As the ice slammed down on her shoulders, she covered her head and ran for it. Jagged rusted metal made up most of the machine. She dove down and slid under it, tucking in her legs just as the sky let loose another crack of thunder. Suddenly spheres of ice rained down, bouncing all around her, splashing in growing puddles and thunking on the roof of the machine.
Icy rainwater swept past, flooding the pavement, sweeping in torrents around her chilled body. Her teeth chattered, but she couldn’t even hear them above the din of the storm. Now she saw what Rowan had meant about it being a break in the storm. She peered out, past the rusted wheels into the gray world beyond.
Her eyes burned with exhaustion, and her shoulders and legs ached. As the cacophonous roar of the storm filled the air, she shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. The ice continued to fall. She tried to roll into a tight ball, crossing her arms over her chest. She felt so heavy. She let her stinging eyes close.
A second later she jolted herself awake, banging her head on the underside of the machine. She was amazed she’d fallen asleep. Cold water had seeped in through her sleeves. The ice-choked water had risen, reaching her ears as she lay flat on her back. She cursed as the water swirled around her. It was rising past her ears, and started to cover her face. She would drown if she stayed there. Wiping the water from her eyes, she looked out into the streets. The ice balls had quadrupled in size. If one of them hit her on the head, she could fall prone into the water and drown. She could hear them striking the metal above her, the entire machine now rocking under the weight of the impacts. The ice churned in the rising water from the earlier rain, creating a frigid soup that carried trash and debris down the street.
The cold water streamed in the gutter. She craned her neck, seeing a choked drain hole about twenty feet away. So much debris clogged it that she doubted it had drained any water for decades. Trash protruded from the opening, mostly shards of metal and plastic.
Water seeped into her boots and down the neck of her jacket. Now it was up past her shoulders, so she lifted her head above it, pressing her face against the cold underbelly of the machine.
The ice continued to hammer down.
She waited, hoping it would abate, but the water level was still rising. She had only inches of air left beneath her shelter.
She had to get to higher ground or find better cover. She thought of the empty buildings around her. They weren’t like the living pods in the city and looked uninhabited. All she had to do was break into one of the dwellings with an intact roof.
Thrashing in the water to get a better look, she twisted around. About five feet away lay a rusted piece of rounded metal. If she could just grab it . . .
Taking a deep breath, she submerged herself and wriggled out from under the machine. She leaped up, running for the piece of metal, arms flung over her head for protection. She reached it and lifted it up, finding it surprisingly light. She whipped it over her head just as one of the tremendous chunks of ice slammed into her hand. Her fingers went numb, and she nearly dropped the metal disc. But she didn’t.
She ran.
As ice pummeled her back and the ground around her, H124 ran for the nearest building. A flight of six stairs led up to the door. She raced up them, hand throbbing where the ice had struck it. She reached the door and pressed against it. A tiny overhang provided a little cover.
The door was a complete puzzler. No TWR. No biometric scanner. Just a strange round metal knob. She grabbed it and pulled. Then she pushed. It gave a little, turning to the right, so she twisted it. The door came open in a rush, and suddenly she was inside.
Thin light streamed down from a scatter of holes in the ceiling. She shut the door and looked around, lowering her metal shield. Now that she had a moment to look at it, she saw that it had a handle in the center, and was rusted through in several places. It looked like a lid. She placed it on the ground and moved into the room.
All the while, ice pummeled the roof, but it didn’t reach her.
She caught her breath, wringing the water out of her hair. She glanced around, realizing she might even get dry in here.
She walked into the building, taking in the ruined space, wondering what the place must have been, what all these places along the street must have been. She walked down a narrow hallway, from which several rooms branched off. The first one she came to, with a missing wall and a portion of collapsed ceiling in the far corner, held strange, rusted appliances. One looked like a refrigeration unit, but it was big, taller than she was. A granite counter stood in the center of the room. Corroded utensils lay scattered upon it, while above hung pots and pans dripping with rust-tinged rainwater. She left the room and entered the next one.
The remains of a couch sat against
