MOAB � Mother Of All Boxsets

by George Saoulidis

  “They look like bio-chem suits. The cargo must be something dangerous-”

  “What could-”

  “-Don’t ask me what it is!” Orosa interrupted.

  They drove near and Aura could see now that the crates had biohazard stickers on them, bright orange ones. The men were handling them with extra care, and a foreman was bellowing out orders.

  Orosa tapped the Rec button on her helmet camera and shifted to a good angle. Deinomache turned towards them an gestured a thumbs up.

  “I guess this one won’t be shown soon,” Aura asked.

  “Probably not. Only when it’s safe. You’ve figured out by now that Deinomache gets the top-priority missions, I assume,” Orosa said. “How’s the suit fitting you?”

  Aura had bought the whole pack, full-body biker suit, padding, back-brace. Orosa wouldn’t let her tag along otherwise. Thankfully, Aura had bought those before quitting Dionysos, and it was a hefty sum to get top-grade gear. Aura couldn't sneak that whole thing into her house so she simply left it with Orosa on a side satchel. “When it gets hotter I’ll feel it, but it’s comfy for now.”

  “Nah, you got one with nice ventilation. When driving, even those tiny holes can keep you cool. You’ll see,” Orosa said, keeping her head and thus the camera, pointed at the loading activity.

  Aura shook her.

  “Stop it, I’m filming here!”

  “Come on, tell me what they’re carrying. I’ll die of curiosity here,” Aura nagged.

  “No!”

  “Pleeease…” she whined.

  Orosa cut the recording and said, “It’s probably some plague sample.”

  Aura’s mouth hung open. “Uh… I’m sorry, I must have misheard. Silly old me thought you said plague.”

  “Yeah, plague. Most research facilities hold samples of many old diseases and plagues. How else would you study them? Apollo must be moving some sensitive samples elsewhere,” Orosa said and waved at the people.

  “So we don’t know where we’re going?” Aura asked frowning.

  “You’re having a real issue with the concept of ‘top secret,’ don’t you?” Orosa said and twist her body to eye her.

  “I’m just curious!” Aura said dragging on the words.

  “You know what curiosity did to the cat.”

  “Curiosity also reached up to Mars,” Aura said.

  Orosa paused. “This is some nerdy reference again that I was somehow supposed to get, wasn’t it,” she teased.

  “I’m not a nerd, I just know stuff,” Aura said crossing her arms.

  “You totally are. A hot, pretty, green-eyed nerd.”

  Aura blushed at that and held Orosa tight.

  The men in the biohazard suits finished loading up the crates into the APC. It was a weird angular eight-wheeler, with a person popping up on top controlling a machine gun turret.

  “Okay, tell me about that APC thingie then,” Aura said.

  “I’m not sure what to say, it’s a Russian make Bumerang. We got two of those, we have two trained teams to handle it. It’s amphibious, armoured, indestructible, perfect for urban missions like these,” Orosa explained while recording. A snippet of that might be put into the final motovlog entry.

  “Good. Describe things like that, I loved the parts where you commented on what was happening when I first saw your motovlog,” said Aura.

  “Nerd,” Orosa said dragging on the ‘r.’

  “Are we starting? Finally,” Aura exhaled.

  The men got inside the porthole on the back end, and the convoy started down the highway. The vans left, and Deinomache’s three-woman team was in formation around the APC.

  Aura and Orosa were moving around, running ahead and falling behind, taking different angles as they went. Now that Aura could help her by doing the camera work, Orosa could focus on the driving while Aura was filming steady shots towards their rear. The results were quite dramatic, and the viewership had gone up since their little team-up.

  “I’m surprised at the speed we are doing. I thought that thing was slower,” Aura said while holding the camera.

  “Yes, I guess it’s counter-intuitive. It’s fast enough, true.”

  At that point they passed a work-crew at the side of the road. It was a common sight, something always needed to be patched up or lines painted. But Aura’s instinct warned her something was wrong. They had whizzed past them, three men in high-visibility uniforms, shining yellow in the sunlight. Aura cut the recording and tapped the controls to get back, watch the video again. It was only a few blurry frames, and she scrolled back and forth. It wasn’t easy on the bike, with the sun shining and with the helmet and keeping balance, but she managed to see one pull up something dark and rectangular. Something like a walkie-talkie. Now, the men could just have been watching the unusual APC running on the road, or just lewding at the women. Not that you could call Deinomache’s team attractive, they had more muscle than most men. But, tastes were varied, far and wide. Who was Aura to blame?

  “Hey, open a channel to Deinomache,” said Aura.

  “What? No. Why?” Orosa said.

  Suddenly the world darkened around Aura, and she looked up to see grey clouds she hadn’t noticed. It should have been a sunny morning, but now it felt like they were headed towards a thunderstorm. The sun managed to shine through some gaps, but it was mostly grey clouds all over.

  “That work-crew we just passed, I have a bad feeling about them.”

  “Yeah, I noticed them. Didn’t see anything suspicious,” Orosa said.

  “I’m telling you something was up. Speed up to Deinomache so we can warn her,” Aura insisted.

  “Warn her about what, Aura?”

  “I think I saw one of them pick up a walkie-talkie as we got past,” Aura said, losing patience.

  They now had reached a part of the highway that was more of an avenue, open with shops and devoid of railings. The sky was grey and a few people were going on about their business, some of them turning to look at the unusual convoy.

  “I can’t bug her about something you aren’t sure of! Do you realise I wasn’t supposed to bring you here? You’ve been an Amazon for one day Aura. Why do you think you know better than us?” Orosa asked firmly.

  “You said that I either am an Amazon or am not. That means I’ve always been one,” Aura insisted.

  “Don’t talk semantics with me! You know what I mean,” Orosa said frustrated.

  “Please Orosa. Trust me. Please,” Aura said.

  Orosa paused. “Fine,” she said and clicked her comms. “Deinomache, Aura says she spotted something suspicious. A work-crew talking on a walkie-”

  The military two-legged drones blocked the highway and opened fire at the convoy.

  “Walkers! Too late,” Orosa with surprise and swerved wildly.

  Playlist: Video 52/67

  The machines of death were shaking the ground as they moved. They were sleek, high-tech, with two powerful legs and a machine gun that whirred in a blur. At the opposite side they had a complex bundle of armaments.

  Deinomache’s team evaded and returned fire. The machine gun blurted out a horrific noise, like thousands of hammers striking metal. The APC sparked wildly and its front tires blew up and flew away in pieces, but it didn’t slow down.

  The Amazons fired back, making frantic circles with their bikes. Orosa drove back and got them behind a shop’s wall for cover. They got off the yellow bike and crouched.

  Orosa peeked around, recording the battle.

  “Oh god!” Aura said, and she was scared.

  Orosa gritted her teeth, “This is bad.”

  The walkers puffed smoke from their opposite sides and a projectile darted towards the fleeing APC. Another one hit the ground next to an Amazon.

  The projectiles exploded and sent her flying on a wall. Glass broke and car-alarms began to whine.

  Aura focused on the wounded Amazon. “It’s Parthenope. She’s down. Come on, we have to help her!” she said.

&nb
sp; Orosa walked back and forth, clearly in a dilemma. “I’m not the one to get involved, dammit!” Her helmet bobbed up and down, attenuating the motion of her head.

  “We have to! Look, we’ll wait for an opening, you get us next to her and I’ll just pull her out of the line of fire. No stopping for any reason,” Aura said.

  Orosa shook her head.

  “How’s that sound?” Aura asked.

  Orosa looked back towards the fight. Parthenope was still, laying on the ground. A ricochet could get her easily, a safe place to cover her was just four meters behind her.

  “Damn you!” Orosa said and slapped Aura’s helmet. “Get on. Grab on tight and don’t fall off.”

  “Yes!” Aura said, and she was way too excited for this chaos.

  They got on the yellow bike. It now seemed foolish, having a bike that presented such a clear colourful target to someone, but Aura thought it didn’t really matter to those walker-drones. They didn’t just use vision like humans did, despite their human operators.

  Orosa took them back into a wide circle, revved up and Aura held on tight because the bike was a total beast in acceleration.

  They drove straight to the fallen Amazon, Aura held on with her left and leaned to the side ready to grab her.

  Aura tried not to look at the walkers. Curiosity got the better of her, and she glanced at their way. There was smoke and debris all over. It was literally a battle-zone. One of the walkers turned towards them, pointing his terrifying minigun at them.

  Aura yelped and turned forwards. They were moments away from Parthenope.

  Aura had to grab her tight, she was a heavy woman, a full head taller than her.

  Orosa slowed down just a bit and Aura leaned down. She grabbed the fallen Amazon by the collar and held on.

  It was too fast. The fabric just slipped off her gloved fingers and they drove to the cover they were aiming for.

  “Damn! Too fast. And too slippery,” Aura said, and she bit her glove, pulling it off.

  “Shit!” Orosa said. “Let’s pay tribute, maybe then-”

  “What are you talking about? Just go, but slower!” Aura protested and pushed her driver’s back.

  Orosa revved up, and they drove next to Parthenope, slower this time. Aura managed to grab her collar and winced as she dragged the heavy woman along the road. Orosa drove to cover.

  Aura let go of the fallen amazon and her hand was scalding from the sudden pull, so she held it to her chest. A finger felt far too wobbly than it should be. Aura pushed it and screamed in pain. It was broken.

  Heavy thuds shook the ground.

  They turned back and watched terrified as the walker had come close to them, looking straight down their alley.

  “Grab tight!” Orosa said, and she swerved to the side. The walker spun towards them.

  Aura realised the manoeuvre was to pull the fire away from the unconscious teammate in a wide arc.

  That was good of Orosa, she thought. But now the walker was full-on aiming at them.

  Aura suddenly felt a jerk and her vision blurred. She felt herself falling to the ground, but gravity was weird. It was pulling her from her side.

  Then a flash of light and everything became white and pain.

  Playlist: Video 53/67

  Aura’s ears were buzzing and her eyes were itching from all the smoke. She tried to rub them and her hand hit on some obstacle. She realised she still wore the helmet. She took it off, but her head still felt too large for her body, leaning to the side.

  The car she was crouched behind had broken glass. Basically, everything around her was pretty much smashed. The shockwave had tore through the windows in the stores and the buildings. Something was nagging her on her back. She felt around, finding a sharp piece of iron, a shrapnel lodged into her flesh. She pulled it out, it was bloody and serrated in one edge. She idly noted that without her protective suit that might had killed her. She let it drop on the sidewalk and waited in vain to hear the clang.

  Orosa had shoved her behind cover to protect her, and had rushed in to help the rest of the team.

  The fires were still burning. Flames came out of melted rubbed on the street.

  The walker drone had ripped everything in it’s Gatling gun’s path to shreds, so the Amazons had wisely flanked it and were destroying it’s guns.

  The rocket that had zipped past Orosa’s head had made a crater in front of Aura. She climbed down to the wreckage, water mains emptying their contents and making everything muddy and difficult to traverse.

  She struggled, her hands slipping. She bit off the glove from her right hand and managed to gain a good hold. She pulled herself back up the road.

  She saw the walker falling, it’s legs tangled up with winch cable pulled by two Amazons, and its main body riddled with bullet holes.

  She saw a body up ahead.

  She ran to it, panting with her mouth wide open for oxygen.

  It wasn’t her.

  She looked around in panic, searched for the red helmet with the fluffy ears.

  She found it.

  She ran and fell next to her. The projectile that had struck Orosa had completed it’s job, so it was crawling out of the wound by itself, maximising its damage as it tore through flesh and was searching for a second place to burrow. It glowed blue, and walked on the blood soaked body of Orosa with little robotic legs.

  Aura kicked it away, screamed at it, hit it with a rock.

  She fumbled with her phone, trying to focus on the screen. It was all blurry, the world had gone blurry.

  She called and screamed, “Help, send help. Do something…” She cried out incomprehensible words. She leaned in, heard Orosa coughing in her own blood. She pulled her helmet off to let her breathe.

  There was an earth trembling boom from the sky and all the remaining Amazons turned their heads to it. It wasn’t a weapon. Something had broke the sound barrier and had already began to descend on Aura’s location. Three ultra-white lights shone on her and the unconscious Orosa. The light triangle hovered downwards slowly as its sonic boom finally reached her. Aura felt it in her chest more than hearing it, it was all a buzz.

  The triangle came low, engulfing her with light. A fluid robotic arm appeared and shoved Aura to the side, gently but decisively.

  “You have been in an accident. You are experiencing shock. Please step away from the injured person,” the male voice of Apollo said. Synthetic but calming. Two more of the fluid arms grabbed Orosa gently, pulled her up into the triangle’s dazzling interior and absorbed her completely.

  Then it gained altitude in seconds, turned and flew away.

  Playlist: Video 54/67

  Aura buried her head in the pillow. Bad, bad sun, shining in from the crannies. She had lost track of time, she didn’t know how long she’d been locked in her room.

  She couldn’t face all that right now. They wanted explanations, about her wound, the sleepless nights, the crying, the yellow motorbike she had parked in the garage.

  About the blood.

  They had even recruited Orestes’ help, but she didn’t even open up for him.

  It was her fault, she knew that. If she hadn’t convinced Orosa to meddle, she would be fine now. Up until a few months ago, she was just watching, recording for a distance, then leaving the scene.

  If she hadn’t been so excited about all this, if she hadn’t sought her out…

  In a different world, Orosa would have found a vantage point so she could observe and record the action. Aura had convinced her to rush in and help the others. Stupid, stupid Aura. She hadn’t told her to rush in, nobody could just order Orosa around. But with her enthusiasm she had transmitted this mania to get involved.

  It was pointless now. Orosa was dead.

  She picked up the greasy rag. It had a loose threading, it was white, mostly unused. There were streaks of black grease on it, where Orosa had used it to wipe off the excess from her bike.

  It also had her dried up tears from the day she deci
ded what she really was.

  Aura didn’t know why she decided to keep the rag as a memento that day, but she was glad now. It was something common but precious, a secret between them. Only they knew it’s significance. Had Orosa felt that same energy that day? When Aura decided to change her fate, once and for all? She must have. Aura didn’t know.

  She folded the rag neatly, and kept it on her lap.

  She sat on her computer, fiddling with the memory card. She hadn’t dared load it yet. It was too soon. But deep down she knew, Orosa would want her to share the video.

  She took a deep breath, held it and plugged the card in.

  She only let her breath out when the monitor showed the flying projectile that was about to struck Orosa.

  You need air to scream.

  Her father knocked on the door, then slammed it hard with his shoulder. After a few tries he broke it. He held his daughter in his arms until she was finally calm. She could feel his worry, his need to ask questions. To know what happened to his daughter, know who had hurt her like this, both physically and emotionally.

  Tony just murmured her to sleep in his arms, as if she was a child again. Aura felt truly at home, safe. So she slept.

  Playlist: Video 55/67

  Aura walked down the stairs as if she was a dead woman walking. She met her parents in the dining room and sat down for lunch.

  Nobody spoke.

  It was very awkward as they were being served in silence. They all just fiddled with forks and pieces of bread. Finally, Maria left them alone.

  Aura was rehearsing what to say in her mind and took in a breath to spit it out already.

  Her mother beat her to it.

  “I’m going to Italy. Tonight,” she said firmly and bit on her steak.

  Tony frowned, then shook his head and poured some red wine for him. He downed it in a single gulp and poured some more. “We can all see where Aura got the rebellious genes from. Fine. How much worse can it be?”

  Aura smiled at her mother and cupped her hands. “Give him a hug from me. And a tight squeeze of his cheeks.”