Earthbound (35 page)

Pace nodded and we looked around for an
appropriate spot. I pointed to a fire escape. It looked barely
attached to a nearby building but maybe it was sturdy enough to
handle us. “Just pretend like that’s where our gold is.” We walked
over and I leapt up to grab hold of the fire escape. The whole
thing shuddered as metal on metal scraped against each other. I
quickly let go. That thing wasn’t gonna hold my weight. “I’ll try
it,” Pace said. He was lighter, it was a good idea. He jumped up
and grabbed onto the fire escape. It seemed to handle his weight a
little better. I gave him a boost as he climbed up a few rungs in
the ladder until he could jump onto a landing. Fortunately that
held his weight too. He crouched down, pulled out the field glasses
and looked around.

“How many are there?” I asked. Pace was
silent for a second. I figured maybe he was counting. “Pace? How
many?”

“All of them.”

“All of ‘em? That’d be a lot.”

“Aw shit!” Pace cried. Pace lowered the field
glasses and looked at me. “They spotted me.” Then he quickly
grabbed onto the fire escape and made his way back down to the
ground.

“They headed this way?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Should we take a spot and wait for ‘em? Gun
‘em down when they get here?”

“That’d be a great idea if there was just a
hundred or so. Maybe even a thousand. But like I said, it’s all of
them.”

Not sure what else to do we just started
walking forward. But those Mankin wheels got louder and louder.
They were gaining on us. Pretty soon I looked over my shoulder and
I could finally see ‘em. Sure looked like a lot. We started to
sprint, then full on run. But those wheels were spinning faster
too. It would’ve been easier to escape on horseback.

“Follow me!” Pace shouted as he turned a
corner to the left. Wasn’t sure what he had in mind but I followed.
Not much else to do. Quickly though I figured out where we were
headed. Straight toward the flooded section of the city. Right.
Mankins don’t swim, they just go right in and drown. We just needed
a safe place to urge them forward. Fortunately we both saw an old
electrical pole that had fallen in between buildings. There was a
pool of diseased water right underneath it. Not sure how many
centuries that water’d been collecting there, refilling from rain
whatever it evaporated. Mosquitoes were all over it. There was all
kinda green algae growing in it. Probably some bacteria or
something like that calling it their home. Not something I wanted
to go anywhere near. But I didn’t see a better choice. We reached
the snapped base of the electrical pole and scrambled halfway
across. That took us maybe thirty feet off the ground and maybe
thirty feet away from the water’s edge. I looked down at the dead
electrical wires dangling into the diseased pool below us. Didn’t
want to fall off our perch. The fall wouldn’t kill us but parasites
surely would. I clung tight. Fortunately there were hand rails.

Mankins rounded the street corner and wheeled
right for us. Pace was right, there was a lot of ‘em. Too many to
count. They started shooting their laser weapons but they were too
far away to connect. “Don’t fire until they’re in range,” I said.
But by then, I hoped they’d be waist deep in muck. Sure enough
about fifteen of ‘em reached the edge of the pool but then they
stopped, lining up fifty deep behind them. I held my breath, hoping
they’d commit suicide. Instead they opened fire. We were still just
barely out of their weapon’s reach. They could do the math. They
were probably dying to wheel a few feet forward. But why weren’t
they? Instead just more and more of ‘em lined up behind ‘em. “This
is another one of those Mexican standoffs,” I remarked.

“Doesn’t have to be,” Pace replied. He hugged
the pole with one arm and pulled out one of his Persuaders with the
other. The pole kinda wobbled as he did that. Wasn’t real happy
with the sturdiness of our support. He fired a couple times, and
the good news was the Persuader had a longer range than the Mankin
weapons. The Persuader blasts took out maybe twenty of ‘em at a
time, their metal body parts shooting backward, knocking over or
damaging Mankins behind ‘em. Unfortunately, the recoil from the
Persuader kept shaking the electrical pole.

“Try to keep it steady,” I suggested. But I
had to abandon my concern. There were just too many of ‘em. Any
Mankins who were killed were just quickly run over or shoved out of
the way by their kin. So I hugged the pole tight with my left hand
and managed to pull out my Persuader with my right. I started
firing as well.

The Mankins stopped firing at us. Finally
they got it. Their little brains whirred and clicked. Then their
gun turrets rotated to a spot by the diseased water. They opened
fire again. But they weren’t firing at us. They were firing at our
electrical pole. Those effers were learning to adapt. That sucked.
Our pole took a direct hit and dropped a fast ten feet. I could
smell that diseased water. One more hit and we’d be kissing it. We
were also just maybe within range of their weapons. Either way,
they suddenly had the advantage.

“Climb higher!” Pace called out. We inched
along like caterpillars, humping the pole between our legs as we
climbed, firing our Persuaders when we could. The other end of the
electrical pole was smashed into what used to be a window on the
third floor of some skyscraper. If we could make it up there, maybe
we’d escape. But the pole buckled under us again. I was sure it was
gonna snap in two.

Finally Pace made it to the top of the pole.
He holstered his Persuader and pulled himself through the open
window. I was right behind him. As my weight left the pole, I felt
it falling beneath my feet. Then the whole thing crashed into that
goop. Was really glad I didn’t fall down there with it. We crouched
by the window and saw all those thousands of Mankins craning their
little heads up toward us. We aimed our Persuaders and just opened
fire, blasting away at them.

“Now this is more like it!” Pace said. Wish
he hadn’t said that. Cause just in that moment, the floor beneath
us gave way. Tends to happen when a floor hasn’t seen any weight in
two hundred years. We fell straight downward to the second floor.
Landed ass first on the wood floor. Course that floor hadn’t seen
any weight either so that cracked open too. We fell again, this
time thankfully to the ground floor. Splinters and shards of wood
scraped us up and battered our bodies. If not for the adrenaline
surging through us it probably would’ve knocked us out cold.
Instead it just hurt a whole bunch. Could’ve used a rest in that
moment but I heard those Mankin wheels turning. They’d be on us in
a minute. So Pace and I helped each other to our feet and started
limping, then running back out onto the street. And the Mankins
were right behind us.

“Let’s get back to the horses,” Pace
suggested. “Then we can outrun them.”

Sounded good to me. We ran as fast as we
could back to Central Avenue. Pretty quickly we saw our yard. The
makeshift stable right in front of us. Charon and Flashbound were
just where we left ‘em. I ran for Charon. And then the ground in
front of me just blew up. Knocked Pace and me back twenty feet.
Heat from the blast singed my face. When my eyes adjusted I saw a
Bion step out from behind the horses. The thing had damned near
taken us out in that blast too. But since it missed us, it was
eager for another shot. It aimed its Persuader right at us.
Fortunately we had him outgunned. Pace and I both opened fire,
careful not to hit our horses. Persuader fire cracked right through
that Bion’s exoskeleton with ease so it didn’t take much to knock
it onto its ass. Most likely dead. We ran toward the horses and got
a closer look. They were fine. “We gotta run” I said. Mankins were
wheeling up near us.

“Maybe we should go inside our hideout,” Pace
suggested. “Make it our last stand-” But just as he said that, more
Persuader fire came upon us. Turns out our hideout was swarming
with Bions. They were firing at us from the lobby, from atop the
stable, from through the fence. Pretty much everywhere. I untied
our hoses and set them free so they could run to safety. Then I
grabbed Pace and we ran. There was too much Persuader fire
everywhere though. One lucky shot nicked Pace in the heel. He
howled in pain and tumbled to the ground. I quickly picked him up,
put his arm around my shoulder and carried most of his weight as we
ran away. I turned the first corner I could to get out of the
firing range. We were lucky it was just Pace’s heel. Could’ve been
worse.

“Can you run?” I asked.

Pace looked at his wound. It’d already sealed
right up leaving behind just a red mark. He put a little pressure
on his heel. “It’ll hold.” Not sure I believed him but we didn’t
have much choice. We ran north up 2
^nd
Street. Pace was
hobbling but he was managing. “Let’s get to Riverside Park,” he
said. “We’ll have an advantage there.”

We ran four blocks, hearing Mankin wheels
whirring and Bion jackboots stomping behind us. Didn’t make much
sense to turn around and check on them. They’d be shooting us in
the back soon enough. It seemed like forever by the time we reached
the edge of Riverside Park. We ducked underneath some branches and
climbed into the thick forest. That was a definite advantage.
Wasn’t sure how the robots could get in there unless they blasted
their way in. We took whatever seconds we had to go as deep as we
could. Then we heard the first explosion. They’d burn down the
whole park just to get to us. Maybe it wasn’t such a great
idea.

“Which way?” I asked.

“Toward the river!” Pace led us north toward
the spot where we sat with Becca all those months ago, staring at
stars or whatever. Not sure what advantage that’d give us. I
supposed we could climb down the bluff into the Missouri. Maybe
swim for it. We reached the clearing and caught our breath for a
second. I was hunched over, my hands resting on my knees, panting
heavily. But I wasn’t the only one panting. I glanced up. And right
in front of me was a wolf. And not just one wolf. About twenty of
‘em. We’d just run right into their den.

“Ash!”

“Yeah, I see ‘em.”

Pace pointed a Persuader at the wolves.
That’d take ‘em out for sure. But I lifted a finger to Pace. Not
yet. The alpha wolf, probably the new leader since I’d killed the
last one, bared his sharp teeth and started growling. Yeah, he
sensed fear. Probably didn’t realize what we were really afraid of
though. I raised my Persuader and shot at the trees behind us. Pace
shot me a what-the-eff look. The wolf pack seemed surprised too.
But I did what I wanted. I created a pathway for those robots to
follow us. Which they did. Mankins wheeled right through the fiery
embers of the trees and brush. Seeing the interlopers attacking,
the wolves immediately lost interest in us and went after their new
metal adversaries. The wolf pack didn’t stand much of a chance, but
they’d thin the herd as always. And give us a chance to run. I
started to go for the edge of the bluff, but Pace grabbed my shirt
to stop me.

“I thought we’d swim,” I said.

“I… I can’t swim very well,” Pace
replied.

Wasn’t too surprised about that. “Then why’d
you run us up here?”

“Figured it was a good elevation to pick them
off before they got to us.”

“Too late for that,” I said, seeing Mankins
everywhere. A few of ‘em trampled over some wolves. One of ‘em had
a wolf chewing away at its turret, and it just opened fire,
splattering the poor wolf everywhere. We had to run. The forest
wasn’t proving to be as much of an advantage as we’d hoped.

We ran and ran, dodging in between trees,
dashing through huge cobwebs, not really thinking what was likely
crawling all over us. But no robots. I started to see glimpses of
skyscrapers ahead of us. We were almost out. But then from out of
nowhere a metal arm reached out and smacked us both in the head.
Pace and I fell at the feet of a Bion. Our weapons knocked out of
our hands. The Bion had just been standing there, probably waiting
to intercept us. It had the drop on us. By the time we’d reach our
weapons we’d be dead. I saw its Persuader aim at my head. We were
done for. But then, miraculously, something rammed into the Bion.
Wasn’t sure what it was but we used that moment to scramble to our
feet and grab our Persuaders. Then we could see it clearly. It was
the big thousand pound grizzly bear, up on its hind legs, its front
paws trying to knock over the Bion. The Bion was sturdier than I
thought, resisting the grizzly bear’s weight. But it couldn’t do
much about the bear’s jaws, which snapped open the exoskeleton
around its head with ease. I think I heard the Bion scream. Not
sure about that though. Regardless I was just thankful for that
bear as Pace and I ran out of the park and back into the city.

I don’t think either of us had any idea which
way to go. Any direction was just as good or bad as the next. We
were on Park Drive. No robots in sight. “We could make it to the
railway bridge,” I said. I figured if we could get across the
Missouri, maybe they wouldn’t follow us, I dunno. I was hopeful.
Maybe we had a chance. And as we started running, I thought I saw
some flash of light whiz by. Then I felt something wet in my
stomach. Like one of my water pouches opened up and spilled through
my shirt. Pace stopped running and was just staring at me, looking
horrified. I stopped too. I looked down. It was just water. No. It
wasn’t water. It was blood. I’d been shot. Just under my ribcage.
Mankin fire likely. If it’d been a Bion I wouldn’t have still been
standing. The entry point had cauterized already so I couldn’t tell
exactly where I’d been shot, but I could tell the wound was deep.
Then blood started to leak out around the seams of where the laser
fire cauterized the wound. I knew it was not good.