I peer over the edge and see about a half-dozen drones patrolling the area through the fast-setting fog. I'm not sure if they are on a standard patrol or if they are looking for me. Either way, I need to make sure we get out of here unseen.
“What do we do?” KJ asks with a quiver in her voice.
“Follow me.” I squeeze her hand to reassure her.
We make our way back down to the first floor and head in the opposite direction from the door we came in. I saw a second door at the end of the corridor earlier, so I know it will take us away from the open area at the front of the building. I inch the door open, looking for signs of trouble. The fog has set enough now that I can't see beyond forty to fifty feet. This is both good and bad. They can't spot us from far, but we also can't spot them.
The coast is clear, so I lead KJ through. Seconds after we step out, the door behind us clanks shut. The sound of the metal door hitting the metal frame is not discreet.
“Over here!” a drone's voice calls from the fog.
“Run!” I push KJ, and we both take off in a sprint. I keep pace with her to make sure we don't get separated and lose sight of each other. She’s not very fast, so it won’t take long for the drones to catch us.
Right now, the fog is giving us cover, so they can't see our moves, but I'm sure they’ve spread out to cover more ground. If we make a wrong turn, we risk running into one of them.
We keep a steady pace, but I can hear the drone behind us gaining. In front of us, the fog reveals a high wall. When we reach the large concrete obstacle, KJ grabs my arm and pulls me toward the right. She keeps running, and I pull up next to her, making sure that she stays between me and the wall. If a drone sneaks upon us, I want to make sure I can protect her.
A few dozen feet down, KJ stops and starts climbing the wall. “Follow me.
When I look, I see that the wall has some chunks taken out in what looks like a makeshift ladder. As I'm about to place my foot in the first gap, I see a silhouette running right at me. The drone spots me and increases his speed, raising his rifle at me. I leverage myself low and on my toes. I only have one chance to use his momentum to make this quick.
The drone is only a couple of feet from me when I step off to the side and launch my body at him from a low angle. I grab the arm with the rifle using my left arm and put my other hand behind his head. Using our combined momentum, I spin him around and throw his face into the wall. The cracking of bones reminds me of when I kicked the Cabra.
He's not dead, but I know how drones are programmed to treat injured comrades. They are dispensable. He won't be alive much longer. I grab the rifle and kneel next to him. “I'm sorry.”
I leave him there in pain but hope that he can experience a moment of authentic human life in the little time he has left before they find him. Death without living is meaningless.
“80?” I hear KJ whisper from above my head. She must not have seen what happened. I'm glad she didn't witness it.
“Coming.” I throw the rifle strap around my shoulder and climb up. When at the top, I almost run into her and knock her over.
The wall was built alongside a building, blocking windows and doors. Once I reach the top. KJ climbs down the other side, keeping close to the corner formed by the wall and the building's exterior. I skip the last half of the wall and drop down beside her.
She pushes me against the wall with one hand covering my mouth and the other holding up a finger to her lips. “Quiet.”
“Where are we?” I manage to whisper through her hand.
“Cabras.” That’s all she says. She looks confused by the rifle that I gained since she last saw me, and I shrug it off.
KJ starts walking through the heavy fog, and I stay close to her, ready to use the rifle at any moment. Though the drones that were chasing us were formidable foes, the flesh-thirsty Cabras, lurking unseen, have me on edge. There could be hundreds surrounding us, and like before, the chill of their eyes is upon me.
The air is still and colder in here, and the stench of death offends my nose. Movements in my peripheral and small sounds pull my rifle's aim in all directions. After a hundred yards, I sense that we are in the heart of this area and exposed to attack from all directions.
On cue, KJ runs. Faster than she did on the other side of the wall. Her urgency causes my heart to skip, and survival instincts of fear and flight kick in. They trained me to fight, but here, my training would get me killed.
I catch up to her as she reaches a building and climbs through a window on the ground level. I step in after her. She pushes me down and puts her hand on my mouth. When I look back out the window, I see about two dozen Cabras close in on the grounds outside the building. We were seconds away from certain death. Frustrated because they lost us, the Cabras fight amongst each other and disperse.
KJ stands and pulls me by the arm. She walks us along the inner walls, keeping us away from the debris-strewn center of this building. I can see that she's trying to get us to a door on the far side of the wall, to our right.
