rang out along the street.
Frag me! I stood, putting my hands up. “I’m not resisting! Just help my friend. I think I’m imm—”
I felt myself picked up a little and thrown backwards by the next rubber bullet. Then more explosions sounded, and I heard and felt more of the bullets slam into the road around me, a few hitting my chest. Had they cracked my ribs? Why weren’t they listening? Frantically, I scanned the area. Five Enforsers were approaching. I heard the whir of the drums on their Keepers. “I’m not resisting!” My cycle was maybe two meters away.
“We have no choice, Nik Granjer.”
Bug that! I jumped at my cycle, my feet landing on the pedals, and I jetted out of there as fast as I could move my legs.
“Stop!”
Keepers fired, but I was moving fast and weaving, trying to get the cycle’s pneumatic feet to go back up. I felt bullets hit the cycle, and one hit my lower back. Another fountain of pain erupted. I pedaled hard, glad I still had my wad of glue in. The last thing I needed right now was the knockout. I glanced over my shoulder. The Enforser pod’s door was closing. I thought I saw at least one Enforser still on the street near Bren.
Why were they trying to kill me? I had to hide.
Impossible. I still had my Papa, and I’d thrown both my and Bren’s interference cups away somewhere. Fragging drek.
Somehow I had to get the Papa off. The haze and confusion burned off my brain a little as a plan began to form. There was only one place I knew that might have the tools to take it off. The Admins could track me to the Enjineering Dome, but they couldn’t predict where I would go. So they would have to catch up to me. Which meant I had to go fast.
I put as much distance between me and the Enforser pod as I could, flying around corners and taking as fast a route as possible to the Enjineering Dome. I pushed hard up a hill, feeling the kinetic motor kick on near the top. It made no difference since I was already pedaling as hard as I could. My throat felt raw and red as breaths dragged in and out.
I glanced back. The pod was out of sight. I heard it, though. It sounded like it was maybe a couple hundred meters away.
Not far enough.
I pushed hard, rounding the last corner of the residential zone and tearing through one of the plazas downtown at full speed. My breath came fast, my heart rate higher than it had ever been. Questions smacked me behind the eyes. Why had Bren died and not me? And why had the Enforsers immediately acted like they were going to kill me? Why would they want me dead?
CHAPTER 8
Another question flared bright as the sun. Was I somehow immune? That had to be a possibility. And if I was immune, there might be others out there. Others nobody had heard of.
If not, if I was the only immune person on the planet, my immunity could save everyone else. My blood or whatever it was in me could help everyone else become immune. But the odds of me being the only immune person were slim.
Maybe something else had happened.
I came to the Enjineering Dome and leapt off my cycle, letting it fall as I ran to the door. It was locked, of course; the two sliding halves were magnetically sealed together where they met. If I had some kind of Admin authority, I could just pass my Papa in front of the sensor and the doors would slide silently into the walls on either side, no problem.
I scanned the walls of the Enjineering Dome. I had to get in. I had maybe a minute, probably less. My running away so fast must have surprised them. And my not falling over from the knockout had to have surprised them more. I saw the gutter pipe that ran down the side of the building. It was bracketed tightly to the poly-metal walls. There were skylights and vents in the top of the dome. I had seen some in Dev 5 being cleaned, so I knew they opened outward. If I could get to the roof, I could get in that way.
I ran to the pipe and yanked hard. It didn’t budge. I glanced up. Twenty meters is high, but
Frag me! I stood, putting my hands up. “I’m not resisting! Just help my friend. I think I’m imm—”
I felt myself picked up a little and thrown backwards by the next rubber bullet. Then more explosions sounded, and I heard and felt more of the bullets slam into the road around me, a few hitting my chest. Had they cracked my ribs? Why weren’t they listening? Frantically, I scanned the area. Five Enforsers were approaching. I heard the whir of the drums on their Keepers. “I’m not resisting!” My cycle was maybe two meters away.
“We have no choice, Nik Granjer.”
Bug that! I jumped at my cycle, my feet landing on the pedals, and I jetted out of there as fast as I could move my legs.
“Stop!”
Keepers fired, but I was moving fast and weaving, trying to get the cycle’s pneumatic feet to go back up. I felt bullets hit the cycle, and one hit my lower back. Another fountain of pain erupted. I pedaled hard, glad I still had my wad of glue in. The last thing I needed right now was the knockout. I glanced over my shoulder. The Enforser pod’s door was closing. I thought I saw at least one Enforser still on the street near Bren.
Why were they trying to kill me? I had to hide.
Impossible. I still had my Papa, and I’d thrown both my and Bren’s interference cups away somewhere. Fragging drek.
Somehow I had to get the Papa off. The haze and confusion burned off my brain a little as a plan began to form. There was only one place I knew that might have the tools to take it off. The Admins could track me to the Enjineering Dome, but they couldn’t predict where I would go. So they would have to catch up to me. Which meant I had to go fast.
I put as much distance between me and the Enforser pod as I could, flying around corners and taking as fast a route as possible to the Enjineering Dome. I pushed hard up a hill, feeling the kinetic motor kick on near the top. It made no difference since I was already pedaling as hard as I could. My throat felt raw and red as breaths dragged in and out.
I glanced back. The pod was out of sight. I heard it, though. It sounded like it was maybe a couple hundred meters away.
Not far enough.
I pushed hard, rounding the last corner of the residential zone and tearing through one of the plazas downtown at full speed. My breath came fast, my heart rate higher than it had ever been. Questions smacked me behind the eyes. Why had Bren died and not me? And why had the Enforsers immediately acted like they were going to kill me? Why would they want me dead?
CHAPTER 8
Another question flared bright as the sun. Was I somehow immune? That had to be a possibility. And if I was immune, there might be others out there. Others nobody had heard of.
If not, if I was the only immune person on the planet, my immunity could save everyone else. My blood or whatever it was in me could help everyone else become immune. But the odds of me being the only immune person were slim.
Maybe something else had happened.
I came to the Enjineering Dome and leapt off my cycle, letting it fall as I ran to the door. It was locked, of course; the two sliding halves were magnetically sealed together where they met. If I had some kind of Admin authority, I could just pass my Papa in front of the sensor and the doors would slide silently into the walls on either side, no problem.
I scanned the walls of the Enjineering Dome. I had to get in. I had maybe a minute, probably less. My running away so fast must have surprised them. And my not falling over from the knockout had to have surprised them more. I saw the gutter pipe that ran down the side of the building. It was bracketed tightly to the poly-metal walls. There were skylights and vents in the top of the dome. I had seen some in Dev 5 being cleaned, so I knew they opened outward. If I could get to the roof, I could get in that way.
I ran to the pipe and yanked hard. It didn’t budge. I glanced up. Twenty meters is high, but
Similar Books
