by Drew Cordell
The streets were as empty and lifeless as ever, and with distance from the burning fires of the Dropships, we were left in silence. It seemed neither of us felt like talking as we walked alongside the monolithic buildings of one of the inner districts.
“Do you think Shadow Squad made it out?” Mary asked, breaking the silence and crunching of garbage beneath our feet.
“I hope so, but I think something went wrong. Otherwise they would have showed up at the Docks. We just have to hope they’re on their way back to the Guild Hall.”
“Shouldn’t the Guild have sent someone to rescue us?” she asked.
“Almost everyone who can fight and isn’t in River’s Port dealing with the Scavenger Guild was on this mission today,” I said, the weight of my words sinking in for the both of us. I was still buzzed on the stims, feeling distant and numb from the emotional pain lurking below, waiting for me to fall back down into its cruel grasp.
“Oh,” she said. “I’m sure Shadow Squad got out. We didn’t see any Dropships heading that way, and they seemed to all come from the same place.”
A terrifying thought entered my mind: There could be HKs in the Undercity, looking for the Guild Hall. If there were, our weapons wouldn’t hold up against them. While I had no idea how widespread the effects of the EMP were, it seemed like the wave would have a hard time penetrating all the steel and concrete between the street and the hundreds of levels of the Undercity. If any of the HKs had made it underground before the last EMP went off, then they would still be fully functional.
“We need to consider our options. There could be HKs in the Undercity, and we have no way to defend ourselves against them,” I said.
“If there are, wouldn’t the Guild be looking for them?”
“We lost a lot of people today, and the Guild is probably evaluating the situation. If there are HKs wandering in the Undercity, then the Guild may be on lockdown until they can pull people from River’s Port. Either way, I think things are going to get a lot more complicated. If we risk going through the Undercity and run into an HK, we’re dead.”
“How long can we wait around?” Mary asked.
“I grabbed enough food and water so we can lie low for a week. The longer we wait, the more likely it is that the Guild will sort things out. We can set up camp near the main Undercity entrance, so we’ll be able to spot any Guild squads and regroup. If they’re coming from underground, they’ll have working armor and weapons.”
“You think that’s the best option?” Mary was struggling to keep up, and I slowed my pace to ease her discomfort.
“We don’t have a best option right now. You need medical treatment which I can’t give, and if there are HKs in the Undercity, which there probably are, then we’d die anyway if we went underground by ourselves.” I shifted the backpacks I was wearing and continued forward, leading the way through the cold street.
“Yeah, I think you’re right. Let’s just get as far away from the Docks as we can and get back to the main Undercity entrance so we can lie low. Do you have any other medical supplies in your pack?”
I shook my head. “Not much. Most of what I had used some form of electronics. Adam was the medic of the group, and I used almost everything he had trying to save Caeldra.”
Mary didn’t have anything to say after that, and we continued forward in silence.
After a couple more hours of travel, we had to stop. My back was killing me from hauling around the excess weight, and Mary was in a lot of pain from her broken collarbone. I led us through an apartment building, climbing the barren stairwell to one of the upper floors. With most of the windows shattered, it was the same temperature inside, but I wanted to get to the roof so we’d have a good vantage point. We finally passed through the top floor, some thirteen floors above ground level, and came out onto an empty rooftop. I used my Hellfire Blade to jam the door shut, so we’d hear anyone trying to get onto the roof, then looked for a spot to pitch our camp.
I set about preparing the small two-person tent I carried in my pack and cursed when I realized the environmental controls wouldn’t work. Removing the tarp on the top, I fixed the flare to the support beams of the tent, holding it in place and illuminating the interior. We pulled off our masks and climbed inside.
I dumped out our packs, shifting through the food and survival gear and tossing out anything electronic that had been reduced to deadweight. I still had some Biogel and some pills that could help Mary. I undid her sling and helped her out of her jacket. She winced in pain as she had to straighten her arm, and I did my best to help her through the movement. She moved slowly and pulled off her shirt and bra, struggling to lift them over her head. I helped her the rest of the way and winced when I saw her chest.
Mary’s chest was blotted with huge, angry bruises that stretched from her stomach to her shoulder where a section of her collarbone jutted out against her skin right above her breast. I lathered my hands in the cold Biogel and started rubbing it on her broken bone as gently as possible. The Biogel started to heat up as it came into contact with her skin. Mary sighed in relief as the medicine worked its way in and numbed the pain. While the gel wouldn’t heal the broken bone instantly, it would accelerate the healing process and help her manage the pain. I rubbed some more of the gel on her bruises and helped her back into her clothes. Mary leaned back against me, and I wrapped my arms around her, warming her and thinking about how much she meant to me.
I dug through the pill bottles and gave her a dose of antibiotics and some boosters to help prevent infection on her wound, then started repacking the equipment in my backpack.
“Can you tell me what happened?” Mary asked, looking at me with her beautiful eyes and seeing right past the stony emotionlessness I was trying to convey. She knew how much I was hurting and was probably feeling the same way. After I had come down from the stims, I had managed to layer away the emotional pain, but it was just sitting there festering, waiting to work its way back up and consume me. I had to be careful or it would break my composure.
“Yeah. What do you remember?” I asked.
“The last thing I remember was being lifted into the air after the Titan broke my collarbone,” she said.
“It slammed you on the ground. It was about to do it again when Caeldra ran up and stabbed it through the neck twice with her knife—she saved your life and died because of it. I finally freed myself from the body on top of me and destroyed the Titan before it could get to you again,” I said, feeling my emotions betray me. “We have to make their lives count; we have to beat this thing.”
Mary reached over with her good hand and wrapped her fingers in between mine. “I love you, Jake. We’re going to get through this—their lives will matter,” she said, tearing up as well. “The EMP worked, and we’ll be able to build the real thing to use in Olympus.”
“I just can’t believe they’re gone.”
“I can’t either,” she said.
“Let’s try to get some rest. We can move again in a few hours.”
Mary nodded, and I walked out of the tent and tossed the flare over by the battered steel door that led to the stairwell of the apartments. While we didn’t have a bed, we were inarguably safer on the roof unless there were more Dropships, and we could watch the streets of the Slums for lights as well.
“Be right back,” I called to Mary, grabbing the flare and returning to the apartment building.
Once back inside, I scavenged inside the top floor apartments, gathering an armful of blankets and returning to Mary after replacing my weapon on the door handle and placing the flare back on the ground. I built a makeshift bed for the two of us and pulled her into my embrace, kissing her on the lips, and letting sleep take the pain away.
26 RUINS
It took us another two days’ worth of travel to reach a familiar building in our home district. We were down to our last two flares and had arrived at an abandoned Government office previously used for all the clerical work of the Slums. The office
used to process a ton of data before it was sent to the Omniscience Engine.
The massive server rooms on the inside were smashed, and expensive pieces of electronic equipment littered the floor. Like every other building, this one had been looted when all the Enforcers were pulled out—when the Slums were left to die. Searching a janitorial closet, I found a flashlight and a pack of alkaline batteries. Mary held the flare while I punched in the batteries, flipped the switch, and smiled. A beam erupted from the front, illuminating the small, cramped room. Either the EMP hadn’t made it to this part of the Slums, the flashlight was simple enough to resist the pulse, or the pulse hadn’t been able to penetrate the walls of this building. It was a small victory, but one we needed.
Mary grabbed the pack of batteries and stuffed them into my pack. With the light, we’d be much better off. Both of us were worried about running out of flares and being trapped in the dark. If that happened, we’d die for sure.
“If there was a flashlight, maybe we could find something else useful here,” she said.
“Maybe so. I’m not too hopeful we’ll find any weapons here, but we may be able to find some more electronics that could help us out, possibly a radio.”
“You think you could rig it up to run on the Artemis frequency?” she asked.
“No, there’s no way. I’d have to broadcast unencrypted, and I don’t know if anyone is listening anymore.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean if there are HKs in the Undercity, then they may be wrecking our underground communications infrastructure.”
Mary nodded. “You’re right. Let’s keep looking before we go up to the rooftop.”
Our search of the building’s five floors resulted in nothing interesting. For the most part, everything had been looted, smashed, or burned. We walked through piles of wrecked computer equipment, furniture, and garbage, methodically working our way to the roof. As we cleared the door to the rooftop, a figure hunched over a fire jumped up with a knife raised, preparing to lunge at us. Instinctively, I jumped in front of Mary, dropping my flashlight and drawing my sword. They were human, and they were wearing EPX.
“We’re with the Guild!” I yelled. The person kept their weapon raised, but halted their advance.
“Who are you?” the man asked, his voice distorted through the thick visor of the EPX helmet.
“Jacob Ashton, Knight Squad. This is Mary Dunn,” I said, stepping to the side and letting Mary walk forward.
“Darren Novak, Lancer Squad. I didn’t think anyone else was still alive.” He took off his helmet. His blonde hair was long and unruly, and he looked to be about thirty years old.
While I didn’t recognize his name, I recognized his face from the Guild Hall. We sheathed our weapons. I couldn’t believe we hadn’t seen Darren’s fire when we arrived at the building.
“Have you seen any other survivors? Have you tried the Undercity yet?” Mary asked.
“There were two other survivors with me. It’s hard to gauge time without electronics, but I think they left a day ago—maybe two. They were going to the Undercity and were going to bring back help once they made it to the Guild Hall. Our weapons didn’t work, so they went with just flares and their knives. EPX suits are too heavy without power, so they left them behind,” he said, pointing to two other EPX suits slouched against the wall of the roof. “We didn’t stand a chance against those HKs at the Docks, there were so many,” Darren said, slouching his head and rubbing his eyes. “I suppose you know that as well as me. You guys detonated the last EMP, huh?”
“Yeah, that was us. Mary and I are the only ones left from Knight Squad,” I said.
“Damn,” he said, shaking his head. “I really hope this was worth it. If there are more HKs coming, we’re done.”
“Do you think there are HKs in the Undercity?” I asked.
“There must be. I don’t think the Council would hold my squad mates on lockdown if they knew I was waiting here.”
“What do you think we should do?” Mary asked him.
“I’m just a grunt. I’m good at following orders, and to be honest, we were in way above our heads on this one. No amount of training could have prepared us for what happened out there. Yeah, the EMP took out the HKs, but it was too late. There was a Titan too; it killed everyone else who managed to survive the first wave of attack. The thing about EPX suits is that without power, you can’t really move, and they’re a pain in the ass to take off. Even with the shielding, the suits couldn’t keep the EMP out.”
“How are you doing on food and water?” I asked.
“I’ve got a couple days left. I know we’re either going to have to try our chances in the Undercity or risk going back to the Docks to resupply. Either way, we’ve got a decision to make.” Darren eyed Mary’s sling. “Can you move well?”
Mary shook her head. “My collarbone is broken. Jake put some Biogel on it and made the sling, but I can’t run fast without the pain becoming overwhelming. It’s sore as hell, and the arm is useless.”
I held up my cybernetic arm. “The EMP took out all motor control, so I can’t do much with this arm either,” I said.
“Damn, that’s rough. Wherever we go, I’m going to have to ditch the EPX. It’s way too much work lugging it around.” Darren turned around and grabbed a SMG, the kind that fired bullets. “I’ve only got five rounds left in my mag, so this thing won’t be any use. I was hoping to find more ammo, but most of the people in the breach squads used all their bullets on the Titan when it showed up. Didn’t do much, obviously,” he said, anger surging through his voice. “How did you guys get away from the Titan, anyway?”
“We destroyed it,” Mary said.
Darren stared with disbelief. “Seriously? How?”
Mary held up her sword. “The edges on our blades cut through its armor. Titans use Nanotech-based shielding, and EMP takes out its defenses. Its chassis is immune to EMP pulses, but blades with Nanoedges will cut through.”
Darren shook his head. “We didn’t think to try that; we just ran while it jumped around and cut us down with a massive sword. Makes you wonder why they didn’t send us with Nanoedge bullets. Maybe we would have had a chance then.”
“I don’t know all the details, but Nanoedges can’t form three dimensional structures like the tip of a bullet. They only work because they’re essentially a flat, two-dimensional edge.”
Darren tensed up when he saw the hilt of the sword sticking up from the back of my backpack. “That’s the sword the Titan had.”
“I think you’d better take it. I can’t really swing it with my right arm decommissioned,” I said.
Darren reached out and took the sword from me, balancing it in his hands and taking a couple practice swings to gauge the weight. “Mission protocol said to wait at the Docks for rescue if something went wrong, but Knight Squad was part of the rescue team. I don’t know where that leaves us,” he said.
I considered his words. “I think we should sit tight here for a few days and see if anyone comes up from the Undercity.”
“How will we tell if they’re friendly or hostile?” Mary asked.
“The HKs don’t use flashlights; they have infrared vision optics in addition to the normal sensor packages. If someone we can see comes from the Undercity, they’re either with the Guild or they’re Harvesters,” Darren said.
“There aren’t too many Harvesters left, and they haven’t been in the Undercity for months. If we see someone with flashlights, we need to move as fast as possible,” I said.
“Let’s take inventory. When we’re down to two days of food and water, we’ll either need to brave the Undercity or go back to the Docks to resupply. We need to keep in mind it will take us a day to walk those twenty miles, and we don’t have an endless supply of light. If we run out of light, we’re also dead,” Darren said.
We dumped our packs on the ground by the fire and counted our supplies—roughly enough food for four days, which meant we could only sta
y here for two. Even if we were just sitting around, we each needed at least a gallon of water and two thousand calories a day if we were going to be in any shape to travel. We could stretch the rations, but it wasn’t safe to ration water heavily. I couldn’t bring myself to say it, but I had no intention of returning to the Docks ever again. I couldn’t bear to see Caeldra and everyone else like that—not again.
The more I thought about it, the more dangerous waiting around seemed. “I think we should go through the Undercity tomorrow,” I said. “I don’t think anyone is coming, and we won’t last long out here. Waiting for someone else to come out of the Undercity would be a lot more viable if we had more food and water. If there are HKs, I want to take a different route to the Guild Hall.”
Mary glanced at me, her eyes glowing in the dancing light of the fire. “I’m with Jake on this one. There’s nothing left for us at the Docks, and I don’t want to stay out here any longer.”
“It’s settled then. We’ll need to sleep in shifts tonight just in case,” Darren said. “I suppose I ought to get comfy. Would you two mind helping me out of this suit?”
“No problem,” I said, standing to help Darren undo all the armor latches manually. The suits were designed to allow the user to take them off by themselves, but without power that feature wasn’t an option.
Undoing all the latches, I helped Darren out of the armor. The undersuit he wore wasn’t made for long-term exposure outside and with the cold winter temperatures, he was forced to go inside looking for clothes. After about thirty minutes he returned wearing a heavy Government issued jacket and some pants that looked a few sizes too big.
With the three of us huddled around the fire, we made small conversation, but it was clear Mary and Darren weren’t feeling up to it either. We’d all lost people, and it was impossible to feel fine. Any layering I did with my mind would only make things worse when I couldn’t hold it any longer, and I was tired of running from my demons. I’d need a clear head when we left after some sleep, but for now I could face what was on my mind and heart.
