E-Day

by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

  The Breaker stumbled toward her with an energy blade.

  Kichiro snorted and slammed his hoof into the man’s head, crushing his helmet. The Breaker hit the ground just as Chloe collapsed on her stomach, heaving.

  The glow of fires illuminated the blurred shapes of civilians falling to the street around them. Others were already down, jerking and spasming.

  It took a few more seconds for Chloe’s confused brain to register what was happening. The gift that Dr. Cross had prepared wasn’t the modified horse, it was what the horse carried. Her work had been to ensure that the horse survived long enough to deliver the gift—a gift of death.

  Kichiro seemed to understand it was being used too. It looked down at her, neighed, and took off running down the street.

  Chloe used all her strength to turn and crawl back the way she had come. Her abdominal muscles clenched painfully. Bile rose in her mouth, and she vomited before falling to the stone street. She tried to move, but her limbs wouldn’t respond. Closing her eyes, she let the darkness envelop her, praying for the pain to be over.

  But anger kept her alive.

  Anger at Dr. Cross.

  Anger at the world.

  Chloe wasn’t sure when she woke up. She couldn’t see, but she could breathe.

  After struggling to open her eyes, she finally raised an eyelid to see the blurred shaped of her Uncle Keanu holding a gas mask to her face.

  “Breathe,” he said in a muffled voice. “Breathe, Chloe.”

  As she took in air, Chloe realized that she was being carried and her uncle was walking next to the person carrying her.

  Rotating her head, she saw it wasn’t a person at all. Her body was cradled in the robotic arms of a Nova Alliance Hummer Medical Droid.

  “It is okay, child,” the droid said in a female voice that was faint, but kind. “My name is Apeiron, and soon you will be one of my children.”

  — 15 —

  “Hummer Medical Droids are recovering and transporting survivors,” Apeiron said over the open channel. “I will save all that I can.”

  Akira watched the droids scooping people up in the streets and covering their faces with gas masks or helmets with built-in breathing apparatuses. Most of the civilians were lifeless and limp. The stink of urine and feces filled the air, soaking into the ground where the corpses had voided their bowels in death.

  Okami was trotting alongside Akira with his tail between his legs, scanning for hostiles and sniffing the air for threats.

  According to the sensor readings on Akira’s HUD, they were the victims of sarin gas, a chemical weapon favored by the Coalition. He took a breath of filtered air, navigating the maze of dead with care. Most of the gas had dissipated, and what little that lingered was not a threat to him with his power armor.

  On his HUD, he noticed Kichiro was moving, heading deeper into enemy-controlled territory. Blue Jay was up in the sky, searching for the horse, but due to the smoke, Akira couldn’t see much in the aerial feed.

  “Apeiron, see if you can get a visual on Kichiro,” he said.

  “Working on it, Captain.”

  Akira hunched down with his rifle at the next block. More dead were scattered over the asphalt, both civilians and soldiers.

  “How did it come to this?” Akira whispered.

  “I found myself not understanding human nature when I was first brought to life,” Apeiron said. “Doctor Crichton helped me understand that human nature can be barbaric and evil, especially over ideologies.”

  Normally having a conversation during a battle would have been impossible, but with his chip and connection to INN, Akira could now multi-task like he had never imagined possible.

  “Ideologies, land, resources,” Akira replied. “Those are the three things that have led to acts of unspeakable horrors over the centuries.”

  “Like those in your Codex?”

  “Yes, but the Codex focuses on a Warrior Ethos, which the Coalition does not adhere to. You see, my ancestors respected the enemy and granted them full honor in battle.”

  Okami trotted ahead, still sniffing for an ambush or explosives.

  “The Coalition does not embrace the concept of symmetrical warfare,” Akira said. “They will do anything to tip the scale in their favor and support their leaders, because they are a tribe.”

  “In my research, I have found that tribes dehumanize and demonize the enemy,” Apeiron said.

  Akira kept walking, scanning for hostiles as the rest of Shadow Squad cleared buildings and hunted down Coalition soldiers.

  “I wish I knew how to break this cycle, Captain,” Apeiron said.

  A warm sensation spread across Akira’s brain at the sight of a dead boy in the street. He knew he should feel horror and sadness, but the chemicals made him feel numb.

  “You must start with children to break this cycle,” Akira said quietly. “Children like this boy are born innocent, and like dogs, they don’t turn into vicious animals unless they are trained.”

  He said a mental prayer for the child and kept moving. “After the teenage years, it’s very difficult to change the hearts and minds of humans. Even more so with a tribe mentality. Only a great threat from the outside can break the mental chains.”

  “Can you elaborate?”

  “Common threats bind humans. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. My ancestors made alliances with former enemies to beat back invaders. We also see enemy nations coming together after national disasters to help each other, and this is sometimes true for tribes as well.”

  “Thank you for your thoughts, Captain. They are very helpful.”

  Apeiron went silent as two squads of Pistons arrived to secure the area. Akira moved out with them through the dissipating smoke, navigating the craters and the pulpy remains of Coalition soldiers splattered across the ground. Those who weren’t dead reached up for mercy, only for Akira to deliver them to their maker with a slash of his katana.

  These warriors didn’t deserve mercy. They had no honor.

  Perez, Frost, and Tadhg worked their way through buildings. The other divisions continued to advance all around the city, taking it back, block by burning block.

  Kichiro changed directions again, this time, headed toward the 1st Division. Akira reported the position to the rest of the squad.

  “That’s still two miles away,” Tadhg said. “Too far out. Wait for us.”

  “He’s right, Captain,” Perez said.

  “I’ll come,” Frost said. “On my way.”

  Akira didn’t wait for her to catch up. He motioned for Okami, and the wolfdog bolted after him down an alley. Running fast but cautiously, Akira transitioned into what he was designed to be—a calculated, emotionless Engine of war.

  Through his INVS eyes, he located a Coalition sniper in a third-story window ahead. He hardly slowed as he fired a kill shot with his plasma rifle. Sheathing the weapon, he drew his two katanas, sneaking up on a pair of Coalition soldiers hiding behind a doorway on the first floor of the same building.

  They burst outside with energy axes flaming red. Akira hunched under their swings and side-slashed their chest armor. Before their insides sloshed out, he was running again, with Okami taking point. One man was still alive ahead. He reached up and screamed as the wolfdog bit right through his armored wrist and then tore into his neck.

  “I’m almost there, Captain. Got held up,” Frost said.

  Akira did a quick scan over INN to check on the rest of the squad. Tadhg and Perez had joined forces, fighting together on a rooftop about a mile to the northwest. Frost was a quarter mile from Akira and closing fast.

  He ran even faster as Kichiro’s beacon blinked closer. All that separated them was a block of smoldering rubble from the impact of a Nova Alliance bomb. The bodies of civilians lay under the mounds, crushed and burned.

  A memory of his wife threatened to emerge, but another dose of chemicals focused his mind. He slowed, shouldered his rifle, and
crouched as the beacon stopped in what appeared on his mini-map to be a park.

  The click of metal against metal drew his attention to the right side of the street. He moved his finger to the trigger and turned the rifle toward the noise. The weapon bucked against his shoulder plate when a single Coalition Breaker darted away from a burned vehicle.

  The bolts slammed into his armor, burning into his heart. Okami trotted ahead to sniff out more enemies.

  Akira followed around a skirt of smoking debris. On the other side, charcoaled playground equipment steamed in the darkness. In the center of the park, blue goggles glowed through a curtain of smoke.

  Aiming his rifle, he centered the sights on an armored beast, laying on its side.

  “Kichiro…” he whispered.

  Okami wagged his tail but stopped.

  Chains held the stallion to the ground. Kichiro let out a sad neigh and snorted a warning.

  Shadows moved in the smoke, hulking forms holding dormant energy blades.

  Akira switched his rifle for his katanas and whistled for Okami to get back.

  “Doctor Cross knew you would come for him,” a gruff voice boomed.

  A Breaker with human bones antlering off a thick armet stepped in front of Kichiro, holding two sickle-style energy blades. Five more warriors fanned out through the park, wearing body parts from mutilated Pistons on their spiked shoulder plates.

  Akira fell into an offensive stance with his swords.

  “Captain, I would highly recommend retreating,” Apeiron said.

  Akira twirled the heated katanas. “You know I can’t do that.”

  These weren’t just any foot soldiers. They were all Breakers, the most elite of the enemy forces in the Coalition ranks. Fighting six would be certain death for a Piston, but for an Engine, it was a fair fight.

  The enemy soldiers formed a circle around Akira. Just past them, he saw his stallion and the gas canisters secured to the horse’s sides.

  “What did you do to him?!” Akira roared.

  “We turned him into a vessel of death,” said the Breaker with the sickles. “Your beast delivered poison throughout these streets.”

  Anger coursed through Akira.

  The soldiers closed in, snorting and grunting like a pack of wild animals.

  Okami howled a warning as a mammoth Breaker charged from the side, raising an energy saw with serrated, super-heated blades above his head.

  It was a mistake that would be the eager warrior’s last.

  Akira slashed at his wrists, where the armor was the weakest. The swift stroke cut through both like a sushi knife through toro, and the energy saw fell right onto the Breaker’s helmet, crunching into his skull.

  Two more warriors thrust their swords at Akira. He jumped back, falling into a defensive position with both swords up. They struck again, and he deflected the blows, with clashes of metal on metal. In a swift thrust, he buried a sword deep into the chest of the Breaker on his right.

  The one on the left prepared to thrust his blade at Akira, but Okami yanked the man backward, biting on his leg. He chomped into the flesh, and the soldier fell to the ground, losing his grip on his blade.

  Akira withdrew his blade from the chest of the first soldier, while Okami crunched through bone of the downed man. By the time Akira turned to help, the Breaker had his pistol aimed at the wolfdog.

  Before he could pull the trigger, a .50-cal round entered one side of the Breaker’s helmet and blew out the other.

  “Death from the shadows,” Frost announced over the comm. “Want me to take down the rest of these ogres?”

  “No,” Akira replied. “They’re mine.”

  He was breaking normal combat protocol, but he wanted to kill these dishonorable men with his own blades.

  Twirling the katanas, Akira approached the fourth Breaker. The lean man was armed with an energy cutlass. He was faster than the other soldiers, using lean legs to side-step and strike at Akira with a cutlass.

  “Captain, I am detecting a large cluster of hostile forces moving toward your location,” Apeiron reported. “It appears they were waiting in the catacombs.”

  She transferred imagery to his HUD as Akira swung a blade and spun around the man. The nimble soldier tried to dodge the attack, but when he turned, Akira punched a katana through one of his bloodshot eyes. A wisp of smoke rose from the crackling hole as Akira pulled out the blade.

  Akira whirled and prepared for the final two soldiers. The leader pointed one of the sickles at him and a tall, thin warrior armed with a pair of energy spears stepped out.

  He launched one of the spears at Akira, forcing him to duck. The blade slashed his jetpack, and a warning sensor beeped on his HUD.

  Akira ran at the soldier, who prepared to throw the second spear. He leapt into the air, catapulting above his foe and tracing his left sword through a gap in the Breaker’s armor, opening up his neck to the spine.

  The final Breaker let out a grunt and charged while swinging two sickles. Akira brought up his swords, but didn’t have the momentum he needed. He ducked below the sickles and speared the Breaker in the face with his decorative datemono that crested his kabuto.

  The sharp V-shaped blades crunched through armor, bone, and brain. Akira pulled back to let the enormous soldier slump to the ground, dead.

  Akira thrust a katana into the center of his chest just to be sure.

  “You finished now, Captain?” Frost said over the comm. “That horde is on the way.”

  “Yeah,” Akira grunted, twisting his sword out of the armor. “I’m done.”

  Gore dripped off his datemono as he turned and spotted her skull-and-flower mask on a nearby rooftop. She leapt down to the ground with a thud and ran to meet Akira where Kichiro lay chained.

  Using his katanas, Akira carefully cut through the bounds. The horse hopped right up, whinnying and nudging Akira with his helmet.

  “It’s okay now,” Akira said. “We’re getting out of here.”

  Akira cut off the canister straps and climbed into the saddle. Reaching down, he helped Frost up.

  “Let’s go, Kichiro!” he shouted.

  The horse took off through the park, galloping into the street. Okami ran by their side, barking excitedly until he heard the haunting howl of Iron Wolves.

  A pack of two-hundred-pound hybrid beasts exploded out of the smoke at the intersection behind them, manes of jagged spikes sticking up, red eyes smoldering like flames.

  Five Coalition handlers were close behind, shirtless, tattooed, and screaming through gas masks. Behind them were dozens of Coalition foot soldiers armed with flesh guns and plasma rifles that all aimed in their direction.

  Muzzle flashes sparked across the street.

  There was hardly any time to react to the hail of bullets that slammed into Akira and Frost, hitting their thick titanium plates. Those shots saved their lives by knocking both Engines off the horse before a subsequent volley of plasma bolts singed through the air.

  Akira whistled for the horse to find cover, then hunched next to Frost behind a destroyed hover truck. Rounds slammed into the shell of the vehicle, sending up shards of metal. Each shot rang out against them like miniature bouts of thunder.

  “You okay?” he asked Frost.

  She nodded and lifted her sniper rifle up. Akira snuck a glance around the bumper. The hybrid wolves rammed into each other in an attempt to be the first to taste Engine flesh.

  Okami came up next to Akira, snapping his metal jaws. He used an arm to keep the wolfdog back and then went up on one knee to fire.

  “Now!” Akira yelled.

  The AI targeting system of his rifle locked onto three hostiles holding chains attached to the wolves. Each trigger pull put a bolt into the center of their chests, dropping them. Two more went down from .50 cal rounds to the skull.

  “Oh shit,” Frost said.

  With no one to hold them back now, the wolves charged the Engines.


  “Get in the air!” Akira yelled. He whistled at Kichiro to run, and then grabbed Okami. But when he tried to launch into the sky with the droid, his thrusters sputtered, and he came crashing down.

  Okami tumbled out of his grip.

  Akira got up as the pack of Iron Wolves ran full speed at him and the wolfdog. Reaching over his shoulders, he drew his swords and hunched down.

  Okami growled and howled at the approaching beasts, standing his ground against the wolves over three times his size.

  “Watch out, bosu!” Tadhg shouted.

  His beastly black form suddenly landed in front of Akira with a crunch that sent a quake through the street. Tadhg caught a leaping Wolf by the throat, ripped off the head, and tossed the body away.

  “Death from the shadows!” Perez yelled. He landed a few feet away, sword drawn in one hand and shield in the other. He held the shield up in front of Akira and Okami, protecting them from an onslaught of plasma bolts.

  “Together, we are one!” Frost yelled from the sky.

  She hovered overhead, firing her rifle and picking off targets.

  Tadhg pulled his long saw-toothed sword and swung it toward the pack. Metal and flesh bodies exploded in a kiss of pink and gray gore.

  Kichiro trotted over, stomping at the ground. Akira got back up onto the stallion as the rest of the horde raced down the street toward them.

  With a whistle, Akira launched the horse toward them in the smoke, bursting through while Akira jabbed his swords at heat signatures.

  Cries of pain and horror rose in a cacophony of battle that Akira was all too used to. He felt like a machine, thrusting, swiping, and slashing from the saddle at the Coalition soldiers.

  A soldier tried to sneak behind them for a better shot, but Kichiro kicked the man in the face, leaving his skull a bloody mess of mangled bone. Perez led the other Engines with his shield up as they joined the fight.

  Tadhg swung his energy sword in wide sweeps, cutting Coalition warriors in half and removing heads with each stroke. Frost switched to her sword and fought by his side, dwarfed next to Tadhg’s huge form, but no less ferocious.