Chapter Sixty-One - Trapsetter

“Do Not Remain In Your Domicile During An Incursion!

Immediately follow your local municipality’s evacuation path and remove yourself from the area of immediate danger.

If this path is unavailable, then use Qell’s Nation-Wide 34G network* to download your local free* Qell Life Saver app at any time!”

*All data transmitted across Qell networks is the property of Qell Telecom

*The app contains in-app purchases. Qell is not responsible for any data collected by the app.

*Fees apply. Prices are subject to change at any time.

*The Qell 34G network is NOT being used for mind-control.

--Part of Qell Telecom’s ‘Feel Good, Live Long’ advertisement campaign of 2029

***

I stuck to the shadows, either those cast by the bridges overhead, or the shadows next to every vehicle.

Any passing alien wouldn’t be able to spot me under my coat, but my gun was still visible, as were my feet and hands. Worse, I was moving. If the antithesis had eyes like humans, then they’d gravitate towards any motion.

So I stuck to the shadows.

Also, it made me feel cooler, which was a not-inconsiderable part of it.

I stopped by a semi-trailer at a four-way intersection. I’d ranged out about a block and a half from the shelter. Far enough that I could see the sniffing packs at the lead of the alien wave. For now, there were just Model Threes moving in large groups. There would be a whole lot more coming around.

“Myalis, door,” I said as I tapped the side of the truck I was using as cover.

Something in the door clunked and I reached up and pulled it open to slip in. The truck had mirrored glass on its front, making it hard to see within. That suited me just fine.

“Turret, Sparrow and ammo,” I whispered.

Two boxes and a small pile of magazines appeared on the passenger seat. I popped the biggest open and removed a turret drone from within. They were book-sized things, with three thin legs that had little grippy holsters on them, a little body with a lens at the front, and a trio of arms above that.

I set it on the dash and watched as its back legs gripped onto the steering wheel and the third unfolded a drillbit and dug into the plastic next to the window to hold itself in place.

I tugged the next box open and pressed the Sparrow within onto the arms above. The gun twisted this way and that, then its safety clicked off all on its own and I knew it was ready. The last step was clicking the three spare magazines onto the turret’s legs so that it could reload.

“That’s one more down,” I said as I looked out the front. The aliens were getting closer, and from two directions. The street to my right was pretty much clear of them for now. The one behind me was a maze of explosive traps and hidden turret emplacements. “Grenades.”

Myalis gave me a pair of them. The first, a resonator, dropped onto the floor of the truck, its laser pointing towards the ceiling. If... when something broke in to get at the turret it would give them a nice surprise.

I dropped out of the vehicle and, after getting to my knees, rolled under it. Two more grenades were placed there. One of those adhesive canister bombs and a second resonator for good measure.

And then I rolled out and was on my way.

The shelter was more or less in the middle of its street, and I had blocked the northernmost route towards it with turrets and proximity-detonated bombs. That left one other route to the shelter from the opposite side. That, and a bunch of alleyways linking that road to the one behind it.

I turned right at the next corner and started making my way down while keeping an eye open to the world ahead.

Pausing at an old minivan, I used its front grill as a shelf for another glue-and-goo combo of bombs before running on. My points were dropping by the dozen every time I stopped, but I figured what I lost would be returned tenfold as the traps I set went off. If each trap killed two aliens I’d be in the black in no time. The turrets needed to kill a dozen or so, but I figured it was doable.

I was about to duck under another truck when I heard something out ahead of me.

A pair of Model Threes were sticking their heads out from an alleyway. They sniffed around, then jumped out and onto the road proper.

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The alley was to the north, where most of the aliens would be coming from. Did that mean that they’d found a shortcut of sorts? One that would circumvent the better part of my traps?

I glared at the aliens, then ducked behind a large mailbox covered in years worth of graffitti. A moment later, two aliens became four and I felt myself scowling. I’d need to plug that leak and get them moving towards my trap. I didn’t doubt that the swarm would cover every street, but I had set things up expecting them to come from more or less one direction.

Whisper clunked as its bipod legs found purchase atop the mailbox. I leaned in to aim, but didn’t really need to. As soon as my finger was over the trigger an option opened up in my new eye and my vision split as if I’d grown a third eye, one that was right above the barrel of my crossbow.

It was a little confusing, but the arcing red line in my vision was pretty clear.

I lined it up with the first of the dog-like aliens and pulled the trigger. Before the hiss of the bow launching a bolt even registered I aimed at the one farthest back from the pack.

The Model Threes looked at the comrades that had gained a pair of bristly additions to their hides. Neither of them were dead.

And then they burst apart with twin pops that were no louder than someone flinging a can of soda into the path of a moving hovercar.

A few more shots added to the beautifully gorey mess across the street. “Myalis, I need more ammo,” I said.

I crossed while reloading Whisper. If I could block the path, then maybe the Antithesis would have to pass by some other route. On the other hand, that would maybe just make them rush by some other way.

The plan, then, was simple. I’d just kill off as many aliens as I could and once the area was more or less clear, I’d add a few dozen surprises for any of the brutes trying to pass by. It would at least slow them down. My goal wasn’t to kill every last alien, it was to stall until Monroe got everyone packed up and ready to go.

The alley had a pair of Model Threes and a single Model Four in it. They looked like they’d been going through the trash when I’d popped their buddies and were now coming closer to investigate.

Four more shots took care of them... and also a dumpster about five meters behind them.

Myalis didn’t comment, but I could swear I felt her disapproval as I sidestepped the giblets left of the aliens and crossed the alley.

The next street over was a mess. Not only had a bunch of Model Threes and Fours already made it halfway down, some of them were working away at the doors of every building on the street. Model Sixs were thumping their way down, and a few little flocks of Model Ones were darting here and there, keeping an eye on the sky.

Gunshots popped in the distance, sometimes accompanied by a flash through an apartment’s windows.

I winced. There had to be hundreds of people that had decided to hide away in their rooms and who would soon be visited by some hungry aliens. Maybe a few could defend themselves for a bit, but as the density of aliens grew, I doubted they could keep up.

Nothing I could do, at least, not without abandoning the thousand-odd people behind me.

At least I could win them some time. I crouched by the edge of the alley, rain splattering down across my hood and leaving distortions in the invisible cloth as they passed.

Taking in the surroundings didn’t leave me with as many options as I would have wanted. The road here was a bit wider, with a crossing in the middle for pedestrians and, just under a hundred meters away, was another intersection, this one with a large cement building taking up the corner. The entrance into the subways.

That’s where the aliens were coming from in twos and threes, the worm-looking Model Eights slithering up with difficulty.

“Fuck,” I muttered. “I forgot all about the undercity.”

Incursions tend to bury themselves, given the opportunity. A transit system is a ready-made way for them to travel across an entire city until it’s cleared.

“I’m going to need something that can really fuck that entrance up,” I said.

Before Myalis could reply, I darted ahead and ducked under the underside of a truck’s trailer. I was just about to start planning my next few moves when, with a throaty ‘whoosh’ the street caught fire.

***