by Ben Wolf
Or had Justin’s team simply beaten them there?
Four of the restaurant’s androids lay on the floor with the overturned furniture and the broken glass, riddled with blackened holes from pulse rounds. Thanks to his encounters with the androids back at ACM-1134, he didn’t lament seeing them in such a state. After all, a dead android was one that couldn’t try to kill him anymore.
Bear’s mech came in last, adding far louder crunches of its metallic feet atop the broken glass. It had barely fit inside the restaurant due to its height.
Justin continued to venture deeper into LaBorn’s until a bright light shined in his eyes out of nowhere.
“Don’t take another step,” someone ordered.
Justin froze, unwilling to raise his rifle. He thought he recognized that voice, but he couldn’t be sure.
Behind him, Val’s voice answered, “You do him, and I’ll do you.”
“Easy, Bryant,” Hallie said from somewhere beyond the source of the light. “It’s Justin. And… a traveling circus. Or something.”
The light lowered, and Justin blinked his vision back to normal.
“Probably shoulda seen him coming,” Ritz muttered. “What with these augmented eyes and all.”
Hallie emerged from behind the checkout counter along the back and rushed over to Justin. She still had her satchel slung over her shoulder, and he still held a pulse rifle, so they exchanged an awkward half-hug that was good, but not great.
[Aw. You made it back to your girl. I love a happy ending,] Keontae said.
As they shared the embrace, Bryant came out from behind the counter next, and then Captain Marlowe and Arlie emerged from the kitchen with only a handful of people behind them.
“You made it,” Hallie said, her voice just above a whisper as she released the embrace and stared up at him. Then, louder, she said, “And you blew up ACM’s ship? How the hell did you pull that off?”
“Trade secret,” Justin said. “Nerdy, technical stuff.”
“Is that supposed to dissuade me from knowing more?” Hallie shook her head and put her free hand on her hip. “You do realize that I’ve spent my entire life studying and mastering ‘nerdy, technical stuff,’ right? Now I’m more interested than ever.”
“Later,” Justin said as he scanned the faces of the Viridian’s survivors.
Aside from Captain Marlowe and Arlie, only Al, Shaneesha, Lora, and two other workers whose names he couldn’t remember had survived. Dr. Angela stood among them as well.
“This is it? No one else made it?” Justin’s heart ached at the loss of more of his fellow rig-runners.
Captain Marlowe gave a solemn nod. “Ran into trouble in the sewers.”
Justin noticed how dirty they were for the first time. It looked as if they’d endured a gray snowstorm.
“Hallie saved us,” Captain Marlowe added.
Justin looked at her, and she nodded, smiling.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Long story short, we ran into a purple-skinned giant. He tried to kill us—” Hallie’s smile shrank. “He did kill some of us… and then I buried him under a ton of asphalt, hence the concrete dust on our clothes and in our hair. Gravity’s not the most complex scientific law, but it works on everybody.”
“Vesh,” Justin said. “You ran into Vesh. Violet skin, kind of translucent? Freaky black eyes?”
Everyone nodded.
“I’m so glad you made it,” Justin said. “He was the one who captured me. Not a guy I’d want to mess with again.”
“Now you won’t have to,” Hallie said. “He’s buried in the sewer.”
“Along with the crew that didn’t make it,” Bryant added. “From both our vessels.”
“Well, we made it,” Justin said. “The Avarice is gone, and any ACM soldiers left here don’t have the strength and resources they once had. All we have to do is outlast them or get past them to the docking bay, and we can get outta here.”
“What’s with the street performers?” Arlie nodded toward Val and the others.
Justin glanced back at them. “New friends. Meet Val, Zed, Ritz, and Bear.”
Each of them waved or nodded when named.
“Found ’em in the brig aboard the Avarice. They tried to kill me, then they saved me and helped me escape, so I figured that made us even enough to bring ’em along.”
“And we appreciate it,” Bear said with a grin from inside his mech suit.
“Gotta say, having a guy in a mech suit’s gonna draw more attention if we’re trying to move through the city toward the docking bay.” Captain Marlowe popped open his metal case and pulled out a fresh metal stick.
“Yeah, but you also got a helluva lot more firepower if we do get into some sorta spat,” Bear countered. “Plus, I’m slow as turtle shit without one of these jitterbugs. You want me to keep up, the suit stays on.”
Captain Marlowe positioned the stick in the side of his mouth near his molars and chomped down. Then he glanced at Arlie, who shrugged.
“He’s actually pretty slick in that thing. Moves like he’s gliding on air,” Justin said.
Captain Marlowe looked Bear up and down, chewing on his stick. His voice carried a hint of incredulity. “Whatever you say.”
“No real reason to linger, is there?” Arlie said. “We should get moving. Don’t need to be stuck in one place for too long.”
The way she said it might’ve been yet another jab at Captain Marlowe, but he only nodded. “She’s right. Let’s head out.”
“Good. Along the way, I’ll be happy to tell you how I blew up the Avarice,” Justin said.
[How you blew it up?] Keontae grumbled.
Before Justin could retort, Ritz hissed at them with his hands up.
“Wait!” Ritz’s eyes were extended, glowing bright green instead of orange and swirling around like mad. “Shit. We’re in trouble.”
Val’s rifle rose to her shoulder seemingly on its own, and she pointed it toward the broken windows at the front of the restaurant. Bear spun in his mech suit, also facing the front.
Captain Marlowe, Arlie, and Bryant followed suit, but they exchanged looks of confusion while they did it.
Justin lifted his rifle, too, but he had no clue why he was doing it.
Then several dozen ACM soldiers quickly surrounded the outside of the restaurant. Their face shields reflected the blue of the city lights, with occasional flickers of other colors, and each of them pointed their pulse rifles into LaBorn’s.
Justin swore under his breath.
[Say it aloud, man. I feel the same way,] Keontae said.
“Hold your fire,” a voice crooned from somewhere within the ranks of the soldiers.
Justin recognized that voice…
Admiral Sever.
He emerged from the throng of soldiers, carrying a wicked-looking pulse rifle of his own, not wearing a helmet like the others, and sneering at Justin and the others.
“It seems we have you at a disadvantage,” he called. “We have the numbers.”
“And we have a fortified position and a bottleneck,” Bryant called back. “So your numbers don’t mean shit.”
Justin eyed him. This was a damned restaurant, not a fortress. What the hell was he talking about?
[I don’t care what that Coalition guy says,] Keontae said. [This is bad, JB.]
Keontae was right. Even with a way through the kitchen, Admiral Sever had undoubtedly posted men there as well.
Justin felt his heart rate increasing. They’d been so close…
“Think again,” Admiral Sever said. “You are trapped. There’s no way out except through us… and you won’t get through us. Not even close.”
Bryant started to speak again, but Hallie beat him to it. “What do you want?”
“Ah, is that the blonde scientist with the lovely face?” Admiral Sever called. “Never did get your name, darling.”
“Dr. Hayes,” she answered. “And I’m not your fucking darling.”
&n
bsp; Justin’s eyebrows rose at the venom in Hallie’s voice.
“Tsk, tsk. Language, Dr. Hayes. I would’ve expected you to exhibit more self-restraint than that.”
“Pretty hard to control my tongue when a bag of dicks like you keeps trying to kill me,” she fired back.
Even from a distance, Justin saw Admiral Sever frown. It gave him a small satisfaction, even though their situation remained dire.
“Dr. Hayes, you know what I want.” Admiral Sever extended a gloved hand toward her. “Hand it over, and I promise we will kill you all quickly.”
“The hell?” Justin called out, “You’re not even gonna lie and say you’ll let us go?”
“Ah… Mr. Barclay. The man who supposedly knows something about Carl Andridge’s death… and who also just admitted to singlehandedly destroying an ACM warship.” Admiral Sever added, “Yes, I overheard you mentioning that. And yes, I am exempting you from my generous offer to die quickly.”
Justin gulped. It shouldn’t have bothered him that Admiral Sever knew, but being threatened over it still unnerved him.
“I don’t care what you say,” Hallie shouted. “I’m never giving it to you.”
“Then, my dear,” Admiral Sever said, “I will simply take it.”
Shit. Justin knew what that meant. He dove for Hallie with his arms outstretched, letting his rifle fall in the process.
Admiral Sever’s rifle snapped up to his shoulder and fired, but the pulse round sizzled past Justin’s ear as he took Hallie to the ground.
LaBorn’s erupted with the rattle of pulse rifles exchanging fire and shrieks and cries all around Justin. He shielded Hallie with his body and rolled her over behind some of the downed tables and chairs, but they wouldn’t make for sufficient enough cover. Hundreds of pulse rounds firing across the restaurant would tear through it all eventually.
But what else could they do?
Justin watched as Val, Bryant, Captain Marlowe, and Arlie returned fire. Zed and Ritz loosed wild barrages of their own, and Bear skidded back and forth across the restaurant in his mech, knocking downed tables and chairs aside as if they weighed nothing. A green shield repelled most of the shots that reached him, but it wouldn’t last forever.
Admiral Sever was right. They were trapped.
Even with them returning fire, Justin saw another one of the Viridian’s crew go down.
It was Shaneesha.
No!
She’d been hit in her gut, and Dr. Angela had rushed to her side to try to stabilize her.
Meanwhile, Lora had snatched up the rifle Justin had dropped and began returning fire along with the others, all while wearing a vicious snarl on her face.
Justin glanced down at Hallie again. She was reaching into her satchel.
This time, Hallie had no choice. She’d managed to get the edge over Vesh, but there wasn’t any “edge” to get in this situation. They were locked down. Hard.
ACM soldiers had already breached the restaurant’s perimeter and were steadily advancing forward. Whenever one of them went down, more soldiers popped up in their place.
It was only a matter of time before they were completely overrun.
When Justin had tackled her to the ground, she started reaching into her satchel. She got her hand on the object inside and pulled it out—a chrome capsule, sealed on both ends, longer than her forearm but just as wide as her head.
Am I really doing this? Am I really unleashing this onto this ship?
Pulse rounds dug into the wall just above her head, and she tried to flatten herself to the floor.
Yes. I have to, or we’re all dead.
She pressed her thumb hard against a charcoal circle on the surface of the chrome capsule, and it turned green, then red under her pressure. A click sounded, distinct from the ruckus all around her. It was open.
Or maybe we’re all dead either way.
“You want it,” she shouted, “you got it!”
She tossed the capsule over her head, over the chairs and tables behind where she’d taken cover. A loud hiss sounded from the center of the restaurant as the contents of the capsule dispersed.
It had begun.
21
Whatever Hallie had just done, it accelerated quickly.
Before Justin’s eyes, a black cloud billowed out of the chrome thing she’d tossed into the middle of LaBorn’s. But it didn’t behave like a cloud at all—it moved more like a swarm of some sort, glistening from within and moving with a degree of intentionality that Justin wouldn’t have guessed was possible for smoke.
He quickly realized that whatever it was, it wasn’t smoke.
It separated into five distinct parts, four of which landed on the four downed androids. Within a matter of seconds, the androids rose to their feet as if reanimated, looking and behaving very different from how androids were supposed to look and behave. Their eyes glowed with a haunting pale-green light.
Their metal arms and hands violently twisted and warped into jagged points. Then they leaped toward the nearest ACM soldiers and drove their new weapons into the soldiers’ bodies, straight through their armor as if it were only cloth.
The soldiers shrieked and screamed, and they collapsed as the androids stabbed them wildly, again and again.
Keontae gasped. [What the fuck is goin’ on?]
The sight resurrected the worst of Justin’s memories from ACM-1134, and he almost looked away, but he couldn’t. His sense of survival wouldn’t let him.
Then his eyes punished him for it.
As the androids leaped toward new victims, the fifth part of the cloud attacked the approaching soldiers. It broke into yet even more glistening black parts, and they smacked into the soldiers’ face shields and helmets.
The ACM soldiers began clawing at their helmets, screaming and trying to rip them off. When they succeeded, Justin saw parts of their faces dissolving away, replaced by a metallic black film and splashes of blood streaming from their wounds to the floor.
Their eyes went next, eaten away by whatever the cloud was, and were replaced with hollow husks of eye sockets instead. The stuff went after their lips and their teeth, their jaws, and down their necks, but only in patches—never a full slate of metal.
But the worst part was when the soldiers stopped resisting. They didn’t fall to the floor. Didn’t die.
Instead, they went still for a long moment as metal claw-like structures pierced through the tips of their gloved fingers, knees, and elbows. Then they turned their marred faces toward whatever or whoever was nearest and sprang into an attack.
One of them went for Bear in his mech suit, and another went for Al, who was crouching behind an overturned table.
Bear’s mech cannon shredded the mutated soldier who came for him, but it took far more rounds than it should’ve to bring the thing down.
Al, on the other hand, had no weapons.
Val, Captain Marlowe, and Arlie tried to shoot it down with their pulse rifles, but they couldn’t even slow it down. The soldier jammed its clawed hands into Al’s chest, and he screamed. Justin shuddered at the sight, helpless to intervene.
Then the downed soldiers, the first ones the androids had killed, started to get up, too. Spikes of glistening black metal stuck out of their wounds where they’d been stabbed, and they rose to their feet with more metal extending from their fingers.
They, too, joined the battle.
It was like ACM-1134 all over again… only worse.
Quicker. More brutal. More visceral.
Justin glanced at Hallie, who lay there, just barely peeking over the edge of the table they were using for cover. Her mouth hung open just like his.
He wanted to shout at her, to demand that she tell him what she’d done. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t find any words.
Captain Marlowe, however, did.
“Fall back!” he shouted over the clamor. “Into the kitchen! Fall back!”
“He’s right,” Hallie said. “We have to get somewhere it can’
t reach us, too.”
“Where?” Justin managed to ask.
“The walk-in freezer or refrigeration unit if they have one.” Hallie looked at Justin with desperation in her light-blue eyes. “It’s our only chance.”
Whatever she’d done, she’d known this would happen, or something like it.
She’d known, and she’d done it anyway.
Justin didn’t know what to feel about that.
[Move, JB!] Keontae yelled.
“C’mon.” Justin hauled her up to her feet, and they ran toward the back of the restaurant again.
As Bryant led the survivors into the kitchen, another mutated ACM soldier leaped at them. It took Dr. Angela down with one set of claws, then it drove its other hand into Shaneesha. Both of them screamed.
Justin swore and cursed, even as Bear, Val, and Captain Marlowe unleashed terrible fury into it with their guns, but they were too late. Dr. Angela and Shaneesha were both dead.
Once they reached the kitchen, Hallie yelled, “To the freezer!”
Bryant found it and shoved metal tables and equipment out of the way to clear a direct path, and then he flung the massive freezer door open. A blast of icy fog billowed out of it, and Bryant ushered everyone inside as quickly as he could.
To Justin’s surprise, they all managed to fit, including Bear and his mech suit.
Together, Bryant and Captain Marlowe began to haul the freezer door shut, but before it could latch, an arm tipped with metallic claws jammed inside, scraping and clawing at the door and toward everyone inside.
Then the door started pulling open again, and Justin caught a glimpse of the thing’s face. It was Al—or it had been. Like the others, he had no eyes, and splotches of black metal had eaten away at his face. His blackened metallic mouth hung open as he reached for them.
Justin had never missed his energy sword more than right then.
Val, Zed, Ritz, and Arlie unleashed the full fury of their rifles into Al’s head and torso, but he still wouldn’t relent.
“Move!” Hallie yelled, and everyone moved aside, including Captain Marlowe and Bryant. She held some sort of bucket in her hands.
