Cynetic Wolf

by Matt Ward

  Zedda grabbed my hand. I squeezed back.

  “Must have been following us,” Henk said. “This is gonna be tight!”

  The craft slammed left, rocketing toward the east of the city as we dove again. “It’s right on us!”

  “Don’t head back to base!” I snapped. That’s what Calter wanted, but his guy got jumpy.

  “INCOMING, INCOMING. BRACE FOR IMPACT.”

  “Hold on!” Henk white knuckled the controls as we shot through two tall buildings. The missile smashed a brick behemoth to our right. We shot out, five meters up and doing two hundred as we zipped over sparse traffic.

  “I can’t shake him,” Henk said.

  “Emergency landing?” Paer’s voice was tense.

  Henk shook his head. “Too dangerous. They’d shoot—”

  “INCOMING, INCOMING. BRACE FOR IMPACT.”

  We missed the enclosed skyway by meters and it erupted in a sea of glittering glass, fragments showering the street below.

  The other VTOL blasted through the falling glass and pirouetted upward. He was good.

  “Don’t we have any weapons?” Lars asked.

  Henk shook his head, eyes fixed on the bridge ahead.

  There was no other way. She’d die otherwise, they all would. “Can you open the doors?” I asked through gritted teeth. “I might be able to—”

  “No!” Zedda grabbed my arm. “It’s too dangerous.”

  “What choice do we have? Henk, do it!” I ordered.

  He did, and the black butterfly doors folded inward. I unhooked my belt and pushed Zedda to safety as icy wind shot in. She glared from the rear but said nothing.

  The aircraft jerked and I grabbed a harness, feet slamming as I righted myself. My stomach was in knots. Soooo high!

  “INCOMING, INCOMING. BRACE FOR IMPACT.”

  Another missile rocketed toward us. I fired twice but Henk swerved, diving again. The missile zinged past, locking on a car and annihilating the street below. Windows shattered and a pair of scooters burst into flame.

  I fired again, missing badly. It was impossible to aim.

  “Hold us level, Henk!” I said.

  “Sure, if you want him to hit us,” Henk retorted.

  Three more shots. Nothing. This wasn’t working. I swore under my breath. “I need you to drop me off.”

  “What?” Henk yelled. “You’re crazy.”

  “Over there! See that building. If you can get me there, I’ll jump and be able to shoot.”

  “Raek!” Zedda gasped.

  “Do it!” I snapped. Before I lost my nerve.

  We ripped around a corner, leveling. The military ship had fallen back. “Ready?” Henk asked. “Sure about this?”

  No… I clenched my fists, stomach already skydiving. “Yeah!”

  “Ten seconds!” We shot up and floored it for the tower. “Three, two, one. Now!” Henk screamed.

  I leaped. There was no building.

  I wasn’t going to make it.

  50

  Threading The Needle

  I came in backward, tumbling. Momentum slammed me into the concrete, flipping me twice, and hammering my head, stopping inches from the edge. Holy shit.

  The VTOL rushed toward me but I couldn’t get off a shot. It was too fast, and stars flickered across my vision. I couldn’t lock on.

  The two raced through the air. Henk turned and dove but his pursuer was equally skilled.

  Henk called. ‘We’re coming. Get ready!’

  The ship sped around City Hall, cornering the impressive three-story building at unbelievable speed. Another missile fired. Henk gunned it. So did his pursuer.

  Two hundred fifty meters. Here we go.

  Four seconds later, they rushed past. I aimed. One chance.

  Time slowed as I focused, locked on, and fired. A direct hit slammed into the side. Yes!

  Wait, nothing happened... The VTOL kept flying.

  ‘Henk? It didn’t work.’

  ‘Shit, armor!’ He swore again, hurtling away. ‘We’re screwed.’

  No. ‘Do it again! I’ve got a plan.’ They weren’t going to die because of me, not them too.

  Less than a minute later, they streaked toward me. ‘He’s out of missiles at least,’ Henk said. The other craft fired. ‘Damn!’

  Crouching behind the lip of the building, I waited. He couldn’t see me. This wouldn’t work if he remembered where the first shot came from.

  ‘Slow down, Henk! One hundred or less.’

  Lars laughed in the background. ‘Crazy bastard. He’s gonna…’

  Wait. For. It.

  Jumping, I screamed as it raced toward me. I fired.

  I was right, the window of the VTOL had been open. My blast caught the pilot in the chest. Blood spattered everywhere. Did it work? Tumbling, I didn’t know until the VTOL veered off course, smashing into a building.

  Yes! I did it.

  SLAM.

  Everything went black.

  51

  A Whisper

  My eyes fluttered open as we landed. Dazed, I squinted, exhausted. It was 21:45.

  “Raek!” Zedda reached over and touched my face. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. The VTOL, did we…”

  Lars nodded, a proud look in his eyes. “Thanks to you.”

  My head was throbbing, and I shook it to clear it. “So, everyone’s okay?” They all stared at me in the cramped craft like they’d seen a ghost. Had something happened?

  Henk laughed, shaking his head. “You’re crazy, Raek.”

  “Calter?” I asked. “Was it all for nothing?”

  Lars shrugged. “Looks like it. We should have seen it coming.”

  I didn’t say anything, it was my fault. We had nothing to show for it and were back to square one.

  The doors opened, and Paer said, “I don’t know about you all, but I’m off to bed.”

  Soon, they went their separate ways but Zedda grabbed my sleeve. “Shhh, there’s something I wanted to show you,” she whispered.

  “Wha—”

  “Shh. Follow me,” she said. “We can’t talk here.” She grabbed my hand and led me along the hallway, finger to her lips.

  “Zedda, what’s going on?” She was scaring me. Why did we need to be quiet?

  She held her finger to her lips again.

  “A traitor, a spy, a—”

  She put her hand over my mouth and pushed me through an open door.

  “Fine, we’re alone. What? What’s going on?” My heart thundered.

  She closed the door and locked it, body pressing against mine. “Zedda?”

  “Shhh.” A light kiss on my lips. “I never thanked you for saving my life, Raek.”

  Oh… “You don’t have to—”

  “I want to.” Her lips embraced mine as hips rubbed across my leg, her chest pushing into me. My breath came faster and faster.

  Was this really happening? “Are you sure—”

  “Shut up, Raek.” She laughed. “You’re cute and I like you, but sometimes you talk too much. Just feel it, just be.”

  Something triggered in me, something primal. I let go and instincts took over. Wild wolfish blood ran through me, desires unleashed. And it’s not like we could get pregnant...

  It could have been five minutes or five hours… time ceased, unlike anything I’ve ever felt: raw, pure, real. When it was over, we collapsed into each other’s arms, asleep the moment our heads touched the floor.

  Later that night, I awoke to her soft eyes on my face. “Zedda?”

  “I was watching you sleep. There’s something about you.”

  “Such as?” I knew the feeling but wanted to see her squirm. She couldn’t put it into words, and soon, talk turned to my sister, my family. “I let them down. They’re all dead because of me, because I lied.” I shivered as the brutal truth escaped my lips, and she pulled me tight.

  “It’ll be okay, Raek. It’s not your fault.” I couldn’t fight back the tears, but she never let me go
. I must have fallen asleep.

  When morning came and I was still in her arms, I couldn’t help but smile. I could get used to this.

  She was asleep and I didn’t want to bother her. It was four a.m. but I was wide awake. I’d go to the mess and bring her coffee. She’d wake in an hour or two. For some reason, I’d needed less and less sleep after my nanoSTEMs activated.

  Obowe was in the mess when I got there. Was he such an early riser?

  I walked over. “How’s it going?”

  “There you are, Raek. I was hoping you’d be soon. We got the troop deployment data.”

  No way... “Really?”

  “Looks like we had it last night when we got back. The tech didn’t check Thorn until this morning. Have a look.” He replicated his display and handed it to me.

  Studying the chart, I skimmed. “The animote-only bases?”

  He nodded. “There are four with four guards or less. The rest have at least eight.”

  Interesting. “So, odds are it’s those four?”

  He shrugged. “I hope so. If it is all twenty-five... We cannot hit that many.”

  “Meilo, Rhoda, Dever, and North Wal,” I read off. “Zones One and Two and two in Zone Three. Makes sense, spread the risk, especially from natural disaster.” I pulled up information on each.

  “They’re all near small cities of less than twenty thousand, an average of five hundred meters above and at least ten kilometers from water. These might be it. It makes sense. These could be our backups.”

  He nodded. “It fits.”

  Two hours later, we were all back in the Council room.

  The early birds among us had seen the data and been brainstorming for hours when Zedda walked in, a blissful smile on her warm face. A knowing grin between us as we all settled in.

  Paer briefed everyone, and handed over to Obowe and I.

  I highlighted the rows of the chart corresponding to Meilo, Rhoda, Dever, and North Wal, and summarized everything.

  “Any way to verify any of this?” Ganla asked. “Or at least troop numbers? It could be a trap.”

  I know. That’d been worrying me all morning. What if we sent teams and Calter had played us?

  “We’re sending scouts,” I said. “Here’s the limited satellite imagery we have.” The screens changed to reveal four sets of overhead snapshots. “The pictures are grainy and the locations are well hidden, but there’s one thing that makes us almost certain it’s what we’re looking for. See this.” I pointed to a red and white circle. “These are VTOL landing pads. Most smaller facilities don’t have ‘em but all four suspected sites do. Makes sense. Emulates want a quick reboot, and to get back to civilization. They don’t want to be stuck in the mountains or riding ground transit.”

  “And scouts?” Zedda asked.

  “If we could use drones, we’d have visuals in six hours,” Paer remarked. “But these bases, while secret, probably pack some major security and surveillance. We’re sending locals disguised as backpackers to get close enough to report back. Should have the last updates by 16:00 tomorrow.”

  I resumed where Paer had left off. “We’ve notified local commanders and leaders of the situation. We need to act soon. The day after tomorrow, we set things in motion: attack the sites, trigger the riots, and launch primary attacks at five a.m. to catch them off guard.” I took a deep breath. “Any questions?”

  Mico nodded. “What do the simulations show?”

  “We stopped going off sims a long time ago,” Paer said. “Too many variables. We have a shot, it might be a small one, but we can pull it off. Let’s focus on that, people!”

  She gave a rundown on best case scenarios while I excused myself to run to the bathroom.

  It was happening. I couldn’t believe it.

  When I got back, Lars had a holo playing in the center of the room. I realized what they were watching.

  “You’re not going to believe this, kid, a hundred million views since yesterday!” he burst out.

  I froze in the doorway. “A hundred million?” I murmured once my mouth was working again.

  “One. Hundred. Million.” Lars laughed. “The GDR must be shitting themselves. It’s been blowing up. They’ve delisted it 253 times but people are reuploading. The numbers keep rising and rising. You’re famous, kid.”

  “I don’t want to be famous,” I said. “I want this to work. I could care less what people think about me.”

  “You might not care,” Paer replied. “But they sure do.” She pointed to the skyrocketing view counter.

  I rolled my eyes. “Let’s get back to business! There’s a lot to—”

  “No!” Zedda retorted, staring me down. “This is important. This is what we needed, what we hoped for. You need to do another. People need to know what to do. It’s what we wanted. It’s what you wanted.” She gave me a hard look. “We need people to fight. They need you.”

  “She’s right,” Lars added. “We need another video for when the attacks start, to coordinate this thing.”

  Of course, they were right. “Fine. What do I need to do?”

  Filming wasn’t as easy this time. The day passed in a blur, one painful take after another until Lars was satisfied. If that wasn’t bad enough, the mess was a bombardment of people. Everyone knew my name and wanted to talk. It was way too much.

  52

  Uncharted Territory

  The next day was a whirlwind; people coming and going, plans finalized, scrapped, and remade, scouts confirming locations. It was a rollercoaster for everyone.

  Ganla and Zedda came to blows over a press release and Mico had a queasy stomach all day. Then there was Obowe. He’d risen in a strong honor culture, killing his first lion at twelve and his first cop at sixteen. When he’d turned fifteen, he’d undergone the right of passage every boy in his clan did, a brutal week alone in the jungles of Zone Four amongst nature’s toughest predators. He’d emerged a week later, a fully fledged man, a warrior through and through, built for battle, wise in his ways, and with the untempered pride of his people. He was devastated there weren’t any emulate facilities in Zone Four. His people “deserved the chance to prove themselves.”

  He called the various tribes and rebel alliances all day to drum up support, twenty or thirty in total: loud, defiant and often slamming his fist to emphasize a point.

  There was a passionate beauty in the way he spoke, in the way his deep voice begged, pleaded, and challenged local leaders to take up arms. “Will Africa contribute nothing?” he’d boom. “Will our children and our children’s children hear tales of foreigners freeing Africans from the shackles of history? Our people need you. Will you stand by and do nothing, or will you fight?”

  Always some variation of that. And it worked. Our numbers kept rising. From hoping for ten-to-fifteen percent of Zone Two towns yesterday, to now, close to seventy-five percent committed, Obowe single-handedly united the towns and tribesmen in a way none before him ever could.

  As he left the room to take another call, I stood and pointed to the door. “I need that level of conviction from you. Obowe’s done thirty calls today, spoken with leaders of every major town in Zone Four and quintupled our support. Tomorrow, two weeks from now, two years… will we regret not trying everything in our power? I for one, won’t take that risk. I’m guessing none of you will either.”

  They were all nodding. Lars even gave me a thumbs-up.

  “Tomorrow, I’ll be joining the rebels in the attack on the capital,” I said. “Lars, I need you there filming. If I have to be their warrior hero, so be it, but I won’t let my people die in the streets while I do nothing! If I can inspire others to join the cause, all the better.”

  “I’ll be there, kid,” Lars replied with a grim determination.

  “The rest of you,” I said. “What do you need help with? Lars and I can make calls or help with coffee, anything to make this happen. Are you with me?”

  A brief smile touched Paer’s lips. “Yes, we are. Get to work, folks
!”

  A newfound fire blazed in their eyes as we separated, long nights ahead of us.

  After a few hours with Lars and later Paer, I had to see Zedda. I snuck out under the guise of hunger, and headed to her room.

  The halls were crowded this time of night, but with my hood, I slipped through with relative anonymity. Reaching her door, I paused. What if she didn’t want me? What if it was a one-time thing… the heat of the moment?

  Should I be here? Who was I to assume? At last, I knocked, albeit timidly.

  “One second!” She opened the door, looking surprised. “Oh, Raek.” Her face lit up.

  “I wanted to see you so we could talk. Now a good time?” I asked in a quiet voice.

  “Now’s perfect.” Her eyes gleamed with a devilish intensity as she grabbed my shirt and yanked me in.

  I’d wanted to talk about us, about the future, about what might happen tomorrow. That didn’t happen. Instead, we found comfort, desire, and more in each other’s arms.

  Time flew and stopped, ceased to exist at all.

  After, I grabbed my shirt and slipped it over my head. “I wanted to talk about us. What is this, this thing between us?”

  “Let’s just get through the next couple days,” she said with a crushing nonchalance. “There’s enough to think about and do without any distractions. This,” she gestured between us, “who knows what this is.” Our eyes locked. “I like you, Raek. But let’s not complicate things yet, at least until the fighting’s over,” she added. “Deal?”

  “Deal.” I tried to sound more enthusiastic than I felt. It wasn’t easy. This was uncharted territory for me. The wait and see, laissez-faire-ness was killing me. And she meant something to me, a lot, actually.

  But she was right, now wasn’t the time.

  53

  Rise And Shine

  My SmartCore woke me at 4:00 a.m. to get ready and I snuck out, snatching a glimpse of Zedda’s sleeping form as I did. She was beautiful and caring, even in sleep. A vibrant energy and vitality emanated from her, an infectious optimism and go-get-it attitude I loved. Irresistible. Smiling to myself, I slid out the door.