Chapter 12

The forceful slam of the door rocked the car back and forth violently. Still lying down flat, the child jolted with fright at the jarring impact. Small dust clouds puffed into the air as Dee marched, arms folded, toward the store front. Two pairs of ebony eyes tracked her movements before the now familiar door chime rang for a third time.

Sy watched the slender grey hooded figure move in toward the young attendant. “Marv, do you know what’s happening? Why did she just exit the vehicle like that?” he asked fixated in the direction of the store. He got no reply. Only a soft, steady breath from the corner of the rear seat dissipated throughout the interior. She had now stopped just short of the attendant, appearing to search for something within the enclosure he occupied.

“Marv.” He called out again. This time, he turned his neck to face the giant when no answer was given once more. “Quiet, Sy. I don’t know what your precious wife is planning on doing, but I do know that it’s putting us all at great and unnecessary risk?” Sy glanced back at the pair as the attendant seemed to be mouthing something to her. “Well, why doesn’t one of us go in there then? Instead of just sitting here doing nothing.” Marv remained unmoving, locked onto Dee like a panther ready to pounce. “Just give it a second, Sy.” he responded before muttering a select few garbled words straight after. The tension was palpable and suffocating Sy’s ability to think clearly. Time seemed to have stretched out before him as moments endured far longer than they should have.

“Marv.” Sy continued. “Do you think Dee really loves me?”

One subtle head turn later and a menacing face glowered down upon him. Sy felt as insignificant as the brown, dried leaves outside being scattered at the mercy of the winds. “What in the hell kind of time is this to be asking…?”

A chilling scream grabbed their distracted attentions as both men shot a horrified glance back to the store. Dee was nowhere to be seen as was the attendant. “Goddamn it, don’t move from here. Stay the hell put!” were the last words he heard before a huge shadow appeared to vault over the car and hurtled through the main entrance. A disfigured mosaic of glass shards spread across the shop floor. Sy brought both hands over his mouth. Marv was staring panic-stricken at the floor where the attendant once stood. He said something inaudible to Dee but the look of concern on Marv’s face said more than any combination of words possibly could have. Trouble had arrived and it wasn’t taking any prisoners.

As Marv moved closer to examine the scene, Sy couldn’t help himself but open the car door. “What’s going on?” he cried out. A large open palm reared up toward him. Marv’s gaze remained rooted to the floor. He turned back round to check on the boy. This time, he was sitting up and looking straight at him. Still not a sound made, but just an expression of pure neutrality. Almost as if he was peering straight through him. A state of catatonic contentment, lost to the world through a wormhole in his mind. Was this a human child’s way of dealing with shock, he wondered. Going into total shutdown?

“Sy! Get into the back of the car. Watch the child!”

As if guided by a remote hand, Sy scurried to the rear side door and bolted in. He looked to his left to embrace a vision that drained all semblance of reality from him. Marv hurried out of the fragmented store front carrying Dee in his strong, inflated arms. Her previous greyed tracksuit top was now soaked in blood from neck to breast. She bounced around like a rag doll as he crossed the compound. All traces of the soldier-esque female political freedom fighter he discovered only a few short days ago seemed to have vanished. Marv trotted at a steady pace so as not to cause her any further distress. He opened the front passenger door and placed her delicately upon the seat. A split second later, he himself was clambering into the driver’s side.

Sy gripped the two edges of the seats in front and pulled forward to inspect Dee for himself. A smear of bright red stained the tops of his fingers as he did so. “Dee.” he said with a trembling voice as the car sparked into life. “What’s happened. What have you done?”

The tyres squealed upon the ground until finding their footing. A mere moment later, the gas station was shrinking into the distance as the blue Ford roared down the highway. Sy began reaching a tepid hand out to touch Dee’s somehow unsullied face when Marv bellowed beside him. “Sy, listen up! Secure the kid in the back! Put a seatbelt on him pronto!” In a fluster, he spun round to find the boy huddled in the corner, arms folded across his face. He lunged for the strap whilst adjusting the boy into position.

“No!” he yelled unexpectedly. The shrill sound ripped through him like electricity, but his priorities had been outlined and there was no time to waste. He yanked the silvery buckle across the boy’s chest. A tiny set of teeth clamped down hard into his rubbery meat. Feeling a shooting pain burst from his wrist, Sy jerked away in reflex whilst still holding on to the belt. He proceeded to bring it down and clipped it into place.

“Is it done? Quickly now!” Marv pressed. “Yes, all done!” As he spoke, a flurry of limbs struck out at his midsection. The boy struggled to remove the seatbelt as Sy hooked his hands around the small, frail arms. Weak kicks carried on raining down upon his thigh and torso, although there was almost no force behind them.

Marv floored the gas pedal as the car rattled under the forced strain. His eyes darted toward Dee every so often to assimilate her mental condition. “Dee.” he muttered. She sat there, looking down at her crimson caked hands. The severe shock she was enduring was visibly evident. “Dee, what in the hell happened back there? Please, just talk to me. Give me something. Anything to work with here.”

Sy waited for the right time to intervene and start his own line of questioning but with the daunting Marv calling the shots at present, he hastened to reconsider. The vast forest of thick trees sped past them to their right as a lush, expansive fresh cornfield arose on the other side. The straight, but wide road allowed for the vehicle to max out on its power. So far, not a single car had passed them on this derelict stretch nor had they fast approached any.

Her head still hung low, shoulders hunched over. The congealing blood had now started to turn into a large brown patch patterned across her chest. Marv decided to try again. “Come on, Dee. Pull it together. Say something at least. Even just tell me what you’re thinking." His voice sounded deep and guttural, however strangely non-threatening. A response piqued his full attention again. “I… I killed him, Marv. I didn’t mean to, I swear it.” A sharp panicked voice from the back broke their engagement. “What? You killed someone? Are you serious?”

“Shut up!” Marv yelled. “Where you hell you think all this blood came from? A bad nose bleed?” He shifted his focus back to Dee reducing his tone down to a soothing, mild growl. “Dee, please listen. I know you’re in a world of hurt right now but I just wanted to know if you were alright. Thank you for confirming that for me. We’ll figure this out, don’t worry. We’re not far now. Just an hour or so away and…”

Dee lifted her gaze to meet his, breaking him off mid-sentence. “There’s something you ought to know. Something I saw back there. We’re in a lot of trouble.”

She spoke rationally enough to give Marv enough reassurance that this wasn’t just some hallucinogenic dream due to the monumental stress. Marv eyed her coldly. “Dee… What did you see?” The current tension felt by everyone within the car was being overshadowed somewhat by the low droning buzz in the background. At first, it had been nothing more than a negligible annoyance from somewhere far away, but the gradual rise in its magnitude became increasingly noticeable.

Dee continued. “I saw a monitor behind the counter. They had surveillance cameras in operation.” She clenched her fingers up in a ball. “They got us, Marv. I think they know who we are. Even my sweet boy in the back there.” Her eyes lowered again in shame and remorse as his rigid, hard face remained concentrated in thought at this new revelation. “Another thing.” she said engulfed in a somber trance.

During a brief pause before she carried on, Marv impulsively interjected in frustration. “Sorry, Dee. Last thing I wanna do is stop you but I’m hearing this noise and wanna know exactly what it is.” As he spoke, he ran a double take on both side and rear mirrors to make sure nothing or nobody was following them. Yet the persistent sound only grew louder and more distinct. A sudden moment of clarity sent Marv’s circuitry into overdrive. His face fell as a brutal and harsh truth stared him square in the face.

“Sy.” He called out in alarm. “I want you to look out the back window and tell me if you see anything.” A concerned murmur rang back over his hefty shoulders. “Sure thing.” Marv watched in the mirror as Sy scanned the area outside. He ceased craning his neck and froze. Marv furrowed his brow. “What is it? What do you see? Tell me!” A small, timid voice emanated back. “I’m sure I’m seeing this right, Marv. Three specks in the sky approaching fast. They look like S.P.A.”

Those words hit him head-on like a ton of bricks. This was a hitherto unforeseen part of the plan that neither of them had strategized for in advance. He knew full well the foreboding inevitability of the situation at hand. A brief glimpse down at the dashboard revealed that they had already maxed out the car’s speed limit. There was nowhere left to run and the police were bearing down on them fast.

“How far are they now?” Sy remained glued to the skies in unsinkable dread and terror. Not a sound was returned. “Sy, wake up right now! Where are they I’m asking you?” he screamed back again this time with more volition. “They’re almost here. We’re done, Marv.” The reply was a resigned and spent one.

The loud and tinny echo of a bullhorn reverberated through the interior of the car. “This is the police! Stop the vehicle immediately! I repeat, stop the vehicle immediately!”

The blast of muffled sound dispersed wildly out of the small cylindrical object attached to the front of the helicopter. Long, scythe-like yellow lettering boasting Synthetics Policing Authority was emblazoned upon the nose cone of the aerial unit. Drucker sat leaning forward in the front wearing a rather large headset with a protruding microphone looping round the side. The pilot to his right scoured the ground ready to hone in on the target whenever the command was given. His pure black visor glinted from the reflection of the cockpit lights. Doug squatted in discomfort upon the metallic chair he had been strapped into for the duration of the ride. An S.P.A. officer was perched on a similar looking seat next to him, holding a long-shafted sniper rifle by his side.

“Man, I just can’t believe our fortune! These assholes have pretty much fallen into our laps!” he yelled over the whir of the blades above him. “To think we wasted all that time when really what we should of done is relax back at HQ!” He turned to Doug beaming from ear to ear. “All we need to worry about now is the safety of the kid. So far, so good.”

“Well, the sooner we can get this wrapped up, the better.” Doug held a closed fist pushed up against his lips. The faded leather belt strap rubbed across his plump torso. “I’m telling you, Druck. I’m about to heave real soon so let’s speed up proceedings a little, shall we?” he bawled just a smidgeon above the unwholesome racket.

Drucker gestured to the S.P.A. pilot who shifted the helicopter into a soft descent. The two flanking birds pulled down next to it staying in formation as Drucker spoke into the mouthpiece. “This is your last chance! Pull over now and stop the vehicle or we will be forced to take action! I repeat, pull over now! This is your final warning!” He muted the bullhorn’s loudspeaker as the blue Ford showed no signs of relenting. On the other side of the divide, a large semi-trailer truck rumbled innocuously passed them.

Drucker cocked his head toward the S.P.A. pilot. “Just a quick heads up in case you weren’t aware.” He said at a volume one notch below a shout. “There’s a high probability we’re dealing with two synthetics instead of one. A couple, in fact. One of them as you know had their chip disabled so just assume that the other one has too.” He kept a vigilant watch over the car below careening through the chiselled road between the forest and sun-kissed cornfield. “Remember, they’ve got a small kid with them and everything that goes down as of now gets video streamed back to HQ. You guys fully aware of how to bring them down cleanly if we need to?”

The pilot replied out of the corner of his rough textured lips. “It should be fine, sir. Actually, your average synth is filled with all types of important chips dotted everywhere within their bodies but you take out their left hand and all means of remote communication go out the window.” Drucker was taken aback to hear the distance in his voice when referring to his own kind. “Once that’s done, a simple headshot and they should go down. We’ll just act accordingly, sir.” Drucker nodded in approval. “Good to hear. A headshot, huh? Just like out of a good old zombie flick.” The S.P.A. pilot didn’t answer, but opted to return a dry simper instead.

“Right.” Drucker said heaving a deep sigh whilst peering speculatively below. “Didn’t want it to come to this but so be it.” He signalled to the pilot who seemed to understand it’s meaning right away. After uttering a set of unintelligible words into his own mouthpiece, the two helicopters either side tilted forward in unison and accelerated past them. Once away, the pilot then skilfully manoeuvred to fly almost side-by-side with the runaway vehicle whilst still retaining a similar elevation. The subdued S.P.A. officer in the back beside Doug now moved into position, focusing a line of sight through the circular scope on the rifle down at the vehicle. After a brief pause, the pilot turned to Drucker. “We’re ready. Do we have the go ahead, sir?” Without a moment’s hesitation, he replied unflinching.

“Do it.”

One sharp, muffled crack echoed out from the side opening. A moment later, a thunderous screech tore through the air as the rear tyre unravelled into shredded black strips of rubber. Three separate trails of skid marks converged on the tarmac as the car spun into a crippling state of paralysis. The high pitched squeal ceased with the worn tyres finding some traction and the car came to a staggered, lurching halt. It sat hugging the white dividing marker on the road as the helicopters triangulated in formation around the hapless vehicle. Three separate black cylinders were targeted upon the car from each angle as Drucker’s voice boomed out again from the bullhorn.

“OK, now listen very carefully to what I say! Come out with your hands in the air nice and easy where I can see them clearly! Don’t try anything else or you will be shot! I repeat, you will be shot if you do not comply!” He muted the microphone and leaned in again toward the pilot. “Any word on where the ground units are? We need them like ASAP.”

“They’ll be here any moment now, sir. In fact, look up ahead and you should be able to see them approach.” Sure enough as Drucker squinted into the distance, a black horizontal line of flashing lights was somewhat visible. “Alright, we got this. Stay in position until the backup arrive or they move.” He tapped a finger in the air toward the stranded blue car below. “Yes, sir.” The pilot replied with a blank repose.

Dee sat in the front seat, consumed with despair. “What have I done? How could this ever have worked out?” she whispered to herself. Sy had been thrown to the opposite end of the rear passenger seat and attempted to right himself. “What in the hell!” he exclaimed directing his attention to the child in the corner. Still secured in the seat, he appeared to have blacked out. The horror of the situation confronting him proved too much to bear. He peered through each of the encompassing windows of the car interior only to be greeted by three S.P.A. helicopters hovering wherever he looked. “We’re done for! I told you right from the start!” he yelled. “Let’s just do as they ask and maybe get out of this with our lives still intact! Please, it’s over now! No more!” Marv had sat without uttering a word until now. “You hold it together and let me think, damn it!” he roared. “Just keep it down!”

In all his terror and fury, Marv’s words now went unheeded. “No, you’re the one that needs to hold it together! They know everything! We’re all escaped fugitives now! Can’t you see? There’s no…” The huge frame of Marv turned around to face him and an almighty hand moved with a distressing serenity toward him. Sy screamed in agony as the focus of his alarm had taken a swift change in direction. As he shut his eyes, a pressured groan sounded from beside him. Opening them again out of morbid curiosity, he watched to his left as Marv caved the backseat in completely and pulled out a rather large white satin sheet.

“What are you doing?” Sy inquired meekly, once again now lost in confusion as well as a muddle of other emotions. He ripped a small gash at its centre. Sy peeked over his shoulder to see a line of S.P.A. cars approaching at what seemed to be an unholy speed. Marv’s voice ran cold and hard, but with a seriousness behind it that could have denuded even the strongest of men. “OK, now the both of you. Listen up and listen up good.”

“Do exactly… what I say.”

Drucker waited whilst scouting from the perfect vantage point of the helicopter. The minuscule wall of S.P.A. ground patrol drew in closer by the second. Doug called back from behind him. “What do we do now?” he bellowed. “Just wait. Not long now.” Drucker shouted back. Subtle activity from the blue metallic carcass below caught his attention. “We got movement!” he exclaimed to the pilot who confirmed this with a dip of his head. The car door opened about halfway as two sniper rifles honed in onto the empty space, triggers at the ready. A third covered the rear of the car with caution. Drucker looked on with apprehension, adrenaline coursing through his veins. “Keep your sights locked on that door. Be ready for anything.” he shouted.

More movement followed below as a white sheet not too dissimilar to ordinary bedding was pushed out of the narrow gap. “What in the hell is going on down there?” he whispered to himself as more of the sheet flicked out and spread thinly across the dark grey tarmac. He turned to the S.P.A. sniper. “Get ready for anything! Inform the others! Hold steady!” he bawled out through the overhead gyrating din. Figures now appeared to slip out of sight and under the soft shroud. Moving unseen moulds distorted and warped the shape of the sheet when viewed from above. “Hold your fire and stay alert!” Drucker commanded. He also couldn’t help but notice a large humped eruption fill the centre of the pale fabric.

With the ominous convoy of law enforcement now almost upon them, the masked procession meandered into the centre of the road. Drucker spun around to Doug. “What the hell do you call this?” he called out in agitation. Doug raised his hands in the air, shrugging his shoulders with uncertainty. The pilot turned to him. “Do we take a shot, sir?” he asked. Looking down at the large silk sheet encasing the huge mass inside, he shook his head with indecision. “No, of course not.” he replied. “I mean, we got a child under there. You could injure or…”

The blood left his cheeks like a receding tide. A surge of nerves and fright swallowed him whole. He hollered at the pilot with every fibre of his being. “They’re gonna make a run for it! Get those ground units to surround them! On the double!”

As the last word left his throat, the fluttering white entity burst into an explosion of speed and velocity toward the forest. They could only watch on, mouths agape as the controlled situation fell away from them. It disappeared through a cluster of trees just as the ground units arrived on the scene. Drucker held his stance for an indefinite amount of time. The sheer cataclysmic scale of their failure was unprecedented. He brought his head down into a soft pair of cupped hands.

Not a sound registered with him in his spiralling delirium. Not even the deafening clamour of the spinning blades above.

---

Hope you enjoyed this chapter of my novel, please look out for more on the way... (author: @ezzy)

The Symbiotic Protocol - Prologue
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 1
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 2
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 3
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 4
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 5
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 6
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 7
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 8
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 9
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 10
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 11