James Knapp - Element Zero

“Fire the missiles,” someone snapped.

“Not without authorization from the general,” Vaggot said.

“The general could be dead!”

“You don’t know that,” I said. The faces in the room turned to me. “Who here knows the name Motoko Ai?”

Most of them looked confused, including Vaggot. One woman on the team met my eye and signaled with one hand.

“Do whatever you have to do to contact her,” I told her. “Tell her Nico Wachalowski said not to fire those missiles. She’ll know who I am.”

She nodded.

“Don’t let anyone here initiate the launch until you’ve given her that message. Can you stop them from doing that?”

“I can.”

“Can you get me to Heinlein Industries?”

“Key monorail routes are being kept active to move military personnel only. The southern sector of the base is still secure. You can access the rail from there.”

“Do it. In the meantime, hold the base and wait.”

“And if Ai asks why we shouldn’t launch, what am I supposed to tell her?”

A route to the bases’ monorail platform appeared on my HUD as I pushed my way past the soldiers and toward the door.

“That her prediction was right,” I said. “Tell her I’m going to kill Fawkes.”

Helicopters swarmed around the base far behind us when I saw a small light appear up in the sky behind the clouds. The way ahead was blocked by cars stuck on the main drag, and there were too many people moving in between them to just bash my way through. The light disappeared behind a building as I ducked down a narrow side road.

Tires and hydraulics squealed as I punched the brakes and slowed down, and people turned and scrambled to get out of the way. I took us over the sidewalk and squeezed down the strip, blaring the horn. Hands pawed at the truck. Bloody fingers pulled at the door and left greasy smears along the jagged edge of the missing window. Alerts had begun to pour in over the JZI as the clouds overhead started to move.

“What the hell is that?” Vika asked. The light in the sky had come back into view, and it was getting brighter.

Cal, this is Nico. The satellite is going to fire again. The target is the UTTC. How close are you?

I couldn’t see the tower from where I was, but it wasn’t more than ten blocks away.

Closer than I want to be, but out of the blast zone, I said. Where are you?

I’m headed toward Heinlein. Find a metro stop. The military has control of the railways. They’re shut down to civilians, but they’re moving military personnel. You need to get off the street.

Something thumped into the door on my side and I jumped. Bodies were shoving their way between the stuck vehicles as people scattered. One had reached the truck and had its hands on the edge of the open window.

“Goddamn it!”

I took aim and pulled the trigger. The jack stumbled back and went down on the ground. Another one crunched under the front wheel as I lurched forward, and I heard one climb up on top of the truck. I hit a parked car and set the alarm off while the revivor fell down onto the hood.

Two military helicopters blew by overhead. A second later, something exploded on the sidewalk off to our right, and the pavement shook underneath us. Glass and debris blew over the street and banged off the side of the truck. Something bashed through the back windshield of a parked car. I checked the mirrors and saw the shadows of the revivors fade behind us.

“We need to get off the street. Hang on.”

Something whistled overhead then and creamed the building to our right about twenty stories up. Light flared through the smoke, and everyone around us stopped and turned. A wall of warm air huffed down through the swirling snow and dust as a twisted fire escape crashed down from above.

A chunk of concrete pounded the road next to us. Another one flattened the roof of a cab; then what looked like part of a fucking gargoyle whipped past and bowled through the crowd, spraying blood across the driver’s-side window.

People dove out of the way as I jerked the wheel and took us down a side street. In the rearview mirror I saw something big fall through the smoke, and the impact made the ground buck underneath us.

I blew through a pile of trash bags on the corner at the end of the street and caught air for a second as the road dipped. The undercarriage scraped a speed bump, and we fishtailed on a patch of ice. I spun the wheel and got us under control, then made a break for the subway stop at the end of the block as a cluster of broken bricks flew by in front of us, trailing smoke.

Other people had the same idea. A hundred yards away, the crowd got too thick to move the truck through. I killed the engine.

“Come on!” Vika held the rifle in a death grip as we opened the doors and got out. I shoved my way around the back and hauled the doors open.

The back of the truck was full of equipment. I climbed up the rear bumper and pulled the closest locker open; it was loaded with guns and ammo. I traded my pistol for a better one and grabbed a few clips and stuffed them in my pockets.

“What are you doing?” Vika called. I climbed out, then jumped back down onto the pavement.

“Stick close, no matter what!” I said. I dragged her toward the metro entrance and muscled our way into the flow. People pushed and shoved as we made our way down the stairs into the station.

Most people just wanted to get off the street and away from the worst of the crowd. I took us through, then down onto the nearest platform. The tracks were empty, but down the tunnel I saw the lights from a train that was parked there, not moving. In the other direction, the tunnel was clear. I sent our location back to Nico.

Back the way we came, there were screams. I looked back and saw that a group of revivors had come down after us. People tripped over each other as they tried to get away. Somebody got bitten and blood squirted from his neck. Another guy got dragged off the platform and into the dark.

Vika jerked her hand away and tried to run, but they’d reached us. I fired, and one of them fell, but the rest just went right over it.

“Vika, get behind me!”

I tried to block them, but an elbow thumped into my chest and I was knocked back as feet stomped the floor around my face.

“Vika!”

I flipped over, and a boot came down on my back. I slammed onto the concrete as two of them grabbed Vika by her shirt. She screamed and tried to get the rifle around, but she was pinned. I shot one in the knee and it fell, but more hands grabbed her. They pulled her away from me, down the tunnel.

Something hit my head hard. Spots swam in front of my eyes as one of them bit down on her arm and she screamed again. I tried to bring the gun around again, but my arm didn’t move. The platform started to tilt.

Vika …

A band of static flicked in front of me and the JZI puked out a stream of errors. I heard Vika yell something, but I couldn’t see her. Feet stomped down around me as more of them ran to join the fray.

My eyes rolled and another band of static rippled by before the lights went out. The last thing I heard was Vika’s high-pitched scream as it echoed from somewhere down the tunnel.

The tromping of boots echoed down the hall as we headed toward the stairwell at the far end. The hall ended in a giant pane of glass that looked out over the city, and through it I could see the TransTech Center, lit up and towering above the surrounding buildings. Osterhagen was still inside; I could sense him. I couldn’t make out what he was thinking, but something was very wrong.