Warden 2

by Isaac Hooke

  The vehicle started silently. Will pressed gently on the pedal, turning as he did so in order to steer around the Tasin. As the vehicle was electric, the only noise it generated was the passage of the tires on the cement. But because it moved so slowly, even that sound was nearly inaudible. Turning the wheel seemed to produce the loudest noise at the moment, as the grooves in the tire rubbed against the cement, but the sound was mostly masked by the din the third Tasin produced as it continued to dissect the wreckage it had discovered.

  Nonetheless, the lead Tasin froze. It felt around uncertainly with its antennae, swiveling toward the SUV, attracted not just by the sound, but the scent as well no doubt.

  Rhea kept her finger on the window control, ready to lower it at a moment’s notice and blast away. She pressed the muzzle of her pistol against the glass itself, prepared to fire straight through the pane itself if necessary.

  But Will drove right past before those antennae could touch the vehicle.

  One Tasin evaded.

  Rhea glanced at the right-side mirror. The Tasin had spun completely around and followed the SUV’s path precisely; but it still seemed uncertain, moving as if it didn’t know that the source of the scent trail was directly in front of it.

  Will drove along the righthand side of the aisle, close to the wall. He crossed over the parking lanes, but there were no vehicles ahead, so he advanced without issue. He squeezed the SUV between a pillar and the wall, being careful not to scrape either.

  The second Tasin resided on the far side of the aisle, where it searched along the wall there, while the third was directly ahead. As Will passed the second, he altered course, turning the steering wheel slowly to make as little noise as possible, until he was driving in the center of the parking garage again. The second creature must have sensed the sound, despite the racket produced by the third, because it swiveled its antennae toward the vehicle. One of them almost touched the SUV, and Will momentarily accelerated.

  Rhea glanced over her shoulder to peer through the rear window. Both Tasins were now pursuing.

  This isn’t working, Renaldo sent.

  It is, Rhea countered. If it wasn’t, they’d be chasing us down. Instead, they’re moving slowly. Confused.

  Will steered between the next few creatures, all of whom turned to pursue as the SUV passed. Rhea wondered why none of them had yet communicated the strangeness they were sensing to their brethren ahead, or at the very least screeching a warning to be on the lookout. Instead they remained completely silent, acting independently.

  Will rounded the bend, squeezing past yet another Tasin. The clearance was very poor: the vehicle very nearly touched the talons of the creature. And as it spun around, Rhea was sure the bioweapon was going to snatch them up. But instead, those antennae merely felt the empty space vacated by the vehicle, and the party drove on untouched.

  There were more looted vehicles blocking the parking lanes here, and Will had to very selectively choose his course, lest he hem himself in between the bioweapons and the car frames.

  He drove the SUV along the leftmost wall. A car blocked the way. He was forced to turn into the center aisle, but a Tasin was waiting there, so he continued on into the rightmost parking lanes. Unfortunately, there was also a vehicle squatting in their path directly ahead. He couldn’t turn back into the center aisle, because they were driving past the bioweapon at that very moment; the Tasin was turning toward them, feeling with its antennae.

  There was no way the SUV could travel between the legs of the bioweapon and skirt beneath its underbelly: because the creature crouched so low, there simply wasn’t enough clearance. The vehicle would only ram into its side.

  Will made the split decision to floor it, which Rhea would have done herself. He crashed into the wreckage, sending it careening to one side and out of the way.

  The Tasin started screeching frantically. It scrambled forward as fast as it was able in the tight confines, and nearly latched onto the SUV. Will stepped on the accelerator and the tires squealed as he drove into the center aisle.

  More Tasins shrieked ahead.

  Rhea opened the passenger-side window as Will swerved past the first creature. The next one lunged for them, but Rhea fired at the wireframe mouth with her pistol. The creature screamed and instantly recoiled.

  With ancillary support from Rhea, Will pushed the SUV past two more bioweapons like that, dodging those bird-like feet and the talons that tipped them. But then ahead, three creatures stood abreast, blocking the way forward entirely. Their antennae waved energetically as they searched the air in front of them, and their suckers dripped acid eagerly.

  “High beams,” Rhea said.

  The SUV’s high beams lit up the parking garage, but the creatures held their ground in the blinding light ahead.

  “Don’t be afraid to use your pistols,” Rhea said over her shoulder.

  Will slowed down, and she used the opportunity to lean out her window. She lined up her pistol with the mouth of the Tasin on the right and squeezed the trigger. Her shot hit its mark.

  The creature screamed, backing away, and she targeted the middle bioweapon in the same manner. It, too, backed up, shrieking.

  “Take that, Sucker Faces!” Chuck said.

  Behind her, Chuck was opening fire at the Tasins in pursuit, buying the slowed-down SUV much needed time.

  Rhea continued firing at the three Tasins ahead; Horatio opened the sunroof and joined her. Under their combined attacks, the creatures slinked away; the bioweapon retreat was staggered, and a small gap opened up between them.

  “Kind of tight…” Will said when he noticed the opening.

  “Now or never!” Rhea said.

  Will accelerated, squeezing into the gap between two of the Tasins. The claws of the injured creatures attempted to snatch them up, but the bioweapons couldn’t get a grip and merely jostled the SUV about. One of those talons came dangerously close to cutting off Rhea’s arm at the elbow, and she swung inside, moving away from the window. The claw caught on the interior roof of the SUV near the window and tore away a piece before passing outside.

  Close one.

  Horatio and the others had pulled inside as well, and they kept low as more claws came in for another pass.

  And then the SUV was through; the three creatures receded behind them.

  There was only one more Tasin waiting ahead.

  Rhea leaned out once more and began firing early, forcing the creature backward. It retreated against one wall, giving Will all the room he needed to pass by.

  Chuck and Renaldo continued shooting at the pursuing Tasins behind them. Horatio joined them, firing through the sunroof.

  Will took the next bend. Rhea swung her upper body out the window so that she was ready to attack if more bioweapons awaited, but the way forward—as illuminated by the headlamps and LIDAR—proved completely clear.

  Will slammed down on the accelerator and Rhea jerked backwards.

  “I miss gimbaled wheels!” Chuck shouted.

  The Tasins rounded the bend behind them, squealing in pursuit. Rhea joined Horatio, Chuck and Renaldo in firing at the pursuers; thanks to the painful stings bestowed by the pistols, the creatures quickly fell behind.

  Will slowed down as he reached the next turn. On the other side there was a clear path all the way to the enlarged exit on the far side of the garage, and Will slammed on the accelerator, jerking the occupants anew. Rhea didn’t mind. She just wanted to get out of there.

  The angry Tasins continued to shriek behind them, just out of view past the previous bend. As soon as those in the forefront rounded it, they were met with facefuls of pistol fire, courtesy of Rhea and her companions.

  The SUV reached the opening and drove up the ramp, literally leaping from the exit. Broad daylight surrounded them, negating the need for LIDAR, and she shut off her overlay.

  Will slammed on the brakes as the vehicle touched down. He didn’t stop completely, but slowed to a near crawl, swerving to the left. He
drove up the pedestrian ramp that led to the skyscraper’s main entrance.

  Meanwhile Rhea scanned the streets and surrounding buildings, searching for signs of Aradne security forces, or other Tasins. All she saw were a bunch of dead bioweapons strewn across the road. Or parts of bioweapons, anyway. That, and a whole lot of blast craters.

  “Are we really sure we want to leave the vehicle?” Renaldo asked.

  Rhea ignored the question.

  Will halted next to the building’s main entrance. None of the bioweapons had yet emerged from the parking garage. Good.

  The five occupants piled from the left-hand side of the vehicle at a crouch, using the SUV as screen in case there were some Aradne security forces watching nearby that she hadn’t noticed. They entered the broken revolving doors set amid the floor-to-ceiling windows.

  The SUV’s AI took over at that point and backed up, swerving in front of the parking garage as programmed, and noisily driving away. Even from inside the building, Rhea could hear the wildly honking horn, and the tires squealing as it swerved around the debris, bodies, and blast craters inflicted by the bombing.

  The bioweapons appeared shortly; past the windows, she saw them dash into the street from the garage and pursue the vehicle.

  Rhea and the others ran deeper into the building’s concourse. Rubble was strewn across the floor in places, much of it broken glass from the floor-to-ceiling windows lining the facade. As she sprinted, she scanned the skies beyond, still searching for signs of Aradne security, but didn’t spot any drones or other airborne vehicles. The enemy forces had likely lost Rhea and the others in the confusion of the bioweapon attack and didn’t know their precise position at the moment. The SUV would soon attract their attention of course, and lead the Aradne forces to the area, which meant it behooved Rhea and the others to get out of sight of those windows as quickly as possible.

  While climbing an inactive escalator with the others, she glanced over her shoulder one last time, past the glass to the street beyond, and watched the SUV turn into a side street, vanishing from view. The creatures followed.

  The plan was for the vehicle to lead the Tasins to the far side of town. It was possible the bioweapons would outrun the SUV, depending on the obstacles and extent of debris in the vehicle’s path, or interference from the Aradne security forces, but the hope was that once the Tasins destroyed it, they weren’t smart enough to return to the building to pick up the scent of Rhea and the others again.

  That the creatures had blindly dashed outside in pursuit of the noisy target, apparently having forgotten the painful bombing that led them into hiding in the first place, was a good sign.

  She hurried forward, turning into a dead-end hallway lined with elevators. A stairwell provided foot access to the upper levels.

  She immediately shoved open the stairwell door. Beyond, it was clear of debris. She glanced at Chuck. “There you go. Designed to resist collapse.”

  “At least some of the architects were paying attention,” Chuck agreed.

  Rhea raced up the steps three at a time, zigging and zagging up the different flights, passing a new level every four seconds.

  After seven floors, she reached an area where the roof was ripped away and could proceed no further. She turned around to find only Horatio behind her. The others were nowhere in sight. A quick glance at her overhead map told her they were still a few levels down.

  Rhea retreated to the floor below and waited next to the door, labeled “six.”

  The remaining members of the party arrived. Renaldo and Chuck were panting, and even Will seemed winded. Sometimes Rhea forgot that she was different from other human beings…

  Horatio of course remained just as unaffected by the sprint as she did.

  She leaned against the wall next to the door, giving the humans time to recover.

  “Don’t stop on our account,” Will said sarcastically as he gasped for air. “You’re not killing us or anything…”

  “Actually, the flights end after this,” Rhea said. “The top portion of the building has fallen away.”

  Will frowned. “Oh.”

  “That doesn’t bode well for the stability of the rest of the building…” Renaldo said between gasps.

  “It’s not going to collapse, Stick Arms,” Chuck said. The muscular man seemed the most tired of them all, no doubt thanks to all the extra weight he had to lug around. While his body fat was extremely low, muscles like that weren’t light. “Well, maybe the floor might give out under you in particular, but the rest of us are safe.”

  “So very reassuring…” Renaldo said.

  When they had caught their breath, Rhea opened the stairwell door beside her and entered a small hallway, a mirror image to the one they’d left behind below, with two elevators on either side. A pair of double doors blocked access to what was presumably an office area—this building was from a time when people actually went to work in office buildings.

  She went to the doors. No handles.

  “Manual overrides should exist somewhere in the walls,” Chuck said. “Otherwise, how else would the occupants get out during a power failure? There should be hidden panels here somewhere. You can—”

  Rhea punched into the steel door above the lock, bending the metal inward. She did it again, and again, until she bent the locking latch; the final strike caused the doors to slam open.

  “You can do that, too…” Chuck said.

  She was right about it being an office area. She stepped into a realm of desks and cubicles that could have been a time capsule of the twentieth century.

  “I’ve got Giz again,” Will said. “I’m having him perch on the top of a nearby building to keep an eye out for security forces.”

  Rhea nodded; glad the drone had made it.

  As she stepped forward, she heard the high-pitched buzz of rotors, coming from beyond a broken window. She ducked behind a desk for cover, and the others likewise found suitable hiding places beside her.

  She tapped into Gizmo’s feed, but it promptly cut out, no doubt to avoid detection. She did catch a glimpse of several security drones traveling between the buildings.

  She carefully peered past the edge of her hiding place, toward the closest window, and saw the drones swiftly pass by a moment later. Thankfully none of them stopped, and the lot of them continued east at speed, no doubt intending to investigate the retreating SUV.

  When the security forces were gone, she waited several moments until Gizmo’s feed kicked back in. The drone was scanning the four horizons, but there was nothing more out there.

  When she was satisfied that no more Aradne drones were coming, she stood.

  “I had you in my sniper sites so many times,” a familiar voice came from the far side of the room, near one of the broken windows.

  Rhea dropped immediately and withdrew her pistol.

  “Yet you keep moving,” the voice continued. “Forcing me to come close with you to finish the job. I suppose it’s only fitting. I want you to look in my eyes when you meet your end. I want you to beg for a mercy that will never come.”

  She aimed her pistol past the edge of the desk until she spotted the source of the voice.

  Wearing a thick, black robe with the hood raised, the Scorpion stood next to a broken window. His long, metallic tail was curled toward her. The tip was no longer equipped with a blade, but instead it was glowing, as if preparing to fire.

  12

  Rhea ducked again. A bright flash filled the room, and a large circular hole appeared in the desk above her.

  Beside her, Chuck looked like he was about to stand to return fire.

  “Don’t leave cover!” Rhea told the man. “He’s a cyborg. He’ll mow you down with his energy weapon before you can react! Leave him to me!”

  “And me,” Horatio said.

  Rhea glanced at the robot and nodded.

  She flattened herself on the ground. Above her, another blow ate into the desk, almost disintegrating it entirely.

&
nbsp; Rhea low-crawled, moving behind the dividing partition of a nearby cubicle. Beside her, an aisle provided a route between the desks and cubicles, but it was in plain view of the Scorpion. Instead, she used her pistol to melt gaps in the partitions in front of her, making her own path.

  Across from her, Horatio mirrored her course, following along on the other side of the aisle, also drilling holes as necessary into the dividers that blocked the advance.

  She glanced at Gizmo’s feed in the upper right of her vision: Will had repositioned the drone to give a better view of the building, and she could see the Scorpion still lingering next to the same broken window. He moved away as she watched, vanishing from view.

  Rhea resisted the urge to bring the drone closer, as it wouldn’t take much for the Scorpion to shoot it down.

  Ahead of her, holes began to appear in different partitions as her adversary began firing randomly into the different cubicles around him, creating viewports as he searched for her.

  Rhea rolled to the side when one appeared directly ahead.

  “There you are!” The Scorpion said.

  She retreated rapidly, retracing her steps until she had placed two more desks between herself and the Scorpion.

  She glanced at the overhead map. Horatio remained on the left side of the aisle, three meters ahead of her. The Scorpion showed up as a red dot on that map, which indicated his last known position.

  Horatio, she sent on the mental channel. Can you give some kind of diversion? Without dying?

  Thanks for the vote of confidence, Horatio replied sarcastically. And yes, I can.

  She waited.

  Several moments passed. More holes appeared in the surrounding desks. She was about to press Horatio again, when she heard her voice coming from across the room.

  “Hey Scorpion,” Horatio said, mimicking the pitch and timbre of her voice exactly. The robot had added a seductive quality to it. “Whatcha doing over there, Big Boy?”

  Rhea smiled; holding her pistol before her, she stood up.