I returned to the secure section, a little worse for wear. It took a few minutes to figure out how to carry the railgun, in the end I just lashed it to the back of Spooky with a bunch of cords I found on one of the market stalls. He looked a little wonky with the barrel extending a full two feet beyond his head, but he seemed stable.
I, on the other hand, looked like a lunatic. It turns out, one of the side effects of firing a military grade, anti tank railgun, was static electricity. My short brown hair refused to cooperate, it looked like a slightly puffy afro instead of the curly mass I was used to.
Screw it, I was in the middle of an alien invasion, it's not like I had a ton of pride in my appearance anyways. The camera followed my approach, the gruff voice called out before I even knocked.
“It’s done?”
“Yeah, but everyone is going to have to take pills before they come out. There might still be zombie worms out here.”
There was a heavy clunk noise, then the door was pushed open. The man behind it was huge, at least seven feet tall, dark black eyes, immaculate goatee and suit. Not the kind of person I was used to dealing with. He looked me up and down then scoffed. “Nice hair, kid.”
My eyes narrowed, I didn’t appreciate someone laughing at me after everything I’d been through today.
“Thanks, I got it by putting a round through an Antithesis that had more armor than a tank.” His smirk fell a little. “It’s still laying over in your fashion store if you want to take a look."
He coughed. “You said everyone needed pills?”
“Yeah, just a precaution in case more of those zombie worms are around. Make sure your guys sweep the entire place when you’re out. How many people are down there?”
“About a hundred and eighty.”
I had to pause, “Pardon?”
His smirk returned, stronger than ever. “You think Mr Achre would leave people to die? As soon as the first Antithesis appeared the boys started evacuating people down into the warehouse, both our people and our customers. My boys held back those freaks until everyone was clear then we sealed the door.”
“The people outside?”
“If I had to guess, they came from the Stacks out back. They started piling in after we’d already locked up.”
I looked him up and down. “Well I’m glad some people were prepared. Nice job Mr…?”
“Jessup, head of security.”
Holding my hand out a stack of standard looking, vacuum-packed pill boxes appeared. I handed them all to Jessup. “Remember, one each before they’re let out.”
He nodded and started walking back, but paused for a moment before looking back. “Can you move your bots away from the door please? We have kids down here, those things will give them nightmares.” Then he disappeared below.
My bots were lined up behind me, I’d forgotten about the look after the first half dozen times Spooky saved my life.
“Nyx.”
Already on it. That last purchase tanked your points, thankfully you killed that model twelve and secured the area for these people. Congratulations, you now have four hundred and nine points and one token. Now if you want some clothing for our friends, I would recommend the robotics facade catalog, which you can use to purchase various outer coverings for between three and ten points a piece. I WOULD show you some options through your augs, but what you have is so old they don’t even support streaming. We will have to fix that.
“Fuck, I know, add it to the list of all the other shit I need.”
Do you trust me to make some choices for you?
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“No, but if I don’t like it I’ll change it later. Go for it.”
Purchased - Robot Facade Catalog purchased - 50 Points
Purchased - Robot Facade 5x5 points - 25 points.
Points remaining - 334
There was a beat, then an outer skin appeared on all the bots. Slight differences for each. I felt my eye twitch.
“Nyx, what the hell?”
Standing in front of me were a series of teddy bears. Spooky was a dark gray, the other two combat models were a standard brown, the detector was a red fox. All four of them were wearing combat helmets and bulletproof vests, the same color as my hoodie.
I think it’s fitting
“I think you’re insane.”
The door opened, cutting our argument short. Jessup led a group of guards up, followed by a long line of civilians.
“Teddy!”
One girl, black hair pulled back into a neat ponytail, dressed in a worn leather jacket, threadbare backpack and torn jeans, swooped down and pulled me into a tight hug. Unfortunately, due to the differences in our height my head was mashed into her cleavage.
“Jane, it’s nice to see you again, but could you maybe not hug me so tight?”
“Awww… is our little samurai embarrassed to be seen hugging someone?”
I squirmed “Can’t breathe.”
“Fine,” she released me with a little pout. “How did this happen then? Not that I’m complaining about the save.”
“I was at the Shelter with Dante when everything went down. Dragged his butt to Leah’s place, heard a voice in my head. You know, the usual.” I tried to play it cool, but then I realized something. “Oh shit, I promised to update Leah. What time is it?”
Jane bonked me on the head, “Don’t ignore the people that care about you, you gonk, even if you’re busy saving people.”
“What are you doing here anyways? It’s not your regular haunt.”
She grimaced, “I picked up work as a courier, I was supposed to pick up a package here and deliver it across the district. I was waiting for my contact here when everything went to shit, a bunch of those dog things burst in, security started shooting, then everyone was ushered into that warehouse.” She sighed. “It wouldn’t have been too bad, if I hadn’t been stuck next to a bunch of laborers that hadn’t washed in the last week.”
I laughed, maybe for the first time since this whole thing started. “I’m glad you’re ok.”
I turned to go, but she grabbed my hand before I could step away. Her eyes met my own. “Seriously, thank you. You saved a lot of people today. Be proud of that.”
“I am.” I felt the corner of my mouth rise slightly. Jane always was the best at cheering people up.
“Now go, more people to save! And call Leah before she hunts you down and kicks your ass!” and with that she was gone. Probably rushing off to console someone else.
I called up the time on my Augs. “Fuck, has it only been an hour since this started?”
Yes, things have been rough, but you’ve been doing your best.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, I guess.”
Pulling up my messages I winced at the list; A dozen or so from the same person. It’s a good thing I put everything on silent before a job, otherwise my Augs might have been distracting me during some inopportune times.
I made a quick call.
“Teddy?”
“Yes Alan, it’s Teddy, the same Teddy you’ve been spamming since this started.”
“I can’t believe you’re alive, it’s good to hear your voice.”
“How are things at the Burrow, everyone make it?”
There was a pause, “Almost, Marcus and Jeni are missing.”
“Fuck. Well, all we can do right now is hope, I’ll head over and check on everyone once this is all over. Stop panicking, concentrate on those pipsqueaks until then.”
“Right, Right… I can do that.”
“Talk to you soon.”
I sighed, everything was so fucked right now.
I pushed myself to my feet and surveyed the area. Most of the civilians were giving me a wide berth, looks of fear and awe in their eyes. It’s quite different from the looks of indifference and disgust I was used to seeing from the well-off around here.
I found Jessup in ‘High Fashion’, talking to a couple other people and surveying the remains of the twelve I’d left there.
“Sorry, I don’t do cleanup.”
Jessup turned, one eyebrow shot up when he saw my bots. “Hey tiny, nice job clearing the area. I’m guessing you don’t want to stick around.”
I shook my head, “Things are bad out there, you guys had it relatively easy compared to some of the shit I’ve already seen. Gotta see if I can find anyone else. I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
“You know where you’re headed?”
I thought for a minute, “Probably the precinct. Not sure where else people can take cover around here.”
He nodded, his eyes went blank for a moment, probably calling someone upstairs, and the door popped open. “See you around kid. Don’t get killed.”
I waved as I was leaving “Stay safe, big guy.”