Concrete Chaos

by Earle, Michael-Scott

  I heard clicking from the street and peered over the trashcans to see the drone twitching on the pavement and dry firing its front machine gun. The thing looked like a broken black insect, and, as I ran closer to it, I realized that the gun on top of the platform was much larger than the big-ass rifles I'd seen the goons carry.

  "Are you okay?" I heard Emma ask over our shared phone line.

  "Yeah. I'm fine."

  "Stay back," Jae ordered. His voice sounded stressed, and I risked a glance up to the late-afternoon sky. I saw tiny black dots in the air spinning around each other. There was no way I could tell which two were ours, but, as I watched, one started to smoke and spin out of control.

  "I'm hit," Jae sighed. "Going down."

  "I've got them," Emma seethed, and another of the flying drones turned into a fucking fireball that, even from this distance, looked to be as big as a baseball.

  "How are Caleb and Pavel?"

  "Not good," Caleb's voice came across the gunshots. "I'm pinned upstairs."

  "Men out front are no longer threat, Boss." Pavel's voice sounded way too fucking happy. "I will assist Caleb in back of house."

  "They are coming up the stairs," Caleb gasped, and I heard more gunshots. "I'm heading out the window. Meet you out front, Pavel!"

  "Just got the last drone, I'll cover you at the front," Emma yelled, and I made a right turn onto the street that held the house and Funakoshi. It was still about two hundred yards away, and my stupid heavy boots weren't made for sprinting, but I forced my helmeted head to lean forward more and started pumping my legs as fast as I could fucking run.

  "Sue Zay."

  "Not now, Hogan!" I yelled.

  "Look up ahead! At the end of the street," Hogan warned me. I glanced up from the cracked and worn sidewalk past the solid of piece of rust that used to be a truck, Funakoshi, and the cream-colored executive pod that Robby and his asshole friends drove, and saw what my AI had warned me about.

  There were four motorcycles approaching. They were still about half a mile away down the long drag of the almost abandoned street, but they had to be a group of riders out for a Sunday pleasure jaunt, a gang of bosozokus looking for trouble, or more terrorist motherfuckers that were riding on motorcycles because the tall, bearded fucker thought we might get away again.

  "There are some motorcycle riders at the far side of the street!" I said to the group after Hogan unmuted me.

  "I see them. Do you think they are involved?" Jae asked.

  "Better safe than sorry," I reached Funakoshi at the same time as I saw Caleb jump out of a broken window on the second story of the house. Pavel ran out of the front door, and the big-ass Russian was fucking dripping blood everywhere. His face looked like he'd taken a bite out of a gallon can of red paint, and the thick liquid was dripping from the microphone of his headset. His eyes were wide, and he held his usual machetes in his giant mitts.

  Caleb ran to the edge of the roof, raised his shotgun in his right hand, grabbed onto the rain gutter with his left, and moved to swing himself down off the roof. His acrobatic feat might have been something straight out of a badass movie, but the gutter broke as soon as he put his weight on it, and the thin, tattooed man flipped onto his head and fell on top of the giant Russian. Somehow, Pavel didn't accidently slice and dice Caleb into bloody French fries, but they both tumbled onto the lawn in a heap of blood, limbs, and knives.

  One of the goons poked his head out of the opened window, and then his face-head-upper body exploded into a bunch of red mist a hundredth of a second before I heard the rapid machine gun fire from a drone hovering twenty feet above me. The entire front of the fucking house started to bounce like a zillion termites were having a pants-off-dance-off. Emma was sparing no bullet in her quest to cover Caleb's blotched escape, and I motioned for the two blood-covered men to run over to me.

  "Don't waste all your ammo!" Jae yelled.

  "Relax, I'm at one-quarter payload," Emma yelled back. I couldn't tell if she'd killed any of the other goons besides the first one to stick his head out the window, but, from the Swiss cheese appearance of the wood around the window, I was guessing that they were all deader than the fuckers that Pavel carved into pieces with his knives.

  "What about the motorcycles?" I jumped on top of Funakoshi, and he roared to life like an angry prostitute when I thumbed his switch.

  "Sooo... dark black suits, new-looking black bikes, and it looks like they have submachine guns on their backs. I'm gonna guess that they aren't looking for hugs. I'll cover; watch the window," Emma said across the line. I looked up and saw the drone above me pivot ninety degrees to my right and then lean toward the oncoming riders.

  "Get on my motorcycle." I gunned Funakoshi and spun him around with a screech across the street. Caleb had just untangled himself from Pavel's tree-trunk arms, and the two blood-covered men glanced at me from the front yard.

  "Yeah, both of you, we gotta go!" I heard gunfire behind me, and my rear camera showed the motorcycles split on the street to avoid the bullets from Emma's drone.

  Suddenly, the goddamn Russian was at my side and throwing his leg over Funakoshi. How the fuck was he so fast? Caleb hadn't even gotten off the grass of the lawn yet and was fucking around with the headset that wrapped around the back of his head. I noticed movement in the window, and I let out a yell for the tattooed man to watch out.

  I felt Pavel flex his giant arm behind me, and the goon at the window fell away with a fucking butcher knife sticking out of his forehead. Holy Joseph Smith on cocaine. That was like an eighty foot distance, and the scary-ass Russian hadn't even put his body into the throw.

  "Go, go, go, go!" Caleb screamed as soon as he jumped on the back metal of Funakoshi. There was no saddle back there for him to sit on, but I didn't think the three of us cared about the Russian polar-bear sandwich we were making. I still didn't want Caleb to fly off my bike, so I eased into the throttle and pushed Funakoshi down the street at mere mortal speeds. As soon as I made the turn I had run from before, I leaned my steed, and we zipped past the still-dry-firing drone.

  "Good news and bad news," Emma said with a sigh.

  "Ugh," Caleb and I both groaned at the same time.

  "I got one of the riders. Bad news is that I'm out of ammo, and the three are heading in your direction."

  "Let us off here, Girl With Motorcycle." Pavel actually started to step off Funakoshi before I'd even slowed. I slammed on the brakes so that he wouldn't lose his fucking leg and take all of us into a lay out, and the big-knife-wielding Polar Bear was already walking towards the house with the porch where I had taken refuge earlier.

  "We circle around after you lead riders away. Then we find tall hacker man with beard. If not dead, we get info from him and make him wish he was." Pavel laughed evilly, and I felt an adrenaline-killing shiver descend my spine.

  "Good idea, Pavel," Jae said over our line. Caleb was off the back of Funakoshi as soon as Pavel had taken a few steps, and the tattooed man gestured for me to keep riding.

  "Let them see you get away. Then lose them in the city." Caleb must have forgotten that the dickbags had guns, or maybe he remembered, but didn't care. The guy had just gone toe to toe with four armed men and lived.

  I figured that it would be useless to argue, so I twisted my right hand to speed away. As Caleb jumped behind the patio wall, I saw one of the motorcycle-riding goons turn a corner. I was about to make a right on a street, and I slowed so that the asshole could see my tail end whip around the corner. Then I opened Funakoshi's throttle and grabbed the clutch so that his engine would roar without really giving me any speed.

  "I think they saw you, Sue Zay," Jae said. "They are closing in."

  "Got it. I'm getting out of here," I said. Could those assholes shoot me from the back of their bikes? I guessed that they probably could, but wouldn't hit me. Of course, if they just threw a lot of bullets down the street after me, one might get lucky.

  "They went past us. We are heading back to the ho
use." Caleb's voice was winded, and I guessed that he was sprinting.

  "Sue Zay, the San Jose Police Department has been alerted to the gun fire, and they are dispatching units and drones," Hogan said, and I noticed that my line was muted so that the rest of Jae's team couldn't hear him.

  "Thanks, Hogan." I saw one of the motorcycles take the turn on the residential street behind me. These streets weren't my usual stomping ground, but I knew enough of the area to figure I could lose these guys once I pulled them away from the house. The main concern I had was keeping them close enough so that I didn't lose them right away, but also not getting turned into Sue Zay Swiss cheese.

  "Jae?" I asked and saw that Hogan had unmuted my line. It was really a shame that AI tech wasn't popular anymore. Sure, most thought the world regulations had reduced them to little more than pets, but it would have been a pain in the ass to manage all these phone-line-muting-switch-a-roos manually. Then again, not everyone was riding a motorcycle at three times the speed limit, dodging bullets, and trying to coordinate two groups of people thwarting terrorists.

  "They are right behind you, Sue Zay!" he shouted.

  "I see them. Cops are on the way," I said."

  "I just heard on the police band. Caleb and Pavel, what is the status? We have our eyes on Sue Zay," Jae said.

  "We approach house, Boss," Pavel said.

  "Be careful and be quick," Jae instructed.

  I saw the three motorcycles closing the distance behind me, and I debated turning out of the residential area I was in and heading to more of an industrial area. Most of the homes were deserted, but I still didn't want a stray bullet to go crashing through a window and kill someone. I could also head to the freeway and would probably lose them in a few seconds, but then they might decide to turn around and catch Caleb and Pavel at the bullet-ridden house.

  "Hogan." I saw him mute the line.

  "Yes?"

  "Keep this line muted and switch to the girls." He did as I instructed with a green flash around his picture.

  "I've got three fuckers with guns chasing me on motorcycles. Got any ideas?"

  "Fuck!" the three of them said.

  "Can you get them on the freeway? We can help you lose them." Kate Tee's voice shouted over the moans of the other girls.

  "How are you going to help me? They have guns. I can just lose them myself. I don't want your hot, little bods getting all filled with fucking led."

  "Don't be such a badass bitch, Bitch," Stacey Jones growled. "We can see you on our map. We'll fall in behind them. Get them on the 85 going south, and we might be able to fuck them up on the 101 change.

  "Alright." I cranked the throttle and leaned forward to keep Funakoshi's front end on the pavement. Then I drifted around a sharp corner and sped towards the freeway. After half a minute, I realized that I was losing the jack-offs behind me, and I slowed down to a fucking grandma's pace so they could catch up. They got about two hundred yards away, and the guy in front reached to his back to pull at his machine gun. I didn't even want to risk the guy getting a shot off at me, so I cranked up the speed again and left them at the next turn. The onramp for the 85 was up ahead, and I made sure that they saw me take the road.

  "I don't see the hacker's body," Caleb said over my helmet speakers. Then I heard an angry screech and some gunfire.

  "He is getting away. Fuck!" Caleb shouted.

  "I will catch," Pavel stated his intentions as if he was telling everyone he needed to use the rest room. I heard the big Russian's breath start to come out in ragged gasps and then a slam that sounded like it actually came from inside my own molars.

  "I am on pod. He will not escape," the Russian grunted.

  "Sue Zay, I'm taking our drone off you to follow Pavel. Buy us some time, but don't put yourself at risk. Caleb, I'm driving the car and trying to get you," Jae said.

  "Oh fuck, Jae is driving," Caleb snorted. The comment seemed really out of place given the bullets and death that were all around these fuckers. Was it possible that they were just so used to people shooting at them that they could joke about it?

  "Just so you all know, my drone's battery took a hit in the dog fight. I'm running out of juice. Might only have five more minutes," Emma informed.

  "Okay, do what you can," Jae said.

  "Hogan, switch my audio around when I need it, okay?" I thought about my girls and realized I needed their advice to get out of this mess.

  "I'm already doing that, Sue Zay," Hogan confirmed.

  "I know. Keep doing a good job of it, partner."

  "Bitches, I'm going to be at the 101 in a minute." I left a pause after I said 'bitches' so that Hogan knew which phone lines to switch.

  "We are twenty or so car lengths behind them and hiding behind some trucks," Xiu Mei's voice was a meditative calm.

  "Those are KRISS DIVOT model fifty-caliber, gas-compensated, delayed-blowback submachine guns with flash-suppressing barrels. They are accurate to almost a hundred yards," Kate Tee let out a long whistle.

  "Ummm, how the fuck do you know that?" I asked, and my stomach dropped at the 'hundred yards' comment.

  "I am Muslim," Kate Tee laughed.

  "They aren't going to shoot us in the middle of traffic on a Sunday evening? Are they?" Stacey Jones asked. The fear was apparent in her voice.

  "These guys just blew up a chunk of San Bruno and murdered hundreds of people. If they think we stole their computer, then they are probably more than happy to execute a bunch of biker bitches," I said.

  "Ahhhh!" Pavel sighed loudly on my line, and I heard gunshots. "Boss, I had to get off car. Man With Beard shot at me."

  "We're right here. Get in. Jae, I'm fucking driving now. We are going to catch this fucker," Caleb yelled, and I heard the muffled noise of the Jae and Caleb trying to change seats in the car.

  "We could just rush them from behind and maybe knock them over?" Kate Tee suggested.

  "If they have rear cameras on their helmets, they will see us," Stacey Jones said.

  "I can just outrace them. We don't need to do anything. These guys aren't that good. Here comes the 101. I'm taking it south. I'll just hit it when they follow me to-"

  "Sue Zay, we need you again," Jae said over my headset.

  "Morgan Hill, and we'll flip back and lose them." I finished my sentence to the girls.

  "Jae, what do you need?"

  "We are losing this guy. His car seems to have some upgrades that ours doesn't," Jae said calmly.

  "No, he's just a better driver than Caleb. This car is fucking awesome," Emma said. "I'm almost out of batteries. I can't follow him with my drone for much longer. We are going to lose him." I heard tires sequel through my phone line, and I just imagined the four of them in the big executive pod racing down the streets after the tall fucker.

  "I'll try to drop these fuckers and then come back." As soon as I said the words, I knew it was going to be tough. When these goons lost sight of me, they would just high tail it back to escort the bearded hacker. Then they would find me again, and I'd be at the mercy of the speed that the tall fucker was driving.

  What I really needed to do was fuck these guys up so that they couldn't come after me anymore. But how was I going to do that? I didn't have a gun, or even know how to shoot. All I could do was ride my motorcycle like a fucking goddess.

  "Alright, Bitches, I have a really stupid plan."

  "Oh, Holy Father. What are you going to do?"

  "I'm going to just turn around, ride past them, and knock one off. If they follow me, then they'll have to head straight into traffic." The plan sounded so fucking stupid when I said it out loud.

  "Sue Zay, the chance of you getting killed riding the wrong way on the 101 is extremely high. Self-driving cars cannot avoid you at your usual speed. If you are coming at them, then they will have even less time to avoid you," Hogan's voice was next to pleading.

  "Listen to Hogan, this is way too fucking bosozoku, even for you," Xiu Mei said.

  "No time to think, I'm
just going to do this. If you bitches want to help, then hang on your right side. Pinch them between us, and I'll aim for the one closest to the fast lane. You three take out the others." I felt my heart start to pump in my ears, and the freeway began to slow. I needed to do this or Jae would lose that tall fucker with the beard. Yeah, we had the jerk-off's computer, but we couldn't let the asshole get away after killing all these people. And what if he had the software stored somewhere else? He could just set his plans into motion again, or even figure out who I was and come after me later. I needed to end this, or my life and the lives of hundreds of others would be in danger.

  "No, Sue Zay!" Hogan's Aussie voice pronounced the word 'no' with the added 'a' sound before the 'o.' I loved the accent, it made me laugh, and, as I slammed on my front brakes and leaned forward on Funakoshi, I wondered if I would ever hear him talk again.

  My giant motorcycle leaned forward with my weight and the pressure of the momentum on his front wheel. I'd done this stunt half a zillion times, but never going this fast, on a busy freeway, and with three gun-toting fuckers chasing me. It was all sorts of fucking stupid, but, if I pulled the whole sequence off, I'd be able to wreck these assholes and help Jae.

  Funakoshi's rear wheel continued to climb as I contemplated my next few seconds of existence, and my body rode up with it till I was almost pushing down on my handlebars vertically. Then I twisted my hips sideways to bring the rear end of the ancient motorcycle around to face the direction I had been going.

  "Fuuuuucccckkkkkk!" I moaned as I squeezed my ass, stomach, chest, arms, and fucking vagina as hard as I could to bring Funakoshi around. He floated over while I balanced on the front wheel, but the last few inches of spin wouldn't play out until I set the rear wheel straight, and I was all twisted now like a 'v' floating on the front wheel.

  I took a deep breath and threw the back wheel down while I leaned into it as hard as I fucking could so that the weight would let the front wheel pick up a few inches.