Chapter 10 - Simulation

  The light from the sun poured through the dense leaves, scattering its rays against a small clearing. Flies and other small pests lazily hung around the clearing, the smell of putrid meat and rot enticing them for a feast. Centered, an old worn out tent, its colours dull due to age, blood and decay, stood surrounded by equally repulsive smaller tents. Shambling around the tents, people wearing old armour poorly cobbled together and held old fashioned rifles. Underneath the layers of steel and cloth, rotten flesh oozed fluids. Their skin was a sickly blue with a heavy dotting of bright red and white as growths and lumps covered them. The small camp had around about thirty soldiers on patrol, easily identified by each person having their own swarm of flies looming over them. In the center tent three individuals stood around a makeshift table. The two standing on the sides wore different uniforms, both heavily modified with rusty electronics and one even having a shoulder mounted robotic arm that twitched occasionally. The man standing at the head of the center looked like a monster, his skin the same grey-blue, his eyes drifting unnaturally around in their sockets, independently of one another. A thick drool spilled from his swollen lips as he slurred his speech to the two other people in the room. His thick drool slobbered on the medals stolen from fallen soldiers, while poorly pinning them over his breast.

  While the general leaned down to press a nail-less finger onto a map; a laser struck the mutant leader in the forehead, its puss-filled brain exploded, spraying rotten fluid on the grassy floor below and staining his hole filled officer uniform. His body slumped like a dropped stuffed toy. As soon as the laser was shot from her rifle and the kill was confirmed, Lisa started to move though the trees. Her path was guided by the highlighted paths, shown to her by her augmented vision, directing her to her partner. Her powered legs crushed some roots underneath allowing her to gain a strong lead before the guttural screams of the mutants echoed around the trees.

  “Target down, moving to your location.” Lisa spoke through her helmet that connected her to her partner.

  “The Scorpion is up and running, waiting for you to get here.” Joe responded, his voice backed by a low growl.

  Lisa kept her comms clear as she dashed through the maze of wood and leaves. The sounds of hydraulics and crushing underfoot was the only break from the serene environment until the screams started; agonising screeches approaching at speed. Inside the camp, alarms were blearing before the corpse even hit the mud and, even though she was moving at considerable pace, Lisa’s lead was getting smaller and smaller. As she dashed past a tree, her HUD flashed red with multiple pings of hostile targets, four of which moving significantly faster than the others. Just as she received the ping, a hail of gunfire boomed and the tree to her right was hammered by bullets.

  “KEEP ME OUT OF L.O.S.” Lisa commanded as her AI started to compute the current angle of the gunmen. Not even five seconds later her highlighted path changed. She ran, using the trees and uneven ground to block waves of bullets, keeping an eye on her HUD to look at the four hostiles now less than 20 meters from her. Each footfall dug deep into the muddy ground, coating the dark armour brown. The pistons drew a significant amount of power to push herself out of the mud, meaning her power consumption was higher than expected, putting her on a timer.

  “What's my ETA on the Scorpion?” she asked her armour as she approached a particularly large oak tree.

  “At current pace, your ETA is: 2 minutes 13 seconds” the red text bloomed into view.

  Swerving around a large tree, a deep trench, coated in mud, came into her sight. Distracted by reading the AI, Lisa miscalculated and pushed a foot into the ground right on the edge. With her weight bearing down on the slippery mud she tumbled forward, rolling down and crashing into a wet patch. As she was getting her wits about her, a warning blared as one of the hostiles jumped down from the trench top. Turning to face it, she saw its foaming maw open to try and take her head off.

  A mutated dog that was more skeleton than anything living, its hide mostly hairless while boils and rashy skin filled in the areas without its coarse grey fur, was attacking her. Its front arms were replaced with rusted hooked blades while its foaming maw was ready to clamp down once it had landed its pounce. Lisa could only bring her left arm up to defend herself as the beast bit down on her, pressure from her suit telling her that the claws dug behind the outer plating and with that force they would be ripped off soon. Her arm, however, was the most worrisome. The teeth sunk into the armour, the jaw clamping hard. A pain seared into her body as she grit her teeth. With her right arm free, she reached down to her other right thigh and, with a press, a compartment shot open, the handle of a gun presenting itself. She took it with urgency. Increasing powers on the actuators, she pistol-whipped the beast, causing an audible crack. With the beast opening its jaw at the pain, she kicked it off and aimed, firing three bullets into its starved chest and one into its head. She observed it for a second, finger ready to pull the trigger again. But it didn't move. Keeping her pistol in hand, she reached for her rifle that was almost entirely covered in mud.

  Lisa rose to her feet. A rustling of a nearby bush gave away her next target. A similar beast leaped forward, but only two bullets were needed before the mutt was dispatched, crumpling onto her and falling at her feet. Finding a shallow slope to exit the muddy trench, she set off, her robotic feet slightly flaring out to accommodate the liquid-like surface. As expected, the moment her head poked out of the recess in the ground another wave of bullets fired, barely missing. Lisa made a split second decision; being so far away from Joe and the Scorpion, she couldn't hunker down here and with more hostiles arriving by the second she decided to run.

  Making a break, she shot out of the trench and towards a patch of closely intertwined trees, the hail of gunfire accompanying her run and, while most missed, the heavy impact of her back getting struck almost made her slip.

  “WARNING: SUIT INTEGRITY AT ESTIMATED 77.53%. WARNING SUIT POWER AT 50%” a cascade of red alerts filled her vision, but were dismissed almost as fast as they appeared; Lisa was confident, even now. As she returned to the highlighted path, the two remaining mutts pounced from the sides. As if rehearsed, Lisa brought up her pistol and sent four bullets flying, three landing devastating hits, tearing through its body. Then, she brought up her leg, powering it up, driving her foot forward, bringing the beast to the ground before bringing it under her robotic foot. The powerful stomp splattered the ground and painted her leg in blood. With both beasts rotting in the ground without stopping her retreat, she let out a small sigh of relief- with the gunmen slower than her, she would be able to make it to Joe without getting caught.

  Her run thought the forest was near its end as a clearing opened up, and a large buggy roared at her arrival. It had an open, almost cage like style, allowing the passengers to fire out but with the side panels positioned to cover the occupants. At the front, an array of headlights scorched the shadows away from the trees. Finally, the back had a heavy large box taking up enough space for an extra row of seats. She was relieved to see the Scorpion, quickly throwing herself at it and clambering into the back seat using one of the six massive wheels to get up. She saw Joe manning the screens that overhang the steering wheel.

  “Ready?” he asked, as the buggy's engine thundered with electricity. With a quick glance back at the helmeted woman, he nodded and the vehicle rocketed forward. “The intel I gathered spoke of a transport the terrorists had, so keep an eye out” with that, Joe activated the drivers spinal plug and connected to the car.

  The six wheeled buggy had trouble making its way though the woodland, and even though it was significantly thinned out compared to the one Lisa was in, it still was a large vehicle. The omnidirectional wheels allowed it to almost crawl along the trees, using their verticality to drive along, and if there was no way around certain foliage the car was heavy enough to plow through. As Lisa recovered her power and bandaged her arm, Joe got more and more comfortable driving in the woods. Eventually, he reached a stable 35 miles an hour, with him weaving and crushing through the forest. As Lisa was finishing tending to her arm, a louder engine noise bellowed from their side. A black smoke cloud plumed from the top of the canopy and the sound of trees falling at an exponential rate accompanied it. Before the knot was fully tied, a steel truck made from scrap emerged next to them, plowing through every tree, using its menacing snowplow. Gun barrels pushed their ways through the small openings in the multicolored truck, letting loose a barrage of gunfire, the bullets released by the machineguns crashed into the side of the Scorpion and dented its heavy duty plates. Upon hearing the rapid bangs of the guns, Lisa dropped into the footwell and pulled her laser rifle close. Changing the lens magnification and getting ready to burn the whole battery on one single shot, she flicked the overheat safety off. The rifle glowed, the heatsinks working overtime while the humming of the battery increased to a frightening pitch.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Placing the barrel at the ridge of the side panels, she readied herself by moving to a squat. As the alerts started to flood in about the heat of the rifle exceeding limits, she made her move. Standing up and lining up her rifle, she aimed at the center of the truck and fired. The laser shot out instantly, a beam of orange melting the side of the truck leaving a 2 meter opening leading into the truck. A few soldiers manning the guns looked scorched but otherwise not too hurt, mainly a bit shocked at the steel melting so quickly.

  “NOW” Lisa yelled to Joe, still driving the buggy at speed. While she ducked into the footwell, placing her rifle down carefully as the barrel was molten. The gunfire from the truck had started back up, punching at the Scorpion

  The familiar sound of high strength motors spun from behind Lisa, coming from the box that replaced the boot. Uncurling from the car, a robotic arm, that was easily the length of the buggy itself, loomed overhead. At the head of the arm, two gatling guns slowly started to spin up, a track of bullets feeding them ammunition from two barrels underneath the buggy. The gunfire almost immediately swapped targets, firing at the tail in a pathetic attempt to stop it from functioning. With one hand on the wheel, Joe moved his other to a joystick. As he flicked his head from the path in front of them to the truck to their left frequently, he moved the joystick controlling the tail. Following its commands, the robot arm slithered into the opening of the truck, yells and screams growing louder the closer it got, all being blocked out as the truck lit up and the roar of bullets rang out loudly. Retracting the arm before the truck slammed into a nearby tree, the two soldiers let out a sigh as they neared extraction.

  “Seventh” Joe said, standing by the scoreboards “how's your arm?” he turned to look at Lisa who softly held her left arm. It was bruised from the sim room.

  “We could have had a podium finish if I didn't slip.” Lisa muttered to herself

  “For fucks sake its fine” she finally growled once joe wasn't responding dropping her left arm to the side.

  “What's your thoughts on the woodland?” Joe asked, making his way from the scoreboards to a screen showing a live feed of a team currently inside. They were not fairing well, and their marksman was being torn apart by two beasts and gunned down by the terrorists in the ditch Lisa fell into. “It's a bitch to drive in but infinitely more fun than the barrens. I would love to speed around on a bike.”

  “It's more of a pain- and I prefer urban areas, like yeah there is lots of cover and it's easy to get to the target but the paths the AI creates to get through are inefficient. I would rather be on a rooftop with an easy escape route.” Lisa watched the screen Joe was looking at. It panned from the now “dead” marksman to the specialist who was taking the driving very slow, a speedy 5 miles an hour, if that.

  ______________________________________________________________________

  Olivia pushed the mahogany door, that stood double her height, open. The smell of the room caressed her nose first, an earthy smell exuded from the grand room. As the heavy doors glided open the movement of the fish underneath the glass floor caught her eye first; as always.. An expansive coral reef dropping down almost ten meters into the floor covered the whole room. The fish, shining in the lights above, twinkled in their bright iridescent scales; weaving in and out in the numerous natural caves and arches in the reef. Olivia’s eyes darted to the gently floating sea turtle, who missed a small crustacean that scurried to safety in the nick of time. Breaking her eyes from the awe inspiring display of nature below her, she brought her eyes up. Each wall was glass, the commanding view of old London still beautiful. In the center of the room stood a single slab of black marble, silver filling its cracks. Apart from the few papers scattered around on its face, it was barren. Behind it, in a tall leather chair, a man leant casually back looking off into the distant city, in his hand he gently moved a small glass half full of whiskey in small circles.

  He did not move at her entrance, instead he continued looking off outside. Olivia cautiously stepped forward, after a few moments of standing still waiting to be addressed. With each step of her heels on the glass floor, a school of fish scattered from underneath her. After approaching halfway up the twenty meter long room, Mr. Walker finally made a move.

  “Mrs. Holland, have you seen what the aviation division has been up to?” a soft voice emanated from the chair. It was one a father would use to talk to his darling daughter.

  “No Mr. Walker, I have not been up to date with what they have been working on.” she replied.

  “Come and have a look” he gestured with the glass, to something outside.

  As she walked forward the fish became more scarce underneath her until it was only the sand that sat underneath dead coral. Reaching the desk, the man finally turned his head. He had short black, slick backed hair. His face was not layered with synthetic skin but instead he still had his natural white skin, it was however pure; glowing with radiance that would almost be impossible without synthetics. Instead of a mouth and nose a golden half mask replaced it, it was cleanly polished. The only odd thing was there were no breathing holes or other exhaust ports that other people with similar augments would have. Complimenting the golden mask, the director always wore a white three piece suit, markings and patterns were rare but the trim along the collar and pockets were golden linings. Grasping the glass, his hands were gloved with a similar material the suit was made from. His tie was sharply different from the white suit but instead being a deep crimson tie. His trousers were the same colour as the suit, the only other outstanding feature was his pure leather, dark brown shoes. His hazel eyes, reflecting the overhead light, shone as they met with Olivia's golden eyes.

  “Isn't it impressive?” he gestured outside. Following his gesture, Olivia switched her attention.

  Floating in the sky, above the skyscrapers, a large aircraft hung in the sky. It was grey and rectangular in shape with eight wings that fanned out from the center. Each ending in a crescent as they approached the rear of the aircraft. At the bow of the craft, a large portion of it was glass while underneath it had many guns positioned downward, including one large fixed barrel in the center of the aircraft.

  “It's the first public appearance of the Raven.” his eyes returned to the aircraft and just watched as its thrusters burned blue flames to keep the titan of metal in the air. “This is technically a favor I cashed in from Marcquise.” He rolled the whiskey around as he spoke. “It should be the perfect cover to activate our little project. The reason I called you up here is to hand me the final report and give your go ahead on activating the Troy Loft bridge.” The man turned to the secretary and looked at her with curious eyes.

  “Yes sir, i have brought the report in paper as requested- but before i go ahead… Can I ask a question?” she looked at him with puzzlement as she held the twenty page double sided report. “Why paper?” Olivia had worked with Mr. Walker for years and yet his recent obsession with paper completely confused her.

  “Why not.” he said nonchalantly while shrugging, extending his free hand to receive the papers. A bit annoyed by the nothing response, she still did her job and handed the paper to him as he placed it on the table and began looking through it.

  “Your speech you gave to the soldiers, how much do they know?” he looked up from his initial scan through

  “About 10%” Olivia responded dryly.

  The director began to nod looking into the middle distance doing so. “Do you give your approval that the corporate branch is ready? Colonel Muller is making his final preparations”

  “Yes I do”

  “Good. The parade for the Raven will start once the sun starts to set so that is when we will begin.” Mr. Walker turned to the window again looking at the marvel of engineering and science.

  “I will make sure everything is prepared and everyone is ready to move immediately.” Olivia bowed and walked to the massive doors. They closed with a thud and the room was silent, only filled by the very gentle swirling of whiskey.

  “Lets make history again today” the director muttered to himself before bringing the glass to his non-existent lips. His golden mask started to crack and with a snap; a seam forming a mouth snapped open. Rolling out of his artificial mouth an ebony muscle snaked its way out. His tongue moved to the glass, taking it out of his hand and tipping the brass coloured liquid down this gullet in one gulp. Pressing a button on his desk, a small opening appeared, where he dumped the glass now covered in a purple semi-viscous liquid. The door closed and the tongue slithered back into his mouth. The heat of the incinerator heated his legs as he turned to fully read the report.