The engineered geometric rectangles of city blocks gave way to the outskirts of old-life, where mighty elms, towering oaks, hardy beech trees, and flowering dogwoods grew. Tarik’s head armor was open. He drank in the majestic beauty with his own eyes, smelled the earthy funk of the forest unfiltered, and tasted fresh oxygen generated by leaves.
Tarik lifted a foot to avoid a root jutting from the ground and stepped in a low spot, upsetting his balance to where he almost fell over.
“If you close your head armor, you can use your HUD to pick a smoother path,” Zax said.
“I’d rather take my chances. This is the first time I’ve actually been out in the woods, you know. Everything is so beautiful. I wish I could shed this armor and walk around naked,” Tarik said.
“You’d change you mind after a short time. Mosquitoes would have a field day on that unprotected skin. Plus, chiggers would crawl up in places you didn’t know existed and irritate you to death.”
“What’s a chigger?”
“A nasty little insect that likes to cuddle up in cozy spaces, like your underwear, and have lunch. They make little red bumps that itch. It feels so good when you scratch them, but that only makes them itch more. You could rub yourself raw and only make things worse.”
“I don’t like the sound of that. You can have mine,” Tarik said as he briefly closed his eyes. “It’s so quiet here, so peaceful. I can only imagine what it was like when man had to live in makeshift huts and survive off the blood of the land. It’s like,” Tarik paused, “it’s like all life on Earth is connected, in some strange way. I have a sense of belonging like I’ve never felt before.”
“I think I understand what you’re going through. You are kind of like an animal that’s been locked in a cage all of his life and now are stepping on grass for the first time. You know, I never thought about it much before. In fact, over the years I’ve been a little jealous how much you were catered to. Everything at the base revolved around you.”
“Jealous? Really? Growing up, I was always someone’s assignment, following a schedule where I was passed off from one caretaker to another. Get up, eat, go to instruction, eat, go to instruction, exercise, eat, go to sleep and repeat the next day. Of course, at anytime I could be pulled and brought to the lab, where doctors with huge fingers, like yours, would poke and prod and stick me with needles and shave thin layers of skin off me for my DNA. To be honest, most of the time I just felt like someone in the way. It was rare for anyone to spend time with me outside of their assignments,” Tarik said, finding it harder to talk as he thought of his friend Hudson. “I miss the good times I spent with Hudson.”
“Yeah, Hud was such a great guy. There were those who cared and those who pretended to care. There was nothing fake about Hud,” Zax said. He abruptly stopped and held up his hand. “You hear that? Something’s coming.”
Tarik did hear something scurrying in the woods coming their way. His head armor snapped into place, and he checked his electronics. “Woods are thick, but I can see it, and we have nothing to worry about. Watch.”
A few seconds later, a brown cottontail burst from the brush and shot past right in front of Zax.
“That’s a first for me. I’ve never seen a live rabbit before,” Tarik said. “Why don’t you kill it, and we can roast it on a spit and dine underneath the stars tonight?”
“What do you want me to do? Run it down and tackle it?”
The electronics in Tarik’s HUD sparked to life with some new information. “Uh-oh.”
“What?”
“We’re about to find out what the rabbit was running from.”
A growing disturbance crashed through the woods heading their way. Zax quickly looked around on the ground and picked up part of an old tree branch about four feet long. As he brought it up, the top third broke off and fell to the ground.
The first dog that emerged upon the scene came to a screeching halt. It was a fairly large dog, easily weighing over fifty pounds. It had black hair mixed with dark gray and might have been considered a good looking animal. With the hackles up on it’s back, and the peeled back lips showing long, sharp white teeth, it was far from looking like someone’s loyal pet.
“Get back!” Zax swung the branch in the air between them, trying to scare off the animal.
Two more dogs appeared. One had come from nowhere and sailed through the air and bit Zax’s arm that held the branch.
Tarik stomped toward the fray, trying to land a boot to the nearest dog. “Zax! Get behind me!”
The big Nu-Man had shaken off the dog that had bitten his arm and placed what was left of the branch right across the side of its face. The branch broke again, leaving just a small piece in his hand.
More dogs joined in the party. Zax took Tarik’s advice and maneuvered to put the armor clad man between him and the wild pack.
Forming a semi-circle, the animals, thirteen in all, barked, snarled, and bit into the empty air. The braver ones lunged forward with maws open wide and saliva glistening teeth threatening.
“This is ridiculous,” Tarik said. “I could use my shoulder gun and waste them all in three seconds.”
One of the dogs tried to outflank Tarik and get another piece of Zax. Tarik brought his boot backward and caught it in the chest. Bones crunched, and the dog crashed several feet over never to rise again.
“I’m a liability. Back up at a slow pace and keep them away from me,” Zax said.
Tarik stepped backward, and the two ended up under the branches of a large tree. Zax’s long arms and mighty hands had him off the ground and safely watching from above.
“You okay?” Tarik asked.
“Yeah.”
Slowly, Tarik offered the alpha dog his armor gloved hand to sample. The dog accepted the gift, bit down, and aggressively shook his head from side to side. The animal was insatiable to the point of its detriment. The dog’s blood smeared across Tarik’s gloved fingers. “I don’t know what’s gotten into these dogs. They look fat, not like they’re starving. But, we don’t have time for this.” Tarik brought his right fist over and slammed it into the top of the dog’s head. Its skull caved in, and its body slumped to the ground.
The armored human waded into the mass of dogs. They surround him from all sides, trying their best to get a tooth hold on his backside to bring him down. A swift kick sent a dog in front flying backward as it yiped its final cry. Another dog jumped and had its front legs over Tarik’s arm and bit at his head. He easily flung it to the side and delivered another crushing blow to the nearest predator.
Dogs scattered, for the most part. Some of them finally realizing that this was no ordinary hunt. Alas, some needed further convincing. Tarik made a quick disposal of three more in the blink of an eye.
That attack was enough to send what was left of the pack digging dirt under their paws and disappearing back into the woods.
Tarik looked around and then up at Zax in the tree. “What a waste. I’ve read a lot about dogs, how the species developed under the breeding programs of man.”
Zax stepped on a branch below, grabbed on with his hands, and lowered himself above ground before letting go. His arm was bandaged where the dog had bitten him.
“How bad is the bite?” Tarik asked.
“One tooth got in pretty deep, but overall, it’s not too bad. I cleaned it with Erase. It’ll be okay.” Zax fingered the edges of the bandage. “Earlier you wanted to cook up a rabbit. Now’s your chance to have some fresh wild dog.”
“Man’s best friend? You want me to eat man’s best friend?”
Zax shrugged. “Dogs may have been man’s best friend, but you know that genetic bond broke after the evolution to Nu-Mans.”
“Yeah, entire breeds were eliminated. It’s not a pet if it growls all the time and tries to bite you. It’s a shame, though. I’ve seen old recordings and read stories of dog’s loyalty to man.”
“You must have eaten dog at the institution? They’re bred like any another meat animal
s.”
“No, I was never served dog, although others at the institution may have eaten it. Hud told me one time they did that in respect to my humanity, whatever that meant. There were some human cultures that ate dog. Some that ate cats, too.”
“Yeah, how barbaric was that? Imagine, eating a cat. What kind of sick person would do that? Cats are the most perfect pets in the world. I worry what’s going to happen to them after we’re gone.”
“Which brings us back to our mission. Come on. We have a little way to go before we veer off into the old neighborhoods.”
*
Tarik felt like he was traveling back in time right now. Nature and old-life had formed an odd symbiosis. Paved streets still etched a grid-like pattern in the overgrowth. But the paths had long been covered by leaves and creeping vegetation, along with various plants and even trees which had found cracks in the pavement and reached out to the sky.
Most houses were still intact to some degree, although only a few had roofs; those made of sheet metal. One house built on an above ground foundation had a tree growing upright in the middle.
He tried to imagine what life had been like back then. Cars roaming the streets. Children playing in their yards. Yes, even dogs interacting with man. Hundreds of people who looked just like him carrying on without a clue of the upcoming invasion.
“These houses look tiny,” Zax said. He hadn’t spoken much since entering old-life.
Tarik wondered if Zax was thinking the same thing, what life must have been like for humankind. “Yeah. I don’t think people living here earned a lot of money. Of course, Nu-Mans are a lot bigger than humans. You’d have a tough time getting through a front door.”
They walked a little farther. “I get a strange feeling here,” Zax said.
“Like what?”
“Like I’m walking on sacred ground, or I’m violating ancient spirits or something like that. I feel like I don’t belong here. It’s stupid, really.”
That was interesting. “I’m feeling just the opposite. It’s as if I’ve,” Tarik hesitated, “come home, in an odd sort of way.”
“Well, you are human.”
“I get that, but I’ve grown up around Nu-Mans. The only time I ever see a human face is when I look in the mirror. It may be hard for you to understand, but I think of myself as a Nu-Man the majority of the time.”
Zax scratched at the hair on his forehead. “You’ve lived a screwed up life.” He walked in silence for a while, and said, “You told me that you and Hud sometimes talked about fate, how the Universe had a basic plan that mapped out the future. Right here, right now, maybe for the first time, I’m starting to feel like there may be something to that.”
“How so?”
“I can’t put it into words. It’s a feeling, kind of like the feeling of being out of place in old-life. You are the only human alive on Earth. There won’t be a single Nu-Man left alive here in the next twenty years. There’s a chance you can go back in time and keep the Skinks away from finding Earth. You can stop the Skinks from usurping man’s rightful ownership. A Nu-Man wouldn’t be able to that. Only a human could go back like that and not be discovered. That’s just way too many coincidences.”
Tarik thought for a minute. “You may be right, or you may be wrong. We won’t know until we complete the mission.”
Zax slowly shook his head, and said, “I’ll never find out the answer.”
Tarik’s heart sank a little, knowing the consequences of any outcome for his friend Zax. Zax’s fate, the fate of all Nu-mans, was determined. His HUD flashed an alert. “The safe-house is just two streets over. We’re almost there.”
*
The safe-house was as overgrown as the rest of the other houses on the street. This house had been constructed with cinderblocks and had a metal roof. No doubt it had weathered time better than most because of hearty materials.
“Should I knock?” Zax asked as the two stood in front of the door.
Tarik looked up toward the sky. Tree canopies blocked most of his view. “I’ve already sent a message to let them know we’re here.”
“Did they respond?”
“No. Which has me worried,” Tarik said. “I’ll send the code again.” The transmission was successful, and he was certain the code was correct.
After waiting for what seemed too long, the handle on the dilapidated brown door slowly turned, and the door opened about six inches before stopping.
“I’ll go first,” Zax said.
“Remember to duck your head.”
“You’re always saying I’m hard headed. What’s to worry?”
“Just go in. I’m dying to get out of this armor.”
The Nu-Man brought his arms in close to his body and lowered his head. Zax disappeared into the darkness.
Tarik’s HUD identified only one other Nu-Man in the house. A female. She was armed with a compact railgun, and it was pointed right at him.
“Put the weapon down,” Zax said firmly, keeping his distance from her, his arms raised up to his shoulders.
“I’ll put it down when I’m sure he’s not a Skink,” she said.
“I sent you the code. I’m not a Skink. I’m the human,” Tarik said.
“Zax?” The question in her voice indicated she would only trust the word of a fellow Nu-Man.
“It’s okay. He’s telling you the truth. You can put your weapon down.”
She did so, slowly, as if she might change her mind in a split second and raise it again.
When the railgun rested on the floor, Tarik squeezed his mech-armor past the narrow door frame and entered the house. The corner to the left was void of any furniture. He stepped over to the side and opened the armor. The two halves of the headpiece uncoupled, exposing his eyes to the darkness. For a moment he couldn’t see anything. The arms, chest, and leg components separated. Tarik stepped down to the floor, finally free of the confining shell.
Now that the door was closed, there was hardly any light at all, although Tarik easily made out the silhouettes of Zax and the girl. “Are there any lights in this place? I’d hate to have to feel my way around here.”
“There are lights. Just a second,” the girl said. She walked a few steps away, and the room flooded with dim white light.
The girl gasped.
She stood with her hand up to her mouth and her eyes wide.
Tarik took a moment for his eyes to adjust. She was young, probably Zax’s age. A gold-colored tunic wrapped her torso and only came over one shoulder. A matching skirt covered her hips to mid-thigh. Nu-Man women had much softer features than men. Most were a good foot shorter than their male counterparts. Their hands and feet slimmer, and the hair covering most of their bodies not nearly as coarse or long.
Nu-Man women had worked at the rebel base all of Tarik’s life. Not one of them had been younger than the age of forty, with the majority who worked there much older than that. This was the first time he had ever stood in front of a female this young. And, she was absolutely stunning to look at.
The silence had become palpable.
“I’m Zax. That’s Tarik,” Zax said.
The girl’s hand lowered, but she only continued to stare.
“Don’t worry. Tarik won’t bite,” Zax said. “Well, that’s not entirely true. He bit me once in the exercise room.”
“You were about to break my hand. I had to find some way to make you let go,” Tarik said.
“Eh, he’s also a sore loser,” Zax said.
“I am not,” Tarik said.
“He’s self-delusional too. But what are you going to do?” Zax shrugged. “He’s handicapped. He’s human.”
“I…” the girl started, “I’m sorry. I had no idea I would react this way. Everyone has seen images of humans. I….”
Tarik put his shoulders back and slowly approached. With his eyebrows up and a warm smile on his lips, he tried to look as non-threatening as possible. He stopped as soon as he got within her reach.
“
There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Tarik said, looking up into her big green eyes. He felt stupid in a way for saying that. What about him was to fear? She could pick him up and break him in half without much of an effort.
She slowly lifted a hand toward his face and hesitated.
“It’s okay,” Tarik said.
Her finger gently touched the side of his cheek and traced down to his chin. “Your skin is so smooth, so soft.”
“I did shave yesterday. Although I can’t grow much facial hair. Not in my genetic code.”
“Your nose is…perfect. So sleek, elegant.”
“Eh, thanks, I guess. It’s the only nose I’ve ever had. And, there’s no other human nose on Earth to compare mine with.”
She quickly shook her head and pulled her hand away. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that a real live human is right here in front of me. My name is Lixa. I’m the daughter of Bix. You’ll both be glad to know that he and the other rebels have all made it to safe-houses and the plans are still on for the rendezvous in two days.”
Zax looked over at Tarik and let out a sigh of relief. “What kind of supplies do we have here? And where did you get that railgun? I thought we had the only three, and those were at the base?”
“Everyone has gone beyond normal protocol, taking risks that we didn’t in the past. This is the one and only chance we have to make a difference. There’s nothing to lose. If we die now or next year, dead is dead. There won’t be any mourners around to remember us a few years from now,” Lixa said.
Lixa was young, but she seemed to be as tuned into the situation as Hudson.
“As far as supplies, we have zero energy batteries to recharge the mech-armor. There’s plenty of food and things to drink. We have a blaster and ammo for both you and the armor. After a couple of days rest you’ll be as ready as you’ll ever be.” Lixa hesitated and darted her eyes over at Tarik.
He had been staring at her, hanging on the music of her every word. His infatuation must have been obvious.
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