Remember Me

by Kyle Robertson

  The infiltration women were very efficient with silently neutralizing their opponents. The triangle locks and choke-outs incapacitated their enemy quickly.

  Collin was amazed a woman wielded that much power. A scullery maid bailing hay for a heard of the bull on the farm couldn’t even do what they did with ease.

  “Chloe’s in the next area of the factory. Go get her. We’ll guard for any others coming,” the leader said.

  “Aye.” He nodded and opened the door.

  Once inside, he saw Chloe bloody and unconscious strapped to a machine on the lower factory floor. He scanned the area for any enemies, and there was no movement. He began to walk down the stairs to release her. That was when a large steel girder swung on chains from the rafters to hit him squarely in the back to usher him down the stairs in a surprising jumbled heap!

  As he felt the acute pain of the unforgiving girder’s offensive coup de main against his lower back, a larger woman walked towards him. She jabbed him with a syringe. Where did she come from?

  “It’s just you? Those BoltLayers are either arrogant or stupid. Where’s Fischer? I think we need to talk about family matters.”

  llll

  “We’re almost outa arrows!” Rembrandt yelled. “Where’s Collin with Klannis?!”

  “Pull the used ones from the slain! We just have to hold fast for a few more minutes!” Fischer yelled back.

  “This plan is falling apart!”

  “This will work! Stop all the doubt! Collin will come through!”

  llll

  As Collin was on the floor trying to stand, the woman spoke.

  “Impossible! That much ketamine can knock out a horse! You should just answer my question and go to sleep. How are you standing?”

  “Your dastardly potion cannot affect a royal guard, you vile puterelle!” he began to stumble.

  “Obviously, it has affected you. You’re stumbling and speaking nonsense.”

  Collin had forgotten where he was, so his vocal barbs weren’t as effective in this land.

  “A puterelle is a woman of ill repute. You all have lost the king’s English. Primitive Knave Harlot.” He was getting dizzy.

  Chloe awakened from his initial tumble and yelled to Collin.

  “That’s not a woman! That’s a man dressed as a woman, look out!”

  Collin was about to lose consciousness, and yelled for the infiltration squad ladies.

  “Damsel Spies! I am compromised! I need your aid!” That last yell drained him completely. He fell to the factory floor.

  The women scrambled to the factory area to see Collin lying on the floor, a large woman, and Chloe strapped to a machine.

  “That’s Brakken! Let’s take him down!” the leader yelled.

  Brakken saw how many were about to attack and tapped his panic button.

  “There are so many of you. What are you going to do… my hair?”

  “Take him out!” the leader commanded and began to advance.

  Just then, his one hundred or so core guard of Borlund’s crew came in the area. There were many more of them.

  “We definitely don’t mind hitting ladies, especially scummy BoltLayers like you. Guys, get those bitches!”

  llll

  “It’s been a few minutes! We can’t hold them any longer!” Rembrandt yelled.

  Two things happened which made Fischer’s decision for him. His infiltration squad emerged carrying Collin and another few squadmates while another team member had his back blown through with a plasma rocket from one of Crimson’s hunter-destroyer bots! This mission was a failure.

  “RETREAT! RENDEZVOUS AT CHECKPOINT ZETA TWELVE, WE’RE COMPROMISED!”

  Everyone saw those kill bots coming over the perimeter berm and retreated quickly. Unfortunately, thy didn’t acquire their target.

  Chapter Four: All Dirtiness Comes Out in the Wash

  As they entered the warehouse the next morning after navigating the deadly scavenger, renegades littered about the downtown area, they lay their wounded in the infirmary.

  “That went well. I’d say clockwork well,” Rembrandt told Fischer.

  Fischer turned around and punched Rembrandt knocking him to the floor.

  “For some funny reason, you didn’t believe me when I told you to stop needling me or I’d knock you out! We couldn’t get it done, I get that! Stop acting like I wanted this to happen! This is the time to regroup and not to bitch!”

  Rembrandt felt his chin and verbally retaliated.

  “I told you he didn’t know anything about this place! How in hell could he expect a robotic assault when he doesn’t even know what a damned robot is?! He’s out of his league temporally!”

  Rembrandt was right. Even though all his chiding was harsh, his words rang true. He had always kept him in check. This time, his advice was a little more callous.

  Fischer picked him up from the floor.

  “I went into this with both feet and didn’t know how deep the water was. Yeah, he’s ignorant to this time, but we aren’t. We have to train him. Make him our knowledgeable chaos-bringer.”

  “So, punching me in the jaw shook your head in the right direction then. That’s why I’m second. Only I can put up with your blind zeal.”

  ”You’re the lion tamer. I just attack by pure instinct,” Fischer said.

  “You hit like a girl.” Rembrandt taunted.

  “Yeah, one of my combat-trained infiltration spies,” he returned.

  Just as they began to shake an arm-grasp, the infiltration leader came from the infirmary and addressed Fischer.

  “You’re not going to believe this, but Chloe yelled how much ketamine Brakken injected Collin with, and he should have died from an overdose. He’s awake and he’s asking for you.”

  “I thought he’d be out until noon,” Fischer said. “Maddie told me she was surprised he was still breathing. Let’s see who could beat even the renegade winos in a drinking contest.”

  He and Rembrandt followed Wanda, the infiltration leader to Collin.

  “Unhand me I need none of your paper cloths!” Collin shooed away a medic.

  “Your nose is bleeding, Collin. He’s a medic, let him help you,” Fischer announced his presence. Collin looked at him in a queried way.

  “Why did you not inform me you were akin to that abomination in the other castle?!”

  Fischer was shocked Brakken spilled the beans to a stranger. Rembrandt was surprised at this new development as well.

  “I didn’t tell anybody he’s my little brother because, after the Drop, he wasn’t anymore. He’s just an obstacle now.”

  “Brakken’s your kid brother?!” Rembrandt couldn’t believe it.

  “Brakken’s his stage name. His real name is Benjamin.”

  “You’re severely missing the point here. You’re trying to kill your own blood. That’s Nth degree sibling rivalry ending with fratricide!”

  “I never said I wanted to kill him. I want to turn him. He’s being controlled by something more sinister than he could ever be. He had a Muffin Mindy collection when we were kids. Now he’s slaying renegades? That was never Benny. I have to save my brother.”

  “It is hierarchy not to burn the witch even if they are of relations. ‘Tis your duty to sacrifice the accursed,” Collin said.

  “Burn Benny?! What the hell are you talking about?!” Fischer was surprised.

  Wanda spoke.

  “Klannis taught me about how crazy humans were centuries ago. He’s talking about a king’s standing order to burn anyone rumored to be a witch in a village. It was a paranoid nervous way to kill anyone you didn’t like legally. If they said you were in league with Lucifer, they could ‘light you up’.”

  “That abomination is in league with Lucifer! You should burn it!” Collin was insistent.

  Fischer knew he had to set Collin straight, so he corrected him.

  “There are no witches to burn because witches don’t exist. They’re like goblins or unicorns.”

 
“I have attended many witch trials and those demons do exist,” Collin defended his belief. “The abomination in that castle is, by far, a witch! We discovered many the likes of it in the town.”

  “Benny’s not a witch, he’s a transvestite. Those people you burned were transvestites too. You killed human cross-dressers. They were men who dressed up as the other gender. They were in no way witches.”

  Collin had to think about his prior actions of blindly following his king. His king was rumored to be mad, but he was a royal guard. Maybe his mind was tainting his experiences. He was a royal guard, but a stoic mindful royal guard who wouldn’t follow such madness.

  “Does the title cross-dresser mean possessed in your realm?”

  “He’s not possessed, he just wears women’s clothing. A little different, but not possessed.” Fisher explained.

  “Why are you explaining Brakken’s lifestyle choices?!” Rembrandt asked, “He’s still got Klannis. You got lucky we get a second take. Don’t miss your mark this time. You’re not getting a third.”

  Fischer turned to Rembrandt.

  “Because I don’t want my brother to die from an ancient fallacy. I don’t want him to die at all. I named him Collin the Butcher for a reason. I’m managing a volatile explosive here. In order to lead, you have to control your people. Since we’re confronting him in the afternoon, I don’t want anyone else to die today.”

  “You sent him in to get Klannnis and didn’t think Brakken would be there?!” Rembrandt was amazed.

  “I thought we could distract him. Benny likes sparkly things and action. He was never this disciplined when we were teens. I assumed we could draw him. I was wrong, but now I know.”

  “It requested your presence, Some query about a family concern,” Collin told him.

  Fischer knew what it was about. To get Chloe back, he had to converse with his brother.

  “New plan. We have to have some major support when I meet Brakken. This is about to get personal.”

  “We still have to train Collin on this time’s technologies. We have five hours to get him ready to stop whatever surprises Brakken sends, and not to kill him,” Rembrandt said.

  “Are you drowsy, Collin? Can you walk?” Fischer asked.

  “The potion put into me has vanished. I am a spry lad.”

  “Watch him; that may just be royal guard machismo. That was enough ketamine to down a Clysdale,” Rembrandt told Fischer and pointed to the mechanical assistant. “Lesson one, we call that a robot.”

  llll

  Chloe finally woke up from a terrible night where her barbarous stinging ropes harshly rubbed her skin red and raw. Her fresh pain introduced her to consciousness that morning.

  As she felt her back cramping because she was still suspended off of the floor, she saw Brakken sitting on a backward-facing chair with a shock baton in his hand.

  “They came to my party. They just couldn’t hold their liquor,” he taunted her. “They broke the rules. I should kill you.”

  “They tried to capitalize on an opportunity. You would do the same thing,” she said. “Don’t kill me because you made a mistake. That’s a pussy move.”

  Brakken stood from his chair and walked to Chloe.

  “Relax, Sneak, I’m not going to kill you. I can’t hear your screams when you’re dead.” He poked her in her armpit with the charged baton.

  Chloe felt the burning numbing fire of the shock and grunted loudly. She didn’t give Brakken the satisfaction of hearing her scream, she’d die first.

  “Why you’re a resilient little thing, aren’t you?” Brakken mocked her. “That was the lowest setting. This Kodiak bear prod goes to ten. Let’s see if you’ll scream on level two. And no one has ever made it past six. You’re about to scream or die. How far can you go? Oh, and when you pee yourself, the next level will be your certain death. I’ve done this before.”

  As he was about to violate her with the baton, Borlund entered onto the factory floor.

  “I hate to stop your fun, but a mechanical Mere-99 bot just showed up with a holo-message addressed to you. Something about a truce.”

  Brakken stopped unbuttoning Chloe’s pants and walked to Borlund.

  “Has it been scanned, no traps?”

  “The Mere’s clean. No contagions or explosives.”

  He turned to Chloe.

  “You’re lucky they sent a bargaining bot, or else, I was about to burn off your pleasure button with about sixty continuous volts. It was going to smell like rotten beans and burnt steak on the floor. You were going to scream.”

  It was official, Brakken was baby seal-clubbing cruel and black hole dark.

  llll

  “Now, that’s a Quwelon shaft. It’s an attacker nullifier to paralyze a Xazen Wolf. Those things are mean, large, and they’re usually the pack leader to the savage dogs in the city,” Rembrandt explained to Collin. “These are strictly made to take down a beast of that size.”

  “How large is one of the pack-leader wolves?”

  “Have you ever seen a Mastiff before?”

  “Those animals are that tall?!” Collin was amazed.

  “A full-grown Mastiff looks like a new-born puppy standing next to a Xazen Wolf. If you hit a person with one of these Quwellons, they’ll turn into red mist immediately thereafter.”

  Raziel came into the office excited.

  “Fischer, the Mere is back.”

  “Was it damaged in any way?”

  “No, we swept it for traps and contagions. It still works. It’s just a little more…‘colorful’.”

  Fischer walked out of his office and addressed Raziel in passing.

  “What ‘picturesque’ display was put on the Mere?” Then he saw it on the first floor at the front of the warehouse.

  The bot was covered in Crimson Snaggerz stickers with Fischer’s a drog catcher spraypainted in neon orange on the chassis.

  Fischer looked over to Rembrandt and said, “Seriously?”

  “Call it a one-up. He is your brother,” Rembrandt said. “Let’s go down to see what his answer is.”

  They went to the Mere and pressed the holo-message button. An image of Brakken bending over displaying his naked ass showed itself.

  “We just got mooned. Are you sure he learned discipline?” Rembrandt asked. Brakken turned around to speak.

  “So, you want to talk. Well first, kiss my ass and now we can negotiate. This will be an RSVP just for you, nobody else. If I even think I see anything odd in any way, Sneak Queen dies. It’s time for you to come clean in front of all the Crimsom Snaggerz. Be at the front gate at one this afternoon. Bring your groveling boots. It’s time to settle this cumbersome matter.”

  The image clicked off.

  “No way. You’re not blindly walking to the guillotine to get your head chopped off.” Rembrandt was certain this was a suicide run.

  “I’m not the good guy everyone thinks I am,” Fischer said. “When the Drop began, I abandoned Benny to fend for himself because, I thought he’d die immediately being a cross-dresser in the apocalypse. I left him, I sucked. This whole confrontation is entirely on me. No matter what happens, you’ll get Klannis back.”

  Rembrandt was shocked.

  “You left Brakken and he went psycho? You made him this way because of a stupid decision to leave him?! You created this monster. You do need a reckoning, but not without backup.”

  “I can’t bring any support, you heard him. If I augment the conditions this time, Klannis will die.”

  Rembrandt knew what the situation constituted, but he wasn’t going to lose his leader. He never agreed with a zero-sum outcome. He was seasoned well in the craft of a skirmish. He allowed Fischer his due, but what he didn’t know wouldn't hurt any more than just bowing his head to get voluntarily smashed.

  “I get it. You’re about to answer for your atrocities from the beginning of the Drop. It’s stupid, but in your eyes, I guess it’s cathartic for your conscience. I won’t stop you.”

  “You do
understand I have to do this,” Fischer said.

  “Hey, we all have to do what is required of us, it’s kinda hard-wired in us by now.” Rembrandt was hard-wired as well.

  “Good, you’ll see Klannis by two. You may be first by two-thirty,” Fischer forebodingly said.

  Rembrandt gave Fischer an arm-shake.

  “Godspeed, you’ll still be number one after two-thirty. Don’t lead with fear, lead with confidence.

  Fischer didn’t look very confident.

  “You just don’t know Benny the way I do.”

  llll

  It was 12:51, as Fischer looked through his binoculars at the factory gate to peruse who was there. There was a crew of Red Hooks with armed hunter-destroyer bots patrolling the front gate. Benny was serious this time.

  Fischer knew what he had to do. He had to realize he abandoned his brother to survive himself. He never even considered his strange little brother would not only be a survivor, but a leader.

  Society before the Drop had indoctrinated him with the fear of appearances. He didn’t understand the past didn’t equal this newer, darker future where appearances weren’t the priority, survival was.

  It didn’t matter to anyone if their savior could aid them. Benny could be purple, and they would still follow him. Fischer came to that realization much too late to reconnect with his brother. Now, it was bullet-biting time. Time to pay for his arrogance.

  He began to move past the abandoned vehicles to the factory. It was time to see his little brother.

  llll

  “Wanda, do you still have a lock on Klannis’s signature?” Rembrandt asked a kilometer from the factory back dock.

  “It’s still in the same area of the factory,” Wanda said. “You know this wasn’t what Fischer wanted, Rembrandt. We’re going to get her killed.”

  “I know what Fischer thinks he wants, but he just doesn’t have the confidence I do in your team. You know this is big for Brakken. That means there is a minimal security team guarding Klannis. You women can neutralize silently, and I’ve taught Collin how to switch-off those HD bots. Let Fischer do his job while we do ours.”