Destiny: Quantic Dreams Book 3

by Elizabeth McLaughlin

  “Marcus is going to run across the line when the next vehicle passes. Then he’s going to signal to me to come across. I’m going to run like hell and make it across. Then I’m going to raise my gun and shoot any mechanical fuckhead who comes within a hundred feet of you. Then we’re going to book it into the forest and leave this place in the past.” I repeated the instructions in my mind again and again like a mantra.

  “That’s right. And then we’re going home. And when we get home, everything’s going to be all right.” Like she knew. It was all I had to hold on to, so it was good enough for now.

  “Great. Okay. Marcus, all you. I’ll cover you as best I can.” The two of us raised our guns and waited.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  I measured the seconds by my breath. When the time came, Marcus sprinted across the tracks made by the patrol vehicles. Every footfall matched my heartbeat that seemed to race faster with every second. The roar of the patrolling vehicles seemed to be close-too close. Every fiber of my body was tense, waiting for the inevitable gunshot, but none came. The second that Marcus had cleared the wheel tracks he lit straight for the forest. The light was too dark to see much detail, but I caught the reflection of Marcus’s suit as he waved from the tree line. Seconds later the muzzle of his gun poked through the cover.

  “Okay darling. I’m going to count you down and then you run like hell, all right?” Eliza stepped behind me and put a hand on my shoulder blade. Time slowed to a crawl as I concentrated on the feel of my wife’s fingertips over the fabric. This could be the last time I ever felt her touch. “Three, two...go.” She pushed me forward and I ran. Though I wasn’t in the best of shape, the surge of adrenaline lent fuel to my muscles and I barely felt the ground under my feet. The vibration of the machines and the shouts of our pursuers were the only sensations I felt. When my feet hit grass, I almost went down, the soles of my boots sliding on the evening dew of the grass. I made it to the tree line where I crashed into the brush, coming to a stop on the ground. Marcus swore and pressed a hand to my back.

  “Stay down, Mom. They definitely heard that. Stay still for a couple of minutes.”

  As he spoke I saw flashlight beams sweep over our hiding spot. I was desperate to turn around, to reassure myself that Eliza was still hidden, still safe. The cost of sprinting across the divide made itself known in my legs and my calf muscles cramped.

  “Shit. They’ve stopped. Don’t worry, I can see Momma. She’s stepped back into the shadows. She’s all right.” He could be lying through his teeth for all I knew, but it was the right thing to tell me. “Can you feel anything near you that will make some noise, Mom? A rock? A stick? Anything?”

  Facing away from the machine city I couldn’t see a thing, so I spread my hands out on the ground. There wasn’t much around us, the ground mostly covered with shrubs and small trees. My fingers brushed something large and solid. A stone.

  “Here. Be careful.”

  Marcus crawled forward to make his way behind one of the thicker tree trunks. I heard his grunt of effort as he lifted the stone and launched it as far as he could. The projectile managed a lucky hit and I heard a crack a couple hundred meters away. Fortunately, so did the androids, and the beams of light swung away from us. Marcus signaled it was safe to get to my knees and I aimed the muzzle of my gun back towards where Eliza was hiding. We had no way of signaling to her. The smallest flash of light or an audible noise would draw the androids right back to us. I had to trust her. Trust that she knew when it was safe.

  For a few moments, nothing happened. Fear flooded my mind and I was certain that Eliza had been discovered. I was getting ready to bolt towards her when her silhouette moved. The androids on their patrol vehicles had finished inspecting the decoy of the stone and had turned around. For one heart-stopping moment I saw Eliza’s form lit bright by headlights and I expected the worst. Incredibly, she passed through and was almost to us when she fell. I heard the shot after I saw it, the bang ringing through the forest where we hid.

  “No!” I shot forward, concern for my own safety completely abandoned. I skidded to a halt next to Eliza and bent down. “No, no, no.” The smell of blood made me flash back to the grisly scene in which we found my father’s body. Blood was spreading from her chest, soaking her shirt. Her breath was ragged, but steady. I didn’t bother to take a pulse. The light from the androids’ vehicles was still trained on us and I could hear the roar of the engines. Eliza and I were sitting ducks in the open. More shots rang out, this time coming from the direction of the forest.

  “Move her!” Marcus shouted. “Now!” More shots were exchanged between the human and android adversaries. Marcus could only provide covering fire for a couple of seconds. I hooked my arms under Eliza’s armpits and dragged her back toward the tree line.

  “Goddamnit woman, you’re not allowed to die on me now. Not when we’re so fucking close to making it out of here.” I puffed, each word a punctuation to my breath. We made it through to the tree line. The second we crossed into shadow Marcus dropped to the ground, hoping to disappear before the androids could pinpoint his position. I ran my hands over Eliza’s chest and torso, searching for wounds, but the only source of the blood was from her shoulder. I took my knife and sliced her shirt open above the wound site. My fingers found the wound. The entry was small. I gestured for Marcus to help me and we turned Eliza on her side. I sliced the shirt on her back too and felt for an exit wound. There was one, the flesh ragged and soaked. Contrary to what you’d think, the fact that the bullet left her body was a good thing. It meant there wasn’t a poisonous piece of metal floating around to do further damage. Marcus bent down and was getting ready to carry Eliza when I heard a deep growl behind me.

  “Fuck,” I breathed. I didn’t need to turn around to know where the growl came from. I had heard it once before. “Marcus, don’t move.”

  A panther. It must have been attracted by the smell of blood. We were trapped.

  “How close is it?” I whispered.

  “Hundred feet.” Marcus inched closer to us, moving agonizingly slowly to take his place beside his mother.

  “Don’t shoot it, you’ll only piss it off if you miss.” Marcus grunted a reply. He didn’t take kindly to my suggestion that he might not hit the predator.

  “Come out humans!” It was Tenzen. The panther turned and ran. I motioned for Marcus to keep his gun trained in the direction it had come from. It may have gone for now, but big game was too rare out here for it to have gone very far.

  “Come on Fiona, I know you’re in there. Marcus and Eliza, too. Stand up and walk out with your hands up. Drop the weapons and kick them in my direction.” Shit. I had been too slow.

  “Eliza can’t stand,” I yelled back. “She’s been hit.”

  “Yes.” I could see Tenzen smirking through the brush. “I’m the one that shot her. Is she dead yet?”

  I bit my lip to keep from swearing at him. He held a large rifle at his hip, dangling the muzzle toward the ground. I tapped Marcus on the shoulder. “We have to.” The two of us dropped our guns and threw them at Tenzen’s feet. Standing with our hands up, we emerged from the brush to face the android. I was tired. So tired.

  “I have to say, the three of you led us a merry chase while your comrades did that little flyby.” Our comrades? That was strange. Did Tenzen think that the colony had military equipment? Is that why the androids were so cautious around us? “I have to wonder how you got in touch with them. It’s not as if we couldn’t monitor your communications.”

  “Good timing, I guess.” Marcus spoke up. He stepped forward, putting himself between me and Tenzen. Behind us, I could hear Eliza moaning as she tried to speak. I could be missing the last minutes of my wife’s life and I was stuck beholden to an android who decided it was time for a chat. My hands twitched, aching for the feel of my gun. I wanted nothing more than to put a bullet through the android’s smug face. We had been through too much to get taken out by a cocky robot.

  “I
told you that you didn’t have a clue about the situation you’re in,” he continued. “Your species is a stain on this planet; a fatal virus that took the most miraculous gifts evolution could give you and threw them away. It astounds even my mind how a so-called intelligent organism could possibly think they were justified in such wasteful behavior. Hey, did you find your father on the way out? Looks like he had a run-in with some of my fellow anti-human friends.” My arms shot out to hold Marcus back. He snarled at Tenzen and his feet tamped the ground, itching to rush the machine. That was how I would think of them from then on. Anyone—anything—that could take this much pleasure in death wasn’t human. “Ooh, did I strike a nerve? Oh well, no problem. Don’t worry human, you won’t be feeling that anger for much longer.”

  Tenzen raised his gun and cocked it. “Who wants to go first?”

  The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and a chill ran down my spine. Behind I heard a rustle. It must be Eliza, trying to come to the rescue even as she lay dying in the dirt. I turned to tell her to stay where she was and gasped. Twin brilliant yellow eyes stared back at me. The panther hadn’t gone far. I looked down at my shirt, covered with Eliza’s blood. She must have camouflaged herself somehow. If the panther thought I was the most readily available source of food, there was no way it could smell her. The big cat let out a growl that I felt more than heard. It was hungry, and Marcus and I were two large helpings of meat ripe for the taking. Tenzen yammered on behind me in words I couldn’t understand; the only sound I heard was blood pounding in my ears.

  “Marcus, tell him to come closer to us,” I muttered.

  “Huh?” Marcus didn’t so much as turn his head.

  “Just do it. Then when I tell you, drop.”

  I heard Marcus tell Tenzen that he would go first, but he wanted the android to look into his eyes when he killed him. Tenzen laughed and agreed. I’m sure it was the same as killing an insect to him. We were insignificant animals. There was sport to be had in our deaths. I could sense the machine’s approach, his footfalls heavy on the ground. The panther could too, its large ears swinging towards the sound. Something about Tenzen didn’t agree with the predator because its attention stayed on him. Perfect.

  “You sure you don’t want you mother to move out of the way? I guess its not like the mess is going to bother her for long, anyway.”

  “I’m all right. Maybe you’ll lucky and not have to waste another bullet.”

  “I appreciate your thinking human. Well, make your peace with your God.” Tenzen motioned for Marcus to kneel down and pressed the muzzle of the gun to his forehead. The panther’s muscles bunched up, ready for the final kill. The instant I saw the animal’s paws leave the ground I grabbed Marcus’s shoulders.

  “Down!”

  The panther sailed through their air, its huge front claws dangling dangerously close to us as its body cleared the space. It landed on Tenzen, snarling and hissing. The android dropped his gun and clawed at the panther, his machine strength nothing against the beast’s muscles. Marcus grabbed Tenzen’s gun and leveled it at the tangle of machine and animal. I took his offered hand and we backed up together toward the brush. Marcus kept his gun trained on Tenzen as the android shouted in his native tongue for aid. The exclamation was cut short as one of the panther’s teeth found some vital part of his housing and ripped it from the android’s body. Cooling fluid sprayed in a wide arc like arterial blood and Tenzen’s body crumpled to the ground.

  We didn’t waste any more time. Eliza had managed to prop herself up on one arm, but she was weak. Marcus scooped her up in his arms and we ran.

  Once we cleared the last vestiges of light from the machine city we stopped, the only sound coming from Eliza’s ragged breathing. Marcus set her on the ground as gently as he could.

  “Hey, sweetheart.” I smiled down at her. “Still with us?”

  “So it would seem.” She coughed and moaned when the effort stressed her wound. “Did that asshole really get killed by a fucking panther?” Marcus barked a laugh behind me.

  “Yup. Life finds a way, I suppose.” Marcus handed me the meager medical supplies we had strapped to us. “I apologize in advance, beloved. This is going to suck. A lot.” I drizzled antiseptic on the wound and she howled, a string of curses spilling from her lips as the liquid cleared the wound of bacteria. “Good news, the hard part is over.” I pressed her shoulder to the ground and outlined the wound with adhesive before attaching a patch of gauze to it. “I need to turn you over to get the exit wound, all right?” She nodded and Marcus held her while I repeated the procedure on the other side. “How’s the pain?”

  “I think the shot hit a nerve. I’m pretty numb from here down.” She motioned from her collarbone downwards. “I can move my fingers, though.” Move was something of an overstatement. Her fingertips twitched, but she didn’t have a full range of movement. My medical knowledge was limited but it was clear that she was going to need surgery. The AutoDocs back home would do a fine job...if we made it that far.

  “I’ve got two doses of painkillers, my love, and we have a three day journey. You have the choice. Relief now, or relief later.” I fingered the two packets of gel in my pockets. It wasn’t going to be enough.

  “I’ll take it later. The inflammation has made everything pretty numb.”

  “Can you walk? We need to keep moving.” As I spoke, the noise of twin engines screamed past overhead. Even with the starlight it was too dark for me to see who the aircraft belonged to. Tenzen’s rant suggested that there were humans out there who had the capability to operate military hardware. Could it be them, sending out a patrol to guard us strangers? If so, I was damn grateful. Hopefully our guardian angels would keep close by. We needed all the luck we could get.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  We made camp as best we could, having sacrificed the lion’s share of our resources in our haste to escape the machine city. Marcus and I retrieved as much brush as we could from the last ruminants of the forest—we had covered a fair amount of ground—and lay a bed of leaves and brush as thickly as possible for Eliza to sleep on. A meager pile of sticks and branches served as a fire where we roasted up a couple of critters Marcus managed to trap. Eliza weathered her injuries like a soldier, her only expressions of pain mutterings under her breath. Her commitment to physical fitness was paying off; her vital signs were stable. As long as we managed to avoid infection, she was in for a rough surgery when we made it back but she would pull through. We had a single survival blanket between the three of us. Marcus wrapped it around Eliza snugly and she sighed. The pressure of the blanket took some of the strain off her wound and she was asleep within minutes.

  Marcus and I settled in around the fire. He was quiet, poking at the fire with a stick. “You doing okay, sweetheart?” I touched his arm but he didn’t react.

  “It's been a rough couple of days, Mom. I’ve seen a man horrifically murdered and my own grandfather killed by androids. Momma is laying there with a hole through her shoulder and we are at least two days walk from the colony. I’m sure Jason and Nicole are doing a great job running things but when I get back they’re going to expect me to take over duties again and...”

  “And what, honey? What can I do to help?”

  “I honestly would kill for a day off.”

  I burst out laughing and quickly clapped a hand over my mouth so as to not wake Eliza. “I’m sorry, Marcus. I’m sorry. I just relate to that so damn much.” He cracked a grin and laughed.

  “Fair enough, Mom. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to complain. I know you and Momma have gone through so much more than I have.”

  “It’s not a contest, Marcus. You’ve done an admirable job, rising to the occasion the minute we left the virtual world. I couldn’t be more proud to have you as my son. You’re doing just fine.” He quirked the ends of his lips. It was hard to remember that he was still young. Even in his early twenties, our son had only dealt with problems in the virtual world. It’s where he developed the confi
dence and leadership skills that shone from him today. But it was one thing to experience challenges in a world where all of his other needs were met and another to feel all the aches and pains of reality.

  “Is she going to be all right?” He cast a worried look toward Eliza.

  “You know your Momma honey, a little wound like that? She’ll be up ordering us around again in no time.” A wistful smile. Neither Marcus or I were ignorant to the science. Even with a through-and-through wound there was still the potential for Eliza to get an infection. At our age that could result in anything from a nasty wound and extended healing time to sepsis. No amount of medical technology would be able to save her then. “Go to sleep. I’ll take the first watch. I need you to be at your best, Marcus. We might need you to carry her tomorrow if she wakes up feeling worse.”

  Marcus stood from the fire and wrapped his arms around Eliza to share his body heat. I was briefly overcome with a sense of melancholy. Had I done Marcus a disservice by having our family live in the virtual world for so many years? It wasn’t like I gave him a choice. One day it was decided for him that he would be forever taken from his grandfather, a man who he had come to love deeply, only to return to him a year before his death.

  His death.

  The grief that I was holding back during our escape from the machine city crashed over me and I found myself screaming silently to the heavens. White hot pain ripped through my body and I gagged, spilling a thin line of bile into the dirt. Thankfully neither Marcus nor Eliza stirred. I didn’t want anybody to see me like this. The knowledge that he was gone, truly gone, was surreal. I kept expecting him to appear over the horizon, a crooked smile on his face and a “hey, kiddo” on his lips. His last days, that precious time that should have been a respite from the hardships of life were dashed. Who knows how long he lay on that floor, his guts split open like a fish? How much had it hurt? Did he think we had abandoned him, or did he know we would come? Why hadn’t we come just a little bit sooner? Tears flowed down my cheeks and I sobbed, sinking my teeth into the loose fabric of my shirt to muffle the sounds. My mind flashed back to the sight of his body, the exhaustion etched permanently in his face. I should have been there. I should have defended him against the soulless machines who took his life, or I should have died alongside him. I pounded the dirt with a fist, another silent scream erupting from me. It was like giving birth; the body goes on an autonomous process and you’re along for the ride, no matter how badly it hurts you.