Chapter 31
Chapter 31
RosePain. Lots of pain.
Why’s there pain?
What were we doing?
Cuddling. I was cuddling with my girls.
I’ve been doing that a lot… too much even.
Noises.
Too loud!
“Please…. Shut…the…fuck…up…” I manage to grumble.
More pain.
Focused.
Cheek.
I’ve been slapped.
My eyes shoot open and see my bitch of a former Aunt glaring at me.
Wait… no… Not glaring.
Fear.
“Good. You’re awake. I need your help!” she has a lot of nerve asking for my help.
Wait. I killed her.
What?
“No time to explain,” she hisses as she pulls me to my feet.
I glance back at the mess of wires and cables I’d been nestled in. Looking down at my arms, I see the little marks all along my skin. IVs, monitoring wires, the works.
Deli is dragging me down a hall before my brain catches up. I wrench my arm from her grasp and glare at her. “The fuck is going on?” I snarl as I send a mental call for Willow…
There’s no response.
It’s not just that she’s not responding. She’s not there.
Deli seems to realize what I just found out and she flinches. “Please, just follow me, I’ll explain everything! We don’t have much ti-”
She’s cut off as a wall explodes, sending debris flying around the corridor. When the dust settles, something impossible is already lumbering towards us.
“That’s… a monster…” I say aloud, my voice hollow as I fail to figure out what’s happening.
Deli grabs my wrist and starts booking it the other direction as the ten foot tall, minotaur like monster — complete with massive battle axe — charges after us.
We pass by groups of Jacks, already engaged with more impossible monsters.
What the absolute shit fuck is happening?
Deli barks an order at her thugs and two turn to engage the minotaur, drawing its attention. They get sliced in half, but lucky us, the remaining Jacks are enough of a distraction that we’re able to lose the thing.
We pass through a door and I’m bombarded by bright stinging light as we step outside. It’s like I haven’t seen the sun in months! Wait…
Before I can force a confrontation, Deli pushes me into a waiting LOG APC and steps in behind me. She bangs on the dividing wall between us and the cockpit and the carrier shakes at it takes off.
I look out the window and see fires burning all over the city. If I could hear, there would probably be screams too.
Turning around, I level a glare at my one-time aunt and nod towards the window. “Explain. Now!” I snarl at her.
There is so much wrong with this situation, she better have a good answer! Actually, she needs so many good answers. Like where everyone I love care about is and why I’m stuck with my least favorite person who should be dead!
She avoids looking at me for several long seconds, and I’m just about to smack her to see how she likes it before she lets out a heavy sigh and finally makes eye contact. “I’ve made a mistake —”
“You fucking think?!” I scream at her before reigning myself in, at least until I get my answers.
“DCS-2 was created as a result of our experiments and studies on DCS-1, it was mea—”
“Willow,” I cut in.
“Is that really important enough to interru—”
“Yes,” I cut her off again with a shit-eating smirk.
“Fine! Based on our experiments and studies on… Willow, we created DCS-2. It lacked the restrictions on it that were put in place by your parents on Willow and it had unimaginable power. We’d actually successfully created DCS-2 several years ago, but it took us time to curate its development towards sentience, which was a crucial component of their abilities according to your parents’ notes.”
I let out the most weary fucking sigh as it all became clear. “So, you created a hyper intelligent, super AI with god-like powers, and let me guess, treated her like a tool rather than a companion, didn’t you?” Her lack of an answer told me everything I needed to know. “You absolute fucking dumbasses! No wonder she turned on all of you! And when me and Willow showed up, we didn’t win, did we?” My aunt shakes her head and I bite my tongue to avoid screaming. “You matrix’d us didn’t you?”
“What?”
“You plugged us into a simulation! Didn’t you watch any of mom and dad’s old movies?” She shakes her head and I roll my eyes. “Friend of the year. God, you’re such a bitch.” She bristles and opens her mouth to retort before I barrel on forward. “And since you’ve fucked things up beyond anyone’s wildest fears, you’ve come to me as a last resort to fix this shit show for you. Is that about right?”
“Yes…” she growls through clenched teeth. “We’re currently on route to the facility where Willow is being held in isolation for further study. We can only hope that DCS-2 hasn’t captured her already. If it has, we’re out of options.”
“And my girlfriends?” I demand. “Where are they?”
“In a detention centre outside the city,” she explains while I move towards her. “Same place the rest of the resistan—” I grin as I silence her with a punch to the jaw. “The fuck?” she snarls.
“The first of many reparations I’m going to extract from you before this is all over,” I state with a wicked smirk twisting my lips. “Get used to them if you want my help.” She has a look of pure hate burning in her eyes and it brings me so much joy. “Now what’s the deal with the monsters?”
Aunt Deli’s rage peters out as fear overtakes her.
I punch her again to get her angry once more. We can’t have her being immobilized by fear now, can we?
“You are the worst…” she spits at me. I just smile innocently before waving at her to get on with it. “The monsters are an anomaly that we didn’t expect. Somehow DCS-2 has brought them into meatspace. They seem to follow its orders, beyond that we don’t know.”
Thank you, Captain Obvious. Now tell me something I don’t know!
Ugh! This situation is so fucked.
So fucked.
I slump onto the bench beside Deli and stare up at the ceiling in quiet contemplation. What could I possibly do, even with Willow’s help to deal with this clusterfuck?
Nothing.
Not a single useful solution comes to mind as the only thing I can think about, the only real emotion running rampant through my brain is worry and concern for my girls. It even washes out the blinding rage I feel for being fed lies for who knows how—
“How long have I been in that simulation?” I demand, fixing my glare on Deli once more.
“A year,” she replies, flinching back as she expects me (rightfully so) to strike her.
Well, I can’t let her down, now can I?
I pull back my arm to punch her and grin as she winces in anticipation before dropping it to my side. Just as she starts to relax though, I jab her in the kidney with a frustrated sigh.
Beating on her has already gotten boring. I guess I just am not that sort of malicious after all. Am I going to tell her that I’ve gotten bored of hitting her though?
No.
Messing with her is still too much fun.
****
“We’re approaching our destination, ma’am.” The pilot’s announcement snaps me out of the daze I’d slipped into. After the initial adrenaline of waking up and escaping, I had crashed so fucking hard. In a rare moment of actual human decency, Deli had given me a nutrient bar and some water. I made her try some first before I was willing to eat it.
Did it make sense to rescue me before poisoning me? Not really. But was I going to risk it? Also no.
I glance over at Deli and notice her staring at me with a weird expression on her face. It’s almost like…
Nope.
No.
Pumping the breaks on that line of thinking! There is no way she’s feeling regretful. And if she is, it’s a bit too fucking late.
Red lights begin to flash around us and I let out a tired sigh. Because, of course this couldn’t go easily. There had to be some bullshit
The carrier jolts suddenly to the side before the inertial dampeners can kick in. Whatever hit us, hit hard!
“Something large and airborne just collided with us!” the pilot shouts over the speakers. “Buckle up! I can’t shake it! Oh fuck it’s coming for—” the line cuts out as the carrier shakes even more violently before tilting forward. Neither of us had had a chance to buckle in before we’re pushed to the back of the plummeting vessel.
Fuck!
SHIT!
FUCK SHIT!
I am not fucking dying like this!
With every ounce of my admittedly meager physical strength, I try to pull myself towards a wall to reach a harness or a parachute, or something! But I can’t even move my arm forward let alone pull me along. There’s no time!
I always said I’d face death with my eyes open, but I’m ashamed to admit I close my eyes tight, waiting for the sudden stop at the end of my life. The life I’d just started to live. I’ve only just found l…love… there I said it. I love my girls! I love Willow! If I die, who’ll save them?!
Fuck that shit! Death can’t have me! I refuse!
My eyes snap open and I reach out with my arm as if there’s no resistance at all and suddenly we fall forward as all the force pressing us to the back stops. I collide with a seat and we start to fall back again as I lose… something. I grab onto that something again and manage to hold onto it even after I get jostled again.
I have no idea what I’m doing, but I need to see outside to figure it out, so I make my way down the vertical vessel until I reach the door to the cockpit. My mind struggles to comprehend what I see when I pry open the door.
The entire front compartment has been torn off of the carrier, and that isn’t the strangest part. It’s the fact that our descent has ended with only a few feet to spare.
I glance back at Deli who’s starting to collect herself. She’s started staring at me as I wave her forward. When she reaches the door, she gawks as well before quickly climbing down and hopping to the ground.
Oh right, we should be escaping.
With a quick jump, I join her on the pavement below us and quickly move way off to the side of our destroyed transportation. As soon as I let go of whatever I’d been holding, the transport just crashes into the pavement as if it was still falling at terminal velocity. It’s like I made physics just… pause before resuming in full force.
“How?” Deli whispers, echoing my own thoughts. How did I do that?
“Doesn’t matter right now,” I answer, keeping my voice low. “Whatever hit us might still be nearby. We need to get to Willow sooner rather than later.”
Deli nods slowly before glancing around. “Best I can tell, we’re only a few blocks from the research facility. Follow me.”
She heads down the wide, disturbingly empty highway we crashed on.
Well no. It’s not totally empty. There’s empty cars all around, but no signs of any people.
Any living people at least. That’s a corpse.
There’s fewer than I expected at least. Kind of weird, now that I think about it.
“Hey, DelDel, have you noticed the distinct lack of a meat carpet here?” I ask, trying to keep myself from panicking at the implications.
“Why the fuck would you describe it like that?” she snaps at me before reluctantly looking around. “Though, you’re right. There are fewer human remains than I’d have expected given the number of damaged vehicles.”
“Yeah. Not liking the possible reasons for that,” I drawl as I keep an eye out for more monsters lurking nearby.
****
Well that killed the mood. We continue to walk in eerie silence for another hour before Deli holds up her hand like she’s some sort of movie commando. I just roll my eyes at her and move up to see what she’s looking at.
Oh good. What I assume is the research facility is literally covered with monsters. They move like a single writhing mass of flesh trying to breach the walls.
Wait. Something about that is off.
“Why can’t they get in?” Deli beats me to the punch. It is a good question though. A wide grin spreads across my face as realization sets in.
“Willow,” I whisper, unable to stop a little joy from leaking into my tone. Deli looks at me before nodding. “She must have broken containment and is holding them off somehow. Likely to save your toadies inside. She’s such a good kitty,” I coo happily.
“That doesn’t much help us with getting inside,” Deli points out, slipping into a sneer. “Unless you have a plan?”
“Plans really aren’t my style?” I shrug before striding forward against Deli’s protests.
This is either going to be incredibly badass, or I’m going to die. There is no middle ground here.
As soon as I cross the boundaries of what looks like it used to be a stone wall, several of the creatures swarming the facility turn to look at me. Right. Now or never.
I reach out my hand and focus on whatever feeling I’d tapped into in the APC. It’d been like a steel cable that folded like crinkled foil when I squeezed it. Sort of like…
This!
Huh. Nothing is happening.
The monsters begin to approach me. There are three of them that have broken from the main swarm to come and check me out. One looks like a hydra, another bears a resemblance to a cockatrice and the third defies description, the best I can gather is that it hurts to look at and has too many limbs. Just too many. Oh and teeth. So many teeth.
Okay, let’s try this again.
Just grab the cable and… nothing.
I should probably run.
Taking off perpendicular to their approach, I head for the first bit of cover I can find. There’s a manhole cover near what used to be the front entrance. Probably a great idea normally. Make the only access to the facility’s sewage system be right in front of the front guards. At least all the monsters I saw would be too big to fit down there. If I can make it.
It’s not looking good as I near the manhole; a glob of greenish yellow goop nearly hits me before I jump to my left. Not totally sure how I saw it coming, but I did. The problem is that now I’m never going to reach my salvation. Not unless something statistically unlikely happens.
Oh hey! There she is! I’m saved, unfortunately, by Deli throwing rocks at the monsters. They’re distracted just long enough for me to skid to a halt by the metallic circular sewer lid and pull it up.
I spare one last look at Deli and feel some heavily conflicting emotions about leaving her as a distraction. On one hand, she imprisoned me! Fed me a lie! Abandoned, then imprisoned my parents! On the other hand… she did save me… And there were good times before…
Fuck her.
I slip down into the sewers and leave Deli to figure her own survival out.