Paris woke up in burning pain. Every inch of her body stinging and crying out every time she moved. She couldn’t even wince without her face screaming at her as well.
The girl’s cries drew the attention of the woman that had been sitting at a desk on the far side of the room. Paris watched through a single teary eye as Kassidy walked over to her, looking down at her with a soft smile.
“Hey Paris, I'm glad you’re awake.” The woman told her.
Paris forced out some words, her throat burning as she spoke, “It hurts so bad...”
“I know honey, I know,” Kassidy said, gently stroking the little girl’s head.
Paris took comfort in the woman’s touch, the pain becoming slightly more bearable.
“I gave you a strong regrowth stimulant, but it won’t be able to fix everything. The pain should stop soon, you are almost all healed.” The woman said with sadness in her voice.
“Where is everyone else?” Paris asked.
Kassidy pointed at the bedroom door, “Everyone is right on the other side of that door.”
“Are they okay?”
“Yes, they are all okay. Cee too.” Kassidy replied, a small smile on her face.
Paris relaxed slightly, the tension that had built inside her fading away. The pressure had built without her notice. She was glad everyone was okay.
“Can you have them come in?” Paris asked hopefully.
Kassidy just shook her head, “I’m sorry Paris but I think it’s best if just you and me stay in here for now. I don’t want you hurting yourself more than you already are.”
The little girl looked away; her face downcast.
She thought it was ironic, going through all this work and pain to find your friends, just to be kept from them because of it.
She wouldn’t accept it.
Paris used her classic tactic, puppy dog eyes...
“Hey Paris!” Tom called out from the door way, Kassidy standing directly besides him.
“Tom!” The little girl smiled.
The boy approached her bed, Kassidy holding him back from moving too quickly or getting on the bed itself.
“What happened to your face?” Tom asked innocently. The boy having gotten a close look at her.
Paris was taken aback, her face?
“Her face is fine, Tom.” Kassidy said, looking at the boy with a death glare, “It’s just her battle scars, I think they look cool.”
“What’s wrong with my face?” Paris asked nervously.
Kassidy looked at Paris for a long moment before she let out a sigh and stood up. The woman retrieved a small mirror and handed to the little girl.
Paris looked in the mirror and saw her new self.
A long streak of melted skin ran across her face vertically. The scar covered the majority of the left side of her face, her corresponding eye a milky white.
Paris dropped the mirror, her own reflection startling her. She slowly looked back down at her reflection, the image the same as before. The little girl traced her fingers across the burn lines, feeling little stings as she did so.
“It is pretty cool,” Tom said, “You look like you should be a soldier or something!”
The boy’s smile and animation as he said so made Paris momentarily forget what she had thought about her new look. Though she still felt uneasy.
“It is cool, pretty badass if you ask me.” Kassidy added from the side, a smirk on her face.
Badass? Yeah, Badass.
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Walking up the staircase to Kassidy’s I couldn’t help but grin, well, I imagined myself grinning at the very least.
There were so many things to worry about, all the things that could go wrong when we tried to sneak out tonight, but that was all shoved to the back of my mind. Right now, I was just thinking about how glad I was to be alive, and to have those close to me alive.
Kassidy opened the door to her apartment, several locking mechanisms releasing with a loud clang. She pushed it open, revealing a messy living room and kitchen.
Scattered about were sleeping children, some piled together on a couch, others simply laying on the carpeted floor. I was careful not to step on them as I entered inside.
Kassidy led me past the sleeping kids and into a room near the back.
Stepping inside the bedroom, there was only two items of note, a torn apart bed and a massive and complex desk, multiple monitors glowing and flickering from on top of it.
Passed out on the bed was Paris and Tom, the pair cuddled close together.
It made me happy to see the pair sleeping so contently, they deserved the sleep. I regretted that I would have to wake them up, our plan for escape happening within the hour.
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Taking a step towards them I placed my hand against Paris’s face, looking at her scarring.
The little girl’s eyes slowly bloomed open, one of which was a milky white. It took her a moment to focus on me, but her face blossomed into a smile when she did.
It seemed that the scar didn’t change the girl who wore it.
“Hey Paris,” I said softly, “Thanks for sticking up for me earlier.”
“It was the promise.” The girl replied, her smile unfailing.
I ran my hand through her hair.
“Ready for me to fulfill that promise?” I asked her.
The little girl looked at her slowly waking friend, some color having returned to him.
“Yeah. I’m ready.” She said, her eyes sparkling.
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All the children piled into the SUV, Paris finally informing me of all their names. She was quite insulted that I didn’t know them yet, but to be fair I had been a bit preoccupied.
Tom, Ant, Zia, and Leo sat in the middle row of seat, while Kassidy and Noah sat in the front.
The boy had recovered surprisingly well compared to the other children. It took a lot of convincing, but he had won the front seat. Tom, who had put up the most fight, had ended up being okay with it because he was closer to me and Paris.
The pair of us sat in the back of the SUV buried under a pile of supplies that Kassidy had scavenged from her home and the storage house. I felt bad stealing some of the stuff, but not so much so that I let it weigh on me.
Kassidy hopped into the driver’s seat and started the engine, a low electric hum escaping the vehicle.
For her part, Kassidy wore a simple and drab outfit with a large rounded object stuffed over her stomach.
It pained me to follow her plan of labor, but she had filled me in on some extra details and agreed to my additions, thus making it acceptable. I still didn’t like it though.
Worst case scenario, I would be able to handle any small group of officers that tried to stop us. I wouldn’t be able to stop them all though.
I felt the SUV shift as Kassidy started to drive, pulling the vehicle out from the warehouse and out onto the street.
We had driven for about twenty minutes before we were stopped, the flash of red and blue signaling for us to pull over.
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“Ma’am, the city is under lockdown. I need you to return home immediately.” The officer said as he exited his patrol car.
“I’M HAVING A BABY!” Kassidy shouted at the approaching officer, the man recoiling in shock.
“What?!” The man said panicked, racing up to the window.
“OH GOD IT’S COMING!” Kassidy cried out, sweat building on her face.
“Oh my god! What do I do?!” The man asked, his own sweat building.
“Be quite.” The woman said coldly, the man’s body freezing in place. His armor locking him inside of it.
Kassidy slammed her foot into the accelerator and sped away from the scene. Her timer had started. The suit had a built-in panic alert that would sound if the armor read unusual vitals for over one minute. After the alert goes out, she would have around two minutes before the whole city was on her.
The woman whipped the wheel to make a turn, the clear streets allowing her to shamelessly drift the large machine.
She also had to worry about being caught by other patrols, so Cee’s addition to the plan was used.
An earth-shattering boom echoed out from the south side of the city.
Following the robot’s suggestion, Kassidy hacked into the pipeline network the city used to transport confetti and trash. She used the sweeper bots the fill the pipes with every flammable substance they could get ahold of, the little machines going unnoticed by the patrolling forces.
Kassidy had just sent out a command causing the ignition of the pipeline network along the south side of the city. The blaze sure to draw attention away from the group.
Using her remaining time wisely, the woman flew down the city streets, crossing over half the city to reach their destination. The north eastern gate having been a significant distance away from her home.
Kassidy sped through the streets, a crew of children laughing and hollering as she did so. The woman had grown to appreciate her fans, though the little one, Ant, had ended being a pretty bad back seat driver.
For Cee’s addition he just cursed at the woman. Apparently being crushed and shaken about underneath a stockpile was uncomfortable. Paris didn’t complain, so Kassidy was pretty sure the machine was just exaggerating his discomfort.
It was approximately ten minutes after her initial locking down of the officer, that the gates came into view. Kassidy was pleasantly surprised with her time, and the lack of follow-up from the police.
The woman slammed on the car’s brakes, the SUV coming to a screeching halt.
Infront of the gates sat the lone guard sent to watch the gates, a massive metal mech.
A behemoth.
The operator took notice of Kassidy and their vehicle and slowly approached. Its steps artificially silenced, giving it an eerie phantom-esque aura.
Kassidy swallowed hard and readied herself. She had not expected a behemoth to be watching the gates.
The behemoth bent down to look into the driver side window. It scanned over the children before settling on Kassidy, it spoke in monotone.
“You are in violation of in implemented Las Vegas curfew. All citizens must stay in their homes until the lockdown is lifted. Explain yourself.”
Kassidy looked into the glowing blue eyes of the behemoth and made her decision...
“I’m having a baby.” The woman spoke out, her voice calm.
“What?” The behemoth asked.
Before anyone could react, the northern gates started to rumble open slowly.
Kassidy slammed her foot into the accelerator and charged forward. The behemoth whipped its head to watch the car leave, its mechanical face locked in shock.
The gates finished opening and Kassidy reached them, speeding through the massive concrete gap and onto the dilapidated desert road.
A blue and orange reflection lit up the car’s rearview mirror, glancing back Kassidy saw as the behemoth finally made a move to follow.
Jets of flame burst from the suit’s legs, propelling the machine forward at unreasonable speeds. The mech charged forward wantonly, its sole goal the halting of the vehicle that had escaped it.
“Cee! We got a problem!” The woman yelled towards the back.
With a shift of material, the robot popped his head out from under the supplies and clambered into the middle aisle, leaning forward between the front seats.
“What am I supposed to do about it?!” The machine shouted.
“I don’t know! Anything!” Kassidy cried out.
The SUV bounced up and down as I rocketed across the highway, hitting every pot hole as it did.
“Can’t you lock it up like you did with the officers?” the machine asked her.
Kassidy had actually tried that the moment she saw the behemoth at the gate. Unfortunately, the only relay it used was only accessible by through a proprietary terminal. If she wanted to lock it up, she would need a local connection.
The behemoth had gotten closer, the situation growing more urgent.
“You ever heard of bull riding?!” Kassidy shouted at Cee.
“Why?!” The machine asked.
“I need you to ride that bull back there!” Kassidy said, shoving her thumb in the direction of the behemoth, “If you can plug yourself into it, I can lock it up through you!”
“Are you fucking insane!” The machine spat back, questioning her as always.
“Yes! Now do or die!” The woman shouted.
The robot man shook his head and rolled down a window. The machine clambered onto the roof of the SUV, his feet indenting it as he did.
Kassidy watched as the behemoth drew closer and closer, the machine almost directly on them.
A bounce in the suspension signaled Cee’s leap. The robot landing on the face of the behemoth.
Using the car’s mirrors, Kassidy saw as the little robot swung itself onto the behemoths back and stabbed into it, moving and shifting across the suit as it tried to grab ahold of him.
Kassidy’s UI dinged, signaling a connection to the behemoth. Without hesitation the woman sent out her command, the behemoth freezing in its position as the jets on its legs continued to blow it into the ground.
A small form was sent flying forward off the behemoth’s back, landing in a heap on top of a dune of sand.
Kassidy slowed the SUV and pulled over to the ragged form of Cee.
“We did it!” She exclaimed from within the truck.
The robot slowly lifted its head and looked her dead in the eye.
“I hate you so much.” It said, standing up to release several pounds of sand from its insides.