Element Zero

“Where’d you find her?”

“A fucking stork dropped her off. In Pyt-Yahk, dipshit. Who is Ramirez talking to?”

“No one. Don’t worry about it.”

Fuck that. I went to call Nico again, but again I fumbled the connection and it dropped.

“I said don’t,” Singh said. He looked down at the kid and shook his head.

“You shouldn’t have brought her here.”

“Where the hell was I supposed to bring her?”

Singh leaned in to talk in my ear. I felt dizzy again for a second, as I felt his breath on my neck.

“I can help you,” he said.

“Personal space, asshole,” I said, but I could see the others looking at me and flags were going up. Singh meant the Huma injection. They knew about the injection.

“However you avoided the kill switch, you’re still affected,” he said, squeezing my arm. “We need you.”

“Fuck off, Singh.” I tried to push him away, but he held on.

“Listen. In about two seconds, Ramirez is going to come over here,” he said. “He’s got orders to take you out of here.”

I checked on Ramirez. He was over by the truck, still on the radio, but he kept looking back at me.

“Take me where?”

“The test facility, back at base.”

“What test facility?”

“Keep your voice down. You know the one I mean.”

“How the hell—” He squeezed my arm.

“I’ve known for a while,” he said. “I didn’t say anything. Maybe I should have, but I didn’t. I did what I could to keep you out of that place, but they know now. They’re taking you. Don’t resist them.”

I looked at the kid. She wasn’t sure what was up, but she knew it was something. She looked at me, not sure what to do.

“What about her?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I can’t help her, but I can help—”

I grabbed a fistful of his shirt, and his eyes went weird. The pupils opened all at once. I swayed, and he steadied me. Then it passed.

“Cal, don’t resist,” he said. “If you do, they’ll—”

“Stop talking, Singh.” I looked at the kid.

“Cal, I—”

“Shut up.”

Vika, I sent. Green light flashed in her pupils.

Whts wrng?

When I say run, you run.

She didn’t ask why; she just nodded.

Singh put his face close enough to mine that I could smell his shitty cologne, and his eyes got that weird look again.

“Don’t resist,” he said, his voice low. “Just relax.”

“You relax,” I said, and shoved him. He stumbled back, but got his feet under him before he fell. The others looked over. Singh stared back at me, his eyes bugged.

“What the hell?” he said under his breath. Ramirez had put down the radio and was coming over.

“What’s the problem?” he asked.

“No problem, sir,” Singh said. Ramirez looked down at Vika, then back to me. He had that look on his face he always had when his cock was in a knot.

“Flax, we have orders to take you back to base,” he said.

“Why?”

“That’s need to know.” He held out one hand. “Hand over your weapon.”

Over his shoulder, I saw the rest of the squad step in like they were expecting trouble.

“Ramirez, what the hell?” He glared at me, and his eyes got that same weird look Singh’s had. I felt dizzy for a second, then it passed.

“I said, ‘Hand over your weapon,’ Flax,” he said. “Do it. Now.”

“Son of a bitch,” I said. He stared back with his fucked-up eyes.

“You’re with them,” I said. I looked to Singh, but his eyes were the same. “Both of you.”

They looked at each other, and I knew it was true. They were just like that red-haired bitch, and that other one that rigged me with a bomb and then mind-fucked me. Both of them were in on it. This whole time, they were all in on it.

“Just relax,” Ramirez said, and I felt the tension ease out of my body. “Just stand there. Don’t move. If you try to move, you will find you can’t.”

I tried to answer, but nothing came out. I tried to open my mouth, but I couldn’t. Ramirez spoke into his radio.

“We’ve got her,” he said. Then he nodded.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vika. She stared straight ahead, still as a statue, like me.

“Everything is still set up and ready to go,” he said to Singh.

“Can they do it without killing her?” he asked.

“Maybe.”

Slowly, I reached down and took my weapon from its holster. Ramirez snapped his fingers.

“Hey! I told you not to move.”

All of a sudden, the wire lit up red and alerts started flashing on the HUD. From the reactions around me, everyone saw them.

“Sir?” someone asked, but Ramirez held up his hand, orange light flickering in his eyes. Something big had just gone down. Everyone was distracted. I handed the gun to the kid, and she took it.

“Holy shit,” Singh whispered. He was staring into space, reading something off his JZI, and he looked scared.

I skimmed the stream of alerts that were pouring in as I took a step back, away from the others. I saw a satellite map of the city that showed part of the coastline. Words jumped out at me: “point of impact” and “blast zone.” A red marker flashed on the map.

“Jesus, he launched,” Singh said. “The crazy son of a bitch launched…. ”

Something boomed overhead and everyone looked up. High above, against the gray blanket of clouds, a small, dark shape had appeared. A distant shriek swelled as it moved quickly across the sky, leaving a thin contrail behind it.

Run, I told Vika.

“Hey!”

A gun went off near my face and I heard glass explode behind me. I chanced a look back in time to see the kid scoot into an alley. The guy that fired had moved in next to Singh. I grabbed his wrist and twisted hard enough to bring him to his knees. He grunted as I peeled his fingers off the pistol and took it before kicking him down onto the pavement.

“She’s not under!” Singh yelled. Ramirez grabbed my collar, his eyes black. The dizzy feeling hit me again.

“Go to sleep,” he said. “Now.”

Before he could do anything else, I landed a punch right on his ear. He staggered off to one side, drawing his weapon.

“Goddamn it, grab her!”

“How long until impact?”

“Less than ninety seconds!”

“Where? Where?”

I stuck the gun in the face of the soldier closest to me.

“Next one that moves gets his fucking head blown off!” I barked, as two more took aim at me. “Get those guns