by Chris Wright
They looked at each other, gave themselves a nod of camaraderie like they were in an action movie and left the comfort and safety of Ben's apartment. Everything that would happen was now a guessing game, the only thing they didn't have to guess at was the meeting point, as apparently Ben knew where it was. Ben knew that the area wasn't so heavily under surveillance, it was a run-down side of the city. The Elite would eventually clear it up, but it wasn't a priority for them for now. There would be hordes of non-Neuro-Net users hiding out there, so the next twenty minutes could get quite interesting. They dashed through the nearby neighbourhoods, wanting to get there as quick as they could, and within fifteen minutes they were near the outskirts.
“I know its strange circumstances” Danny said, “But it will actually be good to see everyone”.
“Definitely. It might make things feel a bit more normal again” Ben said.
But who was he kidding? Normal? They would be hiding out in the wilderness, planning to strike back with whatever means they could, there was nothing remotely normal about that.
Slick back
Slick back inserted the device into his laptop, clicked a few buttons and the recording sprang to life. All of Tom's memories from the last day were projected into the space around them.
“Okay, let's see what we've got” Story face said as he slid the hologram from side to side, fast forwarding to find any hint of information they could home in on.
They listened to the recording of Gina's last conversation, there was nothing they could make out that would allow them to trace where she was now. They repeated every word she uttered slowly, trying to find any hidden meaning, but nothing. They listened to any background noise, still nothing.
“We need to go back further, there must have been something in the last few days” Slick back said rewinding Tom's thoughts frantically.
It took them a few minutes, but they finally found something. There was a number they didn't recognise that Gina had phoned, someone called Danny, he wasn't on their radar. A few more swipes left and right through Tom's memories and they managed to find more connections to Danny, and noted down his number. There were too many hushed words when she was speaking to him that meant that he had to be involved. They shut Tom's final memories down and started typing away furiously. They were trying to trace this Danny, hopefully he still had his phone on. They were in luck, not only was it on, it showed he was still in the city and they could get to him quickly. With a few more keystrokes they were able to connect to his signal.
“Okay, let's find this guy” said Story face, “Keep listening to see if he gets any calls while we make our way there. Can you loop it back and get some kind of video feed from there?”
Slick back said he'd try, it wasn't always successful, as it depended on the strength of the signal and where the phone was. If it was in his pocket, that would be completely useless as it would be the video equivalent of butt dialling someone. He was in luck again though, he was able to get a clear video signal of the room he was sat in, and there was someone else there too. A Quick facial recognition scan showed it to be another person of interest, a Nano-bot engineer called Ben, he could be useful. They had great engineers and Nano-technology, but their own Nano-technology was flawed, the more expertise they could get the better. He radioed through to his office to put a track on any friends flagged up by these two. Slick back decided it would be prudent to keep a close eye on all of them.
Story face continued driving towards Danny and Ben's location while Slick back watched the video feed closely. He watched as the phone was thrown into a microwave and the feed cut off.
“Shit” he screamed, “They killed their phones, we need to get there right now”.
Story face put his foot to the pedal in a desperate attempt to reach them as quick as he could. They reached the location they had last had a signal from and screeched to a halt. There in the distance were the pair of them walking in the opposite direction.
Slick back pulled a series of weapons out from the side of them, made a call for back up and then clambered out of the van, Story face following.
“Let's stay well back”, Story face suggested, “They're probably going to a meeting point, hopefully we can find more of them there”.
Slick back nodded and they followed Danny and Ben, keeping a considerable distance between them so as not to be spotted. They were joined by four soldiers part way along the journey, all six of them in stealthy pursuit.
Ben and Danny
Ben and Danny turned another corner and could see what looked like a camp ahead of them. It was set up under part of a tall bridge, the highway above humming with the sound of the vehicles racing along it. They had no choice but to walk towards and through it, not the best idea, but their pick-up point was further on, and this was the only way to get there.
“We'd better be careful” Ben said, “There could be anyone in that camp. It used to be pretty bad down here, homeless drunks, drugs, you name it. I have no idea what it's like now”
“Is the meeting point far?”
“No, it's probably two hundred metres past the camp, it would have taken another hour to get there from the road on the other side” Ben told him.
Well I guess that explained why they had taken the route through the slums, Danny thought, as they got ever closer. They were fifty metres away when they saw people beginning to walk in their direction, curious as to who they were. A little closer they realised they had weapons pointed at them, not the thing they wanted to see. They held their arms up in the air to show they were no threat, and slowed their walk down. The men and women holding the guns ran over to them, looking them up and down suspiciously.
“We're trying to get out of the city, somewhere safe” Ben said, wanting to convince these people they could be trusted.
They had their guns still firmly fixed on them and Ben wasn't sure if they were just going to be shot for the sake of it, or whether these people were reasonable human beings. One of the women shouted back to the camp and an elderly man appeared and started to make his way towards them. He approached them with the same distrust written across his face as the others. He pulled out a small contraption and held it in front of Ben and Danny. It made whirring sounds, neither of them knowing if that was a good sign or not.
“What's that?” Danny asked nervously, still not sure which way this was going to go.
“It's a scanner, it can tell me if either of you are wired up to the net or not” he replied with a thick drawl, “and you two gentlemen are very lucky”.
“We're not implanted, we just need to pass by and get out the city” Ben informed him.
The elderly man looked at them both and nodded, his scanning contraption had confirmed they weren't wired into the Elites grip.
“So where is it you're going? Another rebel camp?” He asked.
Ben nodded, his arms still hoisted up in the air, “Can we put our arms down?”
“Sure” the old man replied while signalling to the others to lower their weapons, “We've had a few of you pass through here. As there's hardly any cameras it's a good spot to be invisible and fade away out of the city. Just over a week ago though this area was a place where people disappeared for other reasons. Funny how quickly things change”
The old man was well dressed for what they considered to be someone homeless, a clean blue shirt and brand-new denim jeans, complete with designer trainers. They expected that he got new clothes every now and then from the unfortunate people that wandered too close, those that 'disappeared for other reasons'.
“So, are we good?” Danny asked, “You'll let us pass?”
The old man nodded. Moving his head in some way seemed to be his preferred method of communication.
“I'm not so sure about those gentlemen though” He said pointing behind Danny.
Danny and Ben looked round to see a group of six men heading towards them, fairly obviously members of the Elite's ground team. They weren't sure what gave it away most
, was it the stark looks on their face? The gangster style suits? The weapons pointed in their direction? Or it could have been the fact that four of them seemed to flick some kind of switch that made their bodies disappear, the light being bounced around them to make them fade into their surroundings.
“God damn it” shouted Ben as he started to run, with Danny quickly joining him.
The old man shouted some garbled drawl at his colleagues and within a split second they all had their weapons back in the air and were furiously firing off rounds. A hail of bullets went soaring towards Story face, Slick back and their cronies. The invisibility cloaks not only repelled light they also seemed to repel bullets. What technology did they have here? None of them had ever seen this before. Story face and Slick back were behind the invisible four, being shielded as they all ran forward. There was another incoherent drawl from the old man and more than fifteen people emerged from the camp carrying an array of exotic and terrifying weaponry. They joined the old man and his little crew and began hurling a barrage of indiscriminate shots at the Elites foot soldiers, barely having an impact. A long haired hippy looking man flicked a switch on his gigantic gun and a thundering rocket shot out, narrowly missing the old man who was slightly in front of him. It flew towards two of the soldiers, more by fluke than skill and crashed straight into them. There were loud screams and their invisibility suits burst apart into sparks and crackles, the men inside them being dissolved into an horrific bundle of flesh and bone.
They all decided to fall back to the camp, all the while calling for more of their crew to join the fight. Several of them were picked off as they raced back to camp, dropping to the floor with a shriek. More fighters appeared, guns blazing. If Ben and Danny were expecting a quiet getaway, they were now very disappointed. The foot soldiers continued their pursuit, getting closer to the camp, letting off rounds of fire that shredded their way through the tents and makeshift huts. There were numerous cries as stray bullets ricocheted from pillar to post, passing through anyone who stood in the wrong place. It was quickly turning into a bloodbath, the weapons the Elites had acquired were so much more advanced. Danny and Ben had reached the far side of the camp and looking ahead they could see the van they were going to be picked up in, along with two guards who were stood outside. They waved to the guards to signal that they were getting close, and one of the guards jumped into the van ready. Behind them they could hear the carnage as the camp was being ripped apart and Ben stopped and turned around.
“What are you doing?” Shouted Danny.
“These people are being slaughtered Dan, and it's our fault, I've got to do something” He shouted back.
“What? What the fuck can you do?”
“Take this” He said, handing Danny a small box.
“What's this?” He asked confused.
“If anything happens to me, make sure you get these to the meeting point, Sheryl needs these, now wait here” Ben said, dashing off back to camp and pulling out the second small box he had brought with him.
Ben had seen how the guards had a suit made of something that could repel both light and bullets, he knew that they must have had some kind of Nano-bot technology. They were probably suits made of thousands of these tiny machines, that when combined were as hard as steel, and as reflective as a mirror. It gave him a quick plan that would enable him, Danny and everyone left in the camp to get away. He darted back into the camp shouting at everyone to follow Danny and then threw the contents of the box on to the floor, quickly jumping behind a post. The people in the camp were scattered all around, all clambering to get out and run towards where Danny was stood. Danny watched them run in his direction, one or two of them being slain by a rogue bullets dance.
“What are you doing?” He screamed over to Ben.
Ben got a control out of his coat and began pressing buttons furiously. This was followed by a connection blinking into life on a small screen where he could see the view from where he had thrown the boxes contents. He continued to press the buttons and flicking switches manically, typing some instructions into the device. Danny was still shouting at him confused, not sure what Ben was doing, why did he run back to camp to play what looked like a video game? Suddenly the contents from the box started to wriggle, all the while Story face, Slick back and the two remaining invisible soldiers creeping towards them. The contents of the box flew into the air creating a blanket that wrapped itself around their assailants, pushing them back. Ben clicked on a few more buttons and the blanket, which was fashioned from tiny Nano-bots, began to create an electrical charge that short-circuited the assailant’s suits before sending electric shocks through each organ. There was a fizzing sound as the two remaining soldiers and Slick back were cooked from the inside out, and the Nano-bots all exploded before being scattered to the floor, the assailants barbecued bodies tumbling to the ground.
Story face had managed to fire his weapon though, he'd had enough time just to fire a round that blew through the Nano-blanket that was about to engulf him. It gave him the valuable seconds to figure out what was going on and release his own Nano-bots, they burst forth from around him, most of them colliding with Ben's Nano-blanket and frying along with the others, a few managing to fall to freedom. Story face continued running, angrier than ever, running past the horrifying screams of his colleagues towards Ben. Danny shouted Ben, who was unaware that one of the assailants had got away and was almost on top of him. With an almighty blow Story face crashed into Ben, knocking him three feet. Ben tried to stand up and run but Story face cracked him across the jaw with his fist, causing Ben to stumble and smash his head hard on to the floor. He tried once more to get up but then felt a tremendous searing pain that started in his back and flowed outwards in motion to finally engulf his whole body, and then a split second later his mind.
Story face stood behind him, the barrel of his gun giving off a wisp of smoke from the bullet that he had just fired at Ben, the body below him slowly deflating as Ben's lifeblood began mixing with the stagnant rainwater around it. Story face looked up towards Danny and lifted his gun. Danny turned and ran, the rest of the camp that had got away were running too, the van in the distance hurtling towards them all. Danny heard a shot and saw someone drop in the corner of his eye. He knew he was meant to be the target, so it filled him with a strange relief that it was someone else dropping to the floor. He heard more shots, but none of them connected with him, there must have been too much chaos around him for the assailant to get a clear shot. The whole world was going by in slow motion, the van ahead getting closer but not close enough. He was racing towards the van with all his strength, all the while the sudden death of his friend being replayed in his mind in a constant loop.
The van screeched next to him and the side door opened. Danny jumped in and slammed the door shut as the guard in the passenger seat fired off a series of rounds that kept his attacker at bay. With a screech of burning rubber the van skidded round to turn back to the exit and then sped away furiously, weaving its way through the terrified camp members who were still running for their lives. They left the attacker behind as they rushed to get out of the city. Danny started to breath normally, feeling a lot safer, but with a crushing sadness. He had just seen his friend murdered in cold blood, he had never seen death before, never glimpsed its ugly face, and it was something he had always avoided thinking about, but that was now impossible. The van turned the corner on to the exit road and out of sight of Story face, who was lifting his phone to his ear.
“I have a vehicle heading East on Center Boulevard, number plate WE4 HH7, all units engage” He said before placing his phone back in his pocket and turning back towards the camp.
Chapter Nine – Zombied
Mariam and Mateo’s House
Brandon pulled up outside Mariam and Mateo's house. He had already picked Samir up and he was sitting next to him biting his finger nails. He was feeling a bit queasy, he wasn't built for any of this. As a doctor he had been used to running on adrenalin
when dealing with patients, but this was so different to anything he had trained for. He was running away to a group of resistance fighters to help destroy the architects of an evil enslavement of humanity, it sounded more like the plot of a movie than his life, how could any of this really be happening?
“Are you okay?” Brandon asked him, knowing he clearly wasn't, “We'll be fine Sam, I'll get us to the rendezvous point”.
Mariam and Mateo came running out their house like their lives depended on it. They had been told to look normal, not to give off any behaviour that might attract attention. They had only just stepped foot outside the house and were already failing at that. Some people just weren't natural at being freedom fighters guessed Brandon. They both jumped in the back, closing the doors quickly behind them.
“Have you finished?” Brandon said, “You all need to calm down, I already have Samir here chewing his fingers into stubs. It's all going to be okay, we just need to act naturally”.
Naturally? Thought Mateo. None of this is natural.
“Sorry Brandon” said Mateo, “We'll be on our best behaviour from now on”
They had all gone through the exploding spy-phone situation, the instructions to where they were to meet, the disposal of everything that could connect them to their old lives, yada yada yada. The only exception was Mateo, who had been allowed a laptop and a mobile phone. He was the IT expert, he could bypass any restriction, make himself anonymous on any network, so it made sense to have him still connected to contacts through the deep web. He could get information on any developments, and contact Sheryl if they needed to. It was all just for precaution, it shouldn't be necessary to do anything other than drive to the rendezvous point. Just act natural, nice and natural.
