Enid

Enid had huddled under the stairs for hours she could. Her holo-phone and holo-web would run out of charge soon. The processing power to keep up a long-term cloak was extremely high, and the holo-web was only meant to work as a disguise, not full optical camouflage. She was a lot bigger than the swords and pack she’d wanted to use them for. She didn’t know the exact charge because she’d need to look at her holo-phone which would make her visible. There were a lot of KGB military uniforms roaming around. She was also starving. After another half an hour of fretting and she did something uncharacteristic of an ancient vampire. She got impatient. Hunger and mortality will do that to you. She had to make a move, or she’d be caught with all her kit.

She slipped out of her alcove and her holo-web started flickering immediately. She’d spent so long motionless its predictive algorithms had to adapt to her walking again. She wasn’t moving quickly her legs were stiff from being curled up for so long. She was also exhausted she was going on twenty-four hours without sleep.

She made her way down to the lower area of the base and wired small thermite charges on the stairs. She pulled out a large block of surplus Soviet plastic explosive and wired it up to a Soviet detonator. They were easy to come by in the nineties, so she had bought in bulk. She was thankful she had now. The soviets would only see this as an inside job. She placed it above the door. She wired it inside the door. The thermite would collapse the stairs, the motion detector would go crazy. She purposely made it obvious that it was booby trapped. The goal was to make them think she was holed up down below, not to kill more random people. She shaped the charge and placed two rows of Soviet made 7.72 Ammo in it. She also wired a second detonator and concealed it. She wired another charge across the hall in a similar fashion. This one was a more complex detonator embedded in the plastic explosive. Its one she had built as a possible time waster. It was live and could be set off if the person trying to remove the wires wasn’t careful. It had failsafes built in. Her tech had completed a work of art. Nothing she left behind was beyond 1970’s tech so wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for the Soviets. She made her way back towards the living areas hoping her booby trap wouldn’t be discovered because of a random Rat running across pipes. She wasted no time.

She slipped into the women’s washroom, and no one was looking and moved into one of the stalls. She checked her holo-phone. It had been eighteen hours since she’d separated with Hazel. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Hazel’s holo-tablet was out of signal range and not on her tracking anymore. She only had about twenty kilometers radius. It meant she was well away from the mess. She checked the charge on her holo-web and the charge was at three percent, her holo-phone was the same. She gave herself thirty minutes.

Enid pulled out a micro-fusion charger and connected them both. She also pulled out an MRE that could be eaten cold and started to eat while the charger did its work. She got changed into Soviet military kit and put her armor in her pack. The KGB had been passing her description around so a red-haired short teenager would look odd. She pulled her hair back into a tight bun, put on a pair of fake glasses from her time as Melanie Stuart. They would be a little odd in the sixties but that was the least of her concerns. She selected a disguise from the holo-web. It would cover her hair and face only. She looked in a mirror and moved her head all around and side to side. It took a few minutes for the holo-web to adapt to her face and her movements. This was actually what they were designed for. The charge was still low on both her devices, but she needed to get going. Thankfully using a holo-web as it was intended it could last for a few hours on what she had left. She could guarantee getting off base, but not that she would get away. She checked herself in the bathroom mirrors. Brown hair was odd to see on her head. She spoke a few words to make sure the holo-web was syncing properly and then left the washroom.

She did what she always did when infiltrating or exfiltrating some place. She acted like she was supposed to be there. She made her way directly to the exit. Two guards were stationed there. They looked her up and down.

“What?”

“I need to go up and check an external air intake.”

“We haven’t heard about this?”

“I got a maintenance request. So let me by, unless you want to suffocate down here with me and everyone else.”

“We were told no one can pass.”

“Except in the case of a mechanical or medical emergency.”

“Vent flaps aren’t opening like they’re supposed to, they are probably frozen. I need to check.”

He sighed and pulled the hand radio from his belt and radioed into the KGB headquarter room.

“Have a corporal here asking to go to surface to look at some stuck frozen intakes.”

“Is it a teenage girl with red hair?”

“No. Looks like she’s late twenties. Brown Eyes, Brown hair. Glasses.”

“Then I suggest you let her by, so we don’t suffocate.”

He put the radio away and shrugged.

“They say radio if anyone wants to go outside.”

Enid nodded.

“Then they get annoyed for you doing your job. Trust me I get it, all I do is fix things for people who are feeling inconvenienced because I’m there fixing something they asked to be fixed.”

He laughed and motioned her forward.

“I might be a while, may have to wait for parts to be driven in.”

“Take your time, missile silos aren’t going anywhere. Don’t freeze.”

Enid snickered.

“It’s Siberia it’s the only thing you can do.”

He laughed.

“Good luck. Radio if you need more help.”

Enid nodded and climbed up the ladder to the surface access she was trying to use. She pulled herself onto the surface. It was just after dark. Days did not last long this far from the equator in winter. She pulled off the quickly fogging up glasses and put them in her pack. She set an obvious couple of MON-50’s deciding to stick with the Soviet made equipment. She used trip wires. She did a few more in random places along her trail. Provided the people trying to track her weren’t blind she wouldn’t kill anyone else though that seemed more like closing the gate after the cattle escaped. She sighed. Killing a few soldiers was better than them getting their hands on 29th century tech.

She carefully followed her own trail back stepping over the trip lines. She walked on the exposed concrete to the paved runway. She looked at the cargo plane wistfully, but knew she’d just get shot down in it, so instead looked towards the military trucks with a sigh. Driving one of those as a mortal would suck. The shifters and clutches were shitty without fail. She found a board with keys hanging under truck numbers and matched the number to the truck. She took a few tries to start the diesel engine. The cold and diesel engines never did get along. It finally fired up coughing out black smoke. She sighed and muttered to herself.

“I miss the future.”

She shifted the truck into drive with some difficulty it had been a long while since she’d driven a manual anything. She hoped she could get the hang of it again quickly, so she didn’t look like an idiot pulling up to the gate. She took a deep breath which was very necessary her hands were shaking. She silently cursed mortality for the hundredth time in the last day. She took her foot off the clutch and the truck jerked forward. She shifted up and drove towards the gate. The guards held their hands up and she stopped, shifting the truck into neutral. She rolled down the manual window with a heavy sigh. Had she become so soft that not having power windows was annoying? She leaned her head out.

“Where are you heading?”

“To the city for parts. We have none and I was told to just make it work.”

The man laughed and motioned for the gate to get lifted up. Enid waved and shifted the truck into gear. The road was well paved for about a mile then it turned into a cow path. It was like riding an untamed horse, or at least it reminded her of it. She followed the signs to the city. She knew this was short lived freedom. No vampiric powers and outside support she could vanish for a while but if Hazel was with her, she’d get dragged down with her. She looked down at her pack. She had enough armaments that she could continue a one-woman war against the Soviets for a while, but she was at least 800 kilometers from the nearest port. And thousands away from the European border. Hazel was better off on her own. Best to let them catch her without her pack and 29th century gear. There would be enhanced interrogation techniques. In the words of her time, torture. She saw Hazel’s holo-tablet show up on her phone. She pulled to the side of the road and connected to hers and sent a message.

Call me when you can talk but make it quick I’m exposed.

Her wrist began vibrating five minutes later.

“Mom? Are you alright?”

“I’ve been better.”

“KGB said you were shot.”

“Yes, I have a few bruised ribs. But I’m fine otherwise.”

“Mom, you were supposed to just escape the silo, what happened? It’s been over a day. The KGB came here, said you attacked them. They want us to tell them if you come in.”

“I did, they had a 29th century drone. I couldn’t let them keep it, do you know the damage that would do to the timeline if the Soviets had access to fusion technology?”

“Oh.”

“What is your status?”

“A doctor and his wife took me in, KGB are getting papers, the Doctor convinced them my mother was an anti-Soviet person and died. Mom, when can we get out of here?”

“Look I’m exposed. We cannot get out of here together, not after the damage I caused. They’re after me. We’re about a thousand kilometers from the closet ports. Overland in Siberia in the middle of winter, not good for either of us. I’ll get my pack to you.”

“Mom, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying we cannot get out of here. I cannot take a car, train, or plane, I might be able to hop a ship, but I’d freeze to death before I make the coast. Plan stays the same, make contact with a tribe, or my friend. Get yourself shelter from the storm.”

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“Mom? You sound like you’re gearing up for a suicide mission.”

“No, I’m just making sure you’re outside their area of suspicion. If I’m mortal it is inevitable, they will catch me. The KGB is many things but easily evaded is not one of them especially in the Soviet Union. I cannot let them get their hands on my pack, or my tech. You need to keep it with you. If you can manage a rescue, do it, but not if it risks the pack, the tech or you.”

“What if Aunt Maria picks you up?”

“You need to keep one of the bloodstones with my blood in it with you. I’ve filled one for you. She should be able to lock onto that as well. Okay?”

“Mom, I’m scared.”

“So am I Hazel, the Soviets were not known for being gentle with people they want information from, but it is what it is, no use you going through it too. They won’t be able to break me. I’ve been through worse. I’m ditching the truck. I’m going to come to your building. I’ll give you my pack, and you call the KGB right away, while the doctor is looking at me. Do exactly what they told you, turn me in, that will put you above suspicion.”

“But then I’ll be sending you to be tortured.”

“Yes, but you will be on the outside and can get help to rescue me. I give you permission to reach out to anyone you can, even my other self, Eyre. She’s in Britain right now. London. Her phone number is in my pack. So is your sword. Just think 1960’s contact book, it will show up in your hand. Most of all just fit in. Pretend everything is okay, do not, I repeat do not rush to get me out, take your time.”

“Okay mom.”

“I’ll put my pack down with the holo-web on it. You should be able to find my holo-phone on it.”

“But mom, how will I find you?”

“I’ve activated my bio-beacon. If you hook the beacon scanner to my phone it can pinpoint me within a few thousand kilometers. I’ll be in Siberia, no way they risk moving me far. Hold out as long as you can to make sure I stop moving. Just don’t turn on the bio-monitor function, you don’t need to see that.”

“Mom?”

“I’m on my way. See you in ten minutes. Since I have to act like I don’t know you, I love you and everything will be okay. If we’re lucky I’ll get my powers back and I’ll meet you myself, no way they can keep me anywhere for long once that happens.”

“Mom I don’t like this plan.”

“Do you have a better one?”

“We fight.”

“It is a fight we cannot win with me mortal. This is the only way I can guarantee your safety and the safety of our tech. Hazel, this isn’t a decision I’ve made lightly. But it is my call.”

“You don’t have to protect me mom!”

“I will always protect you. Do as you’re asked please. See you soon, and I love you.”

Enid disconnected the call and climbed out of the truck after making her pack invisible with the holo-web. She made her way towards her daughter’s signal. She found the building it was a two story concrete structure. She walked inside and went towards where she heard her daughter’s voice. She was apologizing for causing a delay, in fairly decent Russian. Enid opened the door and drew her gun, grabbed an old woman who was standing in front of the desk and pointed the gun at Hazel. She spoke in Russian.

“Hands away from the phone kid.”

Hazel put up her hands shocked to see her mother under thick layer of military winter kit.

“Do as I ask, no one gets hurt.”

Enid shoved the old woman towards the desk and using her as cover pulled off her pack and threw it at Hazel’s feet. Enid saw her glance downwards. An older man with thick black framed glasses very much in the sixties style came out with his hands up.

“Please she is old, no need to hold her so tightly.”

She shook the woman and pointed at an ugly blue chair that seemed be for those waiting to see the doctor.

“Sit woman.”

The woman who was vibrating she was so scared sat down quickly. Enid kept the gun trained at Hazel who was staring up at her mother with wide eyes, hands still up.

“I took some hits I need you to wrap my ribs up, need something for the pain, and don’t try to mess with me I am a doctor.”

Enid waved the gun between the two others.

“You stay here. Leave I’ll hear you and I’ll shoot the doctor then you.”

Hazel nodded. Enid pushed the doctor into his exam room, and he went to close the door. Enid caught with her free hand.

“No. I’ll need to keep an eye on them.”

Hazel very quietly picked the phone up and dialed the number for the KGB she had been provided. Enid pretended not to see. Hazel made a motion towards the door to the patient. When a person answered the phone she charged her mother and knocked her down. Pushing the gun away with her hand. She cried out.

“The red-haired woman is here!”

The old woman ran, and Enid looked up at her much larger daughter who had her good and pinned. Enid pretended to struggle but then lost consciousness a few minutes after the doctor hit her with an injection. When she woke up, she was riding in the back of a car, her hands handcuffed. Her head was throbbing. There was a woman beside her who noticed she was awake and kept a keener eye on her. It was getting dark, so was between three and four in the afternoon. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the window. She thought and so it begins. The KGB agents didn’t seem to concerned about prodding to wake her up.

She woke next when she was being pulled out of the car. It was dark except for spotlights. She was invasively searched, then washed down with cold water. She was sat down in a chair in her jumpsuit and was handcuffed. Hands behind her. She fell asleep again she was woken up by a slap in the face. She looked up and it was a older, dark haired woman with thick rimmed glasses on. She was speaking in thickly accented English.

“Wake up American.”

Enid responded in Russian.

“Not American, lets stick with Russian, your English is shit.”

The woman grabbed Enid’s chin with her cigarette-stained fingers.

“You aren’t KGB, you are well trained and young. You work for a government. Which one?”

“I work for God.”

The woman squeezed her chin and released it. Her eyes were narrowed at Enid.

“The religious type then? Fanatic? We can still make you talk.”

Enid laughed.

“You think you can do worse than God can to me? Physical suffering is fleeting.”

“What did you do with the device from the lab?”

“I blew that up then melted it.”

“I don’t believe you!”

“Believe what you want but you won’t find it anywhere on this planet.”

“You said you were sent to retrieve it, who sent you?”

“God.”

“Who made it?”

“My sister, I wonder what she’ll send when she realizes you’ve got me locked up and are planning on torturing me?”

The woman lit a cigarette and started to pace.

“You had heavy weapons, armor, where is it?”

“Also, nowhere on this planet, sorry.”

“What government do you work for?”

Enid laughed.

“Are we back to this? I don’t work for a government. I work for God.”

“Are you the asset known as Carrots?”

Enid laughed.

“If I were her, you’d be dead, and I’d be walking out of here.”

A larger man who had been in the shadows of the room moved forward fists clenched. He looked like he was going to punch Enid but the stepped between them.

“No, torturing her will do no good. You saw the scars on her. She’s been trained to withstand it.”

“Who trained you?”

“I did.”

The man’s face twisted further in anger he was almost shouting at her.

“You are skilled with explosives, and you’re an expert marksman. You do not learn those skills yourself and still have your arms and legs.”

“Technically I’m a markswoman.”

The man shoved the woman aside and punched Enid on the cheek. The hit made Enid’s eyes water and smashed her teeth against her flesh. She spit blood out.

“My father used to hit me harder than that when I was a kid and you think that’s going to make me talk? Go ahead if it will make you feel better. I can take it.”

The female interrogator put her hand on his shoulder again.

“Won’t get anywhere like that. She didn’t even flinch.”

“Who were you working with?”

“No one. I killed all those people on my own. Sorry.”

“And you were taken down by a teenage girl.”

“Wow that was a girl? I thought you had a man dressed as a teenage girl practicing for the Olympics.”

“That girl has something you will never understand. She risked herself for others, what do you risk yourself for? Money?”

“Oh, so much money. I could swim in what the owner of that thing paid me.”

“It will do you no good in here.”

“Oh really? I could give you a hundred-year salary in diamonds. Enough you could leave the USSR, live like a queen. Trust me it buys a lot of happiness.”

The woman grabbed her chin again looking down into her eyes.

“You will tell us what we want to know, we have all the time in the world together.”

“Sure, I guess we’ll get to know each other better. Just a heads up not into older women, or big Russian guys.”

The woman frowned at Enid.

“Start with something easy, What is your name?”

“Anastasia.”

“Really?”

“Yes, if I hadn’t burned all of my ID you’d see Anastasia Roth, Born December 21st, 1942. Mother died in childbirth. I’m an open book. Sexually abusive Nazi father who I killed when I got ahold of his knife. The Stasi decided he was better off dead, less trouble.”

The woman made a sound of disbelief. Enid had expected less talking and more torture. She wasn’t exactly lying that was an East German ID she had used and tossed.

“Would you like me to repeat it in German?”

“We will see if this is your real name.”

“Well you’re in charge here, I’m just along for the ride.”

The woman pounded on the door and Enid shoved towards a cell. It was a concrete building, paint wasn’t chipped or faded. She was shoved inside, and the metal door was shut behind her and they had her stick her hands out to get her cuffs taken off. Her cell was bleak. Bed, toilet, sink. No windows. It was chilly but not cold she sighed and laid down on the bed. She was glad she’d eaten before letting Hazel capture her. She figured she’d get sleep while she could.

She was woken up by a tray of non-appetizing looking food being slide into the cell through an armored door. She sighed and ate what she could. Compared to some of the food she’d eaten in the past it was downright healthy, if not tasty. Life in a Gulag would be problematic for a lot of people but for her, she’d lived through worse. Of course, she always had the knowledge there would be the freedom of vampirism after dark. Boredom would be her biggest enemy. She had gotten used to the three meals a day and sleeping in the cell as several weeks passed. Finally, the armored slide opened.

“Hands!”

Enid stood up and stuck her arms into the hole and felt cuffs placed on them. She was ushered back into the interrogation room. It was two women this time. The older one from before and another woman in her late thirties. Enid recognized her immediately Irena Stein, Stasi agent.

“That’s her, That’s Anastasia Roth.”

“Hello Irena.”

Irena turned to the older Russian woman.

“You don’t have enough security, Alina.”

“What? She’s just one woman.”

“A woman who could us kill right now if she wanted too.”

Enid nodded.

“In the spirit of honesty, she is right.”

The older woman leaned down her breath smelling of stale coffee and cigarettes.

“Then why haven’t you?”

“Your deaths would serve no purpose. Ask Irena, I don’t kill randomly.”

“She’s being honest. She usually very surgical. Why weren’t you this time?”

“Well job was kind of rushed, needed something erased from existence with extreme prejudice and to ensure the Soviets couldn’t reproduce it.”

Alina grabbed a handful of Enid’s hair at the back of her head yanking it back.

“Who hired you?”

“I told you, I am working for God.”

Alina growled.

“More nonsense.”

Irena crossed her arms.

“Why won’t you tell us who hired you, Anastasia”

“Because no one hired me. It needed to be erased from existence for the greater good. So, I was doing God’s will.”

Alina started to pace. The arm of her glasses in one hand. Irena looked at Alina then Enid.

“What needed to be erased?”

“Oh, I never kiss and tell. You mean the Soviets didn’t tell you what they had hidden in their big missile silo up here in Siberia? Probably because they didn’t know what they had. Look if I had been hired someone and what it is, I won’t tell you, I never will. I am paid well for my silence, and I keep it even under duress, isn’t that right Irena?”

“Alina, can we speak outside.”

Alina motioned her to follow, and the pair walked out, leaving two very serious looking soldiers with assault rifles pointed at Enid who smiled sweetly at them. After several minutes of her the uncomfortable staring contest. Alina and Irena returned. Alina unlocked Enid’s handcuffs. Enid rubbed her wrists and quirked her eyebrow.

“This is unexpected.”

“Irena convinced me we could put a use to you.”

“After I wiped out a special research project and killed twenty soldiers?”

“Which you did alone. We have a situation we would rather not be traced back to us. Take care of it, all is forgiven. But first proof.”

She looked towards the door.

“The prisoner is loose!”

Enid reacted immediately and grabbed Aliana by the neck pulling the taller woman down. Finger nails ready to dig through the skin by her carotid. The two guards rushed in weapons ready. Enid pulled a pen out of Alina’s pocket and threw it at one of the guards striking him in the face it. It caused a deep cut on his cheek. She shoved Alina aside and pounced forward, weaving so that if the guards fired at her they risked hitting the two other woman. She grabbed the assault rifle of the guard she’d hit in the face with the pen. Tugging him between her and the other guard. She punched him in the temple hard he started to collapse, and she shoved him at the other guard and pushed he weight behind him pinning him against the wall. He struggled against the dead weight of his unconscious partner and Enid’s bodyweight and force of her shove. She pulled the pistol out of the unconscious guard’s holster, flipped the safety and put it to the other guard’s head.

“Drop your rifle comrade.”

The rifle fell to the ground. She glanced back at Alina and flipped the safety back on and offered the gun back to her. The usually dour older woman looked impressed. Enid sat back down in the chair. Irena looked at Alina and nodded.

“I didn’t believe Irena when she said we didn’t have enough security. Now I understand what she meant. I’ve honestly never seen someone that deadly up close. And to think you’re only twenty-three. You could have easily killed Stepan when he punched you even handcuffed.”

Enid nodded.

“You should have seen the time I killed four men who had automatic weapons with chopsticks. No children, or innocents ever, I’d rather be tortured and shot.”

Alina nodded.

“The KGB doesn’t make a habit of killing people not in the game. It’s obvious you’re here by choice, let’s make another choice more interesting hmm. Come, let’s get you something more appropriate to wear.”

Alina motioned for Enid to follow her, Enid stood and followed her.