Read Apex Cypher (Prequel to The Techxorcist series) Online
Authors: Colin F. Barnes
Part 11 - The Reunion
Gabe encouraged Petal out of the container and into the bright sun. The image of the corpses on hooks burned into his brain. He didn’t want Petal to have that too. With the knife in his left hand, he crouched, kept his back to the walls of metal, and slowly made his way through the labyrinth. Petal stayed close behind, emitting the odd whimper here or there. Gabe’s right hand had become numb to the pain of his broken thumb—as long as he didn’t move it much. He cradled it against his stomach, shielding it from accidental collision.
With every step forward, he expected the crazed, wild-eyed Shelley to suddenly jump out in front of them, shotgun in hand. He reached the end of the a narrow walkway between the tall towers of scrap vehicles and felt Petal bump into him as he stopped. He peered out and surveyed the open area in front of Shelley’s converted plane.
At first he saw nothing, but a voice called out, grabbing his attention. Turning to face the exit in the fence, he saw a figure on out the outside, jumping and waving. On the inside of the fence, Shelley lay in a crumpled heap next to the parked Ranger.
The red-tinged dry earth around her body darkened with blood.
Petal looked out over his shoulder.
“Shit me. Holly!” Petal waved with her left arm back at the girl. “Don’t touch the fence! It’s electrified!”
Holly stepped back, and jumped excitedly like a dog seeing its owners for the first time in a long while. She waved for them to come over. It must have been her gunshots that Gabe had heard.
He walked out, approached the fence, always keeping an eye on Shelley’s prone form. As he got near, he prodded her body with his foot. No movement.
“Holly?” Gabe said. ”How? Why?”
The girl shrugged. “I didn’t trust her,” she said, smiling. “I realised I’d rather leave all that stuff behind and come check on you.”
Behind her was a second bike: one in even worse repair than their Harley. It was appeared to be held together by tape and best wishes.
Gabe laughed, despite the pain. “Well, I for one am glad you didn’t listen to me. You arrived just at the right time.”
While Petal reunited with Holly, Gabe searched Shelley’s body for her slate.
He connected to it wirelessly as he did before, searched the files for the security routines that controlled the fence. Shelley had a basic level of encryption applied. Spinning out a Helix++ cracking tool, one he’d used before to strip encryption, he dumped the program into the slate. A few seconds later, he had access to the code underlying the security protocols. The Helix++ program rerouted the access to the slate’s memory and captured the assembly code generated by the software controlling the security. This enabled Gabe to manipulate the memory, and thus the program, dynamically.
Once he understood the architecture, it was just a matter of recoding the passcode system to accept his own numbers. Punching in a six-digit number, he rebooted the slate’s operating system, resetting the memory. When the security protocol reloaded, he tapped in his new number and the fence deactivated. The exit panel slid open.
Holly rushed through, arms wide, ready to hug Petal. But Petal shook her head. “No, Hol. My shoulder.” Petal turned, and Holly gasped at the wound.
“Holy crap, Petal! Lucky I bought this, eh?” From a backpack hanging over a ripped leather biker jacket Holly produced the bag Gabe had dropped during their hasty getaway. Holly opened it, and pulled out the box of NanoStem injections. “Let’s get you fixed up,” Holly said, taking the syringe from the box.
Petal leaned forward, kissed Holly on the cheek. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am you came after us,” she said, before turning her back to present her shoulder.
“Okay, this might hurt a bit,” Holly said, placing one hand on Petal’s good shoulder and bringing the syringe up to her wound.
“It hurts like hell anyway. Jab me.”
Holly placed the tip of the syringe inside the red-raw open wound, pressed the plunger, and injected the full capacity of the thick black NanoStem solution—a liquid containing millions of tiny nanobots designed to identify and multiply stem cells within the body for quick healing. Mixed in were combative nanobots that hunted down and destroyed unwanted bacteria, decay or infection.
“Holly, ya mind giving me a hand for a second?”
“Sure, Gabriel. What’s up?”
“I need ya help to get Old Grey into the back of the Ranger. I fucked up my hand.”
Together, they unstrapped Old Grey from the trailer, still attached to the Harley, and hauled it to the back of the truck, securing it down onto the bed. Gabe leaned against the truck, breathed in heavily, and tried to clear the spots from his vision. Holly took Shelley’s shotgun and placed that inside the truck behind the seats.
“You okay?” Holly asked, “You want a shot of ‘Stem?”
There were only two left. He didn’t want to use them unless it was an emergency, unless Petal needed extra. “Nah, I’m okay. Look, do you wanna come with us? I can’t promise it’ll be safe or anything.”
She smiled and gripped his arm. “It’s good, Gabe, I got a place to go. Gonna see how far this ol’ bike’ll take me. But thanks for the offer.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I did what I wanted: now it’s time for me to move on.”
Gabe wrapped his left arm around Holly’s shoulders, “I wanna thank you again. For everything.”
Holly stood on her toes, gave Gabe a kiss on his cheek, and smiled. “No probs, man. I do like an adventure.”
She opened the door to the Ranger and helped Gabe in. “You two go find your new job. I’ll be all right.”
Gabe knew she would be. She was a true survivor; she had that never-say-die spirit. He told her about Xian’s place if she ever went east. But she just nodded, not listening. She had her own plans, whatever they were.
Gabe and Petal settled in the Ranger. Petal reclined her seat and closed her eyes as the ‘Stems did their work. It was her second shot in three days. She’d be spaced out for hours. Gabe wished he were too. His thumb and hand burned with agony, and the wound on his chest bled anew each time he moved too much, but not knowing what the people of GeoCity-1 were like, or how they’d be received, he’d prefer to have the ‘Stems free if things didn’t go well.
Before they drove off, Holly, settled on her bike asked, “Shouldn’t you take her food and water supplies or anything?”
Gabe shook his head, “Nah, and neither should you. Ya don’t want anything she eats, trust me.”
“If you’re sure.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. Ya sure ya wanna go your own way?”
“Yeah, Gabe, really. If I don’t go now, I’ll never go, you know?”
“I understand ya thinking, girl.” He could relate, but he was too scared to go back home just yet. Too many memories, enemies...
Gabe turned to Petal, watched her fall asleep. He hoped their next job would be more straightforward—assuming it was still available. He was getting tired of fighting for his life every time. For once he just wanted to do a simple job in return for food and shelter. No violence, death, or psychopaths. That Shelley kept in touch with the people at the settlement, however, told him they were unlikely to be normal. Crazy was behind every turn in this world; he’d just have to keep fighting, surviving.
“Okay, big guy, you look after her. It’s time for me to leave.” Holly gave him a big grin.
“You take care, girl,” Gabe said, wishing she would go with him and Petal. She’d make a fine companion and maybe he could help keep her safe for a while.
Holly just waved, pressed the accelerator, and rode off, the tires kicking up a cloud of dust.
Gabe throttled the Ranger and drove off in the opposite direction, wishing Holly all the luck in the world.
As he drove away, he watched the scrapyard disappear behind him in the mirror and watched in horror as Shelley’s body moved and stood up. Crap, should he go back? He looked at Petal in the seat next to him. He couldn’t risk it. The hell with it, he thought. He didn’t want go back now; there was only forwards to the next job: some kind of AI that’s got out of control.
It might be routine this time.
The End
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About The Author
Colin F. Barnes is a full-time writer of science fiction and thrillers. He’s a member of both the British Fantasy Society and the British Science Fiction Association. He honed his craft with the London School of Journalism and the Open University (BA, English).
Colin has run a number of tech-based businesses, worked in rat-infested workshops, and scoured the back streets of London looking for characters and stories—which he found in abundance. He has a number of publishing credits with stories alongside authors such as: Brian Lumley, Ramsey Campbell, and Graham Masterton. He lives alone with a black cat in Essex in the UK. Rumours that the cat is the one with the talent is a malicious slur.
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Acknowledgments
A big thanks to Krista Walsh, Dave Robison, Aaron Sikes, Jamie Stonehouse, and my mum for being constantly supporting and awesome. I’d also like to thank everyone who has taken the time to review one of my books. It means a great deal to me, and I appreciate each and every one. Thank you!