Chapter Twenty-Seven - Onwards

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Onwards

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Onwards

Yeah, they can be pretty weird.

Professor Besters, after class interview, 2048

***

I pinched the tip of my tongue between my teeth. Lucy always mocked me when I did that while concentrating, but I had a full-face helmet on, no one could tell.

I pinched an eye shut, lined up the end of the barrel over the model three, then squeezed the trigger.

My bullcat thumped back into my shoulder and the shot I took flew off into the distance.

I shifted my grip on the front of the gun a little. Maybe if I leaned into the gun a bit more? I aligned the hovering red dot over the alien and kept my breathing calm. I was more careful as I tugged the trigger this time.

The shot tore apart a chunk of asphalt in front of the alien, spraying it with a ricochet of gravelly chunks that had it flinching back.

It, of course, started to run at a bit of a zig-zag after that. Fucker, I muttered.

I was losing patience a little. My finger stretched out and flicked the Bullcat from semi to full-auto.

I hovered the sight over the alien, then tugged the trigger back. Dodge this, I swore.

A torrent of buckshot roared out of the Bullcat, ripping apart the road, flying off into the distance, and by the time the gun clicked empty, a few of those had winged the model three.

It flopped onto the ground, injured enough that it couldnt keep running at me.

I nodded as I stood up and checked the highway for more aliens. Other than the piles of unmoving corpses, there wasnt much to see. Nothing running at us. It had been maybe an hour since the wave ended, and since then only stranglers came down the road .

The first wave of aliens had been decimated.

The second ran into the next row of bombs and traps, and the crossfire from the civilans behind our barricade.

The third made it past those and into the blender that Jolly Monarchs drones created.

It was rather nice, seeing all those aliens get mulched. All in a days work, though.

Its still alive, Jolly Monarch said as he walked over.

He was the last person, myself excluded, left near the barricade.

I looked at the model three. It was struggling towards us still, gripping the ground and pulling itself along with scrapping tugs that left a smear of its blood behind. Itll bleed out, I said.

Yeah, why not, I said. I aligned the front of my hoverbike with the distant convoy, then shot off in that direction.

The world slipping by under me was strangely empty. Little towns were abandoned, streets were devoid of cars. A few places were burning down, with firefighters and mercs congregating around the fires with flying tankers and gunships to protect those.

I imagined that it was only going to get worse if the antithesis claimed all of this land for itself.

I flew up a way to make it easier to spot the convoy. According to the map, it was still a bit away from the next dangerous zone. It would be a good time to catch up to it.

For some reason I was expecting a row of semi-trailers, maybe with a couple of buses or something.

Instead, the convoy was taking up both sides of the highway and was hundreds of vehicles long, mostly wider self-driving trucks, but there were a few old-school human piloted trucks in there as well. The front and sides of the convoy were being escorted by some mercs in light armoured vehicles, manned turrets on the back scanning the environment for trouble.

I shot over the convoy and started to turn, going wide so that I could take the whole thing in. It had to be four, maybe five kilometres long. How much shit were they carrying? Apparently, a crapton.

You received a ping from below. No message, just a radar tap. Highlighting the location now.

The very front of the convoy was dominated by a large mobile base. A truck on eight huge wheels, with a cannon on the front and gun nests on the sides. It was tall too, high enough off the ground that the lower tier models wouldnt be able to jump up onto it without assistance.

A single figure was standing on the roof, head tilted up to see me coming.

I slowed over the mobile base, matched speeds with it, then hopped off the side of my bike and landed without a thump on the roof. Hey, I said with a wave. I flicked through my hoverbikes menus and set it into a holding pattern far above where it would be out of the way.

Hello, Stray Cat, Grasshopper said. Are you looking for a place to take a cat nap?

I chuckled. Not quite. Figured you might need a hand, so here I am. I can run off to the next fire, if you dont need the help.

The woman tilted her head to the side, a strangely insectile gesture, especially with her beige and brown armour with its chitinous design.

I could use the help, Grasshopper said. She turned and stared out towards the road ahead. I noticed a large gun laying on the roof to the side. Though calling it large was a bit of an understatement. It was longer than I was tall and looked like it could belong on a tank. You like cats? she asked.

Uh, yeah, I said. So, whats the plan?

Do you know how humans think that babies are ugly?

I had no fucking clue how to reply to that. I guess? Theyre a bit ugly. Never really saw them as cute, but I, uh, dont consider babies a problem, I guess.

Oh, okay, she said. The plan is to shoot the aliens. She flopped forwards, falling down flat onto the roof and cradelling the back of her gun. Little parts of her armour clicked and shifted, moving her over closer to the front of the vehicle.

Right, I said.

I like cats, she said. But I wonder. Do cats think that kittens are ugly the same way we think babies are?

I worked my jaw for a bit while I considered if it was too late to go work with someone more sane.

***