Rebel Sisters

by Tochi Onyebuchi

  As they head to the room’s mouth, Ify stops at Uzo’s motionless body. The girl’s face is angled up toward the ceiling, gaze focused on a point past Ify, probably seeing nothing. Nothing in the girl’s face moves, nothing signals reaction, notes the passing of Ify’s shadow over her body. There’s no snarl on the girl’s face, no widening of the lips to signal a glimpse of the divine that the dying see before death. Ify wants to say something, to commemorate the life the synth was growing into, to apologize for killing her like this, but Grace tugs her away into the tunnels.

  Ify heads down the first corridor, stepping over the bodies, picking up an assault rifle on the way, and makes her way through tunnel after tunnel, slowly and with Grace just behind her, sidestepping the downed guards where they lie. At first, she presses herself against walls and peeks around corners to see if anyone is going to jump out at her or begin firing from their perch or hiding place. But soon it becomes clear to her that she and Grace are the only things moving in this entire place. So they break into a run, slowing down only when they get to a clearing through which fluorescent light shines.

  The platform she descended on. It lies buried beneath a small mountain of stone. But there’s an opening, and Ify spots the snapped ends of cables swaying overhead. Slinging her rifle over her shoulder and tucking her pistol into her waistband, she climbs up the rocks and leaps onto the rope. Sparks still occasionally shower in arcs from her suit, but they feel like small bug bites compared to earlier.

  Grace scrabbles up the rocks, trying to follow Ify’s path, but falls hard. Ify, holding on to her rope, swings to the wall to brace herself and rest while Grace tries again. Another leap, another fall.

  She hears movement, then motions for Grace to stop moving. They wait, then Ify hears it again. More movement. People are getting up. They’re coming for her. Now she can hear shouting. Commands being issued, weapons being distributed. They’re fanning out. Tracking her.

  “Hurry!” She motions for Grace to jump for her again. But Grace can’t reach. Another leap, another fall. Another leap, desperate and flailing, another fall.

  They’re getting closer.

  Ify lowers herself, swinging loose on the rope she’s now tied around one forearm, and she stretches the other out for Grace. Grace jumps again. Their fingers brush. The voices get louder, the words clearer. Grace jumps. Just misses.

  “I think they’re in here!” Lights flicker back on nearby. Shadows dance farther down the corridor. They’re coming.

  Grace jumps, Ify extends herself, then grabs Grace’s arm just as it looks like Grace will fall again. Without losing any time, Ify pushes herself off the wall and swings Grace with all her might onto the other rope, to which Grace clings.

  “Okay, Grace,” Ify says in a hushed murmur, out of breath. “Listen to me. We don’t have time, so I’m not going to repeat myself. Take your time. Pull yourself up by bending at the elbows. At the top of the lift, reach up to a higher part of the rope with the lower hand. Keep going like that. Keep the rope close to your nose. And just keep going. Okay?”

  Grace nods nervously.

  Ify is steady with her climb and tries to clear her mind. Anything to keep from looking down and seeing how deep the drop has already gotten. Anything to keep from worrying about how Grace is doing. She doesn’t permit herself a single glance down the whole way up, hoping that if Grace were to look her way, Grace would feel empowered to climb the way Ify climbs. She would see Ify doing this impossible thing, and it would become just a little bit less impossible for her. It would anchor her when it begins to sound like their pursuers are right beneath them. Ify holds on to that hope all the way up.

  Still, her arms and shoulders burn. It takes her forever, but eventually the light grows brighter, and she can hear sound. Shouting, cursing, crying.

  The riots.

  She pulls herself up, eventually reaching a ledge, and with her last remaining strength, she swings herself up and over, landing on her back in a field of grass. A moment later, Grace rolls onto the grass on the opposite side of the hole.

  Trees tower over them. The air is cool against Ify’s face, with a hint of moisture from nearby water. Then she smells it. Smoke.

  After she catches her breath, she pushes herself up, first onto her elbows, then fully upright. Then she looks eastward, where fires rage.

  “I can’t move,” Grace says to the smoke-filled sky.

  An aerial mech streaks overhead. Ify closes her eyes against the memory of enemy mechs soaring over the camp where she was raised. When she opens them again, she climbs to her feet, takes her rifle in her hands, and tells Grace, “Hug the shadows.”

  Ify knows where they are. Unless Xifeng plans on going far to reach the core of Nigeria’s net, they must be in Abuja. In or near Garki District, the city’s principal business and administrative area. Headquarters of the Nigerian Armed Forces, the commercial broadcast networks, the Infrastructure Development Bureau, and the Federal Ministry of Information and Communications. Ify has walked through the halls of that building, ascended and descended in the glass elevators running along its exteriors, enjoyed the uniformity of its floors and office spaces. But she has never seen what lies beneath. No matter her access, she was never permitted there. She doesn’t even think Daren had the security clearance to venture beneath that ground floor. That must be where the core of the net is located. But it would be heavily guarded, no doubt. Not just by armed guards, but likely by all type of mechanized droid, programmed for lethal engagement. How would Xifeng get past that?

  As they head toward the city center, the sound of fighting has gotten louder. But there’s another sound underneath it all. Ify would barely hear it were it not for her past among so many Augments and her constant proximity to tech. The soft whirr and buzz of highly powered cyberized people.

  Ify and Grace press against the wall of an abandoned charred duplex and watch as an armored personnel carrier disgorges cyberized police officers in the middle of the street. As they fan out, aerial drones lift from their backs and, as they climb higher, unfurl the guns attached to their undercarriages. Ify motions for Grace to be quiet. They don’t stand a chance against even this group, never mind the dozens—at least!—that have been deployed throughout the burning city. On top of everything else, they’re still wanted fugitives, according to Xifeng. She wishes she’d had the foresight to steal some of that face-scrambling cream they’d worn earlier. As it stands, they’re no match for the scanners.

  Pretty quickly, the soldiers head away from them. Using the noise and commotion of the riots for cover, Ify and Grace stay as close to the buildings lining the roads as possible, skirting through alleys whenever possible, moving as fast as they can. The quiet is eerie here. It looks like the aftermath of a storm, like a Redlands wildfire has raged through here. But the buildings smolder, which gives Ify pause. There’s been no rain. What could have put the fires out?

  Too late, Ify detects the movement to her right.

  Through an entire row of buildings crashes the largest humanoid machine Ify has ever seen. She and Grace dive out of the way of its charge but are separated when the hulking monstrosity comes to a stop between them. Its muscles bulge beneath its all-black bodysuit. A helmet fused to its steroidal shoulders reveals only its eyes. It looks like a thing out of a nightmare.

  It scans Ify for just a millisecond before taking one too-fast step toward her and raising a fist.

  It’s going to kill me.

  That’s Ify’s last thought before its comet-sized fist comes crashing down on her head.

  She slowly opens her eyes and gasps. Onyii stands before her, trembling, knees bowed, muscles tensed to their limit, holding the juggernaut’s fist in her hands. It presses down on her, digging her feet into the concrete. The ground cracks around her.

  Onyii half turns to Ify. Ify blinks. Onyii’s face becomes Uzo’s. Tremors from the strain ripple through
it.

  “Run.”

  CHAPTER

  38

  I am pushing the fist away, but the juggernaut’s other hand smacks into me, hurling me clear across the street, through the first floor of a department store and onto the next street. A maglev car swerves to avoid me and crashes into another storefront, bursting into flames.

  My body is aching and it is feeling like metal is broken inside me, but I am not feeling fear when I struggle back to my feet and wipe oil from the side of my mouth.

  Gunfire. It is pistol. Small-caliber, and bullet is pinging against too-strong surface. I am knowing just from the sound that it is Grace shooting at juggernaut, and I am running back and jumping though department store, over counters and through broken windows, and when I am coming back out onto first street, I am seeing juggernaut holding Grace in the air by her neck and her legs is flailing and she is soon not breathing. So I am running even faster and jumping and curling into ball that is hitting the back of juggernaut’s knee. Juggernaut is falling to one knee. I am skidding to a stop on my feet, then I am running and leaping into the air and punching juggernaut in the helmet with all of my force. Helmet is not denting, but juggernaut is staggering backward and raising arm that is still holding Grace, and then I am kicking that arm at the elbow so that it is snapping and short-circuiting and finger is letting go.

  Grace is falling into my arms and coughing and when she is seeing who is saving her, her body is tensing. But I am saying, “It is okay,” and running away and scanning empty building that is burning on both sides of the street. And I am scanning and scanning and my brain is telling me how many floor each is having and where furniture is being and what it is being made out of. Then I am seeing building to my left with basement and I am running into it, even though upper three floors will soon be falling down. But basement is safe and empty and is having food and water in it. I am crashing through broken front door and running down first stairs, then I am running down underground stone hallway until I am getting to steel door with passcode scanner. Grace is climbing out of my arms to go to passcode scanner, but I am going straight to door and finding groove with my fingers and pulling and pulling and pulling, even until my arm is paining me, and pulling some more. And at first door is not moving, then slowly, it is groaning against the stone floor, and I pull it open just enough for Grace to get in. Then once she is inside, I am pushing it closed with my back. Then I am smashing my fist into passcode scanner so nobody else is opening door and bringing harm to Grace.

  As I am going back upstairs, I am realizing that Grace and I are not speaking words to each other, but she is knowing to be letting me carry her to safety and I am knowing that I am to be keeping her safe, even though no one is telling me to do this thing and no one is telling her to be trusting me. And I am thinking that maybe it is like this when I am speaking to the synths and we are not moving our mouths but we are still speaking. Maybe this is how it is for the red-bloods when they are not moving their mouths but are still speaking. And understanding. I am glad that Grace is trusting me. And I am hoping that I am keeping her safe.

  I am walking quiet quiet back to the street where is juggernaut, but I am not seeing it. Even with all the information that my braincase is sending to my retinal display, I am seeing no juggernaut. Then I am listening through the hiss and crackle and pop of building on fire and the faraway shouting and shooting and I am focusing. Then at the last moment, I am hearing the whirr that is telling me machine gun is soon firing. Then CHUDCHUDCHUDCHUD as bullet is chewing up the ground where I am standing. And I am running and running until I am jumping into abandoned home and leaping over furniture and finding cover behind wall while bullet is chewing chunk out of it.

  In front of me is stairs, and I am hurrying up and up two floors until I am getting to attic. Through window, I am seeing where bullet is coming from. Then whatever is shooting is sighting me and bullet is crashing through window and I am flinging myself onto the floor and clinging to it. All this time, I am not seeing juggernaut but I am knowing that it is shooting at me. While bullet is firing, I am counting second, because I am knowing that it is needing to calm down soon to keep from overheating. Then I am hearing the slowdown and I am leaping through the window and sailing through the air. Wind is caressing me as I fly, and I hit the ground and roll forward in time to hear FWOOMP and see grenade speeding toward me. I roll away and it explodes, and ground around me is shooting up into the air like fountain water made of dirt.

  I am still not seeing juggernaut, but I am knowing that it is near, and I am knowing too that if I am being too close, it is not firing because it is not wanting to injure itself. As dust and smoke is clearing, I hear FWOOMP. Another grenade is flying toward me. I jump to it, scoop it out of the air, and spin so I can throw it back at where I am knowing juggernaut is standing. Loud BOOM is crashing through the street, and building not far down the road is collapsing, and I am knowing that it is falling on juggernaut. But I am also knowing that it is not killing juggernaut, so I am crouching and making myself ready for when it is coming.

  The rubble explodes outward and juggernaut stands, then charges toward me, STOMP STOMP STOMP so that the ground is shaking. It is winding up one fist and when it punches, I am moving to the side to dodge. But its torso swings all the way around. I catch the fist with my hands but it sends me flying into the air. I flip and land on my feet but when I look up, juggernaut is almost on top of me. It slams both fists down, but I scramble through its legs and climb onto its back. It is swinging and fighting and trying to shake me off, but I am clinging fast and beating its armored back with my fists and making small small dent but still making dent so making progress. I am banging and banging, but then it is reaching behind and grabbing my shirt and flinging me in a circle before throwing me so hard I crash through the window of an empty bus that is on fire.

  It is taking me too long to get back up. I cough black oil onto the pieces of glass under me. The seats are black and torn from fire and violence. Before I can come all the way to my feet, bus is shifting underneath me. Juggernaut is picking it up and shaking it in the air like it is toy, then it is throwing it down the street, and my body is crashing back and forth and side to side as bus is rolling to a stop with me in it.

  Many thing is broken inside me so that I am seeing static every three seconds and I am not being able to move. Giant hand crashes through the bus frame and wraps around my body, then pulls me out and I am not being able to move as juggernaut is pulling me close and squeezing and there is being static and static, but I am also seeing crack in its helmet and oil leaking from face that is having nose.

  I am damaging it.

  Pain is shooting through me as it is squeezing, and my legs is dangling, and it is squeezing and squeezing and I am knowing soon that I am going to be dying. It is raising its other fist to be crashing onto my head, and I am not being able to move. It is going to kill me.

  I close my eyes, then squeeze my arms tighter to my body. It is causing my whole chest and stomach to feel on fire, and I am hearing many thing snapping, but I am sliding out of its grip just as other fist is coming down. I land on the ground in a crouch and tear open the skin over my ribs to pull out a broken metal rib bone, then, through the pain that is knifing my whole body, I run and slash at the armor over the juggernaut’s stomach. It reaches for me and I slide behind it and slash the back of its heels to make it to be falling, then I am stabbing my rib bone into its spine and pulling it up and spark is flying and it is squirming and moaning and we are both being covered in oil as I slice open the back of its helmet that is coming away like calabash bowl that is breaking.

  It rotates its torso too fast and I fall to the ground. I am too slow to get up because juggernaut is then palming my head and lifting me off the ground. It is on its knees because it is not being able to stand, and it is holding itself up with other hand, but it is squeezing my head and I am seeing and hearing nothing but static and I a
m knowing that thing is breaking in me that is not going to be fixed. But when I am not seeing static, I am seeing misshapen face and mouth that is opening, and I am knowing that this is where grenade is coming from.

  In between bursts of static, I am hearing the sound it is making as it is preparing to fire grenade at me so close, and I am barely moving, but I am able to raise my arm that is holding my metal rib bone and I am jamming it into the juggernaut’s mouth so that grenade is not firing at me.

  I hear thunder and feel nothing but fire and the feeling of one million ocean waves breaking over my body.

  I am not knowing where I am landing. Somewhere far away. But my face is on the ground, and no matter what my brain is telling my body, my body is not doing. So I am lying there as sound is fading and sight is fading and fire is raging all around me, and then I am seeing small small body trapped under burning building and body is not moving. And tear is coming to my eye, because I am knowing it is Uzodinma and I am saying to myself, You are dying too, and it is question and answer at the same time, like I am knowing that I will never be seeing him again and yet hoping that is a lie.

  Then darkness.

  CHAPTER

  39

  Ify grits her teeth as she fights her way through another mob. Fires rage all around them, roaring and devouring everything, burning so bright they turn the night into daytime. The flames loom so high, consuming market stalls and office towers and multistory adobe apartments, that they cast the people rioting in the streets as silhouettes, otherworldly spirits come from fable or from dreams to wreak havoc through a city.

  A group of men caught in a brawl see Ify and lunge toward her at once. She has in one hand a shockstick and in the other a machete, and as they charge her, she parries each blow and slices and dodges and hits with her shockstick, electrocuting her attackers and disabling them. Soot and dried blood coat her face, and when she stalks past the shattered remnants of a storefront window, she sees in the shards of glass what she looks like.