“I mean...” How could I explain this to Dad without risking him falling into a nervous breakdown? He had convinced himself so strongly that we were going to discover other humans in the city, the shock that there were androids running around was going to be a disaster. “I mean that whatever that was looked at me with eyes like that lizard’s.”
He was silent, fingers tapping on his thigh as he often did when he was worried. “You’re sure? I mean, they could have been wearing night vision—“ I held up a hand to cut him off.
“I already thought of it. I’m sorry, but I know what I saw. There is some kind of android down there, and I can only assume there are more. We need to get our asses back to camp as soon as humanly possible. Eliza and the others have to be warned.” Just as I had finished speaking, my ears perked up at the whine of a rotor overhead. I risked a glance upwards and saw a drone speeding towards us. “Down!” I grabbed his hair and forced both of our heads to the ground. The drone didn’t slow as it passed over our heads. It streaked in the direction of camp. “Okay, fuck this.” I pushed myself to my feet and took off. Dad shouted something behind me but I kept running.
I had to get to my wife.
My feet barely touched the ground as I ran, my legs fueled by adrenaline. If there was an android army in that city, we had just doomed ourselves, and the rest of the shelter, to an horrific death. I was dimly aware of a pain in my left foot but ignored it until I saw the dark outlines of the camp. Most of the group was going about their morning routines. Their heads snapped up as I approached.
“Fiona—what?”
“What’s going on?”
“Is everything okay?”
I ignored every word. The only thing that mattered was Eliza. I looked around, but she was nowhere to be found.
“Where is my wife?” People were staring at me in open confusion now. I swore that I heard the whir of the drone but I couldn’t see it.
“She’s still out in the field, Fiona.” A man I barely knew stepped in front of me and put his hand on my arm. “Take it easy. What’s going on?”
“There’s a drone coming.” For gods’ sake, there was no time to explain everything.
“What? A drone? From where? What did you see on patrol? Are there other people?”
I chewed my tongue. If I blurted out that there was an army of androids coming over the horizon, people would panic.
“I don’t know. We need to take cover.” Those listening to the conversation didn’t wait for more details. They left their possessions where they were and started back to their tents. Telling them about the drone had struck the right cord. There were a few surprised looks and some confusion, but the group was organized enough to trust each other when it came to an emergency. I zipped myself into my own tent and flattened myself to the ground. At least if there were missiles heading our way, I wouldn’t get to see them before the end.
The minutes crawled by and the only sound I heard was the ebb and flow of my own breathing. The adrenaline that propelled me back to camp was wearing off and the consequences of sprinting over tough ground started to make themselves apparent. I grit my teeth as the muscles in my legs cramped up. The pain that I felt in my foot earlier felt like it was on fire. Moving carefully I twisted to lift my foot. Sticking out of my boot, between where the sole and boot met, was a shard of rock half the length of my finger. The hole was crusted with blood, and when I flexed my toes pain shot through my foot.
“God damn it.” I pinched the shard and tried to loose it from my flesh. The good news was that I wasn’t bleeding out, but holy shit that was going to hurt when it came out. The really bad news was that it needed to come out sooner rather than later. If the wound was left to fester, an infection out here could be deadly. When I heard no sign of the drone, I risked a peek outside. The camp was as it had been before I arrived. There were no armies of robots coming over the horizon. If the drone had made it to camp, it was nowhere to be found. As there was no imminent threat, I stepped out of the tent. When no bullets whizzed over my shoulder, I made the decision.
“Clear!”
People started to emerge from their tents. Behind me, I heard the pounding footsteps of my father. “Fiona!” He sprinted to meet me. “Are you all right? What the hell happened?” He had left the equipment behind and I quashed the impulse to chastise him for it. Whatever creature had seen us already had enough evidence of our presence. If they came across our bags it didn’t make a difference.
“Eliza’s still out in the field.” I dodged the question. “Go and find her, please. We need to meet, as a group.”
Eliza returned with the rest of the volunteers, looking just as bedraggled as I did. She took one look at my face an caught me up in a crushing embrace. It was only when she released me that I caught the other end of her concern.
“You put the camp into lockdown?!”
“I need to talk to you. Now.”
We sat around a small fire, cooking up the few small animals we managed to spear in the early morning hours. The team was nervous. Understandably, given that I had burst into the group with news of a mysterious drone. Between the two of us, Dad andI relayed as much information as we could and as
