I finally spied the source of the loud, whining engine. It was indeed a hauler barreling across the same field we were runningthrough, moving in the opposite direction, angling itself toward the road, pulling ahead of the hopper. The driverless vehicle was an ancient tracked off-road transport used for a variety of duties. It was a fraction of the size of the hoppers, but it had a passenger cabin that could transport up to ten people along with a long cargo bed. There were only four or five of these things still running, and the wait list to get access to one for a day was typically a month long. This one held a large, dirty boulder in the back cab that bounced ominously as the vehicle rumbled upward onto the road.
I still did not see the hostile mech.
As we ran, I hazarded another glance north. It occurred to me what was wrong with the skyline. One of the usual landmarks of the area—the water tower—simply wasn’t there anymore. It was just gone. There was nothing left but smoke.
A loud crash echoed far off to our right, followed by an explosion and a loud crunch. A moment later, a second crash echoed so loud, it shook the ground.
“You may slightly decelerate your retreat in order to maintain energy. The threat will soon be neutralized,” Roger said. “Proceed to the tree line, but maintain a brisk northerly pace.”
“Jesus, Roger,” I muttered, my heart pounding. We turned north and started jogging uphill toward the river bend. The river curved up here, and the trees grew thicker, but this path would take us toward the western edge of town, up past the old outpost and behind the fabrication warehouses.
A new plume of smoke rose from the roadway in the distance.
Roger spoke again. “The drones are in the process of incapacitating and disassembling the threat. Trixie 2 is approaching the town to get updated data on the hostile forces while the transports will continue on their original path but while being flanked by the drones. It is likely the enemy now knows of your presence, and it is no longer advisable to travel with the transports. Subterfuge on your part is now required while I determine the status of the four remaining enemy units.”
I exchanged a look with my sister. The tree line loomed, and we moved to hide within.
—
“Where is everybody?” Sam askedas we skulked through the alley behind the line of fabricator factories. We’d left the edge of the river behind and were now skirting the western outskirts of town, keeping low and running along the back of the old concrete buildings. These were some of the original buildings in the town, and graffiti littered the back sides of them, along with a smattering of garbage, ancient cigarette butts, and the rusting husks of abandoned and broken-down machinery that couldn’t be recycled for one reason or another. I knew this was where the kids of Burnt Ends used to hang out when they were skipping school. Now that the Orphan Generation had mostly aged out of school and most everyone had to work, this corridor had taken on an almost postapocalyptic feel.
I thought of Harriet, Sam’s fiancée. And Ursula and Guadalupe and Kim and Samantha and all the other girls I’d grown up with who were now pregnant. In thirteen or fourteen years, this back alley would be filled with delinquents all over again.
At least that was how it was supposed to be.
We hadn’t seen a single living—or dead—person since we entered the town limits, which was eerie. Smoke billowed from every direction. According to Roger, all four of the remaining mechs were on the other side of town—a good kilometer from our current position. All were offline, just standing idle. Roger cautioned us from getting ourselves seen on camera despite this. Trixie 2 was going through town and disabling all the cameras she could find.
We did pass one emergency-alert beacon. It had fallen from its spot atop a pole, but a pixelated hologram of the mayor’s scared face still shot from it, only half formed and sideways on the ground. The speaker was gone, and whatever announcement he had made was now silenced.
Sam, the Serrano twins, and I stood in front of one brick wall, looking at the faded old graffiti there. The name “Papa’s Big Band” was crossed out with “The Rhythm Mafia Rules” written under it. Under that, and more recently, someone else had written: “Who?”
Papa’s Big Band had been a brass band consisting of some kids along with old Mr.Hernandez (“Papa”) here in Burnt Ends. Years ago, I’d tried out to be their drummer, but they’d rejected me because I lived on the southern peninsula and came into town only once every week or so. That, and because I sucked. Sam had come up and defaced their logo in my honor.
I wondered about them, the kids who’d been in that band. They would all have been in their twenties now, all except Mr.Hernandez of course. He was the guy who’d taught them all how to play and built their instruments. He’d died a few years ago, and last I’d heard, hardly anyone played their instruments anymore.
“Do you think everyone ran away?” Axel asked. Next to him, his brother nodded.
“I don’t know,” I said as we continued on our way.
Roger had us pause as Trixie 2 disabled a group of cameras up ahead. We’d cross the street here and move northeast. Through the gap in the alley, I could see the Sombrero and the mayor’s residence atop it. The house was a burned-out husk. Just on the other side of the hill were the train tracks that led upward through the peninsula and to the desert and eventually across the dead continent to Fat Landing. The warehouse we were headed for was on the other side of the mayor’s house, on the bottom lip of the Sombrero.
“If they attacked super early in the morning, everyone would’ve been asleep,” Lulu said. “If they didn’t have warning, they would’ve been killed in their beds.”
“This is a pretty big town. There are thousands of homes here,” I said, “and only five mechs. Now four.”
Lulu grunted. “Four mechsnow. There might’ve been more last night.”
“Maybe people are still hiding,” Sam said.
“It appears the refuel drone is approaching from above,” Roger said, crackling over our earpieces. “The four remaining mechs remain offline. The path to the warehouse is now clear of obvious electronic surveillance. I suggest you proceed there as quickly as possible.”
We started to run.
Chapter 10
It didn’t take long after that for us to find the first corpses. We turned a corner, and there they were.
We all stopped running. The shock of it was overwhelming. I felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach and like I’d run right into a wall all at once.
