Element Zero r-3

by James Knapp

  “Zoe,” a voice said. It was Ai’s voice. The scene in front of me wavered as my concentration threatened to break.

  Come on …

  The building began to reform. Dust and debris and a zillion glass shards rose and took shape. It was huge. Mirrored glass formed massive sheets that tumbled back up into the air, then back into place as the walls reformed. The structure grew until it would have towered above even the other skyscrapers that once surrounded it. A warm trickle began to creep from one of my nostrils as the pain in my head got worse.

  “Zoe, listen to me.” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her. She was standing a few feet away, staring up at me with her large, penetrating eyes.

  “Wait,” I told her. “I can see it…. ”

  “You’re in terrible danger,” she said. “You have to wake up now.”

  The twisted sign broke free of the sand and rose into the air to remount on one side of the building. As it did, it turned slowly, and I saw the lights that spelled out its name flicker on.

  ALTO DO MUNDO

  I gasped, and the sign fell. A loud boom went off, so loud it made my teeth rattle. The building’s glass panels warped and all of them blew into dust. I clamped my hands over my ears as a sound like thunder cracked through the air and the ground shook under my feet. I stumbled and tried not to fall as the dust mushroomed up all around me.

  “Zoe, wake up!”

  The last thing I saw before I closed my eyes was the silhouette of the building’s peak as it sank down into the cloud. The whole building was imploding, crashing down toward the street as voices all around began to scream….

  I snapped awake to the sound of a car horn and sirens. Nearby I heard people running, their footsteps crunching on broken glass. Over the racket, someone was screaming.

  What the hell?

  All the blood had rushed to my face and my head throbbed. I opened my eyes and saw blacktop through the windshield, which had been webbed with cracks. My hair hung down over the blood-spattered dome light, where the neck of a glass bottle lay among broken shards. I was upside-down, hanging from my seat belt. As I watched, more dots of blood appeared to join the others.

  “Penny?”

  Several pairs of feet ran by the window to my right, and I heard something smash in the distance. A voice was barking over a bullhorn, but I couldn’t make out what the man was saying. I could smell smoke and gasoline.

  I pawed the deflated skin of the airbag away and looked to my left. Penny’s body hung limp from her seat belt, lines of blood painted down one side of her face. Behind her eyelids, I could see her eyes moving back and forth.

  “Penny, wake up,” I said. “We’re in trouble.”

  A gunshot went off somewhere close by, and people screamed. Penny sucked in a quick breath and her eyes snapped open as two more gunshots went off, their muzzle flashes reflecting off the ice through the window.

  “Zoe?” she called.

  “I’m right here.”

  She looked over, and for a second I saw tears shine in her eyes. She reached out and touched my face, turning my head gently so she could see better.

  “I’m okay,” I said.

  She clenched her teeth and held on to the steering wheel with one hand while she reached down and released the latch on her belt. She lowered herself carefully, then crouched on the roof’s interior while she twisted around to face me.

  The latch on my seat belt was stuck, so she took a thin knife from her boot and cut it. I slipped into her arms and she guided me down.

  “Let me see,” she said, brushing my hair away from my face. I could feel it was wet with cold blood, and tried to twist away.

  “It’s fine,” I said. “I’m …fine. What happened?”

  “Fawkes did it,” she said. “He sent the trigger code. The Huma carriers, they’ve all turned.”

  “I saw her,” I said. “That bitch Flax …she’s one of them.”

  “The slum rat?” I nodded.

  “I saw her. She’s a carrier—”

  We both jumped as something hit the window next to me hard, and I turned to see a homeless man crouched there with a brick in one dirty hand. Black spots had bled through the whites of his bloodshot eyes, and through the gap in his disgusting beard I could see teeth that were yellow and brown. He stared at us through the glass as he reared back the brick again and smashed it against the glass. If it hadn’t been bulletproof, it would have broken for sure.

  “Here,” Penny said, grabbing my elbow. She pulled me over next to her, away from the window, as a loud boom went off and something left a big divot in the glass right in the middle of a big splash of blood. The homeless man convulsed and went face-first onto the pavement, the brick tumbling out of his hand. A second shot went off and the body twitched. More blood splattered against the outside of the window and began to roll down it.

  “Idiots,” Penny snapped. She slammed her fist against the car horn and it blared. Through the bloody glass I saw two uniformed soldiers with assault rifles peer toward us. One signaled for the other to hold his fire.

  Penny checked the video phone on the dash, but the screen was cracked and it wouldn’t come on. She dug her cell phone out of her pocket and made a call while the soldiers approached the car.

  “It’s me,” she said after a second. “Yeah, we’re okay. We need a pickup.”

  The two soldiers came up to the car door, and one of them shoved the homeless man’s body out of the way. The other one wiped blood from the window and looked in at us.

  “Is there anyone else inside?” he shouted, trying to see into the back. I shook my head.

  His partner fired a couple shots at something I couldn’t see down the street, as Penny snapped her phone shut. The soldier who had spoken to me tapped the other one on the shoulder and pointed at a woman, wearing a bloodstained nightshirt and nothing else, who was running barefoot down the rows of stopped traffic. One of them held up his hand as she closed the distance between them.

  “They’re sending a helicopter to pick us up,” she said. “We just need to get to—”

  A loud, low boom thumped through my chest as the woman in the nightshirt exploded just a few feet from the car. I caught a flash of pieces—an arm and a head—as they blew outward. Then the soldiers crashed back against the glass and everything was covered in blood. The car rocked as shrapnel slammed into it.

  “Shit!”

  Penny grabbed my arm and heaved the driver’s-side door open with a loud groan I could barely hear through the ringing in my ears. She dragged me out into the street and hauled me to my feet as a blast of cold wind blew black, stinking smoke over us.

  The street was a mess. As far as I could see, traffic was stopped, and it looked like a lot of the cars had been abandoned. Lights from police cars and a fire truck flashed, and I could hear sirens wail in the distance. Groups of people ran every which way while others lay bleeding in the snow on the sidewalks. Gunshots echoed between the buildings, and I saw them going off down the street in the distance. A chopper banked overhead and shined a floodlight down over the mayhem.

  I jumped as a shot went off behind me, and I spun around to see Penny fire a second shot into a shambling homeless man with black spots in his eyes. He staggered back, then turned and ducked behind a box truck that had one wheel up on the curb.

  “Come on!” she yelled. She grabbed my hand in her free one and squeezed tight. “Stay close!”

  She almost pulled my arm out of the socket as she ran for clear spot between the jammed vehicles and I stumbled after her, holding on. I reached inside my jacket and pulled out my own gun as we ducked down an alleyway and underneath a group of sharp, brown icicles that hung from the grate of a fire escape. We slipped past a row of rusted trash cans and out onto a side street where a stream of people ran down the sloping sidewalk.

  We almost got knocked down as she shoved our way in. I hoped she knew where the hell she was going. We went with the flow, while the faster people pushed their w
ay through on either side of us. When we got to a parking garage, she slammed a metal side door open with one shoulder.

  “Up!”

  She let go of my hand and fired a shot back behind us as I ran up the concrete stairs as fast as I could go. My heart was pounding and my throat was raw from the cold. I thought I might throw up, and I wasn’t sure how much farther I’d be able to run. I’d started to slow down when I felt her arm around my waist, pulling me up along with her.

  “Faster. Move!”

  I don’t know how many flights we took. By the time we reached the top and I staggered out onto the roof behind her, my legs were like jelly and I could barely breathe. Against the lights of the city, I saw bunches of figures standing near the rails at the roof’s edge. Some looked back at us, while others pointed at a helicopter as it approached and began to descend.

  When they realized it was going to touch down on the roof, they began to crowd it, and a voice yelled over a bullhorn as a floodlight shone down on them. Penny grabbed my hand again and weaved through the ring of people as the wind from the rotors kicked up snow, salt, and sand.

  “Back away from the landing area!” the voice from the helicopter boomed. The helicopter hovered fifteen feet above the crowd and a door on the side slid open. Two soldiers with assault rifles were crouched on either side of it.

  We pushed out into the open area in the middle of the circle, and I shielded my eyes with my gun hand as my hair whipped around my face. I was going to pass out; I was sure of it. Other people saw us break the barrier and started to follow. The helicopter wouldn’t be able to land.

  “Back away from the landing area or we will open fire!” the voice echoed over the thump of the rotors.

  Penny spun around and fired two shots over the heads of the crowd. Those in the path ducked down in a group, and there was a collective gasp before some of the tougher-looking customers recovered and began to focus on us. I could feel the minds changing around us as they began to realize the helicopter was not there to rescue them. It was there to pick us up, but not them.

  I wanted to tell them the helicopter wouldn’t take them, that it wouldn’t matter what they did. Even if they killed us, it wouldn’t take them. I tried to focus on them, to calm them down and ease them back before someone got hurt, but I couldn’t. My head was spinning and I couldn’t concentrate on even one of them.

  The helicopter managed to touch down, and as the bodies surged around us, the two soldiers jumped out and aimed their rifles out over the crowd. One fired a long burst over their heads and didn’t let up until they were all crouching. Penny dragged me along with her, out into the clearing and toward a third soldier, who signaled us from inside the helicopter.

  “Get down on the ground now!” a voice boomed. The soldier fired another burst, and they started to get down on their knees.

  “You can’t leave us here!” a man screamed, his voice hoarse. He had gotten back up and started toward us. “Fuck you. You can’t just—”

  A single shot cracked and the man staggered back before falling to the ground. I saw blood begin to burble out of a hole in his chest. Penny and I marched between the two soldiers as I looked back and saw faces that were full of fear, anger, and hatred.

  The man on the ground stared up at me, his breath coming in puffs that were carried off by the freezing wind. The light that swirled around his head was confused and scared in those last moments before his eyes went out of focus and it evaporated into the night air alongside his last breath.

  Calliope Flax—FBI Home Office

  Cal, are you there? It was Nico.

  Nico, I said. Shit, it’s about time. Are you in one piece?

  The whine from the incoming signal had cut out about a mile back. The transfer was done, and the jacks were on the move again. Police and soldiers were trying to keep them in check but there were too many streets not enough bodies to cover them.

  I’m okay. Where are you? he asked.

  Heading back to base.

  Down a slope on the other side of the guardrail, I saw a pair of cops put three jacks against the wall behind a drugstore and shoot them. I cruised behind a strip mall and saw blues flash between the buildings where a group of soldiers were moving in. More gunfire cracked behind us as I squeezed back out into the parking lot, then back onto the sidewalk. People hugged the storefronts as they saw me coming.

  “Out of the way!”

  Vika bucked on the seat behind me as we hit a ridge of ice and caught air for a second. The bike fishtailed just as a man shoved a sheet of plastic out of the way and jumped out of the alley ahead of us. Vika squeezed my waist tighter as he grabbed for us and I steered out of his way. When I blew past him, I caught a flash of light in his eyes, and the static in my head crackled.

  It’s nuts out here, Nico.

  I know. I’m at the FBI building. Can you get here?

  What for?

  I want to run something past you. Off the wire. It’s important.

  I looked down the street. The traffic was jammed as far as I could see. The Federal Building was a lot closer than the base, and I could drop the kid off there too.

  I’ll be there.

  Thanks. I cut the line, and called in to get a new route to the FBI. Dispatch pulled up the traffic reports and drew one out for me.

  Stay off Stark Street; it’s gridlocked, the guy said. He fed me a new route.

  Roger that. I changed direction and took us down a narrow ramp with chain-link on one side and pitted concrete on the other. We passed into the shadows under the monorail, and a couple pairs of eyes flashed in the dark. Something knocked over a shopping cart and stumbled behind a rusted pylon, but I didn’t see if it was human or not.

  A shot boomed and more people scattered as I veered past a line of cars stuck behind a crash. Two more went off behind us as we approached a vehicle rolled over on its side, fire and smoke pouring out from the undercarriage. When we passed it, I saw a burned body through the back windshield.

  This is fucked.

  I took us through an alley to the main drag, where the Federal Building was. Something else scrambled across the street ahead and the static in my head picked up, a spike in the white noise. There was one nearby.

  Vika tapped my back. Up ahead the space between the brick walls got narrow and there was a trash bin at the mouth of the alley.

  Thrs 1. The message popped up on my JZI. The little shit had some kind of implant. She tapped my back again, and I saw her point from behind me.

  Thr.

  The crackle got louder. I saw something move from behind the trash bin. In the shadows, a pair of eyes flashed.

  I cruised to a stop but kept the engine running. The thing trudged out from behind the box, and I drew my gun.

  The static hissed as its feet scraped on the pavement. It was a street guy with a nasty beard and gaps in his teeth. I caught him in the headlight and saw that the whites of his eyes were stained black.

  I put one in the guy’s forehead. The back of his head blew out, and he fell back against the metal bin. Steam rose off his sticky hair as he slumped over into the snow.

  Nice shot.

  I glanced back at her. When I scanned her, I found a JZI, or some half-assed version of one. It had a com link, but not much else.

  Where’d you get the hardware? I asked.

  Army. 2 yrs.

  Two years in the army. The kid was sixteen, if that, so it wasn’t the UAC army. She had to be a refugee from somewhere in the Slav bloc. Who knew how she ended up here?

  I drove past the body and back out onto the street. On the main road, a Stillwell truck used a winch to pull a wreck out of a snowbank. The FBI building was up ahead.

  I parked on the sidewalk next to the entrance, and when I stood up my knee buckled for a second. The HUD on my JZI flickered, and a band of static squiggled past.

  “You okay?” the kid asked.

  “I’m fine. Come on.”

  I tasted bile in the back of my throat as I
headed up the stairs. Fawkes’s trigger didn’t kill me along with the rest, but something was wrong. I didn’t feel right. I was wound up, like I wanted to break something, but I didn’t know why. I took a deep breath and blew it out my nose as I pushed open the main door.

  Inside I flashed my badge at the guard. He gave a nod and buzzed us in.

  “I shouldn’t be here,” Vika said in the lobby. It was a madhouse in there. Security was doubled and people were backed up coming and going. I shoved my way past them and dragged the kid after me.

  “They got better things to care about,” I said. “No one cares if you’re illegal.”

  “I’m not illegal.”

  “Whatever you are, no one cares.”

  “I’m not a criminal either.”

  “Shut up.”

  Nico, I’m here. Where are you?

  Fifteenth floor, east wing.

  I picked up a kid on the way. Where do you want her?

  Put her in Conference Room B and someone will take care of her. Meet me outside the war room.

  Got it.

  At the fifteenth floor, I took her east and dumped her in the conference room like Nico said.

  “Give me five minutes,” I told her.

  “Wait—”

  “Five minutes. Don’t wander off.”

  Vika opened her mouth again, and I shut the door.

  Bch.

  I made my way down the hall and picked Nico’s node out of the mess. When I got close, I tuned in on their chatter.

  “ …analysis of the canines recovered at the storage yard is more or less complete. There’s no doubt at this point—the nodes we recovered from the animals were created by a version of Heinlein Industries’ M10 series, code named Huma. However, after some study, it would appear that there are key differences in the underlying nanotech.”

  “What differences?” That was Nico.

  “We’re still trying to determine that,” a voice said. “We’re working to bring in experts in the field, but without access to Heinlein, there’s only so much we can do. All I can say right now is that it’s not the original prototype. It’s been altered.”