CHAPTER 11

2210

Few clicks off of the Extraction Point

Riley was flat on his back, looking up at the sun from the middle of a cornfield. He inhaled long, heaving breaths. Blood trickled down the side of his face from a cut above his left eye. He was too exhausted to care. It was just another scar in the making. Fifty feet away, Vindex in Machina stood tall. A ball-shaped drone with a circular red light for an eye ejected from the mech. It was no larger than Riley’s fist. The drone hovered in front of the armor for a moment, collecting a visual record of its surroundings. Four vilis were lying on the ground around Riley, and a dozen mauled human bodies around the vilis. The vilis weren’t moving; they were dead. Riley made sure of that before he ejected from his armor to catch his breath.

The drone hovered over to Riley and its eye turned down to look at him. “Riley,” it started. “Would you like to log a mission report?”

Riley’s eyes opened and he glared at it. If the drone was organic, it would have been afraid.

“It is not my intention to bother you but my most recent analysis of your combat performance indicates that you have underperformed. Your probability of surviving a battle reduces significantly with each engagement. Losing your life before logging this report would be unfortunate.”

Riley scoffed and pushed himself up into a seated position. “Did your analysis consider that this was the third group I engaged in two hours?”

“It did not.” said the drone.

Riley grunted and motioned for the drone to start recording. He didn’t look up at the camera as he began the mission report. “Mission log 712,” he started. “What a shitty few years these were...", he cracked his neck and sat up straight. "Nothing I’ve done has worked.” Riley pushed himself up to his feet with a loud grunt. The drone followed him as he paced. “Out in the Pillars of Jericho, I found a spatial and temporal anomaly. For some reason, it won’t let me into the city. If I get close, it sends me back to my latest time jump. Then I have to live the same period all over again.”

Riley looked down and tapped his watch. “I borrowed some of Titan Corp’s satellites and got some readings. There’s something in there, powerful energy readings that have no heat signature. They’re focused within the walls of an abandoned Titan facility at the center of the city. I need intel on whatever it is, intel I can only find in the Anubis Sky Headquarters of Titan, but the HQ is gone.” He looked up. “I have to get up there. It probably isn’t a smart move, but it’s the only move I’ve got left. End of report.”

The drone whirred briefly, then flew back into Vindex. With every step Riley took across the cornfield, he winced with pain. He climbed into Vindex, where he removed his clothes until only his black underpants remained. He got back out onto the cornfield. Riley looked at the human corpses, trying to find clothes that would fit him and that were intact. He found a flannel shirt and blue jeans. He put them on, followed by a pair of boots, then stepped away from Vindex. Riley tapped his watch and a hologram appeared a few inches above it. He entered a command and Vindex lowered into a crouching position, then powered down as its body blended with its surroundings. By the time its engine completely shut down, Vindex was no longer visible.

Riley turned and walked away from it. He walked for hours before eventually reaching the highway. On the road, there were numerous vehicles parked randomly, haphazardly. Most of the cars were burned, some were still burning, but a few remained untouched by the fire. Riley examined the unburnt vehicles. The first car he looked at had four flat tires. The second, a truck, didn’t have a key. He looked for a wrench and a jack but found neither. He climbed into the truck with no key and broke open the cover beneath the steering wheel. Riley hoped to find wires he could use to hotwire the ignition, but newer electric vehicles made it far more difficult than their ancestors. Riley had no idea what he was looking at. He punched the steering wheel and bruised his knuckle.

Riley accepted that the vehicles would be of no use to him, and he continued walking along the road. Every step was a struggle as he marched on in the unforgiving heat. His legs were numb and he could barely feel his feet as he placed them down. The discomfort wasn’t what bothered Riley the most. He had toughened his body with rigorous training to endure physical suffering and severe deprivation. No amount of training could have prepared him for the stench of burning flesh. His stomach churned every time he breathed in, and his legs weakened as he looked at the burnt corpses in the vehicles. He saw every age group among the dead. Riley closed his eyes and prayed for anything to distract him from the stench.

The roar of engines could be heard approaching. Riley looked back and saw three astro-bikes flanking a military truck, and two smaller vehicles behind the truck. Riley stopped. He considered leaving the road and hiding but it was pointless; they had already seen him. He lowered his head and continued walking. The convoy slowed as it approached him. Riley had heard of gangs taking over the highways, and he knew he would have to deal with one of them.

The astro-bikes circled him, hovering about two feet above the ground. The bikes’ engines slowed, and they lowered onto the ground on four legs. The other vehicles stopped around Riley. In seconds, Riley had seven heavily armed men surrounding him, shirtless and muscular. Each of the men wielded a Reaper 100 assault rifle with armor-piercing bullets. Riley assessed them. It wasn’t the first time he had encountered a gang of bodybuilders who thought they were tougher than they were.

One of the men approached Riley. He had a pink mohawk and too many body piercings to count. He was tall and slim, with hands the size of Riley’s head.

The man looked down at Riley. “Ain’t very smart walking this road alone, are you? Especially unarmed.” He circled Riley as he spoke. “No guns, no knife, nothing to protect you. You must be brave or stupid. Maybe both.” The man looked back at his friends, who laughed.

Riley didn’t respond.

“The name’s Gideon Hawk but my friends call me Hawk. Where are you headed, buddy?”

Riley looked at the others. “Fort Knox.”

“Fort Knox?” Hawk echoed, exasperated. “Have you got a death wish or something? That place is overrun. Well, doesn’t matter now. Get in the truck.”

“Not unless you’re going to Fort Knox.”

Hawk frowned. “Haven’t you heard?” He poked Riley in the chest. “We rule these roads now. Anyone who wants to use them must bow to the will of the Hawk.” Hawk stuck out his tongue as his friends cheered.

Riley looked toward the back of the truck. The wind blew the tarp open far enough that he could see the people sitting inside. He took a quick headcount. There were ten standing outside the vehicles and two watching from the driver seats of their vehicles. The person standing near the back of the truck was thin, with a buzz cut. Riley wasn’t sure if they were female or male. A dozen low-life linebackers, he thought.

Riley shrugged and climbed into the truck. The gang closed the tarp behind him. He quickly counted the captives and found that there were twenty-three, twenty-four including him. Some were sitting, others standing. They were mostly youths and women, with a few elders and some children. A metal bar ran along the wall on both sides. The standing captives held onto it for support. Riley grabbed the bar with both hands and looked through the small opening in the tarp. The truck’s engine powered up, and they started moving.

They had been moving for less than ten minutes when they heard the roar of a vilis ahead of them, in the distance. The convoy immediately stopped and the captives looked at each other with panicked eyes. Hawk led them off the road to put some distance between them and the vilis. After driving offroad for about an hour, they came to a massive split in the ground. It stretched for miles in both directions, and there was no getting around it. The only way across was a small wooden bridge, clearly intended for people rather than vehicles. The gang members left their vehicles and argued about what to do. Eventually, they agreed to cross on foot, as they were already close to their destination, and to return to their vehicles later.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The gang ordered the twenty-four captives out of the truck and lined them up.

“Listen good,” Hawk barked. “You get smart, you die. You get slow, even if it’s to piss or shit, you die. If you open your mouth to speak, you die.”

Hawk led the way, with four members of the gang following right behind him. The twenty-four prisoners followed, with the seven other gang members forcefully driving them on. Riley made sure he was last in the line. As they carefully crossed the bridge in single file, Riley approached the gang member with a frail physique. He couldn’t have been older than twenty.

“Hey, Chad,” Riley whispered.

The kid glared at Riley. “My name ain’t Chad, it’s Ben. And don’t talk to me.”

Riley backed off and left Ben alone for a while. When they were halfway across the bridge, he spoke to him again. “Where are you taking us?” Riley whispered.

Ben glanced back at the armed men behind them. One of the gang members was watching them closely. Ben looked at Riley and struck him in the ribs with the butt of his rifle.

Riley barely flinched and kept walking.

Ben whispered. “Sorry, I had to do that. If I’m not one of them, I’m one of you.”

Riley gave a slight nod of acknowledgment and continued walking without a word.

Ben watched Riley for a while. He could tell Riley wasn’t like the rest of the captives. Riley looked dangerous, even if he was trying not to. “Look,” Ben explained, “there’s a man across the river. He pays top green for people. I don’t know what for. All we know is, we sell people to him and we never see them again. Never.”

Riley stayed silent. As soon as they were off the bridge, he found his way to Hawk and stood in front of him.

Hawk had a wicked grin. “Is there something I can help you with, handsome?” he joked.

“You trade people for money,” said Riley. “I know somewhere you can find more people than you’ll know to do with.”

Hawk laughed. “Let me guess, Fort Knox?”

Riley shook his head. “There’s a town to the west. They’re thriving, they have women and children. Valuable people. I’ll take you there if you let me join you.”

“Is that so?” Hawk snorted as he brought his face closer to Riley’s. “What’s keeping me from chopping your arm off and making you tell me? See, I don’t like your face or your attitude, and that makes me want to kill your ass.” Hawk grabbed Riley by the jaw. “Are you going to tell me or do I need to cut it out of you?”

Riley frowned. “The Grand Umbre, twelve kilometers north of where you found me.”

“Good boy,” Hawk gently slapped Riley’s cheek three times. He turned to his gang. “Skydiver, take your men and lead the cattle across the river. The rest of you are with me. We march for Grand Umbre.”

Skydiver, a muscular woman, called her men, including Ben. The five of them led the captives down the hill toward the river, while Hawk and the rest of his gang headed back toward the bridge.

One of the captives stepped close to Riley. “Hi,” she greeted. “I’m Alicia.”

Riley didn’t respond.

“I’ve seen enough out here to know a killer when I see one. We can’t let them take us across the river, and I think you can probably do something about that.”

Riley stepped away from Alicia, but she followed him.

“Please, if you can do something, you have to. I’ll do what I can to help, I swear on my children’s grave.”

Riley was affected by that. He looked at her from the corner of his eye and saw the desperation on her face. He took a deep breath, then continued following the captive in front of him. Alicia grabbed Riley’s wrist and pulled him back but quickly let go when she saw the look in his eye.

“I swear I’ll back you up,” she repeated.

“I’m not crossing the river,” said Riley, “and I don’t need you to back me up.”

Alicia nodded and backed away, with a hint of a smile on her face. They arrived at a narrow path along a rock face. Skydiver and two of her men stood in front of the captives, while two armed men stood behind them. Riley looked back and made eye contact with Ben. Ben saw the look in Riley’s eyes and looked afraid. Riley smiled at him, then looked forward again. He moved up the line until he was behind Skydiver and her guards. Riley twisted his hands until they slipped out of the cuffs and grabbed the head of the gang member nearest to him. Before they could react, Riley yanked the head back, immediately snapping his neck. He ripped out the man’s pistol and quickly shot the second man and Skydiver to death. The sound of gunfire made the captives dive on the ground, other than Ben and the other gang member. The gang member pointed his gun at Riley but Ben shot him in the back. As the man slumped to the ground, Ben dropped his gun. He raised his hands and dropped to his knees, keen to show that he was unarmed. Alicia approached Riley, looking at him with awe.

Riley passed her the gun he used to kill Skydiver. “Be faster,” he said. He looked along the river, then started walking back up the hill.

“Hey, what about Hawk?” Alicia asked. “We’re not safe if he’s alive.”

“You’re not safe either way,” said Riley, without stopping or looking back.

Riley ran back to the split and crossed the bridge to the other side. The truck and the two cars were already gone. Only the two astro-bikes remained. He sat on one, hit the power button, and the bike whirred back to life. It hovered above the ground as the wheels retracted into its body, and blue energy burst from the thrusters beneath. Riley grabbed the handles, lifted his foot off the ground, and twisted the throttle. The bike sped toward the road with a high-pitched whistling sound.

After four hours on the road, the astro-bike slowed as it ran out of energy and eventually stopped completely. Riley didn’t look for another vehicle; he had already reached his destination: the central city of Atheux Fortuna. Even at a distance, he could hear the roars of multiple vilis, and the constant thunder of bullets being unleashed. There were explosions across the city. Buildings were scorched beyond recognition and those that still stood were ablaze. Suddenly, the ground shook so fiercely that Riley fell. When he turned, he saw a vilis on its back, groaning in pain. Riley scrambled to his feet and leaped behind a pillar. Another vilis jumped in and landed near the injured vilis. It lowered its head to investigate and whined too. The standing vilis tried to help the injured vilis up, but it couldn’t stand. It raised its head and roared. Riley watched from behind the pillar, shaking and sweating. He had never been so close to a living vilis outside the safety of his mech. If either of the vilis suspected he was there, he was done for.

The crying vilis was moving less by the second. Something was very wrong with it. The standing vilis, which was larger, wrapped around it, looking down with its hollow eyes. Riley heard a crack behind him. He turned and saw the pillar behind him slowly cracking.

Riley prayed desperately for the pillar to hold, but it didn’t. It broke and lumps of concrete rained toward Riley. He had no choice but to jump out from behind the other pillar, narrowly avoiding being crushed. Riley was exposed, standing in the open. The noise drew the healthier vilis’ attention, and it looked straight at Riley.

“Shit!” Riley exclaimed.

The vilis stared at him for a while. Riley stood frozen with fear, staring at the creature with wide eyes, breathing heavily, with no idea what to do. He was going to die. There was nowhere to hide, and the vilis would only need to take a couple of steps to catch up and rip him apart. Riley’s heart pounded in his chest but the vilis turned its gaze away and looked down at its dying friend, partner, sibling, or whatever it was. Without hesitation, Riley turned and ran as fast as he could. He glanced back over his shoulder to see if the vilis was chasing him, but it wasn’t even looking at him. Even with its black, hollow eyes, Riley could see that it was sad. The vilis were known to be intelligent, but he had never seen one displaying sorrow or empathy before.

Riley continued walking between the debris until he encountered a group of mechs battling a horde of vilis. The vilis had surrounded them, but the creatures were hesitant to attack together. Some of the mechs were loading civilians and escaping while the others stood their ground against the vilis. One of the mechs fighting the vilis broke away from the others and ran into the smoke, launching explosives at the buildings. Another mech looked ready to follow it, but it stopped and continued shooting.

There was an explosion within the smoke. It released a mighty burst of bright blue energy that disintegrated every vilis into particles of light. Immediately after the blast, a shock wave tore through the surrounding buildings with such force that the ground rumbled under Riley’s feet. He threw himself under a huge chunk of concrete debris. The blast passed over him, destroying everything in its path. Several minutes passed before Riley could hear again. He rose out of the dust that was once the piece of concrete. His head was in agony.

Riley ran his hands over his clothes, trying to remove as much dust as possible. He reached into his pocket and took out a black box the size of a lighter. The box was cracked but it would still function. Riley opened the box and took out a tiny device, about the size of a grain of corn. Riley pressed the device against his neck and it burrowed in until it vanished without leaving a mark. Riley clenched his teeth as the device attached itself beneath his skin, burning like acid. When it was ready, he tapped the side of his neck to activate the hologram interface. He swiped through the options, then a layer of light shimmered over his skin. It slowly morphed into the face of an older, gray-haired man, completely different from Riley’s.

The shooting stopped and everything fell silent. With slow, careful steps, Riley gradually found his way out of the rubble. He saw Bethany clutching a brown journal to her chest as she walked back to the others. Isaac was holding a girl in his arms, covering her eyes to hide the corpses of those who hadn’t made it into a mech.

“Help! Help!” Riley cried as he staggered toward Isaac, clutching his side. Bethany stared at him, amazed that anyone else had survived. She rushed to him and threw one of his arms over her shoulder for support. Bethany helped Riley to the mech, where they loaded the survivors and headed for the extraction point