Prime City: A Science Fiction Thriller (Neon Horizon Book 2)

by Michael Robertson

  Marcie’s jaw ached from how tightly she clenched it, and she shook her head. “Not enough.”

  “Maybe not, but you’re warmer than I am because of them.”

  The wind had pulled loose strands free from Marcie’s tight ponytail, the wild hairs tickling her face. Prime City remained aglow on the horizon. Despite walking for as long as they had, they hadn’t gotten any closer to it. The dark grey clouds were turning darker. The sun had remained hidden behind them all day. “Do you think we’ll get there before night?”

  “No, but it’s not worth stopping now either. If we keep moving and keep our ears open, we’ll hear anyone coming and be able to avoid them.”

  Scala City’s skyline glowed behind them, the white lights in the windows of the skyscrapers. The Apollo Tower stood taller than the rest. “Life was so much easier then.”

  “Huh?” the Eye said.

  “When I ran through Scala City, talking to Sal, dreaming of a simple future.”

  The Eye wiped his face. “I’m not sure it would have been as simple as you imagined.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, Sal, first of all. I’d imagine he takes a lot of looking after.”

  “He’s not useless!”

  “Steady on! I’m not saying he is, but he is bedridden. Also, whether you lived in Scala City or the Blind Spot, it wouldn’t bring your mum back.”

  “Where did that come from? I know it won’t bring Mum back. I’m not stupid.”

  Despite Marcie’s aggression, the Eye replied with an even tone. “No, but you’re still grieving for her. I know you know she won’t come back, but I’m not sure your heart has accepted that. I think a lot of what you’re doing for Sal is an attempt to get him back to what he used to be. But even if you do—”

  “When I do.”

  “When you do, it won’t bring your mum back.”

  Marcie’s tight throat strangled her reply. Had she had organic eyes, they might well have been streaming by now. Had she had organic eyes, she wouldn’t have shoved her arm across in front of the Eye, halting him mid-step. He leaned forward to let his foot settle, but she shoved him back instead.

  His cheeks ruddy from the biting weather, he shrugged. “Why have you stopped us?”

  Marcie dropped down into a crouch and pointed at the small tripwire across their path. No more than an inch from the ground and almost invisible like a spider’s web. It had been stretched taut and wobbled in the wind like everything else in the barren landscape. She flipped to X-ray vision, following the two steep slides that led to a pit at the bottom with spikes. “Stand back.”

  When the Eye gave her space, Marcie tugged on the wire. The ground in front of it dropped with a ka-chunk, clang. It revealed the first steep ramp leading down into a pit, the mud on top of it an example of their narrowly avoided fate. A forty-five-degree drop at least, the sludge flew down it before hitting the next ramp, which turned at a ninety-degree angle and ran as steep. They wouldn’t have stood a chance.

  “How did you see that?”

  “My eyes don’t water like yours. I maintain twenty-twenty vision. And then I flicked to X-ray. Shame I can’t keep X-ray on for long. Not if we’re going to make any kind of progress. It messes with my depth perception. I’d be falling over every few seconds.”

  Marcie walked to the edge of the pit, and her stomach lurched. The grass and mud had left a trail down the first slide to the second one, which dropped even steeper. It ended in a deep pit with vertical walls, the ground covered in bloody spikes.

  “Thank god,” the Eye said. “There’s no way we would have survived that.”

  “The sooner we get to Prime City, the better.”

  They gave the pit a wide berth of over ten metres. They should have given more. And Marcie should have used her X-ray vision again. The dirt shifted like quicksand, grabbing a hold of her feet. She tried to step out of it, but she sank faster.

  “Marce!” the Eye said, now buried to his knees like her. “What’s going on?”

  Shudders ran the length of Marcie’s legs in a futile attempt to climb from the pit. The more she fought, the quicker she sank. The cold and damp ground wrapped around her thighs. She pushed down, and it claimed her hands like the rest of her, pulling her under.

  While twisting and turning, the Eye said, “Help me, Marcie.”

  “I can’t help myself at the moment.” Back into X-ray, she looked deeper than she had before. “I should have seen it sooner.”

  “What?”

  As much as she wanted to point down, the ground had a hold of her arms. “There’s a pit at the bottom of this. It’s much deeper than the other one.”

  The Eye’s voice rose in pitch. “Are you saying we should let the ground swallow us?”

  “I’m not sure we have any other choice, but I think we’ll come out the other side.”

  “And we won’t suffocate?”

  Her pulse slamming through her skull, Marcie shook her head. How could she know? But the Eye needed certainty. Hell, she needed certainty. She spoke quickly, gasping for breath. “Look, the dirt’s emptying with us.” The ground had turned into a funnel. “Whoever designed this must have intended for their prey to survive.”

  “Why?”

  “What if they can’t check it for a few days? What use is a rotten carcass to them?”

  “So what was that other trap about? That was clearly designed to kill.”

  “I think it was a decoy.” The dirt reached her neck. “I’m so stupid. It was there to divert its prey into this one.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Had we not seen the wire, we would have tripped it in time to avoid the pit anyway. The ramp was far enough away for us to notice before we stepped on it. I should have worked that out.”

  The Eye had sunk to his chin. The fight had left him. Either that, or he’d been nullified by the ground’s constrictor’s grip. “I hope you’re right. Otherwise we’re screwed.”

  Marcie also let go. A battle she couldn’t win, she delivered a more measured response. “It’s not like we have any choice but to go with it.” They both slid to the middle of the funnel, the lowest part in the pit. “We’re going to be fine. It’s a short drop. Honestly, we’ll be fine.”

  The Eye sank first, his red stare widening as the lower half of his face vanished. A second later only his white hair remained.

  Up to her chin now, Marcie drew one final breath before she too went under.

  Chapter 18

  Marcie fell free of the dirt funnel and hit a large metal spring-loaded panel at the same time as the Eye. The panel yielded, letting them through before it slammed shut above them with a clack! She landed on top of the Eye several metres below, her legs buckling, throwing her to the ground.

  They both got to their feet, the Eye still gasping.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Other than you winding me?”

  “I’m sorry, it all happened a bit too quickly.”

  “Tell me about it. What can you see?”

  Her night vision engaged. “We fell through a metal hatch, but it’s pulled shut again.” The ground soft beneath her steps, the damp reek of mud clogging her sinuses, she added, “Our weight combined with the dirt must have forced it open. Now there’s nothing on top of it—”

  “The spring is now strong enough to return it to its original place?”

  “That’s certainly how it looks from here.”

  “Can we open it from the inside?”

  Hard to tell with her night vision and from where she stood, the hatch about four metres above them. From a standstill, Marcie jumped and slammed her hand against it. It rang from the impact but didn’t budge. She stepped on the spot to get a better footing on the muddy ground and jumped again. When she landed, she shook her head. “It’s fitted tightly into a solid metal frame. There’s nowhere for me to grab it, and it only opens inwards.”

  “We’re fucked.”

  “I wish I could argue with
that.”

  “Shit.”

  They’d landed in a short pitch-black tunnel, the side closest to them a dead end. Marcie took the Eye’s hand and led him the other way. “There’s a small step here.” She hopped down, the slap of her feet echoing in the larger space. “It’s about a two-metre drop.”

  “Where does it take us?”

  “It looks like a larger pit.” She stamped on the ground. “It’s made from concrete.”

  The Eye dropped to his knees, turned around, and hung down. He paused for a moment before he let go and fell the final few centimetres. The light pat of his steps echoed in the cavernous pit. “How big would you say it is?”

  “Dunno.” Marcie turned on the spot, her voice amplified in the dark space. “Five metres from floor to ceiling maybe. About twenty metres long and ten metres wide.”

  “No exits?”

  “Not that I can see.”

  “Shit.”

  Although Marcie drew a breath to reply, the rumble of engines took her words. They were distant, but they were definitely engines, and they came from above.

  “Shit!” the Eye said again.

  “Can you say anything else?” Marcie said.

  He shrugged. “We’re fucked.”

  Marcie undid the zip on her bag before retrieving two bottles of water. She handed one to the Eye and quenched her thirst with her own. The cybernetics in her arms and legs bristled as the deep spluttering rumble of the engines drew nearer.

  “So what do we do?” the Eye said.

  “You’re supposed to be the smart one.”

  “What’s this got to do with computers?” His voice rose in pitch. “You’re superhuman, you must have an answer.”

  “I say we wait it out.”

  “Like sitting ducks.”

  “Not quite.” She returned the bottles to her bag and wore her backpack across her front. “Get on my back.”

  “Of course. I’m such an idiot.”

  The Eye clambered onto Marcie’s back while she fished the cloaking device from her pocket. She pressed the button. Click.

  The Eye’s breath tickled her ear. “What if they work out we’re here?”

  “They won’t be able to see us.”

  “The trap’s been triggered. That tells them something, right?”

  “They’ll trust what they’re seeing. Or not seeing. Besides, what other options do we have? They’re, what, a minute or two away. Let’s say there is a way out of here. We can’t take it while there above us anyway.”

  The ground shook beneath Marcie’s feet, and dirt fell from the ceiling. The pit caught the exhausts’ roars, giving them a rumbling echo. The sound eased, the engines idling. Maniacal cackles and giggles preceded the slam of footsteps as if monkeys danced on the metal ceiling of their prison.

  A winch clacked above them. A strip of daylight opened. Marcie flicked off her night vision, and the Eye covered his face as the gap above them grew, revealing more of the grey sky. Spiral tattoos decorated the faces peering in. About ten of them, but there had to be more.

  A tall and pale blonde woman with broad shoulders, black rags hanging from her, and a ring through her nose smiled. She had dark brown eyes, her skin tanned with dirt. “Well, well,” she said, “it looks like we’ve caught something.”

  “How can they see us?” the Eye said, climbing from Marcie’s back while the militia laughed at them.

  Marcie handed him the cloaking device, which he clicked once or twice before discarding it on the ground. “The fall must have broken it.”

  Where there had been about ten faces over the hole, more appeared until there were at least thirty. The black spirals peering down at Marcie made her dizzy.

  “Now back off!” The leader slammed her foot down on the metal hatch, her army scuttling away from her like beetles beneath an upturned rock. “We need to open this baby all the way up.”

  Marcie grabbed the Eye’s hand and led him so they had their backs pressed against one of the concrete walls. If they had to fight, they didn’t need to be getting surrounded.

  The ceiling when fully open stretched about ten metres wide. The Eye trembled next to Marcie, who spoke to him from the side of her mouth. “If it’s any consolation, I think this was the only way out. This or starving to death.”

  The thirty or so militia stood around the hole again, the Eye trembling as he looked up at them. “I’ll take starving to death, please.” He then said, “You seem calm.”

  “They don’t have us yet.”

  “Minnows,” the leader said. “They’re two minnows. This should be easy. One for you, Death.”

  The large man with the serrated scythe came to his leader’s side. His animal-skin waistcoat hung open, exposing his dark front. He had tens of scars slashed across his torso. They were much lighter than his natural pigment.

  Whack, the leader slapped him on the back. “Reckon you’re up to it?”

  Had Marcie had more time, she would have seen the step at the other end of the pit. Death dropped down to it, falling just over two metres before he dropped down again to their level. He fell like a rock and landed flat-footed with a deep boom!

  “Fuck me,” the Eye said, pressing himself against the wall as if he could somehow get farther away from the man.

  Marcie took off towards him at a sprint.

  The man fixed her with a dark glare and wound his scythe back.

  Those above cackled and shrieked.

  His teeth bared, Death swung for Marcie when she got close.

  She dropped into a slide, her red rings guiding her. Leading feet first, his weapon sailed over her head, and she hit his ankles with a two-footed kick. Her cybernetics added an extra punch, snapping his shins with a crack!

  Death yelled and fell forwards to his knees. His shins broken, he let go his scythe.

  Before he fell forwards, Marcie got behind him and caught his head. She gripped his chin with one hand, his brow with the other, and ripped a sharp turn to the right. Something crunched. Many above them gasped as he fell dead.

  The gang watched on open-mouthed as Marcie grabbed Death’s scythe and leaped straight up, her cybernetics launching her straight at their leader. The only way to silence her army.

  The leader brought around a pole, the end splayed wide like an open hand. It fizzed and crackled with live electricity.

  In mid-air and unable to change her trajectory, Marcie winced as she slammed into the pole. It kicked a jolt through her and she fell, her arms and legs flailing. She hit the ground with a thud, landing on her side, a whiplash snap dashing her head against the ground.

  Marcie’s world turned dark and she passed out to the charred reek of her own skin.

  Chapter 19

  Clang!

  Marcie’s eyes flashed open. The landscape beneath her feet shot away from her. The buggy’s wheels kicked up a spray of wet mud while the exhaust between her legs belched black smoke. She twisted and turned, but they’d tied her too tight. Hardly surprising considering what she’d done to what must have been one of their best fighters. They’d also taken her glasses and backpack.

  A woman on the back of the buggy with her, she had a spiral tattoo, and half her teeth were missing. The two of them held each other’s stares before the woman leaned closer. “I want to cut your throat for what you did to Death, but what you have waiting for you back at the farm is going to be much worse. You should have let us kill you when you had the chance.”

  Marcie twisted again. She had centimetres of movement. If that.

  Clang! The shock ran through the buggy, its large rubber tyres spongy to deal with the rocky terrain.

  No buggies behind her, but the chorus of engines spoke of plenty ahead. Maybe even all nine of them from earlier. And where had they put the Eye?

  The electric stick had left Marcie’s right shoulder stinging, but she felt it less than most, her nerves deadened from when they did her enhancements.

  Their buggy caught up to some of the others. Three on Mar
cie’s right, none of them had the Eye on board. As two on their left came into view, so did the Eye. They’d strapped him to the back like they had her, although from the way he shifted and wobbled, his ropes clearly had more slack. His eyes were closed, and his mouth moved as if he were praying.

  “What are you going to do with us?”

  The woman spat in Marcie’s face. She bared what teeth remained, and Marcie winced from the anticipated head butt that never came. “It’ll be easier to ask what we’re not going to do with you. You need to be made an example of, sweetheart.”

  Heat flushed Marcie’s face, driven on the back of her rapid pulse, but she held her tongue. They were already in deep shit; she didn’t need to make it worse.

  Another collective roar of engines joined the choir. Farther away. From the way the woman next to her stood more alert, she’d heard it too. More people coming to join them? The bravado had left her travelling buddy. She clearly hadn’t expected company.

  The buggy took a sharp turn left away from the new engine sounds. It gave Marcie a better view of the Eye, but she couldn’t see the source of the new vehicles. Although the Eye could have turned her way, he was clearly lost in his own personal hell. His gaze blank, his mouth still working overtime. “What’s going on?” Marcie said.

  The woman beside Marcie climbed higher up the buggy, clearly trying to get a better view of what approached. She then checked those around her as if looking for someone to take charge.

  All of the other buggies had also turned left, following Marcie and the woman. Like the woman beside her, those on the backs climbed higher. Curious monkeys, they were readying for an attack from a hostile group.

  The front of the buggy lifted when it hit a steep incline.

  The woman on Marcie’s right climbed farther up the metal frame. “Oh no.”

  “What?” Marcie said.

  The woman called to one of the buggies on her left, “We’re screwed. No way are we getting away from this.”