“I saw someone run in behind us!”
The blade-faced woman was arguing with the big murder. I saw the man she was talking about, dragging someone else up the ramp behind him, but I wasn’t about to say anything.
In the Sims the outsiders are ugly, but I know now they’re nowhere near as ugly as the real thing. The two I saw didn’t look human. They looked like creatures someone made based on only hearing a description of what people are supposed to look like, made out of recycled grease with a malfunctioning printer.
Even though he was small and painfully skinny that glimpse of him sent a shiver up my spine. I could tell that he is dangerous. I’m twice his size and I have no doubt he could and would split me open with a sharp rock in no time flat. Think about the biggest meanest looking tunnel rat you’ve ever seen. It didn’t weigh even 20 pounds probably but did you want to tangle with it?
The big murderer was saying there’s no way anyone got into the complex when the maintenance vehicle was thrown sideways violently. Every screen showed a massive explosion behind us. There’s was no arguing anymore. I was thrown to the floor as the machine careered wildly away at a sharp angle. Alarms and warnings lights started flashing on every console. Someone stepped on my chest so hard it drove the air out of my lungs.
I heard them all shouting at each other as my eyes locked on the rear screen. Most of the ramp we had just floated down was gone, what was left was twisted like a fiber bundle. The door was gone, in its place was a yawning cavern of hanging hires and shattered nano-ceramic. I’ve experienced explosions in Sims but I didn’t know they were real. Not like that.
Somebody stepped on me again, fell down, and I felt the “nice” big one haul me up by the back of my suit and hurl me into the corner so hard I think I lost consciousness for a minute. I heard the pilot up front screaming.
“What the fuck? What’s happening? They’re everywhere!”
I heard a shrill voice that must belong to the other woman, the one who didn’t have the face of a vicious bug “They’re attacking the city!”
I heard the voice of the “nice” big one saying that was impossible, that no one would ever attack the city from the outside. As my vision came back I saw on the screen that hundreds of vehicles with wheels were slowly approaching the hole. They literally looked like they were made from scrap carbon that didn’t get recycled. It was the shittiest tech I’ve ever seen. It certainly seemed impossible that they could attack us but they were sure doing it.
I couldn’t help but flinch as the hard-faced woman stalked back towards me. She had a look in her eye like she was going to kill me, like what was happening was my fault! She jammed her hand into my collarbone, smashing me back into the corner against the wall even harder.
“Neil, we need that code right fucking now.”
I looked desperately towards the less murderous members of this band of murders “But you said . . .”
She grabbed my mouth, crushing my lips painfully between her fingers, and turned me back to face her insane wild eyes inches away from my own “We don’t have time to fuck around with you anymore Neil, the address, now.”
I rattled off the numbers. The sacred numbers. The numbers that showed me Ela. All of her. I never thought I would ever even whisper those numbers. Most of the time I was afraid to even think them too hard. The forbidden thrill of speaking them aloud caused me to moan in ecstasy involuntarily. Until the woman in front of me leaned on my windpipe with her elbow.
“Make the connection now!” she yelled as I was choking for air.
I heard the pilot’s panicked response “But we need to get . . .”
“Make the connection now!”
I watched her watch as the connection was made. Once she was satisfied her other hand moved down below and I saw the big killer’s eyes widen slightly as he moved forward.
“Wait, he’s a slicer, we can use him!”
Spittle flew on my face from her bitter grunt of a laugh “Slicers aren’t going to mean shit in an hour.”
I thought she was punching me until I felt the hot blood running down my groin and thighs.
Neil is having a pretty bad week.
As the saying goes the first casualty of war is Neil