Wasteland Rules: Born to Fight (The World After Book 2) by J.G. Martin Page B

command. Tom didn’t care what race or sex a person was,
only how loyal and skilled they were. She was tall for a woman at 5’9” and in
great shape. She had been an MMA fighter on the Detroit Strikers, an American
Fighting Championship team, before joining the Army. She was still a fitness
freak and a vicious hand to hand fighter. She carried an automatic grenade
launcher which she could use to devastating effect.
       With her was Sergeant Zach Shrader, his heavy
gunner. At 6’5” the man was a monster and handled the heavy barreled M-18M that
had replaced the SAW like it was a pistol. He was very strong and equally
stupid, but he was very loyal to Tom personally and therefore very reliable. He
was also a muscle freak and often lifted with Rosa. Tom suspected they had a
thing on the side, but no one ever talked about it. Zach was also from Detroit.
He had been a young street kid struggling to survive and had heavy scarring from
that time. He had originally joined the Army so he could eat. But he had found
that the Army didn’t care that he was black or dumb and had valued his immense
physical gifts and blind loyalty. He and Tom had been together since basic
training at Fort Pinnacle in Northern Indiana, where Tom had defended him
against soldiers bullying him for his lack of intelligence.
       The wiry Sergeant Savio Montoya was his
explosives expert. An ex-gang member from Cleveland, he mostly kept to himself.
Tom found him slightly creepy, but he obeyed orders and was a wizard with
explosives. His improvised devices had saved their lives several times. That
allowed him to overlook the fact that Savio seemed to sneak off a lot during
their down times. But he was also a great scrounger and frequently had hard to
find parts or forbidden food he shared with the team. He carried an M-18C
Carbine.
       The sniper of the team was Sergeant Saad Ali, a
third generation Arab from Battle Creek, Michigan. He was very quiet and very
focused; which of course was perfect for a sniper. Tom knew little about him
since he kept to himself. Saad had been investigated after a rumor had surfaced
he was a Muslim, which was illegal in the U.S.T.G. The only legal religion in
the U.S.T.G. was the state sponsored Church of America. The investigation had
found nothing and been dropped. Saad had won the Riflemanship Challenge for
three years running before he “retired” and he had never missed a shot in
combat as far as Tom knew, and that was all he cared about. His M-18S had a
longer barrel, custom grip, and a special scope on it and he treated that thing
like his baby. Tom didn’t need to know anything about him except that Saad was
an excellent shot.
      Surveying the team’s work from the other side was
his ranking NCO, Master Sergeant Jamal Bennett. Jamal was an enigma to Tom. A
tall, fit black man who only spoke when necessary and never shared any personal
details. The only things Tom knew about him, was that he was from Chicago like
himself and he was an excellent NCO. Always calm, cool, and collected under
fire. His advice had proven very valuable and Tom leaned on him heavily for his
combat experience. Jamal carried an M-18AR(G) with an under slung grenade
launcher and had a belt of 40 mm grenades looped over his shoulder.
      Near him was the odd couple of the team, Sergeants
Bryan Stone and Daron Jones. Stone was an unabashed redneck from Indiana and
Daron was a young black man who had made it out of the ghettoes of St. Louis.
Bryan was his point man and carried the M-18CS which had an under slung semi
-automatic shotgun. His hunting skills and fieldcraft were second to none. When
he wanted to be he was completely silent.
       Unfortunately, he and Daron were rarely quiet,
always jawing at each other. Daron was the team’s mechanic and had a natural
ability with engines. He had entered the army as a raw recruit with no skills,
but the drill instructors had discovered his aptitude and put him in advanced
training. That was