by Michael Todd
Billie chuckled and reached down, sliding up a small latch on the side of the HUD. She reached in and dislodged the chip, holding it up in front of her, then scanned the area, finding the second one fifteen feet away. The inhabitant of this suit was dead as well, but she didn’t see wounds on either of their bodies. “I can’t tell how they died.”
Marcus took long, deep breaths. “Sometimes the wound can be a pinprick. Many of these animals and plants have poisons of sorts. Do you have the second chip?”
She removed the second chip and put it in her bag. “I have the intel.”
Billie ran her hands down the suit and found a zipper on the side. As she moved it slowly down, pieces of flesh tore from the body. She stopped and reached back, pulling out her knife. “I think I might have to cut the suit off to get it back.”
Marcus sighed. “Goddamn it! Those suits are not only expensive as fuck, but they are also very technologically advanced. When you cut them, it’s like reworking an entire nervous system.”
Billie leaned back on her heels. “Do you want the suits or not?”
Marcus grumbled. “Yes, they need to come back if you can get them off. Just try to cut down the seams.”
Just then twigs cracked above her, and she looked up but didn’t see anything. “I will do my best, but I can’t promise anything. Getting out of here alive is more important than getting the suits off nice and neat.”
Marcus scoffed and growled under his breath. “To you, maybe.”
Billie shifted her eyes upward, then flipped her knife open and sat there for a moment to make a point. “If you can’t say something nice, I’ll fucking cut you.”
Marcus cleared his throat. “Okay, I get it. Just do what you need to do and get out of there. Remember, if you die, we erase all trace of you.”
Billie slowly reached the knife toward the suit. “That’s reassuring. I have no friends or family anyway, so it’s not like there would be anyone to call.”
Before the knife went into the fabric, Billie paused, lifting her head and contorting her face. “What is that sound?”
They both sat quietly for several moments, listening to the very light humming in the distance. Suddenly a red warning light flashed in Billie’s HUD. “Uh, what’s that mean?”
“Fuck,” Marcus whispered. “You have to go NOW!”
Billie stood straight up and closed her knife, pulling out her gun. “What is it?”
A picture of what looked to be a very large bug flashed up in her HUD. Marcus scrolled through the details. “That is a giant fucking locust, and they will kill you. Forget the suit and go.”
Billie looked back down at the body. “But the mission…”
Marcus interrupted her. “Was to get the intel and get out. You got it. Go.”
Billie growled and took off, the screen changing to a map of the way out. She could hear her breathing as she ran, but the hum of the swarm got louder by the second. She flipped her rear camera on and watched as several huge locusts burst through the trees behind her, limbs and leaves flying everywhere. She pulled her pistol and twisted as she ran, firing several rounds in their direction. She hit one of them but just skinned it, pissing it off even worse.
Her legs were burning as she leapt over a fallen tree and hauled ass as fast as she could toward the light at the end of the map. “If...if I get out, will they follow?”
Marcus was silent for a moment, then came back on. “No, they don’t like to leave the Zoo. If you can get out of the veil of the front, you will be safe.”
Billie huffed loudly. “Great. Just a little farther.”
She looked into her rear camera, seeing a large black patch behind her. She reached back and rubbed her camera, thinking it was something on the lens. She looked closer and realized it wasn’t a smudge at all. The swarm had swung low and was gaining on her. She looked up as she sprinted, seeing a ledge ahead, a narrow gully separating the two pieces of land. She gritted her teeth and put her gun in her holster, picking up speed. As she reached the edge, she pushed off. She hit the other side and slid through the leaves, coming to a stop at the base of a large flowering plant.
Immediately she rolled to the side and jumped up, taking off again. She could see the light ahead of her. As she reached the edge of the jungle, she dove head-first through the veil of vines and out into the Staging Area. She quickly turned over and looked back as the buzzing slowed and a wave of locusts turned as if they had hit an imaginary wall.
She leaned her head back. “Goddamn it, all I got were the chips.”
Marcus replied, slightly thrown off, “That’s all that matters at this point.”
Billie raised her head. “To you.”
Chapter Six
Holly just sat there, her drink half gone and her eyes wide. “She went in there with what seems like less information than I have right now.”
JB nodded. “Yeah, but remember, this was years ago. At that point, they hadn’t even identified the jags to the fullest extent. A lot of the stories I’ve told you were either in process, or they hadn’t happened yet. She only had a smidge of the information that newbies have now.”
Holly sighed. “That sucks. So, what was on the chips?”
JB chuckled. “I have no idea. She probably had no idea either. She had only been tasked with going in, getting them, and getting out.”
Holly covered her mouth, holding back a burp. “Can I order something fried again?”
JB smirked. “That drink a little strong?”
Holly held two fingers close together. “Maybe just a little. I’ll take my time with the second half of it. I’ve never had absinthe before.”
JB’s face fell. “Oh, boy. My bad. Let me get you some food.”
He stood up and walked over to the kitchen door, sticking his head in. Holly turned to Dan and gave him a smile. “Have you heard this story before?”
Dan shrugged. “Yeah, I think so. I can’t remember, though. I’ve heard so many stories, some true, some not, and some where you just don’t know. It’s very hard to make something up so outlandish it’s unbelievable out here because, well, almost anything is possible in the Zoo. To think they were doing top-secret shit in there while we were running around picking Pita—that wouldn’t surprise me. It also wouldn’t surprise me if goop has a completely different application we don’t know of yet. Really, nothing would surprise me.”
Holly sighed as JB came back out, carrying a platter of pretzels and cheese sticks. “On me. An apology for my really strong drink…yeah.”
Holly gave him a sweet smile and grabbed a pretzel, pulling it apart. “So, what happened next?”
JB sat back down on the stool. “Well, she eventually came back. I can’t remember how long between visits it was, or if this was even the next visit, but while she was in there, she definitely left her mark.”
Billie swiped a machete through a thick patch of vines. Several of the higher ones slithered off, wrapping themselves around the trees. She pushed through into a small open area, spotting tracks from human mercenaries in the dirt. “Looks like we’ve got mercs out here.”
Marcus checked his side of things, wherever it was that he was stationed. “I don’t see anything on your HUD. Just keep going along the map path.”
Billie nodded, sweat pouring from her forehead. “So, what am I doing out here? You didn’t give me an update before I came in.”
Marcus put two pictures of suits up on the screen. “You are to retrieve these two suits. They told me that if there was a body, just leave it in there; they will take it out. You attach the floatation apparatus to each shoulder and then the booster to the feet. Then you pull the tabs on the shoulder, and as it starts to inflate, you set off the smaller booster. It will give the suit enough oomph to breach the canopy, and we will pick them up. The suits have trackers so we can see them in real time.”
Billie chuckled. “I would hope so. Otherwise, where would the map come from?”
Marcus smiled. “My best guess.”
Billie sneered. “So instead of me carrying them out and risking pulling all hell down on me, I am essentially tricking the Zoo.”
“Yep, that’s pretty much it.”
Wild Bill sighed. “You know, one of these days you are going to give me something exciting that involves a live person.”
Marcus grumbled. “That would probably be bad for everyone. You get the most secure intel, which is primarily digital. We also have to retrieve these suits, so no one starts asking questions.”
Billie continued walking, looking around as she went. “I have a question for you.”
Marcus growled. “Oh, great. Just what I need.”
Billie smiled. “So, if there aren’t bodies in these suits, how the hell did they get out of them? Why did they get out of them?”
Marcus clicked his tongue. “It could be any number of things, really. They could have taken them off to have better agility. An animal could have pulled them out. Delirium could have set in. We don’t know. All we know is they have been sitting in the same spot for days. That is a red flag, obviously.”
Wild Bill didn’t care. She was just trying to keep the conversation going so the time went by faster. She knew what adrenaline and addiction to it looked like; she lived that life. At the same time, she had a hard time understanding the obsession with a place like the Zoo. To her, it was just another destination, and another chance to be killed. That was her life, though, same as everything she had been through over the years.
Billie stepped over a fallen limb and continued forward, not noticing the trailing vine that was moving over the jungle floor. As she took another step, the vine lurched forward and wrapped around her ankle. Before she even knew what was going on, the thing had ripped her feet out from under her. Her body flew into the air, and she dangled about five feet above the ground.
She swung back and forth, groaning in disapproval. “Uh, Marcus? Slight problem here.”
Marcus groaned. “I know, I see it. You are going to have to curl up and cut the vine off your ankle before more come.”
Billie felt her sheath until her hand slid over the handle of her knife, then she pulled it out and flipped it open. Grunting, she did a mid-air sit-up, reaching up and grabbing the vine. She used it to hold herself still as she slashed through it. When the last strand snapped, Billie plummeted to the ground. She managed to curl herself into a ball and closed her eyes tightly as she waited for impact.
It never came.
Slowly she opened her eyes and gasped, staring right down the throat of one of the man-eating plants. She chuckled nervously. “I know you are hungry and angry, two things that don’t go together. However, I don’t really taste good.”
The plant let out a high-pitched squeal, and her HUD flashed again. Billie growled and grabbed her machete, raising it over her head. As she went to swing downward, a vine caught her wrist like a hand. She snarled and kicked the plant hard under a flower. It bent back in pain, revealing the stem holding it up, which was as thick as a small tree trunk. Billie swung low, hitting the root with her machete. It got stuck, but she was able to yank it back out.
She slammed it into the stem again, this time watching where the vines were going. “Oh, come now, you can’t be the master and be a wimp.”
On the third blow, the plant hissed and wobbled, trying to lash out at her, but it was too far gone. Wild Bill wiped the knife on her suit and pulled up her foot, kicking the plant to the ground. But she wasn’t finished. Hurrying forward, she slammed the machete into it over and over, cutting it into tiny pieces. Squirts of goop shot up, hitting the front of her HUD. She breathed heavily as she chopped at it.
Marcus cleared his throat. “Uh, I think you got it.”
Billie took one last swing and stumbled backward. She sheathed her machete, then grabbed a towelette from her bag to wipe her faceplate. She smeared the goop off and tossed the towelette on the ground, putting her hands on her knees. “Sorry, I got a bit carried away. Look at it this way: there is one less man-eating plant in the Zoo now. It’s just a bunch of smashed and sliced debris that looks oddly like cabbage.”
A small red sensor went off in her HUD and she looked up, backing away from the dead plant. “What is that?”
Marcus was frantically searching through her feed. “I don’t know. I can’t see anything. Just get out of there. You may have released something that’s calling the other predators to you.”
Billie swung around and froze, staring right into the eyes of a large creature. It resembled a bear, but its snout was long and its skin hung from its bones. She grimaced but didn’t panic. She’d been trained for shit like that, kind of. She slowly reached down and pulled her pistol, holding it at her side. Marcus began to talk but she cut off her comm, needing to focus. The beast sniffed and wailed like a terrified woman.
Billie took a deep breath and moved her foot to the right. The bear-thing huffed and growled deep in its throat. She froze again, waiting for it to calm down, but from the way its pupils were contracting and dilating, she had a feeling that was off the table. She took a deep breath and counted to three in her head, then bolted, pivoting on her foot and spinning faster than the creature could follow. It swiped the air with razor-sharp claws, and Billie jumped on its back and wrapped her arms around its burly neck.
The screams coming from its throat sounded human, which shook Billie to the core. She raised her pistol to its head, but as she pulled the trigger, it bucked. The bullet grazed its flesh, sending fur and blood all over the place.
Billie gripped the bear tightly as it turned in circles on its hind legs to try to throw her off.
“Come on, mama bear,” she grunted. “I don’t want your porridge.”
The animal fell on all fours and then jolted up again. Billie couldn’t hold onto its slick fur and flew off its back, landing on her ass. She grunted as she hit and pointed her gun at the beast’s chest. The animal loomed over Billie, standing on its hind legs.
She lifted her hand higher and shook her head. “You are one big-ass bitch. You know that, right?”
The animal roared, and her eyes lowered to its crotch. “Oh, sorry. One big-ass dude.”
It started for her and she pulled the trigger, sending a bullet through its head. The beast swayed, but Billie wasn’t taking any chances. She pulled the trigger again, and this time the animal collapsed. It scratched against the leaves, letting out an eerie sound. Billie scooted back and kept her gun pointed at it until it took its last breath.
Wild Bill let out a deep breath and pulled herself to her feet, holstering her weapon. Slowly she crept toward the bear-thing, nudging it with her foot. It was obvious that it was dead. She knelt to take a closer look, never having been that close to one of the Zoo animals before. She slowly reached out to touch its fur when a scream rang out only a few hundred yards from where she was. Immediately she stood up and switched on the locater on her HUD. It showed five people due west and the heat signatures of some sort of creatures, possibly more bear-things.
Without thinking or checking in with her guy in controls, Billie sprinted toward them, reloading as she ran. When she got closer, she slowed down, creeping toward the clearing she had been in an hour or so before. She snuck up behind a tree and peeked through the brush, seeing four men and one woman back to back in the center of the clearing. There were eight or more animals that closely resembled coyotes—if coyotes had more than one head.
They started firing again, but the team was pinned down. Billie had to help; she couldn’t just leave them to die. She looked up into the tree she was behind, and it seemed clear of animals. She put her gun back in her holster and reached up, grabbing one of the branches. Limb by limb she climbed the tree until she was able to shinny far enough out on a thick branch to get a good shot.
She brought her rifle around to the front, looked down the scope, and closed one eye. As the mercs blasted away, she pulled the trigger, hitting one of the coyotes in the back of one of its heads. Its body thrashed, and
a chunk of its skull hit the ground. She did it again, hitting another. The group looked around, but couldn’t see her.
Billie smirked. “You can’t see me, but I am here—a ghost in the alien jungle.”
The two dead coyotes gave the merc team courage. They began massacring the rest, blowing them to bits with their weapons. Billie sat up on the tree limb and laughed, finding the whole thing exhilarating. After a few more minutes, four more were dead, and the others were trying to get away. The merc team cheered, and the leader looked at the canopy, mouthing the words, “Thank you.”
Billie smiled and nodded. “You’re welcome.”
Chapter Seven
Wild Bill’s boots hit the jungle floor with a thud when she jumped down from the lowest branch of the tree. She slung her rifle on her back and stretched her arms in the air. “Now, let’s get this mission over with. Marcus? Marcus…”
Billie tilted her head to the side and brought up the main screen of her HUD. On the right-hand side, a small message icon was blinking. She winced and opened it up.
It was an audio message from Marcus. “Goddamn it, Bill. I fucking told you—HUD, earpiece, walkie, it doesn’t matter. You cannot shut me out like that. I know you’re fucking alive because I can see your vitals, now turn the damn comm back on!”
The message cut out and Billie sighed. “Turn on comm.”
It clicked on, but there was only silence. “Marcus? I know you’re mad. I get it. But holy shit, that was a fucking fun diversion.”
Marcus cleared his throat but didn’t say anything. Billie wrinkled her nose and dropped her hands to her sides. “Should we finish the mission before some more bears with the souls of screaming women come?”
Marcus sighed. “Yes. Go get the suits, please, and this time, don’t play hero. Don’t be an asshole. And keep your bloody comm on. I am going to disable your ability to turn it off. Now, the important question is, is your suit okay? I want to know if there is a single scratch on it. I know you fucking climbed a tree since I could see your beacon get higher. Either that or you sprouted wings, and I’m thinking that since you are more like a demon than an angel, that didn’t happen.”
