Incarnate- Essence

by Thomas Harper

  “You think this makes you a good person, don’t you?” Evita asked. “But never forget that you’re not one of them. You’re not a part of their society. This is meaningless to someone – to something like you.”

  “I don’t understand what you’re trying to do,” I said.

  “The same thing you just did for her,” Evita said, “I’m trying to make you see what the right thing is. I’m trying to get you to do what has to be done.”

  “And what’s that?” I asked.

  “You have to kill them all,” she said, “all they’re doing is slowing you down. You have to kill them all.”

  Snow continued pounding the earth all afternoon, unrelenting wind blowing it into drifts that we had to go around or dig through. By the time the sun neared the horizon, three more people had dropped dead, two of which weren’t even noticed until they had been missing for some time. The driving snow and slow march consumed every bit of attention.

  Rosy had taken Camille in the arms of her exo suit, lifting the light burden from Marlina and Zackary. The mixed emotions in their expressions – one part happy, two parts sad, and three parts exhausted – told me that they knew Camille wasn’t going to live through the night. But she had held on long enough for her mother to rejoin them.

  The march continued into the evening, everyone realizing it would be almost impossible to make a fire in the howling wind and lashing snow. So, we continued in the dark. Our progress actually sped up somewhat as we reached level ground, but there were no more trees.

  “I’m almost glad for this fucking storm,” Sachi said over the radio, “we’d be target practice for a drone.”

  “Please tell me you’re kidding,” Rocky said, “I’d rather fight an entire division of aught thirty nines with air support than have this go on for even another hour.”

  “Bold words when none are around,” Emma said, “I wonder if you’ll feel that way when we run into more Utah forces.”

  “I ain’t afraid’uh no Mormons,” Rocky said, “besides, we don’t know that they’re occupyin’ Grand Junction. The people there might’ve fended ‘em off.”

  “I don’t know if you’re optimistic or naïve,” Manny said.

  “You should address me as sir, private,” Rocky said.

  “Sir, I don’t know if you are optimistic or naïve, sir,” Manny said.

  “Quiet,” Savita said, “something’s coming.”

  Everyone stopped, the confused refugees halting along with us.

  “Where?” Rocky asked.

  “In the sky,” Savita said.

  I looked up, trying to see through the snow coming down, but I saw nothing.

  “Your bionics ain’t fuckin’ up, are they?” Rocky asked.

  “No,” I said, finally seeing light glint off of something as it moved across the dark sky, “I see it, too.”

  “Everyone get under the snow,” Sachi said, her visor open, “incoming UAV.”

  The refugees scrambled, ducking down and getting beneath blankets, falling snow already building up on them. I climbed down to my hands and knees and dropped to my stomach.

  “I’m surprised they sent it out into this,” Emma said.

  Nobody said anything, everyone waiting. We laid there for some time, minutes passing slowly by, more and more snow building up over us. It wasn’t until twenty minutes later that Sachi finally spoke over the radio.

  “I think we’ll call it a day on the march,” she said, “who knows if that thing’ll be coming back around.”

  The next day, after digging out of the snow, we were able to see some blue sky peeking out from behind the clouds. The wind had died down to a gentle breeze and no more snow was coming down, but it had piled up to almost chest level.

  Four more people died over night, including Camille. One of the dead was only presumed so, as her body couldn’t be found in the deep layer of snow. Morale was low, but grieving was short lived. Sachi urged everyone to continue on, the numbness of exhaustion and fear making it easier for people not to dwell on our losses until we got somewhere more conducive to giving into emotions.

  The corpses were left where they’d died, serene expressions frozen onto their faces. I watched as Rosy tried to console Marlina, Zackary trying to remain strong as he held Enrique’s hand through the snow.

  The going was very slow, even with the ground evened out. Nobody spoke much, except for when Savita occasionally fretted about the clear sky and the obvious trail we were leaving through otherwise undisturbed snow. Rocky had made a crack about them wanting the storm back, but after the deaths that had happened overnight it didn’t go over well.

  At two in the afternoon, Sachi called a halt.

  “Another UAV comin’?” Major Ellison asked.

  “No,” Sachi said, kneeling down and looking at something on the ground.

  “Then why stop?” he asked, looking back at the refugees, “we still have several hours of daylight left.”

  “We’re on the road,” Sachi said, standing back up.

  “You mean like, the road road?” Rocky asked.

  “Yes,” Sachi said, “it’s the one forty-one going northeast. We must not be too far from Grand Junction.”

  “Should we go back eastward and get off it?” Rocky asked.

  “We’re going to end up back on the road again at some point,” Major Ellison said, “I think we should just stay on the road.”

  Sachi was quiet for a few moments and then said, “I agree. We’ll stay on the road. There’s nothing to really give us cover around here, anyway.”

  We continued walking, following the road north. It was impossible to tell where the sides of the road were with nothing but smooth snow spreading out in both directions. We occasionally had to veer back in one direction or another as we drifted away from the road.

  As the sky began to darken, Sachi called another emergency halt.

  “What is it?” Rocky asked.

  “We got incoming,” Sachi said, “get off the road.”

  “We already are,” Manny said.

  “Then get down,” Sachi said.

  Everyone ducked down into the deep snow. We sat silent, listening. I peered over top of the snow, but couldn’t see anything. All I heard was my own breathing inside the helmet. I squinted, slowly panning my head around and-

  A glint. I zoomed in with my bionic eye. Three vehicles were driving about three hundred meters away.

  “Snow plows,” I whispered, “with an APC:B-021 behind them. They’re not stopping for us.”

  “Shit,” Sachi said.

  She didn’t have to explain further. It meant Grand Junction was occupied.

  Nobody looked hopeful when Savita and Álvarez arrived back at camp, everyone already knowing what the news was going to be. Yet everyone fell silent, waiting to hear what she had to say. Any kind of news was interesting.

  “It’s definitely occupied,” Savita said, “they’ve turned a bunch of the buildings into prisons. They look full.”

  “So, the people there have most likely been fucking with the occupiers,” Sachi said, nodding slowly.

  “That’s not all,” Savita said, “I ran across some other people just over the hill there. Some of Major Forrester’s people.”

  “Is Forrester here?”

  “I didn’t see him,” Savita said, “and I’m pretty sure those people didn’t see us.”

  Sachi nodded, “I’m assuming he’s there. Or at least his Corporal Wallace. Otherwise those people almost certainly would have gone into the city. Or at least somewhere besides here.”

  “What do you think we should do?” Savita asked.

  “I want you and Álvarez to go stake out Forrester’s group,” Sachi said, “we’re going to camp here tonight. Tomorrow I’ll take a few people with me and we’ll infiltrate the city and get in contact with our people in Denver.” She shrugged, “or find out that Denver’s occupied and go from there.”

  Chapter 63

  “The sun yesterday seems to have
done her some good,” Doctor Taylor said, examining Akira.

  The sky sat dark, yet clear overhead, the wind stilled. Temperatures had reached a balmy ten below zero, but being so close to the occupied city meant we didn’t start any fires, making it colder than the thirty below nights with fires. Yukiko sat in her mother’s lap, looking up at her blank face as Doctor Taylor moved Akira’s head about. Aveena sat beside her.

  “She does look better,” Aveena said hopefully, “I think holding Yuki helps, too.”

  Doctor Taylor smiled, looking inside Akira’s mouth with a dim flashlight, but didn’t say anything. Thinking that holding onto her daughter was helping made Aveena feel better, and neither of us wanted to take that away from her. Aveena had taken on the burden of caring for Yukiko and looking after Akira for days, and had adapted to the responsibilities quite well.

  “You admire her,” Evita said, “isn’t that just adorable. Too bad all the spunk and moxie in the world doesn’t mean shit if you can’t get past this city.”

  “Does that mean she’ll have more time?” I asked.

  “Maybe,” Doctor Taylor said, sitting back down onto the packed snow, “never seen this before. It’s almost too bad Akira ain’t here to see it, cuz she’d be fascinated by this.”

  “You think she might have known this could happen?” I asked.

  “Knowing her, I wouldn’t be surprised,” Doctor Taylor said.

  “She never said anything about it to me,” Aveena said.

  “But you two talked about how theoretically, a body can be reanimated,” I said.

  “Yeah,” Aveena said, “both of us were really interested in how Sovereign did it with Laura. As far as Akira knew, nobody else is bringin’ dead people back to life, you know.” She paused a moment and then said, “I think even more than Laura, she’s bothered by your situation.”

  “Bothered?” I asked, glancing at Doctor Taylor. She had an eyebrow raised.

  “She wants to know, you know, like a physical mechanism for how it could work,” Aveena said, “any chance she got, she would play around with that chemical taken from you, you know. Or go over the tests and everything done on you.”

  “Did she ever figure anything out?” Doctor Taylor asked.

  “She thought she was onto somethin’,” Aveena said, “somethin’ big, but…I dunno what it was.”

  Doctor Taylor glanced at me a moment before saying, “all of her work was lost in Cortez.”

  Aveena nodded slowly.

  “Meaning,” Doctor Taylor said, “the only way we’ll know what she found…”

  “Is if she lives,” Aveena finished.

  The three of us all looked to Akira. She continued to stare forward, completely unaware of anything we were talking about, Yukiko now asleep in her lap.

  Something moving caught my eye. I scrambled to my feet, putting my visor down, and looked over toward the road.

  “What is it?” Doctor Taylor asked.

  I continued watching, waiting to see the movement again. Thirty seconds passed by. And then a minute. Finally, I saw it again. The familiar colors…I took off running toward it. It started moving away, slipped on some ice and stumbled. I caught up, sliding as I tried to stop and running into the Liberty Protection agent.

  “Get the fuck off me,” his muffled voice said through the visor.

  I clambered off him, standing over the LPX-033. By then Sachi, Emma, and Colonel Riviera had arrived to see what the commotion was.

  “Looks like we have us a spy,” Sachi said as she bent down to to undo his helmet, taking it off, revealing tight cornrows. “Corporal Wallace, is it?”

  “Don’t act like ya’ll don’t got people watchin’ us,” he said as Emma and I lifted him to his feet, still holding his farms, “why you spyin’ instead of just comin’ over?”

  “How are we supposed to know you haven’t gone over to the CSA?” Sachi asked, stepping in front of him.

  “Those’re Utah troops in town,” Wallace said, shaking snow from his face.

  “Working as part of the CSA’s operation,” Sachi said. “When did you guys get here?”

  “Last night,” Wallace said, glancing between me and Emma before looking back to Sachi, “durin’ that fuckin’ storm. We lost almost forty people walkin’ up the road. All the towns on the way is occupied. Usually by only a handful of mothafuckers in aught thirty nines.”

  “You’re being very forthcoming with information,” Sachi said, “I take it Forrester doesn’t know what to do next?”

  “I don’t think Forrester’s known what ta do the whole fuckin’ time,” Wallace said.

  “Now he listens,” Emma said.

  “Fuck you,” Wallace said, and then turned to Colonel Riviera and said, “we shoulda followed ya’ll.”

  Riviera said nothing.

  “Let’s not get into who should have been in charge again,” Sachi said, “is Forrester willing to talk with us?”

  “He didn’t give me no orders about what to tell ya’ll,” Wallace said, “he just sent me to gather a report on the condition of ya’lls group.”

  Sachi exchanged a glance with Emma and said, “he wanted you out of their camp. He knows you’re losing faith in his leadership.”

  Wallace looked like he was about to protest, but then closed his mouth and said nothing.

  “We’ll go talk to him,” Sachi said, sighing, “Christ, I am not looking forward to dealing with that fucking jizz-for-brains again.”

  Major Forrester was waiting for us when our group of refugees traipsed over the hill toward his. He looked to be trying to hide his glee, as if we were a defeated enemy coming over as prisoners of war. The people in his camp were just as haggard as the ones who had followed us, huddling together beneath blankets, their wind bitten faces watching us approach. I recognized some of them as the Crusader prisoners he had taken, none of them bound, huddling up with the other refugees.

  “Something doesn’t seem right around here,” Evita said, “Forrester’s up to something.”

  I watched Forrester’s grizzled face as his eyes passed over our two prisoners. He looked genuinely surprised to see them, but said nothing. That much at least comforted me, as it didn’t seem he was plotting anything with the Crusaders.

  “But that just leaves the CSA,” Evita said. “Wallace said the towns they passed coming north were all occupied. They could have colluded with the CSA at any one of them.”

  “So, we meet again,” Forrester growled as Sachi and Colonel Riviera walked up to him. None of them made any gestures of greeting.

  “I guess you chose the right path,” Sachi said, “my hats off to you, sir.”

  She suspects something, too.

  “Too bad both paths led to a dead end,” Forrester said, “I haven’t seen the Capital make any departures or arrivals the whole time. Not even when the storm broke.”

  “It was nice of you to wait here to tell us that,” Sachi said.

  Forrester scowled at the implication in her words. “When the storm broke, we discussed walkin’ east toward Denver. But now I think we’re gonna go surrender. Another march like this last one will finish these people off.”

  “You’re not worried they’ll try and kill you?” Riviera asked.

  “These are Utah troops,” Forrester said, “I’m bettin’ they don’t have the kill orders given to the CSA troops.”

  “Have you heard anything about why Utah’s involved?” I asked.

  Forrester scowled at me, “who the fuck is this?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Sachi said, “it’s a legitimate question.”

  “Utah’s been distant friends of the CSA for a long time,” Forrester shrugged, “Benecorp was even kind enough not to put their sanctions on ‘em. Doesn’t surprise me they brought Utah in on this.”

  I signaled to Big Terry, “He says the invasion in the east ran into some hiccups and that’s why Utah was brought in.”

  “Beats me,” Forrester said, still looking annoyed to have to answer t
o an underling, “I know about as much as you do now.” He paused a moment before saying, “probably less, in fact. Where’d you come across those two?”

  “They were taking a leisurely hike through the woods,” Sachi said.

  “I’m surprised they’re still alive,” Forrester said.

  “We put them in timeout,” Sachi said, “we wanted them to think about what they did.”

  “Cut the smartass bullshit, you stupid bitch,” Forrester growled, “for all I know you’re working with them now.”

  “I missed you, too,” Sachi said, “I wouldn’t need these shit-kickers to kill you.”

  Forrester was too incensed to formulate words.

  “Can we figure out what we’re gonna do now?” Colonel Riviera said.

  “Of course,” Sachi said, looking to me, “tomorrow, we’re going to infiltrate the city and take the Capital.”

  “This stupid bitch is already giving orders?” Forrester asked, looking to one of his agents, “this is un-fucking-believable. I told you the goddamn Capital isn’t running.”

  “Why do you think that is?” I asked.

  “Will somebody get this fucking kid outta here?” Forrester looked back and forth between Sachi and Riviera.

  “The reason the Capital isn’t running,” I said, “is because Denver hasn’t been captured.”

  Forrester was about to say something, but then closed his mouth. Sachi grinned wide.

  “If Denver had been captured, they’d be using the Capital to move troops and supplies,” I said, “they probably shut it down from this end. So, if we get in there, we can get it running again and be back in Denver by lunch tomorrow.”

  “If they catch you, they’ll come after all of us,” Forrester said.

  “And then you can surrender like you wanted to,” Sachi said, “and you won’t even have to bother walking yourself over there.”

  “God, you’re an insufferable bitch,” Forrester said, “if you’re going to try sneaking in there, go ahead. But I’m not getting these people killed for your madness,” he turned and walked away.