Lawrence ran. Old Fart peered around the corner. Two security guards were coming up fast—already only about two meters away. Old Fart fired, hitting one, and ducked back again. A shot hit the corner of the building next to his head, showering him in tiny chunks of dust and debris. He reached around the corner, shooting blindly for the first few pulls of the trigger, then leaning out to take aim for some more. The second guard was on the ground but still shooting. Old Fart pulled his head back as another shot hit the wall, aiming his own weapon from memory.
“He’s down, sir!” Lawrence yelled. “You got him. Dok! Come this way!”
Dok took off with the last remaining Subject running alongside him. They reached Lawrence, who had tipped over a concrete bench and was aiming a rifle over it. “Come on, Old Fart, sir!”
Old Fart ran. Lawrence fired two shots, which were answered by return fire from behind Old Fart. Lawrence kept firing, over and over, until the shooting behind Old Fart stopped. Old Fart flung himself over the bench. The Subject had taken up a position next to Lawrence, and now both were aiming toward the building from which they had just come. “I’ll …” He panted a few times and cleared his throat. “I’ll aim in the other direction. There will be more of them soon.”
Outside the CBD
The Unnamed were rapidly approaching, picking off Subjects wherever they were exposed. Their three-shot bursts echoed down the street.
Suddenly, gunshots sounded at the other end of the block.
“Oh, shit,” Eadie said. “Now from that way, too?”
“No,” said Rosa. “Not them. Look!”
A mass of Subjects came toward them, still far enough away to appear as though they were all wrapped in a single mildew-stained rag. They carried weapons—maybe two or three guns per Subject—and fired at random intervals.
Subjects dropped from the crowd on all sides as the UE kept shooting, but still they advanced, following one in front who stood a head taller and walked more purposefully than the shuffling Subjects.
“Arrulfo leads them,” Rosa said. “He bring them to you!”
Eadie nodded. “Thousands of them. He must’ve brought every last Subject.”
Thirty-Fifth Street
“Jakeel’s gone,” Daiss said. “And I’m injured. Shoulder wound. I’m losing blood—I’ll need a synthesizer right away.”
“Acknowledged,” the dispatcher said.
“Brother Daiss? This is Brother Atkins.” The disembodied voice inside Daiss’s head was that of the man leading the entire Task Force on this mission. “We’ve engaged the development. How are you doing?”
Daiss struggled down a few more stairs, leaving streaks of blood along the wall as he slid around a landing. “Holding together, Brother. I was shot by precise return fire. The protest footage might have shown vagrants, but these are definitely Fiends. They’re well-armed and they know how to fight.”
“Well, we’re giving them a chase, now, Brother Daiss. They’ve fired back a couple of times and we’ve lost a few good Brothers and Sisters, but they’re mostly running scared. We’re picking them off when we can, but they have a way of disappearing as soon as we start to draw a bead on them.”
“Dispatch!” Daiss said. “I’m on the ground floor, waiting for that synthesizer. Brother Atkins, I’m down but not out.”
The bloody street outside the CBD
The mass of Subjects reached Eadie and joined with her original “protesters.” The united mob flowed down the street, firing at any Unnamed who risked taking a shot. The Prophet had come up with them, and was now calmly strolling along as if it were an ordinary day.
“We can’t go far like this,” Arrulfo said. “We must get back below the ground very soon.”
“Yes, of course,” Eadie said. “We’ll push them just a little and get ourselves some space, and then it’s down the manholes.”
Arrulfo handed her the other Federal weapon they had collected the night Kel was killed. “I use the rifle so you take this one.”
The Unnamed were only firing from far up the street now. The crowd of Subjects sped up. Eadie shook her head, watching her Subjects chase the trained, enhanced, and equipped corporate army back out of the Zone.
Suddenly she was on the ground, the gravel abrading the scar on her face. An explosion behind her had knocked her over. More explosions engulfed the Subjects in flames. Three-shot bursts sounded from every direction.
“The roofs!” Arrulfo said. He shot at the rooftops where Unnamed were lined up to shoot and lob firebombs into the crowd. Eadie swept a short burst upward and across two Unnamed who were taking aim.
Arrulfo collapsed next to her. Half of his neck was missing. She immediately stooped in an impulse to grab him, to try and drag him to a protected spot, but slowly she stood again. There was no way she could save him. She had to focus her efforts on the Subjects who still survived. They would follow her to safety if there was any to be found.
“This way!” Eadie yelled, running toward a wide, boxy building that had long ago lost its glass storefront windows. The remaining Subjects and protesters followed. Eadie braced herself against a concrete pillar, aiming out the front of the store with the Federal gun Arrulfo had brought.
On the CBD grounds
Lawrence should have marveled at the fact he was raiding the CBD with guns, or perhaps been stunned that he was shooting and killing at all. At least he should have feared for his life. Instead, he felt more clear-headed than he had ever felt before, aiming from one target to another, to another, with clean trigger pulls and satisfying kicks from the rifle. Two more guards fell before the rest retreated to better cover.
“They have thirty or forty more guards there,” Old Fart said. “All much better armed than we are. And they’re being replaced as fast as—”
Old Fart’s head slammed against the edge of the bench as black-sleeved hands ripped their guns away. Unnamed swarmed around the four of them from behind, tackling them to the ground. Dok, the Subject, and Old Fart were all immobilized, lying face down with guns leveled at their heads. A huge Unnamed laced fingers through Lawrence’s hair and pulled him to his knees, punching him repeatedly in the face.
Inside the old store
Another three-shot burst tore through the crowd of Subjects and protesters, the wet tearing of its impact on flesh more audible at this range than the gun’s report. It was answered by fire from inside the store but the number of shots returned each time was getting smaller.
“No way out back door!” Rosa said. “Sinnombres tambien.”
“Great.”
Another burst ripped through Eadie’s followers, this time answered by controlled bursts of return fire.
From in here?
She turned, staring. Those shots had not come from her feeble, terrified Subjects.
“Geeeneral, it is—”
“Aughh!” Eadie flinched and the gun went off in her hand. The speaker guided her hand upward and away from his face so that it blew a door-sized hole in the ceiling above his shoulder. It was Dok’s patient, Brian, now with a samurai sword and topknot.
“Geeeneral,” he said, with that same long-exhaling voice he had used when she had last seen him. “It is an honor to serve you agaaain.” He released her hand, pointing out the front of the store with the bloody sword. “An exit strategy, if you please, Geeeneral.”
Up and down the street, Fiends appeared in doorways and on rooftops, flinging black-suited corpses to the ground.
Heading toward the CBD on foot
“There’s new information, Brothers and Sisters,” Atkins’ voice said. “It appears that they may … yes. It’s confirmed. They have joined with the girl and her vagrants.”
Daiss ran, pumping the Trident from side to side for speed, ignoring the residual pain in his newly repaired shoulder. “I’m coming, Zetas!” he said. “The girl is my case. Don’t let them slip back into the Zone!”
Atkins continued. “We’re re-engaging, this time from Trident range only. We ca
n thin them out before we have to come back within range of their weapons … starting to tighten the noose now … we’ve got them headed straight for the CBD fence.”
CBD
The Unnamed stopped punching Lawrence and flung him to the ground. She glared down at him, breathing hard and still clenching her fists.
Lawrence looked up at the young woman in the black suit. His swelling eyes widened as she swept a strand of blonde hair from her forehead.
“Ani?” he said.
She kicked him in the face. Unnamed Executives were required to be of preternatural size and strength, and his sister had been bulked up almost beyond recognition. Her leg was now as thick as both of Lawrence’s put together. She dropped to one knee and grabbed him by the throat, roughly pulling his face close to hers. Her voice was a low vibration between clenched teeth. “Do you know what you’ve put us through?” she said. “Do you know what you’ve done to our family? To our company?” She scowled, releasing his neck and shoving him backward. He landed on his elbows, barely managing to keep his head from hitting the ground. “Because of your selfish behavior, we’re at war with Ricker and all his Unnamed,” she said. “The office was destroyed. Our home was destroyed. And our mother has been permanently incapacitated. I’m sure you know what that means.”
He nodded, reaching up with a ragged sleeve to wipe blood from his mouth and nose. “Yes. I do know, Madam President.”
“Good. Our father saw your waitress friend on the news—before they cut off the live footage from the CBD cameras so as not to provide information to the terrorists. He suspected you might be involved in this mess and sent me to find out. You are to return with me immediately.”
Lawrence swallowed. “As you wish, Madam President.”
She slapped him, first with one heavy hand and then the other. “It’s as our father wishes. If it was up to me I’d leave you here to be shredded and recycled. Now get up and start walking. The others are watching the truck just outside the west gate.
“I can’t just leave my friends.”
“Oh? Would it be easier for you if they were dead?”
The bloody street
Another Subject exploded with a dull, sickening pop.
“What is that?” Eadie yelled.
Brian’s face was frozen in a steely frown. He released the dead Federal Agent’s hand and picked up the thick metal bracelet that had fallen when he had chopped it off. “A new Feederal weapon, Geeneral,” he said. He kicked the hand away and snatched the new gun from the ground, placing the bracelet around the handle. “One of these.”
There was another pop, and another. Fiends fired in random directions but there were no obvious targets.
“That’s the CBD fence!” Eadie said. “They’ve almost got us boxed in!”
“Hide, Geeneral,” Brian said. “Behind aanything. They cannot aaim at you if they cannot see you.”
Eadie spotted a shadowy entryway and forced herself as far back into its corner as she could. The nauseating pops and splatters grew increasingly frequent as more and more Feds arrived. Even Fiends were vanishing, along with chunks of brick and concrete from their eerily effective hiding places, but the Subjects had no talent for hiding. Perhaps only a quarter of them remained.
The battle to protect the General
Sato scanned the area but was unable to spot even one Federal Agent. The attack was apparently pressing from three sides, judging from the shapes of the craters created by the new weapons.
“Whaat should we do, Frontman Saaamurai?” Spiral asked.
Another explosion eliminated an Element who had been crouching behind a wall only a few meters away. Noticing that his sleeve felt wet, Sato looked down. A wedge of concrete as large as his head protruded from his ribcage. His legs buckled and he dropped slowly to the ground. He felt little sensation in this body and the pain was further dulled by Juice, but it was still intense enough to make the body shudder. He closed his eyes, visualizing the stone that was crushing his ribs and lungs. He put his hands around it and shoved, turning sideways as it fell next to him.
“Frontman Samurai? Are you … are you alive?”
Sato breathed deeply. Air whistled from the hole in his chest as he inhaled. He rose to his knees, gesturing for Spiral to help him up. He nodded. “I cannot die until my mission is complete.”
Automatic weapons sounded farther down the street. Sato peered cautiously around the corner. An Element unfaded in the street, too distant for his face to be recognizable. Sato laughed out loud, causing his chest to shudder uncontrollably.
“Look, Spiral! Do you seee him throowing the coins?”
“I do, Frontman Samurai! It’s Patrol Leader Coiner, for sure. He must have followed us.”
“Which means he will be veeery aangry with me,” Sato said. “It cannot bee helped.” He unfaded and let himself be seen, waving the sword over his head, turning to address the General when he was certain Coiner had seen.
“Bee preepared to run, General,” he called. He reached behind his back, removing from his belt three of the black discs his men had taken from the dead merchants. She nodded her understanding.
More Federal weapons boomed, followed by return fire, closer now, from Coiner’s Patrol. Sato turned the knob on one of the discs and hurled it at the fence. It exploded, blasting a small hole in the mesh. He turned the dial on another one, throwing it the same way. It blew the fence post apart, but electrified wire still hung above the opening he had made, swaying and sparking. He threw the last bomb but its explosion failed to damage the fence any further.
“You must go, General,” Sato said. “I will hold the fence for you.” He set the new weapon down and took only his sword.
Bleeding, hunched over, and whistling through his chest wound, he staggered over to the electric fence and lifted the hanging portion of mesh with his sword blade. The electricity did not reach him through the grip of rubber, string, and bone. He gestured to the opening beneath the blade. “Go now, General!” he said.
The General ducked under the wires. Her followers swarmed in from everywhere, crowding together to follow her through the hole. “Thank you, Brian,” she called from the other side.
The General ran, and what was left of her faithful but inadequate army struggled to keep up. Bodies of stragglers still fell with tremorous, sodden sounds as they made their way toward the nearest structures: the giant beetle-shaped office buildings that rose above everything on their stilt-like legs.
As the last of Eadie’s followers passed through the fence, Sato’s arm disappeared. The sword clattered to the ground.
“Spiiral!” Sato said, collapsing and rolling away from the open area. Spiral appeared and picked up the sword, presenting the grip to Sato’s remaining hand.
“Yes, sir?”
Sato swallowed, pointing toward the General with his blade. “My mission was always about her. Do you understand?” He paused, fighting for breath. “She is the key to everything. Take the Front through the fence. Coover her. She must be prootected at all costs. You command the Front in my aabsence.”
“Yes, Sir, Frontman Samurai,” Spiral said. “I understand.” Spiral smiled, showing his yellowed, broken teeth. “I always knew this must be about your instructions from Top Dog, sir. From those secret meetings you had. If Top Dog wants that girl protected, I will guide the Front in service of your mission.” Spiral stepped back from the growing pool of blood in which Sato now sat. “Thank you for teaching me the ways of honor, Frontman Samurai,” he said. He bowed awkwardly and faded.
24
Following Lawrence and his UE through the CBD
“Just keep walking,” Old Fart said.
“They’re gonna turn around and cut us down,” Dok said.
“They just want to take Lawrence. We’re not a threat to them. But CBD security has enough sense to leave blacksuits alone, so if we can stay close enough to Lawrence’s Unnamed, the security force will keep its distance.”
Dok glanced at Lawrenc
e, walking unarmed inside a pack of about ten or eleven Unnamed. The blonde one he had called “Ani” was walking behind him, shoving him ahead at random intervals. After so long in the tunnels Lawrence’s body resembled that of any Subject’s, skeletal and limp, and his form seemed to curl backwards around the woman’s giant hand with each push. His souvenir black jacket, now dusty and torn, flopped around him like a flag tangled to its pole. “We can’t follow them all the way out of the CBD,” Dok said. “The UE’ll never let that happen.”
“True. But at least we’ve gotten away from the security building now.”
The Subject with them began to hyperventilate. Dok put his hand behind the man’s back in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. “It’s all right. Hang in there, buddy. Cover your nose and mouth with your hands; imagine them blowing out like a balloon when you exhale, and see how far you can puff out that balloon. Try to take deeper breaths.” He turned to Old Fart. “Any idea where we should go?”
Old Fart started to shake his head. Then he stopped walking. “Yes.”
Dok followed his gaze. A bizarre battle was taking place near one of the giant office buildings. Eadie walked confidently upright among a core of thirty or so slouching, rag-draped Subjects. On all sides of this core he could see blurred, darting shadows and muzzle flashes, fighting outward. Even with his limited combat experience, it was obvious to Old Fart that those blurs would be stunningly hard to hit. Apparently Eadie’s training program had been effective, after all. Beneath the building they had been headed for was a large crowd of Unnamed, fighting against Eadie’s army from protected positions behind their trucks.
The Book of Eadie, Volume One of the Seventeen Trilogy Page 34