by T. C. Edge
In the world of the blind, Ragan thought, the one-eyed man is king.
And this world, this America, had been blinded by itself.
As Ragan drove through the darkness, his head filling with bitter thoughts, a flash of lightning came down from the blackened heavens. It cracked right into the road to the left, so close to the rear of the car.
“Jesus!” Ragan grunted, looking in the wing-mirror as the world sparked up behind him.
Instinctively, he slammed his foot down on the gas, as if to outrun the storm.
Another crackle brewed above, and Ragan turned his eyes up to the skies to see a fresh bolt forming. He turned the car as the lightning shot from the darkness, lighting up the world as it hunted the car down.
“What the hell’s going on!”
The car was at max speed now, which wasn’t saying much, bumping along down a ragged path as he descended into a little valley. The storm seemed to be following him, the lightning firing right at the speeding vehicle.
Then a third bolt shot from the black canvas overhead, a little further back this time.
The dark desert lit up once again, bringing some shape to the world. And upon the black horizon, hurrying away into the wilds, Ragan saw the silhouette of a figure disappearing into the rain.
Goddamnit, Chloe!
“That was close, buddy,” said Chloe over the howling wind and rain, looking down at Remus, tucked away in her jacket pocket.
A few moments ago, several strikes of lightning had so nearly taken out the car, seeking her out in particular. Using her electricity discharge powers were never advisable during a storm. All they ever seemed to do was attract unwanted attention.
And devastatingly powerful bolts from the sky were very much unwanted…
In this case, she didn’t have a choice, and it had just about paid off. Huddled in the trunk of the car, she’d managed to summon a concentrated surge of energy, sending it for the trunk’s lock. The electricity, burning at such an extreme temperature, had melted the lock and cracked it open, attracting the attention of the stormy skies in the process.
She hadn’t delayed, leaping straight from the trunk as it swung open, hitting the sodden ground with a heavy tumble as she landed. The wind was kicked out of her, and her body was badly scraped and bruised, but nothing more than that. Her ability to heal quickly made such minor injuries mute.
As the car continued to speed off, seeming to pick up pace to escape the lightning, Chloe got straight to her feet and did the same. Heading for nowhere in particular, she began bounding across the craggy earth, hoping her escape went unnoticed.
She glanced back and saw that the car was still heading down the road. After a few more paces, she glanced again, just as another strike of lightning lit up the wasteland.
Damnit, she thought, hoping to see the car progressing down the track. It wasn’t. It had slowed, and was turning.
Her escape had been caught.
She was committed to the attempt now, so turned and continued right on, activating her night-vision lenses to lend her a better view of the uneven terrain ahead. The world lit up, the lands open and yet potted with recesses and holes. She saw the shape of a settlement in the distance, and what appeared to be old ranches dotting the lands. If she was to make a stand, it would be better to do so inside and undercover.
At least then she could use her powers without restraint.
With little doubt that Ragan would be following, she headed straight for the nearest building, an old ranch house by the looks of things. It was several hundred metres away at least, perhaps more, and hidden in a darkness that suggested it was abandoned. She worked down a little gulley, impassable except by foot, to ensure that Ragan couldn’t follow in his car.
Taking a roundabout route, she kept as much to the shadows as she could, working between rocks and outcrops wherever possible.
A plan formed as she went - take out Ragan, return to the car and fetch her bag, and then disappear as she always did. She knew that her backpack must be in the car, and she knew that she needed it too. It held her new identity, and the comms unit Dax had given her. If she had neither, she’d be screwed.
Ragan would need to be sacrificed. He’d saved her life, technically at least, if only to take her for himself. He was a hunter, and she was his prey. The only way to rid him from her trail was to take him out for good.
Turning back at regular intervals, she quickly activated the infrared setting on one of her lenses. Upon the face of the earth, little heat signatures appeared, shapes of burrowing creatures, hidden beneath the ground, of birds nesting in the scattered, leaf-less trees.
She scanned and saw no human form. Was Ragan too far off for his heat signature to register? Had he lost her in the gloom?
The sight gave her hope as she rushed off, yet made her pause too. After all, she needed to get back to the car to fetch her bag. She needed Ragan to follow her, so she could take him out first.
Stopping, she hid behind a rock, and looked back across the rugged lands, half hoping to see him appear. She tapped a lens and activated its X-ray capability. Again, little skeletons of creatures emerged in the darkness, but no form of a man materialised.
She waited, still a way from the ranch house across the desolate plains, the storm grumbling heavy above and the light now fading completely.
And staring out, she just had to wonder - where the hell is he?
Ragan had Chloe in her sights.
He could see her now, hiding behind a rock, looking the other way as if trying to spot him. He’d managed to get around her unseen, though not by his own skill alone. Really, it was the high-tech fabric, developed by Doc and issued by the CID, that gave him this advantage.
Beneath his pants and shirt, he wore a lightweight mesh bodysuit with anti-thermal capabilities, allowing him to conceal his heat signature and appear invisible to anything but the most developed X-ray scanning technology. He always wore it when on active duty, hiding it beneath his clothing and activating its cloaking functions when required.
It was extremely useful for infiltration and evasion, and always best utilised at night. With the conditions as they were, Ragan was quite certain that Chloe wouldn’t be able to see him as long as he stayed a fair distance away from her.
As she’d retreated, therefore, he’d quickly driven the car off the side of the road, and jumped out in pursuit, activating his bodysuits’ cloaking functions as he went. With his scanning lens following her path, he worked out her trajectory and likely destination - a ranch several hundred metres away. All he had to do was carve a path around her, remain hidden, and sneak right in to restrain her.
Now, he could see her looking the other way, peering around the side of the rock. She seemed to be waiting for him, perhaps trying to spring a trap.
Nice try, Chloe, thought Ragan with a smile.
He enjoyed the hunt, the game of cat and mouse. Despite the stakes, and perhaps because of them, it was a real thrill.
He crept forward now, quiet in his step and always so light on his feet despite his size. The rain muffled the sound of his approach, another violent explosion of thunder shattering the air. He drew his pistol as he got near, switching to non-lethal rounds.
This time, he’d take closer stock of her, restraining her hands and feet. He’d been foolish before, and despite knowing how capable she was, had underestimated the strength of the nanotech in her blood. The dosage he gave her should have kept her under for several more hours than it did. Her powers of recovery seemed to be greater than anything else currently available to the military.
As he loomed closer, creeping over the craggy surface, another bolt of lightning tore from the sky, lighting up the world. It came from behind Ragan, casting long shadows across the ground in Chloe’s direction. The jagged shapes of rock spread across the earth before her.
And along with them, came the elongated shadow of Ragan’s body, appearing briefly before disappearing as the lightning faded off, and the cr
ack of thunder followed.
Ragan knew immediately - she knows I’m here.
Chloe turned as the shadows spread across her sight. Behind her, hidden away in the gloom, she caught the faint shape of a man standing about twenty metres back.
Ragan.
Without thinking, she ducked on instinct as a fizzing dart came her way. It pinged off the rock behind her, bouncing into the mud. By the time it landed, she was off again, hurtling down the hill and trying not to lose her footing.
Another couple of darts chased her down as Remus flew from her pocket, informing her of their trajectory.
She dodged before they reached her, stepping left and right as she moved around rocks to cover her retreat. Ahead, the ranch house grew larger, set within a small, flat valley, just a black silhouette against the night sky. When the sky was lit once more, it came into clearer view. It was run-down, in a state of disrepair, probably abandoned a long time ago.
It suited Chloe just fine.
Hauling as much air into her lungs as she could, she filled her respirocytes with a full stock of oxygen, allowing her to run harder, faster, without even taking a breath. Rushing on, Remus covered her rear, scanning now for Ragan’s position and the shooting darts coming her way. Remus was so efficient as to pick up the darts’ flightpath within inches of leaving the pistol, relaying the information and data straight to Chloe’s nanotech without her ever having to turn and witness it with her own eyes.
It happened like some preternatural sense, forcing Chloe to dodge left and right before the darts could reach her, pitching instead into the dirt at her feet, or flying right past and disappearing into the storm. The range was just about enough for her to have a chance. If Ragan was any closer, Remus wouldn’t be able to relay the information quick enough.
She knew it, and so needed to maintain distance.
Speeding as fast as possible, she leapt from rock to rock, flying over little craggy drops and canyons, the lands descending fast as she hurtled down into the valley. When she finally reached the flat, desert grounds, she almost tripped, her feet sliding in a gathering gloop, the storm causing the dirt and filth to churn up into a slippery swamp.
She kept her footing just in time, charging across the open plains. Her cover was gone, no rocks here to protect her. She made a beeline for the ranch, its details increasing with every stride. Her focus went straight for the roof, which looked to be intact. That was crucial. If there were holes in it, her lightning strikes would attract the same from above. She needed full cover overhead if she wanted to unleash her full fury.
Within moments, she was coming up on the boundary of the little farm, leaping over a semi-standing fence and heading straight for the front door. She didn’t need to kick it in; the door was hanging ajar.
Throwing her shoulder into it, she finally fell, tumbling inside and out of the pouring rain and turning her gaze to the threshold.
Remus remained outside, just beyond the door, watching as Ragan hurtled after them. Knowing she had a moment of time, Chloe glanced about the house, its walls crumbling and eaten away, its furniture stolen or rotted to nothing, and saw that there were few places to hide. In the hallway, she had a view of the top ceiling, and scanned once more to ensure it was intact. It was, or seemed to be at least.
It was enough for her.
Stepping back, she swiftly rushed into the shadows, focusing hard to draw her nanites to her fingers. They swarmed through her upon command, gathering in place, rising to the surface of the skin. Millions of minuscule bots, operating as one, ready to unleash a devastating electrical charge.
Her hands began glowing, humming. Crackles of energy started working around her fingers. She looked towards the threshold to the house, and aimed.
As soon as he rushed in, she’d blast him from this world.
Oh, she’s good…
Ragan wasn’t really surprised. It was more a matter of him being impressed. Chloe was a real bag of tricks, slippery as a wet fish. It was no wonder why she’d gone uncaught for so long.
He was, though appreciative of her skills, wise to them too. He knew full well what her capabilities were, despite underestimating them on occasion. What he wasn’t fully up to speed on, however, was her nanotech drone. Until recently, he hadn’t even been aware that she had one.
Now, the reason for her continual evasion of the authorities was beginning to become clear. Though capable, Ragan had often wondered just how a girl without any formal training could elude such an expert range of pursuers for so long. Some of the best trackers and bounty hunters in the business had tried to hunt her down.
So far, no one had succeeded.
This drone of hers was clearly a large part of that, and probably the most significant piece in the puzzle. As Chloe rushed off down the hill, Ragan took flight himself, firing at her with knock-out darts as she went. Somehow, without even turning back, she managed to dodge them each time, moving left or right, or ducking slightly lower as the darts came her way.
It was staggering, yet Ragan quickly devised the culprit.
Her drone was hovering just above her, scanning the world behind. It was incredibly advanced, analysing the trajectory of each incoming dart in a nano-second, while quite probably studying Ragan’s movement too. It would sense his finger pulling the trigger, knowing the dart would come before it even left the barrel, before informing Chloe of the incoming threat.
It’s interfacing with her nanites, Ragan thought, hurrying on as Chloe built a slight lead. No wonder she always has the jump on people.
Following her down the rocky slope, they soon reached the plains. Chloe’s target was obvious - the small ranch house ahead. As she sped closer to it, Ragan began slowing, analysing the situation. He imagined her purpose for closing herself off was to use her electrical discharge capability. Already, it had become clear that utilising that particular gift outdoors in a storm was inadvisable.
She was plainly seeking cover to make a stand.
Ragan wasn’t to be drawn in. He drew back instead, his focus now on the drone. If he could disable it, then she’d only have her own eyes and ears to rely on. He needed to put it out of commission, before he dealt with her.
Once more, he knew his sensory grenades would do the trick. They would obscure the drone’s ability to scan the environment, if only for a few seconds, allowing Ragan to slip off and out of sight once more. He pulled a thin grenade clip from his belt, continued his path right for the entrance, and then flicked it forward through the air.
Shutting his eyes just as the grenade went off, he turned his back upon it as the world lit up, bright as the sun. With his eyes shut, he swept off around the back of the house, turning to his scanning lens for aid. It quickly searched the house for Chloe’s position, and found her tucked up to one side in what looked to be an old sitting room, her eyes squarely on the front door.
Ragan hurried around as the ringing spread through his head, moving now as quickly as he could. The blinding light would have concealed his movement. The drone would now be searching for his presence.
Coming around the rear of the building, he moved right up against the wall. Chloe was just on the other side, crouching and waiting. Ragan’s own nanites could sense the electricity emanating from inside. She was all but ready to fire.
Not this time, Chloe.
Lining her up, Ragan steeled himself, his scan of the building’s structure complete. The wall was weak, wooden, eaten away from the inside by termites. It would do nothing to halt his charge.
With a sudden surge, he hurled himself forward, crashing into the wall with his shoulder. It immediately splintered, blasting apart. The interior came into view, and he found Chloe there, turning suddenly up to his intrusion with her wide, sparkling blue eyes.
Her hands came too, ready to explode, to send out a violent storm of lightning to fry him…
But Ragan was just too quick.
Gun to the ready, he fired right at her, hitting her this time as the dart pi
erced her skin, delivering its toxic load.
The reaction was immediate.
As her glowing hands rose up, sparkling with blue and white electricity, the sedative took effect just in time. Before she could attack, the colours faded, and her body sank, leaving only the gentle zapping of energy around her fingers, feebly trying to spark to life and reach out to Ragan’s body.
His chest heaved with a great sigh of relief as the sparks faded out, and her head slumped to one side, eyes slowly drawing shut.
And from the front entrance, he saw her little drone come sweeping in, dropping straight into Chloe’s pocket like a loyal pet.
“Sorry, little guy,” he said with a grin. “But I’ll take good care of her. Promise.”
20
A man in a long black cloak drove up a rugged country road, slipping silently away from the city of LA.
The vehicle he was in wasn’t his. Somewhere a few miles back, down in the quiet eastern stretches of the sprawling city, its previous owner lay in a puddle of blood, a red one to join those of murky rainwater now gathering through the streets.
Mikel cared not. To a man like him, life held little meaning, and taking it often gave him a deep sense of pleasure that was hard to replicate. The fear given off by his victims was alluring, invigorating. Nano-enhanced individuals were the real treat, but life in general, and its taking, always made for a great appetiser.
And right now, he had a true feast in sight.
As he rode along, speeding down the country track out of the city, he reached into an inner jacket pocket, drew out a small communication device, and placed it into his ear. It connected immediately, linking to a single line only.
A single individual.