously). He's also a member of The Royal Order of the Shellback—because that is totally a real thing. In addition to all of that, James has also been a missionary and international aid worker in Bangkok, Thailand. His latest mission? Taking care of his two kids and writing full time. He is the author of the Yancy Lazarus Urban Fantasy series, Legend of the Treesinger, Rogue Dungeon, and the bestselling LitRPG Epic Viridian Gate Online!

Book preview

Chapter 1

Wasteland Warlords

I can’t believe I let you two talk me into this, Clay Jaeger muttered. He let his M4 dangle on its three-point tactical sling and slowly stuck his hands in the air. He’d thought he was done getting shot at when he left the Marines. Now here he was, staring down the barrel of a sniper rifle, palms up, with the hardcore militias of Camp Liberty at his front and one of the deadliest Inhabited Zones in the US at his back. This was a stupid idea.

At least they haven’t started shooting, Alex said. Yet.

From the corner of his eye, Clay could see his wife’s hands shake slightly as she released her death grip on the Mossberg and raised them. Probably not enough for the guy on the wall to see the trembling, but enough that it got Clay’s attention. Hopefully it was the fear of being shot causing her tremors and not… anything else.

"Phft. Are you kidding me? This was a genius idea, and you both know it, Joe said. We’re here, aren’t we? And this guy’s not gonna shoot us. That sniper up there has a Dragunov—coulda picked us off at a thousand yards if he wanted to."

Yeah? Clay asked while keeping his eyes fixed on the gate ahead. "You learn that in Kill Shot Online, huh?"

And if I did? It’s true, either way. All I’m saying is you guys need to chill. It’ll be fine. My gut instincts are never wrong about these things.

Joe had certainly taken his own advice to heart if his gear was any indication. Unlike Clay and Alex, who were kitted out in survival gear, hiking rucksacks, and assorted weapons necessary for surviving within the Infested Zone, Clay’s brother had gone a less… conventional route. He wore denim shorts—he’d cut his jeans into jorts halfway through their desert trek after complaining about the ungodly heat—calf-high cowboy boots, and a red flannel shirt with the sleeves cut off. Scuffed hockey pads clicked and shifted as he bent over to set down his chainsaw. He had a Glock at one hip and one of Clay’s K-Bars at the other, but he’d refused to leave that damned chainsaw behind.

I said get your hands up! the sentry at the top of the wall shouted down, and the tension in Clay’s shoulders ratcheted up another ten notches.

Yeah, totally, a hundred percent, my man. Joe stood back up, raising his hands. I was just putting Big Bertha down so I could better comply. Chainsaws are freaking heavy—especially the quality ones like this Poulan Pro Classic—and I’ve been packin’ the old girl by hand since we crossed the border at Fresno, so you can see where I’m coming from. He paused and squinted. Don’t suppose you guys have any gas in there?

Alex sighed, and Clay knew what she was thinking: Leave it to Joe to get them shot after they’d already made it to Bakersfield. Or what was left of Bakersfield.

Hot desert wind whistled through the creosote bushes and dried the nervous sweat on Clay’s skin. The breeze carried a scent like barbecue smoke. The only question was whether it came from the human settlement in front of them or some dungeon out in the Infested Zone, a.k.a. the IZ. Word had it the monsters who spawned out here had developed a taste for human flesh and human cooking styles in the twenty years since the Merge.

All the more reason to get inside as fast as possible.

At the bottom of Camp Liberty’s massive, corrugated steel wall, a set of double doors that looked like they’d come from an old high school gym clunked, then screeched open, and a big sumbitch came out. He wore a steel breastplate over his desert cammies, the Camp Liberty insignia hammered into the metal—a shield with a chevron, rocker, and three crossed arrows in the center. He covered them with a crossbow as he approached. Runes burned like hot embers along the breastplate’s surface. The guy was sporting some top-of-the-line gear—a chromed out 1911 riding a high-speed leg holster, extra mags clipped to his belt, and a magical axe pulsing with a soft green light strapped to his back.

He wasn’t an Incant, though. At least Clay didn’t think so. He’d see footage of them on TV, but he’d never met one in real life, not even when he’d technically been deployed to fight one. But they were like celebrities—no way would someone like that draw gate detail.

The newcomer stopped a good ten feet from them, crossbow ready to rock if they made any sudden moves. Burn scars covered most of his face and had turned his ear into a melted stump of cartilage. Shiny pink claw marks crisscrossed the sunbaked skin where he’d rolled up his sleeves.

He scowled at Joe. Fuck are you supposed to be? A lumberjack?

Clay saw a moment of understanding dawn on his brother’s face.

Yeah. He nodded. Hell yeah. Lumberjack Joe, he said like he was testing it out. That’s a badass nickname. Guys, call me Lumberjack Joe from now on.

No, Clay said.

We already told you we’re not doing nicknames, Alex said.

I can’t win, Joe said, throwing up his hands in evident frustration. First you didn’t want to do the Ginyu Squad, even though they were tailor made for us, and now you’re vetoing Lumberjack Joe—

We’re not vetoing it, Clay grumbled, we’re shooting it down because we already said no nicknames and now isn’t the time or the place for this. He glanced uneasily at the towering, scar-faced guard.

And why would we go with the Ginyu Squad? Alex asked. They are literally the worst squad in DragonballZ. They knew in detail, after Joe had found an old archive of the ancient show and forced them to watch all hundred and eleven seasons.

If by worst you mean best, Joe said. They’re some of the most powerful mercenaries in the galaxy, they’re insanely loyal, they have great style, plus they inspired Gohan to later become the great Saiyaman. They’re unsung heroes that always got a bad rap because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and no one is ever gonna convince me otherwise.

You and your big mouth about to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, Big Ugly growled. I don’t want to hear any more of your bullshit. Now tell me where you newbs coming from, or you can turn around and walk your happy, talkative asses right back out into the Wasteland.

Clay cleared his throat. Yeah, sure, sorry about him. He hooked a thumb toward Joe. Sometimes my brother doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. We came through Containment at Fresno, like he said.

Big Ugly grunted and rolled his eyes. Before that, dipshit.

St. Louis, Joe volunteered cheerfully. He spread his hands in an arc like he was depicting a rainbow. Gateway to the West.

More like Big Pharma Capital City, Big Ugly grunted. Which company y’all contracting for?

None of them, Clay replied. At the same time Alex said, We’re homesteaders.

They glanced at each other. Okay, little too eager to keep Joe from answering any more questions. Time to dial it back.

Alex pointed at her side opposite the shotgun. I’ve got our claim papers in my pocket. I’d be happy to show them to you, she offered.

Big Ugly grunted again and took a hand off his crossbow long enough to make a Give it here motion.

Slowly, deliberately, she reached the tips of her fingers and thumb into her pocket just deep enough to pull out the folded forms, stamped and sealed by the St. Louis Stronghold Division of the Interior officer. They’d made sure to cross all their t’s and dot all their i’s.

In Clay’s experience, former military types could be oddly picky with paperwork—and out here wasn’t the time to be missing a document or a signature. Alex stopped in front of Big Ugly, handing them over. Next to that bruiser, the tiny five-foot nothing blonde looked like one of those antique American Girl Dolls, Wasteland Survivalist Edition, with her size six combat boots, chipped black nail polish, and severely short pixie cut.

Instead of even glancing at the papers, Big Ugly sized her up.

Let me guess—you tenderfoots got tired of soft, sweet civilization and decided it might be fun to play pioneers? You got a suicide wish or what? Because that’s what happens to idiot tumbleweeds who roll into the IZ unprepared.

Alex cocked her hip. Listen here, jackoff, we just hauled our asses over a hundred miles through monster-infested territory—

Oh shit, you pissed off the short stack! Joe laughed, slapping a knee. Watch your balls, man, she can punch higher than you’d think.

Clay placed a hand on Joe’s shoulder and squeezed. Then he gave his brother the same warning look he’d given him a thousand times before—mostly when Joe would mouth off to their dad, who didn’t take lip lightly. This ain’t the time or the place. Joe had never been good about thinking before he popped off, even if it meant sitting lightly for the next week. Clay waited until Joe rolled his eyes and gave a nod, then slipped between his wife and the scar-covered guard. Big Ugly let the homesteading claim papers drop and swung the crossbow up again.

Clay stuck up one hand and nudged Alex behind him with the other.

We know the Containment Area isn’t a game, he said in what he hoped was a placating tone. At their feet, the homestead papers caught in a creosote bush and fluttered in the breeze. Between the government contractors, the Triple S, the roving monsters, and Incants… Well, there’s a lot of ways to die out here. We get that loud and clear. I spent time overseas—Operation Hell Gate. I know the score better than most civilians. Clay paused, searching the man’s face. Thing is, there’s nothing left for us back on the other side of the Wall. We don’t want any trouble. We’re just looking to stake a claim where we can start a new life.

It wasn’t a total lie, and Big Ugly seemed to accept the sincerity of it. His burn-scarred snarl cooled a couple degrees. Finally, he took his finger off the crossbow trigger—though he didn’t lower the weapon.

Fucking tumbleweeds. He spat off to the side. Whatever, it’s your necks. His eyes flicked toward the Marine Corps tattoo on Clay’s exposed forearm. And I guess you might have a little better luck than some of the others.

He waved a hand at the sniper on the wall. The barrel shifted, dampening the imminent danger. Clay’s shoulders relaxed a few inches.

Big Ugly jerked his chin at the repurposed gym doors, motioning them to go first. Obviously he wasn’t planning to give any stranger his back, whether he believed their story or not.

Clay led the way, Alex falling in beside him. Joe hefted that stupid chainsaw back onto his shoulder, then followed, already chatting with their scarred escort like they were old drinking buddies.

So, seriously, about that gas, Joe said.