Saliva runs down his chin and he wipes it away with the back of his hand. I keep swiping at the air, trying in vain to keep the flies at bay.
Igg and Ook, or whatever their names are, move to the other side of the room and fuss over some kind of kit. It looks complicated but they’re adept at setting it up.
They crank a handle on the side while holding their spoons underneath, using them to catch a glob of something as it falls out of the bottom.
When they’ve done that they scrape a knife across a stone of some kind which sends sparks flying into a pile of splintered timber. They coax it into a fire and grab the spoons and hold them over the flame.
After a few seconds of this they lean forward and press their eye against the spoon, then do the same with the other.
Hank see’s we’re watching them and laughs.
“Horrible bloody stuff if you ask me,” he says. “They seem to like it though, and it keeps them from getting ideas above their station.”
Igg and Ook let out guttural, satisfied groans before dropping the spoons which clatter to the floor. A thick, glassy substance coats their eyes, and their mouths hang open, drooling.
“That’s them sorted for the next few hours then,” Hank says then turns back to us and grins. “I hope you boys didn’t forget the blades,” he says looking at Stilwell and Nils.
They shake their heads.
“N-no, sir. We remembered them.” Nils says. His eyes are closed and he’s cupping his hands over his mouth to keep the flies out.
Hank laughs a deep belly laugh.
“Sir! I like that,” he says, and then heads over to the dead bandits by the door.
I take the opportunity to lean close to Maliah and whisper to her while Hank is distracted.
“Level with me, do we really have a chance of getting away from here?”
“Just sit tight,” Maliah whispers back. “There’s four of us and only one of him. Plus, there are people out there expecting us. They might come looking when we don’t show up.”
“Who will? Where exactly are we headed, anyway?”
Maliah frowns and stares at me. The way she’s chewing at her bottom lip I can tell she’s thinking about letting me in on whatever the secret of this mission is. Her lips part to say something but she’s interrupted.
“Ah, nice and sharp!” Hank says from the other side of the room. He’s crouched next to one of the bodies. “I suppose you’re wondering why I don’t eat these guys,” he punctuates this by stabbing the end of the machete into the dead guy on the right, “or maybe old stumpy there. Well... as fresh as they are, it’s been a long time since I tasted the flesh of woman. You’re always so much nicer. Female flesh... it’s much less chewy,” he says, the last few words accompanied by saliva dribbling down the sides of his mouth.
He stands and wipes the flat of the blade across his arm, then flips it and does the same with the other side.
His eyes flick back and forth between me and Maliah, and as he walks his way over to us, his tongue darts out and licks his lips.
Behind him I think I see something move past the window. Just the briefest of blurs. I watch the door but nobody appears and I doubt my own senses. There are flies still buzzing all around me, maybe it was just them I saw.
Hank’s gaze falls onto me and doesn’t waver. His upper lip draws back and exposes his disgusting black teeth. Closer now I can see they’re all pointed, like he’s sharpened them into spikes. I cringe and his grin widens, and he laughs.
“Like my teeth, do you?” he says, then runs his tongue along the bottom of them. “Sharpened them myself. Makes it so much easier to tear through the skin.”
His eyes are wavering again, but this time between my arms and my legs.
“Especially... tearing... it... fresh,” he’s salivating so much by this point he has to keep wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, “...off... the... bone.”
His hand darts out and grabs me by my bad ankle which screams with pain. He pulls me forward with such force I’m lifted off the ground. The shackle around my wrist bites into my skin as the chain pulls tight.
He licks his lips again and snaps his jaw at me, those sharpened teeth now mere inches from me.
5 - Echo
I have to keep my emotions in check. It takes all my willpower but I pull back from the brink of tears and concentrate on the screen, pushing thoughts of my lost love from my mind. The security feed from the basement is blurry from the explosion.
The cameras focused on the Badlands continue to display their jerky, enhanced feed of the land beyond the wall. From the row of buildings about a quarter mile away dirt and debris explodes into the Badlands.
I mark the footage and continue to watch for any movement, but the setting sun is blowing out most of the detail closest to the ground.
That’s good news for me and for them. Logically I know the odds are slim, but if Kara somehow made it through, I want to give her a chance to survive. At least until I know more.
A soft beep from the screen alerts me to an incoming call.
“Accept,” I say and am greeted by Captain Jacobs. From across the room my father looks up but doesn’t move to join me.
“Excuse me, ma’am. I was trying to reach-”
“I know who you were trying to reach,” I say, cutting him off. “My father is busy though. Anything you need to tell him you can tell me.”
I can see Captain Jacobs weighing up his options in his head. He now knows I’m the daughter of Jameson T. Fox, so I’m sure he’s trying to tread carefully.
“Of course,” he says at last, adding a, “ma’am,” almost as an afterthought. “Tunnel detonation has been a success. We’re confident from our initial readings the full length has collapsed. The terrorist situation is handled.”
I look from the screen towards my father. He’s watching me intently but giving me no clues to what he wants done, so I turn back to the screen.
“Captain Jacobs, that’s good work but we need confirmation. Please proceed to the Badlands and confirm no survivors made it through.”
“Yes, ma’am. That may take some time until we discover where the tunnel let out.”
I pull up the marked footage of the Badlands on screen and swipe it into the call.
“I believe this would be a good starting point. Wouldn’t you agree, Captain?”
“Yes, ma’am. We’re on it,” he says then signs off.
I look at my father and find he’s smiling at me. He nods his approval and goes back to whatever he was doing. The setting sun still obscures the feed from the Badlands so I’ve no idea if anyone has come out of the building.
An idea pops into my head about how to buy them a little time.
My fingers tap and swipe on the screen and I pull up information about aircars closest to the wall. Thankfully it’s rare for people to venture out this far so there is only one, so it must be the one Captain Jacobs and his team are using.
I rapid fire commands into the screen and hack my way into the aircar. The onboard diagnostic screen flicks open and I swipe my way to the self-check option.
Aircars routinely perform this function when left idle so it shouldn’t raise any red flags if someone was to investigate. The check itself takes around five minutes and cannot be aborted.
It’s not much, but it’ll stall Captain Jacobs’ team for a while. Minutes tick by as I watch the security feeds for the team. A little more time passes and at last they appear and approach the car. When they’re close, I click the “Begin” option to start the self-check.
Five minutes later I watch as Captain Jacobs’ aircar flies over the wall and out into the Badlands. By the time they land next to the crop of buildings then sun is minutes away from being completely set.
The footage is hard to make out. I’ve set the image enhancers to work at their maximum but the feed is blurry and dark at best.
I can make out the blur of Captain Jacobs’ team as they swarm from the aircar and disappear into t
he buildings. A minute or so passes with no change to what I can see.
A beep rings out and I accept the call.
“I hope you have good news for me, Captain Jacobs.”
“Yes, ma’am. No signs of any survivors. The tunnel collapsed at this end as well.”
“Excellent news. Perform a quick sweep of the area just to be sure and then head for home. You’ve done well. I’ll be sure to pass on your success to my father,” I say.
Captain Jacobs nods and signs off. On screen I can make out the shape of his team as they leave the building and re-enter the aircar. It takes off, remaining close to the ground and heading in a large arc away from the buildings.
After a few minutes of searching, it turns back towards the wall.
When I look from the monitor I find my father is standing beside me again. I hadn’t heard him approach.
“Good work today, Echo. I’m very proud of you.”
“Thank you, sir. It’s been a good day. I can scarcely believe how much information I have at my fingertips now.”
My father chuckles.
“You’ll get used to it,” he says. “Now, head back to the apartment and get some rest.”
“I could use it,” I say.
In truth I’m glad for it. I’m completely wiped out. I didn’t want to say anything to my father but now it’s all over my head is aching something fierce. A good rest to clear my mind, then tomorrow I’ll start my investigation into who Kara was to me.
When I wake up the following morning my headache has subsided a little, but there’s still a niggling throb at the base of my skull.
I activate the comms on my wrist and summon my personal maid, April. I’ve little need for a maid since I’m more than capable of doing things for myself, but my father likes me to have one.
A soft knock comes from the door, and a second later April walks through. Her face turned towards the floor as she walks over to me, her footsteps silent.
“You called, ma’am,” she says almost in a whisper.
“April,” I say leaning over to get into her line of sight.
As much as her training says she’s not to look directly at someone, I know if she’s putting me in an uncomfortable position that’s just as bad in her mind. Seeing what I’m doing, she looks up higher so I can straighten.
“April, I’ve still got a slight headache. Could you fetch me more of those pills you gave me the other day?”
“Right away, ma’am,” April replies and scurries off through the door, returning less than a minute later with two pills and a glass of water.
“Thank you,” I say once I’ve swallowed them.
“Perhaps you would like a swim, ma’am? I’m told it helps your father when he has a headache.”
I nod, thinking swimming sounds like a good idea. When I rack my brain, I find that while I know what swimming is, I can’t for the life of me remember if I can do it.
“Sure thing,” I say. “I’ve a quick stop to make, and then I’ll meet you there. Please bring what I need.”
“Of course, ma’am,” April says then walks silently from my room.
I’m still dressed in the clothes I wore yesterday, and since I’ll be changing out of them soon I don’t bother to change them now. Instead I head for the elevator and take it to the lab where I had my memories implanted.
There’s a lot more people around today, but they pay me little if any mind as I walk through the room towards the screen my father had used yesterday. It’s still as it was, and the mind halo sits in its cradle on the bench.
I call up the memory programs and search for swimming. When I watched my father do this yesterday it seemed complicated, but now with my new implanted knowledge it’s quite a simple task.
A few more taps on the screen and I’m ready to go. I place the mind halo on my head in readiness.
“Ready to deploy mind augmentation,” the screen announces.
“Deploy.”
This time the implant is over in seconds, which is handy because in my rush I neglected to sit down. When the tingling subsides, I remove the mind halo and recall memories of swimming.
I’m confident it’s all there. I now know the basics of how to swim, along with other scientific principles like fluid dynamics. These mind augmentations certainly are thorough. When I go to place the mind halo back in its cradle I stop, my thoughts suddenly wandering. Perhaps I should keep a hold of it.
The mind halo swings lazily from my hand as I strut from the lab back towards the elevator. My headache has subsided and I’m feeling good.
An image of Kara pops into my mind, the picture of her I was looking at yesterday. The sense of urgency I felt yesterday has lessened. Was it just the stress I was under?
Maybe the swim will clear my head.
After changing into my swimsuit I tell April I’d like time alone in the pool. She nods and pads from the pool room.
When I awoke five days ago my father gave me a tour of our apartment. When we got to this level, he couldn’t contain the smile on his face. This room, he said, was his favorite. He could relax here, away from everyone and everything.
The pool itself is recessed into the floor and takes up most of the space. The room accounts for one quarter of the entire level of the building.
“You must never mention it to anyone though,” he said. “Water is a precious commodity, and there are those would look upon this as self-indulgent greed. I prefer to think of it as perks of the position.”
I nodded along. At the time I still couldn’t comprehend much of how the world worked, or how FTW and my father fit into it. With no memories to guide me I assured him I would keep it to myself.
As we walked from the room, he told me he used to have a pool in our home on the east coast. He didn’t elaborate why he referred to it in the past tense, and I didn’t feel I should press him on it.
In the here and now though my body relaxes and my tension washes away the second I enter the water. I walk down the steps and it envelops me in its cool embrace. I lunge forward and dive the rest of the way into the pool. For a few brief seconds the only sound I hear is the water rushing past my ears.
I exhale and watch as the bubbles float to the surface. One good kick of my legs and I follow them and delight at the water running over my face.
I dive back under and am hit full force with a memory.
A panicked recollection of almost drowning in a pool like this. I can’t find my way up. Memories of being saved, but being scared of my savior. I thrash about trying to right myself.
An image of a dog. No, not a dog. A hound. A brother. Both melting into one. Behind them all, one beautiful face. Kara.
My Kara.
I know now what I felt yesterday was true. I did love her. I have to find her.
My head breaks the surface and I gasp. My heart races, pumping hard against my chest. I gulp for more air as if I cannot get enough. I force myself to calm down, and slowly my breathing comes under control.
There’s only one thought in my mind now. I need to remember everything.
After I get out of the pool, I dry off and change into the set of clothes April left for me. The clothes I’d been wearing this morning are gone but the mind halo is still there. I grab it and head back to my bedroom.
What I’m about to do requires privacy.
I tap the screen in my bedroom with my finger to wake it up. The screen lights and I’m greeted with the normal array of menus and options. Before I start there’s something I need to take care of first, namely covering my tracks.
I’m not sure why my father lied about Kara. When I think back, he didn’t as much lie, but he also said nothing about our shared past. Maybe I’m just being paranoid and he’s trying to protect me from something.
Nevertheless, I don’t want anyone to know I’ve been snooping around. My fingers fly across the screen as I hack and patch the software.
It takes about half an hour but by the time I’m done I’m sure I won’t be lea
ving any digital fingerprints anywhere.
I call up the photo of Kara.
“Screen, return all information you have on this person. Name: Kara.”
“Affirmative,” the screen replies. A small spinning circle shows its progress. The screen beeps softly and announces the search is complete.
“This can’t be right,” I say, swiping my finger up the screen to scroll through the files. “None of this is more recent than yesterday. Where is the rest?”
“No more information exists on subject: Kara.”
“That’s impossible,” I say. “Search her in relation to me. There must be something out there. I knew her once.”
The small spinning circle appears again briefly before the screen announces it has found no additional files. I scowl at it even though it won’t help.
“How about me then? Show me the day I was attacked.”
Again the little circle spins and returns no information.
“This is ridiculous! What is the earliest footage you have of me then?”
A list of files scrolls by and stops sooner than expected. Based on the timestamp, the earliest is from six days ago. I pull it up and it shows me asleep in bed, which I assume is footage of me after the attack.
“Is this all there is? How is there such a lack of information about me?”
If the screen knows, its answer is not forthcoming. I slump into a chair, my head falling forward into my palms.
It’s looking more and more likely I’ll never have any memories from beyond six days ago. Tears well up in my eyes at the thought.
“Where the hell are all my memories?” I whisper.
A few seconds later the screen beeps.
“One file found,” it says.
I push the tears from my eyes with the backs of my hands and look at what’s on screen. A single file sits in the search results. The screen must have processed my whispered despair as a search request.
Boneyards & Badlands: The Complete FTW Series Page 17