Real

by Dena Nicotra

  “Is that right?”

  “Yeah. Unfortunately, it is.”

  “How much more?”

  “Apparently, he’s had a connection with her for a long time. She’s been managing this satellite facility this entire time. When you got hurt, he had her help with the procedure you needed.”

  “Well, don’t I feel special.”

  “Don’t feel too special. He’s got an agenda, and so does she.”

  “I figured as much.” I focused on the darkness below us. The fact that Mic was a self-serving ass-hole wasn’t new news to me. I’d always known that. The part that stung was the fact that I’d allowed myself to get close to him anyway. “Maybe he was just good in bed,” I muttered under my breath.

  As the red lights from the wind mills in Mojave came into view, I took my last sip from the bottle and lit another cigarette. My bad habits might be deplorable to some, but if I was going to die tonight, I was going to do it my way. The people of Redburg represented all that I’d ever loved and closed my heart against. They were family, and I owed it to them to do whatever I could to avenge them. Years ago, I’d hid in Mamma Sophie’s basement like a frightened child while everyone I loved was brutally murdered by simps. I was weak then. A flash of my father impaled on our picket fence made me shake my head. Not tonight. I wasn’t the same person anymore. Emotions aside, I was on a mission to save whoever was still alive. I was determined to exact revenge on the descendants of Aaron for my family’s namesake.

  “We’d better set it down here and walk the rest of the way,” said Two. I took control from the auto-pilot and landed in a clear patch of sand, not far from the outskirts of Redburg. Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I shut it down, grabbed my pack, and waited for Giz to join us. Okay, the whiskey made me braver than I should have been, but as far as I was concerned, I wouldn’t live through the night anyway.

  I cared more about finding survivors than anything else. My body was almost as numb as my mind. We still had a lot of miles to cover, and the December night air was unforgiving. I pulled my hoodie up over my head, and trudged through the desert landscape. Fortunately, the moon was full and lit our way.

  I fueled my determination with the rush of frustration I felt. I stumbled over a sage bush, but quickly collected my footing. In this moment, there was only me and the desert landscape. I needed to keep moving. The rush of rage inside my mind had to wait. It was only a matter of time before I would be face to face with Towering Aaron, and his descendants.

  We came in through the backside of town, behind the water tower, and took cover behind a replica Conestoga wagon that Idella’s father had built to appeal to tourists when she was a little girl. Now it was dilapidated, but it offered the cover we needed as we assessed the situation. “Giz, stop breathing in my ear,” I whispered coarsely. Why had I agreed to let him come with us? Oh, that’s right…he was just what we needed.

  “See anything?” He squeaked, even when he whispered. “Shhhh!” Two urged. I spread out flat and looked between the spokes of the wagon. The wind was blowing, making it difficult to hear anything beyond Giz and his whistling nose. From here, the only thing visible was the lattice work at the base of the old White Butterfly Café. “I’m going to move in closer,” I whispered. As I attempted to get to my knees, Giz grabbed my shoulder and pushed me flat again. Instinctively, I drew back ready to knock him on his ass, but then I heard the faint sound of high-pitch clicking in the distance. “There, now I just saved your ass,” Giz whispered as he rolled over and pulled his pack in front of him. I opened my mouth to say something, but realized he was right. I had no rebuttal. He fumbled for a second before retrieving a black box and a small cylinder that appeared to be made of metal. The keening grew louder, which meant it was also getting closer.

  “We need to move, I whispered to both of them. Feeling exposed, my gut instinct told me that our best chance of remaining undetected required our immediate relocation. “There,” I pointed, hoping that they understood. My goal was to get us under the raised foundation of the Café before Towering Aaron skinned us alive.

  Begrudgingly, my cohorts agreed. It was a damn good thing too, because just as we scurried under the building, Deraline and Eli appeared in the clearing between the water tower and the storefronts across from us. They were marching a group of people toward the church and talking to each other in that eerie too-fast-for-humans fashion. Deraline skipped ahead, shouting out orders for the group to “move their sorry human asses.” As the group picked up their pace, I spied Susan carrying Otto. It took everything in me not to bolt out from under there and start firing. Two gripped my wrist, and although it was too dark to make out her face, I understood. We needed to bide our time. Scan the landscape, and ensure our actions weren’t a risk to those that were still alive. The keening faded as they moved further away from us, and I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.

  “How many?” Two whispered.

  “Give me a second,” Giz replied. “I counted nine,” I said.

  “Not people, Lee.”

  “Seventy-two, and the number is still climbing,” Giz stated quietly.

  A faint hologram coming from the little black box Giz had carefully positioned in the dirt flashed another number. “Make that, eighty-two,” he corrected.

  “Eighty-two simps are here? Giz, what the hell is that thing?” I asked.

  Hey sighed. “In layman’s terms, it’s a modified electromagnetic Geiger counter. It detects the alpha particles found in simp DNA by way of the ionization they produce. This meter,” he said, pointing to the hologram, “identifies the recorded pulses of electromagnetic energy, or voltage. That said, the numbers are relative because I’ve based my calculations on a twenty-mile radius. The figures are changing as new units enter that range.” I held up my hand to indicate that I’d heard enough. Leave it to Giz to bring the geek tools. I glanced at the projected number and the cluster of red dots that I deduced represented a simp. It was already at ninety-four. We were seriously outnumbered. I tried to convince myself that his machine was wrong…but if I knew anything, Giz didn’t make mistakes with his data. I’d led us to the slaughter. There were only two options that I could conceive: sneak out the same way we’d come in, and abandon our efforts, or die in a blaze of glory that might save a few lives. Either way, I felt like throwing up.

  If we were just dealing with Towering Aaron, Deraline, and Eli it would be bad enough, but Towering Aaron had clearly been a busy boy. Hordes of simps were flooding in and the horrors were just beginning to unfold.

  “Giz, turn it off! That light is going to give us away, and I don’t feel like dying yet,” I snapped.

  “She’s right, Giz, turn it off.” Two crawled forward on her elbows so that she could get a closer look through the lattice. The keening had stopped now and all that we could hear was the howling of the wind.

  “If we stay on the backside of town, I think we can make it to my place,” said Two.

  “I don’t know that that’s such a good idea,” said Giz.

  “Do you have a better plan?” Now it was her turn to snap at him.

  “Not really, but your cabin is crawling with simps!” he whispered back.

  “I think we should go around the backside of town and try to get to Dallas’ place; we know from the video feed that they’ve already been there, and with any luck they’ve moved on. We’ll be better positioned there to see the whole town and, if nothing else, I think there’re still some propane tanks in the barn.” I didn’t need to explain further on that point. If it was too late to save any of my people, I was going to light it up and take every last simp in Redburg out.

  “Sounds like a good plan to me,” said Two. Giz was already shoving his counter back into his pack. Two went out first. She theorized that if there were simps close by, she’d be the best chance we had to remain undetected. She’d also be able to fight them better than we could.

  After checking that all was clear, she motioned for us to mov
e. Giz and I crawled out quickly and ran to the safety of the wagon. From there, we moved together down the embankment to the water tower. Just as we ducked into the thick cover of the creosote bushes and tumbleweeds, the lights of a hovcar came into view.

  Mic stepped out first and as soon as I saw him, I went to stand up. I couldn’t believe he’d be so stupid as to follow us into this. I couldn’t decide if I thought he was an idiot or a hero. Before I could make up my mind, Two grabbed me by the arm and yanked me back down so hard I fell flat on my stomach and smacked my chin on a rock. Her hand covered my mouth before I could let out a string of profanities. In the next moment, I began to understand why. The passenger door slid open, and out stepped Janelle. She strolled with a casual ease to Mic’s side and then I watched as she wrapped her arms around his waist and smiled up at him.

  Maude’s words flooded my mind…She’s a biogenetic scientist and she’s worked with Mic for years…

  She’s very gifted in complex genetic studies. In fact, she’s received many, many awards for her work in genomic data and digital medicine….

  Oh yeah, they were more than friends all right. I watched with my jaw slack as Mic tilted her head up and kissed her with a slow intensity that was more than familiar to me. This was a shock to witness, but what struck me with more concern was the fact that neither of them seemed to have any sense of fear of their surroundings. When Deraline came around the corner and the two of them just stood there, smiling as she approached, I went from shocked to thoroughly irate.

  I knew two things in that moment: Mic was the ass-hole my gut had warned me of, and that bitch of his was going to get her ass kicked. Not because I’m the jealous type, but more because she was a fucking bitch.

  Despite the wind, we were able to make out portions of their conversation. Apparently, Mic wasn’t quite finished with his old partner. He was looking to find Aaron Metchler…or what was left of him. His brain was what Mic had been after all along. He’d used me. He’d used all of us for his own selfish purposes. Mic had played the role of the innocent sidekick, and I’d bought it hook, line, and sinker.

  He’d taken every precaution to ensure that Towering Aaron was able to survive and thrive because he knew that was his connection to the real Aaron, or what was left of him. He’d set me up! He knew Towering Aaron was deteriorating, and made sure that he had access to me so that he could use my genetics to make an infusion that would secure his biological strain and continue to provide Mic with the means to track down Metchler’s brain. He’d offered me up like a sacrificial lamb for his own cause! He’d even thrown in Two and Deraline to get what he wanted. Apparently, he didn’t count on Two being so much like me.

  From what I could catch, Aaron wasn’t going to be taken alive…or whatever state of existence you could consider a bloated brain floating in whatever juices and wires it required to exist. Two removed her hand from my mouth as the three of them walked away in the direction of the church. The wind whipped up again, as I wiped a tear from my cheek. I’d never been so angry in my life. Everything that I’d been through up until this moment suddenly didn’t matter. All that I cared about was ending this, once and for all. It wasn’t just Towering Aaron. It was Mic, the brain, the bitch…all of them had to pay.

  I stood up and pushed my hair back. With my hands pressed on both sides of my head, I took in a series of deep breaths to calm the rage that had boiled up inside me like a lake of fire. The world around me had gone silent and I was lost in a haze of hell-bent vengeance. Giz was saying something, but I wasn’t paying attention. I looked up at the stars and allowed myself to absorb the warmth of an old, familiar companion. Apathy. Everything that had become trusting and soft inside of me turned hard again and fell away. Now there was nothing but a callous where my heart had been.

  “Lee, we need to move!” Giz said again with more urgency. I nodded and followed him and Two up the dirt road toward Dallas’ place. I felt like I was watching my own body from somewhere above. Just hovering there in the star filled sky. How could I have been so stupid? As the terrain shifted to a steeper incline, I concentrated on my steps and, with each one I took, I grew more determined. A series of memories flashed through my mind. First my father, speared on the fence, then Momma Sophia, Jake, Ben, Barbara…I gathered strength from each one and charged on.

  We made it to Dallas’ place without incident and moved quietly into the barn. We didn’t dare turn on any lights, but the full moon delivered a clearly gruesome indication of what had happened here. The sacks of dried corn and grain used for making liquor and trading were stacked from the ground to the ceiling. All of them were splattered in blood. I didn’t want to know what the dried, dark chunks were, or who they once belonged to. It looked like someone (or something) had literally shredded a body with a force that made me physically shudder. I tried not to think about Dallas…

  I observed a row of propane tanks against the far wall, and felt a twinge of gratification. There was hope yet. If Dallas were here, I knew what he’d say. “Light them sacks of wires up, Lee! Kick names and take asses!” Yeah, buddy, I will.

  Two went about checking the security of our location as Giz pulled equipment from his pack. Me? I sat down on a stack of grain sacks with my gun pointed at the door. If shit was about to go down, I was ready. Giz avoided eye contact with me as he quietly set up his equipment. There was an unspoken understanding between us that now was not the time to talk. I watched as the hologram displayed. The count had grown significantly. There were now more than a thousand simps within the twenty mile radius he’d defined. From what we’d gathered, every living soul that was left in Redburg had been herded into the old church. Just like we had before, that would be the place where we made our last stand.

  Giz cursed under his breath and shut the hologram down with a wave of his hand. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay, Giz.” His back was to me as he focused on pulling some additional equipment from his bag. When he finished, he turning to face me. His eyes were watery, but he seemed to sense my state of mind. “We’ll talk later, okay?”

  “Sure, Giz, we’ll talk later.” My voice was disconnected. Flat. His eyes narrowed. Looking away, I pulled out a cigarette and focused on lighting it. The last thing I wanted right now was a Giz lecture. He was the only human being I didn’t hate at the moment.

  “You know I didn’t know, right?”

  “Yeah, Giz. I know, but that’s adding to the problem I’m having with this. You believed in him as much as I did, and in exchange for your loyalty, he put your family in jeopardy.”

  “You think I don’t know that, Lee?” His voice wobbled. “I would have laid down my life for him!” He wiped his nose with the back of his hand. Fat tears were flowing freely beneath his pale, apricot lashes. He balled his pale fists.

  “I’m not going to die here tonight.” It wasn’t a question, Giz had made up his mind.

  “No, you’re not. You’re going to go back to your family, and we’re going to end this tonight. He nodded in agreement.

  Two returned from the other side of the barn and shook her head. “Stay away from that side.” I nodded, I didn’t need to know what she’d found. Giz swallowed hard and adjusted his equipment with shaking fingers. Two took a position between him and the door and crossed her arms. “We don’t have much time, Giz.”

  “Do you know that you’re as bad as she is? Do me a favor and tell me something I don’t know, Two.”

  “Okay. How about I tell you that there’s a bottle of orange soda in my back pocket.”

  “Seriously?”

  “No. Of course not. Just shut up and work.” Giz offered up his middle finger and then bent over his equipment. Under different circumstances, I would have found humor in their exchange.

  It took Giz another ten minutes to finish setting things up and in that time, I’d watched our lives flash before my eyes at least ten times. Giz had feverishly explained his plan to ping the child upgrade Alpha Composite, formerly registered t
o IHSIR number 33276944957511. Also known as Deraline Faith Roberts. Perpetual age of sixteen and a murderer. If he could use his programming skills to manually override Aaron’s coding, then (according to Giz’ espionage jargon) we’d have a mole inside the madness.

  Giz grew silent as he focused on the keyboard. When he finished, he clapped his hands together and rubbed them together briskly. “Now what?” I asked.

  “Now, we wait,” he said. Two reached in her back pocket and tossed him a bottle of orange soda. “You either earned that, or you can consider it a granted final wish,” said Two. Without a reply, he twisted the top off and gulped down half the bottle in one swig. “You know, you could save me a sip…” I said dryly.

  “There’s cases of drinks on the other side. I’ll get you something.” Two said. Whatever else was over there, she really did not want me to see.

  “How long will it take?” I asked.

  “If it works, it shouldn’t take more than a few more minutes. My upload is almost finished.” I lit another cigarette and took the warm bottle of root beer from Two. I hated root beer, but I wasn’t going to be picky. My throat was so dry that I didn’t really care what it was…although, if I were going to have my final wish granted, I would have preferred some whiskey to go with it. Instead, I contemplated our game plan if this didn’t work.

  All that I had was a weak plan to draw in the herd of simps and blow up the propane tanks to take out as many of them as possible. I’d have Two try to get Giz away and back to the hovcar so that he could hopefully live to see his next child born...but the odds of that would be pretty slim. I crushed my cigarette on the ground and got up to look out the dirty window on the opposite wall. From this view, everything looked normal. A part of me wanted to pretend that this wasn’t real. I wanted Dallas to come up behind me with a cold beer in his hand and that flirtatious smile of his. On second thought, I wanted to crush Mic’s skull with a hammer.