James Knapp - Element Zero

I still didn’t remember, but it sounded like me. She laughed just a little.

“You thought you dreamed me.”

“I used to get confused about that.”

“I know. Back then, I approached you because they told me to,” she said. “I didn’t want to. I didn’t want anything to do with you, Zoe, but …”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. I pulled away so I could see her face, and for the first time ever, I saw she was crying. She didn’t make any noise. Her face didn’t even really change except her eyes. Tears just came out, and the colors swirled around her head like a tiny storm, with something dark just under the surface. I saw a glimpse of it just before the halo brightened and pushed me away.

There was something else; something she wanted to say. There was something she needed to say but it wouldn’t come out.

“I threw Karen out the first time she showed up at my door,” I said. “It doesn’t matter how it started.”

She said something then, that, unlike most things, I always remembered.

“When this is over,” she said, “I’m going to save you, Zoe. If we’re both still alive, I’m going to save you.”

“What—”

“He’s going to destroy us all,” a voice whispered in the dark. I thought it was in my head, but Penny perked up too. We both turned and saw that Ai had lifted her head. Her eyes were still closed and sweat ran down her face as her mouth hung partway open.

The others at the table snapped awake as her eyes opened. Her eyes wandered for a second before they found Penny and me.

“We need to evacuate,” she told her.

Penny nodded.

“But they have the outside completely surrounded,” I said.

“Have the soldiers secure the roof, whatever it takes,” Ai said. “We’ll take the chopper.”

“But the chopper will only hold—” Before I could finish, I felt a numbness seep through me. My head spun a little, and the words fizzled out.

“We’re too late,” Ai said calmly. “This city will be gone within the hour. We’re leaving. Now.”

I felt a rumble through the floor, and the map that floated in the dark warped. A band of static flicked in front of me, and the light came back. I could see.

“Shit, we lost it!”

Everything was a blur. I blinked, and saw the floor down below me. I was facedown, with my forehead pressed into a rubber pad. My body hurt, and there was pressure in the back of my skull. The floor shook again.

I looked to my left and saw Ramirez and Singh humped over a terminal. There was a window behind them, and I saw a big flash of light there. The two looked up.

“Goddamn it!” Ramirez shouted, slamming his fist on the desk. Something out there blew up. Something big.

“I told you!” a voice said. “I warned you he’d—”

“Shut your mouth, soldier!”

Everything went black again. The map blinked a few times, then came back. The points of light began to pop back up.

Synchronizing …

“It’s the shockwave,” Singh said. They were quiet for a minute. “We’ve got it back.”

“Shit! What was the target?”

“The CMC building.”

“How much dam—”

“It was completely destroyed, sir.”

The room got quiet after that. The CMC …that was one of the big three. Did he just say Fawkes had destroyed it?

The radio squawked, and I heard Ramirez pick up. A voice babbled on the other side.

“Understood.” I heard the handset click back into its cradle. “Vaggot’s team hasn’t been able to get control of the satellite back. Will the virus work or not?”

“It should have stopped them. They—”

“We are running out of options, damn it! Did it work or not?”

The shape on the map bled closer to us. A shot went off somewhere outside, then a bunch more on top of it. Another voice piped up.

“Sir, the hostiles are continuing to move. They’re definitely heading for this location.”

“It’s her,” Singh said. “She pulled something over the command spoke just before it dropped. Fawkes traced her when the link was active.”

“Then unplug her!” Ramirez snapped.

“It’s too late! He already got the location!” The arm that broke off from the main shape got closer.

“Then shoot her!”

“It won’t matter! He used her to jump into our systems! He knows about Vaggot, he knows everything!”

“Is this base secure or not?” a voice shouted. “Stop them at the perimeter, goddamn it!”

“They were overwhelmed, sir. There’s too many of them!”

“They’re in. Perimeter has been breached in sections three and four …”

“Sir, if they take this base before Vaggot’s team succeeds, that will be the end of it. Never mind her. We have to concentrate on holding them back.”

There was a loud snap, and the map cut out. The static stopped. Light flashed in the dark, and I could see again. I heard machines wind down, and pain throbbed down my arms.

“They cut the power,” someone said.

My JZI picked back up and threw up a bunch of warning messages.

Heart function ceased.

Blood-oxygen levels below threshold.

Body temperature below threshold.

It kicked off the emergency resus. I seized as the wire to my heart lit up. Oxygen and adrenaline pumped into my bloodstream.

“Where are they now?” Ramirez asked.

“I don’t know. We lost the uplink. Security’s down.”

My body seized again, and this time the vitals picked back up. My heart thumped. I clenched my fists and heard the knuckles crack.

Heart function resumed.

I grabbed the edges of the gurney and pushed myself up. Wires around my body stretched tight, and I felt pressure at my neck.

The lights were out and the room was full of guys, some in uniform, some in suits. There was equipment set up, but all the screens were blank.

Cn u rd me?

The message popped up just as the emergency lights kicked in and the computers turned over. I could make out Singh and Ramirez. Some of the rest were guys from my squad. Some I’d never seen before. They were packing shit up, getting ready to move out.

That you, kid?

Ys. I ct pwr. I c u. U c me?

I brought up the GPS and found her signal. She was in the building, to the south.

How the hell did you get on the base?

Ur dfnses r trshd. U gys r fckd.

She followed us. The little shit actually staged a rescue.

You armed?

Y.

You got a vehicle?

Y.

Then get in it and be ready. I’ll come to you.

“She’s up!” someone barked. I turned and saw Ramirez point at me.

“Singh, take care of it!”

Singh drew his gun, but he didn’t aim it.

“Singh!” Ramirez yelled.

“I took something Fawkes doesn’t want getting out,” I told Singh. “The ones in the building are here for me. I’ll draw them off.”

Ramirez stepped in and pointed his gun. I grabbed his wrist and twisted as the shot went off and metal sparked next to my face. The pressure behind my neck built as I got up, then the wires came loose and snapped away.

I twisted his wrist and he hollered. When his fingers went limp, I took the gun.

“Cal, wait!”

I bit him on the hand. I bit him so hard that for a second I felt the bones between my teeth. He screamed as salty blood filled my mouth.

I pulled back. He stood there, one hand bent the wrong way and the other one bloody. I could see the teeth marks in the meat of his palm. They were deep.