The floor was made from dirty white tiles, each one a foot square. Many were cracked, and many more were missing.
“Why have we come in here?” Artan shouted.
Gracie pushed on. A conversation would slow them down.
The drone shot through a gap in the steel frame, entering the building behind them.
Gracie turned right into what looked like another shop. They’d entered an indoor high street. They followed her, a few of the drone’s bullets shattering the ceramic tiles.
Old racks with pegs. Another clothes shop! William had only seen a small part of this city, but he’d already passed through enough clothes shops to serve this community ten times over.
The drone’s whining buzz of its propellors. The slap of their steps hit the hard ceramic tiles.
The metal frames forced them in a weaving run. It helped them avoid the intermittent bullet fire. William took a sharp left, stumbled where his right leg buckled, and slammed into another rack, knocking the eight-foot frame so hard it crashed to the ground.
The drone attacked it.
Another sharp turn and William stumbled again. It slowed him down, so he kicked over another metal rack. The loud crash drew the drone’s fire.
A narrow doorway at the back of the store, Gracie vanished into it, Olga next. Dianna, Max, Hawk, and Artan followed. Matilda slowed, but William yelled, “Get in there now!” She followed the others.
William kicked over one more frame. The drone zeroed in on it while he ran through the narrow doorway and jumped aside, covering his face from the spray of debris kicked up by the drone’s next attack.
Gracie had already made it up several flights of stairs, and she kept climbing. But William waited. He leaned against the hard and cold wall and dragged air into his lungs, avoiding the drone’s sensor when the white light of its torch shone into the stairwell. Did it know he was there? Would it wait for him? They weren’t built to manage enclosed spaces like stairwells.
As if answering his question, the light dulled from where it turned around and flew away. Surely it would try to meet them higher up.
The gap running through the middle of the stairs showed William that Gracie had chosen her floor. A hole in the roof let moonlight into the gloomy space. Olga had gone from sight also, Dianna vanishing through the doorway next.
But Matilda had stopped. She waited just one floor above. It didn’t matter how much he wanted to rest, they couldn’t afford to get separated out here. He couldn’t be the reason she lost track of the group.
The first flight of stairs consisted of only twelve steps. William misjudged the height of the final one, caught his toe, and stumbled forwards. He hit the ground with both knees, clenching his jaw as spasms crawled up the insides of his thighs into his groin.
“William?” The patter of Matilda’s steps came down to him. “Are you okay?”
His mouth stretched wide, every shred of his being focused on catching his breath. His body throbbed; his shins and knees burned. “I can’t … keep going. I can’t do it. I need to stop. I really hurt myself when I fell down those stairs in one of the towers. You go without me. I’ll meet you at … the metal tower.” Stars swam in his vision, and were his stomach not empty, he would have vomited.
Matilda shook her head and helped him to his feet. “You need to get up now. I won’t give up on you.” Instead of leading him upstairs, she led him back down again.
“Where are we going?” William pointed up. “We need to get moving so we can keep on their tail.”
Matilda shook her head. “We can’t catch them now.”
Sweat burned William’s eyes. He blinked repeatedly, for what good it did. Now the drone had gone, they only had the light of the moon to guide them. He could just make out where the light touched the tips of Matilda’s features. The end of her nose. The glisten of her brown eyes.
“What are we going to—”
“Shh!” Matilda pressed her finger to her lips.
The burst of bullets called to them from the other side of the building. The drone must have found Gracie and the others.
“Now!” Matilda tugged on William’s hand, leading him at a fast walk back out into the shop they’d just exited.
His steps clumsy, but at least they moved at a more manageable pace.
Matilda halted again at the shop’s exit before she peered out, looking both left and right. “Come on,” she said, “let’s go.”
The distant fire of bullets echoed through the dead city. Hopefully, all their friends would be there when they reached the metal tower.
Matilda led William across a small car park, away from the large building filled with shops. They entered another tower block.
They climbed the concrete stairs to the first floor. Many more stretched up away from them, but this level seemed as good as any. They found an empty apartment. The silver moonlight shone through the window. A smaller space than the rooms in the hotels, but palatial compared to anything in Edin.
Still fighting to recover his breath, the sound of conflict rode on the breeze soaring through the city. It came from the direction of the tower where the drones had ambushed the soldiers. They had no chance against that many indefatigable drones. Even if it took all night, there would only be one winner.
“I would have stayed with them had I been able to,” William said.
Matilda nodded before reaching out to hold his hands. She sat down, encouraging him to do the same with a gentle tug. “I know. We need to make our own way now. But first, we need to rest. I think we’re safe here for the time being.”
Chapter 17
Olga matched Gracie step for step. She might have the others convinced, but Olga wouldn’t fall for her charm. Someone had to remain vigilant, and that bitch had too many secrets. If