The Streets - Cold Heart [ 4 ] (sci-fi series)

To Heads Up [ 3 ]

"Boss, we are 2 minutes ou... Fuck."

The sound of gunfire pinging off armoured steel filled the sound waves.

"Griggs? Griggs? Mills? We need evac, Griggs is ...Griggs is down. Boss? They have us pinned. Gonna take some time. You holding?

The whirring was close, the HUD proximity showed it closing on his position quickly. It would be a miracle now if it wasn't hunting him. He could hear the engines now without enhancement. The whine from the spinning energy core. He peaked out again and could see the mech clomping down the path. Its, flat grey paintwork covered in dust, its feet bloody as stepped across the dead and dying.

"Yeah, see to Griggs, do what you can, get here when you can."

People ran in knowing panic while others accepted their fate and stayed in place. It was an even bet which was the better strategy for survival. He looked at the mech and enhanced the image and could see the pilot's face within, cables running into ports in his temples. Hardwired.

He checked for possible routes of escape. He'd rather not have to face it alone. There were several provided with pathways and percentages of likely survival. None over 40% if all remained equal. He'd faced worst odds but it can only be faced so many times before the favour pendulum swings. He scanned manually also and then, he saw something out of place.

There was a person standing in a doorway across the road, a heavy cloak covered them and the hood shaded the face but, they were staring at him, he knew it. Calmly. As if the events were not happening and a murderous mech wasn't yards away. He tried to enhance a focus on the face but of course, the mask they were revealed little.

Click. Fuck. The mech. Yep, no miracle today either.

A high pitched shriek escaped as the mech turned in his direction and powered the pulse rail guns. They will rip through anything. He dove deeper into the darkness of the building as it opened fire. Bits of stone and steel flew through the air. Through a gap in a far wall and he was safe. For the moment.

"Bos?"

"Yes Mills?"

"Bad time?"

"Not at all?"

"The team is back on the road but diminished, 10 minutes. Escape?"

He looked at where he was holed up. the only way back was the way he had come and by then, the room would be dust.

"Gonna have to play unfortunately."

"Only what you must Bos. Get out if the opportunity presents."

"Sure Mills. How's that dog doing?"

He asked this whenever things were tense and on the edge. Mills always wanted a dog but didn't want to leave it alone during the long hours of her work, so never got one. The joke was that without Bos, she'd have time to care for it instead of him.

"Meh, haven't found the right one yet, Bos."

"Good to hear."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he listened to the pulses pounding the wall, the odd round slipping through the crack from which he had come. It would have to recharge soon though and it was his only window out of the dead end he was in.

Next Up: Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz

 

He listened to a few bars and the guns fell silent. No sunshine in a bag but, a gun in hand. Lets go.

He flipped himself up and bolted full tilt through the gap in the walls. He could see the mech in front and the smoke pouring off the silent barrels as they vaporized the air around them. He had decided to go with his own plan over the options the AI gave and that was, take the mech.

Mechs are about the size of two large men and are more of an armoured exoskeleton than a true robot. Sure, they are essentially all mechanical but they are powered by flesh and blood. Once the pilots are wired in, they are there for life. It wasn't a job though, it was slavery. Modern gladiators where those that performed well ensured better living standards for their families. Those who didn't well...

The pilot is their weakness and their strength. An inexperienced pilot he could easily out manoeuvre. An experienced one and it was worse odds than any of the escape routes provided by the HUD.

He saw the pilot's eyes squint slightly and the mech lean forward, no flinch. Experienced. He fired a round that glanced harmlessly off the cockpit glass. He reached the mech and leaped for one of the arms. He could not overpower it but, if he found some circuitry, he could perhaps disable it, slow it down a little.

The arm swung fast and threw him through the air where he crashed heavily to the ground but as he slid, in the dust and blood, he used the momentum to roll to his feet and found he was behind the mech. The HUD flashed a path, 80 percent chance. Good enough. He ripped into a full sprint trying to beat the spin of the pilot and he heard the guns powered and begin their zipping pulse. It was closing in fast, he could feel it.

80 percent, dropped to 15. Shit. It was too far and then. Silence. The pathway on the HUD bounced to green and a small flashing Clear sign. lit up. What the fuck? He spun on his heels to face the mech directly, the guns almost in line with his position, a second or two more and he would have been meat, no better off than the gamers.

Crouched atop the mech was the hooded figure from the doorway standing on the glass of the cockpit, a long blade in hand that had been driven through the glass and was poking from the base of the mech, the blood of the pilot pouring out onto the ground like a bottle of water emptying. They stood up and looked at him before slowly withdrawing the blade with a screeching sound like fingernails on a blackboard. once it was fully with drawn, they swung it into a sheath on the back and nimble dropped to ground level, all the time watching him.

The HUD showed nothing. It was as if they were not there at all, a dream, an intervention. A miracle. He holstered his weapon. Why save him just to kill him again, he figured.

The figure approached fast and then his HUD lit up again. Two more mechs incoming. They reached him but passed by without stopping.

"Follow."

It was accented, musical. Serious. Female.

"Ah.. guys?"

Mills and the team answered in unison.

"Bos? Boss?"

"Head home. I gotta ride. Griggs okay?"

"Lost a lot of blood, touch and go, Boss."

"See to him. Call his wife and kids and get them close."

Mills went onto a private channel. They all had heard the voice, Mills had seen the action through a cam link.

"You sure about this, Bos? She is.."

He cut her off.

"No, but there is something here. Tracking?"

"Always."

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]

To: Transported [ 5 ]