Godling (Kairenz Jistora Book 1)

by Dusks, Rydre

  I changed into a fresh uniform and pushed my street clothes back under my cot. I had a feeling my actions would not go unnoticed for long, so I told myself to sleep deeply that night. I needed to be rested up to take on the next day without my android partner here anymore.

  I attended roll call and went along with my daily duties like everything was normal the next day, although Rook noticed my defiant air. He sent a smirk my way as we picked up the pieces of G'tavei and the guards.

  "Stone's furious," he declared as he picked up the head I'd shot off. "You know he suspects you, but he can't actually point any fingers because there were no witnesses."

  "Of course he suspect me. G'tavei was ste friend," I replied calmly. The other two inmates that were normally with us were busy in another building, sprucing it up for another round of executions. I was glad, since talking about this could be dangerous in the company of others.

  "What caused you to go so ballistic though? Didn't I say the key to surviving is dropping your dignity?"

  "Sta ano giesir yupa jo sta at. I'm not to give up who I am," I argued as I swept G'tavei's parts into a bin. "It's like you steal addiction. This is my release. G'tavei was like home, and now he is take away. Besides, they were try to take his parts, and I make a promise to him that I keep him safe. Something had to be done."

  "You don't have to justify yourself to me, blackie. I know what it's like to have to do something. You just gotta be careful, you know. Stone's gonna punish you for this if he can't find someone else to blame."

  "I no care," I replied as we dragged the bodies to a nearby hole in the ground. "If I must... I will fight him, too."

  Rook kicked one of the guards into the hole, then shoved the other in after. I followed suit, but kept G'tavei's remains separate. He had his own designated grave.

  "I'm happy to see you're breaking out of acting like a nervous puppy. Just keep yourself in check."

  But Rook's warning was too late for me. I'd already cooked up a new escape plan.

  8

  The Black Sheep

  The next week I'd put my new plan into action. I still hurt from G'tavei's destruction, and my new way of getting out was reckless but hopefully effective. The authorities still hadn't noticed the intricate cuts in the fence that G'tavei had made, and the spot was weak enough to continue working on.

  I didn't have G'tavei's reinforced insides, otherwise I wouldn't be afraid of the electric current. Instead I had a nearby guardhouse... and a truck. I shirked my duster duties on an unnoteworthy day and took the time to carry my bat to the other side of the guardhouse. Most of the human guards I'd noted kept near Stone's cabin and the camp gate, but just to be sure that the guard standing beside the small truck was robotic I waited ten minutes beside the wall to see if he twitched or scratched his face. Since there was no indication that he had everyday ticks like a human, I stole a breath and raced behind him with my bat at the ready.

  With one heavy swing sideways to the head, I broke his neck from his body and sent his skull smashing against the side of the vehicle. With a wild grin, I grabbed his gun and slipped into the driver's seat before slamming on the power switch, starting up the truck. I scoffed. With an automatic buggy like this, one that didn't need an ignition card, I was surprised they only had one guard watching it.

  As I heard calls from the guardhouse, I turned the truck around and stepped hard on the accelerator. It jerked forward and sped up with a roar. I navigated it out onto the dirt road that led through the men's side of camp and passed by the prisoner tents. Some onlooking inmates watched me in surprise and cheered me on. I heard their calls over the growl of the engine.

  Several shots fired, and a couple of bullets hit the truck. I kept low in the seat and pointed the stolen rifle out of the open window, shooting warning shots. I didn't want to kill anyone who was human, so I hoped the bullets would scare them back. I pushed the vehicle to its limit, heading straight for the fence. I was sure I looked like a madman, but this was all necessary to me. I was getting out. I was going to find Stelliot. It was going to happen.

  Just before impact with the weak spot in the fence I threw open the door and leapt from the seat. My shoulder hit the sand first, and I rolled a distance as a loud crash and a mass of sparks came from the impact. I turned and looked. The truck had only made it halfway through the fence, and within seconds caught on fire as the buzzing and snapping of the electricity shot through its inner parts. I scrambled from the spot and dashed away frantically. I hadn't expected the truck to stay tangled in the fence. A fireball of an explosion jumped out of the truck and caught the entire fence in flames. I toppled to the ground from the heat and shockwave. The fire spread across the rest of the barricade, rounding swiftly toward the southern gates. Eventually the electrical hum died out as someone most likely shut off the power to stop the fire's progress.

  "Stop right there!" a guard barked.

  I rolled onto my back and lifted my hands above my head, gasping for breath as two armed men stopped by me with their guns pointed at my body. I'd left the bat and gun in the truck and knew there was no grabbing them now. One of the guards at my side I recognized as Jules. There was a surprised hardness in his eyes, but not a bloodlust like the man next to him had.

  "Filthy shuck!" the nameless guard spat, kicking me hard in the side. I gasped from the sharp pain.

  "Oi, let's just take him to Stone's instead of killin' 'im," Jules suggested. "This ‘n’s one o' his favorites. He'll wanna hear about his little escape plan."

  The other guard looked reluctant, but he stooped and grabbed me roughly by the arm, yanking me back toward town.

  Stone's men beat me until I was nearly unconscious that night, but he didn't have me killed. My body ached as Jules helped me back toward the tents. Many of the guards were busy putting out the fire that still ominously raged around the town.

  "Are ya stupid?" he questioned, his breathing a little labored as he held most of my weight. "Ya wanna be shot or somethin'?"

  I didn't answer him.

  "I understand you bein' upset about ya tent mate dyin', but really," he continued as he hauled me into the tent and rested me on my cot. I moaned as he did. "If there's a next time to ya stupid crazy ideas, I probably ain't gonna be there to save ya again."

  There was a next time. Just five days later I was healthy enough to try for a third time. This idea was even more dangerous, as it involved crossing the women's half of the camp to get to the other side.

  "There's a giant wall guarding the girls' side," Rook had said to me. He'd heard of both escape attempts by now, but advised me not to do a third if it involved the other half of Roavo. "And there's no fence on that side. It's literally a big concrete wall, too. There aren't as many guards on that side, so Stone erected a more fortified barrier to keep the girls from escaping."

  "So it's not electric," I noted.

  "Blackie, I'm serious. Stone's gonna kill you this time if you're caught. No one heads over to the girls' side and survives. The only reason I know what's over there is from my chats with my cook friend. Men try climbing that parapet to get over there, and they're always dead before they can reach the other side. No one survives."

  "I will," I promised. "I'll survive."

  That night I struck lucky with my findings. My search for items to equip myself with was short, as I found what I needed almost immediately. Someone had left their cigarette lighter on the end of a table in the cafeteria, and I threw it into my satchel that I'd originally gotten when coming into the camp. Next was a canister of gasoline, stolen from around the back of Stone's cabin with a little effort. I had to wait some time before I had a clean run I could make past the guards and cameras to fetch what I needed. Once it was in my hands, I raced back to my tent and mixed with the bottles of casino alcohol I'd stowed underneath my cot. Five minutes later I had one bottle mixed with a solution of petrol and dish soap with a rag stuffed down the glass neck soaked with the alcohol.

  I'm either gonna die, or
I'm gonna scare the shit out of them, but either way I'll end up being a legend here in Roavo, I thought.

  "Here's a tip, Crow," I recalled Insidd telling me once at the Strejca headquarters. "Get yourself into trouble? Never be a victim. You're a worker of the law, now. And as such, you should never allow yourself to submit to anyone. Even other persons of authority. Once a Strejc, always a Strejc."

  My actions I prepped for were a bit more extreme than Insidd probably would have advised, but I had high hopes. It wasn't like the security at Roavo was a joke. It was incredibly tight, but I knew the ins and outs. I knew how to slink around barriers and restrictions because I was trained to do so in the Strejca.

  Now armed and ready, I headed back out into the darkness and snuck across the ghost town. I'd never been this far. It was about two hundred yards back from the theater. A severe break between buildings occurred here, marking a wide wall where several armed men lined the way, scanning every inch of the area for trespassers. Getting past here was sure to be the trickiest part.

  I inhaled deeply and struck the lighter with my thumb, setting the end of the rag on fire, and approached carefully. Never leaving the shadow of the buildings, I hurled the incendiary toward the center-most portion of the barricade. In a flash of brilliant orange and an explosion of glass, a fan of flames lit up the bastion and sent the guards into a sudden frenzy. Most of them rushed over toward the fire but stalled as a thick cloud of black smoke obscured their view of everything around them. I left my hiding spot, as it was now illuminated with orange light, and raced for the most barren section of the wall. The guards that were stationed near a latter were too busy coughing up dangerous fumes, so I took advantage and climbed it without them noticing.

  There was so much confusion that I was able to reach the top of the wall relatively safely and look out across the rest of town. This side was just as quiet as the men's side, and I didn't see any prisoner tents. I wondered if the women stayed in the buildings to sleep. Reminding myself why I was here, I pushed myself off the top of the wall and landed on my feet on the other side, leaving the chaos behind me. With only one stolen breath I dashed across Roavo and avoided as many guards as I could spot. There certainly were less here. I didn't see any robots at all, and the only humans I took note of were three in front of a tall hotel and a couple more near another guardhouse.

  I made it to the western wall and set to work. In my satchel I'd stored a rope that Rook had let me cut down from a pulley on one side of the theater curtains. On the end of the rope was a hook I'd fashioned from pieces of the guards I'd destroyed a couple of weeks previously. I swung the grapple upward and laced it around the barbed wire at the top of the wall, then began to scale it. It was easy at first--nothing gave. The rope creaked and my hands hurt, but the climbing idea worked. I made it just above half way before a light flashed over me, and someone shot. The bullet didn't miss me from such a short range, and a lancing sweep of pain struck me in the forearm. I'd been shot before, and there wasn't a pain like it. I cried out as my hands slipped from the rope, and I skidded down to stumble to the dirt. A gun shot again, this time chipping out a piece of the concrete wall and missing me by inches. I flew back across town at a sprint.

  There was still so much chaos among the guards at the barricade that I was able to find a promising place to climb back over, but I remained cautious and watched my moves. Once on the other side I ducked and held back in the shadows, keeping alert despite the agony that flared through my arm. I managed to slip back to the men's side without notice and rushed into the back entrance of the theater before stopping to catch my breath and look at my arm. I entered Rook's dressing room and turned on the light. The bullet had made a clean hole straight through the muscle. I didn't know if it'd ripped through too much bone, but from the way it seared and throbbed with agony I assumed there was some lasting damage.

  I groaned and perched myself on the counter, closing my hand around the blood. Now what? Someone had seen me. Someone had shot me. I couldn't hide this like G'tavei had hidden his gunshot wound. My only option was to remain here... in Rook's storage... and wait for him to come in. There were no medkits that could clean a bullet wound, and G'tavei and I had used most of what we'd had on my whip marks.

  It had to have been several hours later when I woke up suddenly to someone's hand on my shoulder. My eyes snapped open, and I subconsciously reached for my gun before remembering that I'd dropped it in the street back in GreyCross, and that I was now an inmate in Roavo. Rook gazed at me for several seconds, taking his hand off me, then looked at my arm.

  "You're in big trouble, blackie."

  I gazed at him while taking a moment to collect myself. Keep stating the obvious, Rook.

  "They're looking for you," Rook continued. He tugged my arm closer to him, and I yelped as the pain flooded back into it.

  I watched as he cleaned the entry and exit wounds and began patching them up.

  "I not about to turn myself in," I snapped.

  He shook his head. "No, but you can't stay in here forever. If you do, they'll find me out, too."

  "And why do you holding worry?" I argued. "You the lucky one."

  "You may as well be just about as lucky as me," Rook replied. "Three escape attempts? Two more times, and you'll have tied with my record, you know."

  "Only five times?" I wondered in disbelief. Six years in prison and only five escape attempts?

  Rook snorted as he wrapped up my arm. "I succeeded twice."

  "Vasu?" I gasped. "Then how come--?"

  "Caught, blackie. Once outside the fence, I turned right around and came back the minute I heard the gates open and the dogs come out. That was when they started setting me up for execution. Only reason I'm still here is because when I lay low, they don't bother me." He shuddered. "Those damn dogs."

  I sat up in a straight position and gave a trembling sigh. My arm didn't hurt as much as it did, but it could have been thanks to the medicine Rook had put on it.

  "Here's to hoping that you really are lucky enough to escape death again, blackie," Rook said as he patted my shoulder. "If you end up on the gallows, maybe I can rig the ropes." He winked, then stood and opened the door, walking out.

  I felt like screaming. I'd been so close... and now I was hiding. I didn't want to put Rook in danger. I stood and headed out of the theater. The most I could do now was face my punishment, whatever it be.

  I didn't go back to work for quite some time.

  Stone and his men waited for me when I left, and not a lot was said. The guards took me by the upper arms and led me across town and past the tents.

  "Taking me out to shoot me?" I asked as I gazed at the warden walking just a couple of steps ahead of me.

  "That would be too kind for a shuck like you," Stone replied coolly.

  Out in the desert several hundred yards from town was a pit. The guards stopped me by the edge. Halfway shrouded in shadow, the bottom looked about ten feet down. The pit itself was only six feet across.

  "Looks like the one you buried my guards in, doesn't it?" Stone mocked. One of the guards yanked at my clothing, ripping it from my body until I was in the nude. I didn't get a chance to fight them off, as once my shirt was off one of the guards bound my wrists behind my back and secured them with two thick plastic zip ties. My protests and struggling efforts were loud enough to be heard all across Roavo, but it didn't stop them. Once I was adequately humiliated, they shoved me into the hole.

  I landed on my feet, then my knees, and staggered back up.

  "Es this my new home?" I snapped, glancing back up at the warden and his men.

  Stone sneered. "For the time being. At least until we gain back all the guards you destroyed. Or until you die." He turned, then stopped and twisted back. "Oh, and you will break. All the dogs get domesticated around here, and although I've now got a wolf in the pack, he'll soon learn that he's not any different from the rest of the stupid animals."

  Stone and his guards disappeared behind th
e edge of the pit.

  After an hour I wasn't able to sit properly without it hurting my tightly constricted arms, so I rested on my side, facing one side of the pit and left to scheme. It was degrading but no longer shaming. Stone had figured I'd use any article of clothing I had to fashion myself a weapon or tool to get out with, and he'd have been right.

  The hours came and went. I only allowed dinner and no other meals.

  "The shuck only gets to eat once a day," one of the guards had told me the next evening before tipping my dinner plate over into the pit and letting everything fall into the dirt. "And on the ground, just like a real dog."

  I hated it, but I kept my mouth shut. As the days began to drift by Rook came to check on me occasionally. I slept as much as I could, as my wrists and wounded arm didn't hurt as badly while I was unconscious. He managed to slip me some decent food when he could, saying he'd informed a friend of his in the kitchens of my predicament. After seven days, I was too weak to sit up anymore. The dirty meals I was given were barely enough to keep me awake, and twice Rook entered the pit to feed me by hand.

  "I'm so sorry for all this, blackie," he breathed one night, keeping his voice low to listen for anyone approaching. "Someone asked about you during role call this morning. They wanted your stuff from your tent coz they thought you were dead. I moved some of your goodies to my place."

  "G-G'tavei's chips," I whispered.

  Rook reached into his clothing and tugged out both memory and data chips from the Machinic, strung through with a shoelace. "Safe and sound on the one place where no one will find them."