“Me, too,” Chuck added.
Renaldo remained silent.
“Even so,” Rhea told them. “I’ll do my best to protect all of you. Giving my life to do so, if need-be.”
“No,” Chuck said. “That’s not how this works. We’re the ones who are going to give our lives for you, Warden. Especially now that we know how vulnerable you are. As Renaldo mentioned, no one ever really believed you could actually die, especially not on a ‘simple’ diversionary mission like this one. We were all wrong. I guess we didn’t realize how close you came in Rust Town. No one did. You were still the Warden to us then, the Legend, not the Cyborg. If anyone survives this, it has to be you. Always you. I’m at peace with dying, if it means you live.”
“I’m touched,” she said. “But your protection isn’t needed or wanted.” She didn’t want to lose yet another Wardenite. Anderson’s death was more than enough, thank you.
Chuck didn’t answer.
“Do you understand me, Wardenite?” she asked.
“I understand,” Chuck replied, sounding halfhearted.
“I hope you don’t do anything stupid,” she said softly.
She gazed into the darkness, at the LIDAR wireframes overlaying her vision—white polygons outlining the bend, and the walls, floor and ceiling beside it. Hard, straight lines. Surreal in a way. Like a world empty of all color and surfaces and containing only pale edges.
She heard a faint clattering. CLICK CLACK. CLICK CLACK. Talons scraping across cement.
“They’re here,” Renaldo whispered.
Rhea stared at the bend. Nothing appeared. That clattering simply grew in volume, until soon she could hear distinct rattles within it, overlapping, as of several sources spread out in a line. The occasional moaning of metal permeated the din—likely the shells of looted vehicles being torn apart.
Finally, something appeared around the bend. A long, bent stalk, like a fishing rod, felt along the ground. Another appeared. Antennae.
These were followed by the thin, top-heavy stalk of an avian foot. Tipped by talons, upon contact with the concrete it produced a fresh rattle, one that rose above the general background clatter. Another foot appeared, followed by that armored, plated head, and that toothless, sucker of a mouth. The feathered body came next, so that soon the entire Tasin was in view.
One of the larger specimens, the creature seemed to be crouching, but its upper body still brushed against the cement roof. While it was big, there was still more than enough clearance on the left and right sides for the SUV to pass. The trick was not getting struck by those powerful legs as they did so, because other than the occasional pillar or dismantled vehicle, there was nothing the SUV could use for cover.
Rhea withdrew her pistol.
You didn’t always need cover, not when you packed a sting.
Chuck and Renaldo produced their own weapons, as did Will. Horatio deployed the rifle barrels beneath his forearms.
Give the word, Will sent over the mental channel.
Not yet, Rhea said.
Another Tasin appeared behind the first, then a third. Each creature seemed to respect the space of the bioweapon before it: they kept an entire body-length of separation between them.
Say the word… Will sent.
Not yet, Rhea replied.
The two Tasins that followed the first spread out, with the second moving toward the left side of the aisle, while the third took the right side. Those feelers felt along the walls, pillars, and floor, searching. They were blind in the dark, following only the scent left by Rhea and the others. A scent that would be growing stronger the closer the creatures came.
Can they smell us with the windows closed? Renaldo asked over the mental link.
Our scent lingers outside, Horatio replied. Plus, the vehicle has a weak scent, too.
The third Tasin paused when it encountered the wreckage of a vehicle and began to rip it apart with its forelegs. Good. The racket would cover the minimal noise produced by the SUV’s passage.
The lead Tasin approached on a direct path to the SUV, no doubt driven by the ever- growing smell. Those antennae followed along the ground eagerly, with a seeming certainty that Rhea found unnerving. It increased its pace.
Two more Tasins appeared around the bend behind the other three.
Dude…. Will sent.
Hold, Rhea returned.
11
Rhea continued to wait.
The tense seconds ticked past as the creatures approached, and when the lead Tasin was three car lengths away, she finally transmitted: Go.
The vehicle started silently. Will pressed gently on the pedal, turning as he did so in order to steer around the Tasin. As the vehicle was electric, the only noise it generated was the passage of the tires on the cement. But because it moved so slowly, even that sound was nearly inaudible. Turning the wheel seemed to produce the loudest noise at the moment, as the grooves in the tire rubbed against the cement, but the sound was mostly masked by the din the third Tasin produced as it continued to dissect the wreckage it had discovered.
Nonetheless, the lead Tasin froze. It felt around uncertainly with its antennae, swiveling toward the SUV, attracted not just by the sound, but the scent as well no doubt.
Rhea kept her finger on the window control, ready to lower it at a moment’s notice and blast away. She pressed the muzzle of her pistol against the glass itself, prepared to fire straight through the pane itself if necessary.
But Will drove right past before those antennae could touch the vehicle.
One Tasin evaded.
Rhea glanced at the right-side mirror. The Tasin had spun completely around and followed the SUV’s path precisely; but it still seemed uncertain, moving as if it didn’t know that the source of the scent trail was directly in front of it.
Will drove along the righthand side of the aisle, close to the wall. He crossed over the parking lanes, but there were no vehicles ahead, so he advanced without issue. He squeezed the SUV between a pillar and the wall, being careful not to scrape either.
The second Tasin resided on the far side of the aisle, where it searched along the wall there,
