“Charlie says you can take him with you. You’d go out screaming with pleasure.”
She laughed. “Tell him I said to shove it up his butt.”
“Check out the burial site before you head back. See if the rats have been digging in it again.”
“Fuck that, Marvin. Dead’s dead. Let the rats have dinner.” She clicked off. Paused. Stopped. Her flash went dark, giving me a clearer view in my own low-light. She studied the area, stepping in place, scanning 360 degrees. And turned toward my ATV.
“What the . . . ?” She inspected the area with the flash. Turned it back off. Walked slowly toward the small armored unit. I tensed. I couldn’t let her talk to Marvin again. I couldn’t let her go back to the bunker. I activated my left sleeve. I didn’t want to kill her.
I didn’t.
But I had to.
She clomped toward the ATV. When she reached it, she bent forward. A foot from me. Her hand bumped the vehicle. She jerked back. Fast as a snake, I shot my right hand out and snatched the headset off her, then kicked out, hitting her knee. A series of cracks sounded, and she fell onto me. My left arm went around her throat. Tightened. I pressed the button on my armor to full hardening.
Other than a painedoooff, she was silent as my Dragon Scale sleeve cut off her air. Her legs kicked, ramming the ATV. The tree. My armored shins. She was taller than I was, heavier. But the armor made the difference. I crushed the headset and dropped it, grasping my elbow with my free arm to increase the pressure.
She wrenched. Twisted. Threw her weight against me. Her chest heaved as it tried to draw a breath that would never come. Fingers clawed. Scrabbling at my glove.
Tears gathered in my eyes.
Her arms dropped. I didn’t let go. A single tear spilled down my cheek.
She stopped fighting.
Something stabbed, sharp, into my groin. Again. Again. Somehow, she had grabbed a knife. Stupid move against armor. She was supposed to give up and die. Should have been dead already. Nanobots keeping her oxygenated?
She kept stabbing. I felt some of the little scales the armor was constructed of slip out of place. Just a fraction. My suit sent me an alert.
“Shining?” Jolene asked, turning up the volume on my speakers. “Sugah? You okay? Your suit cam shows—Cupcake. Shining is not alone. Repeat, she is under attack.”
The stabbing continued.
“On the way.”
Something at the stabbing site gave. I didn’t think it was possible, but the fail-proof armor had a weak spot even when hardened. I breathed out a laugh. It sounded odd. Maybe a little crazy. I pressed my other hand against the side of the guard’s head and shoved-twisted.
I heard a dull crack, loud in the silence. I kept twisting. More pop-cracks reverberated into the night. Her head turned all the way around to face me. Dead eyes met mine.
I held her there, staring into lifeless eyes.
Time passed.
“Shining?” Cupcake asked, softly.
I had felt her approaching but I couldn’t look away from the eyes of the guard I’d killed. Brown eyes. Dead brown eyes.
“Shhhhiiiining . . .” Cupcake said.
I couldn’t think what to do. My brain was still on shocked-numb-kill mode.
Standing in the dry grass of the bunker. Cradling her at my chest.
“You can let go, Shining,” Cupcake said, oh so gently. “I got her.”
“Okay. I can do that.” I released my sleeve, softened my armor. But I didn’t let her go. I held her close. Staring into her eyes.
Gently, Cupcake eased her from me. I let her reposition my limbs like a doll on a shelf, arms at my sides. When she fully held the dead sentry, draped over one arm, her suit doing the work, she said, “Jolene. Shining is okay. I’m going to toss the body on a landmine, but we need to get out of here. We’ve alerted someone. We’ll pull back into the brush.”
