Artan looked next and would have watched for longer had Gracie not pulled him back.
“So who are they fighting now?” Max said.
“Each other.” Gracie pointed one way. “The drones belong to Fear.” She pointed the other. “And the dogs belong to Fury.”
“They seem to be quite an equal match,” Hawk said. “The drones can fly away from the dogs’ flames, and the dogs—”
“Are bulletproof,” Gracie said.
William repeated it back to her. “Bulletproof?”
“The drones fire bullets. They’d tear through you or me, but the dogs have steel shells that the bullets can’t penetrate. At least, not without the drones getting so close they’d get set on fire.”
Finally, his turn to look, William leaned around the corner. The drones’ bright white lights made his head spin as they zipped through the sky, weaving in and out of one another. Small discs about two feet in diameter and a foot thick, their torches looked like noses, and they had small arms hanging down beneath them. Red rings of heat lit up the ends of their little appendages as they sent a spray of metal at the dogs, who stood about a foot tall and two feet long. Built from black steel, they had glowing red eyes. Square heads, they had hinged jaws and belched fire. Even from this distance, the strength of their heat forced William to pull his head back.
“There’s more technology here than you’re used to,” Gracie said.
William snorted a laugh. “You’re telling me! So what’s going to happen here? Who will win?”
Gracie peered around the corner. When she pulled back in, she shrugged. “I’d say neither. The environment doesn’t favour either side. Sometimes the dogs catch the drones in a tight spot and keep them in range. Sometimes the drones get the jump on the dogs and get in so many shots they penetrate even the dogs’ strong shells.”
“So we shouldn’t worry about what’s happening out there?” Dianna said. “I mean, they’re keeping each other busy, right?”
“Exactly,” Gracie said. “It’s only a problem if one of them sees you.”
“Uh, Gracie.”
Matilda’s words sent a shiver through William. He knew her better than anyone. He knew exactly what that, uh, Gracie meant. Reluctant to turn around, yet he still followed Matilda’s pointing finger. An alley across the way. Too tight for the moonlight to penetrate, it sat completely in shadow. Although, piercing the utter darkness was the glow of two red eyes.
“Shit,” Gracie said. “Now we’re screwed.”
Chapter 11
A moment of stillness in a world of chaos. The battle between the drones and the dogs raged on around the corner, but it might as well have been in a different city. There were now more pressing matters at hand. Under the glaring scrutiny of those two red eyes, William reached for Matilda and touched the base of her back. He held the weight of Jezebel in his other hand.
The dog stepped from the alley with stilted movements. The orange and white glow from the fighting machines in the distance caught the edges of its scratched and dented body. Its red eyes glowed brighter for locking onto the enemy with a focus that wouldn’t yield. The squeak of its mandible hinges ended in the clack of its jaw falling loose.
Gracie broke their collective inaction when she said, “Run!”
William took off after Gracie. Olga and Matilda were ahead of him, the others behind. The roar of flames, the heat at their backs.
They turned the bend and ran along the main road. The dog’s metal feet beat a tattoo against the hard asphalt. It gained on them despite its awkward gait.
“Hopefully,” Artan said, “that’s the only—”
The white glow from the drones’ torches cut him off. They’d broken away from the battle with the dogs.
“As much as they will fight one another,” Gracie said, “they’ll take down a human target over a machine all day long. And they’ll take down an enemy soldier over a civilian.”
Another tower block on their left, Gracie darted into it, and Matilda followed.
Olga stopped at the door. She looked back at William and the others, but her attention fixed on Max. She slapped the base of her spear on the ground before tilting the pointy end into the building. “Why should we follow her? She was the one who led us into this mess.”
The large foyer amplified Gracie’s response. “Do what you want, Olga. I’m just trying to survive.”
Much like the entrance to the tall towers, this block had rusting double doors at one end with a single doorway leading to a stairwell beside it. They must have been built from the same blueprint.
Gracie vanished into the stairwell, Matilda behind her. William paused halfway across the foyer and waited for the others. Dianna shot past him, then Hawk, Artan next, and Max, his war hammer gripped with both hands.
“Max!” Olga said. “What are you doing?”
“I’m following the only person who knows this city.” His voice disappeared with him up the stairs, growing quieter as he got farther away. “If nothing else, she’s trying to stay alive. I think we should follow her lead.”
Olga remained outside. Then her eyes widened. She darted into the building, a stream of flames shooting across the block’s entrance where she’d been only seconds before.
William charged into the stairwell, Olga a few feet behind.
The clack of the dog’s strides entered the foyer. William called back to Olga, “I’m glad you decided to join us.”
“Fuck you, William.”
Were it not for the fiery death on their tails, William would have run anywhere but up another flight of stairs. His legs shook with fatigue, and he clamped his jaw as he battled the climb. Jezebel restricted his swinging arms, but he couldn’t leave her. Not after everything they’d been through together.
Crash! Someone kicked open a steel door a few floors above.
The one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turns on the staircase made William’s head spin like they had the last time. But with only two flights to the
