Two years ago.

Jason Rider, former army ranger and currently truck driver of his own personal truck driving company that he made with his wife, made his way carefully down a winding mountain road, all the while playing Metallica through his speaker, it was a remote part of the country, Montana was completely decimated, he saw them entire towns that were stripped for part, old cars torn apart and turned into supplies, the resource war was ripping apart the country and he'd be surprised if his old semi would even be street legal by the end of the month, the government was pushing hard for a bill banning gas fueled trucks in favor for cars that ran on electricity, the irony didn't escape him that they were passing this bill after half the forests in America were cut down, and national parks were becoming fewer and fewer as they desanctified the forests, redwood trees were extinct as of last month and only a few people cared and fewer actually tried to do anything about it, the America that Roosevelt tried to build was gone, Mexico was gone, now making up another fifty states of the united states of America, he looked up at the old double barrel hanging on the back of the trucks interior, if he was honest most of his trucks in his company carried a firearm of some kind, this was often looked down upon by people as many of his truckers were ex convicts who needed work, but he gave them a chance, they did their time and now they had nowhere else to go, some used to be truly awful people who killed, others did lighter offenses like stealing a car, one way or another he needed employees and they needed work, it was a win win, beside that he was no better, he'd killed people in America's conquest of Mexico, only difference was he was given permission. he heard a ringing from his phone so he touched the screen turned down the old radio. "Yes?"

To his surprise Chris' voice came through the phone. "Dad, me and Joseph are heading to a party at Justin's place, I'm just checking in with you."

Jason smiled proudly. "Finally coming out of your shell a bit?"

He heard a distant laugh. "hell no, I practically have to drag him there." Joseph's voice called.

"Of course I'm on speaker phone." Jason laughed. "Well, try to have fun would you?"

"Yeah dad, I'll try." Chris said.

A beeping sound playing on his phone. "Hey listen your mother's trying to call me, keep Joseph out of trouble, I'll see you back when I get home tomorrow." He hung up with an I love you and a goodbye and switched to the other call.

"Yes Janet, what's up?" Jason asked.

"Well, I was watching the news and the president beat the living shit out of the president of China, and which ended in a firefight between the secret service and the MSS, china's sending threats of war." His wife said, he could hear the panic in her voice.

Jason laughed. "we have been getting fucked by china for the last seventy years, if anything they've had it coming."

Janet groaned. "Honey this is serious, the CIA has confirmed they've turned their missiles toward the us."

Jason remained silent for nearly two minutes. "Did I lose you?" She asked.

"No, no I'm here, listen, america have the most advanced missile defense system in the world, it'll tear any nukes out of the sky, we're as safe as we can get." He said, making a turn along the road. "And if that's not enough to convince you well we also still have close allies such as England and Australia, and we both know the UN will probably step in before this shit rackets up that far."

As if to mock his words seconds after he said that a red laser lanced up into the sky, and shot something out of the air, which exploded and his phone sparked in his hand shocking it, he dropped it shaking his hand like he was trying to get a bug off, but that was the least of his problems, there were rocks falling from the mountaintop, in the distance he saw other explosions, some made it through the defenses. Jason drove the best he could, the truck was old enough that the emp had no effect, it had no computer systems, save for the GPS that wasn't even a part of the truck. He felt bad for anyone with cybernetic limbs, they'd be crippled.

he drove the truck rocks thunked on the roof and cargo hold, the windshield shattered, he slammed the breaks ducked down waiting for the rain of stones to stop when it did the rode was covered in the rocks, he got out of the truck and sighed. he needed to take stock of... everything. one, the truck, it was dented and there was steam rising from the hood, radiator was fucked, he could give it a temporary fix but he'd need to replace it before long, two the road, with all the rocks big and small it was a miracle he wasn't crushed, this would also make driving difficult. three, the shipping container, he walked over to the large metal crate and opened it, the crate was filled with packages, everything from love letters to cheap katanas, but no food save for a box of chocolates which in this day was considered a delicacy of the highest order, and now that standing skyrocketed, now that chocolate was probably no longer being produced it was worth its weight in gold, granted it didn't weigh much. he checked out each of the boxes, finding clothes, of which he took a sweet looking fur lined leather bomber jacket and some sturdy enough looking pants, he also found a small box with a hand held chainsaw with some extra chains, after putting in some batteries he found that it worked surprisingly enough. he suddenly got an idea, he walked over to his drivers seat and grabbed the double barrel and started sheering the barrels off, they fell to the ground with a clang after nearly two hours and two chains, he sheered off the stock as well, leaving just a pistol-like grip.

he broke it open and loaded in a couple shells before snapping it shut and tested it's aim, not exactly the best for long range but would cut a man in half if he needed to.

He sighed, replacing the chain on the handheld chainsaw and putting into the passenger seat then moved up to the hood and popped it open seeing that just as he'd thought the radiator was leaking, best he'd be able to do was pour a bit of sealant in it. He went to the passenger seat and took a large tool box from under and moved it out of the way and eventually he found a bottle, he took it out and walked over to the radiator and poured it in and let it circulate for a while until the water that was leaking started to slow and eventually stopped, he took a water bottle and contemplated using it, this was liquid gold right now, far as he was concerned drinking water was going to be in short supply, at the same time so was working cars, so he started pouring before tying the cap in. he took a second once over at the engine and other parts, the engine had a few dents but other than that it wouldn't be a problem. He shut the hood and hopped down and got back into the driver's seat, he turned the key and it roared to life.

It was difficult with the rocks on the road, one wrong move and he'd go toppling over the side of the mountain, but he'd once driven with a convoy over a frozen lake in Alaska this was basically smooth sailing. He did make sure not to get cocky though, this was still a mountain after a rockslide no matter how small that rockslide might have been, and as if to confirm that the next corner showed a large chunk of rock blocking the road, he slammed his steering wheel and got out of the truck, taking the keys with him, he took his shotgun as well, tying a cloth through his belt loop and using it as a makeshift holster for now, he got out and looked around, there wasn't anything around that he could see, but he still brought his gun, this rang too many alarm bells, he remembered his time fighting down in Mexico, the government itself fell easily enough but it was the cartels that were the real danger, they waged a guerilla war on them for twelve years and it ended only when America rolled in the steel legion, an army of androids drones and mech pilots that burned down half of Mexico, in his time there he'd seen thirty different ambushes and each time after the third he'd had this exact feeling that he was being watched, he looked up at the cliff above where the first rock was, he saw a large boulder positioned into place right above it, if he tried to push the first out of the way, someone could push the second down on him.

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He shook his head, he wish he still had gunner, his old German shepherd. poor thing was forced to be put down when it attacked an intruder in his house one night, apparently it was the son of some wealthy guy who claimed the dog attacked his son for no reason, which was bullshit but the guy had a legion of lawyers.

Either way, he got out of the trucks surface and once again broke the shotgun open checking it to see if it was loaded. two brass shells gleamed like twin suns in the faint light from the dust covered sky. He walked over to the boulder and started pushing it, the shower of pebbles gave it away and he leapt back as the second rock fell on top of the other, he aimed up at the rockface with his shotgun and fired, a man fell down a slug burried into his shoulder, as he fell he landed at an angle and broke his shoulder further, he screamed. "You son of a fucking bitch!"

He ejected the slug shell and took out the second slug and put in a pair of buckshot shells, before aiming it at the man whose fury turned to fear. "Give me a reason not to." Jason growled.

"I- I have a wife..." He stammered.

Jason looked at him, lowering the gun slightly. "That so?"

"Yeah, She's all yours just let me go." He said, but saw the gun coming back up to his face.

"Wait wait wa-" Bang, the man's head disappeared in a spray of blood and bone, leaving only a bleeding stump of a neck.

He once again ejected the empty shell and pocketed it. "Sick fuck."

He turned seeing a woman trying to open his truck, which was locked, but she stopped when she heard the gunshot, when she saw him glaring at her loving husband's body and him glaring at her she started running away, he shook his head, hasn't been a day and people are already doing this shit. He moved the boulders and started driving again, He should have been able to see his city from up on this mountain, what he saw was a smoking irradiated crater... He looked at his shotgun, and started moving it toward his tempol, his finger was brushing the trigger when he remembered he still had his sons, they were outside of the city, he set the gun down, he'd be saving that for when he actually needed it, right now, he needed to find his sons.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2 Years Later.

Jason was sitting in a bar in the Velasquez settlement, an eyepatch over his eye and a sawed off shotgun at his hip, he took a drink of the bottle he was holding when someone sat down next to him, he glanced to the side seeing an older man with white hair in glasses and a dark suit that he'd somehow who fucking knows how managed to keep spotless, he looked down even his damn shoes were shiny. he looked back up. "Can I help you?"

"Hm, good question, Sixteen Couriers, I've trusted sixteen couriers to get this job done, all failed, can I trust that you're different?" The man said, without even looking at him.

Jason took a drink of the beer, watered down of course, Fucking cheapskates. "So long as it isn't people I'll ship it."

"No, Just a pair of androids." The man said.

"Wait, you have working androids? half the people here are missing fucking limbs because the emp shut all electronics down, and you're telling me that you have working fucking androids, yeah right." He said, pocketting the bottlecap from the beer bottle, not that it was valuable, but because he just liked to collect them and he had yet to collect this one.

The man smiled at him. "Don't believe me? Then come on, I'll show you." He put a small nugget of gold down on the bar. "We were never here." He said to the barkeep.

Jason raised an eyebrow and shared a look with the barkeep. "Okay, that's spooky as fuck." Jason said, hopping down from the bar and rolled his shoulders and loosening his joints in case this was some kind of ambush, he didn't care to count the amount of times that he'd had to kill an 'employer' because they'd lead him into some ambush, he called them all Vick's after the first guy who tried that.

He followed the man into a large warehouse, as soon as he was out of sight he unholstered the shotgun which he'd started calling Janet after his wife, He entered but not before slicing the pie and checking the corners, at the lack of people with nailed two by fours he lowered the gun and holstered it but he did keep his hand on it's grip. He took off the eyepatch as soon as he got into dark place and blinked the dark adjusted eye seeing much more clearly than his other eye which he closed until it would adjust too. when he saw the man looking at him he thought he saw a glint of approval in their eye, but it was dark, so he could have been mistaken. They lead him to a pair of crates, rather small if he was being honest, they took a crowbar and tore it open, revealing an interior that was lined with a copper wire cage, inside stood what looked to be a young girl with the white hair many androids had, it blinked open it's blue eyes and they started glowing for a second what looked like binary going through their pupils before it settled down and focused on the gun in his hand, it knelt down and grabbed a pebble and flicked it at his hand cutting a streak across his hand, he cursed taking his hand from his weapon. "This one is called Luna. A Long range Unit, it can shoot any weapon with ease and can learn any computer system, it's highly valuable." The man said, then he moved to the second crate and opened it as well, revealing a what looked like a young boy with white hair, it opened it's eyes and they had a distinct silver color, they glowed white and analized him, He wasn't interested in getting attacked again so he took a step back. "Relax, this one's a close range unit, it's called Orion, it's been programmed with sixteen different martial arts and has developed seventeen new ones on it's own, I need you to deliver them to the Panama Military base to assist with the war effort with China."

Jason frowned. "Are they..."

"Yes, they're completely sentient." The man said, his blue eyes flashing a deeper blue behind his glasses.

"Man, you're convincing, it's damn scary." He said, nodding. "Alright, I'll do it, will I be getting some kind of support?"

The man gestured to the two androids. "They've been approved to follow your orders should you take the job."

Jason sighed nodding. "Alright, I'll see what I can do." he said reaching out his hand toward the android. he looked confused, androids were notoriously feared and less than warmly welcomed in human society, after three second he took Jason's hand.

The man shook and said. "I hope I didn't choose wrong, you seem a decent man, I don't think I need to say this, but if they end up mistreated then you'll be lined to the wall."

Jason slightly cringed on the inside, he had actually been rather against androids when he was younger and had even taken part in bash parties which had ended in his arrest for vandalizing three androids, so being called a decent man by one made his soul hurt slightly, it was how he ended up in the army, it was either that or the prisons. everyone else who participated in the bash took to prison. he didn't know what happened to them after that, it was a ten year sentence, so they should have gotten out a year before the nukes dropped, while in the army he had an android in his squad and they'd ended up becoming friends but he still felt guilt from his actions, they were sentient beings and the fact they were treated as dolls was a travesty. "I'll treat them like my own children."