Incarnate- Essence

by Thomas Harper

  “No,” she said, “I used…the stable end-caps on the polymer.” She stopped talking again, saying nothing for over a minute before continuing. “If I had just left everything alone after Mexico, this wouldn’t have happened.”

  I sighed, “You were miserable that way. You said yourself you would’ve either driven everyone you love away or killed yourself.”

  She turned her gaze slowly down to her daughter and then back up to me, “I at least have to get her back to Masaru before…before something happens to me.”

  She stayed quiet for some time, turning her eyes back to the woods. A tear rolled down her cheek.

  “I have to tell him I’m sorry,” she said, “He has to know that…I’m sorry. Sorry for leaving. And…for what I’ve done.”

  “He might be better off if he never knew,” I said.

  “You don’t understand,” Akira said, looking to me, “I was…going to leave him anyway. Finding out…what he did…after the border crossing…it was only an excuse. I was going to join Sachi.”

  I nodded slowly, “that’s why you told him. About helping to kill his parents. You were hoping he would leave you.”

  Before she could respond, we both heard a rumbling sound from somewhere in the distance. We exchanged glances before I put my helmet back on, hearing the voices over the radio.

  “Are they coming?”

  “What was that?”

  “Thunder?”

  “Sounded a long ways away.”

  “People are going to panic.”

  “I don’t see anyone on the road.”

  “Should we get into positions?”

  “Which positions?”

  “Everyone quiet,” Sachi said, everyone falling silent.

  Another rumbling crawled across the ground. This time Akira looked in the direction it sounded like it was coming from, running a hand gently over Yukiko’s head. And then the unmistakable sound of distant machine guns being fired whispered through the woods.

  “Make sure everyone stays still and stays quiet,” Sachi said in a low voice, “it’s coming from a ways ahead of us. There may have been survivors from the cars that they’re finishing off.”

  I sat down next to Akira, seeing Yukiko stir in her mother’s lap, curling up tighter beneath the thin blanket, but staying asleep. The rumbling and gunfire continued for another twenty minutes before going away almost suddenly, but nobody in our camp dared move or speak. I fell asleep hearing the faint whisper of Evita’s voice repeating in my head, barely louder than tinnitus.

  “You showed that girl mercy…you need to show them all mercy…”

  Chapter 55

  I awoke, lying on my back in the exo suit, helmet on, to find a few lazy snowflakes spiraling downward. I stayed still, looking up at the overcast sky, listening for the voice of Evita to come to me. I watched a single snowflake come zigzagging down toward me, alighting on my visor and sitting there for a moment before melting into a wet spot. I didn’t know how long I laid there before the crackle of my radio startled me to reality.

  “We’re going to get moving in ten minutes,” Sachi’s voice said.

  It was eight in the morning. When I sat up, I found Akira still sitting in the same spot, leaning up against a tree, as if she hadn’t moved at all since the night before. Yukiko was lying next to her, eyes open, looking down the hill at the people moving around.

  I lifted the visor of my helmet. “We’re taking off soon.”

  Akira nodded slowly without looking to me and started to pull herself up. She gently helped Yukiko to her feet, the child whimpering and holding her broken arm close to herself. Yukiko looked up at her mom and spread the good arm out, wanting to be picked up, but Akira simply walked past her, going down the hill. The child looked to me, whimpering again, hoping I might supply some comfort. There was no way that I was capable of it, so I followed along after Akira.

  When I got to the main rearguard camp, I found the two companies of Sachi’s soldiers having a meeting with the company from LoC Security, as well as a few other people. It became clear right away that there was some kind of disagreement.

  “There might still be survivors out there,” Corporal Roman said, puffs of steam coming out his mouth between the frost crystals frozen in his dark beard, “they’re probably still heading north. We should try to catch up with them.”

  “They seem to be drawing the CSA off of us,” Olivia said, her long, brown hair now held in a messy bun, “as far as I’m concerned, we should let them stay ahead so they can make sure nobody comes after us.”

  A few of the other forty-eights nodded and grunted in agreement.

  Major Ellison hawked up morning phlegm and spit. “Or they could have dispersed,” he ran a gloveless hand over the stubble on his head, “we might find ourselves picking up stragglers as we go.”

  “This has become a campaign of extermination for the CSA,” Victor said, standing up straight from where he was leaning against a nearby tree, the lines of his facial tattoos becoming stark as he stepped into the dim morning light, “I think we need to be prepared to handle ground forces soon. That’ll especially be the case if the others have dispersed.”

  “They might just give up,” agent Brie shrugged, putting her exo gloves back on after tying a red bandanna around her head.

  “No,” Victor shook his head, slowly approaching the group, “what they’re doing here…they will want it covered up. If any witnesses get through, it might expose their crimes to the rest of the world.”

  “The point is,” Rocky said, keeping his eyes on Major Ellison, “sooner or later, they’ll be comin’ for us. But for now, they’re distracted by goin’ after the other group. I think we’re better off if we keep it that way for as long as possible.”

  “You people really are assholes,” Corporal Roman said, signaling toward Rocky, “I don’t understand how you can be so callous.”

  “I don’t understand how you can be so naïve,” Olivia said, “If you try rescuing every fucking person in the LoC, you’ll just get all of them killed.”

  “We don’t need to hear this from you, you prissy twat,” Major Ellison said before spitting again.

  Everyone stood quiet for a moment, a subtle look of satisfaction on Major Ellison’s stoic face. Olivia pursed her thick lips, exchanging a glance with Benito, but said nothing.

  “We’ll have to play things by ear,” Rocky finally said, wanting to break the tension, “we still don’t know what all the commotion last night even was. For now, we’re gonna keep movin’.”

  Everyone seemed at least somewhat satisfied by this answer, the meeting dissolving as the march began. Everyone grouped back into their cliques – the LoC Security people walking together, Victor, Benito and Olivia walking together, Rocky, Manny, César, and Pedro walking together, Álvarez down the hill about twenty feet by himself, and Emma now off with Brie and Aveena. I spotted Akira once again about twenty feet up the hill, walking only with Yukiko, staring off ahead. A few people who had been at the meeting were new to the rearguard. They were some of the citizens from the front who were carrying larger weapons.

  “When did they arrive?” I asked Rocky after falling into step with his company.

  He looked ahead fifty feet to the new arrivals, “Sachi sent ‘em back early this morning. Said we had too much of our firepower up front.”

  “More people to babysit,” Manny said, “She sent us that guy that started shooting yesterday when he spotted those vehicles on the road,” he signaled to a young man carrying a large machine gun with two holstered pistols on his hips. He had an old looking Cortez Crucible armband on his arm.

  Rocky shrugged, “probably an honest mistake.”

  The guy glanced over his shoulder at us. He could hear what they were saying, but I imagined the company didn’t care. Rocky’s clique walked in quiet for some time, only footsteps on frozen ground and low murmuring to break the silence. The group of Emma, Brie, and Aveena spoke the loudest, with Emma and Brie trying to sho
w Aveena how to use the sawed-off shotgun she still carryied. I couldn’t make out the words they were saying, but I could tell they were showing her where to hold onto the weapon in order to brace for recoil and how to load it up after it ran out of shells.

  I couldn’t help but look to Akira. Her daughter trailed behind her a step, quiet with fear and exhaustion. Akira barely paid any attention to the child, who occasionally looked up at her mother for some kind of support, only to receive none. It was very likely that neither of them would survive this march.

  The best thing I could do would be to get someone else to take Yukiko. Maybe even to do that while Akira was still alive. Doctor Taylor would almost certainly be willing to take Yukiko and look after Akira. She would-

  “You guys are the forty-eights, aren’t you?” someone asked.

  One of the reinforcements had fallen in step beside us, his legs clad in the bars and Kevlar of a homemade exoskeleton, an AR-15 clutched to his chest. He was a transgenic kid who looked to be no older than sixteen, the sclera of his eyes completely blackened, long hair coming out in strands of blonde and black rolled into dreadlocks, the color scheme matching the swirls of dark and light melanin of his skin. Rocky’s clique exchanged glances.

  “Yeah,” Rocky said.

  “Awesome,” he said, cracking a smile, “I took the full treatment, too. Bought it from Salia. You heard of her? She’s kind of a big deal around-”

  “Who are you, kid?” Manny asked.

  “Oh,” he said, “My name is Austin. Austin Ganz.” He took a hand from his rifle and held it out to shake, but nobody took the offer. He brought his hand back to the rifle and said, “I’ve been following you guys for like six years. The stuff you were doing in Mexico was awesome.”

  “Quit suckin’ their dicks,” a voice came from in front of us. It was the trigger-happy Cortez Crucible member that Sachi had sent back from the front. “You think they care about you?”

  “Mind your own business, Hardy,” Austin Ganz said, “why don’t you go off and have a drink,” he pantomimed taking a sip from a flask.

  César sighed, “You both are ruining what had been a peaceful stroll through the Rocky Mountain woodlands up until now.”

  The guy Hardy had turned around by now, glowering at Austin Ganz. “You little prick,” he pointed a finger at the kid, “if you were even half the-”

  “Oh Christ, shut up,” Manny said, “It’s no wonder you got sent to the back.”

  “Nobody sent me,” Hardy said, “I got sicka listenin’ to ‘em tellin’ the Crucible what ta do.”

  “They were telling him to stop drinking,” Austin said.

  Hardy became so angered by this his face turned red, but he said nothing, standing there and allowing us all to pass him. Austin grinned, looking to the others for some kind of affirmation, but received none. When I looked over my shoulder at Hardy still standing there, he already had a large flask out of his bag, drinking from it.

  “He’s back their getting’ drunk again, ain’t he?” Austin asked.

  “Is there something you want?” Manny asked.

  Austin shrugged, “I just wanna hang out.” He looked to me, “I’m friends with Aveena. She’s told me about you.”

  I said nothing, looking up ahead to where Aveena was walking with her two new friends, now holding the shotgun properly. The three of them were chatting and giggling quietly.

  Rocky groaned. He was looking at the same thing I was.

  “I can’t believe this,” he complained.

  “I think you are falling behind, my friend,” César said.

  “Falling behind what?” Austin asked.

  “Hey kid,” Rocky said, “you wanna help us out, right?”

  “Uh, yeah, of course,” he said, beaming.

  “You see those girls up there? The ones with your friend?”

  “Yeah,” he said, “what about them?”

  “Maybe you can walk close by to them and let me know what they’re talking about.”

  “I don’t understand,” Austin said.

  “He wants you to spy,” César said, looking to Manny, “is that against the rules?”

  Manny shrugged, “all’s fair in love and war.”

  “Why do you want me to spy on them?” Austin asked.

  “Don’t ask questions,” Rocky said, “this is of utmost importance. Our national security is at stake. If you do this for me, it’ll look real good for ya if you wanna hang with us.”

  Austin looked confused by this, scanning around at the others, and then said, “alright. I’ll do it.”

  “Excellent!” Rocky said, grinning, “just remember, don’t get caught by ‘em.”

  “I won’t,” he said, picking up the pace and veering toward the three women.

  Rocky and his friends struggled to hold in laughs as the kid peered back at us and kept going, coming up behind the three of women. His attempt to look nonchalant made him even more suspicious looking, walking by himself less than ten feet behind them, but nobody paid much attention.

  The walking continued on all morning, with Rocky and his friends occasionally talking and joking, but spending most of the time quiet. Sachi radioed back to check in only three times before noon, nobody having anything to report until around the time everyone started talking about stopping for lunch.

  “This looks like where that fighting last night happened,” Savita said over the radio.

  “I can see at least two shot up APC:B-021s down on the road,” Colonel Riviera said, “and there aren’t any bodies here, so it wasn’t all from the air. They’re trying to cover it up.”

  “Do you think there are any survivors?” I asked.

  “I can see places where people might’ve run off into the woods,” Sachi said, “we can’t stop here, though. We’ll have to find somewhere else to stop and eat.”

  “People aren’t gonna like that,” Rocky said.

  “No, they won’t,” Sachi said.

  The amount of complaining was actually quite minimal as we continued on, going further up the hill to get around the area where the attack took place. When the rearguard finally got to it, I could see how devastated the woods were. Trees and splinters of wood lay tossed about haphazardly, with a few bullet-riddled backpacks, handbags, and bullet casings strewn amongst them. Craters dotted the forest floor, churned up dirt sprinkled over the carnage. And yet there were no bodies to be found.

  We continued on for another hour after leaving the torn up clearing behind before stopping for lunch. The mood was even more solemn after having seen what happened. The missing bodies almost seemed to make it worse, leaving only the imagination to come up with how many people might have been butchered there.

  “They’ve mostly been talking about guns,” someone said.

  Austin Ganz sat down next to Rocky’s people, furrowing his brow.

  “Who has?” Rocky asked.

  “Those girls,” Austin signaled to where Emma, Aveena, and agent Brie were sitting facing each other, “they talked about boys for a while, too. And 3D printing models. And then guns again when we got to that…clearing. What is it I’m supposed to be listening for?”

  “Oh, right,” Rocky said, “you’re doing good. Keep up the good work.”

  “I don’t get it,” Austin said, taking out a chunk of leftover venison from his pack, “are they people we should be worried about? Are you just fucking with-”

  Everyone fell silent. Someone was hollering, getting closer to us. In a heartbeat the two forty-eights companies were on their feet, helmets on, and getting into positions behind trees. I followed behind Rocky, getting behind a tree a few feet away from him. The LoC Security people were going into the crowd, trying to get everyone on their feet and further up the hill.

  “I see someone,” Olivia said, “it’s just one guy.”

  “Hey! Where are you!” I heard the shout echo through the forest.

  “You gotta be kidding me,” Rocky said, getting out from behind tree, lifting his visor,
“it’s that drunk fuckin’ Hardy guy.”

  I looked down the hill, seeing the man stumbling toward us. I could see through my bionic eye that he was sweating, despite the cold, eyes glazed with inebriation.

  “Shut the fuck up!” Rocky hissed as he approached.

  “I…I…” he panted.

  “Jesus, dude,” Rocky said, “I can smell the fuckin’ whiskey oozin’ from your pores. Go get somethin’ to-”

  He was cut off by the sound of a gun firing. Rocky leapt back behind the tree, visor down, as bullets whizzed through the forest. Hardy shouted again, dropping his machine gun and running up the hill.

  “Where are they!” Rocky shouted.

  “I don’t see anyone coming up the-”

  “The road!” Manny shouted, “APCs down on the road!”

  “Spread out and get down the hill!” Rocky said, “zigzag pattern. Do not engage until everyone’s in position!”

  I watched from behind the tree as both companies started down the hill, moving back and forth between trees as they went. The bullets making it up the hill toward us were still being fired toward the panicked crowd as the LoC Security agents herded them further up. Some of the people with weapons started down the hill – Austin Ganz being one of them. Gunshots went off as they began firing bursts blindly toward the road.

  I started down after them, moving tree to tree. Thudding fire from the APC:B-021’s mounted .50 cals grew louder, bullets being directed near the bottom of the hill. To where the unarmored people stood.

  Wood splintered off trees, small plumes of dirt flying up from impacts. A man to my right screamed and fell, rolling down the hill, causing a few others to stop in fear, reassessing their decision to rush in.

  Rocky gave the command to engage. I caught up in time to see the forty-eights look out from behind their trees and open fire on the eight APC:B-021s and ten supply transport vehicles.

  I skidded to a stop behind a pine, hearing the thud of bullets striking it. I jumped to my stomach beside the tree and lifted my left arm, firing a grenade and seeing a trail of smoke fly to where the crosshair was overlaid on the APC:B-021, the vehicle exploding and rolling back, people screaming.