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.