Bulletfoot One

by Marshall Rust

  "And so, I ask again—what are you thinking, Jessica13? I assume you will consider a plan to break the prisoners out of their confinement?"

  "Unless you think there's any chance we would convince the tribunal to stay their execution until a proper court can be organized."

  "Is that rhetorical or would you want me to run the odds?"

  She didn't have time to respond as already, the people began to return despite the fact that the heat of the midday sun had barely begun to fade. Whatever she chose to do, it had to be soon. She steadied her tattered nerves by taking slow, deep breaths.

  "I think it will be messy but it will be the best option that doesn't end with me on the chopping block as well."

  "I can't help but agree."

  Her gaze fixed on the gathering crowd, she allowed herself a few more seconds to calm, although a frown settled in when she considered the obstacles the people might create in her rescue attempt.

  One of the townsfolk approached her where she remained in the mech. The Auburnites hadn't yet forgiven her for trying to help Robert7, and the only reason they hadn't been openly hostile was because she was a member of the Knights Mechanica. While the Minato was small in comparison to the other mechs that had been in the battles, they didn't have any themselves aside from a few repurposed specifically for agriculture. To regular humans, the Minato was more than enough mech.

  "I thought you might be interested," the young man said and spoke softly and furtively while he glanced around to make sure no one saw him talking to her. "They'll bring the prisoners out for execution tomorrow morning. Mayor Jones wants the whole of Auburn to be present for them, and Wilbur’s militia will make sure there are no further objections like yours.”

  "Why are you telling me this?"

  He looked uncertain but simply shrugged. "Maybe you're not the only one who thinks our town is worthy of more than another oppressive regime."

  Before she could reply or voice another question, he vanished into the crowd that began to grow more restless as the minutes ticked past.

  "Well, I guess we have until tomorrow morning to find a way to get Robert7 and the other FEMA pilots out."

  "What about the raiders?" Mini asked.

  "What about them?" she snapped and immediately regretted it. Maybe it wasn't quite the justice-centric outlook she had supported not minutes before.

  She would have to find answers in the time she had available. There would be no time to second-guess herself once her plan was set and the chaos began.

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  Jessica13 still didn't have much of a plan in place when night began to fall. The crowd lost interest in waiting for the tribunal to return and gradually slipped away to their usual activities. The prisoners were herded to the stockade as a group, where they would spend the night.

  Hopefully, her inner caution reminded her. She still didn't know if Wilbur would decide to simply drag them to a ditch or hole and execute them like he'd done with the others.

  There was time to plan, at least, and if they were taken out of the stockade, her job would be much simpler if a little messier.

  None of the men on guard appeared overly invested in their responsibilities. They left their weapons propped carelessly against a half-wall and were seated near fires that had been lit when the temperatures dropped and a wind began to whip around the town. Mini explained that the large fires that had burned had affected the weather and the results they now witnessed would only be temporary. It sounded interesting, but neither of them had time to explore it.

  "I've been thinking," she said once she’d found something to eat and returned to the mech. "Getting the prisoners out of the stockade is only the first step, although it is important. The next will be to find some way to transport them. Did the Prophet's men leave any of their buggies behind?"

  The AI conducted a quick scan. "No, they took those with them when they left. However, it would appear that the APCs they used when they tried to evacuate civilians from the city are still where they were abandoned. They might be a little damaged but are likely functional."

  Jessica13 looked toward the section where the APCs had been left, which wasn’t too far away. She wondered why she hadn’t noticed them earlier but her mind had obviously been on other things. A few bullet pockmarks were visible on the armor, but they had been functional enough to drive the people into the town through the flames that had circled the edges of the town.

  "Well, that gives us something to work on while we wait," she mumbled, guided the mech to the vehicles, and climbed out.

  "What are you doing?" Mini asked. If she didn't know better, she would have thought the slight hint of an inflection in the AI's voice meant he was concerned.

  "Keep an eye out and make sure there isn't anyone out there to see me working," she whispered and crouched as low as she could. Most of the people were in another area of the town, either involved in the work they hadn't done all day or preparing and eating their evening meal. Either way, she had the area to herself for the moment, but she could only imagine the inevitable problems if the militia found her mucking about there on her own.

  They already didn't trust her, after all.

  Even in the growing darkness, there was still enough light for her to examine the engines. They were a little dirty and grimy but three of them were functional enough for what she had in mind. The other two had bullet holes in the engines and she didn't trust them to hold up under a sustained race to freedom.

  The fuel was still in their tanks, which meant no one had paid them any attention since the failed evacuation. It was an unexpected windfall and worked out perfectly for her plans. Their neglect would be her ally in this. A few other checks on the engines told her they couldn't expect the APCs to take them too far. Aside from the fact that the fuel stores were bound to be guarded, the dirt would probably cause them to overheat.

  But they would get them clear of the town, and that was a start.

  She climbed into the Minato again and moved cautiously toward the stockade, where the situation was the same as when she had left it. The guards now played what looked like cards and paid no attention to the prisoners or even patrolled the area once night had fallen completely. It seemed as though they believed guarding the gate was enough since the prisoners would not be able to break through the heavy logs that had been erected to keep them secured.

  And in any other situation, they would have been right.

  Jessica13 moved toward the back and away from the fires and the lights. Mini was able to help her navigate toward the edge of the stockade without raising the alarm.

  Her fingers felt like they had never touched a mech's controls, and her whole body seemed to tick, alive with all kinds of sensations and not all of them good. She didn't like how this was somehow more nerve-wracking than going into battle. Maybe it was because she was on her own and without the support of the Knights, Hammerhand, and Tinker to help if it went wrong.

  Or it could be that she was suddenly very aware of the consequences if she should fail. It seemed certain that the prisoners would die anyway, of course. However, she was as likely to be executed alongside them since that appeared to be the kind of justice Mayor Jones was determined to mete out.

  There would be no leniency for her being a member of the Knights this time.

  She studied the structure for a few seconds. The wooden stakes were set into the ground and buried almost a half-meter into it if she didn't miss her guess. Her heart thudding, she took a few steps back.

  "Be ready to catch whatever falls," she said, aimed the grappler at the nearest log, and pulled the trigger. The dart buried itself between two of them. Something that was usually so quiet when compared to the gunfire and explosions of the battlefield suddenly sounded like it could be heard for kilometers.

  Instinctively, she froze in place for a few seconds and listened for anything that might indicate that alarms had been raised. Fortunately, the militia guards were either too far away or too occ
upied with their card game to hear what was happening.

  "Or maybe it's not as loud as I thought it was," she mumbled aloud and leaned the Minato back cautiously.

  If she were on her own, it would take a fair amount of engineering to get the logs out of the ground. While not impossible by any means, it would be difficult and time-consuming. With the Minato, though, there was little need for that. The weight and power of the mech were enough to drag them down even with them partly buried.

  They began to tip, and Mini took control of the mech smoothly to catch the others before they could thunder free. The mech strained under the weight, but after a few seconds, it lowered the load carefully to the ground. It was impossible to make no sound at all and the slight noise still seemed too loud, but the lack of any alarms once again told her she was in the clear, at least for the moment.

  The prisoners inside stood motionless, not sure what to make of the fact that two logs had been dragged away from the walls that should have contained them. She climbed out of the mech and tried to identify faces in the darkness.

  "Robert7?" she called, her voice a hushed whisper.

  "Jessica13?" He stepped out from the group and looked confused. "What are you doing here?"

  "Oh, I only came along to chat, see how you were doing, maybe have something to eat—what the hell do you think I'm doing here?"

  "Oh, right. You're here to get us out of this place?"

  "Of course. Now gather your friends and let's move. It's only a matter of time until—"

  Maybe her luck had run out or someone had heard them talking, but her voice broke off when people shouted outside the stockade and the lights brightened beyond the gate.

  "Fuck!" she snapped. "Get a fucking move on!"

  Robert7 was only too happy to oblige. The group that was with him followed, while the rest seemed as determined not to be there to face execution the next morning and pushed through the gap behind them. Jessica13 didn't much care where those who weren’t from Robert7’s group were going. They would provide a good enough distraction for her escapees to get clear.

  She scrambled into the Minato and Mini had already put them into motion before she had even settled inside. Her group fell in behind her as more shouts were heard from around the town. All the others who had chosen to make their escape scattered quickly. It seemed none of them had any intention to stick together since they probably wouldn’t manage to avoid their captors if they remained in a large group.

  "I assume this isn't the full extent of your plan?" Robert7 asked as he jogged alongside the Minato.

  "Of course not. Let's keep moving toward the APCs over there."

  She didn't have time to explain the whole plan to him, which was for the best since she didn't have it all resolved yet anyway. There was no way to know how far they would get. Once they had managed to evade capture, they could decide where they would go.

  The dirt around their feet kicked when gunfire erupted from behind them. The militia still had no mechs at their disposal. Most of those that were functional had been sent with Hammerhand and the Knights to help with the battle and the agricultural ones had little value in a combat situation.

  The bullets would have difficulty breaching even the Minato's light armor, but the prisoners weren't similarly protected.

  "Stay in front of me!" she shouted. "Mini, try to give them as much cover as possible."

  They seemed to progress far too slowly, mainly because the pilots had to cluster in front of her to reach the APCs and avoid being shot from behind.

  "More are coming," Mini alerted her. "They have circled and are ahead of us."

  "Mount up now, Robert7!" Jessica13 yelled as they reached the vehicles. She turned and confirmed that a group of the militia remained in pursuit. "You get in there and drive."

  "What about you?"

  "Do as I tell you!"

  He complied, scrambled into the drivers' seat of one, and started it.

  "You might want to reconsider fighting back," Mini warned her as she began to advance on the militia.

  "Why—"

  "Despite everything, these people are still allied to the Knights. They were the victims of an oppressive regime and could simply be acting out because of it."

  Jessica13 growled softly. She knew the AI was right, but running away didn't feel right. It wasn't in her blood.

  She turned as the APC began to move again.

  "Get in!" Robert7 shouted.

  "You get going. I'll come in behind!"

  Of course, he couldn't know how fast the Minato was but he would soon learn. The militia continued to fire and some seemed to have decided to board the other APCs and attempt to pursue them. Unlike the pilots, though, they didn't seem to know how to operate the vehicles effectively.

  Or, at least, not in a trained and skillful manner. The prisoners were soon clear of the town and headed out into the open landscape.

  "Jessica13, are you there?" Robert7 asked over the comms.

  She didn't reply immediately but made sure no one would be able to intercept or overtake them before she shifted the Minato into Bulletfoot mode and sprinted over the dried grassland toward the lonely APC. It could move at quite a pace, but the mech was considerably faster.

  "I'm…fuck, going to have to fix that inertia dampener one of these days. Yes, I'm here, Robert7, coming up behind you."

  "I was wondering where you plan for us to go from here?"

  "Honestly? I hadn't thought we would get this far. I think you will probably be safer if you return to FEMA City."

  "You know they'll only make us sign up and fight you again, right?"

  "It’s better than you all being executed in what can only be described as a war crime."

  Jessica13 wasn't sure if she meant that and had a feeling she would come to regret it, but it still felt like the right thing to do. She could face the consequences for it later.

  "There's something coming up in front of us."

  Robert7 sounded panicked over the comms and the APC began to slow.

  She peered into the darkness ahead and confirmed that there were, in fact, more than a few somethings waiting for them. They were mechs, and judging by the spikes that protruded from their armor, they were the Prophet's, although they seemed in poor shape compared to when she’d last seen them. Most were covered in dust and evidenced all kinds of damage to their armor and weapons. A couple were carried on the backs of those that were a little more mobile.

  "Halt!" the familiar voice of the Prophet said. The man's Argonaut stood out in front, his slug launcher aimed directly at them.

  Robert7 did as he was told once again and brought the vehicle to a stop almost fifty meters from the massive mech.

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  There was no telling how long he had been in there. The darkness made it difficult to tell time but it hadn't been too long. They had only fed him three times, which told him it could only have been three days at the most.

  He hadn't felt hungry enough to try the foul-smelling meals, but that was no real surprise. Food was certainly not something he was interested in at the moment, not after seeing Tinker die in front of him.

  Hammerhand once liked to think there would be no man in the world who would keep him from avenging the death of his friend, but that was no longer true. He knew there were a great many who would, and every one of them were the members of his beloved Knights.

  The enemy had won.

  Trust had brought him down in the end, exactly like the Prophet had foretold. Damned if the guy hadn't lived up to his name. He wondered if he was still around to deliver what would be a justifiably smug, “I told you so.”

  It was a hope, of course, and it would be more desirable if the man himself came to deliver it while he performed something like a rescue.

  Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very substantial hope. The chances were that the Prophet had either been killed, captured, or had simply run away when things had turned sour.

  Maybe not the latte
r. He didn't seem the type to run away from a fight, although Hammerhand had been wrong in his assessment of others before.

  He clasped his hands together until he could feel them burn from the strain. It was a way to try to give his mind something to focus on other than the darkness he had wallowed in for who the fuck knew how long.

  Suddenly, the lock on his door opened and his cell filled with enough light that it hurt his eyes that had become accustomed to the darkness after so long. He groaned softly and covered them with slow, sluggish movements.

  "Prisoner 317 will stand!"

  The voice wasn't familiar but the tone was. It sounded like someone who was used to giving orders and having them obeyed immediately. When Hammerhand didn't, two pairs of hands caught him by the arms and shoulders and forced him to his feet.

  "Prisoner 317 has been isolated for incarceration in the prisoner population—"

  "Who the fuck is Prisoner 317?" he asked. His answer came in the form of a fist in his gut, which forced him to double over and gasp for breath as his whole body exploded with pain. Breathing was difficult for a few seconds before he was straightened by a vice-like grasp and he could see the man who spoke a little better.

  He was a soldier, that much was obvious, and one who probably didn't spend too much time piloting a mech, judging by his neatly brushed hair and thick mustache.

  "Prisoner 317 will remain silent," the man continued in a quiet, bored tone. "Prisoner 317 has been sufficiently acclimated to the prison and will be transferred into the general population forthwith. Do you understand these statements as I have stated them?"

  Hammerhand looked at the two bruisers who held him up while the silence dragged on for a few more seconds. "Am I still to remain silent?"

  "Do you understand—"

  "Yes, I fucking understand."

  "Then Prisoner 317 will be transferred to general population."

  The men thrust him out of the cell and into the hallway outside. He was allowed to move on his own but only as long as he kept pace with them, and the pace was brisk. Unfortunately, he was sore and stiff from the battle and the subsequent sojourn in a cell that was a little too small so it took a few shoves to help him keep up.