Antithesis activity is often indicated on a color based system.

* Green means minimal or safe levels

* Yellow requires military, or new samurai intervention

* Orange means high levels - Experienced samurai required. Expect models up to the low twenties

* Red means things have completely gone to shit.

- Describing the warning levels, Cascadian PMC version

—

“Are you sure about this boss?” Jockey asked quietly, “We’ll probably attract the attention of the flocks if we go closer.”

“Is that a problem?” Skyler asked.

“Well… Once we attract the fliers, they won’t stop coming, so we’ll have to flip the gun to flak mode and keep it there. We have enough ammo for thirty minutes of coverage, but we’ll lose the ground support,” Jockey reported nervously.

I glanced at Emily. “So we’ll be on a time limit?” I asked.

“Most fliers can’t do shit to the APC, so we can take cover inside and shut down the flak, but once we’re outside we’ll absolutely need the overwatch,” she replied. “You’ll see. Entering the air combat zone is no joke.”

“I can assist with either the anti-air or ground support,” Skyler volunteered. “I have special airburst shells for Howie.”

“Take it slow, Jockey,” I suggested. “We’re only planning on going to the nearest shelter, and if at any time we think that the situation is getting out of hand, we’ll turn around.”

The diminutive driver nodded slightly, then slipped back into the driver’s seat again. “Here we go then.”

As the APC slowly accelerated, I grabbed one of the roof supports with one hand and Skyler with the other when she began to stumble. She smiled lightly, then grabbed the same roof support before leaning against me for added support.

I reached over to the display we’d been using for briefings and flipped it over to the external cameras. I could see a few scattered antithesis digging up plants, or running between buildings as we drove past, but nothing too extreme. “How does Command figure out where the orange and red zones are?” I asked.

“Most street corners have sensors that can detect antithesis movements,” Emily explained. “Nothing too complex. They can’t identify individual models, but they do record the amount of activity. Once it exceeds a certain threshold, they increase the rating for that area.”

Skyler leaned forward. “Shouldn’t we be seeing more activity then?” she asked.

Emily frowned. “A little, but the orange zone started right outside of our destination, so we might be dealing with a mini horde or something.”

I kept my eyes glued to the camera, scanning for anything that could explain the increase in activity, but nothing changed for several long minutes.

“We’re coming up to the target!” Jockey reported as the APC skidded around a corner.

“I don’t see any activity at all,” I mumbled. “What is this place anyway?”

Skyler cocked her head to the side, went glassy-eyed for a moment, then immediately went pale. “It’s Animaux Exotiques,” she said quietly.

That name sounded familiar, but it took me a few seconds to remember why I recognized it. I immediately wished I hadn’t. “That’s the place where we got Sophie and Cleo, isn’t it?” I mumbled.

Skyler nodded slowly.

“Who the hell are Sophie and Cleo?” Steve yelled from the other side of the APC. “Where are we going?”

“They’re our cats!” I snapped at him, “Animaux Exotiques was the high end pet shop we got them from.”

The man sat back, “I don’t get it. It’s just a pet store…”

“A very expensive pet store,” Skyler explained. “It’s massive, and even though I didn’t think anything about it at the time, I’m pretty sure none of the displays had any sort of incursion protection on them. They were just glass cases.”

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“A veritable buffet for the antithesis. Let’s hope we arrived after the feeding frenzy. I don’t want to see any half-eaten fuzzy friends,” I grumbled. I started pushing myself away from the monitor when the APC swerved wildly. “What the fuck?” I growled.

“The swarmers are here!” Jockey yelled in panic, “They’re crawling all over my camera!”

“I’m swapping the gun to automated AA mode. Stop here, we’ll clear them off, then you can escort us to the front of the building,” Emily replied calmly. The sound of the APC’s main weapon changed, switching from burst mode to full automatic fire, and there was almost like an echo after each shot. “Everyone out!” she snapped.

I pushed past Howie, slapped the ramp button, and glanced outside. At first I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, until it started raining model One bodies. As soon as the ramp lowered enough, I stepped out and looked up.

The sky was so thick with model Ones that they blocked out the sky, a massive, churning black cloud. The gun was doing a pretty good job of fending them off. The rounds it was firing took out multiple of the little fliers with every shot, and because it always targeted the closest models, it was cutting off any diving attacks.

“Shit,” Skyler muttered as she stepped out to stand beside me. After watching the roiling mass for several seconds, her face hardened, and she turned back to her bot. “Howie, Skyburst. Continuous fire,” she said.

All six mortars opened up, throwing their projectiles deep into the swarm, then detonating with enough force to blow massive holes into the swarm, at least for a second. It didn’t take long for more Ones to fly out of the orange zone and fill the gaps in the swarm, but it was better than nothing. I had to raise an arm over my head to protect myself from the constantly falling corpses. It was amazing how fast they were building up.

It was when I saw a couple model Threes stalk out of a nearby alley and start feeding on the carrion that I realized how pointless this current process was.

“Can you switch to enzyme based rounds?” I yelled over the constant mortar and gunfire.

Skyler looked at me in confusion until I pointed at the Threes pulling the dead bodies away. She frowned for a second, then nodded. Howie stopped firing, just for a moment, and when he opened up again, the change was obvious. The Ones still died in droves, but now their bodies dissolved as they fell. By the time they hit the ground, they were nothing but a pile of goop, splattering whatever was nearby.

Although I knew it was an improvement, it didn’t feel like it when one landed directly on my arm and covered me in antithesis goop.

“I’ve cleared the cameras!” someone yelled from the front of the APC.

“Alright, then we’re going to march the rest of the way. Stay next to the vehicle, unless you want one of those flying bastards to bite you,” Emily announced. She flashed a thumbs up to the front of the APC, and the vehicle slowly started moving forward.

“How’s Howie doing?” I asked as I grabbed Skyler and slowly pulled her after the advancing APC.

“Pretty well. Even though the rounds are expensive, the flock is thick enough to cover the costs,” Skyler replied, quickly glancing at her bot, before finally paying attention to the road.

“Are the rounds really that expensive? I’d expect you to be making points hand over fist right now?” I shouted.

{Arty: When Samurai work together the points they earned are split equally. We even add a small bonus to the total, in order to incentivise samurai to work together. You’re currently both earning fifty-five percent of every kill.}

{Rei: I’m getting a share of her points?}

{Athy: It is standard operating procedure.}

{Rei: Can you give Skyler the full payout for the fliers? I don’t deserve a share of it}

{Sky: I don’t mind sharing!}

{Rei: But you’re throwing almost all your points back in the ammunition. I’d rather you have a surplus to cover your rounds. We can start sharing again once we engage an actual enemy again.}

{Sky: … Fine.}

{Athy: Preferences recorded. Points earned for minor airborne antithesis will not be shared in the future.}

{Rei: Thanks.}

When I snapped back to reality, I noticed we’d fallen a little further behind the squad than I was comfortable with, so I grabbed Skyler and pulled her forward. No one even gave us a second glance as we stumbled back to the APC; they were all busy scanning the streets and alleys for threats. Once I was sure Skyler was safe, I jogged around to the front of the APC, where Emily was.

“Can the sensor network detect the Ones?” I asked, raising my voice to be heard over the APC’s gun. “I was kind of expecting to see a lot more activity on the street based upon what you said earlier.”

“Not usually, maybe if the entire flock dove down and flew at street level for a while. That doesn’t happen that often though, since they tend to clear the higher levels. Smash windows with their bodies until they can get in, then pick apart anyone unfortunate enough to be caught out in the open,” she shuttered. “Rough way to die.”

“So we should be seeing more ground-bound models?” I asked, just trying to get clarification. “Where are they?”

Emily stopped walking for a moment and pointed at the end of the street. “If I had to guess, they’re probably in there,” she said so quietly I almost missed it.

At the end of the street was a fancy, single level storefront. I barely recognized it. The decorative iron fence around the perimeter was completely trampled, and almost every single window and door had been smashed in. The old school iron sign over the door was barely holding on. I couldn’t read it from here, but I knew what it said. This was Animaux Exotiques.