Scavenger: Evolution: (Sand Divers, Book One)

by Timothy C. Ward

  “How are you feeling, by the way?” he asked Rush. “You look better.”

  Rush swallowed his pull on the canteen. He hadn’t even noticed his headache was gone. “Water must be helping.”

  “Good, you ready for another run?”

  “You bet.”

  Nedzad typed until a door lock clicked on the door they hadn’t cut through. “All right, Rush. Let’s go.” He gave a radio to Dixon. “That computer will alert you if the front door unlocks. If that happens before we get back, Avery, take them to the rooms on LL3 and get ready for battle. Let me know if any alarms come up.”

  “No problem.”

  Rush unplugged with his suit at eleven percent and followed Nedzad out the north door into a storage area with boxes stacked high on pallets.

  They wound around a corner at a jog, passing through aisles of stacked boxes and stored computer equipment.

  Rush realized he was about to give up the suit he’d worn when Fish was alive. Each step forward took him farther from his son. The distance between him and his wife seemed to expand just as far. Rush’s hands and feet pumped to get him to safety, as though he were neck deep in quicksand and too stupid to know this wasn’t the way. Still, lying still and waiting for the sand to cover your head was not how he promised his wife and son he’d live.

  He would find a way to break through.

  Focus. Breathe. Repeat.

  SCAVENGER: Twin Suns

  Chapter 2

  They ran into a wide open office space with high cubicles. Rush peeked into them as they wound through the aisles, hoping to catch Star hiding, but they passed through with no luck. Nedzad turned right along a north-south hall and picked up the pace. Rush caught up as Nedzad shoved open a double door. On the other side, he stopped at a nearby door and tapped keys on a number pad beside it. Red changed to green and the door clicked open.

  Rush followed him into a carpeted hall and a dark room with rows of lockers, benches, and a computer workstation along the far wall.

  “You can take that suit off now.” Nedzad opened two lockers and took out a sleek black dive suit.

  Rush held it up by a finger. The thin material was like a grain of sand compared to the weight of his old suit and much easier to stretch. The visor looked similar, but with its original coat of black paint and pristine plastic shielding. The backpack hanging inside the locker matched the suit and was half the size of what he wore. Slots on the sides and the shoulders of his suit allowed for a smooth insertion of the backpacks straps, buckling into the front and waist. The air tank was much lighter as well.

  “Is there air in there?” He turned his neck toward the hose sticking out of the left strap and sucked. Clean air filled his lungs. “Yep.”

  The new tool filled his lungs with a bit of hope as well.

  A small box sat on the shelf inside the locker. Inside was a strange looking pistol. Rush smiled. The smooth, black metal formed one piece with a tube under the barrel like smoked glass and a matching cylinder at the bottom of the handle. Rush slid it into a holster aerodynamically fit into the hip of his suit.

  Nedzad closed his locker, suited up with his visor over his eyes, and his dive button lit blue in a small hole at the center of his torso.

  “You’re a diver, too?” Rush asked.

  “Yeah. You folks just caught me without my suit on.” He slowly turned to his right, forming a circle with his shoulders.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “Star.”

  “Star? How?” Can he see through walls?

  “The suits and visors going around these days, like yours, lack the power and programs that the originals have. Call it wearing down or simply cutting out what the makeshift suits—there she is!”

  Rush powered his suit. The electric charge covered him like a thick coat of beetles crawling out of the dive button. His previous suit had been ants in comparison. When he slipped the visor over his eyes, twice as many optional command icons decorated the horizon of his transparent dock view. Not knowing what any of the new suits could do, he simply thought himself out of the dock view and its clear picture of Nedzad and into a dive view with an emphasis on living beings. He was surprised to see only Nedzad’s form in orange, red, green and blues, and then, his screen zoomed through blueprint dotted walls and hollow structures to a person with Star’s height and physique. A thousand green rivers coursed through her anatomy, concentrating in a circuit from her neck to her eyes and around through her brain.

  “Wow.”

  She walked into a new room, clenched her torso and opened her mouth, as though shouting something short. Rush, he hoped. She turned her head and did the same.

  She’s calling for me. Rush moved.

  “They unlocked the door,” Dixon shouted from Nedzad’s radio, a chirping alarm sounding in the background.

  Crap. Rush slowed, turned toward where he pictured the entrance and imagined a larger field of vision.

  A group of thirteen live bodies fanned out from the main lobby. One stayed behind as the three groups of four ran, arms positioned as though carrying assault rifles.

  His neck tensed his sight at one of the figures approaching the desk. Rush’s eyes opened to a view of himself strolling into the lobby from outside, scanning the room in dock view. His reflection on the desk’s glass displayed his body as Warren with his bright orange and white ker.

  Rush raked his visor off. His body was too heavy and his legs gave out. He reached out to brace his fall but hit the ground first.

  “Whoa, Rush.” Nedzad knelt and his visor turned from black to transparent, revealing concern in the man’s brown eyes. “What happened?”

  “Warren.” How? “I was…Warren.”

  “Warren? Who’s that?”

  Rush’s legs and fingers tingled, still too numb to try and stand. His head rocked with unseen waves. What was happening to him? Was he becoming like Star?

  “He made me blow the wall at Springston.”

  Nedzad’s eyebrows rose. “That was you?”

  “Yeah. Long story. Warren hired me for a job and before I knew it I was swimming with a sack of bombs trying not to kill the city or my wife. I don’t know how I could have…”

  Nedzad pulled Rush to his feet by his good hand. “So what do you mean you were him?”

  “I saw through his eyes. I don’t know how. Is that something these suits can do?”

  “See through the eyes of others…no. That’s impossible.”

  Rush laughed. “Like The Gov’s voice controlling my wife is impossible?”

  Nedzad shrugged, checked behind him. Something thin flicked in his visor and then flicked again as he turned back to Rush, the black turning clear to reveal his eyes. “Let’s go get Star. Say something if that happens again.”

  “He has twelve people with him, all carrying assault rifles.”

  “Yeah, I saw. Come on.” Nedzad lifted his radio. “We have company. Thirteen hostiles. One called Warren. Head to the weapons’ locker and get suited up. We’re on our way to Star. Will be there soon.”

  Rush left his visor off as they ran back into the long hall and headed south. Nedzad pointed left into a room full of cubicles. Rush kept on his heels as they wound through the maze into the center where he found her walking head down and shaking, mumbling an unclear argument with herself. She didn’t seem stable enough for him to run to her, so he slowed down. She did not turn at the noise of their approach.

  “Star?”

  She slowly turned. Rush prepared for the sting of separation her blue eyes could cause, but they were green, a clear path into fear and loneliness. “Rush? Where am I?”

  He took her in his arms and squeezed her tight. “You’re with me. That’s all you need to know.”

  She looked down at his suit. “Where’d you get this?” She noticed Nedzad and gasped, pulling Rush between her and him like a shield. “Go away. You can’t have him.”

  Have him?

  “Star, it’s okay,” Rush said. �
��He’s a friend. He’s here to help.”

  She continued to grip Rush tightly, only peeking above his shoulder at the sentry.

  “He knows where we are and how to get us to safety. We need to follow him, okay?” He debated mentioning Warren, but she let him move her after Nedzad, so he didn’t have to. Her steps were stilted at first, but as Nedzad led them east into another long north-south hall marked as E BLVD, she progressed into a run. Survival mode.

  Every step could be interrupted at any moment by The Gov’s voice over the loudspeakers or Rush seeing the world through Warren’s eyes. Did he need to have his visor on for that connection? Was it unique to Warren? He feared so. Whatever was going on, Rush just wanted to get down to the lower third floor and do whatever they needed to and then get out of this base. The lack of daylight confined him.

  They cut left at 7th Ave to head east. Nedzad slowed down before the door leading out of the cubicle section. “Four plus Warren, already in the hall toward the elevator. The DL on your thigh shoots an electromagnetic pulse, but only with your suit and visor on and it does sap a good amount of power.”

  He showed Rush the safety. “Tap the trigger for single fire and hold for an elongated burst you can drag. I could use your help but if you go blind or see something like what you saw before, don’t fire. Worst case scenario, there is another elevator by East and 9th. Ready?”

  East and 9th was looking better by the breath, but there had to be a good reason why Nedzad didn’t want to take it. Rush fit the DL in his right hand, thankful it wasn’t the one he’d broken, and slid the visor over his eyes with his cast.

  Nedzad and Star’s multi-colored figures crouched on his left. Nedzad held up three fingers. Then two. He broke for the door. Fear trained Rush’s eyes on Nedzad’s legs until he was in the hall and a whoosh zapped near Nedzad. A man from Warren’s group flew off his feet. Rush aimed at the chest of a person lifting their rifle. Another whoosh sounded from Nedzad’s DL, then a zap that smacked the person onto their back.

  Rush aimed at another person turning their rifle on him. He squeezed his trigger. The beetles bit down from dive button to fingertips, an unsuspected catalyst that jerked his hand and aim. A ceiling panel well past his target exploded into yellow mist. The spared figure clenched, then aimed at Rush and fired. Machine gun fire rattled the hallway as Rush ducked. The bullets peppered the ceiling above him, clouding his sight with the dust and falling debris. Rush aimed and let off a quick DL shot. Whoosh. Zap. The figure fired back, unharmed. Another figure aimed his rifle at Nedzad. Rush squeezed his trigger and held it. The DL seemed to suck in the air around it, and as Rush let the trigger go, he swept it from one figure to the other. It snapped off a massive, pink band that smacked both targets off their feet.

  Nedzad advanced.

  “Rush. Shoot him!”

  Warren’s voice moved Rush’s DL and squeezed his trigger. Whoosh-zap, the shot hit Nedzad in the side as he turned back to Rush. The wallop yanked him against the wall.

  Star filled his right-side view in a quick red blur and chopped him in the side of his neck. His head jerked into the blow. His spine popped. He lost his grip on the DL.

  “Shoot her!” Warren called out, but she already had Rush’s DL hand, aimed it at Warren and pressed Rush’s finger into the trigger. His arm tensed and the DL shot a long charge, destroying portions of the ceiling and a line down the left wall. She brought his arm down toward Warren as the man ducked and ran. Her shot burst tile out of the floor, carving a line toward his escape. He leapt behind the see-through wall. Star twisted Rush’s thumb and swung herself under his arm as she spun. Pain shot through his hand, forcing him to release the DL. It clanged on the floor.

  “Star, stop!” Rush raised his hands in surrender.

  Nedzad moaned and cursed from the floor. “I have this, Star.” His DL was pointed at Rush’s chest.

  “Nedzad. I’m myself.”

  Warren ran down a hallway toward the main entrance.

  “He’s not controlling me right now.” Rush coughed from the dust in the air. His thumb throbbed, but his nerves were ready for a longer fight.

  “Star, get the DL.” Nedzad groaned and held his left side as he stood.

  A member of Warren’s team struggled to reach for the gun behind her.

  “Ned!” Rush pointed at the woman clutching the rifle.

  Nedzad turned, aimed, and fired a DL pulse. A pink burst hit her chest. She shook and fell onto her back. The colors inside her body faded to leave her like the other three.

  Star picked up the DL. Rush blinked his visor mode to dock view. She looked sad and scared as she watched him. Nedzad pressed a button at the elevator.

  “Everybody okay up there?” Avery asked over Nedzad’s radio.

  The elevator doors opened and Nedzad backed in, motioning with his DL for Rush to follow Star in. “Sort of. Rush shot me,” he said with a little humor mixed in with his frustration.

  “He what?”

  “Long story.” Nedzad reached past Star and hit LL3 on the floors panel. “Warren showed up with the group that entered the front door.”

  Rush took the radio. “When he spoke I lost control of my body. But he ran away, and I think I’m back in control.” Rush felt dizzy and a bit unsure about the last half hour and what he had planned to do. The elevator took them down, but why…something about a giant sun.

  Rush keyed the mic on the radio. “What did The Gov and Warren do to us?”

  “I don’t know,” Avery said.

  Nedzad shrugged and reached for the radio. “I’m sorry. I don’t have any idea.” He lifted the radio to Star and keyed the mic. “What about you? You up and left. Do you remember what happened?”

  “I vaguely remember fearing you stopping me and then when I got on the other side of the door…feeling empowered. It was like being grabbed by someone before they leapt off a sandscraper. I woke at a computer…”

  “What were you doing?” Nedzad asked. “What was on the screen?”

  “I…I wasn’t doing anything when I woke up.”

  “On the screen, do you remember any words or pictures?”

  Star adjusted the dirty bandage on her right hand. “I don’t know.”

  The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Nedzad turned a switch to hold them open. “Please try to remember, Star. The Gov was using you for something and if we don’t find out what, it could be very bad for us.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “Okay. Sit and rest. Both of you. I’ll get some medicine and weapons to take down to four.”

  Rush had a seat in the corner and made space for her to sit with her back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her stomach and rested his chin on her shoulder.

  Nedzad set his AK on the floor and left them.

  Star looked so young with her short, spiky hair. He pinched some of it to sharpen a peak behind her ear. “Good job back there, Starlight. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

  “You didn’t?” Star turned her head, showing playful surprise as she traced a finger over his thumb. She slowly bent it back. “Did I hurt you?”

  She had, but as she pushed it, it didn’t hurt as much as it had. The sudden lack of pain confused him. “I guess I’ll be okay.”

  “Sorry.” She kissed it. “Next time I subdue you I’ll try to avoid your good hand.”

  Rush’s mouth formed a smile he didn’t feel. Her joke felt more like a dark prophecy.

  SCAVENGER: Twin Suns

  Chapter 3

  Down the hall outside the elevator came a group of footsteps, chatter, and a mock falcon shriek. That last noise was Dixon. He was the best of Rush’s students at the falcon call. “Got some major booty, D.M.!”

  Avery showed up first with a smile big enough to catch a pound of sand. “He ain’t lying, Poke. Not bad digs at all.” He showed off a black assault rifle as smooth as the paint on Rush’s new visor, designed unlike anything they’d ever scavenged or seen for sale. “I still want one of
those new suits, though. Thought I’d find one.”

  “When it’s safe to go back, we will,” Rush said.

  Viky came next, flexing to show off the bulging duffle bag that looked and sounded like it was full of guns. “I picked out some nice ones for you and put them in here.”

  She was dressed like most of the group. Even Carroll. No longer donning her expensive silk shirt, the tower dweller wore a new combat vest, cargo pants and camo boots. She’d even cut off her sleeves to match Viky’s style. She’d also wiped off the makeup that hid her tan. The only thing she needed next to become Viky’s twin was to buzz off her brown locks.

  Viky saw what Rush was looking at and slapped her arm. “Girl may’ve had to come underground to learn style, but that’s better than not.” Carroll flexed her own bit of muscle.

  “She ain’t half bad for a scraper,” Viky said. “Were you a bad girl forced into some air-conditioned manual labor?”

  Carroll smiled. “Something like that.”

  “I saw her lift a few buckets with the sissyfoots,” Rush said.

  Carroll’s glare ended his attempt at humor. Dixon noticed her response and walked between them, twisting a heavy backpack off his shoulders to show Rush. “I’ve never seen so many bullets, D.M. If we get out of this alive, I’m going to have so much fun training on these new guns.”

  “And training me,” Cool said, gnawing on a bite from something inside a half-unraveled wrapper. With the way his new clothes draped over his skinny body, he could stand to eat three at a time.

  Rush liked seeing the group in better spirits. This was a find of a lifetime. Now, they just needed to survive long enough to carry it topside, or in their more immediate case, make it through to Denver alive.

  While Dixon parted his bag so Rush could observe the clatter of magazines inside, Cool’s mom bumped into Cool’s shoulder. She was practically racing to keep him from the duffle Viky carried into the elevator. Cool’s mom and Avery were the only ones who hadn’t changed. Avery had kept his dive suit on, while she remained in her hole-infested, Shantytown Brown threads.