by Kai O'Connal
Keandra was going to offer a reply, but her brain decided rest was more important. She waved in a dismissive gesture before letting her head slip to rest against the seatback. At first, she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep with the troll snoring almost in her ear and smelling of stale sweat, but her body didn’t care. She sunk into blissful oblivion before her mind finished the thought.
She woke with a start as she lurched forward, barely managing to get her hands up in time to keep from smashing her face into the back of the seat in front of her. The troll across the aisle wasn’t so lucky: she slammed into the seat and tumbled to the side, falling into the aisle with a curse and continuing to yell at the train as she clambered back onto her bench.
Keandra took stock of her surroundings. E-jekt sat next to her, one hand pressed against the window for support and pawing at this face with the other, clearly just woken up as well. The heavy thud in front of her gave away Paz’s location. Glancing around the seats, she spotted the dwarf woman in the gap between the benches. Keandra pulled her gun from around her back and held it under her, glancing around for the nearest threat.
The young dwarf couple still focused on each other, only sparing a brief glance out the window before once again becoming enraptured with each other’s presence. The businessman in the coat with the briefcase stood up and leaned against the window, glancing in both directions. Lance was nowhere to be seen.
“Passengers aboard the express train to the California Free State, we apologize for this slight delay in our itinerary. Please remain in your seats and be advised that we will be underway shortly.”
This couldn’t be good. The airlock door at the front of the car opened and Lance sprinted through it, running toward them. The businessman turned to ask him a question, but Lance rushed past without pausing. Keandra realized the business man and troll stared at them, meaning witnesses who could identify them if what she feared was coming to pass.
“We must depart immediately.” Despite his sprint, Lance’s breath was slow and steady.
“Why?”
“Corporate drones. There’s one flying up near the engine at the front of the train. If I had to venture a guess, that’s why we’ve stopped.”
20
The group didn’t need any more convincing. They jumped to their feet and rushed to the back door of the car as the troll and the businessman watched them, their confusion painfully obvious. As for the dwarf couple, Keandra was surprised they’d even noticed the train slowed down.
The airlock compartment would only fit two at a time, so Keandra and Lance went first, squeezing in together as they shut the back door. They opened the door to the outside and the sudden rush of air caught Keandra off guard. She snatched at one of the support railings as she swung out into the open space between the two cars. Lance watched to make sure she was stable; when she gave him a thumbs-up, he vaulted up on top of the train.
As soon as he cleared the car, the wind blasted him back. He reached out to snag the front lip of the last car, catching himself from flying off the back of the train. It was slowing down, but still traveled fast enough that a fall would be deadly. He jammed one of his knives into the roof of the cab, hooking a quick anchor cord around it. He gripped it in one hand and held out the other to Keandra. With his assistance, she pulled herself up and joined him on top of the train.
Even seeing what it had done to Lance, Keandra was unprepared for the sudden force of wind blasting her in the face. Lance held on tight, keeping her from losing her footing. She pushed against the wind, reaching out to grab the cord from the anchor. She wrapped it around her wrists like Paz had taught her, holding her in place without needing to rely on her grip strength. Once she felt secure, she looked up at Lance.
“I’m good!”
He shouted something back, but she couldn’t make out his words over the howling of the wind. Instead, she offered an upraised thumb. He returned the gesture, then turned back to the gap between the cars, presumably to help E-jekt get up to the roof as well.
Keandra fed the cord through her hands, letting it uncoil from her wrist a little at a time so she could back away from the opening and make room for her other companions. Once she was a few meters away, she looked around. Looking forward was impossible; the wind dried out her eyes and battered them so much she couldn’t keep them open. The best she could do was cover the front of her face with her arm, allowing her to turn her head and glance to the side.
Wherever they were, the area was heavily wooded and didn’t have much in the way of electronic lighting. In the distance, she could see the faint outline of mountains, but that didn’t tell her much. All she knew was that they were somewhere between UCAS territory and CalFree—otherwise it would have been much more developed. The ground still whipped by so fast that jumping off would be guaranteed suicide.
Overhead, she heard the roar of a drone engine as it shot past her. As soon as she heard it, she dropped flat—as if that would help hide her, or protect her if the drone opened fire. Nonetheless, the drone flew past, heading somewhere in front of her that she couldn’t see. What she wouldn’t give for a pair of goggles.
The line jerked around her arm, and then E-jekt bumped into her as he joined her on the roof and backed away from the gap as she had. She noticed he kept his head tucked down and the line wrapped around his arm. She couldn’t get any more detail than that before she was forced to look away.
Lance came up next to her and shouted in her ear. “We have to jump!” Even with him that close, it was difficult to make out his words.
She closed her eyes and tilted her head so she could yell back at him. “We’ll die if we jump!”
“We’re slowing down quickly. As soon as we reach a clearing we can see, we need to jump. We have to hope the drone didn’t see us, but it won’t matter if it sweeps when we’re stopped.”
“That’s insane!”
“Do you have a better plan?”
Keandra admitted she didn’t. They were already slowing down significantly, but it was still crazy to think they’d be able to time a jump at a speed slow enough that it wouldn’t kill them, but not so slow that the drones wouldn’t see four people jump off the train. Lance was brought up a good point. It was their only option, short of getting in a shootout with the drones and hoping they could take them out faster than the corporation could send reinforcements. And that was assuming Mr. Johnson didn’t already have troops in the area or on a train in pursuit.
“Tell the others!”
Lance headed off to comply. Keandra still needed to hold onto the cord to keep her balance, but now she could stand upright without her arm straining to the point of being ripped off. The wind prevented her from looking ahead or having any hope of hearing something not shouted in her ear.
She edged over, making her careful way to the side of the train and looking at the ground below. At least it didn’t look like a long fall. The track wasn’t elevated, so they only had to worry about the height of the train. On the downside, the trees here grew right up to the edge of the tracks, close enough that they brushed the air in front of Keandra’s face as they rushed by. If she stuck a hand out, branches or even trunks would smack it. Thinking of what would happen to her body if she jumped into one of those made her shudder and shuffle back a few steps from the edge.
The wind died down enough she could spare quick glances ahead of her. Two drones kept pace with the lead car, escorting it as it slowed. At some point, Paz climbed up and now she stood at the edge of the car, close enough that Keandra was amazed she didn’t get swatted off by a wayward branch. Lance stood next to E-jekt, one hand on his shoulder. Keandra wasn’t sure if it was for support or to provide a push when it came time to jump.
The ground passed by too fast for Keandra to track it. But the steady howl of wind dropped to a gentle moan, and she heard the whoosh of the trees as they whisked by. She closed her eyes and prayed for something soft to land on.
The trees gave way to a clearing,
and Lance wasted no time. He shoved E-jekt off the train, and the ork went over the side with a scream. Paz followed suit, and her shout of elation was stark contrast to E-jekt’s wail of terror. Lance glanced at Keandra and she let the cord go, where it danced around on the top of the car at her feet. She had enough time to watch Lance coil it up and retrieve his knife before she leaped into the darkness.
Her breath caught as she soared through the air. In the space of a couple seconds, her emotions went from pure fear to the excitement of freefall to terror of the impact to come. She slammed into the ground and curled her body as best she could, rolling through the grass. Even though it was soft dirt and vegetation, it felt like rock when she hit it and rolled over. Only when she came to a stop did she appreciate just how soft her landing spot was. By now, the aches and bruises from earlier in the evening were back, this time with an aggravated vengeance. She wanted nothing more than to lie in the dirt and not move for days.
She shifted her head to the side so she could breathe out of the side of her mouth without every gulp of air being filled with the scent of wet dirt and pine needles. The high grass prevented her from seeing much, but she caught a blur as Lance hit the ground and rolled over his shoulder to his feet. She remained still and listed to the roar of the drones’ engines and the sound of the train squealing in the distance as it continued to brake.
When everything became still, Keandra considered it a relief. She relished the fact that she wasn’t the only one who wanted to curl up and recuperate. To be fair, even curling up sounded like too much effort. She wanted to slip back into the oblivion she’d enjoyed before the train began shuddering to a stop.
Reality encroached on her attempt at rest and recovery. Soon Mr. Johnson would know they weren’t on the train any longer. They needed to get up and get moving.
From a different direction, she heard a groan: E-jekt. Bit by bit, her team recovered from the crash. Keandra pushed herself up on her side and regretted it as pain lanced through her shoulder, dropping her back down. This time she rolled over, tucking her knees under her when she did so. Now with a solid base, she sat back, rising to a sitting position without needing to put much strain on her shoulder.
The clearing was fairly large, and Keandra spotted lights peeking through some of the trees in the distance. She also heard the steady hum of heavy machinery. There was a small station nearby, next to the track. Tire tracks had pushed down the grass and formed a path that led from the stage in the direction of the lights. That meant civilization, and possibly more options for transportation.
Lance was already on his feet, walking through knee-high grass to Keandra, the blades swishing against his legs. Paz was also up, helping E-jekt stand. He had one arm draped over her shoulders, which left him in a hunched position, given their height differential.
Lance offered Keandra a hand. She took it with her good arm, accepting his strength as he pulled her up. Once again, her knees wobbled when she put her full weight on them, but he grabbed her arms to help steady her. When she winced at the sudden force on her shoulder he let go, remaining close and ready to catch her if she needed it.
“I’m all right. You?”
“Better than you, I would wager. Normally your lies are much more believable.”
Keandra smiled and patted Lance’s shoulder. “Considering I just jumped off an express train into a dark field at spirits-knows-what speed? Yeah, I’m all right. I expected to be broken in a heap after that maneuver. But, good thinking.”
By now E-jekt and Paz hobbled over to join them. Paz looked fine—if anything, she looked like she wanted to do it again. E-jekt, on the other hand, was panting, and Keandra was pretty sure it was due to pain. As much as she would have liked to take time to care for any injuries, they needed to keep moving.
“We need to get out of here, especially now that the train’s stopped. Are you two ready?”
Paz continued to grin, letting that speak for her. E-jekt gulped down some air and removed his arm from the dwarf’s shoulder, taking a second before he stood up straight and looked Keandra in the eye. “It’ll take more than that to keep me down.”
He winced halfway through the words and stumbled forward, dropping to one knee. Each of the others lurched forward, trying to catch him and offer support. He waved them off, bringing his foot back under him and standing on shaking legs. His back was hunched, but he raised his head. “Like I said, I’m not down yet.”
Paz dropped into the grass, sitting cross-legged as she pulled her medkit off her belt. She opened it, rifling through the different options, and settled on a patch. It was unlabeled, and Keandra had no idea how Paz knew which one it was.
“Try this. It’ll take the edge off the pain, but not give you too bad a crash after. You’ll still crash, just not hard.”
E-jekt took the patch and lifted his shirt, slapping it into place. He continued to wheeze, but after a few seconds his breathing slowed and cleared. He stood up straight, putting a hand on Paz’s shoulder for balance. Once he was completely upright, he let go and took a few tentative steps. “Thanks. Just what I needed.”
Keandra considered asking if Paz had anything to help deal with her shoulder, but decided against it. Right now they weren’t even sure where they were, let alone where they could resupply. The pain wasn’t unbearable, so it’d be best to save the medical supplies until they became absolutely necessary.
And that brought them to the next problem.
“We need to get out of this clearing before the drones come back,” she said. “It’s only a matter of time before they talk to the passengers and learn we were on board. From there, they’ll search for where we jumped off. At best, we have a few hours’ head start, but we need to get moving. Let’s head into the woods down this track, catch our bearings, and figure out where we’re going next.”
The runners gathered together and trudged to the shelter of the trees. The tracks led down a well-maintained trail, wide enough for a truck. However, the trees on either side had grown tall enough that their overhead branches provided cover over the passage. That shelter might just keep them from the prying eyes of a passing drone. By the time they got under the tree cover, she’d broken into a sweat despite the cool temperature.
“E-jekt, do you have Matrix coverage?” she asked. When he nodded, she continued, “Find out where we are and what you can learn about the area. We need transportation, and we can’t sit around and wait for another train to come by.”
As she spoke, weariness crept up from her bones once again and she leaned against a tree for support, propping her back against it. She planted her hands on her knees, bending over and closing her eyes as she struggled to recover. She heard Paz come close; the dwarf’s heavy tread was unmistakable.
“I’m fine.”
“I know you are.”
“I just need to sit for a moment.”
“Uh-huh.”
Keandra slid down the trunk of the tree until she sat on the ground. Some part of her brain registered the zipper of Paz’s pouch opening, and felt the dwarf woman pick up her arm. Then things got cloudy and she had trouble thinking. She needed to get up and move. They needed to get to the factory or whatever it was and find a way to get down to California. And they had to do it before… Before something…
21
Keandra’s eyes opened and she jerked to a sitting position. When she tried to prop herself up, she noticed her left arm rested in a sling.
She sat in a small ditch surrounded by trees. Bright light cascaded over the hill to her right, and the sound of heavy machinery hard at work roared through the cool air. She moved to climb up the hill, but something gripped her ankle, pulling her back down.
E-jekt rested at the bottom of the ditch, holding onto her leg and shaking his head. She climbed back down and opened her mouth to ask a question, but he put a finger to his lips and pointed at her pocket.
She fished out her commlink, holding it awkwardly in her injured hand so she could use her good
one to interact with the AR.
Keandra rolled her head around and shifted so she could crawl up the side of the ditch. Poking up above the lip, she scanned the manufacturing plant. It looked fully operational, and probably ran 24/7. The security appeared minimal, with only a single turret and one guard in a booth at the gate.
It looked like most of the plant was automated, but it was impossible to say how many people—or how much security—were inside the large buildings. A bank of eight company trucks sat parked at the corner just on the other side of the fence.
It was a solid plan, and Keandra was proud of her team for putting it together. Not that they were helpless without her—quite the opposite. They were capable enough to recognize when she was on the verge of making poor decisions and to take actions she might never have suggested. As much as she didn’t want to admit her weakness, she had to concede they were right.