AntiBio 2: The Control War

by Jake Bible

  “You want us to walk inside?” Paulo asks. “Without any eyes or ears on the situation?”

  “We are the eyes and ears,” Red says. “Unless you see other operators lining up to do it.”

  “You’ll need us,” Wallace says. “GenSOF codes are changed. You don’t have access to the city anymore. The second you try to open so much as a desk drawer, you’ll set off enough alarms to bring everything in that city down on your ass.”

  “Drive us around to the eastern side,” Ton orders Lewis. “I know where we can stash the tranny and how to get inside without drawing too much attention.”

  “What? That big fucking hole in the wall isn’t good enough, LT?” Blaze smirks. “Come on. Let’s just walk in the front door and say hello.”

  “We aren’t going in the front door, Blaze,” Ton says. “We’re going in the back door.”

  “The back door?” Paulo asks. “Caldicott City doesn’t have a back door.”

  “I think that’s a euphemism,” Wallace says. “We’re going in through the hydro-reclamation service area.”

  “The back door. Got it,” Paulo nods. “That’s a shitty idea, LT.”

  “Good one,” Blaze smiles.

  “Thanks,” Paulo replies.

  “It’s not like we are going in through sewage tunnels,” Ton says. “Considering the static tech used there, it’s probably the cleanest region in the whole city.”

  “It’s true,” Jersey says. “The reclamation area is statically cleansed every five minutes. It’s cleansed every thirty seconds during peak hours of the day.”

  “May I remind you all that there is no actual sewage in Caldicott City?” Worm says. “The hydro-reclamation area is only to clean and purify the simulated rain water that keeps the city clean of dust and small bits of debris. All human waste, whether solid or liquid, is incinerated within two hours of elimination. The ash from the incinerators is then triple cleansed with static purifiers and used as substrate for building materials.”

  “The streets are made of our poop and pee,” Jersey says. “Little known fact.”

  “This is all highly educational, but are we going to talk or go help GenSOF and the rest of Caldicott City?” Wallace asks. “Unlike the rest of you, my squad and I are still loyal citizens of the Clean Nation.”

  “We’re all citizens,” Red says. “Some of us just aren’t brainwashed.”

  “We’re going,” Ton says, nodding to Lewis.

  The driver turns the transport east and sends the vehicle over the landscape, crossing diagonally from the road to a different road that loops around the edge of the city wall.

  “Everyone suit up and check weapons,” Ton says. “Worm? Release the restraints on Wallace and her squad.”

  There are several loud protests before Ton can get them quiet.

  “We are going to need all hands on deck for this,” Ton argues. “Captain Wallace and her people know the priorities right now are beyond what her original orders were.”

  “I still have to fulfill those orders, Ton,” Wallace says.

  “You have and you are,” Ton says. “We’re at Caldicott City and going to GenSOF command. Those were your orders, correct? To bring us in?”

  “Correct,” Wallace says.

  “Then orders fulfilled,” Ton says. “Just minus the restraints. We all work together from this point on, alright? Can we agree to that, Bev?”

  “Yes, Ton, I think we can,” Wallace says. “But if we get to GenSOF and Bryan doesn’t want to play nice, don’t blame me. When we are done doing in there whatever we are going to do in there, I can’t make any promises you and yours will go free. That’s out of my hands.”

  “Understood,” Ton says. “Everyone else cool with this?”

  “Since when is this a democracy?” Red asks.

  “It isn’t,” Ton says. “Just checking the pulse.”

  “How much farther?” Lewis asks.

  “I will direct you to the entrance,” Worm says. “We are only one thousand meters away.”

  “Gear up,” Ton says again as he stands and starts checking himself, seeing what equipment works and what doesn’t.

  The rest of the operators do the same, although the tension is high as foes that have just become allies are forced to maneuver around each other in a tight space. Jersey watches it all without even attempting to hide her amusement.

  “You think this is funny?” Blaze asks as he slips a second baton into his belt then activates his visor and starts running through the operations checklist. “We’ll see how funny it is when you are alone in this transport with Worm.”

  “Excuse me?” Jersey snaps, all amusement gone. “Alone with Worm? I don’t think so, tough guy. I’m going inside with all of you.”

  “We can’t take that risk,” Red says.

  “You are a civilian, not an operator,” Ton adds. “It’ll only distract us, especially Blaze, having you around.”

  “That so?” Jersey smiles. “Okay, so, once you get inside, and out of the hydro-reclamation area, which way to the Burn? From there which way is it to GenSOF tower? You going to take the direct, open route, or the side route which will give you considerably more cover?”

  “Worm can guide us through… Oh,” Ton says.

  “Exactly,” Jersey sneers. “You can’t talk to Worm because he’s no longer sat linked.”

  “I can upload the most direct route, with a secondary route, into your visor systems,” Worm says.

  “Good idea, Worm,” Ton says. “See, Ms. Cale? We can handle this.”

  “Well, good luck then,” Jersey says. “Worm? You’re going to show them how to get around the Grimm Sneakers’ territory, right? If Loopy Lou catches you on his turf, he’ll shove a static baton up every orifice and dance while his gang watches you burn from the insides out. You got that covered, Worm?”

  “I am unaware of any citizen named Loopy Lou,” Worm says. “I assume that is a nickname of some sort he uses as part of his illicit gang affiliation.”

  “You assume correctly,” Jersey says. “But you guys have fun. Say hi to Loopy for me.”

  Wallace shakes her head as she finishes her equipment check. “This is what we get for not being allowed out of GenSOF tower. Even if some of us were born in CC, we don’t know the changes since we were recruited.”

  “I can get us around pretty well,” Blaze says. “I may have taken an extracurricular stroll a couple of times.”

  “To my place in the Burn and back to the tower,” Jersey says. “Not from hydro to the tower. There’s a lot of trouble between those two points. Trust me on this.”

  “Her heart rate and breathing indicate she is fairly confident in her assessment,” Worm says. “Although I do not have any specific facts to back up Ms. Cale’s claims, I would advise listening to her. She is an intelligent, capable woman.”

  “Then we follow the civvie,” Wallace says. “Seems like she knows what she’s talking about and we do not.”

  “You don’t,” Jersey says. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t thank me,” Wallace says. “You are still classified as an enemy of the Clean Nation, Ms. Cale. I will fully report your cooperation, but I cannot guarantee that you will not be prosecuted like the rest of the traitors here.”

  “Are we back to that?” Ton growls.

  “Just being honest, Ton,” Wallace says.

  “Here we go,” Lewis announces as he slows the transport. “Not much of an entrance.”

  They all stare at the ten foot diameter circular port in the side of the city wall.

  “Everyone geared up?” Ton asks.

  They nod except for Jersey.

  “I could use a weapon,” Jersey says.

  “You have me,” Blaze says. “There’s no extra armor, so just stay close to my side and never stray from the squad.”

  “Squads,” Wallace says. “There are two squads here.”

  “One for now,” Ton says. “And I’m taking command.”

  “Really?” Red smile
s. “How did you decide that?”

  “Because we’re on my turf now, Red,” Ton says. “We’re about to leave the Sicklands and enter a Clean Nation city.”

  “Fair enough,” Red says. “Lead the way, LT.”

  “Coffin Squad?” Ton shouts as the rear hatch opens wide. “Let’s move out!”

  Part Two

  Dawn

  There is nothing I can do while the family I love wastes away before my eyes and the new Strain, the most deadly bacteria I have ever seen, eats them alive from the inside out.

  It is worse than any of the battles I was in during the Control War; worse than anything I’ve ever seen in my life.

  I reach for them all, knowing what they have cannot harm me, but Maude shrieks and shoves my hands away.

  “Why, Daddy?” she asks, her eyes filled with fever. “Why did you kill us?”

  22

  The Caldicott City streets are a wet mess. The city’s simulated weather protocol is working overtime, sending down a constant, heavy drizzle that refuses to let up despite the fact that the Static Shield Reactor is offline.

  “How do they maintain the weather without the shield?” one of Wallace’s people, GenSOF Sergeant Assault Class Vye Buntu, asks. She looks over at the captain. “I thought the weather and the shield were interconnected.”

  “Common misconception,” Jersey replies, interjecting before Wallace can answer. “The weather is actually a construct created to help lessen the side effects of living under a Static Shield. Without the occasional manufactured rainstorm or wind storm or whatever storm they think up in the Weather Department, many of the citizens would succumb to seizures, severe high blood pressure, migraines, strokes, and worse.”

  “That doesn’t leave much room for worse,” Marco says as he, Collette, Red, and Nick spread out, moving away from the hydro-reclamation entrance and over to the corner of a massive stainless steel building that towers over everyone. “Unless they shit themselves.”

  “Anal bleeding is one possibility,” Jersey says.

  “That’s worse,” Paulo says. “A lot worse.”

  Ton looks at Blaze then at Jersey. “You two stay in the middle. We’ll need Jersey to get us through the rough parts of the city. Keep her safe, Blaze. We’re sitting ducks out here without her.”

  “Kind of pitiful,” another of Wallace’s operators says, GenSOF Sergeant Assault Class Antone Maloch. “We’re fucking operators, but we can’t even navigate our own city.”

  “No need to,” Wallace says. “If they put us out in genpop, we’d infect half the civvies with our bugs by the end of the day.”

  “Not really true,” Blaze says. “I’ve been off rez so many times, I can’t even count. Never was a bacterial breakout from my times out of the tower.”

  “That actually is the not really true part,” Jersey says, her face scrunched up in a semi-apology. “You just didn’t know about the breakouts.”

  “Wait? What?” Blaze snaps. “I gave people my bugs and you let me keep coming to see you?”

  “She had it all under control,” Red says. “Between her and the rest, they made sure that the bacteria didn’t spread. Most got better quickly because of the super bugs in your gut. Those things make you sick at first, but then they even out and you end up stronger than before.”

  “And the ones that didn’t get better were snuck out of the city and sent to live at GenWreck bases,” Jersey says. “Better than the incinerator.”

  Blaze stops moving and just stands there in the rain, his static rifle hanging at his side.

  “How many people?” he asks.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Red insists. “It’s over and done with. You traipsing around the Burn so you can get laid is far from the city’s problems right now.”

  “How many?” Blaze insists.

  “Sergeant Crouch get your head in the game,” Ton orders. “This is neither the time nor the place for—”

  “How many?” Blaze shouts, his words echoing off the buildings around them.

  “Thirty, maybe forty,” Jersey says.

  “I thought… From what DeBeers said… From what you said…” Blaze shakes his head. “I thought there weren’t any civvies affected by me until that last day.”

  “Those were the ones Control found out about,” Jersey says. “Because of the glitch with the device I made for you. You always put the civvies at risk when you leave the tower.”

  “Then why didn’t you stop me?” Blaze asks, fire in his eyes.

  “Because we needed the data,” Red says, walking back down the line of operators and getting in Blaze’s face. “Because your conscience and your feeling good about yourself is second to finding a cure for the Strains, kid.”

  “I’m not a kid,” Blaze snarls.

  “Well, could have fooled me with this pouty bullshit,” Red says, patting Blaze on the cheek. “Get your shit together, operator, and fucking deal. You got used, you got played, you still are because we need the bugs in your gut. Welcome to reality.”

  “Knock it off, you two,” Ton sighs as he gets between the men. “We have a city to cross, so let’s do it.”

  “I’m feeling so secure in the choice of joining your disciplined band of operators,” Wallace says to Ton. “Thanks for including me.”

  “No problem,” Ton says, punching Blaze in the chest then looking Red in the eye. “We cool?”

  “I’m always cool,” Red says. “Is your boy cool?”

  “Are you?” Ton asks Blaze.

  “No,” Blaze says. “But I’m getting there.”

  “That’s all I can ask,” Ton says then turns and heads to the front of the line of operators. “Let’s get moving. It’s going to be very dark soon with the shield down.”

  “They do have lights in this place you know,” Maloch says.

  “You see any power running?” Ton asks. “The grid is shut down. Standard emergency procedure. Usually that doesn’t include the Static Shield, though.”

  “Or constant rain,” Wallace says. “But we’ll deal.” She looks to Jersey. “Which way?”

  “Straight ahead for three blocks then we cut over six blocks,” Jersey says. “That’ll get us out of the Hallway Kids’ territory. We’ll be in the North Burn Wreckers’ blocks, but they aren’t usually a problem. I had a cousin that ran with them. Then it’s five blocks up and through the Last Burnicorns’ territory. Once there we’ll have to book our asses through the Grimm Sneakers. You can’t just slip past them. They have eyes everywhere.”

  “Maybe they’ll be distracted by what’s happening,” Collette says.

  “Not a chance,” Jersey says. “They live for chaos. This is Christmas for them.”

  “We done talking?” Ton asks. “Silence from here on out. We have a lot of ground to cover before we get to GenSOF tower.”

  No one says a word.

  “Good,” Ton smiles. “Straight up for three blocks, people. Then over six. Up three, over six. That’s the first step.”

  23

  The first step is covered in blood.

  So are the operators of Coffin Squad, old and new.

  The men and women stand there, their static armor dripping with bodily fluids as corpse after corpse litters the ground around them. Collette and Paulo kneel next to Marco, both trying to stop the bleeding from a bad knife wound in his abdomen while the rest stand guard, their visors scanning the area for more hostiles.

  “You ever see anything like that in the city?” Buntu asks. “It’s like they were cooties or something.”

  “They were,” Red says. “They’ve been affected by the Sicklands bacteria that is warping the cooties, controlling them, sending them in here in the first place.”

  “That’s quite the theory,” Wallace says. “Got anything to back it up? They looked like junkies to me. High on anarchy and heavy street stim.”

  “Those weren’t junkies,” Jersey says. “I’ve never seen the Hallway Kids act like that before. They’re one of the more mellow Burn gangs. T
hey’ll rough you up, but rarely do they want blood.”

  “Desperate people do desperate things in desperate times,” Wallace says.

  “And desperate people try grasping at straws to justify their own prejudices,” Jersey counters. “These people were not in their normal heads.”

  “Burn trash aren’t normal,” Wallace shrugs. “It may be a prejudice, but doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”

  “Shut up,” Ton snarls. “Both of you.” He looks at Collette and Paulo. “How’s he doing?”

  “No way we can move him,” Paulo replies. “That woman cut him deep. I got the wound sealed, but barely. He walks even a couple of feet and he’ll bleed out internally before he gets to the end of this block.”

  “We made it two blocks in and lost a man,” Blaze says. “This isn’t good.” Blaze looks at Wallace. “I grew up in the Burn. This isn’t the Burn, trust me.”

  “That’s right,” Wallace says. “Your mother lives in a condo on the edge of this shithole area, doesn’t she? She moved up in the world when you were recruited.”

  Blaze turns and looks around then locks eyes with Jersey.

  “No,” Jersey says. “We’re nowhere near her building, Blaze.”

  “Jersey, she’s my mother,” Blaze says.

  “No time for personal missions, Sergeant,” Ton says. “We need to get to GenSOF tower and regroup there. They need our help, this whole city needs our help.”

  Jersey puts her hands on Blaze’s chest, wincing at the static shock from his body armor. “She never leaves her condo. You know that,” she says. “She doesn’t like to go outside, she doesn’t like to open the door to strangers, and she always has plenty of extra food and water on hand. Your mom is slightly paranoid, Blaze. For once that is a good thing.”

  “We get to GenSOF tower and then I go find her,” Blaze says.

  “My sister and nephews are in College Hill,” Buntu says. “I have two cousins over on Lee Street.”

  “I have an aunt in Parkside,” Maloch says.

  “My parents still live in Glitter Heights,” Wallace snaps. “But they are going to have to handle their own lives today. We have jobs to do, operators. We do those jobs first. There is no second until the first is accomplished. Understood?”