Flesh and Alloy: A dystopian novel

by Nathan Lunn

  The alarm burst into action, plunging the room into strobing dark and light reds, wailing screeches echoing around the large and empty theatre. A beep came from her hand as the 3D weapon confirmed primed ammunition, and she raised it to her head height. Taking advantage of the darkness, she sent a shot out, listening and looking through the red and the dark for the impact. A cry rang out through the alarm, and she saw Godfrey go down to the floor of the stage, pressing his shoulder with the cannon and scrabbling for a weapon with his other hand. She primed another bullet in the weapon, waiting for the beep before firing at where she had last seen his hand. A destroyed weapon slid away from Godfrey’s grasp, as he yelled a curse, whirling around to face her. Through the crimson lighting, Godfrey’s twisted, terrifying face looked as though it was stop-motion animated. He crawled towards her, tapping desperately at his temple in some attempt to call for assistance. Suddenly, a grouping of spat-out shots split the nearest banner in half, tearing through Godfrey’s proud figure and scattering pixels to the floor. Julie swore and ran back to the podium, diving behind it for cover as another burst of fire split the other banner from the top, dropping the heavy silken material to the floor. Metal echoes rang out as the missed bullets bounced around the theatre, and she ducked as best she could, curling into a tight ball and pushing herself further into the podium. She shouted into her commlink, gaze settling on the contorted image of Godfrey scrunched on the banner a few feet away, listening out to her right for his yells as he inched his way closer to the podium.

  “Kye, Eddie! Get those mercenaries dealt with! Danny, are you nearly here yet?” She heard no vocal response, but a cacophony of fire spread from the centre of the room. A steady stream of thudding firepower screamed from the twin barrels of Kye’s automatic rifle, the muzzle flashing so consistently it served like a torch, lighting his aim and face in a stuttering orange glow. Eddie provided noise of his own, with a less powerful, but faster firing, stream of shatterpoint ammunition coming from his Type 400. He was more conservative with his ammunition, attempting to aim and fire at the shadowy figures which had moved away from the doorways and further into the centre of the room following their attack against Godfrey’s image. Golden rubble and stone dust rained onto Julie’s shoulders as a burst from the nearest mercenary narrowly missed her head. She screamed, firing off blind shots behind her in response, before she yelled out, “Kye! Cover me, I need to move from the podium.” Another steady stream from the Clayton shot out, this time aimed towards the centre of the room. A loud crash gave her a jump and she turned, standing away from the podium in worry and catching a glimpse of the bullet-ridden remains of the janitorial sweeper dropped onto the floor.

  “Shit! I thought I got one of them.” Kye spoke. “I can’t see a thing.”

  Julie, from her standing position, had a good view of the entire theatre, noticing finally that the banners which were still on, were providing a little light to the edges of the theatre. From this, she was able to pick out the dark shifting shapes in the room, and primed her weapon for three more shots as she fired on the advancing enemies.

  “Look for their muzzle flash!” she shouted. Running to the edge of the stage, past the still crawling Godfrey, she jumped the distance to the ground floor, ducking immediatley behind a janitorial sweeper as the fast-moving mercenaries tracked and shot at her moving form. Kye and Eddie noticed the orange flashes in the middle of the room, and whirled to aim their weapons on them, only a few feet away. Kye pulled up the Stockholm with his spare hand, wielding a weapon in both as he fired towards the light. Both of the orange flashes cut out, and a single thump reached their ears. Julie could make out Kye and Eddie slowly easing forward, weapons down by their sides. Another flash of orange and purple. “Kye!” she screamed. Bullets clattered to the floor, as she fired towards the orange flash. She heard another thump, catching the red blood dripping to the floor as the red light flashed overhead. She screamed again, running towards where she had seen the purple flash. “Kye! Eddie!”

  “We’re okay!” Kye yelled out. Julie breathed a sigh of relief, as Kye and Eddie stood, bathed in purple light as his dome-shaped arm returned to its usual state. She gasped.

  “How did you–”

  Kye interrupted, passing her her Stockholm as they moved to the edge of the room, “Later.”

  She pumped the weapon and moved to the banners, finally able to see both of the guys. “Is that everyone?” She breathed, shaking the dust out of her hair and tapping on her temple. The alarm had started to worm its way into their minds, and the flashing lights mixed with the fast-paced defence had mutated her small headache into a fully grown migraine. Danny spoke to them through the commlink, gulping out between his breaths, “I’m here, coming through now. Don’t fire on me.” A bang sounded as he burst into the room through the same entrance they had gone through earlier. A second bang startled them, and Danny swore loud enough to render the commlink useless. He limped to the edge of the room, ducking behind a stack of metal chairs, and clutching at his kneecap.

  Eddie shouted out to him, “Danny! You good?”

  Danny replied to his yell with gritted teeth, spitting on the floor and tearing a strip of his clothing to fashion a makeshift bandage, “I’m okay. To answer your question, dear, that was not everyone. There’s at least one more fucker in here.”

  “Can anyone get a mark on him? My eyes aren’t accustomed anymore.” Julie spoke, Stockholm loaded and raised. Danny, finished tying his bandage, slipped his Amaterasu Goggles on, and flipped the switch to open night vision format. He swore again, startling and worrying the rest of the group.

  Eddie spoke again, shocked. “What’s wrong?” His gun was up and trained over to the opposite side of the room, sweeping in a wide, low arc.

  Danny slid his goggles back up his face, rested them on his forehead, and spoke.

  “Fucking alarm lights messing with the night vision, it’s blinded me! Someone take these, now.” Squinting badly, he saw Eddie run over to his banner and take the goggles from him, fussing over his eyes. Another grouping of shots laced over the space between them, cutting down the banner nearest to them, as Godfrey screamed out in pain from the top of the stage, pulling himself up on the podium.

  “Anyone see the flash?” Julie yelled, hearing silence in return.

  Danny pushed Eddie away, yelling at him, “Get the goggles on and find this bastard.” Eddie turned and slipped the goggles on, switching them into radiowave format. A wash of black filled his sight, punctuated to his sides with red vines snaking between each other, and pulsating with bright energy. A single red vine passed across the length of the theatre, jumping with consistent energy as the mercenary conversed with Godfrey over on the podium. Pulling up his Type 400, aiming directly below the ending of the red vine, Eddie fired, watching as his shatterpoint ammo sliced through the vine. The connection disappeared as the man slumped to the ground, a hole blasted through his face and chest; Godfrey let out a yell as his own commlink was filled with silence. Following a quick survey of the room, Eddie yelled out to the group, “All clear. Just that dick up on the podium left around.” He turned around to tend to Danny as Julie and Kye walked up the stage, both doing their best to ignore the alarm now that it was the only thing left to fill in the silence. Kye waited at the bottom of the stairs, and Julie ascended to stand over a pain-ridden Godfrey, clutching at his shoulder as tightly as possible. His cannon was pushing at his lower thigh, which had apparently snaked another bullet during all of the cross-fire. He started to speak, angry babbling as Julie stared on silently.

  “What gives you all the right? What makes you think you can attack us like this? I have single handedly contributed almost the largest lump sum to your military, and this is how you repay us?” Spit flew from his mouth as his face turned red, his scar remaining a stark white in comparison. Julie simply primed a bullet into the On-the-fli and pointed it towards Godfrey with a soft beep. His tone immediately changed, as an abject terror slipped over his face and b
ody, paralysing him with fear. He began to talk, faster, bargaining with Julie for some form of safety.

  “Wait, wait, wait! What do you want, money of your own? I can give you guys money, is that what you want?” Julie simply raised the pistol to aim it at Godfrey’s head, calculating the emotions she saw flicker across his face, laughing at the desperation that was settled on. He raised his voice. “Please, answer me! Do you want my money?”

  Julie let a smirk cross her face, as she spoke, softly calm and collected. “I thought you weren’t known for asking twice?” Godfrey, enraged and desperate, leaped up towards her. She fired, the bullet passing into his skull and sending a spray of thick red blood over the stage floor and golden podium behind him. He slumped to the ground, his massive figure shrunken and destroyed. She spoke a final time, priming another bullet and firing into his crotch. “Don’t worry. It won’t happen again.”

  18

  Kye watched the needle plunge into Danny’s arm, dropping him under and resting him still on the metal table. He sighed, and turned away, pushing through the curtains into the wet, cold workshop; Eddie was left on his own in the medical wing, sitting to Danny’s edge and chewing on his lips – full of nervous energy. Since they had escaped from the theatre, since the ride up through the Pacific Ocean, and over the entirety of the destroyed landmass running below them, they had been tense. By the time they finally reached the workshop, their nerves were shot – though Kye knew they weren’t going to be able to rest properly for a long time. Whilst the appropriate precautions had been taken, the idea that something had gone wrong, or that they had slipped up, still weighed heavy on his conscience and stuck in his head, no matter how hard he tried to relax and think of something else. He sniffed, breathing in a dose of the cigarette smoke that coated his clothing and the interior of the warhouse – to help deal with his pain and distract from the wound, Danny had compulsively smoked two packs on the way back. Eddie had joined in a little, more to deal with his nerves than any issue he had with pain.

  Kye detested the smell, and headed to the cheaply-installed communal showers to clean it off – stopping by at his locker to pick up his change of clothes. Choosing a blue cotton shirt and some dress pants, he undressed and headed into the shower room, towel wrapped loosely around his waist. He slowed down as he noticed the steam wisps floating out of the doorway, heard the weak water pressure stuttering, and as he walked in he noticed Julie standing in a cubicle, enshrouded in mist as she showered.

  “Ah shit, sorry. I can come back, if you want–” Kye spoke, stopping and turning to leave.

  Julie jumped and turned around, noticing who it was and softening a little. She shook her head, speaking quietly. “No, no, it’s okay.” She turned back around and continued washing herself, as Kye took the cubicle to her left, flinching a little as the water came on, shockingly powerful in comparison to Julie’s. The shower room was relatively open plan, so the walls only came up to just below chest height – Kye felt discomfort as he took his towel off and climbed into the steaming water. He kept himself turned the other way as he spoke, muttering just loud enough for her to hear, not wanting his voice to echo in the tiled room.

  “Danny’s fucking smoke, huh? Listen, are you okay?”

  She turned, staring directly at him, knocking his pacing off as he turned around and stared back, uncomfortable with both his and her nudity. She didn’t say anything, keeping her gaze firmly on his eyes, as Kye squirmed and tried to avoid it – prompting him to ask the same question once more. “Julie, are you feeling okay? That was some intense stuff back there–”

  “Why did you go to PR, Kye? I was there to talk to you.” The water dripped, wetting her hair and pooling on the floor – her foot was covering the drain. Kye stood, hand near his crotch for some modesty as he stuttered, trying to work out what he would say. She didn’t give him much time, persisting with her questions in a relentless fashion that left Kye reeling, unsure which to answer first. “We were supposed to be there for each other, weren’t we? Why did you leave when I needed you? When you needed me?” She stopped, catching herself. “Did you need me, Kye? Or did you need to be someone else?”

  Kye found his voice. Leaning over the wall, he took her head in his hands and spoke to her. “No, it’s not like that. I just… it was comforting to be someone else. You know how hard I tried to stay away from the system, the meetings?”

  She pushed his hands from her face, raising her voice a little. “Tried! You’re still supposed to be going to those meetings! What happened to that?”

  Kye matched her voice’s volume. “I just wanted something more calming! And I certainly wasn’t going to find that in this world. I don’t need the meetings any more, I can handle myself just fine, they taught me that–”

  “You have an addiction, Kye! It’s not healthy! And when I was trying to help you, you pushed me away. It’s you I wanted, not the person you become in those murderous simulators.” Julie went quiet, hearing herself echo around the shower room. Kye stared at her, anger masked by sadness, as he turned his shower off. A shiver ran through his body, and he reached for the towel; Julie spoke as he dried himself off, choosing to remain in the shower for a little longer. “I’ll be here when you need a ride to the meeting. Nothing else.”

  Audibly sighing, he got dressed, ignoring eye contact throughout – before he left he looked up at her one last time, but saw she had her back to him. He paused for a moment and she turned, a drop of water running down her cheek. Kye, deciding not to speak, walked out of the room.

  Returning to the medical wing, Kye was surprised to find Danny already up and moving, even if it was fairly slowly.

  “Feeling better are we?”

  Danny – who was sat up on the metal table, probing at his MediCare-wrapped knee with his fingers – blinked towards the sound. Eddie turned, a grimace on his face as he answered for Danny.

  “He’s alright.”

  Kye was expecting a longer response, and so, forgoing any pseudo-pleasantries, he leaned into the CADuceus machine and read the display. Danny’s knee would be okay, given time and ease, as well as his sight – though surprisingly this injury required an injection of extra retinal pigment (as advised by the CADuceus). Kye straightened up, peering over at Danny now as he spoke, preoccupied with his staring. “He’s alright. Yeah. Do we have any retinal pigment spare?”

  Danny scoffed, shocking Kye to back away.

  “We don’t even have spare blood in this shithole. We’re due a dramatic overhaul of medical equipment. Someone needs to tell Douglass.”

  Kye nodded, then spoke aloud, realising Danny wasn’t likely to be able to see. “Yeah. I can do it, any idea where he is?”

  Eddie pointed out of the curtains, towards the direction of the office. “Somewhere over that way, I think I last saw him in the office?”

  Kye walked out, hearing the two brothers mutter behind his back. His mood having been soured further, he walked straight to the office, knocking on the door once before waiting.

  “Enter.” Kye heard, along with a quick muttering of voices. He opened the door, and stood, his shadow framing the entrance of the dark musty room. A quick glance to the stained patch on the carpeted floor prevented Kye from entering the room fully. The blinds were closed, but Kye could make out Douglass, sat in his patriarchal chair at the head of the table, and Julie, standing to his side. Kye had clearly walked in on some sort of private conversation.

  “Sorry.” He met Julie’s eyeline, then quickly looked to the floor. “Douglass, Danny and Eddie said I need to ask you about a stock run on the medical supplies? He needed retinal pigment to treat his flash blindness.”

  Douglass started tapping at his temple before Kye had even finished. He waited a moment, drawn out long enough for the awkwardness to be felt, before speaking. “Very well. You are okay to do this yourself?”

  Kye sighed, his world-weariness coming to the forefront of his personality for once. He replied, “Sure, I guess.”

  D
ouglass smiled, a little care seeping in. “Okay, great. Just do a full inventory and take the normal stock list. Don’t be late back. We need to get moving pretty fast, and I already have some leads on another target.”

  Kye smiled a little, failing still to meet Julie’s eyeline. “Good to hear."

  Douglass spoke once more. "Get the door on the way out, please.”

  Kye nodded, grabbing the handle as Julie spoke to him. “Kye…” He stopped and looked up. “Stay safe. No distractions.” She met his eyeline, as he loudly shut the door, heading straight for the workshop exit with annoyance in his steps and a wide scowl on his face.

  Kye jumped out of the PubliCab, tapping a low review through his commlink despite his more than adequate service. Looking ahead, he grimaced at the steamy and darkened mess of streets that lay in front of him. He forged through the busy crowd, bumping into mindless shoppers and pushing those in his way to the side. The scowl was permanently etched across his face, and the grating noise and bustle of the people didn’t serve to ease that irritation. The blatant disregard for those around him resulted in a few dirty looks, which Kye decided to completely ignore. He tapped his temple, muting the invasive adverts, and brought up the list for his shopping trip, sighing loudly at its length. Looking ahead to the packed street, he surveyed the storefronts, checking each sign as he walked by out of interest. Goosebumps started to break out across his skin, heading down his arms to reach his hands as he passed by a cheap and sketchy-looking technology store. He tried to ignore the tingles between his fingers and in his temple as a rather aggressive advert broke through his defence setup; a woman blared into his vision, moaning about the ‘revolutionary powers’ of their hacked and rewired PR systems. Wheeling around to glare at the shop, he peeked through the dimmed windows to see the console behind the till, and the shrewd balding man sat behind it, rubbing his crotch through his trousers. Kye turned away in disgust, tapping at his temple to cease the excessive and extravagant moans of pseudo-pleasure piping their way directly into his brain. He muttered to himself as he walked down the street, more wary than before of the dingy and broken-down shops lining both the left and right alleys.