AZU-1: Lifehack (20 page)

“
We can’t keep this up
forever!” Regan gasped.

“
We just have to get clear
of the tall buildings!” Alisia said. She fired her second last bad
mojo round, and kept running.

Finally, the first sniper tower came
into view. “When the thing gets to this position, we’ll have some
help.” A minute later, the welcome sound of an echoing zipper rang
out. Sustained fire met the thing’s left front knee. It served to
slow it down a fair amount, which was just in time. Alisia and
Regan were getting tired, and the bad mojo was almost
depleted.

It was enough for them to lure it into
view of another zipper tower, and finally they felt like they would
make it. Through the din of the beast, a helicopter was heard. They
kept running, now towards that sound, finding it waiting in an open
intersection.

Parker sat in the helicopter’s side bay
door, manning a zipper. They jumped on.

“
Don’t be shy, Corporal,”
Alisia said, “Let ‘im have it!”

With the girls safely out of the way,
Parker opened up and started chewing up the ammo. The beast was
looking very troubled, but more daunting than the effect of
sustained fire from multiple zipper guns were the hundreds of
attack VTags appearing everywhere. The girls sat back and then
noticed the General across from them.

“
Nice going, ladies. Now
that we have you, the tower snipers can leave, and we can go watch
the fireworks.”

The chopper pulled out of the area,
joining about two dozen others in the air. Everyone wanted to see
the show. Through the visors, the city was bleeding
VTags.

They waited in silence, except for the
droning chopper engine, and the distant clamor of the beast as it
approached the city’s outer wall and began ramming it.

“
It... it couldn’t.” Regan
said. But despite her hopes, the beast soon opened a gaping hole.
It struggled over the remaining rubble, staggering into open
wasteland. Regan looked worried, but the General
grinned.

The comm began to announce: “Airstrike
approaching in three... two... one...”

The bomber was already gone before
anyone realized it was there. The sonic boom hit at the same time
that a flourish of genius-bombs appeared over the city. For a split
second they idled in free fall, then locked onto their assigned
VTags. All at once the swarm of bombs all fired to life, streaking
generally downward with white smoky exhaust trails behind
them.

A forest of white flame erupted in the
streets. Chunk by chunk, the great bridges collapsed, pulling, and
being pulled by the various buildings. One building lasted so long
as to remain until a connecting cornerstone building began to fall
on it. From the air it all seemed to happen in slow motion. All of
it being consumed by the convulsing pool of burning
oblivion.

The beast was tossed forward by the
shock, but still stood. It staggered and rose to its rear legs. The
sound of hundreds of voices screamed into the air before the thing
collapsed, all the bodies letting go. Soon, it was nothing more
than a heap of rotting meat.

“
No more servers,” the
General said serenely, “No more zombies.”

Autar was still foaming in violence.
The outer wall was crumbling, especially at the north and south
doors, and where the beast had damaged it. At some places, entire
sections of the wall were falling outward.

Most of the choppers began departing
while a few remained to keep watch, just in case.

Regan looked out the window and watched
as Autar grew smaller and smaller, eventually to be eaten up by the
horizon. Now, even from a distance it looked like a mess, smoke
rising high. She tried to remember how it looked when she first
arrived, shimmering in the sun. A monument to omnipotent progress.
But that image seemed so far away. Forgotten was the cynicism she
felt when she first saw it. She couldn’t see beyond the tragedy
now.

The General stiffened up, paying extra
attention to his comm. Alisia noticed the grim look on his face.
“General? Something wrong?”

“
Hm? No,” he forced himself
at ease. “Ah, I just got word my team lost. I’m out a hundred
bucks.” He suddenly snapped into a cheerful mood. “Hey kids, we
should celebrate. Let’s go back to my base, you can meet the wife,
and we’ll all get hammered.”

Regan made some comment about Generals
always making the best plans, but Alisia wasn’t put at ease by his
bravado.

~~~~~

Chapter 28: Post-Game

~~~~~

The General entered the officer’s club
of Yute central base with his wife beside him, an hour and a half
later than expected. Regan was already half plastered.
Introductions were made. Luckily, the General’s wife chose to be
amused by Regan instead of offended.

“
I didn’t think ya were
gonna make it, Gen’ril!” Regan said, slapping him on the
back.

“
Oh, had to please the press
a bit, you know. They’re hard to get away from sometimes, and
they’re very interested in the two heroes. We’ll have to have a
talk about what’s classified and what’s not, before you two start
basking in the limelight.”

Despite the General’s jovial tone,
Alisia was still unsure, and just sipped quietly on her red
wine.

“
Relax,” the General told
her, sensing her tension, “With any luck, you can sell the movie
rights or something! My retirement egg is largely funded by a book
I wrote about my missions from way back.” Alisia smiled politely.
Regan sorted some pocket change and excused herself before
wandering off.

“
General, you didn’t lose
any sports bet today, did you?” Alisia asked. She didn’t really
want to hear the answer, but the question was bugging
her.

He put down his stein and sat back with
a grim face. “Ya couldn’t just leave it alone till the morning,
could you? I guess that’s admirable.”

Across the club, Regan smacked the
jukebox, and started ‘Rebel yell’, with a small shout of
celebration.

“
She’s got the right idea,”
the General said as Regan sat back down, fresh drink in hand.
Alisia threw the General an expression that let him know she wasn’t
giving up. He slumped his shoulders and looked at the table for a
moment before continuing.

“
Shortly after the Autar
back up battery kicked in, a transmitter sent a large encrypted
signal.”

Regan tuned in, finally picking up that
something serious was going on. “What does it mean, Sir?” Alisia
asked quietly.

“
We don’t know yet, but it’s
a safe bet the A.I. at AutarLabs had something to do with it.” He
thumbed the handle of his mug. “Could be some kind of back up, or a
data evacuation. It’s also been suggested to me that the A.I. could
not have become what it is now without help. The signal may have
been meant for someone connected to that.”

“
Then it would mean that
Autar’s fall wasn’t an accident.”

“
Well!” the General perked
up, and finished his beer. “Let’s not worry about that tonight.”
The General’s wife put on her jacket, and they got up. “Well, I
have people I need to talk to. Major Terone, I’ll leave you and Ms.
Grier to try to have fun, alright?”

“
Did you say ‘Major’?”
Alisia asked.

“
Yew heard the Gen’ril,”
Regan said, slinging her arm around Alisia, “We’re shupposhed to
have fun!” Hidden under the table, Regan’s hand crept along
Alisia’s lap.

“
I’ll be in touch, Major.”
The General said on his way out.

Alisia watched the General and his wife
disappear around the corner as the drunken Regan slumped against
her. “General!” Alisia meekly squeaked, “Don’t leave me with
her!”

~~~~~

Chapter 29: Fractures

~~~~~

“
If we’re going into town,
you’re not wearing those shorts. And pull down your tank top so
you’re fully covered.”

“
Yes, mother! Damn, Alisia,
what’s wrong with this?” Regan stretched, and slowly moved towards
Alisia, who was well prepared to dodge.

“
I will not be seen with you
like that. Don’t you have something else? Jeans or
something?”

“
Hm, I think so. I’m sure I
have something.”

Regan eventually showed up in the
chopper bay with her usual attire, but with a slightly longer
skirt.

Alisia gave the most supportive
critique she could. “Well, hopefully you won’t get
arrested.”

They hopped a ride with a chopper going
to the Meston airport. It was an uneventful ride and Alisia was
thankful that Regan left her in relative peace for most of the
trip. They landed on the tarmac and were told to be back around
20:00 for a ride back. Regan looked at the airport. It was the most
civilian, normal looking place she had seen in a long
time.

They approached the door, and Alisia
noticed Regan was unusually quiet. They walked through some back
areas leading to the main halls of the airport.

Suddenly they were witness to the
living stream of people that always seemed to populate an airport.
Some hurrying, some dawdling, and noise, noise, noise. Regan
trailed behind as Alisia was attracted to one of those huge,
overpriced chocolate bars at a nearby shop. She flipped through a
magazine or two while Regan stood silently nearby, looking around
nervously. Alisia went to pay for the chocolate. Regan kept right
behind her, close enough that Alisia bumped her when she reached
for her money.

Alisia took her change from the
counter, and had no more than dropped it in her pocket when Regan
clutched her forearm tightly.

“
Alisia...” Regan whispered.
She now knew something was very wrong. Regan’s grip, while tight,
was trembling. Alisia moved them out of the shop and out of the
flow of traffic.

“
What’s going on,
Regan?”

“
I... I can’t do
this.”

“
It’s the people, isn’t
it?”

“
Yeah.” Regan’s wide eyes
roamed across the mob of people milling past. “I want to go
back.”

Alisia was a bit disappointed that the
day looked to be ruined, but her concern for Regan overrode it
quickly. They started back to the chopper bays. “What exactly is
it?” Alisia asked.

“
I don’t know. I just
can’t.” Regan was still firmly clamped onto Alisia’s arm. They made
it through the door and out of view of the public. They stopped,
and Regan took a bit of a breath. The sound of the crowd was
strong. “No. Further. Please.” Regan’s voice trembled. They walked
farther in, almost to the bays, when Regan decided it was far
enough and slid to the floor, taking Alisia with her. There they
sat while Regan buried herself in Alisia’s arm as well as she
could. Alisia took pity and got comfortable. Regan began to cry
quietly, lungs heaving.

“
It’s okay, Regan. We’re
safe, I’m right here.”

Regan eventually became quiet. Alisia
suggested she go ask around the choppers for an earlier ride back.
After a little bit of convincing, they got up, but Regan was still
glued to Alisia’s arm. It was surprisingly easy to find another
ride, and they were soon in the air. Regan fell asleep leaning
against Alisia, and the stress on her face slowly faded into
peaceful oblivion.

The city of Meston dissolved slowly
behind them.

Back at the Yute base, Regan went to
her new quarters, slow and weary. She felt like a fool. Not long
ago she was swimming in a sea of walking corpses, and here, today,
she was totally undone by a mob of stupid tourists. She could only
imagine what Alisia thought of her now. She took off the stupid
skirt and put on her regular clothes.

She then stopped, and looked at
herself. Did this look upset Alisia? Alisia sure didn’t dress like
this. Who the hell does? Even out of uniform, Alisia was always
needlessly modest in her attire. Maybe that’s just the style she
liked. Confidence and cunning swelled in Regan once
again.

Soon, Regan was in Alisia’s quarters,
uninvited and alone, looking at Alisia’s clothing. My god, it
looked like some girl’s wardrobe. A large pink pullover caught
Regan’s eye in particular. She grabbed the sleeve. It was soft. She
imagined how Alisia must feel in it. Soon, Regan was in it. It
smelt a bit like Alisia. She felt a bit like a freak, but it was so
good. She wrapped her arms around herself, and imagined Alisia. She
imagined she was Alisia. Perfect, and strong. As she caressed the
fabric, her hand hit her obtrusive leather miniskirt, which Alisia
apparently hated so much.

“
Oh hell. She’ll never
know.” Regan exchanged it for a pair of Alisia’s cammo pants. She
staggered back and collapsed smoothly onto Alisia’s bed. She stared
at the ceiling, still enamored with Alisia’s pink pullover. “Would
she like me better if I were ‘cute’?”

She lay there for a while fantasizing
soft, warm fantasies. She clutched Alisia’s nearby teddy bear in
hopes it would give her some secret to winning her over. Certainly
that ‘I’m straight’ stuff was just some kind of excuse... please?
Besides, no one’s totally straight or gay, right? Right? She just
had to work on the part of Alisia that might be open to it, no
matter how small. Such a tiny shard of hope to grasp.