Warden 1

by Isaac Hooke

  As the rampage continued, Rhea was forced to let go, lest she be torn from the wall as well—with no guarantee her body would arrive in one piece.

  She fell the remaining meters to the surface below and hit hard, landing on the rooftop of a partially collapsed lean-to. When she impacted, the lean-to completely caved under her.

  She pushed herself up from the rubble and performed a quick damage check. All systems were still fully operational, including every servo, however she had taken some bad dents in her left arm that limited mobility. She could work around it.

  She spared a moment to take in her surroundings. She was surrounded by the wreckage of lean-tos, which hid her from the view of the Hydras rampaging nearby—just as long as she remained crouched. The base of Aradne’s wall was directly behind her. She saw others cowering behind the ruins nearby. Men and women of all ages. Some, including the children, had recently been climbing, judging from the strips of cloth wrapped around their hands. None of them dared move, not while the bioweapons scavenged the debris nearby, looking for them.

  Rhea ducked as a Hydra’s long, taloned paw swiped past overhead, scraping off a man who had tried climbing again.

  She wasn’t going to be climbing that wall anytime soon.

  So much for choosing two more people to rescue.

  She noticed a woman huddling behind the ruins of the adjacent lean-to. The woman was staring at Rhea, but quickly looked away when their eyes met, tilting her upper body as she did so, revealing an infant strapped to her back. Rhea was amazed that the baby was staying so quiet, given what was happening. Perhaps the infant had already exhausted all of its tears.

  The woman was a Robo, with two extra robotic appendages attached to her elbows; those extra arms would aid greatly in climbing, the powerful fingers enlarging any nooks and crannies she found in the metal, just as Rhea’s had done.

  Rhea crawled over, reached into her pack, and offered the woman a weapon. The mother shook her head and said, very softly: “I don’t know how to use it.”

  Rhea nodded. Even if the woman had been familiar with the energy rifle, firing it would have only brought the Hydras down upon her and the others.

  Rhea stashed the rifle and instead asked: “You tried to climb?”

  Tears welled in the mother’s eyes. “It was our only hope. But now…”

  Rhea looked at the other grimy residents huddled nearby. Those who weren’t Robos wore gloves or had wrapped cloths around their hands to protect their fingers. They were ready to climb.

  But they couldn’t.

  Rhea turned her attention to the debris beside her and gazed past it at the bioweapons scavenging through the ruins, searching for survivors. They were driven as much by scent as sight and sound, and Rhea knew it wouldn’t take them long to ferret out those in hiding. Sure enough, every now and then a scream—cut short—indicated the Hydras had found another. Eventually they would make their way to Rhea, and the others hiding next to the wall.

  She couldn’t help the anger that was building inside her as she watched those multiple, leonine heads bob up and down. The creatures were no longer beautiful in any way. And not just because their heads had become grotesque, the manes matted in the red blood of their victims. No, these Hydras were creatures of pure evil. Killing indiscriminately, not because they needed food, but because they were born to it.

  “I’m going to draw them away,” Rhea told the woman with more confidence than she felt. “When I do, start climbing.”

  She withdrew her pistol and rose to a crouch. She made her way carefully over the debris, heading toward the closest Hydra. The broken metal of a lean-to creaked beneath her, and she dove into the aisle formed between two walls when one of those heads turned to look at her. She crawled forward hastily, emerging at the far side of the aisle, and stood up, turning toward the Hydra. She stood directly behind it. That tail waved to and fro, the stinging tentacles sweeping the air menacingly each time. She aimed just underneath the tail, targeting a dark, sphincter-like region that could only be the anus.

  She fired.

  The creature leaped up with a howl. Well, that was the best reaction she’d seen yet to an energy bolt impact, though it only seemed to anger the beast: all five heads turned around as one and darted directly toward her.

  She bounded forward, ducking underneath the tail. As she passed, she fired again at the anus, causing another screech. She dodged a kick from one of those legs and rolled underneath the underbelly, landing on a crushed cargo container that was once someone’s home.

  That underbelly came crashing down in an attempt to trample her, but she rolled to the side, sliding over the debris, and narrowly darted out from underneath. She clambered to her feet, only to have to dodge again as those stinging tentacles sliced toward her.

  A tendril struck her ankle, ripping away a portion of the exterior shell. She got lucky: it hadn’t hit the servo within.

  She scrambled across the ruins of Rust Town, leaping between and over broken cargo containers and collapsed lean-tos.

  The commotion attracted the attention of other nearby Hydras, and as she darted away, they too joined in the hunt, drawn from the wall. Others beyond them were also turning away from their rummaging, eager to get in on the action.

  Good. Let them all chase me.

  She only hoped the woman, and those with her, would use the opportunity to climb.

  The creatures bashed aside or crushed any debris in their path, and rapidly bore down upon Rhea.

  A Hydra closed. One of its heads plunged toward her—

  She leaped up, somersaulting as she did so, and landed on top of the head. She fired into the flesh as she raced down the neck toward the main body, though the impacts caused only soot marks. Other heads on the same creature lunged toward her, trying to rip her away, but she ducked, and leaped, and dodged.

  She reached the creature’s main body.

  Two more Hydras rushed in from the left and right, headed directly for the bioweapon beneath her. She leaped over their incoming heads—two on the left, three on the right—and while she was still in the air, the two Hydras smashed into the body of the first.

  She landed on one of the newcomer’s heads and raced toward its body as it collapsed, stunned by the impact. More bioweapons tried to tackle her, and she avoided them, too, leaving behind a growing pile of Hydra bodies behind her.

  By the time she had cleared the lot of them, twenty Hydras lay scattered behind her, many of them stacked one atop the other.

  More bioweapons were coming in from all sides, but she had at least a few seconds before the closest arrived.

  She risked at a glance at the wall. All of the bioweapons had been drawn away, and a few of the braver residents had begun climbing once more.

  At least I’m not doing this for nothing.

  She spotted a group of men and women hiding behind a series of dented cargo containers not far from her. There were maybe twenty of them, all spread out. Burly sorts, armed with rifles. Gang members, perhaps.

  “We have to fight!” she yelled at them. “Buy time for the others to climb!”

  Some shook their heads. Others looked down in shame. None moved to aid her.

  “Fight, you bastards!” she implored. “Keep them from the wall! I can’t do this alone!”

  They did not fight. They merely crouched lower like the cowards they were.

  The next group of Hydras came in. Once again, she vaulted onto the closest head as it came for her, but the creature was quick, and twisted its other necks toward her; she was forced to leap off. She latched onto the mane beneath an incoming head and swung to the right, landing on the back of another bioweapon. She raced across its scales, dodging to and fro as more bioweapons smashed into the body of this one and tried to snatch her up in their many maws. A tentacled tail came sweeping down upon her, and she leaped, twisting as she did so, narrowly avoiding a hit from those deadly stingers. She landed underneath the base of the tail and latched on with her free h
and, swinging her body and unleashing a shot into its butt for good measure before she let go.

  She dropped to the debris, but more Hydras were already bearing down upon her. Everywhere she turned, giant feet tried to trample her, taloned forelimbs attempted to dismember her, razor-sharp teeth strove to snatch her, stinging tentacles endeavored to whip her. She dodged all of these as best as she was able, but there were just too many of them: no matter where she fled, always death awaited, only one small mistake away.

  As she escaped the latest pair of snapping jaws, sure enough she made a miscalculation and dodged into a space that had looked clear a moment ago but was now occupied by an incoming Hydra head. She continued forward, narrowly avoiding the deadly maws, but was still struck by a portion of the neck, which sent her flying.

  She hit a second Hydra in midair, a glancing blow that sent her twisting sideways, and she landed on a lean-to several meters away. A third Hydra immediately dove at her, trying to get at her before all the others: it hit the ground and slid across the debris, its heads drilling a path through the rubble and sending pieces of metal flying away on all sides.

  Rhea got up just in time, but the creature managed to swat her with one of its forelimbs anyway, and just barely missed her with the talon portion. The joint still struck her, and once more she was sent flying: the impact knocked her clear of the latest group.

  She landed hard on a partially intact lean-to, and when she got up, it collapsed underneath her. A portion of the caved roof slammed into her leg, pinning her.

  She tried to lift the metal free, but she’d been pinned at an unlucky angle and couldn’t get the leverage she needed.

  A Hydra came in eagerly.

  30

  Rhea struggled to lift the metal that constrained her, but it was useless. She wasn’t getting out, not in time.

  That leonine head closed eagerly, saliva dripping onto the human blood that tainted its mane.

  But then a man leaped down to stand before her, directly in the path of the Hydra. He wore a long gray cloak, or perhaps it was a cape. She couldn’t see his face, as his hood was raised, and his back was to her.

  He fired a harpoon weapon, which struck the incoming creature and lodged within its flesh. Then he retracted the cord with some built-in, motor-driven winch; the end remained firmly attached to the Hydra, so that he was lifted into the air and pulled toward the creature at a frenetic pace.

  The end tore free before he arrived and snapped inside the harpoon’s base. He pointed it at another slithering neck while still in midair and fired. When the tip impacted, once again he reeled himself in, and ripped through the air in another direction, narrowly avoiding the jaws that came for him.

  He repeated the process until he reached the Hydra’s back; at that point, he used the harpoon to swing across to another bioweapon. He continued making his way from back to back like that, steadily drawing the creatures away from her. The confused Hydras probably thought the man was her, considering how readily they’d abandoned Rhea. Then again, maybe they were simply attracted to anything that moved.

  She received a transmission.

  “Couldn’t very well let one of my students die in front of me,” came a familiar voice.

  “Bardain!” she said.

  “Yes,” he replied. “Help should be arriving shortly.”

  Rhea worked on lifting the rooftop piece, but still couldn’t dislodge it. A moment later a humanoid robot crawled through the debris and reached her side. It attempted to hoist the metal piece from her leg, but had some difficulty, as several other collapsed sections weighed it down.

  The robot repositioned for a better grip and tried again. The metal lifted by a few millimeters: enough for Rhea to slide free. As soon as her leg was out, the robot released the piece and the rooftop collapsed.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  The robot inclined its head.

  She reached into her pack and retrieved one of the weapons she hadn’t given out yet. She tossed it to the robot. “Do your part.”

  Rhea clambered on top of the collapsed lean-to and gazed out across the rubble. She spotted Bardain immediately. He was still moving between the Hydras with his harpoon, and narrowly dodging their deadly blows.

  She wasn’t sure if he was still within communications range, but a quick glance at the upper right of her HUD revealed an active network icon. The Hydras had missed the communications towers in this section of the settlement, then, allowing her to piggyback upon the wireless network.

  “We don’t have to win,” Rhea sent Bardain as she ran through the rubble toward him. “We just have to buy the climbers time.”

  “I probably won’t be climbing that wall anyway,” Bardain agreed.

  “Yeah, you don’t have to,” Rhea sent. “Not with that harpoon.”

  “I actually meant, I doubt I’ll survive,” Bardain corrected.

  She opened fire, trying to draw some of the Hydras away from him. It didn’t quite work—she attracted another group of bioweapons from a nearby neighborhood instead. But that was fine, as it meant less Hydras rummaging for residents.

  Bardain’s robot followed close behind her, but then it swerved away, drawing off some of the Hydras racing toward Rhea.

  “We have to make them collide with one another,” Rhea sent. “It’s a strategy that worked well for us in the Outlands. Let’s converge here.”

  She marked a waypoint that was roughly in the center between herself, the robot, and Bardain.

  “I can do that,” Bardain transmitted.

  “As I,” the robot sent.

  Rhea waited until she was only fifty meters from the closest Hydras, then she turned toward the waypoint. The bioweapons rapidly closed with her.

  She glanced at Bardain and his robot. They, too, were drawing bioweapons toward the waypoint.

  Rhea reached Bardain and continued past him. She rolled to the ground, dodging between those stampeding feet. She was nearly crushed several times, but then she was past them.

  She turned around to observe her handiwork.

  Several of the Hydras had piled one atop the other, though a few had managed to navigate past their brethren. Two of them were continuing to head straight for Rhea.

  But then Bardain appeared on the back of one of them, and he harpooned to the neighboring Hydra, causing the first to slam into the second.

  Rhea had a moment of respite and was about to take cover behind a series of collapse cargo containers, when a group of seven people stood from the rubble. They were Robos, with augmented legs. Perfect for dodging the bioweapons. Some were armed with rifles or pistols—probably members of a criminal gang.

  Though their eyes were filled with fear, there was also determination in them.

  Rhea nodded. They were ready to help.

  She tossed those who were unarmed some of her spare weapons. “Spread out!”

  More able people joined in as she continued drawing creatures away from the wall, and she handed out the rest of her spare weapons.

  “They don’t like it when you target their butts,” she transmitted.

  Behind her, the settlement churned with chaos. Residents, mostly Robos, were joined by actual robots, who together used their bodies as bait. They led the Hydras from the wall, and often tried to make the creatures crash into one another, with varying degrees of success. Rhea coordinated with the fighters by recognizing hotspots and setting suggested waypoints. Unfortunately, for every two Hydras they managed to entangle, there were always three more—it felt like there was an endless supply of them. The commotion was obviously drawing in bioweapons from all sides of the settlement, which was good in a way because it meant she and the others were distracting the creatures from their task, giving the climbers much needed time, but also bad, because Rhea knew that she, and those with her, probably weren’t going to survive.

  The Hunter Killers had stopped trying to intervene, and Aradne’s turrets had ceased firing—the security forces apparently wanted to avoid
shooting civilians.

  Still trying to pretend they care, are they? Or just afraid of a public relations nightmare?

  Probably too late for the latter…

  One particularly nasty bioweapon came at her. The biggest, baddest Hydra she’d seen yet. She fled down an aisle of rubble, trying to draw the creature toward the closest hotspot of activity, hoping for a collision.

  “Send some bioweapons my way,” Rhea transmitted.

  Bardain and his robot rushed to intercept her; they passed by only ten meters to her left, bringing with them two Hydras. Rhea weaved between those giant feet, and when the creatures were past, she glanced over her shoulder.

  The big Hydra simply batted aside the two bioweapons in its path.

  The creature was quickly overtaking her, so she turned around and raced toward the Hydra instead. Those heads came down at her, but she dodged them, and they smashed into the asphalt, sending up fragments. She leaped between the slicing forelimbs, so that she was underneath the creature. It tried to crush her by dropping, which was a common tactic she was used to by then, and she was forced to roll to the side, coming out on the right flank.

  The Hydra didn’t know where she was, so she used that to leap onto its rib area. She climbed, scrambling upward until she reached its back.

  That tentacled tail came in, and she was forced to somersault out of the way. Its heads twisted back, trying to snatch her off, and she was forced to dodge those jaws.

  Two more Hydras struck the distracted creature from the right. They crashed into its flank at the same time, and their combined momentum managed to topple the creature. Rhea leaped free, rolling into the rubble nearby.

  The big Hydra shook off the blow and stood up. It batted aside the two bioweapons that had struck it, and then turned toward Rhea once more.

  But then it started rearing, and those heads turned upon itself, striking at unseen targets on its back. It stumbled upon a broken heap of cargo containers and staggered sideways, crashing into one of the other two nearby bioweapons, which had only just recovered and was trying to get up.