...must come to an end.

"Malker, your patrol is heading out along this highway to the overpass. Try not to fall off. You're keeping eyes on the cocks as they pull out." Several of the officers laughed lightly at the puns. Morale was high after the "Slaughter of Central City," as it was being called, and protocol remained as lax as it had been for the last week. All the women were well-rested, though some of the off-duty ones looked a little exhausted from long nights with the new captures. Sarah had taken last night off of her "duty of fertility," which was really more of a pleasure, because she was on patrol this morning. She felt rested, though still not as well fed as she'd have liked, and ready to roll out.

"Just watch 'em and make sure they're doing what we think they're doing: getting out of dodge. We tore the guts out of their infantry when they gambled it all on that machine, and now they've got nothing to do but wait for us to take them all, which we don't want to do, or haul ass for Topeka. But don't you go mixing it up, Lieutenant; they've still got more than enough to take your unit under without any backup."

"Yes'm, rolling out now." Sarah jogged from the command desk over to her unit, waiting a short distance away. They stood attentively as she outlined their route and objectives, and then followed her down the street towards the highway. Sarah's gal's were tough and well-knit, and she took pride in the strength of her squad. They were officially nicknamed the Charlottes, because three of the members were so named, but they were known among the other squads just as Sarah's Harlots. Even some of the senior officers had started calling them that. Sarah and the gals were proud of that; they always managed to bring in more captives than average when they mixed it up, and their concern for capture had never gotten anyone hurt or caught.

"Sangley, you're on point." Char Sangley nodded and sprinted about a block ahead before matching her pace with the squad again. "Marcus, eyes to the rear. Everyone else, stay sharp." Jen Marcus dropped back and the squad jogged along until the reached the ramp onto the highway. Sangley waited there for them. Sarah nodded to her and waited for Marcus before sending Lottie Barnes, another Charlotte, out ahead onto the highway. Lottie had a sixth sense for unstable construction; she was always the point woman on elevated roads. After a generation of neglect, many highways were on the verge of collapse, and sometimes all it took was the weight of a dozen women jogging to set it off. Lottie had kept them from that fate twice, and once they had used it to tactical advantage, drawing a pursuing group of men across an unstable section and sending them sliding twenty feet down to break limbs on the rubble below.

As they moved along the highway, Sarah watched across the plain for an optimum vantage point. With only one pair of powerful binoculars, they needed to be rather close before they could gather a lot of credible intel. The elevation of the roadway would keep them safe, though. It dipped down briefly to another on-ramp, then lifted up again, its height granting the assets of safety and surveillance. Finally Sarah saw the encampment, clustered around the iron tracks that had guided the giant engine the week before. Other tracks moved through the camp, no doubt for other engines, though Sarah could hardly imagine that there might be more than one of the great metal beasts. Sarah and her squad hunkered down on the many piles of rubble and ancient skeletons of automobiles that populated the road. Sarah and her second, Mara O'Leanne, pulled out their binoculars while Maria Silva merely shaded her notoriously sharp eyes. The rest kept their eyes on the surrounding plain and highway. It wasn't long.

"Lieutenant, we've got a problem," Marcus whispered urgently. Sarah pulled her eyes from the still camp and saw the problem immediately. Stretched across the highway and coming towards them were nearly two dozen men, clearly alerted to their presence. She stowed her binoculars immediately while quietly calling a retreat. The girls did her proud, keeping calm and pulling quietly back up the highway. It wasn't until she bumped into Marcus, leading their withdrawal, that Sarah's chest began to clench. She turned around even before Marcus spoke and saw the other line of men, half again as many as the first bunch. They were trapped on both sides.

"Jen, shut your damned eyes; everywhere you look more of the bastards pop up." Sarah's humor kept the comment light, but she couldn't hide the stress in her voice. "More behind us, ladies; best we can do is try and break the line ahead, make it off the road and circle back. Anyone who gets home, let 'em know these sons of bitches don't seem to want to go anywhere. We'll be out of there in no time." The women rallied to her and formed into a V, preparing to break the line. Even as they did so, the men behind them let out a shout and began to sprint towards them, hoping to reach them before anyone broke through. The Harlots charged down the highway towards the bastards, shouting futile war cries. They smashed into the line of men and fought to get through. Sarah took a club to the temple and everything went dim, and then black.