Code Breakers Complete Series: Books 1-4 (125 page)

—
Keep your eyes open, my love
, Gerry sent. —
I think we’re being watched.
 

—
Great, that’s all we need.

Gerry forwarded the message to the others across their VPN.

After a short break to take on water and protein in a small clearing, Jachz stood to lead the way again, but Gerry pulled them up short.
 

A twig snapped off to their right, and he saw the shadows shift.

Chapter 17

Petal gripped her pistol and stalked forward. Ahead of her, Jachz, the sacrificial lamb, continued to hack at the jungle. Gerry and Holly had taken up positions to her right and left, extending out in arcs, with the hopes of luring their stalker into attacking Jachz.

The ex-Family AI wasn’t entirely pleased with risking his newly found mortality, but agreed that on balance he would make the most appropriate target as he had been the one leading their trail since the crash.
 

Petal hung back about fifty metres. She watched diligently, waiting for any shift of the light. They knew their stalker wasn’t armed, as it would have no doubt fired by now. Which meant it was probably just observing and reporting back.
 

That indicated that there were definitely others here, in the jungle somewhere.
 

Despite the threat, Petal found herself enjoying the experience. It felt good to be here in a place where things grew, hunting prey, being active.
 

—
I see it
, Gerry sent. —
I’m flanking it. It’s heading toward you, Jachz. Petal, close the gap. You should get a good shot, as there’s a small clearing coming up. Holly, come in from your side so we’ll have it surrounded.
 

—
Good job, Gez. I’m closing in,
Petal replied.
 

—
Ditto
, Holly said.
 

—
Copy
, Jachz said.

She hunched low, changing her pistol for the rifle and held it at the ready. She stepped, one foot over the other, keeping herself to the very edges of the trail and shrouded in the blanket of the tree’s shadows.
 

Jachz cut through a thin barrier of trees and entered the clearing. He stopped in the middle and sat on a decayed log. He reached for the water bottle attached to his belt and lifted it to his lips, not looking around, despite knowing it was coming.
 

Petal stopped before entering the clearing. She hid inside the shadows and dropped to a knee, watching through the scope for any movement.
 

She heard it before she saw it.
 

Twigs and leaves snapping and bristling somewhere off to her right. Small creatures scurried in the undergrowth, and a bird flapped its wings and left the safety of the canopy.

A thin stream of the last remnants of evening light shone through into the open section and reflected off something… glass, perhaps?

Petal moved her rifle a few inches to her right. And there, melting out of the darkness toward Jachz, a completely black figure with glassy eyes raised its arms, two blades clutched in its hands, ready to drive them down into Jachz’s back.
 

Jachz stiffened, sensing the movement, but he didn’t betray the ruse.
 

From either side of the opening, Holly and Gerry stepped out of the jungle, their rifles raised. Petal followed suit, stepping inside, and fired off a single round. The muted ‘pfff’ noise didn’t echo, dampened by the dense jungle.

The round struck the blade in the figure’s left hand, sending up a brief, amber spark. The figure whirled round as it dropped the knife.

Jachz dropped the water bottle and rolled backwards off the log, rising up on his knees, drawing a pistol. All four of them now moved in.
 

“Don’t move unless you want to die,” Gerry said to the figure from the right-hand side.
 

It spun round to face Gerry.
 

“Over here, fuckface,” Holly said, catching its attention, making it spin round.
 

“And one more for luck,” Petal said, grinning with her finger on the trigger, itching to blast the thing into oblivion, but resisting. They needed intel, not a dead body.
 

Jachz stood up and sidestepped behind it.
 

They had it trapped in place.
 

It looked like a human covered in a black form-fitting shroud. Protuberances like scales covered its outer arms and legs. A single sash across its chest held a number of blades and small firearms. Without saying a word, it raised its arms above its head and fell to its knees.
 

It stared at Petal with those black glassy eyes. The last rays of the sun travelled across them and showed no emotion. With the sun now set behind the trees, only their glow rods attached to their belts gave them any light.
 

They moved in slowly until they were each just a few feet away from the figure. Up close, Petal saw that it wasn’t wearing a shroud at all. The black covering was its actual skin.
 

“What the fuck are you?” Petal asked, keeping her rifle aimed at its chest.
 

It didn’t look up or respond.
 

“It’s a tracker,” Jachz said. “A Family model, similar to the viroborg.”

Gerry pressed the barrel of his rifle to its neck. “I don’t care what it is. It better start talking.”

“It’s not sentient,” Jachz said. “It won’t volunteer information.”

“Then we’ll just take it,” Gerry said.

“Wait,” Petal said. “Gez, can you feel that… a network!”

Petal’s internal systems had recognised the tracker as a node on a wider system. She tried to connect, but the security was robust enough that she would need time to crack it, but one thing for sure, the tracker was sending and receiving information.
 

“Shit, it’s a trap,” Petal said, whirling around to face the opposite direction.
 

From all around them, the trees rustled. Footsteps squelched through the mud. God, how many of them were there?

All around the perimeter of the clearing, the line of trees parted and out stepped a hundred or more… “What the hell are these?”
 

Mutated human-like creatures carrying crude firearms lined the clearing. They wore furs and animal skins. Some held fiery torches while others carried more modern flashlights.
 

From behind Petal the tracker stood up, the whirring servos catching her attention.
 

A loud crack erupted, and the tracker’s body slumped to the ground. Smoke billowed from Jachz’s rifle. That proved to be a catalyst.
 

The mutants rushed in as one.

Petal emptied the magazine of her rifle in a sweeping arc, taking out four of them before she threw the empty weapon to the ground and extended her spikes.

She took a quick glimpse to her side and saw Gerry and Holly firing off the last of their rounds, cutting down a dozen or so more, but there were too many of them. Jachz yelled as he was grabbed from behind and dragged away.

Two of them lunged for Petal.
 

She quickly shuffled backwards and brought up her spikes. Her enemy’s momentum brought them onto the points, and she drove them up through their throats before retracting them and back-stepping to stand beside Gerry. He had withdrawn his hunting knife and slashed in arcs, keeping a few metres of distance between him and the mutants.
 

Up close they resembled the Upsiders. Their faces contorted into grotesque shapes. Their bodies were hunched and covered in boils where their furs and animal skins didn’t cover completely.
 

A guttural laugh came from behind the main group of assailants. They all stiffened and backed off. It was interesting, and worrying, Petal thought, that none of them had opened fire. That only meant one thing.
 

“Well, well, well,” the voice said, its bass notes rumbling through Petal’s chest.
 

The mutants stepped aside, creating a corridor for the owner of this terrible voice.
 

Petal tried to send Gerry a message via their VPN, but something was suppressing the connection, making her internal systems crash and reboot endlessly in a loop. She shut them off before they overloaded her brain.
 

“You okay?” Petal asked Holly and Gerry.

“Still breathing,” Holly said.
 

“Right here,” Gerry added.
 

Through the flickering of the mutants’ fiery torches, a tall figure, at least two meters tall, stepped forward. Half-man, half-machine, its face leered with an all-too-human delight. The skin on its face was peeled back to its ears, exposing a titanium skull.
 

Within dark sockets, real eyes focused on Petal. Its pupils dilated wide like a cat’s so that it looked like they were entirely black.
 

“Great,” Petal said. “Another freak. Let me guess, you’re another Family-created fuckup. And what? You’re just cruising through the jungle looking for bunnies to roast?”

“Petal, don’t,” Gerry said, reaching out to grip her shoulder and then whispering, “We’ll find a way out of this yet, be calm.”

Robo-freak stopped within striking distance of Petal.

She considered attacking, but she couldn’t risk Holly or Gerry. They were too outnumbered. She’d have to just wait. That they weren’t already dead meant either they would be interrogated, executed in some over-the-top ritualistic manner, or prepped for eating. Either way, she knew now wasn’t the best time to fight. And Robo-freak knew it too.
 

Its body was charred and blackened. It wore no clothes, and dull patches of titanium or other metals shone through its knees and elbows and where its skin had worn away.
 

“Take them to the camp,” it ordered, its voice bellowing out around the clearing. “And strip them of anything useful. As for the AI—take him apart, piece by piece.”

It bent lower and brought its face directly in front of Petal’s. “Aren’t you an interesting little thing. So frail… yet so strong. You, I will enjoy the most. You’ll be my… pet.”

“Who the hell are you?” Gerry demanded.
 

“My dear Algorithmist, how honoured are we to be blessed by your presence. It’s a shame you’re to meet your end once more after your fresh resurrection. Have you ever considered that you’re cursed, and your friends would be safer if you were dead?”

“Have you considered just fucking off?” Petal asked, stepping forward, bringing her spike to her side.
 

“Now, now, little pet, no need for that. Save your strength for later. I like them when they fight.” He grabbed her by her throat and lifted her clear off the ground. His arm extended out, so that her spikes no longer reached, and he threw her into the baying crowd of mutants. She hit one of them in the face, knocking it to the ground.
 

Before Petal could stand and fight, the mob were on her, kicking, clawing, punching, until she was completely overwhelmed. Throughout the melee they managed to manacle and handcuff her. When they stood her up, she saw both Gerry and Holly in the same predicament.
 

“Answer me!” Petal screamed. “Who are you?”
 

“Take them away,” he ordered.
 

From all around him, the mutants gathered together and carried Petal and the others off. She wrestled to free herself of her bonds, but they were too tight. Strong hands around her arms and legs lifted her from the ground and carried her through the jungle to the east of their position.
 

They joined a well-trodden path. Along the way, torches in sconces attached to trees lighted their direction. In the distance, Petal saw a larger fire burning and, around the outside, a series of huts made from scrap pieces of metal and wood.
 

Behind those dwellings, a dark metallic pyramid rose into the air, its pointed top finishing just beneath the edge of the tree canopy. It must have been at least thirty metres tall. The outside was dark, almost black. It seemed to absorb the light.
 

A deep hum came from all around.
 

When they entered the camp, she heard Jachz screaming from inside one of the huts. He then became silent, and a group of five mutants lifted his body out and stepped inside a small entrance to the pyramid.
 

“No!” Petal screamed.
 

A hand clasped around her mouth, smothering her protests.
 

She tried to reach out to Gerry with her processors, but the suppression remained total.
 

“Throw them in the bunker,” came the order.
 

The group turned away from the pyramid and headed towards a single-storey building with a flat roof and sloped sides. A heavy, thick metal door opened as they approached. Inside, it smelled of blood and crap.
 

They shoved Petal into a cell after removing the manacles and cuffs from her and the others, making her wonder what horrors awaited.
 

Gerry and Holly joined her before the door slammed shut, the crash reverberating around the space. Petal backed off until she found the rear wall. Her vision could only just make out the barest of details and shapes in the gloom.
 

Something crawled over her foot.
 

She reached for the glow rods in her belt, but everything barring her clothes was missing. Somewhere in the corner of their prison came a whimpering sound.

Chapter 18

Gerry nursed the lump on his head and tried not to vomit. The heady stench plus the assault on his ribs and stomach had left him weak. Sweat poured from him in the humid air of this terrible place.
 

“Everyone okay?” he asked, keeping his voice low, unsure of who or what else shared the darkness.
 

“Fine,” Petal said. “A little bruised, but otherwise okay. Holly?”