by Matt Ryan
“But something destroyed this place,” Poly pointed out, “and we’d be idiots to think whatever it is won’t destroy us.”
Another bird screeched from above. Joey turned his hand to block the sun and looked to the sky. Two birds now flew in a circular pattern. He squinted and the sun gleamed off one of the bird’s wings. What kind of birds were they?
“No te muevas!”
Joey didn’t see the man holding a wooden spear until it was too late, he was upon them. The idea of his spear against his gun seemed laughable, but the man had it pointed at Evelyn. “Easy. We’re just passing through.”
“Americans?” he asked, looking confused.
“Yes. Do you speak English?”
“Yes,” he said with a Chilean accent. “What are you doing here?”
Joey laughed. “I couldn’t explain it if I wanted to, but we are looking to get out of here, so if you can put that spear down and let us pass, we’d appreciate it.”
The man lowered his spear and licked his chapped lips. The dirt on his clothes matched the dirt on his face. It looked as if he hadn’t eaten a thing in months and the clothes he wore hung on him like a child who got into his dad’s closet. “You know a way out?”
“We do,” Joey said.
The birds screeched again.
“They’ve spotted us. It won’t be long until the cleaners come. Follow me, I’ve got a place we can hide.”
“I assure you, we can handle ourselves. But if you have any supplies we are in great need of water and food.”
“I have a few cans left. After they’re gone . . .”
“That’s fine, we’ll find our own.”
“No you won’t. I’ve procured everything from the remains of this city. You might be lucky to find a can a day.” He looked to the sky. “It won’t matter anyway, because they’ll be coming soon. Come with me or don’t, but I’m leaving.” Panic spread over his face.
“Maybe we should go with him,” Poly suggested. “Sharati did tell us to not trust the sky. We could use the supplies as well.”
“Fine. But if he gets all Ferrell on us, I’m shooting him,” Lucas said.
They followed the man down the street and then over several piles of rubble before getting to an exceptionally large pile that seemed to surround a cave in the ground.
“What’s your name?” Joey called after the man.
“Hector, but please hurry.” Hector jumped down from a large concrete block to a tiled floor.
Joey gazed down at the tile, maybe a public bathroom at one point. “I’ll go first. Get my back, Lucas.”
“You know it.”
Joey hopped down and landed on the white tile.
Hector fidgeted and kept looking to the sky. “Please, we must hurry.”
Behind Hector, Joey saw a long hallway. “What is this place?”
“A mall.”
The rest of Joey’s group got down into the bathroom and Hector rushed down the hall. “We have to get to the vault or they’ll find us.”
“Who?” Poly asked.
Hector looked as if she had asked the stupidest question ever, but ignored it as he jogged down the hall and pushed open a door leading into the mall. The ceiling had mostly collapsed and rays of sunlight found their way between the cracks, shining enough light to see. Jogging down the mall, they passed several stores. Joey wondered if they had a Jamba Juice or even a functioning drinking fountain.
The mall courtyard came to an abrupt stop as the rubble piled up so high it made for a natural barrier. Hector climbed over a few rocks and jumped down onto an old escalator. He trotted down the stairs. “Come on,” he called.
“Keep your weapons out,” Joey whispered to his group.
Evelyn giggled as Edith passed her down to Poly over the rocks. Joey stayed on the stairs and waited for his group to get over the small obstacles.
Down the stairs, the mall got much darker and smaller as much of the building had collapsed and buried most of the first floor.
“Right over here,” Hector said, pointing at a door at the end of the mall. He opened the door and Joey held his guns out, hoping his hands could still perform their magic, if needed.
Past the door, it looked much like the first hall they entered.
“Sharati is still out there,” Poly said. “Say what you will, but she’s helped us in the past.”
“She’s also tried to kill us twice.” Joey held up two fingers. They ran down the hall and into a security room. A bed lay in one corner and the long dead screens stared back at them in their blackness.
“Something about this room, I think it’s lined, but they can’t seem to find me in here,” Hector said lighting his candle. “Sorry for the mess. I didn’t think I’d see another human again.” He laughed. “I thought I was the last person on the entire planet.”
“What happened here?” Julie asked, switching her attention from her Panavice to Hector.
“Is that a tablet?”
“Yeah, sort of.”
“When I was just a niño, my mother and I would watch movies on something just like that. Before . . .” He looked at the ceiling.
Joey pegged his age at forty-five, but the gray dirt covered much of his face and clothes, so he could have gone a decade either way.
“You said you had some canned food, and maybe some water?” Lucas asked, as he adjusted Prudence.
“I have a few but to give them away would certainly mean my death. I never knew there were so many people left in the world.” He stared at Poly and then to Julie. “And you have a baby and another one on the way. Wherever you are must be better than here. You have to take me with you. I will bring along the food and I can show you the water, but I want to go.”
A loud pulse resonated through the building. Joey spread out his hands for balance and looked around as dust sprinkled down from the ceiling. “Earthquake?” he asked.
“It’s here, stay still.” Hector moved to the back wall and looked at the floor.
“What are you doing?” Joey asked as another pulse of sound blasted through the building. It sounded closer this time.
Hector opened his eyes, confused. “They’re coming.”
“Who?”
“Who are you?” Hector asked. When he didn’t get an answer, he huffed. “Get against a wall and clear your mind. They can sense thoughts.”
“I’m picking up something very powerful and it’s moving toward us,” Julie said.
“You guys need to get back and stay still.” Hector shot a worried look at Edith and Evelyn. “I’m sorry, I can’t help you.” He leaned against the wall and stared at the floor. A glazed look spread over his eyes.
“Hector,” Joey called. “Hector?” He snapped his fingers and waved his hand in front of his face.
The loud pulse sounded again. This time, Joey felt it going through his body and the mall shook, stirring up clouds of dust. “Let’s do what he says,” Joey said. “Get against the walls and clear your thoughts.”
They all picked a spot and leaned against it. Joey took deep breaths and tried to think of nothing while keeping his gun pointed at Hector.
Evelyn stared at the ceiling and then reached up to Edith’s face, rubbing her cheek and making a noise with her mouth
Evelyn. How could they expect a baby to clear her thoughts? Joey winced with each noise she made and gripped his gun. Another pulse shuddered through them and he tried his best not to think of his daughter and the danger coming. He closed his eyes and tried to send thoughts to Evelyn, to silence herself.
She went quiet and Joey opened his eyes. He realized the joy he felt and the wonder if she was indeed hearing his thoughts. He grimaced and realized his own thoughts were betraying them all. He stilled himself against the wall once again.
The pulse blasted, much closer this time.
“It’s too late,” Hector mumbled. “It’s the baby.”
“Hector, you’ve got to tell us what’s going on. We’re not from here,” Julie said.
>
Another pulse blasted through the mall. Joey and the others cringed and Evelyn cried out. The sound of Evelyn crying shook him more than the sound coming from directly above them now. She never cried.
“What do we do, Hector?” Julie asked.
“We die.” He leaned against the wall and took over his blank stare at the floor.
Joey rushed to the door and looked out into the mall. Dust stirred around and bits of concrete tumbled down a wall. Dust particle swirled around the beams of light shining through the sliver in the open roof. He searched the sky for what could possibly be making the humming sound. The ships from Vanar made a similar sound. But the sky held nothing. He looked back over his shoulder. Poly stood right behind him.
“What do you think it is?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Julie?”
“It’s something flying above. Its energy output is beyond anything I’ve ever seen. This isn’t anything Marcus has ever invented.”
“What does it do?”
“From what Hector said, it must read our thoughts and want to kill us.”
Joey pulled out his gun and stepped onto the tiled floors of the mall. Small pieces of concrete crunched under his feet as he stepped near a high-end woman’s boutique store. “Edith, stay by the door with Evelyn,” he instructed, before returning to look at the gaps in the ceiling.
Something black moved over one of the columns of light, casting a temporary shadow.
“You see that?” Lucas asked.
“Yeah. Julie, can you hack it?” Joey asked.
“Been trying to, but its software isn’t anything like I’ve ever seen. It’s more organic than mechanical. It keeps changing on me.”
“Lucas, I want you to—” The mall shook. Joey spread out, trying to balance himself. This wasn’t the pulse sound this time, it felt as if the ground under his feet was lifting.
“There’s a huge power surge coming from it. An impossible amount,” Julie screeched over the growing rumbling sound.
Sections of the roof peeled back, creating a gaping hole. The pieces of roof flew off into the sky and disappeared. More rubble lifted, making its way to the top of the mall like someone had put the collapse in reverse. A small piece flew by Joey’s head and shot out through the hole in the ceiling. The smaller bits around his feet rumbled on the ground and sprung out towards the hole in the ceiling. Larger chunks near the top lifted up and were carried off into the sky.
“We need to get out of here immediately,” Julie said staring at her Panavice.
The smaller pieces began to pelt off Joey’s body and he glanced back at Edith. She wrapped herself around Evelyn, protecting her from the debris. The sound of it all grew in volume and near the top, large chunks flew up into the sky as if a large vacuum had been turned on and was sucking out everything, yet the air felt still. A large portion of the roof tore off and revealed the object in the sky, not more than fifty feet above the mall. A black cube, maybe the size of a garbage truck, floated above and all the debris flew to it.
Edith screamed and Joey looked to her. Her arms were extended and Evelyn sat at the end of them. “Help me,” Edith pleaded, yet she could barely be heard over the cacophony of sounds. Joey rushed to her and pushed Evelyn back into her arms. He hugged them both, holding Evelyn to Edith’s chest as large bits pelted them. His foot began sliding on the tiled floor, pulling him closer to the rubble being lifted into the sky. Poly ran over and grabbed Joey’s hand.
“Do something,” Joey yelled struggling to keep hold of Edith and Evelyn. He felt the tug on his body growing with each second and the pieces or debris around them grew in size. Soon, they would be dead from contact of whatever that thing in the sky was.
Julie laid on the floor, pinning her Panavice to the ground. “I’ll send every nasty worm, virus, bot, and crusher I’ve got. It might buy us a few seconds.” She raised her finger and pushed the screen. The vacuum stopped and all the floating pieces crashed to the ground and around them. Joey held onto Evelyn and hoped to take the blow of any falling debris. One last piece of concrete tumbled down and then silence. His heavy breathing seemed loud and he let go of Edith and Evelyn.
“Get out of here,” Hector said, making a dash into the hall.
Joey pushed Edith and Poly after him. Julie and Lucas were already far ahead. At the end, they climbed over the rubble and straight out the hole in the roof. Outside the mall, they looked at the black cube floating just over them.
“What the hell is that?” Lucas asked.
“Come on, I know of another place,” Hector grimaced and ran down the backside of the rubble next to the mall.
Joey took Edith’s hand and helped her work her way down the rubble pile, not wasting a moment looking at the black object in the sky.
The humming sound reignited. Slow at first, but growing with each passing moment.
“Ay dios mio,” Hector said and ran down to the parking lot.
Joey trampled down the rubble, making sure Edith made it down safely.
Hector stood, staring at the ground, shaking his head. “Clear your thoughts. It’s our only chance.”
“If you knew how much explosive I have on these tips, you wouldn’t be saying that,” Lucas said, pulling three arrows out and pointing his bow at the cube.
“It’s powering up,” Julie called out.
“I’ll try and draw it away, you get up high enough so you can hit the freaking thing,” Joey said.
Lucas nodded and climbed up a pile of concrete, finding a solid place to stand.
The cube moved. It sent out a sound pulse and Joey felt it move through him. It sent painful waves into his ears and throughout his body.
Evelyn cried again.
“Over here!” Joey screamed as he ran away from the group, waving his gun in the air. He fired several shots at the cube but it didn’t react. It maintained its course to his friends, his wife and daughter.
The rubble below the cube moved, and soon pieces were flying into the air and landing on parts of the city behind it like a snow blower.
Joey gave up on keeping the thing distracted and ran back to the group, firing into the cube. Sparks trailed off when he made contact.
“I got this,” Lucas said, pulling his arrow back.
They watched as it trailed across the sky and made impact. The explosion struck the flying object and it veered off momentarily. A small chunk of the cube fell to the rubble below.
“No,” Edith called out. “Not the Queen!” She ducked down, trying to hold onto Evelyn.
Joey felt the tug as well, and it gained in strength with each passing second. “Hit it again, Lucas!” he yelled above the sounds.
Lucas dove to the ground, grasping for a hand hold. “I can’t, it’s pulling me.”
Joey grasped Evelyn with Poly and Edith and they formed a tight circle, holding her in place, but Joey felt her body moving between them.
“It’s going to crush her!” Poly yelled.
The pulling got worse as Joey had trouble keeping both his feet on the ground. Hector sat, unfazed, looking at the ground with his blank stare. “It’s locked in on our thoughts. We have to blank out!”
“It’s taking our baby!” Poly screamed over the noise.
Joey knew, no matter what, he couldn’t do what Hector was doing. He couldn’t do anything else but put all his thoughts into saving his daughter.
The tug on Evelyn intensified and was more than any of them could bear. Joey felt his daughter’s body slipping from his grip and his fear reached new heights as she started to slip away. Poly and Edith jumped to grab at Evelyn, but Joey had the last fingers on her. He held tight to her onesie, but the bottom button unhooked and his fingers lost purchase. She floated in the sky above them.
Evelyn cried out and turned to the machine.
“No, you can’t have her,” Edith yelled at the cube as she ran toward Lucas. She jumped up next to him and pulled the two arrows from his hands and ran up the rubble pile, making great leaps as t
he cube pulled her along. It had her. She floated toward in the air with the arrow extending out.
“Edith has the bombs,” Lucas cried out while doing a handstand and hanging onto the edge of the concrete.
Joey held Poly as they slid along the ground toward the cube. Soon it would have them all, unless Edith was able to pull off a miracle. She threw the arrows out at the same moment a door on the cube opened and swallowed her up. A section of the cube broke off and shot off into the sky, toward the black building.
Evelyn floated far ahead of Joey. “No,” Joey said as he reached for her with one hand. He felt his and Poly’s body lift off the ground and pieces of concrete pelted his body as he floated. Lucas floated next to him and he looked back. Julie was much further away and had her face in her Panavice.
He hoped she could find another way to stop it. Joey thrust forward, trying to get closer to Evelyn.
“Get her, Joey. Use your power. Do something!” Poly screeched.
Joey wanted to save her, but he also didn’t want to go into slow motion and watch the last agonizing seconds before his baby girl was sucked into the machine. He cursed the world and all the things that led him to this moment. It already had Edith and soon it’d have them all.
“ALICE, OR SHOULD I CALL you Renee?” Gladius asked.
“Either is accurate,” Alice replied. “What are your objectives?”
“We came to kill Marcus. Do you know where he is?”
“Yes.”
“Will you tell us?”
“No.”
Gladius sneered at the ceiling and searched for the speakers. She wanted to smash them in. “You told her.” She pointed at Gingy.
“No, I swear,” Gingy said and backed up against the wall holding her hands up.
Gladius half wanted to believe her. She didn’t really think they could fool an AI like Alice anyways. She must have sensed the body heat, the extra noise, or the peculiarities of Gingy’s actions. “So now what?” Gladius addressed Alice.
“We wait for Marcus to respond.”
“He said to let us go,” Minter chimed in.
“Negative,” Alice said. “He has responded and has one question. Is Julie with you?”