Unknown - The_Growing_589064

Then she freezes as her implants detect a sound almost directly in front of her.

8

Just as she shuts the door behind her , Dakota senses something and looks to her left. There, crouched against the building, is a figure. It is short and female-shaped, with pale hair that falls over a high forehead. Moonlight glints off the dark optics and titanium throat-band of an android.

“Bastard!” Koda spits, and raises her gun to fire, setting the sight just between those wide, limpid eyes.

CHAPTER EIGHT

“Run run run run run away.”

PERHAPS IT IS the way those dark eyes widen at the sight of her—an action quite “undroid” like. Or perhaps it is a sense of familiarity that steals over her senses and makes her hesitate. Whatever the reason, the hesitation costs her dearly as something heavy and blunt connects with the junction of her neck and shoulder, paralyzing her arm and dropping her into the snow as if pole axed.

She fights to keep her eyes open, needing to meet her death head on.

The droid, male this time, looks down at her, its eyes doll-like and expressionless. With a smooth economy of motion, it lifts the uzi it’s holding and points it directly between her own eyes.

“Hold!”

The voice is female, that much she can tell, but whether issued through living or manufactured vocal cords is another question entirely. One she’s amazed that she even has time to contemplate. The gun’s muzzle never wavers, but the finger doesn’t tighten on the trigger either, and Koda lets out a small breath, not daring to drag her eyes away from her imminent demise.

Kirsten strides purposefully across the short span separating herself from the action. Simple deduction tells her that the fallen figure is human. It is the only reason the android would have attacked, after all. Reaching them both, she stops and looks down just as the moon sails from behind a lowering cloud.

Pale blue eyes look back at her, and she freezes for a moment as a queer sense of déjà vu settles over her.

Those eyes.

Forcing herself to look away, she meets the dispassionate gaze of the android and says the first thing that comes to mind. “Human female.”

Taking another look, the android nods in a very human gesture of acknowledgement. “It will be of use to us.”

As the droid bends at the waist, preparing to lift the woman, Kirsten again stops it. “I will take this one to the facility. There may be others. She entered from that direction.”

“Acknowledged.”

After the android is swallowed by the blackness, Kirsten lowers herself into a painful crouch, staring down at the woman in the snow. “Are you crazy?” she hisses. “This place is crawling with androids! What were you thinking?”

Glittering, too-familiar eyes center themselves on her neck, and Kirsten feels an unaccountable blush warm her frozen cheeks. “I’m human,” she whispers, her hand drifting up of its own accord to brush against the droid collar at her throat.

“Seems I’m not the only crazy one, then.”

The voice is low and melodious, and it hums pleasantly in Kirsten’s ears. Her sensitive hearing picks up another sound, and she reaches out, clamping down onto an arm. “Hurry, they’re coming back. We need to get you inside. I’ll figure out what to do with you after we’re there.”

“No time,” Koda replies, shaking off the arm and rolling to her feet. “We need to get out of here. Now.”

Dark eyes widen in amazement. “You are crazy. Do you have any idea that you’re in the middle of one of the largest android factories in the world?”

“It’s also gonna be one of the flattest android factories in the world in about eight minutes. We need to move.”

Kirsten freezes. A feeling very akin to dread pours into her belly. “What? What are you saying?”

Dakota sighs, impatient. “Look, there’s a squadron of F-18’s headed up here from Ellsworth to turn this place into a smoking crater.”

“Military! You’re with the Army?!?”

“No, I’m….”

“Great! Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?? Jesus Christ!”

“Listen, I don’t make the orders here. I just…”

Once again her words are cut off by an irate Kirsten. “Of all the stupid….Jesus! I’ve got to get back inside before it’s too late!”

She makes ready to run back into the building, only to be halted in her tracks by a very strong hand clamped around her bicep. “You don’t understand. It’s already too late.”

Kirsten whirls around, eyes blazing behind her contacts. “You’re the one who doesn’t understand! Your damn planes are going to ruin everything!”

“They’re not my—damnit!” Dakota runs after the woman who has so adroitly slipped her grip. Her long legs easily eat up the distance between them, and she lowers a hard hand onto the fleeing woman’s shoulder. “Wait a minute! Please!”

They both stop as both heads cock in identical listening postures.

“They’re early,” Dakota softly intones, her eyes searching the as yet empty sky.

“No!” Kirsten shouts, once again shaking off Koda’s strong grip. “I need to….”

“You need to go!” Koda replies, grabbing her again. “Now!” Spinning, she all but tosses the woman back the way they’ve come, then sprints after her, gun at the ready. “Don’t stop! Keep moving!” Her voice is raised in a shout to be heard over the ever increasing roar of the planes.

Kirsten stumbles and only avoids making a snow angel by the strong grip to the back of her sweater which tears the fabric and almost lifts her off of her feet. “Keep running! Go! Go! Go!”

The door looms in front of her, growing larger with every step she takes. She nearly screams as something that can only be a bullet whines past her ear close enough to make her hair flutter. Then she finds herself face first in the snow as bullets erupt from everywhere at once.

Hearing the firestorm, Andrews flings open the door and rushes out, followed by his compatriots. Bracketing Dakota on either side, they empty their weapons into the darkness as the roar of the planes becomes almost overwhelming.

“We need to leave now, Ma’am!” Andrews shouts over the din.

Koda nods to signal her understanding, and, with a final burst of gunfire, turns and heads for the door, the others in tow.

Kirsten turns herself over in the snow just in time to see the barrel of a gun shoved in her face by a very angry looking woman.

“No!” Koda shouts, knocking Johnson’s weapon away just in time. The bullet pierces the ground not more than a foot to the left of Kirsten’s arm. “She’s human!”

Johnson looks stunned, then pales as she realizes what she almost did. Koda shoves her in the direction of the door, then grabs Kirsten and hauls her to her feet. “Move! Now!!”

They can hear the planes directly overhead as they dart into the darkness of the underground tunnel.

The first of the bombs hit as the group thunders down the stairs and into the crew quarters. The entire underground structure shakes and men and women are thrown into walls and over tables as they struggle to move away from the conflagration overhead. Kirsten’s knees buckle, but the arm around her waist keeps her from falling. It is all she can do just to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. Soaked, freezing, numb and dizzy, survival is the only thing that matters.

The anger will return later, and when it does, Kirsten will give these people a little King-sized conflagration of her own.

Through the swaying bridge and into the crew’s quarters they run, resisting the instinctive urge to duck and cover as gigantic explosion after gigantic explosion shudders the underground complex. It’s like being inside of an earthquake.