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A pair of soldiers in dark camo uniforms moves up to the group's vehicle looking in he points out the scarf hanging out of the back seat. He mutters in Russian "Resistance fighters? They must be close the vehicle is still hot."
The other looks in "Do you think some of ours? Surely not, we are supposed to be the furthest group this direction. We need to find them before they blow our cover."
Tabitha creeps down signaling to the others to be ready. She moves in close and calls their attention while showing another of the Resistance fighter scarves. This group is part of the Resistance fighters? Are you part of this battle? "
The leader quickly signals his men to stand down and replies "Yes we are part of the Resistance, but this battle is simply a bonus... Or an obstacle. We learned that a group of escapees from one of the experimental labs was captured and taken to the city here... or what is left of it. Regardless, we acquired this equipment and had hoped to infiltrate and free them. We know little of the group captured, unfortunately."
"Well, we too are escapees from one of those lab bases. These may be some of our people in there even. If we can help... ....Yes I know we are kids, but we made it this far!" The others of the group climb out of their hiding places and join up with Tabitha.
The Resistance leader "Alright... but .. yes I suppose English would be easier correct? We should be able to move into the city disguised as an AA group moving in for defense of the city. Your job is to move with my men to the prison I believe they are being held along with more of my men.... As soon as you do, we can try to secure more transportation and leave the city. And any damage we can cause along the way is a bonus."
------
They board the APC one by one and head toward the city. The commander pulls down a heavy built video panel and shows the camera view of the outside. Stealth A-10's fly in fast and low slamming the city repeatedly with strafing runs and bombs. He pans the camera forward showing the city ahead. Many of the buildings are burnt and many collapsed from a recent attack as many are still burning. Gradually they get into the city and the APC comes up to the city jail. The commander turns to them and says "My men will form a distraction for you. And with what ever ability you have, getting the captives is your objective. The base of operation is the abandoned building here.. If we can never meet back up, head to your vehicle in the woods." They nod in agreement and the APC pulls to the front gate of the jail.
"We were delayed by a minor electrical issue. We are here for fire support to protect the jail if you need us! The driver yells over to the jail guard house.
The jail guard quickly runs out waving his arms "Are you crazy? You will only draw fire to this place, dangerous criminals just showed up this is the only place we have that will hold them. Move down the road!"
They continue down the road and then turn out of sight. The back hatch opens and the group moves into an abandoned shop and looks over the jail. It is a small facility, obviously not meant for permanent storage with little more than a concrete gate with razorwire around it. The building is just two floors and beaten but sturdy.
One of the Resistance fighters hands them a pair of binoculars and points over. Nick takes the pair and looks at a van that pulled in letting out three people. One male, one female, and an older man. "You're not gonna like this. I think one of those is your Father, Tabitha."
"Impossible.. let me see" Tabitha says taking the binoculars and looking. She pauses a few moments and continues "I really could not tell if it was him.. And I have no idea on the other two. One was bound up rather much.."
"Don't lie, you know that's him. We knew this was a possibility. Good thing we came." Nick says as they come down the stairs and approach the outer perimeter. They wait until the designated time and a bomb goes off on the opposite end of the outer wall. The spotlights zoom over and shots begin to ring out.
Aaron cuts through the wall using water from a canteen. Tabitha removes the wall section and they jog to the jail's loading entrance. Stephanie plunges a white hot hand into the door's lock and melts it instantly after which Tabitha kicks it in. Immediately after Nick zips in and quick-aims his rifle at three guards at the holding cell gate. They all run quickly down the hall to the holding area. Tabitha snatches up a pair of smoke grenades a downed guard and sets them off in the hallway.
Stephanie cuts through the first door and Tabitha kicks it in. A surprised guard aims through a gun port as quick as he can just in time for Aaron to throw a ball of water freezing over the barrel causing it to explode as it fires. Tabitha fires four shots into the window and kicks it in. She plugs into the computer and unlocks the cell doors and locking up the facility at the same time.
"You're really getting scary good at that hacking thing... really" Stephanie says to which Tabitha shrugs back.
They find the three in the first holding cell. Quickly they realize it is Tabitha's Father a younger man about their age. The girl with them appears to be another exact copy of Tabitha.
Tabitha A
Age: 17, Mostly white blond hair about below the ear line shorter than Tabitha's , very light skin, light blue eyes. light build 5' 8" Wearing a dirty brown hooded coat and black jeans.
"Another one?!" Tabitha says in shock. "Father what is going on here? How many of me did you make!? and why am.."
Tabitha's Father interrupts. "This is hardly the time or place for discussion. If you came to help us. Then let us leave this place."
Tabitha pulls the cell door away and throws it causing it to jam into the main entry way blocking the guards approach. Aaron shoots a ball of water at high pressure into a wall under the window at the end of the hall. They hide as the ball explodes causing a hole to open. They escape while Nick provides cover fire taking out a few more guards trying to push out the jammed door.
They run out through the hole they came in and back to the abandoned building. Stephanie quickly helps the younger man out of his heavy bindings and they talk in the background as Tabitha continues her earlier interrogation. "Well? What is going on here!? Who is she and why do I keep running into copies of me? And why are you here?"
"Retard, he makes more when he needs another... what does it matter to you how many he makes." Tabitha-A interjects and goes to the far wall and leans against it. "Thanks for getting us out, but I had a plan anyway."
"Silence both of you! Yes this is another Tabitha. From your reaction this is not the first one you have seen... I am glad to hear the other survived all this time. This is the first Tabitha, there was an incident and she had to escape many years before you came along. We ran into her and Tex here escaping from Salem. It seems all this time she has been helping captives from there get free. Unfortunately, our group was ambushed and the three of us were trapped to let the rest escape. Worry not, your families are safe. They were rescued by some Resistance fighters and are being protected in a rebel stronghold."
"You just make copies every time one of us is gone? Do you even care about what happens to us?" Tabitha says pacing the room. "The other Tabitha is in Ufa.. Her life has been miserable for years.. "
"Yes I care for you as though you were one of my own. But the mission comes first. You must realize your creation started around producing an android that could infiltrate an enemy base of this kind. We decided the best solution would be an android that grew like a child. So we used the best nano technology we could. We combined the blueprints of your basic structure with the human genome and the result was yourself. The base DNA was provided by another researcher and myself. We were young romantics that thought we were being clever. When she died I volunteered to go on the mission myself." He rummages his pocket and pulls a picture of a brown haired woman in thick glasses. "I suppose in a way you somewhat resemble her as a result of the genetic nano-programming."
Tabitha-A tries not to look interested glancing up at the picture and snatching it away. "So this is our mom huh? I guess it was bound to be somebody like this.. what a dork." She finishes disappointed handing off the picture to Tabitha.
"What is wrong with you!... they worked hard to create us in the first place." Tabitha says looking at the picture. She hands it back to her Father. "I wish I could have met her, Father."
Tabitha-A walks out to another room and Tabitha's Father adds "She has had it quite rough the past several years. She left only eight years old and lived alone for years after that when the group she left with got captured. Comparatively, you lived a mostly normal life until just a few weeks ago."
"Wait... you sent an eight year old out on their own? What??" Aaron says pointing out the obvious.
"Her programming was different. I thought it would be fine to give her as much knowledge as an adult and be able to impersonate a child... It worked for the most part, but then she quickly became disillusioned by our mission. That is why the next ones I kept in the dark more. That way the attachment to your friends would give you purpose to save them. She never developed that, to her they were simply an objective. I suppose in a way it worked in that all this time she has been helping others escape."
"Like those kids at the nuked out city. They said they were from Salem." Stephanie says. "What was it Samantha, Derek... Neil?"
Tabitha A looks in "They made it that far eh? Yea I was listening. Tex here was part of their group. They got separated when Tex fought off a tank for them to escape."
Stephanie and Tex both come up stairs. Tex says "So the youngins made it out fine. Glad ta hear it. Name's Tex but yal knew that. My special is I'm freakin strong you could say."
Stephanie chimes in. "He was telling me about that. Flipped a 50 ton tank over. It was so interesting." She follows Tex closely.
"Well... to be fair, it was down a hill so reckon I didn't do all the work." Tex says scratching his side and leaning on a railing. "Right, so what's the plan on gettin out of this joint?"
--
The soldier from the APC comes up the stairs "You kids board the APC, we have other missions we need to do here in the city. Rescuing Dr. Falk was a key priority."
"Falk... I thought." Aaron starts and quickly interrupted.
"... Yes obviously a known robotics researcher can't go in using his real name." Tabitha A says plainly. "Let us just leave already."
"I suppose we agree about one thing." Tabitha replies and waves the others to follow. They jog out boarding the armored vehicle hiding in the alley. Or hiding as well as a 30 ton vehicle can hide. Tabitha looks out a back gunport as they begin to leave the city behind gradually.
They stop at the edge of town the whole while the top turret gun going off randomly. The commander drops down from the hatch. "Sorry but we have to let you go here. I can't leave my men too far behind. You will be safe if you head east through these fields to the forest probably. Good luck."
"He's kidding... ... right?" Stephanie says glaring over the miles of field ahead of them. "I hope that's the same forest at least... tell me it is."
"I believe so. But our car must be several miles away.. I hope we can find it." Tabitha says as they continue the march. Along the way the number of jets overhead drops and eventually stops. The city goes eerily quiet. A type of silence you can only hear from a nearly dead city. Tabitha looks back. "How sad that sounds... No life in that city, not even the sound of nature."
"I know right?" Aaron agrees he takes Tabitha's hand for a moment. "But hey, we made it out ok."
"Ugh!!" Tabitha-A hurriedly walks ahead bumping past them. "You people walk so slow! We could try to make it there within this century." They eventually make it to a small farming village a few miles away.
Tabitha comes out of the gas station they stop near with snacks for people. "I got a variety... since nobody could really suggest anything." She sits near Tabitha-A on her own and hands a trail mix bag. "I think you might like this.. You know you really could let your guard down for a second. None of us want to hurt you."
"Last time I did that I lost everything." Tabitha-A says taking the bag. She eats on it for a while silently and says "Does that kid know about you... he likes you obviously. What is going on? Do you like him too?"
"Umm Oh yes. He knows everything really. But it never changed his mind. He has really been there for me the whole time I needed him."
"Needed him... Anyway whatever! You should not lead him on like that. He should be with his own kind." Tabitha-A says picking through the bag taking the good things out. She holds up two raisins and two candy bits "You know.. humans with humans... Whatever we are with ourselves."
"Like I told you. He knows, and it made no difference. I never mislead him or anything. He pursued me after I avoided the issue in the first place. Have you never loved anyone?"
"Not that it is any of your business! I have, and it only brings misfortune! I survived because of my strength, I never needed anyone!" Tabitha-A says avoiding eye contact. "You people are
. How can you expect to love anyone with the way things are... just leave me alone now.""I hope things look better soon... Sorry." Tabitha says and gets up to leave.
Aaron meets up with her "Any luck? It's weird how different you are."
"I know.. under that tough facade. She is really sad inside and too proud to admit it. I do not need to see her memories to know she has been through a lot. I wish she would soften up and realize not everyone is out to get her." Tabitha says looking into her shopping bag and taking the last bag of trail mix. She pulls out her hand and sees the candy piece looking at it and breaking it with her fingernail mumbling. "Whatever we are..."
Aaron glances to his side with a confused look. "Eh did I miss something?"
"Nothing, Aaron.. Do not worry." Tabitha replies. They continue through the field into the tree line. After checking the GPS Tabitha reluctantly says aloud. "Only about five miles." She waits for the inevitable whining from Stephanie only to hear silence. Looking back she notices Tex chatting her up at the rear of the group. They sure hit it off fast...
They eventually reach the ruts in the ground from the APC that brought them into the city and follow them through the trees. After a good hour of walking, they come to the familiar military SUV.
Tabitha-A looks in "How well did you plan this out? Can we really fit in this?"
Nick interrupts as Tabitha tries to reply, "People will just have to cram in. It's pretty roomy in the back.. Well. It's built for five. And Tex is pretty big. Dr. Falk, you can take the front, we'll figure something out in back. I guess Tex take the middle... Me and Aaron on the sides that leaves Stephanie and Tabitha(A) on top?"
"This is a terrible idea... whatever just hurry" Tabitha-A mumbles as they cram people in the back. They get most everyone in and she continues. "... fine.... far too late to argue anyway." She climbs in and they drive east and follow the backroads southeast until finding an abandoned set of warehouses west of a village called Krylovo. They pull in to the one with a roof still on it. "Five star accommodations."
"At least this one has a roof. It's definitely raining tonight." Nick says pulling the door shut peeking out the crack.
"It is well past midnight. We could use some rest, all of us." Tabitha says pulling out the bedding bags and handing them out. They set up makeshift beds as best they can as the storm begins to pick up outside. The old warehouse creaking in the wind and leaking randomly throughout the night.
Day 23 Tuesday, Raining hard
Tabitha-A gets up and walks to the nearest boarded up window and look out at the storm still raging. She stares outside for at least a minute. The storm was raging too hard for them to be able to leave for quite some time. "Damn it... " She rests her forehead against the wall when she hears the sound of Tabitha approaching. "Yes it is still raining..."
"Well, actually I was looking for Stephanie because the fire went out again. The water just keeps coming in." Tabitha says checking outside at the storm. The sky rages on with the occasional thunder sounding off in the distance. "It really is coming down. I doubt we can get out any time soon. Unfortunately, that dirt road south is the only means over to Poland."
"Crossing a boarder means nothing in this time. The Pan-Asian Confederacy just roams free anywhere there is no resistance. I was out further than this a long time ago." Tabitha-A pulls up some cinder blocks and continues. "It only gets worse from here. You might find pockets of calm here and there... Ok let me show you something." She takes some wood and digs a pit for a fire. She takes a dowel rod from an old chair and spins it extremely fast with her hands until a fire smokes to life. While she does this she starts talking "When China collapsed immediate revolution broke out all over their country, Russia seized the chance to move in. They had a small nuclear exchange.. if there is such a thing... from the confusion in the remnants of the old government. They fired some rockets randomly from what I can gather. Even Antarctica was hit. Then the United Chinese Province Republic gained control of the East.. Naturally, they cry out for peace and aid from the USA. The peace from the Russians lasted about a month... you know... time enough to resupply and plan their attack. The UCPR gets a nuke launched at Hong Kong, US intercepts. Call it the "Most Grievous Crime against humanity attempted"... Russia pushes toward Europe... Somewhere in there,
hits the fan and nukes go flying. Kazakhstan gets the brunt of it being the main Russian space/nuke place. The frontline in Poland and Germany take major hits too as well as the front at China and Southern Asia..... Pakistan and India are devastated by their own stupid exchange. They basically wiped each other out... Now do you understand why I think these humans are so stupid?""It is regrettable, but we have to do everything we can. We have done so much already. We can make a difference." Tabitha reluctantly replies.
"Regrettable?! Millions are dead from this." Tabitha-A says abruptly. "We might save a few and shut down these labs... It is our purpose in the world. I think the only reason they stopped using nukes was it cost to much... they wanted to keep a trump card. In reality, from what I gather. The PAC is under a lot of strain. They would flat out lose a full nuclear war, they know it. That's why they had that stupid Sahara Conference. 'Look at the desolation, this is the future of the world if we continue our path. Let us agree to blablabla nuclear war no more.' Tell that to the blown up cities." Tabitha-A stokes the fire. "This war has gone on for decades of constant conflict. Fighting will die down in one area and flare in another. And what does it matter that they agreed to limit nuclear war... the other weapons they use are just as bad..."
"And that is where the labs come in."
"Precisely." Tabitha-A says pointing a burning stick at Tabitha. "When they basically ran out of nukes, they had covert operations snatch up families moving to small towns and put them in cryo sleep. They found some way of hypnotizing or erasing memory and altering it. So when people woke up in Myron or Salem and its surrounding fake cities. They just accepted it as life. They went as far as making a stealth refueler for the hijacked passenger planes. By the time they stopped the kidnappings it was far too late. Over the course of several years, thousands had been taken by different means. At first people believed it was some kind of 'global warming' storm issue. But then flights over the Pacific went missing. Years later, they finally shot a stealth-fueler down. By then the war was in full swing. That is where we came in. We had already been inserted in one of the planes by the time that happened... "
"And the drop off of people coming in is why there were so many abandoned buildings..." Tabitha says. "They kill people who find out or escape... I have data of so many friends being executed. I had to bury it in my memory."
"Yea, tragic. Anyway. That is how the world is. I helped a few escape here and there. But I can never get them beyond the front. Most join the Resistance instead. Probably safer anyway." Tabitha-A says. She rummages through her stuff looking for something to eat. She pulls out the Russian version of a MRE and picks through it. She points to the back of the warehouse where Stephanie and Tex both come walking together. "There are your missing soldiers. She is totally losing her head over him. Honestly, I think he is a bit dumb... useful. But dumb... just keep an eye on her."
"...Right... " Tabitha says jogging over to Stephanie. "I was just about to go looking for you to help get another fire going. You need to stop wandering off. Something could happen and we would never know."
Tex glared and stops her. "Ah'm way scarrier than anything we'll find out here. Trust me, she's safe wherever I'm at."
Stephanie adds in "Exactly, we were just checking out the area so I went with him. It's not that big of a deal."
Tabitha pulls her away for a moment. "Are you serious? You have known him for roughly a whole day and you go head over heals for him?"
Stephanie pretends her best to appear shocked. "Is that what you really think of me? Maybe I legitimately like him?? Did you consider that? We didn't raise a fuss when you and Aaron started now did we?"
"That is totally different!"
"Like how... a month ago before we left you couldn't tell me his name. He's nice and cares about me. So just drop it."
"Just don't get into any trouble. It can wait til we get back home."
"Yes mom..." Stephanie says heading back to Tex waiting.
Tabitha, frustrated by her counterpart, heads back to where others were sleeping. She walks past Aaron heading back from a quick break. He whispers out to her "Hey what's up? Your sister giving you a hard time?"
Tabitha turns around startled and quickly regains composure. "Well.. when she does open up, she just tells me how bad the world is. I did get some information about the situation, but I still can hardly figure her out. Then on top of that we have Stephanie and Tex to deal with. Father says we can trust him and so does that other Tabitha.. And then it seems like Nick will hardly speak to me."
"You don't have to manage everything. If you try to hold everything together yourself, you'll drive yourself nuts." Aaron says. "Even the military won't try traveling in an area like this in weather this bad. So we have some time to take stock and rest before we.. " CRACK! As he speaks a lightning strike hits maybe a hundred feet away. He is quickly shoved to the ground by Tabitha.
Tabitha gets up to her knees waking up from a daze unaware of what she had done. "I... am sorry I do not know what came over me. Must be a reflex or something."
"Um.. no it's fine really. If it was an attack, it could save me." Aaron says brushing himself off. "Aahg crap.. " He grunts out looking at a cut on his hand. "Now stop before you start... this is nothing." He pulls water from the rain and rinses it off before wrapping it with a napkin he saved. "There.. see?"
"But I still injured you... Maybe she was right. Aw crap... nothing"
"Who that other Tabitha is right about what? Something is bothering you and you're really bad at hiding it for some reason. Usually you can lie to us straight faced."
"Ok. Well." Tabitha closes her eyes trying to calm down. "She seems to think... I should leave you alone. Because you deserve a human girl. I might just end up hurting you not just physically."
"Well... She's an idiot." Aaron says not thinking. Tabitha sits back and stares at him for a moment before he realizes. "Crap, not what I meant. I mean... You're not the same person anyway! You look the same and might have some similar memories. But she's made a totally different way. Dr. Falk even said that himself. You have a lot more in common with the Tabitha in Ufa, the kinder gentler one that helped us when we needed it. You know her life sucked too but she didn't turn into a jerk. And neither did you ok?"
"Well, nice save. Maybe that is what I like about you. You are almost as good of a liar as me... Kidding. It is hard for me to separate myself from her though. We are almost in every way identical. When she says something, it feels like a thought I have myself since our reasoning is the same. I need to keep that in mind. We are not the same person. Sorry Aaron."
"Ok, and besides. I'm not concerned about having a 'normal human girl'. I already knew mostly what you are before. And it wouldn't matter. I could pick you out from a room of dozens of identical looking versions just by asking you a few simple questons."
"And what would that be Sherlock..."
"It's a secret."
---------
"Fine, keep your secrets." Tabitha replies happily. By this time the rain had subsided for the most part and the skies not looking near as ominous. "The road will still be really bad after last night. I know most of us did not sleep well with all the leaks."
"True, and the nearest and most discrete way south is the back road... we might have no choice. If we stick around too long with that battle yesterday... it might be good to go in the mud just to avoid too many patrols."
They get up and follow to where most of the people were from their group and gathered their supplies. After packing everything and everyone in the vehicle they begin west to the small road they saw before. The road rapidly degrades into a grassy farm path where it promptly gets stuck.
"Gaw... you know we're not in a huge hurry, we should have waited." Stephanie groans out.
Tabitha gets out along with Tex who picks it up and pushes it from the rut in the road and pushes it onward. Tabitha glares away That is my job...
Stephanie lets Tex in "You should have just let Tex take care of it to begin with."
"Guess so..." Tabitha says crawling the vehicle through the muddy road. They make it to a treeline and eventually to the boarder. "Wow... it's a real hard defined boarder... " She says looking up and down the open pathway and confirming it with the GPS. They eventually make to a small village named Brezeznica "... Which way now?"
Dr. Falk (Tabitha's Father) points southeast "That road should take us to Gizycko.. a Rebel stronghold. The town is partially surrounded by water, so it has been easy to defend. Either way that should be our next stop. I will part there and can help lighten your load."
Tabitha drives southeast "Father, you are not a burden. We could continue on ..."
Tabitha-A stops her. "Right and this is real comfortable." She says from on top Nick. "We can manage fine.. You would only get stuck more overloading this vehicle anyway... not to mention this really sucks."
After some time down a country road they stop at Gmina Srokowo. Tabitha-A gets out at the gas station to get food. A man with his truck loaded up stops her and then she continues on inside. After a while she comes out with food for everyone.
"What was he saying?" Nick says "He seemed worried.."
"Yea... Ketrzyn is under attack I guess. He just left with all he could throw in his truck. So... we can not go south then east... we'll have to find another route. East would be a terrible idea too."
"Why's that?" Nick checks the map for alternate routes. "Our other option is skirting the lakes."
Dr. Falk adds "Because the main roads are ruined. That was where we got captured to begin with. Any main highway is watched by both sides. And the only identification we have is a couple rebel scarves. You have to understand, the further west we get. The more of a warzone it is."
"Point taken, sir. South it is, then lets sneak around Tabs" Nick says handing up the GPS. Shortly after they leave the village, they break southeast and follow some smaller roads until getting to a huge lake. They follow around the coast in and out of the forest until coming to Guty, a small village a few miles from Gizycko. They abruptly come to a checkpoint. "
! should we?" Tabitha looks back and shakes her head. They continue forward until a well dressed man comes up. She says in Polish "Is there a problem?
The man looks in the vehicle "You seem a bit overloaded. Where are you going?" Dr. Falk nods to Tabitha and she pulls her collar back to show the Rebel scarf. "Ah I see, then... Head south along this road and through the gate. By the time you get there I will radio your approach in. Do not try anything funny or suspicious. We have anti tank guns cited on you.
"You speak Polish too?" Aaron says looking back.
"Apparently." Tabitha says "How many languages do I know, Father?"
"More than enough to get through all of Europe." Dr. Falk says. "Beyond that I suppose you should avoid Africa..." They eventually reach the city walls like something out of a Fallout game. Large concrete slabs and razor wire tangled together with I-beams. The fortifications stretching from one lake to another.
They enter an initial fortified area and are quickly directed to exit the vehicle. Somebody approaches and says "You present yourselves as one of us, but what further proof can you offer.
"I believe Captain Galecki can vouch for us." Dr. Falk says. "We left here only a few days ago."
"Oh I am sorry Doctor. I had not noticed. Please." The guard says motioning to the motor pool where two armored cars drive up. "They will escort you to the base. Please stay close on your way. Your comrades are at Hotel Red."
"This used to be like a resort or something huh." Stephanie says looking at the restaurants and boat docks they passed on the way there.After a few minutes snaking through wooded area they come to a few taller hotels. They stop and get out looking around. After a few minutes some familiar faces of their loved ones come from the main entrance.
"But it took us weeks to get where we are... how did you get further?!" Tabitha says "It just makes no sense."
Dr. Falk explains "Well I managed to acquire a small aircraft and we made it most of the way here. We posed as a regular flight for the military which worked well. The problem was we knew we could never get this many beyond the front lines. The goal was simply safety. This city has been well fortified for a long time, I knew it would be safe."
Tabitha noticed Nick running to Jenna and his parents. A few of the other parents were pointing out the second Tabitha as well. The others of the group went to separate areas to visit with their parents. Tabitha started off toward Aaron and was grabbed up by Tabitha-A "What... I never even met his parents."
"They know already.. Well, about me and you at least." Tabitha-A says. "They are quite traditional. Why do you think I tried to stop you to begin with."
"You could have mentioned it... but it does not change anything. This is how we feel." Tabitha replies she takes away the hand Tabitha-A had on her "I do not know what happened to you, but you have to move on." She walks on and Tabitha-A moves back to where Dr. Falk was talking to the Rebel Officers.
Aaron's parents were talking with him and noticed Tabitha approaching. His mother looks up and says "Wait you mean her? Wait. Isn't she.. like the other one? Come now Aaron, surely ...
"A nice human girl.." Tabitha says interrupting the thought.
Aaron turns startled "Tabitha?! I never even.. "
"They know already the second they saw me. You know they already met my sister."
Both his parents nod and his father continues. "Yes we know she's not a regular human so to speak, son. And that other one ... "
"They're nothing alike! You can see that already right?" Aaron argues "All that matters is I like her."
"Yes I can see that. But you have to think of your future. How far are you going to take this? It's not like you could start a family. We're just saying maybe you should just wait... no offense um... Tabitha is it?"
"Yes, sir." Tabitha says trying to avoid showing her frustration. Her mind kept going between what Tabitha-A said and accidentally says aloud "I do not care." All of them look over at her confused as she catches what she said. "What I mean is... I do not care about any of that. Aaron came to me. I never thought I would care about anyone other than... Father... But I can." What do I say they are looking at me... I said too much already. I look like an idiot. They know I am not a real person.. not even a real person... Her thoughts begin to overwhelm her as they sit staring at her. She turns and runs down the road into an over grown park. She sits at a concrete eating area to try and regather her thoughts. God... that is so unlike me. I just flipped out and ran... why did I not just make something up like I usually do?! She sits alone for a while until Aaron comes by.
"There you are..." Aaron says and sits across from her. "I guess I should have mentioned my parents were pretty religious. I mean... we go to the same church but you never really noticed me. We mostly went to the later service. Well they did, I never went that much."
"I am just a toaster to them! Like my thoughts do not matter! Even the priest said I have a soul. I feel and dream like anyone. It is not fair! I did not choose to be made this way!!" Tabitha says slamming her hands flat on the table.
----
The sun had begun to set by this time with the sky turning a deep red. Aaron gets up and sits next to Tabitha with an arm around her. "I know you never chose it. But we have to make the best out of our lives. It's the choices that make up who you are, not just the composition of your body."
Tabitha stands up and gives Aaron a brief kiss on the forehead. "I know. Thank you for reminding me." She stretches her arms looking at the sunset. She sighs and says "I bet you remember more yellow sunsets when you were little. All the bombs... That is my guess. The dust in the upper atmosphere..."
"Kind of takes the beauty out of it..." Aaron says leaning forward on the table. "Dr. Falk was talking about how screwed up the world is earlier.. But then again, if the world wasn't so screwed up we would never have met."
"I suppose I would never even exist without a screwed up world. A peaceful world never really needs artificial spies. What would I be then... would I have been born human, some android maid?"
"Well, you as a maid is a funny concept... but who knows. Alternate universes are a bit too much to think about. We have enough problems dealing with the one right? So lets just worry about this one for now." Aaron says. He heads back with her to the hotel where everyone was staying.
Day 24, Thursday cloudy
Tabitha gets up and looks around realizing they actually had a decent place to sleep for a change. The room is eerily quiet as she walks over the old carpeted concrete floors. Some of the old amenities were still there from when the place was more active. Dirty coffee pots and a dusty phone along with an old flatscreen tv. She turns it on and it autoscans finding nothing but a closed network for the town. It scrolls through information on food handouts and meeting times. "These people are rather organized huh. A fort like this has held for a long time... All this stuff has basically been untouched since the war started. I wonder why... the PAC never bothered to take it. If they can hold against the world, why is this place special? Why are there so many of these fortress cities?..."
She puts on her jacket and heads to the lobby finding Nick up preparing an early breakfast with items from the ration box. He looks up and says "Oh Tab, hey I'm just getting something to eat a little early. You might as well join me. Couldn't sleep too well for some reason."
Tabitha checks her watch seeing it was 4am. "Oh I had not even realized it was this early. I hope everyone sleeps well though. What do you have anyway?"
"Uh... Looks like .... some kind of spicy vegetarian pasta with fake meat and here's a processed meat patty with imitation sauce of some kind." They take and eat them and Aaron asks "I overheard. Well the part before you ran off. Sorry that some people aren't that accepting of new ideas. They might grow to like you more when things calm down and get to know you."
"Yea but what if you found out Jenna was one of me or something. How would your parents react?"
"Probably the same really. Uncertain and a little weirded out. As for me, I guess it depends if she hid it on purpose or never knew or what... You told us soon as you found out as I recall." He goes through more of the meal pack and continues. "Jen is usually honest with me I think. And you know? She found out she had an ability too. It's not much right now. She's practicing to control light but she wants to stay and help protect our parents."
"Sounds like a tough ability to handle. Not that I would really know how hard it is eheheh" Tabitha laughs it off picking through the meal as they talk.
"Honestly, I was a bit jealous that you had Aaron the whole time while Jen was somewhere else. It had me feeling down for a while, but I guess I'm a bit re-energized now."
"Well that is good, I suppose..." Tabitha trails off
"Ok so maybe we haven't talked a lot lately, but I can still tell when something's bothering you. And it started about as soon as that sister of yours showed up. She said something."
"You read me far too well." Tabitha says she pulls at a bag of raisins and breaks them over the table. She reluctantly picks them up one at a time occasionally playing with them. "She seems to think like his parents. That it is unnatural for us to be together. I can agree with some of it, but that does not make me feel better about anything. I am afraid that if we continue, it may just end in tragedy."
"Because.... running away from an evil army in a .... nuclear war torn world years in the future from the time we lived in and thousands of miles from our true home isn't a tragedy? Well anyway, what I mean is. Make the best out of what we have. Don't just... freakin get mopey because you don't know if it'll work out. Otherwise you're just setting up for disaster." Nick takes a few of the raisins. "Besides. It is unnatural. But that never changes how you feel. OR the fact you feel to begin with."
"I suppose so.. Thank you. I can not say I am entirely relieved, but it is something to think about... I wish the priest from Myron was here... He was nice to talk to."
"..... uh yea well. He is. Dr. Falk took him along but he was hurt in the travel. They said he would be fine last night. But you should see him before we go for sure."
--------------
Tabitha walks outside the hotel and is greeted by the frosty morning air. She keeps walking until finding herself near the shoreline of the lake. "Damn it is still far too early to do anything... I almost wish we could stay here." She says to herself leaning on a ledge over looking the lake. The lake itself is littered with partially sunken sailboats and obstacles. She takes a deep breath and holds for a few moments to relax. As she does, she hears the distinct sound of footsteps on wet ground and dripping splashes. Somebody is here...
She crouches down by the wall listening to the footsteps. At least... four... no wait there are more further down. She looks down the shoreline and sees small boats moving in silently. God no! ... special forces? An attack! She turns and begins sprinting full speed toward the hotel. One of the invaders fires a burst clipping her arm with one of the shots. "Aaag... dammit..." She screams out stumbling over.
Aaron runs out. "Tabitha? What the hell?!" He notices the wound on her arm and speeds out to bring her in to the hotel. "Wait here I will get the others fast. You can manage right?" She nods her head and he vanishes. A minute later the others come running down.
"Dammit I knew this was too good to be true!" Stephanie says trailing Aaron.
"Tabitha!" Aaron stops and tries to help her.
"I will be fine, Aaron. We have little time! There are some kind of soldiers landing on the shore! GO. I will join you shortly." Tabitha says. Aaron hands her guns off and continues. She pulls a table cloth out and rips it to form a bandage. She pulls it tight and begins to hear more gunshots. Please be safe... Dammit this hurts. She runs to a street corner and hits the base alarm. This will at least get their defenses ready. But we have to stop them. With my arm screwed up I can only use one.
She sprints closer to where the group was headed and gets closer as more gunshots ring off.
Nick turns "Damn Tab you never said they were super soldiers! We got two of them, but there are still 6 others we KNOW of here. One of them seems to regenerate though... another can throw fireballs.... The other four kept on going. Aaron can destroy them, but we can never seem to spot him."
"I did not know!" Tabitha replies. She checks over the wall with a mirror. She sees a flash before a fireball flies from below the dock close to their location. "There! By the blue boat. Lets go." Nick picks her up and runs over letting her jump off over the boat as he goes around the other side. He draws his rifle quickly shooting one several times knocking him back. The enemy generates a fireball in his hand. "Not the body! They have armor!" She yells out shooting through the enemy's hand and then a second shot in the back of the neck. The other soldier fires from a distance narrowly missing. Tabitha fires a hail of shots quickly over. The enemy is hit but seems to ignore it.
"See? He just takes it likes it's nothing!"
"Is your speed regenerated yet?"
"No, I did more than I thought I could already..."
Tabitha signals to Stephanie and Aaron. She looks over and sees the downed trees the enemy is hiding behind and notices a car fly by and smash into the area. Looking back again she sees Tex dusting off his hands. "Christ, Tex... " She runs over quickly to where the enemy was and it gets up looking around for his gun. Tabitha hits him with her gun once and fires hitting him repeatedly ignoring it. She sees the shots regenerating almost as fast as she can shoot. The gun clicks and the enemy draws a knife as she pulls her other revolver quickly unloading the rounds at his face seemingly doing nothing. Oh no.. nothing works! Nothing works on this thing! The enemy staggers briefly and then charges her with the knife.
"Comin through!! Free headaches!" Tex yells out he shoves Tabitha to the side quickly and with his other hand swings a long section of iron bar brutally smashing the enemy. "Come back from that pard... "
Tabitha gets up holding her injured arm. "Well that is two of them... We should track the others."
"Over there!" Aaron points out north of them past a fenced in warehouse area leading to the main hall. Tex and Tabitha jump the fence carrying the other three and continue pursuit. Two of the enemy stops to cover their rear. "Dammit these guys know their stuff!" He says gathering a puddle and shooting it like an arrow into one of the enemies.
The second fires bursts over at them and lobs a grenade. Nick uses his speed to quickly aim at the grenade. With the time rate slowed he fires one shot into the grenade causing it to blow up mid air and noticing the enemy is firing shots directly at him. The fragments crawl toward him as the enemy shots approach. Nick fires at the bullets deflecting them away in time to hide. "Dammit!... he's fast like me. I barely made that..."
Tabitha looks over "Tex, throw that street divider. It will force the enemy to react to it. If the enemy could zip here like Nick, he would have. These guys are not messing around. Aaron. The enemy will dodge the thing some way. Can you do something like a shotgun?" Aaron nods. Quickly, Tex picks up the divider and launches it over as Aaron holds the highly compressed water ball ready. The enemy slides adeptly under the divider and Aaron fires the ball which divides into beams striking the enemy.
They all run up together with Tabitha firing the finishing shot. Tex is coming in handy, especially with my arm screwed up. Still four more. Fire... speed... a regenerator... no idea on this other one. They continue chasing the last four through the warehouse area approaching the hotels. They chase between two tall apartment buildings boarded up and all four of the enemies turn and hold. "Damn this looks bad..."
Two of the enemy charge them. As they do, ice begins to crystalize around their armor. Tabitha calls out "Do not let them touch you!" The other two provide cover fire keeping them partially pinned behind some cars as the enemy runs in. Tabitha fires at the approaching enemies but the shots are absorbed by the hard ice. She looks at Stephanie who nods back.
Stephanie stands up with her slingshot and fires a glowing red bearing into the enemy taking the first one out. Bullets bounce off her as the second approaches. She swings a punch at him which he blocks with his forearm. A cloud of steam explodes off them both. Stephanie gets up and sees her hand completely cooled off. "Well crap!" The enemy staggers back with his ice armor broken and regenerating. "Do it now Nick!" She says swinging her leg in kicking the enemy in the side with the same effect. Nick quick-aims a shot between the armor plates just before she makes contact and fires through the steam. The enemy falls down motionless.
"Elemental mostly... These were Myron students." Tabitha mutters. "We have no idea what the last two can do though. Be cautious!" As she says that a single shot rings out piercing the car and hitting her in the side. She falls and Nick speeds her back to a brick pile. "He saw me... through the car... " She says holding the wound. Nick nods and says something she could barely hear. But me over all of them... perhaps my structure. He must see me easier. He was the one that hit me before.
Gunshots continue as Tabitha sits trying to stay awake. She crawls up the brick pile trying to look back. She sees the others taking cover with Nick yelling to them making quick bursts of speed. Shortly after, spotlights come on and a speaker goes off in Russian.
"Enemy intruders. We have you surrounded. Lay down your arms and make no movements." Immediately the enemy on the right lifts off the ground and attempts to fly away but a loud shot blasts and destroys him. Resistance forces move in and cuff the remaining enemy.
The group stands up dropping their weapons with the exception of Tabitha. Nick talks to one of the Resistance soldiers and points over to Tabitha. A few moments later they carry her out on a stretcher.
~~~~~~~~
Tabitha looks around seeing some larger than normal furniture. She walks around looking at everything intently. "Is this some kind of a joke? Maybe like a theme park?" She walks out of the room into a long hallway. ... Why is everything jumbo scale. This is a little elaborate. Either that or I... She stops and looks at her small strangely proportioned hands and jogs to something reflective. "I look like a freaking six year old! What in the hell?!"
"Tabitha! What are you doing?" A female voice calls out and picks her up and takes her down the hallway.
Tabitha looks back seeing the woman from the picture her Father had. "Mother?"
"Yes, Tabitha? You know you should stay where we leave you. If anything happened to you, we would be in a lot of trouble."
"No, this is a dream. I am all grown up now. It has to be a dream."
"Stop the nonsense... You have grown, significantly, but you are not complete." They enter a lobby and Tabitha is set into a chair. "John... Tabitha was wandering again. We must do something. It simply is just too much to deal with on top of my research."
A younger Dr. Falk sets his hand on her shoulder. "We knew this would be difficult. It is a new stage in android technology. It is only natural she would be curious like a regular child."
"Uff... YES I am aware of that! Honestly.. she is capable of so much more."
Tabitha gets up and grabs a pen. Fine I will prove it! She attempts to write her name for some reason on the first piece of paper she finds. The end result is a barely legible scribble.
"Holy
John... are you kidding me!?" The woman snatches the paper away. "My proposal form is royally scribbled up now! Couldn't we just... program her like an adult. It would make the mission easier anyway.""Marta, please. I think you might be overreacting. The form can be remade. I fear reprogramming her may be risky... "
"We don't need a child. We just need something that looks and grows like a child. We have that now obviously. The mental part is a breakthrough in AI, but for the mission you KNOW we can't bring that in. We need something else." Marta says pacing.
"Yes, I understand. Perhaps in a more peaceful time this model would be more applicable."
Tabitha could hardly believe what she was hearing. She is... nothing like I imagined! Mother why did you not want me! I hate you! "I hate you!" Tabitha screams out and runs at high speed down the hallway with Dr. Falk and Marta in hot pursuit.
"Dammit she's fast!" Marta says sprinting down and catching up quickly.
I hate being here. Why did I see this only to find out she is so horrible! Is this some memory of mine hidden away!? She runs into a room with electrical boxes. Fine then... if it is a dream or a memory I want out! I can not take this anymore She pulls off a panel showing the wiring and pulls one of the high voltage wires immediately sending a high current through her.
She blacks out and sits up
~~~
The room is burnt around her. She looks at her hands in hopes of being out of the nightmare only to see the charred hands of a child. "No! It did not work! Why... why am I still here!?"
"Oh lord no! Tabitha what have you done?!" Dr. Falk calls behind her.
Tabitha looks up at him and traces his eyes to the floor behind her where Marta laid flat burned on her hands badly. She tried to save me at the last minute. I killed her. "Father... I am sorry. I ... Father... .... Father I... Father" Her vision began to static up and motor control slowed she sits unable to breath and blacks out.
~~~~~~~~
Tabitha sits up quickly gasping for air and the sharp pain in her side screaming at her to lay back down. "Ah damn what ... where " She looks around seeing a somewhat clean hospital room. She looks around seeing Aaron freaked completely out by her sudden awakening. "Oh Aaron.. I must be back in reality then. And you are a boy still... that is a relief."
"The.. hell? You had another crazy dream I take it. Well.. they got the bullet out and said you will be fine. You missed your birthday though." Aaron says
------- Day 25 Friday clear skies
Tabitha explains the dream and Aaron listens intently. "I know it was just a dream so but it seemed so real."
"That is because it is real." Dr. Falk says coming in with a meal for her. "I heard what you said. More or less that is exactly how it happened I am sad to say. Marta tried to pull you back before you grabbed the wires but you were too strong. The high voltage lines arced through you both and yes she died then. The shock sent you into a shutdown as well. That was when I stored you away and created the Tabitha with us. That was probably... 24 years ago."
"Dang you're old for a highschooler Tabitha." Aaron jokes.
Tabitha glares at him. "Thank you, Aaron."
"Try not to beat yourself up. You were young and did nothing on purpose. It just happened." Dr. Falk says before he leaves.
---
"Damn... I don't know what to say." Aaron says scratching his head. "It's interesting how in the dream.. you reasoned like a child. Even though your motives were slightly different, it had the same result."
"Yes, I suppose so. When I compare the dream to the real memory I rediscovered; there are differences, but the outcome is the same. After that there is really nothing until my childhood in Myron though. That must have been after Sister came in. I guess, I am the oldest technically." Tabitha leans over trying to reach Aaron. "Aah! crap!... this stupid thing hurts"
"Yea stop trying to get up." Aaron says bringing the food tray. "I'm sorry your Mother didn't turn out to be like you imagined. Sometime we build images of people that can be too great to live up to. He's right though... It wasn't your fault. Kids do things that don't make sense. If you were in the same situation today.. we know it wouldn't go the same."
"I know... but reliving it. I said I hated her... it was the last thing Father heard me say to my own Mother. Maybe she was not how I expected. But I can see her influence on Sister and myself. So she does live on in some way." Tabitha says poking at the meal.
"Anyway... they were interrogating the guy that shot you. He has some kind of xray vision ability. Their mission was to infiltrate the base and take the base's defensive warheads. That's how this place stays safe. They have a set of short range nuclear rockets. They know that if they launch those then the NATO forces will retaliate in full force. Something like that. So you saved all these people. Well we all did right?"
"I keep dying and coming back. There must be a reason... So is the priest still here somewhere?"
---
"Well... yea he's like in the next room. I can help you there soon as you're done eating" Aaron says struggling to get a wheelchair out not realizing the wheel was locked until too late. "Well, you are hard to kill too... errr anyway let me help you" He helps her into the chair and wheels her to the next room.
Tabitha looks back "I can handle it from here. I could use some privacy anyway." She creeps the chair in and is quickly greeted by the priest, Father Windsday.
"Tabitha dear! I heard you had made it this far. Good to see you alright after all this. I guess all this came as more of a shock to me than you, but I needn't explain that all. My leg is busted still, I can get about but... is what it is."
Tabitha explains things about what has happened and her dream. (instead of writing something inspirational I think I might leave it to your imagination. Besides, it's confidential what somebody says to a priest! Maybe if I went further with this I'd do more but for now it's just a mystery)
Father Windsday takes her hand and whispers a small blessing and then says "I will continue praying for your success my dear child. Please be more careful though. Is this the boy?"
Aaron was waiting on the other end of the hallway partly sleeping. "Oh you're done? Er, yes Father I am I... think?" The priest just nods and waves as Aaron wheels her away to her room. He turns the TV on to the community station showing some talk show in Polish. "Well... at least you can understand it.. Dr. Falk said it may take a day or so for you to be fully back up. As long as we take it easy we can head out tomorrow he said."
"Good to know." Tabitha replies happily. "... Well the wounds still hurt, but at least I feel better about other things. I can not change the past, after all. It still hurts to think about it. My memories are so vivid and unlocking this one brought back many others from my early life... Mother just... was never who I thought she was. I wanted to make her happy, but she was always focused on her research and work. And some of my memories are really from my Sisters."
"Well as long as you know who you are. That's what matters. You have other people's memories, but it hasn't changed you all this time. And I'll always be there for you to help keep you straight." Aaron says bored to death by the very informative foreign talk show.
--
After a while Stephanie walks in. "Wow you're still alive huh. Ah well anyway, Dr. Falk wants you in the main hall Tabby"
Aaron shrugs and helps Tabitha to the main hall. They move down the disrepaired hallways coming to the doors opening to reveal everyone waiting with a simple cake.
"Ok.. well not really. We figured we should do something since you kinda saved us. Even if it was by chance. And you've always been there for us even if it gets annoying sometime... well anyway" Stephanie finishes and shows off the cake.
"It's actually pretty good." Nick says taking a box from his pocket. "This is from all of us. We carved all our names into a little brass gear we found and made a pendant out of it."
Tabitha looks at it closely "You guys have a strange sense of humor. But I get it. Thank you." They all gather and share the cake and other random snacks they managed to gather. The 'party' continues on for a while with family members sharing stories most of the day.
Tabitha manages to sneak off in the wheelchair, somehow, into the old pool room. The area around the pool was surprisingly clean with clear water. She lowers herself out of the chair with her feet in the cold water.
"They gave you a birthday party and not me?" Tabitha-A says from behind her.
"AAh! Wel... I " Tabitha says surprised, she leans forward looking into the water/
"Relax, I told them to leave me alone anyway. I never really liked birthdays. To me it was just never part of the mission." Tabitha-A Sits next to her. "Ok I guess I figured you were a wimp or something. But you really did well trying to protect this town... And I admit, I resented you for having a normal life. But it is funny. Turns out neither of us really had a childhood since you were born in the lab."
"Funny huh. People seem to have a twisted sense of humor today. I take it you know about everything then." Tabitha says lifting her feet out of the water briefly.
"Yes, Dr. Falk filled me in when I overheard some of your story. Honestly, I had little attachment to Dr. Marta Falk... but as I have no memory of her... what was she like?"
"Ironically, A lot like you. Blunt and impatient. Passionate about her work mostly and the success of the mission."
"Strangely comforting huh... " Tabitha-A says standing up. "Maybe I underestimated Marta. Well, anyway, I doubt you would swim well with those holes in you. I think I will pass on that idea..." She walks out having left an envelope on the ground.
Tabitha picks it up and opens it finding a copy of the picture Father had of Marta Falk. Tabitha sighs and whispers. "Thank you, Sister."
--------
She glances at the chair and sighs giving up on trying to get back in for now. Aaron eventually happens on her. "I wondered where you went. Going for a swim?"
"Well no. Not really. Not with how bad my arm feels." Tabitha says kicking her feet slowly through the water.
"Why not just do that thing.. you know the arm removal button?"
"That is more for full arm replacement. It would interfere with the self-repair mechanism or something. Hurts like hell though. The repairs make me feel like crap."
"I can imagine. But you will be up and good soon enough. A shot like that on any of us and who knows." Aaron kicks off his shoes and promptly jumps in. "Jesus H Christ this is freezing!"
Stephanie runs in from the main hall and jumps in. "I can solve that!" She leaps through the air toward the center of the pool. She splashes down and heats up her body boiling the water in her immediate area. "How's that?"
Tabitha sarcastically smiles and taunts "You are so useful to have around." She gently lowers herself into the pool. The water a comfortable warm easing the pain from the wounds. "This is actually rather nice. I can actually move somewhat freely."
Nick speed runs to the center of the pool and drops into the pool as well. "Ok that's what I thought. Everyone here huh? Tabitha? Should you be swimming in your condition?"
"I am fine, really. Though we will need to dry our clothes..." Tabitha replies.
"Well.. yea but it's not like we have swimsuits. It would be a waste to not exploit this opportunity before we journey off again." Stephanie says "Besides...... I can dry off myself... ha."
"So can I!" Aaron says pulling up a ball of water and dropping it on Stephanie's head. They continue their miniature battle that Tabitha tries to avoid. Eventually, they all get tired of it and try to dry off. Stephanie radiates heat and tries to help dry people off. Aaron hangs his shirt up next to Nick's and notices Tabitha red faced and looking away. "Really? You still get embarrassed like that? That's adorable."
"Adorable, Oh!... shut up!" Tabitha retorts from the side of the pool. She tries to hide her face, "It was a lot easier in the water. We could have just dried off in our rooms too."
"That woulda taken forever for some of you... Well mostly only you." Stephanie says glowing gently. "I seem to be perfectly fine."
---
They walk out with Tabitha in tow around dinner time to get something to eat. They nitpick through the MRE box to pick the good ones out.
Aaron asks "So will you be up for tomorrow?"
"I should be. I feel a bit drained, but aside from that I do feel a lot better. I might have to take it easy for a while, but I will be able to move." Tabitha replies having immediately went for the muffin-bread desert first. "I really am beat though. If we head out again tomorrow I want to be ready for it."
"Not a problem." Nick says and waves her on.
Tabitha wheels herself to her room and slumps onto the bed. What a day.. I wish we could just stay here. All those people depending on us though... I wish things were simpler. Before she even realizes it, she drifts off to sleep.
------Day 26 Saturday Clear skies
Tabitha throws her stuff together and heads into the lobby. She looks out and at her watch as she approaches people waiting. "Sorry I suppose I overslept. Already 9?"
"Later than we wanted to leave, but it's fine actually because we barely got the car packed." Aaron says. He continues. "At least you can move around on your own now."
"Yea, it seems to be on the mend at least. It still hurts a lot, but I will be fine." Tabitha says finding her way to the old breakfast counter. She peeks around the corner seeing Tabitha-A sitting in the lobby watching the morning report. "Sister, I are you.. "
Tabitha is quickly interrupted by Tabitha-A "Not going? Sorry no. Much as we could catch up and be a family or ... something. I think it would be best if I remained here. I barely survived our last attempt on Salem. And now with Dr. Falk here. I need to make sure he stays safe. OK! yea I do care. You think you are the only one allowed to feel anything?"
"Well, no. But I know with you here he will be safe."
"Thanks.. Try not to die Tabitha." Tabitha-A says and waves as Tabitha heads back out.
As they pack their new supplies into the vehicle Dr. Falk approaches. He hands Tabitha a small drive. "This contains areas we know have fighting at last we knew. It may not be completely up to date, but it was the best we could do. Be careful Tabitha. I may not show it well. But I do care about you."
"Yes, Father. I know." Tabitha says and grabs around and embraces him. "I will miss you. Please take care of Sister as well."
He nods gently and steps back. They wave again as they get in the car and drive out past the main gate. Tabitha sits in the front passenger seat instead of driving and plugs the drive Dr. Falk gave her into her new watch. The watch is a more durable combat model than her previous simple one.
"Well... what's our course?" Stephanie says as they drive on.
"Looks like anything near the coastline is under constant attack. We need to get south and get out of this lake infested area. It really limits our options. They probably have patrols at all the cities by the lakes. We should try to get to Kolno 60 miles south of us. If we can get out there, we will have more freedom to sneak through the countryside rather than taking main roads between lakes... West is just full of obstacles."
They continue along the lake shore road for a few miles and cut east through a forested road. The drive is dull and plain with almost no traffic aside from some very local people time to time. Aaron looks back at a horse drawn cart. "... Wow. We're the only ones out here?"
"Yea... that makes it pretty hard to hide if there's only one car on the move though." Nick points out. They decide to avoid Okartowo and travel through a small road north around the lake and continue their south direction. They stop several miles north of Pisz for lunch. After rounding a turn the edge of the forest opens to show a small town about 20,000 people in size but far quieter than a town normally.
"This place is too flat to see far... That dead silence is a bit too ominous. I say we eat and avoid the town." Nick says looking cautiously through the binoculars. "There is a little suburb to the right there.. we can cut through it and avoid the main road. In the meantime.." He pulls up a box of instant mac and cheese. "These things are amazing." He sets one down on a rock and pulls a ripcord from the bottom. It makes a muffled pop sound. A few seconds later it fizzes and steam rises from the bottom.
"Ok I didn't believe you at first, that is kind of amazing.." Stephanie picks it up. "Yea it's pretty dang hot. I can do this kinda thing too."
"Yea an' I don't even need ta pull her ripcord." Tex interjects poking Stephanie. She laughs and pushes him off.
"Well, these are convenient. And not bad either." Tabitha finishes hers off quickly and tosses it aside. "Or I guess we could linger in a creepy quiet city."
Stephanie rolls her eyes "Right, I get it. Leeets go then" She cheers sarcastically and gets up. She gets in the drivers seat and they drive off turning through the small residential area. They round a corner and she looks left to see down the main road a large checkpoint with armored vehicles. "Jesus! H! .." And drives faster into the residential area. A military offroad vehicle turns and drives toward them picking up speed. "Are you kidding me! Damn! what now?"
"Keep driving!" Nick says grabbing his rifle from the back. "Worst case scenario if we can't lose em we'll take em out. They're certainly a Russian patrol."
They speed through the old dirt road onto a blacktop highway and make a sharp turn. "Damn...well now we're right where they want us huh." Stephanie growls and blasts down the road west. A half mile down the road they come to a small town and she makes a quick left turning south down a narrow country road.
Tabitha slams her bad arm into the door during the turn, "Damn! That hurt! Keep driving it will be fine. Aaron.. We need you to get a steam cloud ready soon. Wait until we reach a turnoff and then shoot it down the road so it appears as though we turned off."
"Right. On it." Aaron replies. He opens the window with a canteen in hand. They reach a railroad and he launches it out the window creating a trail of steam and dust into the air making it look like a vehicle turned off to the west. "Damn it was a rail crossing?... Good enough I guess."
"... Yea well it will slow them down at least and get us out of trouble. Let us see at least." Tabitha looks back through the mirror. They continue driving a mile or so through a few more villages with the road getting progressively worse. "Ok well slow down. I think we lost em now. Damn that was close." She rubs her arm resting her head on the window. "Finally... some pavement." She sighs as they find a paved road and continue past corn fields and more dirt road sections.
After an hour or so of driving they enter the town of Myszyniec. "Crap... crap crap" Stephanie says urgently.
Nick wakes up and looks around "What! Another ambush?"
"No! I... dammit. Shut up. I just need to... you know. Don't any of these stupid little towns have a gas station!? A Restaurant! Finally!" Stephanie says and comes to a quick stop and turns in abruptly. She gets up not even thinking and jogs toward the door.
"What... Oh hell!" Nick says and quickly runs out to stop her. He grabs her arm and says "Um.. they speak Polish." Stephanie looks at him as it sinks in they wait for Tabitha to lead them in.
---
Tabitha follows Stephanie in to the restroom. "We barely made any progress today.. We might as well eat here and save our rations for when we need it."
"Right, you're as sick of those things as I am." Stephanie replies, "Don't need to admit it, but it makes sense anyway. Besides, we don't know when the next time we will find places to eat."
They jog out and get the guys waiting in the vehicle and bring them in. The owners were more than happy to serve them seemingly not having many customers at the time. A large woman comes to the table and sets down five very large pint beer glasses. Each of the group looks at each other wondering.
Tabitha whispers "Just drink it, they are really going out of their way here. Worst case you all will get drunk and I will be able to drive instead... I doubt it would effect me." She says and happily drinks the cold lager and thanking the owners as the two walk out.
"Finally some privacy. We're gonna have to tip them.. I kind of feel sorry for these places." Aaron says "It's not their fault all this is going on."
"I suppose so. We do need to be careful with our money though." Nick says. He finishes his meal having mostly drank water the whole time. He looks and sees Tabitha finished her pint glass. "Geez really? Well take mine if you're that thirsty." At which point she quietly grabs it and pours it in her own. Stephanie and Aaron follow suit and gives it to her as well.
Tex just shrugs it off and finishes his off without delay. "Well... it ain't bad. Think we should get goin since everyone's about finished?"
"Yea. Hey Tabby you've been kinda quiet." Stephanie says poking her. Tabitha falls face forward into the table and starts laughing. "... what the hell? Won't effect you huh. She's drunk off her ass."
"Well that's wonderful. The one of us that speaks Polish can't stand." Nick says looking at the bill. He tries to decipher it. "Ok well... it says a number, so.... yea. I guess that much in their currency?"
Tabitha slumps up and looks at it. She squints at the bill "... sure. Sounds about right. 200 Zloty plus fifteen percent ... something like 300"
"And her math is terrible." Aaron says helping her up. They help Tabitha out and Nick goes to the register to pay. The owners happily shake Nick's hands and wave them on.
"No no! No.... We can do another round I think. They were nice people!" Tabitha whines and lightly struggles. They sit her down in the front passenger seat and start south. The others talk in weird muffled voices while they drive. She shakes her head making her feel even more dizzy than before. "Are we moving? Where are we even... going... Back to Myron?"
"Um... no? God she's
now. Is there anything we can do to shut her up?" Stephanie says frustrated trying to make it through town."HEY!" Tabitha responds far too loudly "I will have you know... " She trails off "Um. I am good at shooter games... Do we have any chips?"
"Well no they take too much space." Nick responds he leans forward to say quietly "Hey at least she's not a mean drunk right?"
Tabitha could no longer hear what they were saying Damn am I that out of it? I messed up... This is humiliating. Any time I open my mouth I say something stupid. What if I broke something!? Like if I get stuck like this! She starts to tear up "Am I going to be... like this forever!?" Everyone bursts out laughing. "Guys no! I am serious."
"Tabitha dear, you had a little much to drink. You'll be fine. Looks like you just over estimated your superhuman android abilities." Aaron says wiping his eyes from laughing too much. "Ok so... where are we anyway?" He says looking at the thick forest around them. The car pulls off the road into a clearing and into the treeline for a distance until the road was no longer visible.
"Ok I took a wrong turn, but... the sun is setting soon and we need to set up camp for the night." Stephanie says getting out of the car and starting to unpack. Tabitha stumbles out and finds a tree to sit against. "Yea you can hold that tree up for a while."
Tabitha glares and leans back trying to think of something clever to retort but instead drifts off to sleep.
----Day 27 Sunday Partly Cloudy
Tabitha wakes up in the dark. What the hell? I can not see anything?? Did I go blind? She reaches out and touches a nylon wall. "A tent? When did we..." She feels the edge and opens a zipper to have a breeze of cold Polish night air creep in. She looks around and sees the forest "Wow how did I even get here... " She crawls backwards back into the tent and pokes something with her foot. Turning around to grab at it, it recoils and somebody gets up.
Aaron speaks up from the far end "Oh, Tabitha it's just you. Feeling better?"
"Yes but... what are we doing here? Nothing happened right? We didn't.. Did we... um."
"Uh what? Nothing happened! I just stayed to keep an eye on you since you seemed pretty out of it. You just kind of conked out and went to sleep. Stephanie was a little fed up with how you were acting so I had to keep watch."
"I was that bad... I had hoped it was a dream." Tabitha says and checks her watch "2am... " She mumbles holding her aching head. "Well, sorry for worrying you. I am really tired." After the last word she falls back to sleep quickly.
~~~
The sun shines through the seems on the tent and leaves a soft glow through the material. Tabitha opens the tent and crawls out onto the wet mossy ground. She leans on a tree looking for the sun only to see it was barely out in the first place. "It seemed so much brighter.... I could have sworn... ugh my head." She leans into the tent pulling her backpack out and rummaging for a granola bar. She notices Tex up and working out in a clearing. "You got up early too? My head was pounding so I..."
"Yep, soon as the sun rises I can't sleep worth a darn." Tex replies "First hangover huh. Well, you had me convinced you'd be fine. Figure I dunno much about uh.. machine folk or whatever. So who'm I to argue. A learnin experience right?"
"Sure, I will have to be more careful. I made a fool of myself. I guess alcohol effects even my non-organic body." Tabitha reluctantly says avoiding eye contact.
"Well, it's like they say. God works in mysterious ways. I always figured that if even if I was made like this against my will. There's a reason for it." Tex finds a pair of large rocks lifting them over his head. "So I use the power I got to help the world. Just cause some commie
did this doesn't mean I can't use it for good." "Right!" Tabitha agrees happily. "I never really heard you speak much. I had no idea."
"Honest, I figured you didn't like me like the other one of you didn't either so I left it alone. Say, you got any more of them" Tex points out the bar in her hand. Tabitha nods and tosses one to him. He looks behind her and sees the others getting up. "Well, guess it's time to pack up and get movin huh." They both head back to the camp and pack the tents in the car.
"Think you can handle driving today Tabby?" Stephanie says opening the door.
"Yea, sorry.. about yesterday. I honestly thought it would have no effect on me. I can drive today." Tabitha says taking the keys.
"Wait, that was your first time drinking?? Oh wow!" Stephanie laughs and climbs into the back seat. "It's a good thing we're on this trek then, otherwise you never would have got to live."
Tabitha gripped the wheel tighter. "Yea! I get it! I was a bit sheltered... " Stephanie shrugs and leans on the door as they keep driving. They pass through villages and miles of empty fields. After a couple hours they come in sight of Rypin to their west. Entering the town they see a huge building fallen down from an attack. They stop at a gas station to fuel up. She gets out and looks around. The area had signs of combat but not recent. The cracked roads and broken buildings mostly cleaned up with a few construction vehicles still cleaning downed buildings.
Aaron gets out and looks, "Guess we must be getting closer. It was nice traveling quietly for so long..."
"Yes, there must have been a large battle here within a few years. A small town like this is still cleaning up." Tabitha replies. They get back in the car and drive on past more bombed out buildings. Near the west end of town they come to a narrow pass through badly damaged buildings lined with traffic cones.
They reach a street corner and Stephanie yells out, "Holy **** TANK" The car swerves from the shock. "Wait what the h.... oh it's dead!"
Tabitha pulls over gasping. "Are you kidding me?!" That scared the hell out of me!" The tank was gutted and crashed into the building with a major hole in the front side. They continue down the road seeing more downed tanks and broken buildings. They pass a large brick church that managed to avoid most of the destruction. "Such a lovely church too. It was fortunate to avoid the battle.... How horrible!" She exclaims as they pass the massive graveyard. Many of the stones were either broken or shot up badly along with several craters.
"Tabitha! Slow down!" Nick says tapping her on the shoulder.
She lets her foot off the throttle, "I had not even... realized. But when I saw the graves desecrated!" Before they know it, they make it out of town. She keeps thinking back to the graveyard. "How horrible these people are... No respect for the dead."
"It'll be alright Tab." Aaron says from the passenger seat. "I won't let you die."
Tabitha glanced to the side shocked. She thought to herself for some time driving. Yes that is what I am worried about... death. I never want to die and I never want those around me to die. But the war is drawing nearer. They continue driving past fields and down country roads. "It is nice even some of these small roads are paved... We should be about 5 miles out from Torun. Wait what is that beeping?"
"... There is no beeping." Aaron says looking around the car.
"Wait, in my head!" Tabitha says slowing the car and turning off into a smaller road. "My watch, I mean, is sending me a signal." She pulls into a circle of abandoned houses and messes with the controls on her watch to activate the radio. She patches it in to the car radio with another cable.
The radio tunes in quickly with a rumbling sound. The people speaking in Russian sound out "Armor company B moving on the the north field bypassing Torun. Heat scans show civilian vehicles in the area..... The operation will proceed regardless.
"Anyone see anything? Where is it coming from?!" Nick says looking out he window.
Tabitha tries concentrating on the signal, "I believe to our North but I have little idea on distance."
"I have a good idea, about a mile!" Aaron says pointing out the train of dust rising from the field. A group of tanks charges on at cruising speed. "Wonder what operation they mean... Crap like this is going to get a lot more common. Man for cross country they're fast!" The group of tanks charges on northwest. "If they went north should we... keep going west toward the city?"
"No, we should cut south of the city. The tanks are headed north which means we went too far and are getting closer to the front. So we need to get further from the Northern coast where the fighting is more intense. Everyone is trying to flank each other there. But if we can find a thin part of the front to break through we can escape." Tabitha tries calculating out routes to travel.
"Yea but if there are rebel bases on this side... then there are probably spots of fighting even beyond the front... if there even is a front." Nick replies
They head west toward a bridge just before the main city. They continue on the main highway looking for a way off. They pass the broken offramp and drive down the 8 lane highway in massive disrepair. The path is littered with cars long since abandoned.
"Wait... before we turn back." Tabitha says continuing down the road longer. They come past the edge of a tree line and see a charred landscape devoid of life.
"A nuke?" Stephanie looks out and asks.
"Looks like it. Nothing to fight for here... I hate senseless violence." Tabitha says turning south. They circle around an onramp to the bridge and come to an abandoned tollgate. Tex gets out and makes short work of the fence before they drive over the bridge. Several miles later they turn down a country road and pull into the yard of a large abandoned estate. "Let us see if we can find some where to stretch and eat before continuing." They pull the car in to an open barn and enter a the large house.
------
The house had been abandoned for a while with dusty sheets covering the furniture. Stephanie flicks a switch with nothing happening. "Figures... but why would it." She shrugs and continues through the house to the top floor. "AAaaH!" She yells out. "Yugh I hate mice!"
Nick rubs his forehead. "Seriously?... anyway lets eat and get moving." He opens some cans for her to heat up while they eat by a window. "How are the airwaves Tabitha?"
Tabitha sits down, "Nothing major right now. I did notice more as we headed west though. It is faint, but I would say there is something to the west of here just beyond my reception range. Likely the town of Inowroclaw is the source."
"Yea but why not... go north to the coast?" Aaron says pointing at the map. "If the goodguys are fighting there, then wouldn't that mean we could meet them faster?"
"Yea but remember Kaliningrad? There were no troops on the ground." Nick points out. "It's possible we could reach the coast and then be smack in the middle of concentrated enemy forces. We really need to continue westward and break through the lines... somehow. All these rivers and lakes don't help."
"Yea, but that's the problem. If we go west we'll hit fighting too... and they'll be ready with heat vision and stuff looking for enemy scouts." Stephanie says.
"Well... I can make a water shield to mask our heat signature, but not in the car..." Aaron says.
Tabitha sighs, "Well, let us save that for when we can no longer use the car. When we have to go on foot, it will take forever to get anywhere. But hopefully by then we will be close to the end right?" The others nod and they finish their food. They all get back in the car and continue northwest trying to get between the two major towns in the area. They get to the town of Gniewkowo and a set of jets fly over head. Tabitha looks around noticing nobody in the town even cars missing from the sides of the streets. "Careful, Stephanie. Those jets were headed south, but they may have spotted stuff here too. Last thing we want is to get shot up."
----
"I knoow!" Stephanie says and turns to a backroad. They drive through a narrow tree lined street until eventually coming to the larger main road down the middle of town. Tabitha points out a narrow road across the main road and they start to turn toward it when a large wheeled tank breaks through a line of bushes. "Holy ****! TANK A real one this time!"
"Aaron, Stephanie! steam! Mask our heat signature." Tabitha says
"How didn't we hear that thing?" Aaron says looking back as it turns onto the road speeding after them. Stephanie helps him to make a cloud of steam by heating the steam with one of her hands as he passes water through them. They turn off a brick side road and speed along. They fly over a couple speed bumps and the road passes an open field showing a pair of smaller armored vehicles chasing them as well. "Damn this is bad! They must have had a spotter in one of those buildings. We can't shake em they can just eat the terrain."
"Right, Lemme handle this while you guys keep em occupied." Tex says opening the door. Paper and light items flutter around the car as he jumps out and bounds onto the tank.
Nick takes aim on the robotic turret's targeting sensors and uses his quick speed to place accurate shots hitting the main cameras. "Keep cover on them or they'll manually use the guns!"
Tex climbs the tank's turret and rips the high caliber machine gun off firing it with one arm into the first APC causing it to swerve and pull away. With his free arm he pushes up on the tank's gun forcing it to miss their car. Dropping the machine gun, he pries the bottom of the turret. The metal groans and bolts pop as he opens a small gap. A shot rings out striking Tex in the leg staggering him back. He picks up the same machine gun again and fires the rest of the ammo box into the hole with his other hand clutching the bullet wound. He rips off the hatch and climbs in manually rotating the turret toward the last APC and fires.
The driver's hatch opens with Tex climbing out giving a thumbs up. The group waves from inside the vehicle. Stephanie adjusts the rear view mirror catching a glimpse of a smoke trail headed toward them. "Rocket! NICK stop it!" Nick fires a few shots that just seem to bounce off the armor piercing rocket just before it flies into the tank causing it to explode massively. Pieces of the tank fly beyond the group's car.
Tabitha grabs the steering wheel and shakes her head.
Stephanie screams struggles to wrench the wheel from Tabitha's grip. "We have to go back to save him! He may be hurt! He's strong.. he can survive!"
Tabitha replies saddened "Nobody could survive that. We have to get out of here so his sacrifice was not in vane! I am sorry! But... we have to go..." She struggles to fight back the tears but is unable. The follow a forest road for several miles then turn off onto a dirt road. After some time west of Labiszyn the car steams up and overheats. They pull off into a side road and get out. Tabitha chases after Stephanie, "There was nothing we could do."
"Well Nick could have gotten him! Or YOU could have!" Stephanie lashes out shaking Tabitha away.
"Nick had already used most of his speed and I am still injured!" Tabitha says. "I know you loved him... I talked to him before too, he was a good man."
"It's not fair!! We didn't even do anything and they started firing at us! How could they have known!? Why didn't you warn us!?"
"I had no idea. Somehow they were radio silent. Even during that coordinated attack, they never used radio." Tabitha walks with her through the trees. A beam of light pieces through the forest ceiling. "Laser"
"What... "
"They may have used direct laser communication. Like a remote control or something. I can pick up radio waves, but a direct beam would be silent to even my receiver. It would require a constant direct line of sight... so only good for short range communication."
"Great."
"Listen, Stephanie, I may not have lost anyone in my life like this. But I do understand. He was a good friend. We should do something to remember him."
"I don't even have a picture of him... I .. really did love him. I know I sound stupid. We knew him for less than even a week. But it felt like we were meant to be..." Stephanie wipes the hairs sticking to her wet face. "I think I want to be alone just for a bit... I'll come back to the car. I promise."
"Sure. Take your time." Tabitha says heading back to the car. After a while she lifts her watch to check the time catching the reflection of Stephanie in the distance. Tabitha catches a glint of something shining in the reflection. Realizing it was the short revolver, she turns quickly sprinting back with the pain of the shot in her side burning as she accelerates faster. A shot rings out and Tabitha comes crashing to the ground sliding for over twenty feet until hitting a tree. "Aaahgg!" She groans and opens her hand holding the burning hot revolver in her hand. She says to herself, "When did she even get this? Damn I must have left it in the front seat!" She checks the wound in her side and sees that it had re-opened. "Dammit! Stephanie... are you alright?"
"Let me die!! Then I'll be alright!" Stephanie yells "I hate everything about this world! Why should we even bother?!"
Tabitha struggles up, "We are your friends. We will help you! Please let us. Killing yourself is not the answer. You know Tex would want you to live on, keep his memory alive."
Nick and Aaron run in in to see Tabitha clutching her side and Stephanie sitting on a short stump. Nick says "What's going on?? We heard a gunshot! Are you fighting?!"
Tabitha starts to speak but is quickly cut off by Stephanie saying "I tried to kill myself... Tabitha saved me... It seemed like the only solution." She covers her face. "I'm so stupid! You try to help me and then I get you hurt even worse! It was a stupid mistake.. I'm really sorry, Tabitha."
---
"Wha? Are you serious?" Nick says having arrived before Aaron not far behind. He pulls a bandage box from his side pocket. "Here. You're hurt." He puts a bandage on the side of her jawline where the bullet grazed her. "I'm really.. not good with this kind of thing. But I'll do what I can."
"I almost did it too.. " Stephanie cries out hunched over. "All I could think about was how much pain I'm in, but when I pulled the trigger, I realized I shouldn't. I had no idea Tabitha was running in to save me." Aaron was already by Tabitha inspecting the wound that had re-opened. "I shouldn't have said I wanted you to take his place... you did that to yourself saving me. I was stupid to blame you."
"Stephanie.. do not beat yourself up about it. These things take time to cope with them." Tabitha sits up. "I heal quickly, this is just a small setback. The pain is worth it if I can save one of my friends." Tabitha tries to force a smile past the pain and trying to avoid how uncomfortable she was.
Aaron hands Tabitha a canteen. "We may as well camp here for now. The car was hit in the radiator so it's overheated. I don't know if we can fix it... Nick and I can set up things in the open area down off the road here. You two can join us in a bit." He says and heads off with Nick carrying some supplies.
Stephanie stops Tabitha before she can say anything again, "It's fine." She wipes her face off using her coat sleeve. "I mean I.. really still miss him. If I could... I don't know. I'm a mess probably."
"No, it is fine to feel this way. But we need to do something constructive with it is all. Here, help me to the car." Tabitha says getting an arm up on Stephanie. They get back to the car and Tabitha pulls out her backpack. She takes out a piece of paper and a pen trying to draw for a few minutes. Her eyes become somewhat listless while she continues sketching. After pausing she seemingly wakes up and blinks a few times handing Stephanie a fairly accurate picture of Tex including the scenery around him.
"Wow I had no idea you could draw. This is actually pretty good, thanks" Stephanie holds the picture close and helps Tabitha up.
"Me either.. I just used a memory of him and it worked. I am glad it did." Tabitha replies happily. They head to the camp site and Stephanie sits and makes a fire to keep occupied. Tabitha heads to Nick and Aaron "I want you guys to make kind of a grave marker or something. I know funerals are not quite pleasant, but it may be of some help if we do something. He deserves that much."
"Sure, Tabitha. Most of the stuff is set up here we can worry about the car later... honestly it may just be shot... well literally. Anyway." Aaron stops himself and heads off to find a good spot with Aaron.
Tabitha sits with Stephanie with a while of awkward silence as Stephanie plays with the fire in her hands. Tabitha laughs to herself softly. "I wish I could do some of the stuff you guys can do."
"I learned early I could do it when I was little. I saw other kids with abilities but they got 'moved' as they'd say..." Stephanie says gripping a stick in her hand and crushing it into ash. "I never get cold though anymore... but I suppose you can right?"
Tabitha nods, "I did not discover even I had the strength until I was attacked. I eat and grow.. feel hot, cold, pain. I have a higher pain tolerance now that I learned to block it out better. Father used to have a control on me where if I got hurt I would black out. It was to prevent me from being found out."
"It is weird... I mean like. Looking at you I never suspected. I never really, you know, thought about death before we left... not seriously."
"Me either. And yet I have died over and over. If I was normal, my life would have ended when Zach Branigan stabbed me." Tabitha rubs the spot the knife hit next to the access panel hidden on her body. "So I wonder if I will die or what will happen... It scares me, to be honest. Like what if I have no soul or something and when I die that is just the end."
"I can't imagine you not having a soul Tabby. I may not be terribly religious or anything. Honestly I don't know what to believe. I'm sure even your uh.. sisters have souls of their own." Stephanie sits back on a pile of pine needles she collected. "I wonder if it's right to make people though... like do we have that authority or ... I don't know exactly."
"Hm... maybe. My thought is if God let it happen. Otherwise we would simply have thoughtless creations right? Like just robots. It makes me feel better at least." Tabitha sits with a metal piece scratching at her larger revolver trying to engrave into it.
Aaron looks over her shoulder, "Like an angel or something?"
Tabitha looks backwards over her head, "Mmm? Oh yes. An angel of justice I suppose."
"Weird.. but it's neat. Well we got something ready. But we should go now before it gets too dark to see it." Aaron says leading them both. They enter a clear area with a gave marker Aaron had carved using his water abilities. "Well we didn't know what to do beyond this.."
"It is fine, you did a good job." Tabitha says kissing his cheek. Stephanie hands Tabitha the picture who then places it in front of the memorial.
"Thank you guys.. I didn't think you would really go this far." Stephanie says in an uncharacteristically shy manner. "I guess you figured it out but, Tex and I were in love. In just the few days I knew him I just knew he was it for me... I've had boyfriends before, but he was different somehow. It just makes it... that much harder." She stops looking up to keep her nose from running. "God I'm a mess. He was nice and thoughtful. He always put me and everyone before himself. Tabitha's sister told me so much about him... he was a hero to so many. But our time together was cut short... I just wish I had one more minute!.. I'm sorry I ..."
Nick kneels down to help Stephanie and looks at Tabitha "Tab I guess... do you know some verse or something? I'm really not really not god with this."
Tabitha steps up, "I know we talked before, but I felt it was a good idea to do an official service for Tex because he was a friend to all of us. In the short time he touched our lives he influenced us forever. I believe each of us had times where we really got to know him ourselves. Maybe we did not get to understand him as well as we had hoped.. Such is the saddest part of losing a friend. We know he was as Stephanie said, selfless to the end. His life he dedicated to protecting the weak and using what power given to him to make the world a better place. And even with the dark clouds of the warring world around us, he remains a light to inspire us." She looks down at the picture. "I regret not getting to know him better myself. At first, his accent and bombastic attitude bothered me. I did not feel he was serious about anything until I really spoke with him. We had plenty in common as it turned out. I may have thought he was just stronger physically than me. But he was also stronger in heart and spirit. I only hope I can live up to his impression he left on us."
Stephanie takes back the picture and looks it over. "Thank you guys... It still feels like crap. But I'm glad you did this."
"He's in a better place now right, Tabitha? A place without the war." Aaron says "A place where kids like us don't have to shoot people just to live."
"Right." Tabitha kneels down in front of the memorial and prays silently for a minute or two. She piles up some sticks and kindling in a little pit in front of it. "Stephanie if you could light this?"
Stephanie nods and kneels down to light the fire and sits back watching it burn. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a four leaf clover and tosses it into the flames. "I don't need it for luck now. He will be watching over me anyway... I hope I can feel his strength when times get rough.... Tex... " She sighs and they all sit silently. Stephanie breaks the silence, "Well then, thank you. I think we should get something to eat though. I'm starving."
"Sure, we'll try working the car out. So if we can get something going to eat. Something nice too." Aaron says following Nick to the car. They look over the vehicle while Tabitha sits by the fire.
After a couple hours the two come back. Tabitha asks "Did you figure out what happened?"
"Yea the radiator hose was hit by a stray shot I guess. We patched it with tape for now. I don't know how much longer it will hold. The radiator seemed ok when we filled it with water." Aaron sits and continues, "What's for dinner anyway?"
"I found a can of roast beef.. corn and some compressed bread things.." Tabitha says removing the can from the stone on the fire. They gather around to make sandwiches. "They are quite good I should say. As good of a thing we can make."
"I know Tab, it's pretty good, don't worry." Nick says finishing his sandwich.
They get ready for bed while Tabitha stays up to sit watch by the fire. She continues her angel engraving. Eventually, Stephanie wanders out and says, "Sorry, I couldn't sleep."
"I understand... you should really try to get some sleep though." Tabitha looks over.
"I should... I was still worried about you too."
"Please, I am fine. It barely hurts." Tabitha replies keeping a kind face. The reality was it hurt more than ever, bad enough she could never sleep if she tried. "So please... do not worry. You will feel better with a good night of sleep."
"Sure." Stephanie says getting into the tent for the night.
------------- Day 28 Monday Clear skies
"Tabitha! Wake up!" A muffled voice calls out. "Get some water or something. Dammit." Footsteps rustle around and the quick cool sensation of a damp rag goes over Tabitha's face.
Tabitha felt the heaviness of her eyes struggling to open. She manages to peek out and see Aaron blurred up looking down at her. "Aaron but... what is happening." She falls back again feeling the thud of the dirt on her back before blacking out again. She awakes again feeling hot. She looks over expecting a fire only to see nothing around. "So hot... " She moans and tries to get up.
"Please, don't move." A voice says as hands shift her to a more comfortable position.
Tabitha keeps her eyes closed "What happened... I feel horrible." She looks around and sees the others had packed their tents already. She feels down her body and her sides feeling the wet bandage. "I can not move."
"I did not figure you could." Aaron says with his face red. "We looked at the wound, it was way worse and you had cuts all over you ignored. I have never seen you sick though."
"I never really... have been." Tabitha replies with tears. "I am scared, Aaron... What is wrong with me?? He... help me."
Stephanie brings a jug of water. "Here try this." She gives Tabitha the water. "You worked hard to help me when I got sick.. I feel this is my fault."
"One thing after another.." Tabitha mumbles and forces another smile. "I will get some more rest. Do not worry." She closes her eyes to rest again.
~~~~~~~~
Tabitha finds herself standing in a field of silver wheat. She sees a small figure in the distance sitting on a stone and jogs to it. She gets closer to see the young girl in a blue sun dress. Tabitha runs up and says "Who is this? and this place... " She looks down to see she too was in a light dress as well. "Wha.. the... how strange."
The dark skinned girl looks back and brushes away her white hair. "I am Xavia... ... and you are?"
"Tabitha"
"Interesting I thought so... I only usually send a signal out at night but when I got a response.. I had to wait longer. Sadly we must part. Perhaps another time."
~~~~~~~~
Tabitha opens her eyes again. Aaron lights up to see her awake. "You stayed by my side again... Aaron you are such a dear."
"I guess you are feeling better. Good enough to embarrass me." Aaron says rubbing his neck.
"Who is Xavia... some small dark skinned girl.... in a silver field.... how odd." Tabitha wanders off in thought.
"Xavia?... I've never even heard that name in my life..."
"She seemed normal... but mentioned broadcasting a signal. I wonder if she is like me? Somehow I sent a signal too. She did not seem hostile... "
"Either way, your fever seems to have gone down." Aaron says. The bed around her shakes and bumps to Tabitha's shock. "Oh yea... we've been driving for a while. You were out of it pretty bad. We made it about 40 miles west and are comin up onto Szamocin... The car keeps breaking the radiator hose though. And we.. can't really ask for a mechanic...."
"Damn... had I just listened to you." Stephanie frustratingly says under her breath.
"Please, Stephanie. I regret nothing. Do not dwell on the past. Father would say a prayer. Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the strength to change the things I can, and the wisdom to tell the difference." Tabitha says with her head on Aaron in the back seat. ".... I feel plenty better. But I should void pushing myself too much I guess."
"If you can believe it... We're less than 200 miles from Berlin." Nick says checking the map.
They pull in to Szamocin a small town through a divided street with trees in the middle. As they drive deeper they see the paint pealed off on most of the buildings and cars broken up. A loud ping strikes the front of the vehicle. Stephanie yells, "We're being shot at!? Damn! I didn't expect this from such a small town!" She cuts right down a driveway and stops. They get out, armed, quickly with the exception of Tabitha who struggled in to the house.
Nick jogs up the stairs looking out the window. "I see no vehicles... wait. Down the square there is a tall building overlooking this road. If I were a sniper keeping this town. That is where I would be."
"How do we get there... the road is lined with houses and no cover." Stephanie points out.
"The houses!" Aaron says. "Well more specifically the walls. They may have people in them, or even behind. That's why I think the houses is the best path. I can break the walls and you two can take out those beyond."
Tabitha followed behind as they moved through the first few houses with no interference. They make it to the road a few houses before the suspected hideout. Nick takes his scope and puts a small makeup mirror in front of it to look around the corner. He looks at each of the windows and then the top. Nick whispers "There he is alright... but if I get out he might nail me. We have to get in there close. I think it is a small group holding this town..."
They move to the bottom floor. "Damn... Tabitha you look like crap. Maybe you should wait." Stephanie says helping her up.
"No, we can't leave her. If the enemy comes onto her, then she'll be defenseless." Nick says picking Tabitha up onto his back. He pushes the door open and speeds over the street beside the door. Stephanie and Aaron follow and break in the door. They continue through storefronts cutting through the walls. They come to a red brick building. "We're close. He's in the next building so we have to be quiet so I can be sure to get a clean shot."
Aaron makes a few small cuts so they can manually remove the wall. The building is full of old wooden furniture and worn wooden railings. The creep through on the old floor. They make it to the third floor where Aaron cuts through the roof and lets Nick crawl out around the corner. Aaron says to him as he crawls out "I'll open the 2nd floor window in 2 minutes... be ready to see which window they're in."
Nick creeps up the roof waiting around the top peak behind a round barrier. He checks his watch... 30 seconds... 20... 10.....5.4.3.2. the window creaks open and Nick uses his speed to turn the corner and see the gunner's location. In a single second stretched out, Nick spots the sniper shifting around the corner, he takes aim and fires three shots taking them down. He calls down to the others, "Lets go check it out we need to be sure."
Aaron pulls water from the gutters and blows a hole in the rooftop to make a path in. The sniper dressed in Russian uniform laid out on the floor. Nick jogs through the building ready to use his speed at any moment finding nothing but empty ammo boxes. They find a radio setup in one of the back rooms and a log book in Russian. They head back and hand it to Tabitha. "What do you think?" Nick says to her as she rests.
Tabitha looks through it briefly. "He was left behind as a rear flank watch, the town was all driven out. He waited here to inform about planes overhead and any movement around town. His resupply and relief never showed up..." Her vision blurs a little and she gets an odd salty metalic sensation in her mouth. Her eyes open wide and she runs back away from the others and throws up in the back room. "Oh God.... what now?"
She coughs up more as Aaron follows in and says to her, "What in the hell? Tabitha, are you alright?"
Tabitha slumps down against the wall, "I do not know. I have never really been sick like this before. I thought I was over it. What if it just keeps getting worse!? Help me, Aaron.." She says as he takes hold of her.
"I wish I had any idea what to do... This all started after you got shot.. but what if that's unrelated. Dammit! I feel powerless!" Aaron says holding onto her.
Stephanie comes in shortly after, "She had another episode? Oh! gross. Should we try the medicine? Or something?"
"I just don't know. I can't figure out what's wrong. She can't get a virus like us. And we know they got the bullet from when she was shot. Aside from some scratches, when she helped you there was nothing major." Aaron feels Tabitha's forehead sensing she was heated up again.
Nick comes in, "She's sick again?? Damn. Any ideas? Could it be what we ate last?"
"The canned beef and sandwich bread? I don't see how. We all ate the same stuff." Stephanie says.
"Yea but she's not like us entirely. But we've eaten that stuff before too..." Nick thinks out loud further, "When she reopened her wounds... would that be enough to send her into shock like this?.. Huh... Tabitha? Stay awake!"
~~~~~~~~
A young girl calls out "Tabitha.. "
Tabitha stands up in the same silver field as before. "I am here.. Xavia is it?" Tabitha walks to her.
"Give me your hand, Tabitha. I can help you... You are in distress. It will let me find out why." Xavia says reaching out.
"How can I trust you? You could be anyone."
"Perhaps you can not... Your signal is weak, and yet you are closer. I have a theory but I need your data. I fear you may die." Xavia looks Tabitha in the eye with her cold violet eyes. And reaches out.
Tabitha grabs her hand making the data transfer giving her the shivers. "What th..."
"It is as I suspected. I see... A virus. Well not a human virus. A nano machine virus. If you let it spread, it would stop all your healing and leave you just a mechanical shell. Easily curable though."
"How could I ever have gotten this virus?!?" Tabitha shouts.
"Nanoviruses target androids like us. Or at least our auto-repair mechanisms. Your body relies on it to function, so your effects are more severe." Xavia sits on her knees and rests on her hands. "I can cure you... If you can reach Pila. It is quite some way from you but I am held up in a scrapyard south of there. I can help."
~~~~~~~~
Tabitha gets up gasping for air. "Pila! We have to go there!" She coughs. "Xavia can help me."
"Pila..." Nick searches the map. "Yea it's close... like 15 miles. The car is messed up. That last shot screwed the battery bad... You were out a few hours but we still have yet to find a battery that works. Looks like this place has been out of business a few years."
"Damn... 15 miles, certainly a long walk but what choice do we have?" Aaron says taking the GPS. "By foot it would easily take 4-5 hours that's if we were all walking fast."
"I am sorry.." Tabitha says weakly from inside the car.
"Damn Tab, we know. It's not your fault. Please just rest and try and fight this off. If you can even." Stephanie says going off to pull more cars open. "Damn all these are dead as dead... wait." She touches the terminals with a rake getting a few sparks. "This might work!!"
Nick lugs the battery over and plugs it in. The car groans and slowly starts up. "Well.. it had enough to get us one more start. Lets go, even if it's a trap... if it can save Tabitha we have to do it right? We've gotten out of worse traps before."
They follow a road along the flood plane of the local stream and head to the forest road toward Pila.
Aaron brushes Tabitha's hair, "Hang on, we'll get you some help."
Tabitha clings to his leg with one hand thinking to herself. "They are all trying so hard. I want to stay with them. I can not die like this." They slowly enter the southern road into Pila and get out on foot. Tabitha gets out following slowly and says "Xavia says we are close, in the scrap section of the rail yard."
Nick crosses the rail bridge first and a bullet pings near them. "What the hell? Who's shooting, is it her?"
"No. She says 'idiot I said I was held up in there as a prisoner' I can only help if you bust me out of here' " Tabitha repeats her communication with Xavia. "I can hear her quite clearly now. She says there are only six guards"
"Greaat only six!" Stephanie says taking cover. She gestures over and takes Tabitha's gun. "Nick get us closer we'll need to infiltrate that place if we want to do this."
"I can't, I need to save what power I have until we really need it the most." Nick says as they creep closer under the walls.
Aaron lifts a stream of water out of the river. He sends it to Stephanie turning it into steam to cover their approach. "Tabitha, please wait here."
"No! I need to do what I can... even if it is not much." She coughs wiping blood from her face. "I know I look terrible... but do not worry. I will push on. Besides, if I can do this, I will be cured right?" She stops and wipes her eyes. "I do not want to die alone... "
"Tabitha? Don't talk like that. You're going to make it." Aaron says helping her along.
They make it to the base of the large domed building, Some offices were around the entrance with the watch looking out the dome's top windows. They enter the base level and shots ring out from inside the front offices. Nick creeps around the corner inside a bush using just a little of his speed snipes out one of the guards. Stephanie and Aaron move along the sides. Stephanie launches a bundle of red hot nails that burn through a wall taking out a guard behind it. Aaron follows suit blasting a narrow beam of water through the door. They hear yelling in Russian but Tabitha too weak to translate it for them.
"Three more. We know one is on the top floor with this Xavia." Nick says. "I've got probably most of my speed power left for now."
"Good, we might need it depending on the layout here..." Stephanie says as they peek through a door.
The dome was originally a rail repair building converted over time to be a base of operation with scaffolding set up along the windows for defense. It looked like it had been long since abandoned before the new occupants reclaimed it.
"There's practically no cover in here... how will we get to the top without being seen??" Aaron says coming up with Tabitha close behind. Nick walks up the first set of stairs trying to creep silently over the metal stairway. The building was full of bullet and cannon holes from previous fighting. He looks around through the top ring. "Wow... nothing? Ok lets go to the top guys" He whispers back. Three of them jog on ahead with Tabitha watching the rear with the short revolver. They continue around the edge until coming to a bridge leading to the center office. A metal door was closed guarding the entrance.
"Damn... if we go in there we're done.. and Tabitha can't scale the sides for us." Nick says looking at the obvious trap before them.
"Wait I have an idea." Aaron says running to the outer ring and opening one of the windows. He steps out onto the steep sloped roof and opens his canteen. He waves to them to follow and forms a set of stairs using the water. "I can hold it solid for only a short time... we'll only get one chance at this since the ice will shatter once you run over it, Nick."
Nick nods his head as Aaron focuses to freeze the water steps into hovering ice blocks. He uses his remaining speed to run up the steps causing them to shatter as he gets to the curved rooftop of the dome. He crawls up the side toward the main room on top. The dome had boards over some of the windows. He crept on the shaded side to avoid the light shining off him and looked into the window. There were two guards aiming down the ladder and another sitting back. The room had a metal room with a sealed door in the back. Nick was exhausted from using his energy and took aim at the guards lined up. He fired a single shot passing through both of them and kicked in the window aiming at the last one on the chair.
Aaron and Stephanie come up the ladder aiming around the room. Stephanie fires at the last guy sitting. "He was about to draw... you shouldn't let your guard down with these people. They don't care about surrender."
Aaron helps Tabitha get up from the ladder and she says, "She is in the room there... open the door. It is thick steel."
Stephanie runs over, using her white hot hand she melts through the lock and forces the door open. Inside the room, a woman seemingly in her 20's comes out. She is 5' 8" with light grayish silver hair."... wait you're Xavia?"
The woman replies, "Yes that's right. I see you kids finally made it."
"Kids? You can not be Xavia. I saw a young child.. in a silver field Aaagg.." Tabitha says collapsing down. "Is this a trap?"
"Absolutely not. Hmm this is difficult to explain. Anyway... from the beginning. I was made a cyborg at a young age, so that image you saw in your mind was likely my mental projection. Though I was still your age roughly. So that seems odd. And a silver field... wait I know now. And that was based on a story I wrote when I was younger."
"But if you're a cyborg.. how can you help Tabitha?" Aaron says still on guard.
"Because the same nanomachine virus she has, targets cyborgs mainly." Xavia examines Tabitha. "The thing is, I have been vaccinated for it. She hasn't apparently even though the vaccine is years old."
"That makes sense. I was in Myron for far beyond that." Tabitha says sitting back resting. "How can you cure me?"
"Pretty simple. I just inject you with some of my anti-bots or whatever they are." Xavia says getting her kit from a desk in the main office. "If she dies, feel free to kill me too. I have nothing to gain by killing her. You're all American. I fight for the Allies, that's how I got stuck here." She comes to Tabitha with the needle. "This is going to be painful... you have to fight it though." She injects Tabitha with the vaccine. Tabitha shortly after heats up and falls back.
Aaron runs up. "Tabitha stay with us!"
"Aaron, I will be fine. My body aches, but... I trust Xavia. Please tell us... what made you a cyborg." Tabitha says coming in and out of focus.
"Really you want to know?... Well... I was part of some experiment a long time ago. They tried giving a bunch of kids telepathic powers by trapping us in some fantasy computer world. We passed all kinds of trials and stuff but something must have gone wrong. When I woke up, I had this body... and it was many years later... " Xavia pulls up her sleeves and removing her gloves showing mechanical joints. "I envy your friend's more lifelike body. The doctors said that the lab I was in was destroyed, my friends and I sealed in cryogenic tubes. Unfortunately, much of my human body was damaged beyond repair due to the cryo-tube thawing improperly. They managed to rescue my upper quarter of my body. That's how I got to where I am..."
The four of them were dumbfounded. Stephanie was the first to say anything. "So both sides are doing human experiments?"
"Well no... the thing I was in kidnapped me illegally. It's possible the same organization is behind that thing too but I was kidnapped inside the USA" Xavia watched as Tabitha continued to fight the vaccine. "I really do appreciate you helping me out. It's ironic that it would be her coming to save me though."
Tabitha opens one eye and sweating all over. "Why is that... what do you know about me?"
"Dr. Falk right?" Xavia says to their surprise. "He was the one that saved me. I remember you as a child. Tabitha, the artificial child of Falk laboratories."
Tabitha fades into her memories.
~~~~~~~~~~
Tabitha wakes up looking around at the enormous room around her. She looks at her childlike hands and sees Dr. Falk looking into a room. Tabitha climbs onto a chair and looks in, "Who is that, Father?" she says looking at a girl sitting in the room. Tabitha notices the doll-like joints. "Is she a toy?"
"Tabitha... how terrible. No, and never say that to her. We produced this cybernetic body for this girl. She was badly injured. The only way to save her life was to make a fully new artificial body for her." Dr. Falk explains. He opens the door and lets her in.
Tabitha walks up to the bed, "Hello, I am Tabitha. Who are you? Are you my age?"
"Xavia... I am... 18" Xavia looks at her new mechanical hands continually. "Thank you doctor for saving my life."
"Are you sad?"
"Yes, this body is strange to me. I bet you think I look pretty strange too." Xavia helps Tabitha onto a chair. "They explained to me what happened. I'm grateful to be alive after all that. Even if it means losing my natural body."
"Artificial." Tabitha says grabbing Xavia's knee and looking up. "But your face is pretty."
"Yes... hmm at least I could keep some of my old self." Xavia pats Tabitha on the head. "You know a lot of hard words huh."
Tabitha giggles grabbing Xavia's hand, "I can jump and run good too. How about you?"
"Maybe, I don't know anymore." Xavia replies.
Marta Falk comes in later. "Xavia, is she bothering you? Tabitha is a little too curious sometime."
"No um.. Ma'am. It's fine." Xavia says sitting on the floor with Tabitha. "Besides, having her here makes me happy for some reason."
"Well, perhaps keeping Tabitha occupied will keep her out of my hair for a minute and help you adapt to this body. Take it easy, and it will come to you in time." Marta says leaving a pad of paperwork on the desk. "John... We have to talk. Come to the next room." She says walking out with a set of forms for their research.
~~~~~~~
Tabitha wakes back up groggy and cold. "I feel like crap.... but not as bad as before."
Xavia looks into her eyes, "Hmm yea I would say the vaccine is taking effect. You should heal a bit faster now. I bet when you got those wounds, you encountered an old nano-virus from the last battle there."
"Are there many cyborgs out there?" Nick says slinging his rifle.
Xavia continues walking out of the facility. "Not really. Civilian cyborgs are more common, but it is hard to get into the military as one. Dr. Falk personally oversaw my cybernetic enhancements and was able to get me in. I wanted to get revenge on the people who captured me."
"How did you get all the way back here? We're still a long ways from the front right?" Stephanie questions.
"The main battle lines are through Berlin and south then along the old Czech boarder. The Alps is anyone's guess. It's constant and random. The battle lines west fluctuate randomly and the fighting is intense. Even if you tried tunneling or sneaking through... you'd probably get killed." Xavia says thinking where the battle lines were. "You came far, but if I were you I'd avoid it... Any aircraft are shot down that way without question too."
"W... we came all this way!" Aaron says clenching his fists. "To make things worse our allies are THERE and we can't reach em?"
"She is right, the main battle lines would be the most intense fighting. We have almost been killed multiple times coming close to air raids alone." Tabitha says walking along slowly.
"Ok.. then what." Stephanie adds to the conversation, "How can we go west and avoid all the fighting?"
Xavia replies, "South. If you can make it to the Alps, you can probably sneak through there, get to Italy and perhaps fly out or find a boat... I would recommend then island hopping to Africa." She could see their hopes dropping. "Or what... go west through the constant hell storm of war? It's an option I guess. Even going south you're going to run into skirmishes that break through the front and air raids. And that's not including patrols."
"What are you going to do, Xavia?" Tabitha inquires.
"I have to rejoin the fight. It will be easier for just me to hide out and fight my way back. I'm a bit more skilled in combat after all these years. I may not look it but I am well over forty years old now."
"Dang, you can't come with us?" Stephanie whines disappointed.
Xavia rubs her neck, "I wish I could. Your mission sounds important. It's almost exactly why I joined was to do what you're doing. But that would take me off the battlefield for a long time." They make it back to the old Mercedes G waiting for them. "Besides, you guys look plenty crowded enough in that thing."
"It's been worse..." Stephanie complains.
"Well... here take one of these." Tabitha says holding a small data storage drive. "If you can make it back before us, it will reach the good guys faster. Our main goal is to get back to freedom. I remember you, Xavia. And.. thank you."
"Sure, kiddo." Xavia packs the drive away. "It's good to see you grown up now." Tabitha jumps and gives her a hug, "Whu.. ok, that's more than I can take." Xavia gently pushes Tabitha off. "I will make it back. Lets meet up again sometime after all this is over."
"Deal." Tabitha replies happily. The four of them get into the vehicle and turn south waving back to Xavia as they go.
"Damn I wish we could have taken her with us. Did you see the guns she had?" Nick says looking back.
"No I really was not paying attention to that at all." Tabitha replies clueless she looks back in the mirror seeing two large revolvers on Xavias back and a long rifle slung on her shoulder. "Well yea she has guns, but so do we right?"
"Yea.. but we don't have 13mm revolvers. I've never even heard of a rifle like hers." Nick says trying to get comfortable. "I bet she can make a shot over 2 miles."
"It's funny you never noticed." Stephanie taunts. "How did you know her anyway?"
"We met at the lab. The one I was made at. When I went out from the vaccine, the memories came back again. She was nice to me. To others I was just a project. But Xavia made those early years good." Tabitha says getting nostalgic and daydreaming a bit. "Oh crap!" She exclaims realizing she was driving.
"Good lord... ok lets keep on the road, not memory lane." Aaron says tightening his seat belt."
The road south was better than many they had been on, but it was still broken up once in a while from age and battle wear. They continue on for hours until the sound of grumbling stomachs is too much to bear.
"Ok ... it has been a very long day. We should find a place to set up camp. I am starving." Tabitha says. They travel down a narrow forest road northwest of Oborniki and find a firebreak to move down looking for a quiet place to hide out.
Stephanie starts the fire as usual while Nick and Aaron set up the tents.
"Sorry I have been such a burden... " Tabitha says trying to help out.
"It's nothing Tab." Stephanie replies. "You helped me when I was sick that one time. And we know you would help any of us. It's not like you got that virus on purpose or something. Just relax for a change. We're pretty capable ourselves you know. She said it would take a while before your system heals anyway."
"I suppose so. I do still feel terrible. But I can at least stay awake." Tabitha, "We were lucky to run into Xavia. It really is a small world."
"Well, Without that radio transmission we never would have even thought about going there. Had we passed within a 100 mile radius we would have probably received it... that's like half of Poland." Nick points out his observation.
Tabitha glares and sighs. "Ok, so maybe it wasn't such a coincidence. But it was nice seeing an old friend. That was a big coincidence!"
"I'll give you that.. fine." He goes back to setting up the tents. "She was kind of hot too... well you know."
Stephanie laughs trying to cover it up, "Ok but she's like forty or something, right?"
"Yea but since she's a cyborg or something. I guess she stays the same." Aaron adds. "I wish we coulda kept her here. Maybe learned something from them. How well did you know her Tabitha?"
"Not extremely well. I met her when I was ... three or something. She would play with me now and then. Of course, after the accident I was shut down and stored away..."
"Right... that. Uh, she seemed nice though."
"Usually she was. She would tell me about the fantasy world they trapped her in at the lab. They could control the universe with their thoughts. It was fake, of course. But still, that sounds almost fun."
Nick walks over after having finished the last tent. "Tabitha..." He says slowly, "Did you forget something?" Tabitha looks back confused. "Dinner?"
"Aw... Yes." Tabitha replies and crawls a little to the food bag. She pulls it to her and looks through it for something to prepare. Given the choices, she settles on cheap beef stew. They shovel it down, but the reality was it actually was decent compared to the alternatives.
Tabitha wandered off a bit from the main group while Aaron stayed watch that night. He followed her catching up. "Hey... what's up?"
"I did not feel like sleeping just yet. I feel awkward about letting Xavia go that suddenly. It just seems like." Tabitha pauses while walking down a deer path. "Like I could have shared more or gotten to know how she has been, you know what I mean?" The moonlight shines brightly through the tree tops giving a soft blue glow as they walk into the woods near their camp.
"You'll get your chance, she's survived this much. We'll meet back up when we get home. I'm sure of it." Aaron says trying to comfort her. They find a smooth downed log to rest on. He leans back on a branch that formed a makeshift back rest.
Tabitha sits and rests on his shoulder. "Thank you, Aaron. I do not have too many friends from my early childhood. Nick is one of few I have known earliest... he has Jen, of course. It kind of feels like we got further apart over the past year or so."
"Do you still have feelings for Nick?" Aaron says changing his tone. "Seriously."
"It is not like that." Tabitha sits up and continues, "He is a dear friend, but... it is not the same. I will admit, I was always attracted to him, but..." She notices Aaron's discomfort while she searched for the right words. "I could lie to you easily, you know that. The reason I am so uncomfortable is I want to tell you the truth. I trust you. He is like a big brother to me." She laughs quietly at the idea. "Well we are roughly the same age, but you know what I mean." She glares at him and looks into the dark forest. "I have depressed you now."
"Nah that's not it. I kind of always figured you liked him. I was surprised when you said you wanted to get to know me better back when we started out. I thought for sure you were holding out for him."
"I think back then I was lying to myself thinking he liked me in a different way." Tabitha fidgets while she sits. "I mean like... I knew him for six years and he went through several girlfriends without thinking about me. But you had me in one class, not even for a full semester. I was so blind though I barely noticed... and now I wake up to see you every time I am in trouble." She buries her face in his arm.
"I never dated much. I just figured I would wait til after school." Aaron says stroking her hair. "When I first met you, I thought there was something special about you. Sure you talked different, but aside from that. Something special I can't really describe."
"I talk different..."
"Well.. yea.. it's all proper and such. Like ' I do not suppose so ' and all that." Aaron tries his best impression of her while she tries to appreciate it.
"I never thought I spoke that strangely to you guys until you brought it up. But I have little idea why. For some reason, combining words is nearly impossible. I had to fake my way through school to do it." Tabitha yawns trying to keep her eyes open. She was still extremely tired from the virus but forced herself to keep up.
Aaron tries to pick her up as she nods off "Ah crap!" He grunts with her slipping back onto the log.
Tabitha pulls him down for a brief kiss. "It was a cute idea at least. But I will make it back myself." She follows him back to the camp and climbs into her tent. She peeks out again looking as Aaron plays with the fire. He looks back and waves. Having been already caught, she waves back and tries to sleep. She could hardly avoid smiling while trying to calm herself down to sleep.
~~~~~~~
Tabitha found herself running through tall grass well beyond her height. The ground was cool under her feet. She had the constant feeling she was being chased by something she could not see. Ahead of her she could see a clearing and did her best to sprint to it. She reaches the opening in the field when a voice to her side yells. "GOTCHA!" at which point a pair of massive hands pull her far into the air.
Tabitha could not help but to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Her arms and legs dangling toward the ground far below, she looks over seeing Xavia's face looking ahead. Tabitha says, "That was fun, perhaps next time you should hide."
"For a kid you sure talk funny, Tabitha." Xavia's words sparked some interest.
"Or am I the only normal one?" Tabitha replies back quickly.
Xavia shakes Tabitha and sets her down. "Yea sure kiddo. That's a little too deep for a six year old. You should enjoy this time as a kid while you have it. You never know when it's going to end."
"And then I get a new special body like yours?" Tabitha points out with the audacity and bluntness of a child.
Xavia grits her teeth "No... " following under her breath, "Dammit kid."
"Dammit!" Tabitha repeats, "Mother says that a lot. She says lots of things like that."
"Haha, oh dear. I'm sure she'd love you telling me all this." Xavia sighs and leads Tabitha back to their lawn seats set up under a big tree outside the lab. She pops open a cooler giving Tabitha a small drink and a sandwich. "What I really meant, was enjoy being a kid. Cause you're growing up and you'll be big like your Mother and Father."
"You were a kid, or not?"
"I was, of course, but I didn't look like this. I had normal arms and legs. I grew up too fast. Was always pretending to be more mature than I was. I didn't enjoy being a kid. Then one day I woke up and now I'm like this.... I miss my friends." Xavia says covering her eyes.
"Can we visit them?"
"I don't think so."
"Too far from the lab? We can send a bus!"
"I appreciate the idea, but they didn't survive the unfreezing like I did. Even I barely made it." Xavia says looking at her mechanical hands. She regains her composure and continues, "They're in heaven now."
Tabitha had a dreamy look in her eyes, "So nice. Heaven is good, Father said so." She picks up Xavia's hand. "I can not get a bus to heaven. But I am happy you are alive."
"Why's that Tabby?"
"You are my friend. And because Mother would never let me outside if you did not." Tabitha finishes her sandwich and runs back into the tall grass.
"Tabitha!....." Xavia's voice trails off to he distance
~~~~~~~
Day 29 -- Cloudy
Tabitha wakes up seeing the dim glow of the morning sun glowing on the tent walls. She lays back looking up at the ceiling. "Why am I smiling..." She says recalling her dream. "Weird, I never had dreams this often without being injured." A few granola bars were still in her own pack so she took one and started eating it wandering around. She happens on Stephanie who had the last watch of the night.
"You seem oddly cheerful for this stupidly early in the morning..." Stephanie mumbles leaning on her palms.
"I had another dream about Xavia. It is strange how many memories are coming back to me." Tabitha says sitting down with her.
"Uhhuh... why's that so odd."
"They were locked or something before. But once in a while, now, key words unlock a new memory."
"uhh...huh.. so what happened."
Tabitha explains the dream in great detail. "It was nice. My dreams are incredibly accurate down to the senses. It was like being a kid again."
"I never really thought you were a kid... even though I think you explained it to us before... or I don't know, I'm so tired. I barely remember my dreams, but when I do, they're crazy. It'll be stuff like flying pyramids of gold and... skeletons shooting lasers from their mouths."
"Well that sounds fun in a way." Tabitha laughed. "My early memories are harder to access. Like I can easily remember up to six years ago... but before that is blurry. I either remember them as a dream or with some kind of trigger."
"Sounds sad in a way. You know your past, and yet you can't remember it." Stephanie stares off into nothing. "I wish I could have seen you as a child. Seeing a kid that acts like you do. We should probably start packing... I'll sleep in the car."
They follow the same routine packing things up and heading out. They drive south reaching a small town called Obrzycko. Driving over the bridge Aaron points out "I never realized how inconvenient rivers are... We find ourselves blocked by them over and over." He knew the others agreed but nobody responded.
Shortly after they pass the bridge, puffs of steam start from under the hood. "Looks like the repair job came undone." Tabitha says pulling the car over. She pops the hood getting a cloud of steam. "Gah!... yea it was shooting water onto the engine."
"Well, this town is... somewhat active." Nick looks around seeing a few bikes and the rare car passing through town. "If they're so close to the front, why not just leave?"
"Some people can't. Look around, this place has been through a lot." Aaron says pointing out a building blown to bits. "I'd want to leave if I lived here. But it costs money. And their livelihoods are here."
"Well, we can patch this again, but it may just keep blowing up. Obviously this mechanic shop with the holes shot into it will not do." Tabitha leans on the guard rail. "Nick and Stephanie can stay at the car while Aaron and I go on into town looking for a shop."
Aaron follows along with her. They pass an old brick church. "Lovely one is it not?" Aaron says in his best imitation of Tabitha.
"It is. I wish we had more time." Tabitha says as they pass by. "We just speed through towns passing beautiful landmarks but never stopping." After some time they go past rows of houses. They come to a field with a crater with a Russian fighter jet crashed into it. "Must have been recent. The parts are all still here."
"Dang that sucks for this farmer... well unless he scavenges some parts off this. Too bad none of these would fit on the ol Merc." Aaron says trodding into the field looking closer at the jet. The wings were torn off in the crash and the main hull had been shredded by heavy gun fire. "Guess we should leave it be. Don't want to look too suspicious."
After wandering back toward the main road Tabitha spots a lot of signs. "Autoparts!" She says jogging. They head into the store. Some of the lights were out or flickering, but the place was still running. Tabitha walks up to one of the few workers and says in Polish "Do you have radiator hose?" The man scratches his neck and thinks for a minute and then leads them to the automotive section. They look through the few remaining hose sections and find one that looks roughly the same.
"You mean you don't know?" Aaron says surprised. "I just figure you would be able to memorize the size easy."
"I have a good mental picture but like.... I really can not just... What cause I am an android?" Tabitha growls.
"Uh... " Aaron follows dumbfounded as she takes two that look right to the main counter. She pays for them and continues walking out silently.
When they get to the main road she continues walking back quickly saying "Sometime you people really just make me mad. I have a good memory, but not like accurate to the next millimeter!"
"I'm really sorry. I made some stupid assumptions. I shouldn't have said that." Aaron follows on.
Tabitha felt her face getting hot. Her mind was racing from one thing to another. She felt strange in her neck area and jogged up a hill by the road and sat down.
Aaron catches up. "Ok what... is it really? You seemed happy last night, but now you're moody and pissed at me.
Tabitha was further annoyed by his questions. She avoided looking at him even as he tried getting in front of her face. "Stop!" She pushes him away. "I do not think.. I do not think I can give you children!"
Aaron stops moving entirely. "Tabitha??" He says shocked and confused. "I knew that from the start or at least suspected it to be so. If that was a factor I never would have tried telling you I liked you. And I do still... or no,let me just flat out say it. Tabitha I love you. And I don't care what you are."
Tabitha just sat hanging her head. "I do wish I could though... And even though I kept blaming you for things you never retaliated. And yet you even so freely say you love me. And I cringe at the thought of saying it myself. I am terrible."
"It's fine. Whether you say it or not, I don't mind. I just wanted you to know." Aaron says helping her up. "Now lets get the car fixed up." They continue onward up the road toward where they believed the car was sitting.
"You make yourself quite hard to be upset with." Tabitha says still red in the face. "Even though what you said is incredibly racist against my people heheheh"
"Raacist??" Aaron raises an eyebrow. "Because I thought you could determine size by looking at it?"
"Yes." Tabitha pretends to be serious. "Not like all of us has laser targeting. I may be accurate, but not in that way."
"Yea... but how many other androids have we met that weren't you."
Tabitha could not but help laughing at the idea. "True. I seem to be everywhere. Perhaps I can just build a child or something." Eventually they make it in sight of the car. Stephanie and Nick were playing checkers on the hood of the vehicle while they waited. "We found a couple that might work. Looking back we should have brought the old one..."
Nick squints, "You didn't just like memorize it?" He notices Tabitha's sudden change in expression. "Or... lets just try one." He scoops their game off the hood and opens it quickly. "Well... believe it or not the first one will work. Was it luck, or skill I wonder."
They fill some water cans in the river and use it to fill the radiator before moving on. "I hope this crap will be ok..." Stephanie says straining out the larger particles.
"It's not... but it'll be fine for what we need. At least the river isn't that bad. It's not like we're reselling this when we're done with it. " Nick says pouring the first jug in.
Southward they move passing through a forest and through country roads. Aaron notices the rows of trees on each side of the road. "Ever notice these trees lining the road so evenly? They're big too.. musta been planted decades ago."
"Well it is sort of nice I suppose. They form a tunnel in a way." Tabitha says looking up through the windshield. She catches a glimpse of something passing in and out of the cloud cover. She pulls the car over gradually.
"What is it? Tabitha, something wrong?" Nick says looking around cautiously.
"It's encoded but I keep getting short radio signals. Very short, dense data packing. It's so frequent I can't pick out one to analyze."
"What could possibly encode that much data... Wouldn't that mean multiple transmissions?"
"Yes." She finishes and crouches down in the ditch. The rest follow as a high pitched scream of engines comes in the distance to the east. The dark outline of large craft starts to show through the thinner clouds.
It starts raining gradually "Can't we just... get in the car and watch this? or just get out of here?" Stephanie complains.
"No. It needs to cool down. This is bad." Tabitha says looking upward. "They are coming in so low and fast." She keeps vigilantly looking east as more craft show through the clouds. "Berlin. It's a major assault on Berlin."
The west fills more with large craft. Nick's legs were shaking "Then after the bombing... Land vehicles."
"Yes." Tabitha tries plotting things out in her head. "If we move, we may make ourselves a target. If we do not, we may get swept up by the land attack. I made a mistake."
"It's not that bad." Aaron tries comforting her. "The tanks were probably though here already and waiting on the front to move in. You did the right thing stopping, the rain will cool us down and hide us betterrrr HOLY!!" Aaron's eyes go wide as a formation of four jets burst in from the west at around 100 feet high and climb toward the large craft to the east. The sonic boom blasts like a bomb shaking everything. Their ears all rung from the sudden busts. Multiple rockets fly off of the fighters up into the air. Multiple explosions go off rapidly shining through the clouds. Seconds later a flaming bomber the size of a building comes crashing down smashing through the road about a half mile in front of them. Three others follow, crashing into the fields with parts raining down. Each crash sent the ground shaking like an earthquake.
"They're huge! Like jumbo jet bombers or something!" Stephanie exclaims. The bomb payload detonates in the more complete bomber ahead of them sending shrapnel and rocks flying all over some even reaching as far as they were. "Well crap, there goes the resale value, the hood is dented bad." She says looking down on the car. "Should we go now??"
Tabitha nods and they climb into the car heading south toward the downed bomber. The crater was easily two hundred feet wide. They drive into the field to avoid the jagged crater rolling over the wheat field. Eventually they find their way to the road again speeding away from the flame filled crater. They speed through Lodowo and continue south. Several bombers cross overhead trying to turn back toward the east dropping their payload randomly to lose weight. The bombs scatter through the fields detonating on impact around the town.
"It's a giant freakin air battle." Aaron says looking up through the sunroof. "Too bad we can't see it so we would know if stuff is comin our way!"
A bomber comes in spinning horizontally falling straight down into the town. The impact and following explosion easily level half the village. Tabitha looks away from the rear view mirror. "Dammit... "
"There's nothing we could do to save them." Aaron puts a hand on her shoulder. "We just need to get out of here." More explosions go off in the distance as they continue driving south. The rugged cracked roads had never been redone in years. They make it to a highway overpass where a bomber was coming in for an emergency landing on to the four lane highway. It comes screaming in with the flaps fully deployed. It zooms over them and skids onto the highway. "This is insane!" A fighter comes buzzing in unleashing a hail of bullets ripping into the overpass following into the bomber destroying it in an enormous explosion. They pass through Buk like it was barely there. The cars were all off the road.
Shortly after town, they pull into an abandoned brick building. They pull into the open garage and get out. Stephanie looks at the sturdy structure. "Do you think it'll protect us?"
"I doubt it." Tabitha says carrying in the lunch bag. "Those jets fire 20mm or higher shells, it would rip through these walls without slowing down. The data packs I heard was their bomber fleet coordinating their attack on Berlin. And if anything crashes near us! I hate feeling this powerless. We are at the mercy of chance!"
"It's ok, calm down. You're going a mile a minute. The best we can do is wait." Nick says checking out the window. "At least the sounds are more distant now." They put together a quick breakfast waiting until things died down and headed off south again. After snaking through the countryside, they find themselves coming on a small village named Slupia and continuing south by the lake. Further down the road they skip past Koscian entirely through country roads.
Nick looks down while driving, "Dang we're actually getting low on fuel... damn do they have any gas stations ever??" A few miles later outside the town of Sarnowa, they stop at a station. "Finally. I'll fill it, you go inside and pay Tabitha."
Tabitha goes in for a while longer than usual. Eventually she runs out to the car. "Um.. I can not find our money."
"What?? are you kidding?" Stephanie replies dumbfounded.
"All I could offer was the Russian money. He accepted but I had to pay double!" Tabitha explains partially out of breath. "He was pretty angry about it too. I think he suspects something."
"Who wouldn't. Traveling kids this close to the front line." Nick says. His eyebrows were scrunched together and he was biting his lip. "What could have happened to the cash we got?"
"Well when we bought the hose segment we had plenty. Unless it fell out on our way back. I can not remember. I would remember if I had seen it happen."
"Well no matter, lets get out of here." Nick finishes and drives off. They head southwest toward Rawicz finding the road more rough by the mile. "Dang nobody ever go this way? I don't like the look of this." As they get closer to the dot on the GPS representing the town they look around seeing empty field. The road was broken into pieces becoming harder to pass over. "This was the city huh... the road doesn't look super bad because the asphalt just remelted together is all." Through the middle of the town abandoned apartment complexes had trees growing from them.
"It's been like this a long time... how weird." Stephanie looks around seeing the burnt out city being reclaimed. "It would have had to be decades... why didn't they move back or anything." The car screeches to a halt. "Found it!"
Ahead of them in a fenced off area, a rocket was face down into the ground. The rocket towered into the air a good 3 floors high with Russian markings on it.
"Is that... a nuke?" Aaron says having just been awakened. "Holy balls! the warhead is probably the size of our car!"
"It's Russian. And damaged, one of the engines must have gone out and it landed early." Tabitha looks it over as they pass through. "Crazy... maybe the EMP from the first hit shorted this one out and it never went off. But the town is closed because it may still go off?"
"Seems likely... speaking of which..." Nick drives away from the doomed town faster.
Later they come into a town called Stupina. Stephanie looks out the window, "Aw.. crap... Here she goes again."
"Oh wow look how tall it is." Tabitha tries leaning forward to look through the windshield at a church ahead. It must be old. We should have stopped." Tabitha whimpers looking back. "These places have so much history to them."
"And hills." Nick points out.
"What's so odd about that?" Stephanie asks.
"It's been almost all flat since we got into Poland."
"I guess that's true... I never thought about it that much."
They pull in to a town called Uraz by the river. Aaron speaks up, "More rivers? Dang... "
"Yea the thing is there is no bridge." Tabitha crosses her arms. "And with our money gone we can not ride over."
Stephanie points at Aaron. "Can't he use his water powers or something?"
"I can't sustain lift on our vehicle that long or freeze an ice raft big enough. If I messed up a little, it would send us under water. I don't think I can save us with what little power I have." Aaron thinks about the possibilities.
"Well according to the map we have two choices. West to Brzeg Dolny, or East to Wroclaw, one of the largest cities in Poland with about a million citizens."
"Over a million population, Damn! And we know the battle lines have shifted past it more than once.." Nick adds. "Lets go toward Wroclaw but try to skirt the city like we usually do... We can camp outside the city for the night." They head southeast toward Wroclaw. When they get within ten miles of the city edge they take the back roads into the forest by the river. They run past an old building with a brick smoke stack. They park the car close and go inside.
"Looks like an old power plant." Stephanie says.
"Perhaps, not much left to tell. Either way it will hide us from the weather tonight. Looks bad." Tabitha says getting a tent out.
"Tents? We're indoors." Stephanie argues.
"I really do not trust the roof tops of old places like this anymore." Tabitha says continuing the setup. Sure enough, the roof leaked in many places that night as the rain came. Tabitha managed to sleep soundly through the night.
Day 30 Wednesday Cloudy ----
Tabitha woke up slightly disappointed by the lack of a dream. She got out of her tent to find the others had not yet awaken. She wanders around looking for whoever was on watch that night and happens on Nick. "Oh hey, I did not know you were on watch tonight."
"Well... it was supposed to be you I thought. But I figured I would do it anyway." Nick responds. "You're still kind of recovering anyway. How are you now?"
"A lot better, actually. That vaccine really helped... I wonder why she had it just on her anyway." Tabitha wonders. She picks at the old electric motors still in the old building. "I wonder if she runs into other androids or cyborgs often. Guess I should have asked."
"Yea, maybe. She was interesting. A nano-virus vaccine doesn't sound like something you'd need or have often. Maybe it's for her? I don't know maybe she can reprogram the vaccine or something." Tabitha sits quietly. Random thoughts irritating her. "Something wrong?"
"I have had a lot to think about. We have to get over the river, and Wroclaw is so close. And Aaron and I had a stupid fight... among other things. There is just so much going on. I can hardly deal with it sometime." Tabitha says speaking faster as she goes.
Nick waves both hands. "Just slow down. Ok? I don't know what's going on, but some of it you need to work out yourself, of course. And some of it we can help on. Like getting south of the River is something we can all help with. You're good, you've led us well. But you don't have to do everything."
"I suppose so." Tabitha replies. She decides against going further into detail and helps put things up as people begin to wake. They take a small cobble road through the forest passing through an abandoned village of very old buildings.
"Wow... this wasn't recent stuff. This is like over a hundred years abandoned." Aaron says as they slow down for a brief moment. "Funny running into stuff like that." The others shrug it off as they continue down the old road. After a mile or so they reach the river at an old boat loading ramp.
"Yep... too bad this doesn't float." Stephanie says sarcastically. As they drive on the gravel road along the river, they see a huge bridge crossing. "Holy geez that's .. a huge bridge. And in one piece... wow." The Redzinski bridge stretched far in both directions. They sit and stare at it a while. "What's that moving?"
Nick picks out the binoculars. "
" He says quietly. "Armor... light vehicles... more armor... Yea that's a lotta stuff. The odds of us using that bridge are zero point zero." "Yea that and the nearest on ramp for it is like 2 miles away." Aaron looks north trying to spot it. If we can't use this bridge... maybe we can go around the town?"
Nick thinks about it and says, "Yea but then we'd be stopped by those guys... The main city is south of the river. Think we could sneak through?"
Tabitha pulls the map. "It is, we do not know the exact layout, but that may work. We can pass under the bridge and evade the soldiers that way. Hmm... let us try it."
They drive along the river bank for a while. They creep through the lanes with their lights off to avoid attracting attention. After some time they pass abandoned store fronts and housing districts massively overgrown. "Looks like people haven't been in this area for a long time. Perhaps they left? The south looks active, lights are still on."
A set of large apartment buildings had been bombed out a long time ago. The rubble blocked some of the street. They pull onto the sidewalk mowing down bushes along the way to get around. Some of the buildings had obviously burnt out completely from firebombing. They turn north and east into a large sprawl of housing. The trees had overgrown, some branches fallen a long time ago rotting away in the street.
"It's weird that they just.... never bother restoring it or anything." Aaron says as they continually dodge debris in the street. "Even cars, just left here."
"Yea it's odd, but I guess if they were attacked and people just fled out. If they never came back who would bother?" Stephanie contributes. "As people leave an area... others leave because they can't run their businesses or friends leave and so on."
"Sucks, but yea. That's about it." Nick keeps vigilantly looking for any threats with the binoculars. He gives up in the rough areas since the shaking made it nearly impossible. They bust through a gate and continue down a road past a construction site that never got finished and busting out the rear gate half a mile later. A gated community north of town had been completely burnt down at some point in time. The large houses close together were little more than shells now. "That's what happens when they're all next to each other..."
They follow a gravel road following along a small river north of the city. The road winds through fields and crosses a railroad. When they crest the railroad they see an open field where a road used to be.
"Are.. you kidding?" Stephanie groans. "There's no road! We're gonna get stuck, this river dirt is crap and you know it."
"I know, but south of here is the factory district!" Tabitha shouts back. She sees Stephanie sit back abruptly. "I am sorry... I should not have snapped like that."
"We have little choice." Aaron tries to reaffirm. Those factories are probably active still. I'd be using them to produce arms and tanks if I were them. That'd explain the convoys."
Their vehicle bogs down. Tabitha cringes in the drivers seat and slams the wheel. "Somebody take the wheel." She states and jumps out into the mushy ground. She braces against the bumper and pushes forward trying to dislodge it. "How did we ...get this stuck? Gaaaah!" The car rolls back pushing her into the mud. She pulls the car forward again off of her. Gasping and climbing out of the mud, she sits.
"Just wait a bit... You don't have to do this alone." Aaron gets out. He helps her up and uses his ability to pull the mud and water off her.
"Wait, you can move mud?"
"It has water in it, so... I guess so."
Tabitha leans to her side and says, "Then use the mud and get us out..."
"Oh yea. That might work. I never really tried it until just now." Aaron gets back from the car. Nick looks back with some concern from the driver's seat as the car shakes. The mud rises from the tall grass and pushes on the back of the car pushing it forward gradually. He moves the car to a more firm area.
"Wait... You could do this?" Stephanie says getting out looking at the trail of mud. "So maybe we coulda crossed the river?"
Tabitha gets back in the car in the rear seat. "Lets just get moving. If we dwell on it, it would just make us crazy."
"Yea but now Aaron is taking your job." Stephanie nudges her.
"I can still shoot better." Tabitha grins.
They struggle along slowly for the next hour making slow progress through the old path by the river. They come in sight of an old building supply place where the road gets more solid. They drive along and get to better roads passing abandoned storefronts.
Nick points and says, "Wow a person!" They pass by a couple carrying large backpacks of supplies.
"Well at least we're closer to civilization. Is that a good or bad thing." Stephanie says looking back at them. As they continue down the road, they notice a vibration in the vehicle. "Is the road screwed up? What is that?" As they continue down the road, the vibration gets worse. "There's no way that's the road!"
"Crud.. it's" Nick is stopped as the tire shreds. He pulls the car over into a parking lot by the road. He jumps out first. "The tread is all gone... Dammit!" He kicks the car and storms off.
Tabitha follows. "Wait. We just need to find another tire right?"
"Look around! See another G class or large SUV?" Nick says. "And we have no money to buy one, not that this stupid place has any shops! And not that THAT would matter cause you lost all our money!"
Tabitha looks away and takes off running and cries "I did not mean to!" Nick chases quickly after her keeping up. "Leave me alone!" She bounds over a house to try and lose him. She lands and sprints quickly down the road. A flash to her left she catches a glimpse of a large vehicle. She runs back to see a scrap shop with a few American cars in the back. She jumps the fence seeing the wonderful image of 20 inch tires. "God bless America." Tabitha says pushing the car up and grabbing the lug nut and turning it with her fingers. She removes the last and pulls the tire off lowering the car with a crash. "Oops..."
A light goes on in the house with dogs barking. Tabitha looks behind her to see a man with a face like he had seen a ghost. The man says in Polish, "You removed the tire by hand! What the hell are you?" His hands were shaking as he pointed.
Tabitha sets the tire down staying crouched. She says to him in Polish, "Please, I mean you no harm, but my friends and I... our tire went out. We are trying to help stop the Russians and the PAC."
The man stops and looks serious replying in Polish "You are one of 'those' huh. Damn Russians again take our factories, our jobs, our city. Anything I can do to stop them, you can have it. Come on in first."
Tabitha follows him in cautiously. Her hand at the ready to defend herself if the need arose.
He sets a coffee cup on the table saying in Polish, "Relax child, just plain coffee. It may be strong but not poison." The man shows her a picture of a woman holding a child. "When the city was taken. They were at my side. The Russians on one end of town, the Germans on the other. They clashed north of the city, stray shots came in and hit the shopping center. When the roof collapsed, it took half the store and my family with it." He sighs and takes a drink.
Tabitha looks at the picture closely and follows on saying in Polish, "I wish I had money to pay for it. But we have nothing to offer you. I thought this place was abandoned."
"Lots of places here are. It is just one wheel though. If you just were a thief, you never would have come in. But... eh, you are good kids I imagine. But I want you to remember this here. Good people mixed up in a bad situation. Go ahead and take it. I have things to do anyhow."
Tabitha nods her head happily. She picks up the tire with both hands and jumps the fence. The man shakes his head as she runs down the road.
Nick zips up and stops in front of her. "Where did you... Wait you found one? Tabitha, listen... I'm sorry. I know you didn't mean to lose our money. We're all a bit anxious around this place. We know it's crawling with enemies... but you've kept is safe. I'm sorry."
"I know." Tabitha says happily. They walk down the road as Tabitha rolls the tire. "I am a bit touchy as well I suppose. Even I can get emotional you know. Some time more than others. It will pass."
"Huh? Ooh! that... Anyway. So level headed of you..." Nick replies trying to cover his embarrassment. "Well, lets get this on and go. We had no luck looking ourselves."
They continue walking down the road. After quite some distance Tabitha says, "Are we almost back? How far is it?"
"Um... you ran a good quarter mile. I can keep up with you but not when you jump houses like that. My power only works with time, not super strength unfortunately." Nick continues as they walk. "That was a dirty trick."
Tabitha was still a bit sore about the situation, "I just felt I had to get away. I know I was not thinking clearly. When I get like this, I just lose track and flip out. I hate it."
"Well we all make mistakes. To err is human." He rambles off without thinking.
"I suppose so hmm?" Tabitha stops rolling the tire and looks seriously at Nick. "Hey... um before we get back. Does Aaron talk to you about me?"
"To be fully honest, yea. He knows I've known you a while, so he asks advice once in a while. I shouldn't go into detail though. What I can say is he really puts some effort into it. Sure he's younger, but I have to say he's dedicated."
"Well I suppose that is good to know. I will not pry and break your.. man code or whatever you call it." She snickers and pushes the tire onward. When they make it to the car, she shows off the tire and explains the situation. They jack up the car and put the wheel on and continue down the road.
The city was far behind them as they continued south through villages and fields. Stephanie lets out a sigh of relief, "I can't believe we made it past that place. It was a pain and took forever... but we made it. I can't believe you threw a hissyfit Tab. That was fun,"
Tabitha clenches her hands tighter on the steering wheel. "It was not a!... never mind. Why can you not simply...
"Oh come on... I know what's going on. I'm just teasing."
Tabitha clenched her hands on the steering wheel thinking, "She really pisses me off sometime."
After passing through a small village Stephanie opens her eyes in a daze from napping. "What dark clouds.. or no they're trees... huge trees what the..."
"Mountains." Nick says plainly. "We must be getting close to the boarder." They pass rows of houses along the hill road climbing gradually steeper. "You know... maybe it's a good thing the tire went out back there. If it blew going down a mountain."
"We'd be dead." Stephanie mumbles.
"Yes." Tabitha answers. "I suppose that was fortunate in a way." After some time they find a small path to the side just before dark. "This looks unused enough. We might find a place to set camp before continuing." She travels down the road. They see old brick ruins through the trees. As the car pulls up they see a row of cannons. "What the?!"
"Wait... they're a monument of some kind." Aaron points out. "Look how old they are, like World War era stuff."
They pull the car in to the middle of the fort through the large archway. They get out and take a quick look around. They find a large hall to set up in. The structure looked well over two hundred years old with the angled walls built for cannons far older than the artillery monuments left there from the world wars.
As the others unpack, Tabitha wanders around. She finds an old bundle of tourist pamphlets. The cover reads "Fort Silberberg" going on about the history of the fort along the Srebrna Gora pass. She folds it back up carrying it along as she tours the place. She climbs the stone staircase to the next floor. It seemed like most of the structure had been renovated in the past recent years. She happens upon Aaron who had also decided to wander around
She taps him on the shoulder sliding behind him as he turns. "Over here. Oh I see you found one too." She notes the paper in his hand.
"Ah yea. Not that we're tourists, but it's neat we happened upon this." Aaron remarks still walking slowly through the halls.
"Listen, Aaron. I am sorry for being so weird... the past few days. I hate to fight with you like that."
"Well, thank you I guess. I kind of figured why, it's not problem. I should have been a little more considerate too."
"Even when you said you love me. I could not." She avoids looking directly at him instead focusing on nothing ahead of her. "And even still I can not. And I am capable of it, because I know I love Father." She wipes her eyes starting to tear up. "It is unfair to you! If I can never return what you feel."
Aaron was a little visibly disturbed by what he was hearing. He continued following alongside her. He reaches around her with his left arm. "Maybe for you, it means something bigger. We might just not be there yet. Or maybe I used it too early in my over-eagerness to prove myself to you. I dunno. I'm sorry. I really didn't meant to put pressure on you... lets head back. They probably have something to eat."
The two of them make it back to the camp fire. Stephanie calls over, "It's about time. We... uh didn't know if maybe you ate soooo yours is still cold."
"Great..." Tabitha rolls her eyes and sits down opening the sealed meal box.
Nick pulls Aaron to the side and discusses something just beyond hearing distance.
Stephanie leans in toward Tabitha. "What were you guys doin eeeh? Up to no good?" She winks and scoots closer.
"W.. what? Nothing! We just walked around. You make a big deal out of nothing." Tabitha says ripping her meal open and trying to continue eating it.
"Sure sure. I know any time Tex and I had some time.... aah.." Stephanie closes her eyes and leans back against the wall. "I really miss him. Nobody ever made me feel that happy."
Tabitha listened and crossed her arms. "Aaron and I are... not like that. Yes, he makes me happy but... I could never. Well I..."
Stephanie interrupts. "Ok, geez. You're going to make yourself sick from embarrassment. I get it. You always were daddy's little girl. I can tell you like him a lot though. Otherwise you wouldn't get so bothered every time I mention Aaron. Ha! There you go!"
Tabitha growls throwing her spoon and meal container into the fire. The guys look back behind them toward the two and continue their discussion. Tabitha realized everyone was staring at her so she decided to get up and get into her tent. She faced away from the fire's side of the tent thinking, "She pushes my buttons so easily... I do like him. Why can I not..?" "Aaag.." She groans audibly before drifting off to sleep early.
Day 31 Thursday mostly cloudy
Tabitha woke early as usual. Groggy all over she gets up feeling her side. "Well, at least that is healed up.. My arm has no more pain either. I wish I could thank Xavia." She climbs a ladder to the grass covered roof. She sits on the moist grass looking up at the moon. She feels the moisture in the grass creep up on her hand somehow. Looking down she sees a fat green frog crawling over her. "YEEaaaaH!" She yells and tumbles backward.
In seconds Nick is on the roof looking around. "Wha... What's going on I don't see any threat."
Tabitha covered her face. "It was just... Oh lord... " She tries to regain composure to look less pathetic. "It was a frog. It startled me is all. I am an idiot."
"Cripes, I thought we were under attack from that sound you made." Nick paces trying to cool down. "Wait... you're afraid of frogs?"
"No! I adore them! I just do not like them on me and sneaking up on me." Tabitha says wiping her hand on the wet grass.
Nick shakes his head shooing away the frog so he could sit. "Well... anyway... Xavia mentioned there was a lot of spotty fighting in the mountains. Do you think we can make it?"
"That concerns me too. We know now we could never make it past the heavy fighting on the front. We barely made it past the rear leftovers." Tabitha responds keeping an eye on the frog the whole time. "My thought is. We start heading south past the Alps. Make our way to the coast or find an aircraft, which ever comes first. And just try our best..."
"I know you will."
"We should get moving. It is over 500 miles just to the nearest coast south."
"Here I almost thought we were done." Nick sighs climbing down the ladder after Tabitha. They gather their belongings and load up the car. They move out to the mountain path down the slope. The road runs at a fairly steep grade all the way down winding with tight turns past random houses. They turn south as soon as they can down a narrow street pulling over for the occasional small car to pass.
"Hey.. we never really ran into traffic before. Maybe that is a good sign." Tabitha notes as they continue down the way. The villages they pass through were merely clusters of houses by American standards. "It really is funny how small these villages are."
"Yea. Like ten houses here... four there." Aaron adds.
Stephanie holds her head. "Ugh these winding roads make me sick. Try not to take them so hard, Tabby." She tries to sleep off as much of the trip as she can to avoid looking out. "Why can't it all just be flat..."
"This area is so much different from the rest." Tabitha looks around as they crest another large hill. Rolling hills, plains, then a ridge of mountains. They make it to a small town called Szalejow Djorny. "Crap... I just realized something. How will we get gas??"
"Yea... about that. I think we owe you an apology, maybe we all do. I found the money as we were packing up. It was in the shopping bag." Aaron says pulling their makeshift wallet up. "We had just thrown it into the car when the first pipe fit and forgotten about it."
Nick pressed his sinuses. "How long did you know this?"
"Not long, just like when I put my tent up I noticed a bag wedged under the seat. I put it in the front here and it slipped my mind again til this reminded me." Aaron responds.
"What is done is done." Tabitha says sadly. "If we keep worrying about it, it will make us crazy. I am simply relieved we found it. We should really stock up while we can." She says driving through the town looking. After a while of frustration they make it to Polanica Zdroj. Annoyed by the search, she growls, "Aaaag! I swear... a gas station is the hardest thing to find in this place! AAAHAA there!" She pulls in and jogs into the store part happily.
Nick shrugged and began fueling. A while later she comes out carrying a pair of fuel cans and sets them down pointing at them and jogging back in again. She picks through the drinks coolers. The stocks were fairly thin due to the war so she picks out some random flavored drinks as a treat. Coming back to the car, she says, "I found some drinks at least. Hmm well yea there was not much variety. So I just picked some interesting ones. I think they must be locally made. Whoever drives can have the mystery cola."
"Mystery...? I'm afraid to ask." Nick says looking at the illegible bottle label.
"Yes, It says special flavored cola, I can only presume it just means cola. Or maybe some alternate variety." Tabitha says holding it looking at all the label. "Natural and artificial flavors... how descriptive." After a lot of reluctance, Tabitha gives up and agrees to drive a while longer. Continuing down the road, she opens the drink and tastes it. "Errrhk!"
"That good huh." Aaron says laughing at her misfortune.
Tabitha squinted, "I have no idea what this is. But it is not good as far as I can tell." Traffic slows as they near the town library until it becomes a near stand-still. They notice a large crowd gathered at the library. "... We are going to get nowhere. Should we check it out?" The others shrug and they pull over and investigate.
A uniformed man was standing at a quickly put together podium at the stairway. He gestured dramatically saying to the crowd in Polish, "We come seeking young vibrant citizens to join the fight to prevent the western forces from breaching the front lines again. I am sure many of you know somebody deeply effected by the last wave that made it through here! Joining the PAC military can insure that the west will never again break our front. With our highly trained mega-soldiers to guide us, we will be victorious."
An older woman turns to Tabitha saying in Polish, "Are you kids thinking of joining them? I would never dare. This area tried to stay neutral but they want to bring the war closer... We are nearly prisoners. Fighting to the west and north. The PAC has Wroclaw occupied completely... such a mess."
Tabitha overheard others in the crowd saying similar things. Most were standing back watching not moving.
Nick leans in whispering, "Looks like the PAC doesn't have many friends here. That's good for us. But they're trying to drum up support for it.. Hmm."
They run back to the car trying to move on in the traffic. They start to creep forward when a black figure crashes down in their way. It stands up saying in terrible English, "This place is about to destroyed. Ha Ha, America will make you die."
"It's a setup!" Stephanie points. "Wow, they're making it look like the US is attacking to make them join! We have to stop it!"
"That'll expose us! But if we do nothing, innocent people will be harmed." Nick says grabbing his rifle.
"I agree. We could slip through this town unnoticed, or we could try and stop this before it starts. It could save thousands more." Tabitha says zipping up her coat and taking a quickloader with her. They dismount the vehicle and walk forward.
The dark figure turns to Tabitha brandishing her weapon. "Wha... Aha at least one brave enough to stand .. against the might of America!"
Stephanie rode Nick's back zipping fast behind the figure. Stephanie had a barrage of red hot bearings ready. Nick aimed his rifle. And Aaron stayed hidden ready for his part.
Tabitha charged ahead quickly jumping high over the dark armor firing shots hitting the arm once. Part of the armor broke off easily. Tabitha says to the crowd in Polish "American armor would never break so easily, you are an imposter!"
"Nonsense! Your Russian weapon is ... incredibly powerful!" The figure replies in Polish. It charges toward her and she ducks down avoiding Stephanie's barrage of bearings and Nick's shots. The figure recoils back as more of the armor breaks off. The figure's helmet was badly broken. It steps back and a rush of water shoots up from the manhole in the sidewalk knocking it down. The rest of the armor falls apart revealing a misshapen hulk of a man levitating a few feet off the ground. The beastly enemy says to the group again in Polish, "Escapees... however you got this far makes no difference. You will die here. Your pathetic abilities are no match for my training and raw POWER!!" He yells charging Tabitha. He swings his fist at her. She manages to hold him back sliding in the process. Stephanie fires a searing hot nail at him. It bounces off leaving a glowing red streak off his strangely hard skin.
"What the... hell..." Stephanie says firing another. "What can we do? He's invulnerable."
Nick's shots were bouncing off as well. "Damn. Even the hardened core AP is just deflecting. We have to come up with a plan... a weakness."
Tabitha pulled her right arm away from blocking the enemy firing point blank into it doing little effect. "Dammit! Aaron try cutting it!"
Aaron takes a stream of water and narrows it into a thin blade at the monstrous man. He sends the blade straight at him barely hitting but making a thin cut on its shoulder. "So he can be hurt at least!" Aaron says to the group.
The enemy recoils back looking at his arm. He instead focuses on charging toward Aaron, flying at him directly. Aaron sends the manhole cover flying with a gush of water. The impact flings the enemy back into a tree, breaking it down.
Aaron jogs to Tabitha. He was breathing heavily and sweating, "Keep it distracted a bit while I regain energy."
Tabitha nods, reloading her revolver manually. She aims at the enemy's face firing three shots at him. Instead of just taking the hits, he blocks with both his arms while charging at her. She says aloud, "It's his face! Anywhere else he just takes the hit!" He takes a heavy swing from the side at Tabitha, she blocks but is knocked away from the sheer magnitude of the impact. She lands in a field of bushes and overgrowth.
"Great how does that help if he blocks everything." Nick says trying to quick-aim a shot. The shot is intercepted by the enemy's fist. "Damn I swear he has the same reaction speed I do. He has like all the best powers. And worse yet, I can't waste all my speed or we're done."
"Just keep him going so we can figure something out." Stephanie fires a white hot bearing at the enemy. It impacts and melts onto him sticking to his skin. It tries desperately to pull it off.
Nick looks back at her. "Keep doing it!"
"It takes time! I know!" She charges a second and fires it hitting his hand and melting on.
Tabitha hops the fence, "Nick, move in and do it!"
Nick runs in like a blur jumping high over the enemy's arms and fires a shot impacting on its eye. The enemy fighter jolts back and flops to the ground. Nick lands exhausted as the crowd cheers.
Tabitha explains to some in the crowd in Polish, "That was no American. He is a genetically engineered fighter. Hold them off so my friends and I can escape..." She jogs to their car and speeds off. The crowd was in an uproar with the PAC representative desperately trying to 'explain' the situation.
Aaron sighs, "I wish I coulda done more, almost like old times before I knew I had ANY power."
Tabitha looks over, "You did good. I just had a hunch his eyes were weak. If they were not, you would have been our ace to take him out. We are a team. It does not matter who gets the kill shot."
"As usual, you're right. So insightful." Aaron says trying to cheer himself up.
"Maybe some of your drink would cheer him up." Nick says taking it from Tabitha and handing it to him.
Aaron smells it and takes a drink, "Oh hell what is that?! Liquorice? Flavored SODA?"
Tabitha nods, "I think so... it tastes worse than anything I have ever tasted. It will keep you awake though." She struggles to finish the drink as they drive down the road. They turn on to a gravel road and snake through to another forest path south. She grimaces from the pain and fatigue from the fight. Even though she tried to hide it, Nick had noticed.
"Hey.. how about you just let me drive. It's fine." Nick says directing her to pull over. "You took quite a beating in that fight. You're strong but we know you're not invulnerable."
Tabitha pulls the car over, "Thank you, Nick." She climbs into the back seat and tries to rest. "I am just a little sore. He was strong. I swear I could feel my bones shake when he hit." She closed her eyes just feeling the car bump and turn as it goes down the road. After a while she unknowingly drifted off to sleep waking to feeling the car headed downhill forcing her to wake from leaning forward. "Huh? It is dark! Why did we not stop?"
"Wow, you musta been totally out not to feel the mountain road." Stephanie turns back away from Tabitha. She looks out the window leaning on the door.
"How long was I out."
"A couple hours... We didn't stop because the road was too open." Nick says still driving. We probably should have found a road, but we just kept going and then the road got way more open. These mountain paths don't leave many places to hide. It's all steep slopes." After another hour of steep roads and open fields they drive past an old fort-like house. They turn back around and drive through the main archway. "Well... nobody home. Looks abandoned." Nick says as the lights brighten the rusted out car sitting in the courtyard.
They break out the flashlights and move inside with some basic gear. It wasn't until very late when they finally got to sleep. Tabitha decided to keep watch since she had slept in the car. The upper floor they stayed in was basically an old warehouse. She looked through the boxes finding nothing really useful. "Fishing supplies... empty bottles? Broken oil bottles... Did these people keep anything worth value?" She moves past the piles of tables and chairs to boxes of newspapers and magazines.
After hours of thumbing through now-historical articles. She finds nothing really informative. "Damn, I was hoping to find something about the world in there. She tosses the last paper into the box and hears a door creak. She turns toward the staircase and creeps silently along the edge of the room to avoid the boards. She hears somebody shuffling through the grass. She whispers to herself, "The windows are too small to see out well... The stairs are just crap wood." She crouches listening as the footsteps move indoors. "I have no choice." She decides to look out and sees nothing at the stairs. As she touches the steps, they squeak slightly. She moves slowly and reaches the bottom. Moving through between the boxes, she follows the sound silently with her weapon ready.
The figure of a man was looking cautiously around the warehouse. He was wearing a loose jacket and holding a hunting rifle. She comes up behind him and grabs the back of the rifle hard. She says to him in Polish, "I mean you no harm. But I can not risk you shooting. Who are you, why are you here?"
The man replies in Polish "I am Gzergorz Schmidt. This is MY land!"
"I apologize, sir. We only needed a place to sleep for the night."
"Like I care?! Let me go and get out! And there better be nothing missing!" The man replies angrily trying to wrestle his rifle out of Tabitha's unbreakable grip.
Tabitha debates in her head about whether to tie him up or take his weapon. "Damn what do I do..." She wonders. She says to him "We will go, if that is what you wish. We had no place to stay. And no nothing was taken. Any place we stay we make sure to protect... " She puts her gun away. And gets the others up. They pack up and head down seeing the man angrily waiting by the gate.
"First time we actually get caught... Geez what a grouch." Stephanie says eying the man as they pack up.
Nick kept a constant watch on him, ready to spring into action if he tried something. Tabitha gets into the driver's seat and heads out. They turn back and head down a narrow road into the forest and park.
"Sorry guys... " Tabitha says leaning back.
"Nothing to be sorry about. It's not like a firefight started. He looked pissed, but he wasn't shooting. So maybe your charm worked, that's just as charmed as he gets..." Nick says trying to sleep. "Lets get some sleep here at least. We'll worry about it more later."
Tabitha was still angry about being kicked out. She said to herself, "The only reason he looked was I got sloppy and made it too obvious we pulled in. That stupid place... nobody went in there in over a year!" She clenched her fist and continued her rant in her head, "I hate that! People neglect something until somebody needs it, then they act like they needed it the whole time."
She looks at the door knowing that if she opened it, the light would go on and blow their position. She silently groans from being cooped up and unable to sleep. "And I can not even talk to anyone to pass the time! Ughggh...." She says to herself. "Why am I so frustrated... I am so tired."
~~~~~~~~
Tabitha gets up seeing smoke around her. She looks closer at the ground seeing pieces of their car thrown around burnt. "Did the... car blow up?" She says getting to her feet." She rubs her head walking out forward into the field looking around. "Where is everyone?? What happened? Why am I the only one here?"
She walks forward into the dark forest ahead. The moon light shone through the leaves in nice beams leaving the forest floor eerily glowing. She walks for a long time realizing she is hungry and sits on her knees. "Damn, I walked all night and nothing..." An owl lands in front of her and drops a key. "What the hell?" She takes it and looks at it a while. She notices a keyhole on a tree. "Oh great, Now I remember. This is a dream. This is from a fairy tale."
She turns the key in the tree's keyhole and finds some food and eats it to play along with the dream. "If I know it is a dream why have I not woken up yet though... Something keeping me asleep?" The food was actually surprisingly good. She waited a while and eventually a figure jogged in.
As it approached she realized it was Xavia's childlike apparition. When it came closer Xavia said "Tabitha?? Is this as far as you have gotten?"
"...Yes? I thought we were doing good."
"Where? It seems you are barely to the Czech. Oh never mind. You're traveling cross country."
"Yes but how can you reach me? With the mountains the signal would..." Tabitha stops herself realizing something.
"Yes, I am close." Xavia admits. "I was going to go west and rejoin the battle. But I realized the same thing you did after some scouting. I could never break the front line easily. Don't wait up. I'll find you."
Tabitha tries holding on to Xavia's hand but they fade away. The trees around her melt into sand and begin to bury Tabitha. The sand covers her completely making it impossible to breathe, just as she can barely stand it she wakes up.
~~~~~~~~
Day 32 Friday Cear skies ---------
As Tabitha wakes, she finds her arm over her mouth with part of the sleeve in her mouth. "Aw gross." She says lightly. "Xavia is close? She followed us all this way?" She says having a slight sense of excitement in the back of her mind. She waits until the morning unable to seep. When the sun rises, everyone gradually wakes up. Aaron volunteers silently to drive.
They drive south for a dozen or so miles within a mile of the southern boarder. After they snake through a town they pass through the country road. Eventually they pass around a bend through a wooded area and see close ahead a checkpoint. "Dammit, Tabitha?"
Tabitha wakes up looking ahead. "W... What are you kidding me?!" She shocks awake. "Well it is too late to turn back! Damn!"
The guards look on ahead with binoculars. An extra set of guards gets out of a van. They gesture for their group's vehicle to come to the checkpoint. The front guard says to them in English, "We know who you are! Get out and surrender!"
Tabitha climbs out first replying in Polish, "We are students trying to move out of the area."
"Wrong answer! You are the ones that fought in Szelejow. Where ever you came from, we are here to bring you back." He says pointing a stun rifle at her. He wastes no time firing and sending an intense electrical current into her.
"Aaaaaaeeeh!" Tabitha screams and falls to the ground.
"Oh
! Tabitha!" Aaron says trying to open the door. Nick pulled his rifle off the back seat and grabbed the door handle. At that time they see the furthest back guard fall back several feet and then the sound of a distant gunshot booming. Two more guards go down with reports following a second later.
The lead guard turned around frantically. He dropped his stun rifle running to the far side of the road. He pulls a radio from his pocket which blows up into pieces. With the time bought by the new distraction, Nick gets out of the vehicle and shoots the last guard.
Tabitha was still laying flat on her stomach breathing erratically. Aaron turns her over, "Tabitha, are you ok? Say something!"
She looks up in a daze sweating all over. "S..ss..Sorry. I am fine. It ... just hurts a little." He props her up and waits while she gradually regains control. "He caught me off guard. He just shot! They never do that!" She rubs the rocks from the road off her face. "What happened?"
"A sniper. We brought you off the road. We can only presume it's friendly since it only hit them."
"Xavia!" Tabitha says excitedly.
"Huh? The sniper?" Nick says with his weapon ready. "How could she have followed us? We're like 200 miles south of there."
"She came to me in my dream again last night. So she must have been close. I would presume it is her." Tabitha said turned away from the others checking herself for burns. "Wow, with how much that weapon hurt, it did no harm to me."
"Ok so.. what does she want from us now?" Stephanie says clinging to the hillside not taking any chances. "Didn't she say she wanted to rejoin the battle? and NOT follow us around?"
"Gosh! Like I know what she thinks?" Tabitha says sitting back with them. They hear a thump on the road and creep up. They see somebody in black armor checking the bodies. Tabitha gets up, "Xavia? Is that you?"
The figure pulls its helmet back with a set of pigtails falling back and revealing it to be Xavia. She jogs over to where they were hiding. "Sorry, Tabitha. I suspected they would act fast, but not like that. I heard the radio traffic about the incident in Szalejow. You have them scared."
"I am fine." Tabitha says holding the place on her chest where the energy blast hit on her. "I have never seen a weapon like that."
"It's a stun-gun basically. Fires a pulse of heavily charged gas instead of wires." Xavia says tossing them the weapon. "Unfortunately, they got pictures of you probably. That's why this guy acted so fast."
"That armor... is that how you got here so fast?" Stephanie says pointing out the black armor similar to the super armor they encountered back in Myron.
"No, this is just standard nanocarbon-armor. Not the flying super suits the special ops have. Those are a lot more rare. On my own, I can cover a lot of distance quite fast." Xavia says brushing the mud and dirt off the leg plates. "The advantage of a body like mine is it can be stronger. So I can push myself further without worrying about getting cut up. I'd still trade it to be a cute normal kid again."
"I thought you said you were like forty." Aaron says without thinking.
Xavia glares angrily back saying, "YES! Ok! so I would no longer be an adorable little teenager, but I would be normal."
"Damn! That was cold Aaron. Especially for you." Stephanie prods him in the arm. "But your face is still like an adorable little teenager." Stephanie continued.
"Well that's another story. I chose that much, but when they replaced my body. I chose to join the military. That's why I got the one I did. The face is artificial, but made to look like my real one was." She stops them before they could keep asking questions. "Look! Ok! I know you're all curious about my boring history. But I really hate talking about most of my life."
"Sure. Sorry. What do you intend to do now? What should we do?" Tabitha says.
Xavia sighs, "Well you need to find some different clothes. I can't stick with you. I'll go insane from the questions constantly. Lord, why did I come all this way..."
"Because you like us?" Nick says sarcastically.
"Sure. Believe that." Xavia states. "When I got closer to the front, I received an encoded transmission. A new offensive is going through. Had you gone to Berlin or the German boarder. You likely could have been carpet bombed. Even I would not risk that. I came south and sent my ping out at night. That is when I found you."
They travel a short distance down the road to a house and break out the lunches. They offer something to Xavia but she ignores it. Tabitha joins her in the living room stirring the cheap ramen they were having. "I keep unlocking new memories. You really made my early life better."
Xavia continued keeping watch, "Right, You know in the time I wasn't playing with you, I was training for war. Having you around was like a bridge between normal life and my future."
"I see. Still, the times you played with me. Were the best times." Tabitha says happily.
"Listen, I had fun too back then even. You had a lot of promise. And I'm glad I could help you kids." Xavia paces. "I was sad when I heard about.. that accident. Then they took you away. I never saw you again until a few years later."
"That was not me." Tabitha interrupts. "Likely it was one of my sisters. I was shut down until later..."
"That makes sense. She had no memory of me at all. And acted like an adult in a kid's body. It was creepy."
As soon as everyone was done. They grouped in the main room. Nick decided to come out and ask, "Ok, so is she coming with us or what's the deal?"
"No, I'm not going to tag along. I can move quicker on my own." Xavia says checking her weapons. She finishes cleaning the rifle's main body and puts it back together. "I am glad I could help you out. But this war is bigger than just you. It wouldn't help as much for me to protect you as if I go around striking enemy bases elsewhere."
"I guess that makes sense." Aaron adds. "You've got a lot bigger mission than just getting out. You're probably a lot better than us too."
"I've been fighting for decades. If you did the same things, you would get better too." Xavia replies leading them out of the house. She takes the GPS from Tabitha. "You can't possibly go south on this road. Even though this area is PAC controlled, the local governments still do boarder checks. Go cross country or use the rail as a path."
"Thank you, Xavia." Tabitha says taking back the GPS. They drive south within half a mile of the boarder and find a small gravel road joining to the railroad. The gravel path goes parallel to the rail and abruptly ends. They creep onto the railway and continue along slowly for a mile until it comes onto the road again. "That was easy..." She says looking around as they cross unnoticed. They turn south and continue down the small paved road. After miles of following south they come to a crossroads and chose to continue south rather than climb any mountains.
This idea did not last long as they found the road gradually climbing as it skirts the edge of one large hill and eventually climbs in the saddle where two large hills meet. They pass through the mountains and a village named Krasikov. After the village, fields stretched for miles with little to no traffic. They stop in the square of Moravska. Their large vehicle attracted a bit of attention as they parked near a restaurant. Tabitha gets out "Well.. I hope they still take Euro-marks. Father gave us some of those too, but I had hoped we would be in allied territory."
They walk in and Tabitha asks the clerk about the money. He agrees and lets them all come in. Tabitha orders for them. The food comes shortly later.
"It's all sausages?" Stephanie says taking a bite. "Don't get me wrong. It's good. But I think you get some sick pleasure from being the only one that can order things."
"It is all they had. I had no idea it was a sausage place." Tabitha says cutting the bratwurst up she had. "And no bread.. " She sighs. They finish up and head out to the car finding somebody looking in pulling at the handles. Tabitha sneaks up and grabs the man by the wrist hard. She says to him in Russian "If you needed in citizen, you should have asked."
He looks back seeing Tabitha's dead serious expression on her face. She pulled her coat back to show the large revolver. The man stumbles back and walks off looking back a couple times to see her just watching him leave.
"Eh ok... It doesn't look like anything's missing or damaged. He didn't even get in." Nick says looking over the car. "So maybe that was a little much."
Tabitha climbs in and drives the car east. "He WAS trying to get in." She remains quiet as they make their way into the forest east of town. She spots some ruined olf buildings. They pull in and try to conceal the car behind it. They set camp up and try to get some rest early.
Aaron stops Tabitha before she could get to sleep. "Hey, Tab something's bothering you?"
"I am fine. Why?" She replies simply. "Just because I do not say much does not mean I am upset."
"I know that. But ever since Xavia took off again you just seem disappointed."
Tabitha clenches her hands on her coat sleeves. He was right. "... fine. If you really want to know. Yes, I am disappointed." She scoots back in her tent letting Aaron sit with her. "I do not know what I expected. We have to escape. She has a war to fight. I only knew her for a few years as a child..."
"Sometime our childhood heroes don't live up to our expectations. For what it's worth. She's not bad. And she's saved us more than once. So it would be nice to see what she's like after the war."
"But what if she dies? What if we die?" Tabitha brushes the hair from her face. "What if that was a gun. That guard barely hesitated shooting me. I do not know how many more times I can cheat death."
"Well if it's something you're good at. Keep doing it." Aaron says much to Tabitha's dislike. "Sorry. You're a survivor though. And I think a lot of us look to you for strength."
"And you have a talent for getting your foot out of your mouth." Tabitha laughs. "I will try to not dwell on it. Sorry for worrying you." She waves her hands away to signal him to leave. She gets in bed and tries to get some sleep for the night.
(ok, boring day. I thought about having them see the bunkers in the area from ww2, but there's really not a good reason)
Day 33 Saturday clear skies ------- newestx 8/12
Tabitha got out of her bed groggy just before sunrise. She unwrapped a breakfast bar holding it in her mouth as she climbed one of the walls sitting on top. The air was cold and the bricks were wet from condensation.
Nick was the first to get up after quite a while of waiting. He hears Tabitha humming on the wall and looks up. "You're always up so early. Why not just wait out the cold in your tent? I heard the humming so I came out."
"Ah, Sorry. I usually get up early. I can not sleep past daylight. Uh well, as for the humming. I just feel like it. I hope today is a good day."
"Sure. Well now that I'm up I can't sleep either... What's our plan?"
Tabitha looked up, "What plan? Go south?" Nick scrambled up the deteriorating brick wall. "Good job. You avoided falling off and dying."
"Well you made it fine."
"Yea, and if I fall off, nothing happens." Tabitha says watching the sunrise. The colors in the sky were deep red as the sun began to peek over the horizon. "That is the real reason I was waiting up here. I like to see it myself. Well, I do not watch it every morning. I simply thought I would this time."
Nick watches and adds, "Dr. Falk told me the sunrise used to not be so red. Something about the nuclear bombs. Luckily it was not as widespread as we thought. In fact a lot of the land seems unharmed."
"Yes, fortunate for some. But we passed through a few large cities that were not so lucky." Tabitha picks at the ruins. "This stuff looks 1900's. I like old buildings like this. It makes you wonder what it was before."
"Not enough left to find out. Anyway... lets get going." He lowers himself gradually during which Tabitha jumps from the top and walks back.
They pack up and head south. After some time they reach a village. They turn a corner and see a group of vehicles with machineguns on top. "Holy crap!" Nick says slowing quickly. The non-uniformed fighters wave them closer.
One with a red bandanna says to them in Czech, "No entrance! This town is under control of the Free East Czech Republic."
Tabitha leans out the window and replies, "Sorry, my friends do not speak Czech. We need to get south of here."
The man seems more annoyed by the minute continuing, "How is that our problem?? Had we been PAC, you would probably just be shot on sight." He examines them and slings his AK variant weapon. "You young people could join us. Help free the country again."
"I appreciate the offer. But we have other urgent matters. Please is there any way you can let us pass?"
"Afraid not. We have the whole town barricaded and no through traffic. Too many attacks for that now. If you find another way... I hope you all have as big of weapons as yours, girl. PAC forces. They like to shoot first."
Tabitha nods and they turn the vehicle around. They turn west into the open field crossing slowly until meeting back to the road. When the group reaches the sign for Borotin. They are greeted by another similar group. She gets out with her hands up and talks to them again. She comes back to the car. "Same thing... no admittance. Looks like this group has this whole valley controlled!"
"So... we're trapped?" Stephanie slumps back in the seat.
"I asked about any safe routes south and they just said to go back home and forget it." Tabitha says grabbing her own hair. "They have patrols in the whole valley. We saw that crossing the field. And we have no idea about the mountains."
"They could very well be fighting over the mountains." Nick says. Tabitha nods in agreement. "But we KNOW we can't cross the valley. So... it's really our only hope." The others silently agree so they turn around and backtrack to a road heading east. The hills seem to rise as they get closer to the slope. As they travel up the hill, old gravel and rock logging paths crossed the main road. "Well none of these are on the map... But as long as we watch the GPS we might be able to avoid the road and make it over."
"Right, but the road cuts through the hills southeast. And the cities are probably controlled by the rival militias. This whole country is in a bad civil war. It is simply being ignored as a low priority though since the front is beyond here." Tabitha points out the map. "I agree, the dirt paths will avoid the most confrontation."
They turn onto the dirt path that snakes through the hills. As they bump through the dirt path Tabitha rolls a window partway down. Gunfire sounds off in the distance south of their location. Tabitha says to Nick, "Good call... That sounds right about where we were headed."
"Good?!" Stephanie whines. "I think I'm gonna be sick..." She says holding her head trying to keep comfortable.
"We can't exactly stop... Just uh.. try to keep it down." Aaron says trying to keep a distance in the back seat. "Um, Try to drive easier maybe?"
They try to crawl further through the forest and get a tire hung up in a rut in the road. Tabitha gets out as usual to help force the vehicle out. She stops as she hears something in the forest. She turns around to see somebody drop from the tree.
"All of you out!" The scruffy man approaches wielding a large machete and a rifle on his back. "This vehicle is being taken in the name of the Democratic Czech Union!"
Tabitha holds her hand back and says to the others, "Wait, he does not understand the situation." The man takes a steady stance while she says this. She turns back with her hands up toward him and says in Czech, "Please, we are simply passing through! We are on an important journey!"
"Like I care?! The more vehicles we can acquire the stronger our forces become. This is nothing personal. We just need this to defend our homeland."
"I do not wish to hurt you. Tabitha replies coldly. After she speaks, three other men come from the woods toward their location. "Dammit! They are wasting our time."
"We will bring you out of the woods, but we must have the vehicle." The man says as the others point their weapons.
Tabitha has one hand behind her on her revolver as she stood back against the vehicle. She says to herself. "Damn, I do not want to hurt the citizens not after us... but the mission is all that matters! We can not lose this car!" She stands thinking of anything as they approach with their weapons all drawn.
In a few minutes of tense standoff, the back passenger door opens with Stephanie stumbling out throwing up in some bushes.
Tabitha falls to her knees and starts crying, "We have been traveling so far. I just want to get home! We have to get to Italy! She tries to wipe her eyes as tears continue. "I just want to go home..."
The men stand back looking at each other and conversing quietly with each other. They argue yelling and pointing at the car while Tabitha continues sobbing on the ground. Aaron comes around to her trying to help her up. She shakes him off her as one of the men comes back to them.
"Ok! We understand your needs. Normally.. we would simply drop you off at the town and keep the vehicle. But you need this to cross the alps. Our guide can help you down the way." He waves to the woods and a man on a small offroad bike comes up the trail and waits to lead them.
They all climb into the car again with Tabitha seemingly too distraught to drive letting Aaron instead take the wheel. He trails their car behind the guide. Nick was in the back seat watching over Stephanie. Tabitha keeps quiet the rest of the trip until they finally exit the forest by a small town.
The guide draws up a map. "Here... avoid these areas. But if you go south, you will likely have to cross the areas owned by the 'Southern Cross Army' Aaron nods hoping Tabitha was listening to translate later. She shakes her head confirming it and still covering her face.
They reach an open road south of the town. Aaron nudges Tabitha and says, "Are you ok? You've been quiet the whole time. I'd have said something but,... you know."
Tabitha sits up and replies, "I could not break character. I had to do something when Stephanie burst out. Short of shooting them, it was all I could think of."
"Yea? It was pretty convincing. You sure you're ok?"
"Yes I am. If somebody has no intention of hurting us, they will generally back down. It was an act, silly. Stephanie though, how can you get motion sick when we were sitting still completely? I am a bit concerned. She has been like this for days."
Stephanie said loudly, "Sure, talk about me like I'm not here!"
"Fine, I thought you were still sleeping, but I just thought it was odd you have been sick like this for days." Tabitha says leaning on the door to look out.
"It's all these hills! I mean look at the place, it's a nightmare of slopes." Stephanie insists. "It usually goes away after a while. So I'm not like.. sick or something. Lets just find something to eat, ok?"
They pass through the small village, most of which was barricaded. The sound of gunfire continually sounded off in the forest with the occasional explosion. They speed away from the town trying to put some distance between them and the conflict. Eventually they find themselves coming past a pair of old wind turbines and a small wooded area. They pull in beside the woods and get out to eat. The wind generators groaned as they ate.
Aaron looks up to his side at them. "Kind of annoying. I guess that's where the town gets its power?"
Stephanie leans back satisfied, "There see? I feel fine, I was just messed up from having nothing to eat."
Tabitha silently listened unconvinced saying to herself, "She is lying.... badly. She might feel better right now but it is certainly not motion sickness."
When they finish they come to a road running parallel to the forest. Ahead of them they see a series of trucks coming around the turn. "Damn this isn't good." Nick says looking at the approaching trucks.
"Why's that? They look like supply trucks not combat vehicles." Aaron says from the front passenger seat. Nick keeps on driving going past the trucks as they hog the road forcing them to drive on the grass slowly. A smoke trail shoots from a cluster of trees on the bend and destroys the lead truck in a fireball. Nick slams the throttle and tries to speed out of there east the last truck in the convoy is soon also hit by a rocket and destroyed. He charges through the fire hitting various debris and turns left into an open field bumping along through the rows of wheat. They charge forward up the hill until they get out of sight.
"Damn I was right. With the intensified fighting in this area, I just knew a caravan was in danger." Nick says getting out of the car. Tabitha follows with the binoculars as they creep over the hilltop.
"Two trucks destroyed so they could trap the other three and raid them." Tabitha says handing him the binoculars. "Lucky us this vehicle is so capable... any other car and we would get caught in the crossfire." Nick begins to get back up and head to the car. She grabs his arm to stop him. "Stephanie is sure sick a lot..."
"Yea? Some people are more sensitive to this I guess." Nick replies confused.
"It does not strike you as odd it happens even when we are not even moving?"
"Maybe the altitude changes? I don't know. It sucks and I feel bad for her, but ... why."
"Hopefully it is nothing. But she has been sick for a while now off and on. It started when we first started going up the first slope even. So it may be possible what you said. I can not shake this feeling."
"Sure, I'll keep an eye out. We should get moving though."
They jump back in the car and head north into the field deeper to avoid coming in further contact with the raid. They meet up to a gravel farm road which winds through the fields.
"Crap look!" Aaron says pointing back at a Humvee-like vehicle that had gone after them. Shots ping around the vehicle. "Crud they're after us! They must think we're part of... something I dunno."
"Try to lose them." Tabitha opens the roof door and fires a controlled pair of shots at the perusing vehicle. "Freaking bullet proof!" She fires the last four of her shots at the windshield cracking it on the driver's side. The gravel path snakes side to side enough to keep the chasing vehicle from getting a good shot at them. They reach a fork and Tabitha points to the smaller path, "Take that route, they may have forces waiting at the main road! Damn... I can not damage them at all from the front... Wait slow down!" Tabitha says climbing back to the roof grabbing a speedloader from her pocket. She gets onto the roof of the car as they slow down.
The enemy car gains on them and Tabitha launches off the roof onto the hood of their car. She grabs on tight as they try to shake her off. The narrow road made it nearly impossible for them to move too much. She pries up on the engine cover snapping the latches. She fires into it three times piercing their radiator and letting the cover slam down. Before launching off their vehicle, she gives a half salute and leaps back to their vehicle. A few seconds later, steam begins to flow in mass from the front of their vehicle forcing them to stop.
Tabitha climbs back into the car and says to the others, "I guess I learned that from Tex. We should really look into armoring this thing. It is a military vehicle, but this is not one of the heavy combat versions. It was probably just a base-transport model before." They continue east through the town instead of rejoining the main road and go through a muddy farm access road that leads into the forest. She kept an eye on Stephanie who was bored but not miserable as they continued driving through the sloshy road.
After a few miles it reaches a paved road and a quiet town with people on the streets. "Maybe it's safe? There's people about." Stephanie says happily.
"I agree actually." Tabitha says checking out the activity to be seemingly normal. She taps Nick and says, "Hey pull in here. Lets top off the fuel tanks and get some snacks. Oh I can go get them myself." She says stopping Aaron and Stephanie from following. She jogs in and takes an abnormally long time. She quietly gets into the back seat with her face a faded shade of red.
"Something happen in there? Naked man rob the place?" Nick laughs. "Well I guess we need to find a place to set camp."
"Yea but with the random militias fighting over the towns and hills... where?" Aaron leans back looking at the ceiling of the car trying to think.
"A hotel?" Tabitha suggests. "We have a lot of cash right now anyway. So it might not hurt to have a place to clean up for a change." After an hour or so of asking around, they get directed to a house that has some rooms for rent. They carry up some of their things and set out some food to eat in the boy's room.
"Yea, it'll be nice to have a bed. Too bad we can't get used to living nice." Stephanie says putting a sandwich together.
"Two rooms even? How much did this cost us??" Nick says concerned.
Tabitha tore off a piece of her sandwich delaying a response. "Not much actually. Less than a tire would have been even. It is one of those places that just keeps rooms for young people. In this crazy world, they seem happy to help." They finish up and Tabitha and Stephanie head to their room. She stops Stephanie and hands her a box.
"What's this?.... a what?! Pre?!" Stephanie blurts out not thinking.
"Shut up!" Tabitha interrupts covering her mouth and gestures to the door. "I am serious. You really think you kept it a secret?"
"Well.. yes actually. But how could I even. I was only with Tex for that one night, right?"
"Because I know you well enough to know you are past due. The nausea and odd sickness and so on. That is why I got this pregnancy test for you. We need to know if you are sick because otherwise we can not help you." Tabitha hands it back to her. Stephanie reluctantly agrees and locks the bathroom.
Tabitha sits and watches TV while waiting. She hears the shower cut off and the door unlocks eventually. Stephanie comes out and sits on the bed. Tabitha waits expecting her to say anything. She turns the TV up to cover anything they would say and slides of the front of the bed to Stephanie. She sees the tear trails on Stephanie's face. "So it is true then."
Stephanie nods and shows Tabitha the positive test. "I'm sorry. I screwed up... the whole group is going to suffer for me."
"Easy. Stephanie, I did not just want to know to shame you or something. Now that we know, we can help you and make sure nothing happens." Tabitha says with a hand on Stephanie's shoulder. "It is still early too. So you will not be a burden. We will be home long before even a few months pass."
"But what about Nick and Aaron... Should I tell them?" Stephanie looks up clearing her eyes.
"You can tell them when you feel up to it. I believe they should know. We can help you and protect the child."
"I'm... just not ready for this. And yet I don't know what I want. I know what you would tell me to do. But I think... I think I need to think about this. Damn... I... that means when I tried to kill myself."
Tabitha stops her, "Yes, you would have been then too. Quit beating yourself up, alright? It might be hard to sleep, but the beds will make it a little easier. We will be here for you along the way. Try to keep strong." Tabitha clenched a hand behind Stephanie's back trying to hide her feelings of both anger and jealousy.
---8/21 newestx
Stephanie nods, "Thanks, I guess. This is a lot to digest." She gets up and walks over to the seconds bed and flops down. "It's too hot to sleep under the covers anyway. Ugh... I know I messed up. Even if you all try comforting me. But thanks. I'm gonna have to be careful I guess." She says pulling a pillow under her face. She rolls onto her back continuing, "Is it weird that I'm more intimidated by this than when we're being shot at?"
"Well... I suppose not. You can hide from a bullet, but this is something you can not hide from." Tabitha says searching through the pillows for the right one. She lays down and flips the light off. "It is a strange idea. Something living in you. I admit, in some way I am jealous and annoyed at the same time. We will make it work."
Stephanie said nothing further and drifting off to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~
Tabitha stood up on the bed and fell off not realizing how much taller it was than usual. She looked around the room all dark. She stumbles over to the window opening it up seeing it barely just before sunrise. After a while she makes it to the light shining under the door. She feels around only to find the doorknob high up and forcing the door open with a blinding flash of light.
"That is what is going on. Another memory?" Tabitha says to herself as the light blindness fades revealing a nicely furnished hotel hallway. She wanders out into the main lobby and sees a swimming pool. For some reason she drawn to the glimmering water with the light shining upward. A lazy clerk sleeps at the main desk as Tabitha inches her way closer to the gleaming water.
"An experiment. I will see what floats." Tabitha says pulling a leaf off a nearby plant. She drops it in. To her delight seeing that it does, indeed, float gracefully. She jogs to the desk and grabs the bell and jogs back to the pool. The bell drops and quickly plummets to the bottom. The refraction of the water made the bell seem close so she reached in for it. Her hand seemed to just about make it. Just a little further.
She slipped! In a confusing tumble Tabitha finds herself deep underwater. What seemed like forever later, she makes it to the surface unable to reach the edge of the pool. She splashes frantically to get to the edge but still can barely reach the ground level. She screams out, "Heeeelp!" She splashes around growing more tired. After a short while she slips below the surface and hears an explosion that throws her from the water to the gritty floor.
The world comes in to focus with Tabitha expecting somebody to be around, "Xavia? Where are you?" She calls out looking around still in a dizzy spin from the water.
A hand grabs Xavia on the shoulder. "Xavia is not here, Tabitha." The voice of Marta Falk says. Marta comes into focus completely soaked continuing, "What were you thinking, Tabitha?"
"I had to get the bell... It did not float." Tabitha admits. "Mother, you saved me?"
"Yes, Tabitha. You are important to me... Everything depends on you." Marta says looking Tabitha over.
Tabitha knew what the answer meant. Instead of fighting it, she simply answered. "Thank you, Mother. I am sorry. I just wanted to see things float."
"We can try that later. I can help you." Marta says leading Tabitha back to the hotel room. "For now, lets get you cleaned up."
~~~~~~~~~
Tabitha wakes up and looks around the room. Everything was dark with the strange warmth of the night lights creeping in through the shades. Stephanie was sleeping soundly and sprawled out in the next bed. She whispers, "I wonder if she will be fine. Surely we will be home in a matter of time." Peeking through the blinds at the town, she sees the village cold and empty with just a few streetlights on. She looks at her watch seeing it was only around two in the morning. "Crap... " She opens the door to the hall and looks around seeing nobody and simply heads back in the room. After a while she slumps down on the bed and waits to sleep.
"Hey!" Stephanie calls out and shakes Tabitha awake. "Come on... we're going. Damn you're usually up first right?"
Tabitha gets up and rubs her eyes unable to focus. "Huuh... I am awake. Sorry." She gets up and goes to clean up for a while and gets out still in a haze. "I woke up early last night. It must have taken a long time to get to sleep." She grabs up her things and heads downstairs where the others were waiting. Nick was already in the driver's seat and started the car.
They travel south a good distance from town and pass a bombed out chemical factory. Shortly after they enter the village of Vicov. The buildings were burned and shot up fairly recently. Some of the buildings were marked with an old style German iron cross. They come to a bridge after a wooded area and are stopped by a group of white trucks with the same marking.
"Hold! Who goes there." A guard on foot says. "Answer! You there out!" He points to Nick who gets out slowly.
"Your hands up, Nick. Damn! Don't say anything." Tabitha says and opens the window. One of the guards points at her. "Wait! He does not speak Czech!" They direct her to get out as well. "We are trying to get south... to Italy.
"Impossible! We are currently holding this line against the
that call themselves the East Czech Republic. There is no admittance! Go through the warzone for all we care, but anyone passing our lines will be killed.""We are on a mission to stop the PAC's experimental labs. We can easily prove this!. Tabitha insists and a shot hits the road in front of her. She jumps back holding an arm up.
"Wait! Please!" Nick blurts out. The guards look at him cautiously.
"Look we don't care WHO you are! You're obviously not from around here. But you're not coming through! The guard waits a while for them to leave and points his weapon.
They back off into the car and turn around. "Dammit now what. If I guess right they probably have the whole road line guarded." Aaron says looking at the map. Villages and small towns lined the entire road all the way to Prostejov. "We can either go back into the mountains we were ambushed in multiple times, or try to sneak over the open field."
"I understand their position. Their enemies could easily employ civilians to spy or sabotage. Still, we must make it through." Tabitha says taking the GPS device. "I say the hills... The fields will be watched all the time. We can at least creep through the hills and even if we run into somebody. We can take them down before they can notify others."
"If you say so." Stephanie says reluctantly as they turn back. They reach the burnt out town and head toward the forested hills. They follow the dirt and gravel path for about half a mile crossing creeks and bumping over sticks and logs. They continually find paths that had at one point been used frequently in the seemingly evenly spaced forest. "I swear somethin is odd about these forests. So many paths, and so open."
"Yea... it looks quite planned. Wait logging? Because the thickness changes a lot. But yea, that's got to be it! That explains all the paths we find. It must have been a while since they did much logging though." Aaron observes.
They continue through the fields and grass between the trees and reach a valley between two of the larger hills.
"STOP!" Tabitha yells out. Nick brings the car to a sudden halt sliding a few feet in the dirt and grass.
"Jesus what?!" Nick says looking around as Tabitha jumps out. He watches her creep out and pull out some pliers. She grabs a thin wire and cuts it. "
... are you kidding me?"She leans on the side of the car and says, "Yea.. this place is probably trapped all over. On the good side it may mean less observation... on the other hand, it will be dangerous."
"Should we back out??" Nick says looking behind them.
"No... I may have missed other traps. My eyes are good but not any better than a normal human." Tabitha says glancing back behind the car. "I will walk on ahead... I can search for traps."
"Me too then.. " Stephanie says climbing out. Before Tabitha could object she continues, "If there's an explosion I would be one of the least effected." She trotted on further stopping occasionally to check suspicious objects. She kept a light glow to protect her from any bombs. They find a second trip line a ways later and disarm it as well. "Another one, whew nice." She continues down the way and a blast goes off sending her flying."
"Stephanie!" Tabitha sprints over to where she landed. She stops finding Stephanie with her skin glowing red and dusting herself off. Her jacket was a little torn and burned from the bast. "Come on, you have to be more careful... You have to think about the child."
Stephanie grabbed Tabitha's sleeve pulling her closer. "Shut up! They'll hear you. I'm fine obviously. Yea! I'll tell em when I feel like it."
Nick had gotten out to approach, "She fine?" Tabitha shrugged and made her way back to the path. "Ooook... you guys like... fighting or something?" Tabitha shrugged and shook her head continuing down the path. "... ok then, minding my own business." They continue on eventually running into fewer traps and crossing the main road. They cross the road knowing it lead to the town that previously blocked them. They followed it briefly until turning off into another service road. After a while snaking through the forest they come to a clearing with a concrete structure in the middle. As they get closer Nick calls out, "It's an old bunker! Like... WW2 kind of old!"
They get out and investigate it. It was covered in graffiti and broken up from the age. They get back in and follow the gravel road south further into a large clearing. As they go through they notice the berms and paths.
"A shooting range?? Yea look the old targets are still there. Dang, we're running into some odd stuff." Aaron says looking beside them as they skirt the area.
"Should we... be here?...I mean this is from the old stuff but what if they use it?" Stephanie says.
"Yea it's empty. I don't hear anything either." Nick says leaning out the window when they stop. "If any large vehicles were even close we'd notice. But yes this was a gun range a long time ago. And a tank range too... I'd bet they don't even care where they train now."
After cutting a hole in the boarder fence, they rush out of the area and make it to the main road. They drive southeast for about a quarter of a mile before a car comes up behind them quickly flashing its lights.
"Are you kidding me?" Stephanie says looking back. "What do we do? Stop?? Run???"
"If we run it will attract a lot more attention. Lets stop for now." Tabitha says tapping Nick on the shoulder. "Aw hell, Well just say like 'no speak czech' or something I can translate...."
A man gets out of the car in a black uniform and taps on the car. "You know how long we had to follow you?" The man says in Czech. "We saw you enter the range a while ago with our aircraft... That's pretty dangerous kids... What are you up to?""
Tabitha interrupts in English, "We have to get through to the south!"
The officer was a bit stunned and paused before continuing. "Excuse me? How could you know I spoke English."
"You do not look Czech." Tabitha replied plainly.
"Well you are correct, child. My parents were British and we came a long time ago to the area. Now what's so important south."
"We can not go west through Poland, the fighting is too thick. But we get here and towns and hills are controlled by random militia. We have intel that can help us save people."
"I see... Much as I'd love to send you along free. The colonel already knows about you kids and demands to have you brought in. Follow me to base and we can get this cleared up." They agree and follow him to the large military base just south of the range they had crossed.
Statistics: Posted by Znath — April 14th, 2013, 12:05 pm
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3rdx
After they finished eating Tabitha looks up quickly feeling a humming vibration. "Earthquake?... wait no... We need to get off the road now!" She says rushing into the vehicle. She drives it off the road into a wooded area, not long after A string of armored vehicles and tanks thunders over the bridge at high speed south towards them. The Anti Air tank turns its array to the west and upward and starts ripping off blisteringly loud 30mm cannon fire rapidly. Everyone in the group covers their ears as the AA gun continues its relentless barrage seemingly at nothing gradually lower to the ground until an explosion shatters the bridge into a million pieces. A second later two fighter jets blast through at low altitude guns blazing. Tabitha looks up as they pass overhead climbing until out of sight. "It is not an A-10 but looks so similar. I have never seen anything like that before... like a stealth A10 or something"
"Yea great... but the problem... the bridge is kaputski" Stephanie points out. "Keep going I guess?.. do we really need to cross it?"
"Technically no, but the most direct route west is beyond the river... we just have no clue the nature of the front lines yet." Tabitha responds pulling the car out. The soldiers too busy firing up at the air cover to notice their escape southwest. They reach a small river town to find a similar story. The town bombed out and the bridge completely broken. Burned out tanks and vehicles line the sides of the road but no fighting in sight. They slowly crawl the car through the broken streets of what was once a small farming town. Everything seemed entirely burnt to the ground, so they decided to continue northwest further. They make it to another small river town with yet another bombed out bridge.
They drive up to the river and look around. A middle aged woman walks up and asks them "Are you looking to cross? The bridge was bombed out last week... if you continue down the road there is a ferry set up." Tabitha thanks her and they drive to the ferry.
Tabitha gets out and goes to the ferry driver. She shows the Russian money and after some begging, the man accepts it and they drive onto the ferry. They stand and wait a while as others come to cross as well including a pair of Russian command vehicles. Tabitha looks over the officers getting out noting strange insignia on them. Thinking over it for a moment she turns to her friends. "I think we may have trouble... The patches, they are the same as in the lab."
Aaron looks over and whispers "Yea they are.. but now what??? We're blocked in. Just hope they ignore us?" The ship starts to move powering against the river current to reach the other side of the village. The ship slowly putters to the other side of the river. They eventually reach the other side of the small river without incident but the Russian officers drive off and sit waiting by the makeshift dock.
Their group was one of the last to disembark only to find one of the officers standing in their path and coming around to their side. "Get out..." He plainly says. Everyone climbs out one at a time.... "State your names, you first, driver."
"Tabitha" She says eying the next "Stephanie" "Aaron" "Nick"
He points to Stephanie and says " What business do you have over here? "
Tabitha answers "We were jus..
She is quickly interrupted " DID I ASK YOU? " He grabs Tabitha's face and pushes her to the ground.
Aaron steps forward and blurts out "Hey you! Jus..." without thinking.
"Just as I thought! Spies! Take them into custody"
"Take them out now!" Tabitha says still on the ground. She pulls her gun from her jacket and shoots the leader. Nick zips toward the driver of the first vehicle clocking him hard enough to knock him out of the vehicle. Aaron launches a blast of water at the other two but they leap into the air beyond it.
"
they're jocks." Stephanie says taking her jacket off and immolating her body glowing hot as one fires at her. She blocks the shots. Tabitha fires at them but misses as they run. Nick and Tabitha keep them on the move as they leap and run beyond reach. "This is going to get expensive! I can not even get close!" Tabitha says chasing one as Nick keeps the second occupied.
"And their reaction time is uncanny" Nick responds. He notices the dusty silt soil below his feet and Aaron and Stephanie defending each other from the stray shots. "Aaron!... draw water out and spread it around! Their speed is from physical power like Tabitha's"
Aaron draws up a stream and shoots it over the battlegrounds quickly making the soft ground muddy. Both Tabitha and the enemy soldiers get mucked down quickly but Nick remained able to zip along the ground mostly unaffected. Tabitha nails a shot into one when he abruptly slips and rams into a vehicle. The second begins to run away. Nick zips back and grabs Tabitha up speeding toward him as she climbs onto his shoulders. She places a well aimed shot into the enemy soldier just as Nick begins to lose speed. The enemy soldier tumbles at high speed eventually smacking into a tree. They both jog back as Stephanie pulls the car up and lets them in.
"Damn.. they almost had us. Good thinking with that water... Damn I hate being useless. " Stephanie says apparently wearing one of the soldier uniform pants. "What... my old clothes burned off... ... anyway" She says glaring down the road. "Where do we go now... it's a matter of time before they find out." They turn off the main road and travel through the country lanes instead eventually coming close to the city of Polatsk currently under attack.
They stop and get out trying to get an idea of the situation. Gunfire could be heard from the city with plumes of smoke rising in the evening sky. They pull into the remains of a residential district.
"There is no way we're at the front yet but there is fighting this far in?" Tabitha says while they take shelter in an abandoned house.
"In fighting? Rebellion?" Nick says looking around the old house. It had been abandoned for a long time by the dust and dirt.
"Seems like that to me." Tabitha responds. "The worst part is then... we do not know who to trust. And naturally, they would not trust us..."
"Then we go around it as usual, right?" Aaron says checking the street map. "We could wait until it's a bit darker and go then. It could help us avoid unwanted attention." They agree and rest for the moment until later that night. Heading out under the cover of darkness the car crawls along the outer country roads with the lights out. Eventually they reach the main road and a loud ping sounds off as the car dies.
"Great, what did you do now Stephanie." Tabitha says glaring over to the driver seat. Shortly after a second hit blasts through the windows narrowly missing. "Get out now head to the ditch to out right!" She yells out and kicks open the door pulling Stephanie out of the driver seat. They run to the ditch and lay against the slope. "Some kind of high caliber sniper. It came from the wooded area down the road west. They must have a heat scope or something... so they hit the engine to stop us and then went for us. We need our supplies though... That has to fall to you."
"Right." Nick says taking the keys, he speeds up and undoes the trunk then back to the cab pulling out backpacks and back down. "... ok I need to rest a bit.." Nick says as another shot rings out blasting through the vehicle. "Aaron, can you get water from here? The area has a lot of ponds? Perhaps you and Steph can make a smoke screen to shield our escape."
"I can try.. ground water doesn't respond as well, but maybe I think there's something here." Aaron says reaching his hands out. He struggles for a while until eventually drawing up a little water at a time. "This area is practically bone dry... Tabitha if you can get me over that next street I can gather some from the pond."
Tabitha was clinging to the hillside "Are you kidding?? I am fast but not that fast... a shot like that will split me in half or blow my head off! "The shots are accurate, we got lucky the 2nd missed. Stephanie can you block these?"
"My ability... I don't know. It does have the added benefit of being like armor, but a shot that large... and if he's using any special anti-armor round it might not work." Stephanie says thinking it over. "The road slopes down to the country street. We could shoot the fuel tank and let the fuel drain out. Then I can light it and use that as cover to the next street..."
"... Ok " Tabitha says shuffling over into view of the fuel tank. She fires her gun into the tank and a stream flows out into the street. After a long time waiting the stream begins flowing down the road along the shoulder down to the intersection. "We only have one chance at this. When she lights it, Nick get the stuff out of the Trunk, and I will get Aaron over the road and then get Stephanie over with us." Nick nods and Stephanie lights the stream of fuel. Flames flow down the hill and up to the bottom of the vehicle. Nick speeds up and removes the supply box from the trunk and scooping Stephanie up on his way back. As the flames begin to rise, Tabitha runs with Aaron and jumps the second road to find Nick waiting with Stephanie.
"That freaks me out... every time..." Stephanie gasps
"Ok here it goes." Aaron says trying the ground again for water. The overgrown area more rich in ground water in the basin letting up a decent quantity. He tosses it to Stephanie who then turns it into a steam cloud behind them until they reach a few houses for cover. "What now!? We can't go north around the city. The snipers probably control that road."
"We head into town.. try to find either transportation, or keep walking." Tabitha says stuffing the contents of the last supply box into their backpacks.
---
They follow the railroad until the edge of town and sneak into a bombed out factory. The ceiling is caved in completely in parts and riddled with large holes in parts. It had previously produced farm equipment and then hastily converted to armored vehicles before combat reached the area.
"Hey maybe Tabitha could assemble one for us? I certainly can't lug any of these parts together." Nick says as they pass a toppled rack of engine segments.
"We... um well I really doubt there is enough to..." Tabitha stammers out looking at the parts.
"Relax I'm kidding..." Nick says as they reach the north end of the factory grounds "There might be enough parts, but I really don't want to linger here that long." He points over to the north at a set of highrise apartments where a firefight between some APCs and the buildings was raging into the evening.
Stephanie looks around the corner seeing a grain elevator to the west. "Geez... there are all these towers... maybe a quarter mile between these two and a mile between the middle and south... We saw how good the sniper was before, if there are more like that..... we need to keep any distance we can from hiding places like that."
"Yea" Aaron says looking up at the grain elevator. "That's a perfect fort. Tall, few entrances, solid concrete walls.... if there's not a sniper or two there, they're idiots." They jog back to the south end and find a solid area to plan out their route. "So if we cut south through there... and then try to go through the middle?"
"Well... lets try it at least. We can't stay here, there's too much activity." Tabitha says taking her pack up as they jog south past the rails into the housing areas. Most of the houses were intact, but occasionally there were large swaths mashed down by heavy armor. "Hard to imagine people lived here... there is just so much destruction." She walks up to a half smashed house and checks in. The house still had a lot of things in it, mostly ruined from weather. She finds a picture frame of the family in front of a car. "I really hope Father is well..."
Aaron places a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure he's fine. He's resourceful and has some of our friends with him and the others." Tabitha turns and hugs him "You know we're all concerned about our parents though. We just need to focus on getting out of here."
"Yea.. lets get back to the others.. " Tabitha says jogging back with him. "Find anything?"
"Kitchen knives... um... the food was rat infested." Nick says with cloth bundle of knives.
Stephanie walks up shortly after "Well.. not much useful really. There was a shed with lawn tools heh.. I picked up this set of iron stakes mmm and some nails. I figure I could use em to add some range to my ability... oh yea and this guy." She finishes holding up a slingshot with a leather pouch and metal handle. "I can superheat the nails and launch em! or anything I find"
"Great find!" Tabitha says happily. "Might be better than the guns even."
They reach the end of the residential district and come in view of the south riverside towers. "Great... there is just no avoiding them... what do we do? There's even more towers up center." Stephanie says looking out.
"Well.... ... gosh um..." Tabitha says looking around trying to form a plan. The south would be no better, even more riddled with huge structures. "We certainly can not travel south... they would watch the bridges for sure... maybe... the center may still be best. Those towers are heavily bombed out.. it could be the best option... if we..." She stops when Stephanie runs back to the south end of the house listening to a loud roaring rumble of engines.
"There's a line of trucks by the river, ... some apcs with big guns... wow.." Stephanie says looking out and staying low.
Tabitha looks back "Keep down... if there is large stuff moving eyes will be on us ... " A sudden unknown CRACK rings out and Tabitha is seemingly is thrown to the ground.
~~~~~~~~
"What was that? Some explosion???" Tabitha says getting up and brushing herself off.
A young blonde girl comes up to her and helps her up. "Tabitha you are ok? I am so glad" She is followed by another brown haired girl and a tall boy with dark hair.
"Wait who the heck are you people?" Tabitha says looking around getting her bearings. The house seemed the same as before but with a part of the wall blown out.
"You were out for a while... I guess you took it to the head harder than we thought." The second girl says. "You really remember nothing?... I am Nicole.. this is Erin.. and he is Stephan."
"This is stupid, he is just messing with you guys. There is no way he forgot that much that fast." Stephan gestures to Tabitha and says sitting on an end table. "We really need to get out of here, stop playing around Tabitha."
Tabitha was confused looking around. Things seemed normal otherwise down to the smell of the battle around them. She looked at her hands that were unfamiliar as they were large and masculine. "Oh ... God what the ... what the!" She pulls her shirt forward and stumbles down seeing she/or he was apparently quite male. "This is impossible! I am a girl! Do you know what happened to my friends?! What happened to me!?"
Stephan quickly smacks Tabitha. "What the hell is wrong with you, Tabitha? Get it together!" He leads Tabitha into one of the back rooms. Tabitha sits on the floor. "Dude you are freaking us out. You just barely start a relationship with Erin and you start yelling crap like 'I am a girl'... you know how crazy this sounds?"
---
Tabitha paced a minute thinking over the situation. If I get angry, they get angry. The more I fight it the more they push back. I have to trap them.... She followed Stephan out to the main room. "I think I have this figured out... but you have to listen. You call me Tabitha right? That is clearly a girl name right? It only makes sense that my own personal imprint of who I am carried to this dream."
"... Or maybe you got transported to this world... or something" Erin said confused by what Tabitha was getting at. "Like from some screwed up world.. where boys get girl names. Or maybe it is just your name,... and you are freaking us all out?"
"Seriously, you expect us to just go along with that?" Nicole presses her fingers against her temples. "Even if we believed you... it solves nothing... wake up if this is a dream... wake me up too while you are at it. I am sick of this crappy world. Heck if this is fake we should just jump into the river!"
"No! that.... is not what I meant... I want out of this too but even I am not sure what is real right now." Tabitha continues "Besides, I uh. Have no idea how to wake up even if it is. Or maybe I am unable?" She checks outside seeing nothing unusual. Everything seemed exactly how it was when they made it to the house. If I am unable to wake up... maybe... I have to treat this like reality. More importantly why can I not wake up if this IS a dream? I remember hiding out and then the explosion...
Her thought was interrupted by the rumble of a tank heading toward the house.
"
a tank! Move! get out of the house!" Stephan pulls Nicole as they crawl out windows. Immediately after, the tank fires its machine gun ripping through the house. Shortly after the front of the house is blown off. Stephan pulls his slingshot and fires a flaming hot nail into the machinegunner. Tabitha runs out of the way jumping to pull Erin from the path of the gun."Take out the gun!" Tabitha calls out to Stephan who throws a white hot punch straight into the side of the gun barrel melting it in. The tank spins its tracks in the soft ground and reverses out. The turret blows off suddenly and a large being leaps out in the midst of all of them. As the dust clears it appears to be the same hulking soldier they fought escaping the jail days before. "Oh crap... this surely is not real!" Tabitha exclaims shortly before the enemy sends her flying into a house.
The others jump in and attack it to little effect aside from distraction. Erin pulls river water in to muck up the ground around the enemy soldier. His seemingly infinite strength simply charging through the mud. Erin jets off using the water to escape toward Tabitha and says "We .. just can barely stop him. How can we he seems invulnerable to our attacks." Nicole zips into the tank and throws it in gear letting it charge in while Stephan distracts him.
"My head... it hurts... why" Tabitha says grabbing his/her head on the side.
"... You were just thrown into a house." Erin glares skeptically.
"Yea! But ... nothing else hurts!" Tabitha gets up and charges in leaping to kick the enemy to the ground as the tank rolls in at him. She slams him into the front of the tank and continues her momentum running over the top of the tank and off the back. The tank drags him along into the river. "Aaag... I can barely stand it..."
Stephan and Erin help Tabitha past the street toward the highrises, an area they once wanted to avoid suddenly being their choice of refuge. Several of the towers had completely collapsed into the street to where it became evident why the area had little fighting. They enter the 2nd floor by climbing a rubble pile into a bedroom. The room was hastily abandoned with many personal belongings still in place but covered in dust or shaken to the floor from explosions outside.
"Any better?" Erin says holding a damp towel to Tabitha.
"A little... when I pushed myself. My head just had this piercing pain." Tabitha says taking the towel to her head. She leans up in the dirty couch adding, "Wait... water?"
"Yea I was able to pull it from the pipes, there is a little pressure but not much. You know I can get water from just about anywhere. We were wondering if you were ok to keep going." Erin says leaning in and kissing Tabitha on the cheek. Tabitha jumps startled, "Oh yea, sorry. They are waiting on the roof, so..."
"No, I need to remember this world... or things are different than my memory.." Tabitha gets up "I think I am ready to go though. Sorry to worry you."
Both of them reach the roof where Stephan and Nicole were looking out cautiously around the area. Nicole informs the two late comers "As far as we can tell, this section of the city is abandoned... but only because the buildings are so unsafe they could collapse any moment. That and the walls are so thin they can easily be shot through. The main fight seems to be in the south and north. We really lucked out."
They reach the 3rd floor before the entire building abruptly shakes. "GO get out of here!" Stephan yells pushing them along. They scramble out of the building as another tremor happens. As soon as they exit the building, an explosion hits the top side of the building with blocks of concrete raining down around them. To the east, a line of tanks approached at high speed rampaging through the houses. "There is no way we can take on that many! Get out of here!"
They take off through the alleys as the tanks get stopped by the rubble of the downed buildings. A hail of explosive shells hits the buildings behind them and an explosion in front of them seals off their last escape route. As a pair of tanks push through a metal warehouse wall they get hit with something causing them to burn from the inside out. Immediately after, a team of black armored commandos fly in gunning down the tank crews. Moments later a helicopter lands.
They jog closer and Tabitha says "This is it! We finally made it!" As she gets closer the Helicopter crew pulls up his visor revealing Aaron waiting. "How... "
He yells out holding his hand "Tabitha! You need to get up now... Hurry!" She looks back and the others are already gone. The buildings around them begin to crumble like sand castles and sinking below the ground as the helicopter quickly launches upward like a rocket. Eventually it starts so fast Tabitha loses grip and falls forcing her to wake up.
!!! ~~~~
Tabitha sits up abruptly and looks up to see Aaron. She tries to reach up and embrace him but a sharp pain in her forehead stops her.
"Relax, you've been out for a while. You took a big shot to your head, actually. It bounced off your thick skull." Aaron jokes and takes the towel from her head. "We hid out for a while, but eventually a resistance group came and took out the convoy. They checked the house out and found us but when they saw we were just kids.. they brought us to their fort on the grain elevator... Then today we started taking artillery fire and they heard more are coming. So we have to get going pretty soon."
"I was shot?"
"Yea... you were out cold. Your body started healing itself but you ran a fever and shaking... it was kind of scary."
"I had a funny dream... I can tell some day. Let me just say.. I am glad you are a boy..." She looks down and at her hands. "And I am glad I am not."
Stephanie chuckled as she entered the room holding a tray of MRE's "Sorry I was just barely there long enough to hear something embarrassing." She hands Tabitha a compact mirror. "If you want to see I guess. It's not as bad as before at least."
"Well... at least I can cover it with my hair... " Tabitha grumbles trying to cover the gash in the top of her head.
Nick followed in shortly after. "Hey look who's up. Feelin up enough to travel?"
"Yea, actually. I mean, I know it looks bad. But I actually feel fine." She replies and they sit to eat.
An older man, around his 50's comes in. His uniform was very pieced together without any real rank or insignia. He holds a hand up as he enters and speaks with a German accent. "Ahh your friend, she is well now. Good. Well, we thank you for your assistance with the tanks, of course. My men and I can hold the town though,...but your mission is very important...Ah yes, As per your request.. We have prepared a vehicle for you. Not much, but it can get you through some bad terrain."
He leads them down a tall spiral staircase through fortified pathways. They reach the fenced in base at the bottom and to a makeshift bunker of I beams and randomly bricked in areas protecting the perimeter. He shows them a German "Wolf" otherwise known as a Mercedes G.
"Another Merc huh. Hey look Tabby it comes with a spare!" Stephanie says jogging around to the back. "So you guys won't be needing it?"
"Hah... in this area? We use the Fenneks. This guy.. eeeh is just not armored enough. But it will server you well. Some day maybe when this is over we can meet more peacefully. For once, I would like to be able to sit by a window without fear of a sniper.. and simply have a drink. Maybe next time we meet you kids will be old enough for a drink with the General Schneider."
"I would like that. And thank you for helping when I needed it." Tabitha says shaking his hand with both her hands.
"Ah well." Gen. Schneider quickly forces himself to regain composure. "We do what we must. You should get going. Our latest reports show an enemy offensive in the far north, try to stick with a westward path. Poland is very much now a warzone. It is regrettable your fight is not yet done. Many cities like this resist the Russian overlords and as long as you have this, they will know you are with us." He finishes and hands Tabitha a scarf of the rebel colors. "If you come to a rebel base, you wave this, they will signal back with three shots. Do not be alarmed. It is a test."
---
Tabitha looks back as they leave town. "I missed a lot it seems. How long was I out, nobody ever even mentioned how long.."
Stephanie turned around from the front passenger seat. "Ok well it's Saturday now, two days about. You had us pretty worried. Not to mention that without you we would have to sneak all the way back to get those drives from those kids.."
--- Day 20 Saturday, overcast and windy.
Aaron adds to what Stephanie said "Yea, luckily we were able to hide out with the rebels that time. They found us pretty soon after and lets us hide there while you recovered. So about this dream eh. It might help pass the time right?"
"Well... I guess so." Tabitha replies trying to hide her embarrassment. She explains the dream as well as she can as the car continues moving along. For the most part aside from some chuckles she finished uninterrupted.
"... Wow.. When you have a dream it's pretty messed up." Stephanie "Stephan sounds hot though, ha ha.."
"That does remind me of one thing. You all talked strange, like you talked like I do. It was really strange... even though it seemed so real. At some points I was unsure what was real..." Tabitha says
Soon after Stephanie adds "That bothers me too... why the heck can't you say.. can't. Like what is it some android thing?"
"Well.. maybe, but I can say it. I just... do not." Tabitha says avoiding eye contact.
"K.... say it..." Stephanie says holding a stare at Tabitha. "Anything is fine... I'll.. can't... don't anything. Is it really that hard?" She keeps taunting as Tabitha stalls.
"Well... " Tabitha pauses and waits "Ok.. cant"
"Huh...alright now say "I can't do that"
"I can not do that" Tabitha replies surprised at the end
"That's what I figured. You can mimic the sound, but you can't mean it. The story kind of confirmed it. If it was a memory, you could simply play it back like a video. But instead it was generated in your own mind."
Aaron stopped her "Geez.. why such the detective act. I mean... that's interesting and all but what does it prove."
"Sorry, it doesn't prove much. I just thought it was an interesting deduction."
"Yea and you're probably just making her feel bad."
Tabitha stops the argument. "No, it is fine. I had never thought of it myself. But it is just how I am. I wish I could change it, but there are things about anyone they wish they could change..."
--
They come stop the car and pull into a wooded area overlooking a river town. Nick looks through the binoculars and spots a bridge still intact. "It's heavily guarded, looks like Russians... Crud... this river cuts through everything too. There is another bridge in the town.. This one has just the one truck watching it from the center... If I had to guess, I'd say the bridge is a good 500.. 700 feet long? I can't run that far... I don't know Steph's range... Damn..."
Stephanie replies "It's obvious they're using this village.. I can fire a bearing maybe 50 yards accurately There's no way we could ambush them. Maybe we could just.... drive up...."
"Seriously? They'd shoot us for sure, or order us out and then shoot us." Aaron says
"No wait, there ARE people living in this area. These guards would not recognize us initially as threats... so we might be able to get close enough." Tabitha gives back the binoculars to Nick. "Let us simply try it. Worse case, we will have to make a break for it... but being this close to Russia, this is probably one of their rear lines. They may not be very strict here."
Everyone agrees and they move the car forward gradually until the guards catch sight of them. One guard raises his hand and the other watches carefully as he approaches. One remains further back, around 150 feet from the car as the other moves up.
"Well.. they haven't shot yet. Get ready, Nick, you'll have to take the far one." Stephanie says
"Just wait... let us not get ahead of ourselves." Tabitha says glancing back at them. The guard reaches the driver seat and Tabitha asks "Is there any way we can cross? My grandmother lives over the river..we wanted to get some things from the old house.. and I am not from around here so..."
The young guard avoided eye contact and looked back at his counterpart "Umm... I think it is safe around here but.. There are a lot of areas of fighting in the area. You are Russian? Well... you should go back through north The south road is unsafe through Polatsk."
"But we borrowed this car to move some of the cherished items from my dear grandmother. If our heirlooms were lost...." Tabitha says pretending to fight back tears. "If the war goes on we will lose them."
The guard jogs back and then a few minutes later returns. "We can allow you to pass... but ehh.... You have a map yes?" Tabitha hands him the paper map of the area. "Ok here see... there is heavy fighting beyond here near Poland and central Latvia, so if your grandmother lives beyond there, do not go on it is hopeless, I am sorry." Tabitha happily points out some random location some location 40-50 miles away. The guard nods and waves them on.
The car travels down the road a mile or so before finding a crossroads in a seemingly functioning village. Stephanie chimes in "Ok, if there's villages like this running. Then you know there will be more checkpoints on the main roads... I hate to say it.... but we should take some back roads to sneak out."
"Yea I know" Nick responds watching the road ahead. He points out to Tabitha a side road heading into a more forested region to the northwest. The next village they pull into in the middle of a farming village in the forest. The fields were full of craters and track marks as they entered the center of the village. "Some real
went down here..."Tabitha points ahead "Here pull into the church. We could use a rest for a bit and some food." They stop and she hops out first, jogging into the building. The church is pretty simple just a brick building. It was apparently left open as Tabitha walks in. Seconds later she bolts out sprinting toward the car. "They are here!" She says panic stricken as she reaches the vehicle. A group of four uniformed soldiers come out of the door and start toward them with weapons drawn. As they come closer she backs toward the vehicle and says "Sorry we.. had no idea... I just wanted to see the church."
"Liar! this area has been off limits for months!" The leader yells out waving his free hand wildly. "I have heard enough, just kill them and throw the bodies into the field... we can simply not allow this base to be revealed!"
"Base...?" Tabitha whispers pausing to examine the situation. The lead officer was center with two on his left and one on his right. Each of the subordinates was armed with an AK variant and the officer seemed to only have a pistol. She looks to Nick and whispers. "We have to take them out."
"Enough stalling! Kill them now!" The officer says
Unknown to Tabitha Nick had quickly drawn a semi-auto sniper rifle. As soon as she fired, she hears another three shots ring out. The four fall. "Guess we forgot to mention. They also gave us some weapons." Nick says showing her the Dragnov rifle. They move up and strip the magazines from the soldiers.
Tabitha picks up the revolver from the officer. "I suppose you had not picked up any 357 shells?"
"Eh... no.... Just the stuff for the AK's and Nick's. Guess we could check inside. You'd think he would have a case." Stephanie says with her slingshot ready as they enter the doors. The church was set up as a com center with an array of computers and communication equipment. "Do they have internet access??"
"Looks like it, or at least some information network..." Aaron says looking at the main desk computer. "Hey Tabitha you think you could find anything useful? Maybe even access their network and see what's going on?"
--------------------
"I suppose I can, but if I go into their network they can find us..." Tabitha says back "I can at least check their computers." She links the wire from her watch to the computer. As she navigates through the rows of files she pours through looking for anything interesting. "Most of it is simply records of the communications... the most recent orders show fighting in Latvia all the way to the German boarder... but people in Russia were saying the war was going poorly... this side seems to have forces all the way out to Poland."
"Maybe it's because places like Polatsk that are rebelling? If cities that big can just refuse to join... that's a problem." Nick says looking over the map as Tabitha calls out locations of orders. "But with this many hot spots there's no way we can avoid it all."
Tabitha continues sifting through the records. "It looks like in the past recent months, the communications changed from just relaying orders to the radio to continually asking for status updates.. but none of the updates are kept here on file." She 'wakes up' from accessing the computer and continues. "I could see all the files, none hidden or locked... but there seems to be something here. They said it was off limits... and immediately suspected us of something.."
"Right, if this was just a relay station.. it wouldn't need that level of security." Aaron said looking around. The church seemed mostly solid brick. The whole building seemed solid. "I guess the computer showed nothing on it? If this junk is just the disguise.. surely there is like a secret door or hidden passage. Can you... sense anything?.. "
Tabitha waits with her eyes closed and sits in the center of the room while Nick and Stephanie look around. "It seems faint but actually yes... I used the radio receiver and I can detect an intermittent electronic pulses below us near the back." She walks back near the altar and pushes it hard causing the wood to split and breaking open a door.
Nick walks over and picks up a wire leading to a button on the top corner. "Well... we could have pressed this too." He says pressing the button causing the remains of the altar to shift left opening the entrance.
The passage continued down about 20 feet below the ground with a tunnel reenforced concrete and beams. They reach an unbolted door that opens to a lab with more computers. "It looks like this place was converted to something else... how about checking these?" Stephanie says as Tabitha jogs over to one before she could even finish.
Tabitha immediately dives in. As she stares blankly there is a long awkward silence as the computers whir and buzz. Guys.. the forward lab training center is close... This place is the one that monitors outgoing super soldiers. I found files for both Myron and Salem as well as two others labeled "OOC" It says Myron is under reconstruction after a major attack which we did ourselves. The 'stock' is down 25% but the lab is gone. Salem had a similar incident but is still active."
"OOC... out of character?" Aaron chuckles
"Out of Commission probably..... if Salem and Myron are both considered active, I bet the others were shut down internally... that's interesting... ... or maybe overrun..." Stephanie says "What's this forward training center. Like you think the brainwashing center they take people after Myron?"
Nick adds "Yea sounds possible, but... could we even deal with a place like that? You know they have means of dealing with people like us."
"Ok stop! I said.. close but rather I meant hundreds of miles back into Russia... And yes... they would crush us. But the location is important so I saved it. Salem is several hundred north of Moscow. The data I gathered seems they mostly focus on super soldiers, where Myron was the highly experimental base, which is why the kids we ran into are mostly stealthy and combatants... and that hulking beast we fought was also from Salem. While the Myron kids have more elemental and psychic powers. The other two had their names erased... the notes were only that they were too controversial and dangerous."
"WHAT? more dangerous than him?" Stephanie says with a hand to her head. "We barely beat the one guy! OOC though... that means they're not making more of them... not that we've seen one."
Tabitha cracks open the computers and pulls the drive handing it to Nick. "Just in case... this means we have more proof" they exit the lab and Tabitha walks out with an ammo case and two speed loaders for the new Mp412.
-----29
They climb in the car and start to head west when shortly after one of the Allied stealth A-10-like jet buzzes over. "Another allied fighter, maybe that's a good sign." Aaron says watching out the back of the car.
"There's no way that's a good sign!... we just left a restricted area.. you know what we look like?" Stephanie says looking out the window. Aaron looks back missing her point entirely "We look like enemies doofus! Tabitha can you... I don't know like.. send him a message?!"
"I.. no I have no transmitter that powerful." Tabitha responds. She watches it bank around toward them. "Nick! Off the road now! Hurry!"
He turns off the side of the road as a stream of explosive rounds rip a path of destruction. He turns the car through the field back to the road toward the church "But if we use the radio. They might track us right?"
"We have no choice!" Tabitha says running into the building with everyone following shortly after. She listens in to the jet's radio trying to find the frequency and sets the transmitter. "Ground attack craft! Please stop attacking! We are not the enemy at the church."
Nick runs to the door looking up for the jet. After a few seconds it flies overhead again and out of the area. "You think it's gone for good?"
"Yea... but I could only get within a range of his frequency without an encoded broadcast." Tabitha says and throws off the headset. "Meaning anyone could have heard that..." They jog to the car and head west quickly. After about a half hour of driving, they reach a large lake and follow a road through a forested area along the shore. "So this is Strusta lake... " She says checking their GPS. "I guess we can wait here until things die down. But they do know there are potential enemies behind their frontlines."
"Yea I know.." Nick says gathering branches to pile on the car. "Lets just hide out as best we can. It kinda would look suspicious if we kept driving at night... What in the hell kind of jet is that. Last I checked the US didn't have a steath fighter like that!"
"I know what you mean.. like I moved here pretty late but I don't remember us being at war even." Aaron says.
"Yea but what are you getting at?" Stephanie says. "I know I moved here fairly young, so I didn't really hear much about anything like that. Before we moved here dad was always concerned about it, talking about invasions and such by Russia. But it all stopped when we came to Myron."
"Invasions?" Aaron questioned "Russia would never attack the US or anyone. My dad said they collapsed or something."
"Yea .. I don't remember much but.. yea just that. My dad was always complaining about China and whatnot.. again it stopped when we got her... or to Myron." Nick says and continues "Tabitha? You know anything more?"
"No.. unfortunately you know more than I do. My memories only go as far as my childhood but those memories are all written in Myron. As far as I know I was there my whole life. Or at least that is what Father wanted me to believe. Even the other Tabitha still had the same early memories... It is strange though. Stephanie remembers Russia attacking but as far as both of you two can tell, that was never an option... It takes years for a nation to change stances that greatly."
"Ok.. what are you getting at... also I don't remember China being a threat, my dad kept sayin "oh oh more trouble in China" and stuff like that. It's weird we never even thought about stuff like this... I guess they did well distracting us."
"My point is... you might all be from different eras. Like kidnapped years before you showed up there and... frozen or something. The difference in your memories is just too great. Then on top of that, technology like supersuits, stealth A10's, and supersoldiers didn't exist either."
"So what... am I like 30 years old?" Aaron says
"No... but you might have been born 30 years ago... your age does not change, sorry.." Tabitha says. With the doors of the vehicle covered, she sighs and opens the back of the vehicle. "Anyway, lets get some rest.. we can climb over the seats I guess."
-----
Day 21 Sunday
They awoke early morning they opened the windows to push the branches off and headed out. They stop at the edge of the treeline and look out at the town along northern coast of the lake.
"Weelll... it looks bombed out, recently I'd say" Nick says checking with a pair of binoculars. "I say we move in, if we go around here, we'll need to go dozens of miles out of the way and further back"
"Keep an eye out, if the place is bombed out it might have scouts still." Tabitha says starting the car.
The town had probably been bombed out within the past week with even some of the houses still smoldering. Some of the enemy vehicles in the street broken and shot up.
"These were shot up with small arms... but you would think they could have taken down maybe a couple of the other guys.. Nobody here to clean up?" Stephanie says pointing out the downed soldiers.
"Stop now." Nick says after which Tabitha stops the car and they get out.
"Ok... what, did you see something?" Tabitha says looking around. They continue out to the town docks. Partially sunk were more transport ships, some loaded with armored vehicles submerged into the bay. "yea.. looks like any vehicle around here is just wrecked up." As she looks out and is smacked from behind. She turns to see Nick anglily behind her. "What the hell Nick!" She looks at Aaron and Stephanie who both also seem to have the same crazy expression. What the hell is going on.... She jumps over them and runs into the town. Aaron draws up a jet of water hitting her and throwing her into a house. Oh God... what's going on. They seem possessed. I can not kill them... I have to stop them without harming my friends.
She runs into the street pulling her 9mm firing fake shots past Nick.
Nick zips up to her reaching for a swing at her. She narrily dodges by falling back and kicking him down. Stephanie fires a series of flaming hot nails at Tabitha, each one burning into the ground as they hit.
Tabitha jumps off the side of the building running as fast as she can. Nick charges alongside her catching up. She continues as hard as she can until he loses speed. "Damn... he went way further than usual. Something is seriously messed up here." She looks back expecting a chase. "
They gave up at the edge of town.... that's odd." She paces while she reloads her gun. "I have the 412 but I can't use that on my friends. There is no good reason for them to act like this. They must be controlled or something... and then I avoided it because I am different. I need to find the controller... Somebody has them..." She works her way covertly toward the town watching carefully. Each of them were patrolling. She maps the patrols around the town noticing that Aaron stays close to the point out by the lake. A group of vehicles remained on the point including a large haul truck and two humvee-like vehicles.
Tabitha heads into the woods to think of a strategy. "If I get spotted by one, they will all show up for sure. I could get Stephanie out easiest, even then Nick is center, and would get there and stop me fast... I have to be able to get to that point. It is the only area with anything intact... I can go by water." She says grabbing up her things. Making her way to the coast far from town, she swims to a series of islands. "Aaron would be too strong out here... but I doubt he has the skill yet to transport himself this far using the water... That saves me from Stephanie too... And then if Nick can make it over water... he might."
She continues swimming along the back sides of the islands as the day draws on. She stops on the far side of the closest one. "This is it." She mutters to herself and moves carefully toward the point. By this time the sun was directly above as she creeps up the beach just behind a line of trees and bushes. She moves close to the trailer and hears from inside.
"The last one got away somehow... must be another telepath or something immune to my control. If I can lure her closer my control may be stronger.... damn! where is she.
Tabitha moves around to the door looking in at a young man in a loose fitting military uniform looking at some monitors and a map. She takes aim with her magnum. The stranger turns abruptly and a seemingly magnetic force shoots past her ripping the gun from her hand. She charges forward drawing the 9mm and firing as she swings it in front of her before he can knock it away as well. One shot makes a glancing hit on his shoulder. She clocks the stranger in the face with her free right hand.
"Your own friends will take care of you shortly! I chose this place because it has no escape!" He points to the back of the trailer where Nick is standing waiting.
"Think again. Tabitha says grabbing him and leaping up through the trailer roof. She runs along the top of it dragging him along, each step bending the crossbeams as she pushes off harder every time. She lands several dozen feet away from the trailer and continues running along the point with Nick in hot pursuit grabbing her magnum revolver along the way. The tremendous force from her jump from the point cracks the ground for the leep toward a small baren island 100 yards off the coast.
She impacts the island hard sliding and tumbling for a dozen feet. The stranger tries using his ability to slow himself down but inevitably hits the ground but not nearly as hard. "You think you win by moving me out here? I can still control your friends even from here!
"So what! Nick can not make it this far... Stephanie can not swim, and Aaron is too far to make it in time." Tabitha says pointing her gun at him. Instantly it begins being forced away as she nearly loses grip.
"Even another telepath can never resist the advanced telekinesis I possess... It's a shame you resist me soo much. Maybe you could have even been my wife."
"I am already taken" Tabitha says pushing against his powerful force. She swings the gun forward while bracing with her feet and free hand dug into the ground. She fires a shot into each of his legs breaking his concentration. Nick slows down and stops short of the grassy field they were in.
"Tabitha, what... is this who was controlling us? I am so sorry for .."
The stranger sits holding his legs. "Foreigners?! How did you penetrate this far!? How did you withstand my power?!" A shot rings out piercing him in the head and he collapses to the ground.
"Wha? Tabitha couldn't we have used him to learn more about the area or something? Maybe he was done!" Nick says
Tabitha keeps down on the ground beaten up and out of breath. "People like him are never done.. He was just buying time. If he regained control of you I would be dead. I used every ounce of strength I had getting him here. If I had not, then I could never take all four of you at once. So I purposefully only used a fraction of my strength fighting him on the point.. that way he would think I was weaker so he would underestimate me. He must have thought I used psychic powers to do all that... I also can not get up."
"Well... thanks a ton. I tried to resist but his control was too strong. When he made us fight you there was nothing we could do." Nick says sitting on the slope next to her. "Well lets both rest and wait... they can get a boat or something together right?" He says waving at Aaron and Stephanie on the point.
--
Within a few hours, Aaron makes it with Stephanie to the shore with a small boat. "Sorry it took so long, we had to rivet and weld a hole in this shut..." Aaron says climbing out and pulling the boat into shore a bit. He walks up a bit to where Tabitha was sitting. "Dang what happened here? Are you ok?"
"I think so. Just a bit exhausted. Maybe cut up a bit too I guess. Ugh it hurts all over..." Tabitha says getting up with some help by Aaron.
Once they reach shore Stephanie pulls up with the car. "I know you know, but you look like hell." She says opening the back door behind her letting Tabitha get in easier.
Tabitha sits back "Yea lets put some distance between us and there... we burnt a whole day. Or rather I did."
"Hey it wasn't exactly easy for us either.. " Stephanie replies still driving. "It was weird, he was in my head with control over everything. Who knows what he would have done if he had the time... I guess you're lucky he couldn't get you. We all are."
They turn off the main road before Daugavpils and find a hidden area near another large lake.
"It is like back in the Russian Steppes again all these huge lakes." Tabitha says climbing out slowly from the vehicle. "I wish we could just... you know camp out and have fun." She wipes the start of a tear from her eye. "I just know it will get harder before it gets easier."
"Hey it's going to work out fine. We ran into one guy that we weren't ready for. They're not going to all be mind controllers, right? You're going to have all of us to help you from now on." Aaron says sitting next to her on the slope. He tries to put a hand on her shoulder.
"No!" Tabitha abruptly yells out. "Aaaah ow Sorry! um.. no it is not that I... sorry it still hurts. But, thanks. I just landed on my shoulder."
Day 22 Monday - overcast and windy
The sun had just barely peeked over the hills enough to wake everyone up. They got out of the car to stretch and fix something to eat before starting out.
After a short drive they end up in Zarasai. Tabitha looks around "I know we should avoid towns but we are nearly out of gas... " They pull over to a wooded area and Tabitha grabs one of the uniforms they took in the abandoned lake town. She runs around the corner to change and comes back in the uniform. "If you all keep down. I may be able to convince them in case we run into trouble."
"That's why you took that uniform? Scary how well it fits." Stephanie remarks. They pull up some blankets to hide under and piling boxes in disguise before heading in to town.
They pull in to a gas station. An attendant runs out as Tabitha starts to pump the gas "Oh no please good Captain allow me... What brings you this far from the front?"
"I have some brief time off duty. Thought in my little time off I would look around." Tabitha says coldly overlooking the area in as uptight of a way as she could. "Good to see a town intact.. am I correct?" She says hoping to prompt him.
The man nervously scratches his head. "Ah yes, the fighting. Terrible business.. Ah! Well, I mean but a necessary evil you know. The rebellions springing up too. Polatsk especially... This area is quiet, not nearly as rebellious as the Polish. I suppose there is little to fight for here so they leave us alone. Well.. that might not be enough to get you back to the front."
She thanks him and gets in pulling away down the road. They head southwest for a long boring drive through fields and over lakes and rivers until coming just before Kaunas and head west for a couple hours through the back roads until coming to a forest 20 miles east of Kaliningrad. They get out for lunch and to relax a bit.
A formation of fighters zooms overhead going east. Nick looks up while heating up a soup can, "Dang we might be getting close... Though... I don't like being this close to the coast. We're like 50 miles from the sea. Doesn't give us many ways to escape if we're on the run."
"I know, but if we went south it takes us close to the front there and the mountains would be a lot worse to navigate.. The less land we cover the better. Do you think we could take a boat out of here?... I highly doubt it though. Talk about limiting our escape too." Tabitha rambles while eating.
Nick pages though the map on the GPS. "Even if we did... Denmark. There is no way in hell they will leave that open. I bet that straight is one of the most guarded things ever. That is assuming we could get that far... It's a thought but lets not."
"What I don't get." Aaron adds "That other Tabitha was saying the fighting was all the way back in Lithuania and the Ukraine... we're way beyond that."
Tabitha held her bowl. "She believed it to be true though. And you can not fake the memories I saw from her even if she wanted to. And we did encounter fighting in that region but it was not Allied forces.."
Stephanie adds "It's ok, if you can believe her that's good enough. It's not like she led is into a trap... Could we investigate that city to the west? Maybe it has something?"
"The GPS says we're in Russia... again.... " Nick says "That's odd. It was right before but it went back like that... I don't know it might be a bad idea."
-----------------------
Bonus Update til I get back
--------------------
Nick checks the horizon with the binoculars and catches sight of a caravan rapidly charging the city. "I count several armored vehicles but the dust is blocking lots of them. If we'd gone west more we would be caught in all that... Talk about some luck."
Tabitha takes the binoculars and looks "It's light armor mostly.. missiles and AA. Guess this is simply an air raid. Guess we should get out of here be..." She stops from the loud rumble of diesel engines miles away.
Aaron looks at the locations they point out “Looks like we might be in the middle of something bigger than we thought. All the roads toward that port city are full of stuff!”
Off in the distance the sound of an approaching engine and the snapping of underbrush approaches. Stephanie looks and sees nothing “They must be a ways down the forest, but we have to do something I bet they want to come through the woods here.. they'll spot the car for sure.”
“Hide, we have no choice but to fight them. We can hide out in the trees and take them out when they investigate the car.” Tabitha says looking up at the trees. “Get what you need, enough to take out several of them.” She says grabbing up an AK-variant gun.
They each find a different group of trees to hide from the coming group. Tabitha gets sight of the intruders. A light armored APC with a support vehicle behind it comes in. They stop within about 30 feet of the group's car. Two men get out of the trailing truck and approach it, the APC looks around with its AA gun. Tabitha signals to the others that the APC can hold from 3 to 6 and the truck is empty after which Stephanie gets a searing hot bolt ready for the attack.
--------
OOC
So... I leave this week.
Ideally I wanted to continue their journey into Poland. Currently they're in a small area owned by Russia, the main warm water port city of the Russians actually.
So there's a few options "zomg big battle at this city and quick rescue the end" "continue west" "????"
I know I don't exactly have the most popular story in the universe here, it's slow, it's a journey, kinda drags on... I admit all that. So Where I'd be glad if people were reading it, but mostly it's for me. So yea I COULD end the journey early and deus ex the whole thing, but I'd rather end the story properly than just end it by a date.
So having said that... I kinda doubt I'll update again beyond this until I'm done with basic training and get internet access again. I'll probably do a "new" post to bump it up when I do. But I'd expect March-ish for the conclusion to the Myron County gang's long trek through Russia and Europe.
Oddly enough, I've learned a weird amount about the places they've been through. They're all real, embellished at times and sometime I did make a base or two up. So you can actually retrace most of their path within 100ft for most of it thanks to Google Maps.
So thanks if you're following this, I hope to finish as fast as I can. Maybe I'll get some more ideas too.
Statistics: Posted by Znath — August 29th, 2012, 11:31 pm
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----------------"We might as well get something ready to eat while she rests." Tabitha says putting together some peanut butter sandwiches. "I really hate lingering around, but... we are hundreds of miles from the compound now. We should really look for some coats...
I know we are running out of money, but maybe if we can get some second hand... We can not pass the Ural mountains without them, especially with Stephanie in this condition. She is about my size, so... two of us can go in to a shop while I guess Nick keeps an eye on her and the car."
"Sounds like a plan." Nick says "We need gas too right? I know the tank's at half, but we don't know when we can refill it. We're getting closer and closer to the boarder. Things are gonna get nuts fast."
Nick and Aaron help the mostly passed out Stephanie into the back seat. They pull the car out to a side road and drive until they find a strip of eateries.
They pull in and let Tabitha go to ask directions. She walks around asking people in front of the rail depot. After about half an hour of asking she comes to a woman with a 10 year old girl "Ah mm, please madam. Do you know where my friends and I can find some cheap coats, used is fine."
The middle aged woman gestures down the road and points while rambling on. Tabitha stands nodding occasionally. After a while, she writes something and hands Tabitha a notecard. She looks at it excitedly obviously thanking her.
Tabitha leans into the car, "We have a bit more luck! The woman I talked to happens to own a clothing store! She gave me directions, of course, but even better! She said she can get some to us at store cost since they have some old ones they need to get rid of!"
"That's amazing! It must have been your adorable demeanor, right? So lets get going!" Aaron says happily. Tabitha groans and pulls the car out of the drive and down the road.
----------------------------
After a short drive they come to the address on the card. "This looks like the right number but.... what..." The building wasn't necessarily lavish, but it was certainly not a budget store by any means. They climb out of the car, Stephanie was still asleep so Nick waited with her. Tabitha and Aaron walk in and are greeted by a man in a fairly nice shirt and slacks.
"Eh.. how may I help you two? He greets them. Tabitha pulls the card out and begins to speak when he interrupts. "Ah yes. Elana called a short time ago.. I wager she never told you what the coats even cost?" Tabitha shakes her head and is interrupted again. He leads them to the back on the way they were constantly eyed by the other shoppers "Ack no matter.. she does this all the time. Finds some charity case who... er well sorry but you know... This is the older stuff, we usually pass it on to the other shop or occasionally she does find people li... well anyway. We would charge but she did say to take care of you.
"Ah really? Thank you! Our friend is sick so we knew we could not go much further without coats. I can not thank you enough! Tabitha said holding his hand bowing slightly.
"I will certainly pass on your gratitude.. any of these you can take. She said there were four of you so if you take more it makes no difference, honestly." He walks out of the back room and waits outside in the main room.
"I guess I'll find one that fits me and Nick" Aaron whispers Tabitha grits her teeth signalling for him to stop talking. He picks out a pair of longer coats for them. Tabitha picks up similar coats for herself and Stephanie. They pick gray and brown earthtone colored coats, nothing spectacular, but well built tough hiking coats made for mountain climbing. They exit the room with the coats in hand. They stop and thank the attendant again and head out to the car.
They make it out after quite a while. Tabitha hands the coats back and puts hers on. "Ok yea I got boring colors, but we're not trying to stick out and be fashionable. These are even fur lined, the real deal."
Stephanie takes hers and pulls it on. She quietly murmurs "Thanks, you really came through. My... mmm sorry. Just tired..." She drifts off again though noticeably better condition than earlier.
"Yea her fever's probably down to ... 150 now or something.. I had to put a blanket under her to prevent her from burning the seats. But she's cooled off now for the most part. Can't stay awake for a moment but that's just the Nyquil probably." Nick says straightening her coat.
Tabitha listened in as Nick continued. She secretly watched his moves carefully while pretending to listen.
Tabitha's note:
He was doing it all out of kindness. I even told him to do it, and yet here I am jealous. I wish it were me he was taking care of. And why even? I have no benefit in being jealous of him. Can I even get sick?? He has no interest in me anyway.. Regardless! The coats were a godsend. We may not have been able to make it without them.. hopefully this is a good sign. I need to stop thinking about all this so much.
"Um Tabitha you hear me? Hey I said 'on to the Ural mountains then' so.... on we go right?" Aaron says pointing the way like the captain of a ship.
"Ah right!" Tabitha says putting the car in gear. "Sorry, sir... off we go." They head west and gradually the mountains appear to the left with a lower area ahead of them. "Wonder how high it is..... crap this car is a diesel... I forgot." The highway continues up curving gradually. The car begins to get sluggish as the exhaust gets dark.
"Almost there, the top is just around this turn I think?" Aaron says checking the GPS. The car comes around the top where there was a rest stop and intersection to Zlatoust. They pull over at the rest stop for a moment to look around. As they do a formation of jets zooms overhead to the west. "It's only going to get worse isn't it?"
"Yea... Still like 1000 miles. If we can do 5-600 a day we can reach the boarder in a couple days... but we have no idea where the front lines are." Nick responds after checking the map. "Which way from here"
"We continue West and South for probably 500 before we really make any major decisions." Tabitha says. She leans into the car to check on Stephanie. "Good news, only 1000 miles to go."
Stephanie leans forward. "Oh yea, great. I am feeling a lot better, thanks. Ever since we got out of that area... Still a little achey and groggy.. that medicine takes it out of ya. I doubt I could walk... "
"Heey! Tabitha" a voice calls out behind her. Tabitha turns expecting it to be Nick of Aaron, but instead a young soldier jogging out from a convoy of armored vehicles. "Wow what are you doing here? I thought you were still in Ufa? What brings you from running the Merry Lion?
Tabitha was stunned. She had never seen this man before but he sure seemed to know her well. She had to come up with a story fast, all she knew was the name of some place in Ufa though.
Tabitha's Notes:He mentioned the Merry Lion, and that I ran the place... what the hell is going on? He recognized me even?! It seems like I woke up from a decade long sleep. If I ran the place though he must think I am older than 18. Merry Lion... Ufa. Almost sounds like Myron in a funny way.
"Ah, just taking these kids back home. I promised their parents I would since I owed them one. Nothing big. What about you? Tabitha responds nonchalantly.
"Ah well, I will have to pass on drinks Monday, we're being deployed to Ukraine ha but you know 'don't tell anyone' " He says happily. He jogs back and waves as he boards the truck and heads off.
Tabitha walks back to the car as casually as she can. "Um... that was really messed up." Everyone eagerly waits as she gets into the car. "He knew me somehow. Like recognized me from 100 feet off and then knew my name. He mentioned a bar in Ufa named 'Merry Lion'... We have to go there. He also said they were deployed to the Ukraine..."
"Ok this is dumb but what if it's a trap?" Stephanie says. "He knew you immediately, right?"
"They had probably 30 men there, if they were after us, they'd just take us." Nick says watching the convoy chug down the mountain. "If the war is as close as Ukraine too... I wonder if South will even work.. but it's not like we can head through the south desert either... now that would be brutal."
-------------------
"Bleh well... I am a bit strained from that drive. Nick you want to go take this turn?" Tabitha says. She stretches her arms and hands him the keys. They all climb into the car and head down the mountain gradually. "Just be careful on this slope..."
As they pass down the highway, they pass a number of towns around 10-20k scattered through the dense forest. Lots of heavy mine equipment is occasionally spotted by the road. At one point a series of heavy trucks pulls out carrying some massive tanks. "Gotta be some kind of industrial area. This is kind of weird."
After an hour or so, they start coming into an area with more open field and coming in sight of a metro area. "Ufa there it is!" Tabitha looks up at the road signs.
"Yea but this place is huge... any idea where this place is??" Aaron says checking the map. "It's a city of like 1mil and stretches for miles along the river."
"Ugh dang.. I guess lets take the first exit to the midpoint and ask for directions... otherwise we might have to go through the whole town..." Tabitha says planning the route. "Well lets pull in here and see if anyone knows anything about it." She directs Nick to a lot outside a shopping center. "Just one minute." She runs in to ask, taking a pad of paper with her. After about 20 minutes she walks out holding the paper up. "Yea, took a while but somebody knew what I was talking about.... Apparently we should have taken the other exit.. sorry."
"Well... lets go." Nick says reluctantly. They head through practically the center of town which seemed full of major factories and refineries. The city is enormous by what they had seen before but the traffic moves fairly freely since it was mid afternoon before any rush. Eventually they pass a large stadium.
"Wait it is near here he said... just down a street and it should be a fairly small pub." Tabitha says checking the directions one last time. "Yea this one... wow it really is real.... so ... what now."
"Uh... this was your idea, you're the leader." Stephanie mumbles.
"I guess... I'll check then you can follow in. I'm kinda thirsty anyway." Aaron says climbing out and heading to the door. He looks in and the place is completely empty but they were technically open. Aaron waves and everyone follows.
A woman's voice calls out "Be with you in a moment" After a short time, a long white haired woman comes out from the backroom with a nearly identical appearance to Tabitha. She briefly jumps in shock and stabilizes herself on the bar counter. After moving closer she looks directly at Tabitha and whispers ".... Is this some kind of an insane trick? Who in the hell are you?"
"We ran into somebody who apparently thought I was you. We have the same name and appearance I had to find you." Tabitha responds abruptly.
The woman still leaning on the bar replies "I am Tabitha I run this place... And yes, of course, I speak English." She walks to the door and locks it. "Anyway.. Uh.. how can I even start." She wipes a tear from her eye and continues, "Is Father still ok? What has happened in Myron??"
"Wait what?! Uh... yes? He left with some friends of mine." Tabitha responds unsure of the situation.
"Thank you, I apologize. I should be honest. There is a reason we are so similar. I am 'a Tabitha' like you. A constructed human android with the same memories and everything. I could tell you anything about ourselves that happened probably 4 years ago. I was sent in to infiltrate the same location. I tried to escape with some friends, but... it ended poorly. That must have been when you were created to fill my space." The other-Tabitha finishes much to the shock of everyone.
"Wait... then the Tabitha I knew 6 years ago was you??" Nick stands up with his hands on the counter top.
"Well, yes, Nick. But she has all the same memories. Aside from the recent memory, we are really the same person. Though I do hope your life has been easier than mine. The difference is I had to live away from you so long. I really missed you. I had no choice but to leave without even a goodbye. I was the only one that could guide everyone out." the other Tabitha explains further.
"But you are older? We should be the same age right? And guide them out? I have no memory of any of that escape at all.. It seems depressing to have my memory manipulated so easily..." Tabitha says with leaning over with her hands on her head.
"I guess maybe, Father gave up on the idea, or maybe he postponed it. He did suspect it was really the High School at the core of the problem, but back then there was little proof. And no I am not older, but I found since many women in this area are quite short, I altered myself to appear older. In reality we are the same age, almost 18 coming soon, right?" Tabitha nods after 'other Tabitha' is finished. "But please do not be hard on Father. He only wanted what is best for us..."
"Am I the only person that sees how crazy this is? Just wonderin..." Stephanie says glaring at the two identical girls talking face to face. "My family moved in 6 years ago too. It's kind of odd to think I never noticed. But you two really are identical... it's bizarre seeing it up close. And Aaron showed up 4 years ago, which is uncanny timing.."
"I am more than aware of how this seems... And I know it will delay your journey, but I would like it if you stayed the night.. I can close the bar early tonight and maybe give you some supplies for your trip. We can catch up over dinner too." Other-Tabitha (Tabitha1 from now on.. that's getting annoying) adds.
------Later that day
Tabitha1 closes the bar up and rejoins everyone in the upstairs apartment. They explain the situation to the current point in as much detail as necessary. "I see.. well it does sound like you are in the clear, but if you start to look suspicious somebody might call you in. Particularly the closer you get to the boarder." She walks to the kitchen in the back and pulls a pot off the stovetop. "I thought the easiest way to feed this many would be a beef stew. I imagine you have had no hot meals in a while."
"You cook?" Nick snickers "I guess a lot changes in four years." Tabitha did her best to ignore it getting herself some of the stew.
"Yes.. it has been a hard time. I wandered homeless for months... I would rather not go into detail... I learned to cook mostly for guests. I can survive off very little myself. Perhaps in some way that is why I was able to run the business." Tabitha-1 says. "The original owner took me in and eventually I took it over when he died. If you would like... I can synchronize my memories with yours." She finishes and gestures toward Tabitha. "We both have the watch, it transmits a short range radio wave into our arm receiver."
"Synchronize? Should we even? What would that do? Would I still be me?" Tabitha says mildly stunned by the idea.
Tabitha-1 plainly states, "I honestly have no clue. It is how you were originally created though to some degree. It would also insure that, if you are caught, the information you have can live on.. You can decide later, but it is important. I know of the atrocities they did there, but I was never able to break in.. I have no actual data of it like you do."
"I suppose we can discuss it later then." Tabitha says
"We're tying to plan a route though... do you know anything about the current situation?" Aaron jumps in. "Last we heard, some soldiers were being deployed to the Ukraine."
Tabitha-1 takes a fairly large map off the wall and puts it on the floor. She sets up some chess pieces on it by memory. "Well... these are the last locations I have heard rumors of. I avoid tapping in to the network to intercept data too often, it is simply too risky for me. If I did it from the same areas too often, they could catch me and I have nowhere to run." The map shows a defensive line cutting through Ukraine and Belarus with a dead-zone from there to central Poland all the way down to Greece.
She continues "And... well if you went South ... you would be dead already... at least the three of you. Kazakhstan was hit hard early on, there is so little life there, you would be lucky to make it even with infinite gas. I would imagine it would be borderline impossible to get in to the Mid-East... I certainly would not recommend that anyway."
"That leaves Northern Europe... there's still fighting, but not as much I guess." Nick says looking over the map.
"The dead zone is thinner there at least because there are fewer units stationed there too." Tabitha-1 says "It might be your only option really. You need to be careful the closer you get... in some areas the fighting is spotty because of these super-soldiers. On this side you will run into brainwashed kids like you basically. And then the west sends in mechanized troopers like the one you had seen... Heaven forbid they nuke an area again."
*CGagg*"AGAIN?" Aaron coughs in "W.. what areas HAVE been nuked?"
Tabitha sits to think with a finger on her mouth "As far as I know... Kazakhstan... some of the Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Belarus.... most of the Middle East.. I really do not know beyond that. I just pick up the military radio calls and rumors from soldiers."
Stephanie frustratingly growls out, "****! So ... even if we cross the front lines... it's gonna be an apocalyptic hell?"
Tabitha-1 replies "Well many areas were spared due to defense networks, but short range bombs still passed through. To my understanding, the area is not contaminated majorly. I have no idea if this is from time passing or some new kind of bomb." She clears the map off and puts it back up. After they finish eating, she rummages through the back and walks out with a pair of wine bottles. "Anyway. This is depressing.. besides, you only live once and you have a long journey ahead..."
"Guess this is a perk of owning a bar" Aaron says pouring himself a glass. He tries it and winces a bit. "Say this isn't bad eh?"
"Ha! Like you would know?" Stephanie mocks him "Ok well... it really is, you got lucky."
While everyone else joked around and watched an old subtitled samurai movie, Tabitha-1 confronted Tabitha. "While they watch that, we can do the synchronization if you would like."
Tabitha reluctantly nodded her head and followed to the back room. "I still want to retain my individuality... even from what is essentially myself. I do not mind sharing the memory data.. but even for your safety it would be best to keep ourselves separate."
"... understood. A simple file transfer is what I had in mind." Tabitha-1 says drawing the wire, Tabitha takes it and plugs it into her own watch.
Tabitha's notes:
It seemed to take hours transferring the memories, looking through and seeing what of each of us was relevant to transfer. The reality was it only took a matter of minutes. When we ended, it was like waking from a dream.. though into a stranger one waking up to see myself looking at me. I did also end up learning how to use the phone lines to tap into the communications network as well as learning how to receive radio transmissions.
The haze of the connection clearing, Tabitha shakes the feeling. "Well that was interesting. I have been into computers, but not another... me..."
Tabitha-1 adds "Yea, but I should mention. Be careful about tapping into the physical network. They can pinpoint your position if you remain connected too long. How long depends where it is, but they narrow it down based on the hubs you ping off of. You can read any radio transmissions though since I transferred the encryption codes to you. Stealing those was no simple trick either... ..." She straightens up the bed after Tabitha gets up and starts to leave. "And thank you for the memories of Father. I am glad to know he is doing well."
--------------------
Day 13 Monday - Rain
Tabitha-1 helped them load the last case into their car. "Thank you again for stopping by. I shall hope and pray your mission is successful." They all got into their car. "Take the main road south, it will be the fastest route out of here."
Tabitha grabs her hand momentarily. "I will come for you some day.. Please, just be careful." Tabitha-1 nods and waves as they pull away.
"It's so weird, you're really both exactly alike in all ways. Though she seemed... sadder I don't know." Stephanie remarked. We're pretty close too... well relatively I guess."
"Yea. She was through a lot more than we were this past few years. Having her memories is strange. I know they are not mine, but still.. I can remember them and look back by thinking about it... " Tabitha rambles on as she watches the fields zoom by out the window.
They continue along the highway southwest through endless fields and farmland for hours.
"We should be close to Samara." Aaron says checking the map. Traffic started to back up more as they got closer. "It's not that late, I wonder what's going on?" They continue forward, as they had little choice otherwise. Eventually everything comes to a stand-still. Eventually three soldiers with a dog come by. "Oh
! it's a checkpoint!" Aaron blurts out.. the.. guns they'll know!""We can't exactly run for it, the road is choked off.... what are we gonna do?" Nick says keeping an eye on the road ahead. "We fight? Run... what?"
Tabitha ties her hair back. "We can probably take them out and make a break for it. We will have to abandon the car though... If we can make it to the field, we can find a way to cross the river.... this messes things up majorly..."
"No
.." Stephanie says pulling her coat on. The soldiers reach their car, the dog barking madly smelling the guns. The soldiers signal for them to exit the vehicle hands up. They get out gradually, appearing confused.
Nick quickly pulls up the sawed off shotgun firing into one of the enemies. He zips toward the leader who amazingly already has a tazer pointed at Nick! Still in high speed, Nick quickly yells out to Tabitha "They have one with reaction powers! Tabitha leave us you have to escape!" The enemy fires and knocks Nick down.
Tabitha fires two rounds off into the 2nd enemy as the dog is let off the chain and charges. The dog leaps into the air and is cut in half by Aaron's stream of water. A fourth larger soldier stomps in slowly pushing cars out of his way.
"My God what is that?" Tabitha says firing shots at him, they all seemingly bounce off.
Aaron sends a thin high pressure stream at him with no visible effect. "Tabitha, you have to get Stephanie out of here! You're the only one that can do it and you can't carry both of us! I can use the rain to hold them off a little longer, I have an idea!"
Stephanie, mostly powerless in this situation, responds. "We can't leave you like this!"
"He is right we must go now!" Tabitha jumps the car and grabs hold of Stephanie leaping far into the field. Stephanie looks back to see a field of water collecting around the car and explodes outward knocking everything back. "We will get them back... we have to get out of here though."
They make it roughly a mile from the site of the incident and double back. They see Nick and Aaron tied down and loaded into an armored vehicle. The vehicle travels away from Samara and to the north. Their car also being towed behind by a different truck.
"I can wait here for now. You go ahead, you'll be faster without me slowing you down." Stephanie says jumping off Tabitha's back as they set down in the forest. Tabitha agrees and heads off.
She passes a quarry and continues keeping the trucks in sight as she zooms through the forest. Eventually, the trucks pull in to a fenced in base by the river. She watches the soldiers unload both of them into the building. "Damn... ...but that quarry gives me an idea..." She runs back to Stephanie, by this time it is getting to around the evening. She walks into the quick camp area Stephanie set up. "I found the base... I think we have to act now too. The base is on the river, they would probably ship them up-stream when they find out they have powers and... well, don't speak Russian." Tabitha says helping Stephanie up.
"You think we can do it? Just two of us? Aaron handed me his gun, but all I have are the six shots." Stephanie says holding up the short nosed revolver.
Tabitha hands her another bunch of bullets from her pockets. "I have my backpack.. anyway, we need to break into the storehouse at the quarry. If we can grab up some explosives, it can help provide the distraction we need. And once we get both of them out we need to get our stuff out of the car... and dispose of it. I think we can then use the river as our means of escape." She finishes after drawing out a map of the area.
They both make it to the quarry watching as the drill trucks start to pull away. Eventually a new crew comes in and starts putting in the explosives to the hole. An unwatched truck sits with the detonators and Tabitha takes the opportunity to grab up a box and sprint back into the forest.
"Finally some good luck!" Tabitha quietly exclaims.
"They must have been on their break huh." Stephanie happily responds.
Quickly, they move through the forest to get to the edge of the forest in view of the riverside base. "We can set up some bombs at the motor pool there. They will think there's an attack that way and we can break into the back." Stephanie says grabbing out a couple of the detonators.
------
"Alright... you light them I will throw them." Tabitha says holding her hand out. Stephanie lights a couple and Tabitha throws them over the base into the vehicle area.
After a few moments the bombs go off flipping a truck over and starting a fire. Tabitha and Stephanie run toward the rear entrance and wait as the alarm goes off. Some soldiers run out to check on things and run out the door toward the commotion. Other guards run out to secure the parimeter.
"Where's the holding area? The signs are all in Russian." Stephanie says as they both run in.
As they run, Tabitha glances a sign indicating the basement level. "Bottom floor." She flings open the door to find two soldiers heading up late. She draws her gun while delivering a switft uppercut with her left hand to the first one. The first is knocked into the stairs leading up. Tabitha fires a shot into the arm of the second and knocks him out with a second swing. "Grab his gun before we head down."
They reach the holding center in the basement consisting of rows of doors in cinderblock walls.
"There's no kind of master... door open switch.. or anything, it's all individual doors!?" Stephanie says running down the center hall looking through the windows.
"No this is just an outpost for checking things, that is why we have to act now. By morning they would be sent out." Tabitha replies checking the other side. "I found Aaron, keep looking for Nick!" She says trying the locked door. She braces herself and thrusts her palm hard into the door just above the handle. The door and frame buckle and squeek open.
"uugh... Tabitha? How did you find us?" Aaron groans out looking up as Tabitha breaks the restraints.
"I followed the car.. There is no way I would let them take you away." Tabitha says leaning over to kiss him on his forehead. She breaks him free and leads him out of the room.
Further down the hallway, Stephanie yells out "I found Nick too! He'll be out in just a sec." She superheats her hand to cut the lock out. Shortly after she enters the main hall with Nick. "Ok... now what?... Oh sh... TABITHA" She points toward the door as the hulk of a man walks in. It was the same invulnerable soldier from the main road.
Tabitha looks at him then Stephanie and says, "bomb now!" Stephanie takes one from her backpack and lights it tossing to Tabitha who then throws it full force missing the guy by a hair.
"Ha... missed... nice try. Soon enough we fill find out all we need from you. The soldier says as the bomb rolls under him.
Tabitha runs back and pushes both of them into the final holding cell while dragging Aaron along. Just as they clear the door, the bomb goes off throwing the enemy into the ceiling into the floors above. She lifts Stephanie up to cut the window out of the wall and they start to climb out.
A couple guards come into the holding area as Nick holds them off with one of the stolen AK rifles. "Lets hurry this up!" He says as they pull Aaron up. Eventually Nick scrambles up too into the rear yard luckily right next to their impounded vehicle.
Tabitha busts open the locks and pulls their packs out. "Use the long fuse bomb, put it under the fuel tank." she says to Stephanie after which they run toward the dock. They get most of the way there when a blast goes off and Tabitha is slammed down by the hulky invulnerable soldier.
"You can not beat me.... I can't be harmed little one." The invulnerable soldier says grabbing both her arms.
"Aaron! the river! Toss a bomb behind him!" Tabitha calls out. She sees the bomb roll below them and Tabitha kicks it leaving it about five feet behind him. The enemy soldier grinning as he believes he has won. Tabitha raises her arms apart to the surprise of the hulking man. She crouches and jumps as hard as she can causing them to flip several times into the air and eventually slamming his back into the bomb. She stands on his chest. "Into the boat now! This will work!" She says closing her eyes.
Everyone runs to the boat as the bomb below the two of them goes off propelling them into the air. The sudden shock finally allowing Tabitha free from his grip. She smiles and waves as she kicks off from him forcing him further into the river. As he flies toward the river, Aaron sends a blast of water from the river to force him further out.
Tabitha lands in the water near the boat, she paddles herself toward the boat quickly and they help her in. They look back and see that the enemy soldier never surfaced.
"... Wow... you think he can't swim?...Wonder if he can breathe underwater too...." Aaron says watching the ripples disappear. They drift down river a bit until the second explosion destroys the car that had served them so long. "Man.. I'm going to miss that car..."
-------- evening hours, fairly dark by now.
"Yea... I had to protect that man that sold it to us though. If they traced the car to him.. it would be trouble." Tabitha says as the smoke covers the shore near the base they had escaped. "Aaron can you cover our wake and camouflage us? We will need to stay hidden until we get out of sight."
"Right, I think I know what you mean." Aaron responds, he erases the wake behind the ship and raises up a 'hill' of water behind them pushing them along and obscuring the boat from view as it continued down the river. They continue like this until they move around the river's bend at which point Aaron rests. "Well I hope that works... but where are we gonna go?"
Nick follows that up with, "Without a car, we're at the mercy of this river. Which unfortunately goes south into Kazakhstan. Which, unfortunately, is atomic wasteland... according to the other Tabitha.... or worse, it's mostly desert that has now ALSO been nuked. So even if we went there, we'd never be able to find anything useful."
Stephanie looking ahead of the boat says "Well this is great. And you know they'll be watching the river the closer we get... You can already tell this far south nobody tends these fields, or has for years."
"Did they get pictures of you two or anything like that?" Tabitha says to Aaron and Nick.
"Nah, they looked pretty under-staffed. So they just yelled at us and threw us into the rooms. I'm sure they would have if you hadn't come sooner." Nick replied.
"That at least gives us some more freedom. We can sink the boat before the next town and try to acquire a ride." Tabitha says as she keeps an eye out ahead. Gradually the dim lights of a medium sized town come into view. They all leave the boat and Aaron specially sinks it to the bottom so stays permanently. The town is mostly empty on the riverside as they walk through they happen on some rails. "A train! This might be our ticket out of here!... or at least.... you know further."
"Yea but tickets are going to be insane... so we'll have to hitch a ride somehow." Stephanie adds. "I guess you and Nick can get the two of us on board if we find one moving."
They wait and keep an eye on the rail yard. Eventually a crew starts checking over a cargo carrier. They move to a section near the rails surrounded with some thick foliage and wait for it to start. The train grinds to life and begins heading toward the narrow pass. Stephanie climbs onto Tabitha's back and Aaron onto Nick's. As the train rolls by, they sprint toward the train. Nick has little trouble grabbing the car. Tabitha matches the speed of the train and lets Stephanie off before jumping to grab the train.
"Well.... " Tabitha huffs. "We made it." They climb to the top and undo a hatch to climb into the car. Inside they find is empty. The cart had been used for livestock but was now on a return trip. "Ugh at least they cleaned it...."
-------Tuesday Day 14 --- Cloudy
The train charges along for miles. Once in a while they look outside as the train slows down and passes through small villages. Eventually the train comes to Penza, a large city of around 500k. The train slows more than before definitely coming to a stop. "We need to bail, can't take the risk they find us."
"I agree.." Nick says getting up and stretching. Everyone else gets ready and climbs out. They jump just before the train heads into town. "So what now?"
"We really have few choices. Wait it out and then hitch another train, steal a car, find a plane to hitch onto, or hike hundreds of miles." Tabitha says checking out the map. "This town has a decent sized airport, not enormous , but good. But it is a civilian airport from the layout of it."
"Yea that really makes things harder. The soldiers are one thing, but hijacking a civilian aircraft. I dunno. And you would think they would catch on faster... but then again... if we can get a hold of one in the hangar or something and take off." Aaron says as they think it over.
"If we take a plane they'll figure it out fast too. It'll be a beacon to where we are." Stephanie adds
"Yea I know. We could take it part way and bail. If we set the autopilot it would lead them off our trail. At this point we are ..three... four hundred miles from the battle zone? If they so much have a jet in the sky... it would get to us in hours. Even worse... if that jet then saw us bailing... ugh.."
"Lets try it." Nick says "Worst case, we have to bail it early. If it can even get us 100 miles, that's better than risking every town on these trains." They start South through the forest road outside of town. Cars pass occasionally honking and harassing them. After a few miles they pass an industrial zone, a few houses. "Ok... I'm starving..." They head over to a roadside rest stop area. Nick rummages through his pack and pulls up some tuna cans and an opener.
"What??? How are we goin to cook that!" Stephanie blurts out.
"Technically it's precooked." Tabitha says, after which Stephanie shrugs it off and waits. "Plain tuna though... mmm... well, meat at least." She forms up a sandwich mixing it with some crackers. She blindly reaches for more crackers and grabs a hand by mistake. She looks up to see Aaron pulling back quickly.
"If you guys wanna hold hands I don't care." Stephanie mumbles while chewing.
She laughs it off a bit before Aaron interrupts. "How did you even know? I never sai..."
Tabitha groans and rests her face in her hands. "They never knew anything you moron. Not until now... she was kidding, try to read people better."
"Wait WHAT??" Stephanie blurts out. "You mean like what you have a thing going on? For real
"We kissed all of once!" Tabitha says desperately trying to cover her embarrassment. "If we were in school I would just lie and cover it up... but if we are all in this together I should be honest." She takes her hands away and glances at Aaron. "Yes, I like him.. for what that matters. We barely know each other though, you know? It might not go anywhere. I have no idea."
"Yea, well be careful." Nick says sternly. He wasn't thrilled about the situation obviously. "The last thing we need is a messy breakup screwing up our group. We all need to stick together no matter what, ok?" He quickly finished his sandwich and wandered off while everyone continued eating.
------
Tabitha caught up with him, "Hey.. you seemed a bit more upset then you let on. I am sorry I never told anyone. I never thought it would go further, honestly."
"That's really not it.. It just got me thinking that I had to leave Jen behind... I hope she's ok." Nick says leaning against a tree looking away.
"Perhaps eventually, they can send a rescue mission for the people still trapped there?"
"Yea.. maybe." Nick replies and turns. He sighs and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Listen, I know you've liked me a lot for a long time. You make it fairly obvious. But I just never felt the same. You're ... don't take this the wrong way, like a sister. We might not always get along, and have different interests, but you're always there. I don't know, I just never really felt that way about you."
"I see... well... um." Tabitha stammers, surprised by his response. "You are right. I guess it was silly of me.. I think everyone is just about ready to go now though. You will continue to be my big brother then right?" She says happily.
"Sure.. lets get going." Nick says following along.
------------------25
After passing through seemingly endless housing districts, they follow the road further south. Large trucks start blasting down the road the closer they get. Eventually they decide to follow the road closest to the river instead. When they reach a bridge to cross over into some fields.
"Almost there... right?" Stephanie complains. "Man we've been walking for over an hour already..."
"Yea it's just past this field, you can see the tower from here." Nick says pointing out the control tower. "We'll make a plan once we get a better view of the place." After some time of trudging through the roads through the farms, they finally get to the edge of the field. The airfield is surrounded by a fence and a wide open area. The field consisting of a large and small runway and helipads. The loading area was open without any hangars as far as could be seen.
"Well now what..." Aaron says peeking out from the brush looking at the airport. "No hangars, and this is a huge dead zone... any ideas??"
"I am thinking! There is one jet that appears to be prepping for take-off.. there is another but no way of knowing if it is fueled. Then there is also a helicopter... but that would be the worst I think. Then there is the parking lot... but then a car we could be traced easier soon as they found out it was stolen. If we get into the air, we can disable the transponder... that would buy us time before fighters can track us. The trick is still getting all the way out there... can you go that far Nick?
"There's no way I can get that far at high speed. My limit is almost the distance to that plane from the edge, but that wouldn't be enough to get inside. Not to mention I can only carry one, you'd have to run yourself with somebody... and you're the only one of us that can really fly it too."
"We can think about it all day but if they start boarding it's over." Aaron says as the ground crew pulls the fuel truck away.
Tabitha pulls up the bottom of the fence to make an opening. Everyone crawls through and they creep toward the edge of the lot with the planes sitting. Tabitha signals to Nick and Aaron and they speed to the craft. Tabitha grabs Stephanie and they start off. They climb into the cabin which is entirely empty.
"Good... nobody to throw off." Stephanie says looking into the back as Tabitha heads to the cockpit. Nick pulls the door shut and Tabitha starts the engines.
"Craft 4 you appear to be moving to the runway... you do not have clearance for take off at this moment." The radio starts speaking.
Tabitha replies "This is NM-137 we need emergency clearance. We have an urgent transplant shipment for immediate hospital delivery..." She shrugs and continues moving the plane toward the runway
"Roger that, we were unaware of the nature of your flight, runway A is clear and open."
"Apologies, this came up suddenly. This was the only available craft." Tabitha further lies and opens up the craft and begins to take off. She turns the radio off and begins to lift the craft off. "Good lord... and we're on our way. I wonder how long we will get away with this.."
Aaron looks out the window as they lift away from the city. "When should we bail... we need to do it before they even know we're doing it."
"Lets try for 200 miles northwest. Then we will bail over a forest and let the craft head to Moscow." Nick says checking the map out plotting a course.
They continue their course west and disable the transponder when they get fairly close. Tabitha sets the autopilot for a more northern heading. "Course is set. Everyone ready?"
Everyone nods and three of them jump. Tabitha climbs onto the wing to shut the door so that it was less obvious they jumped. As they descend, it becomes more and more obvious that the area is not really a forest after all. But rather a sprawling swamp. Tabitha tries to steer closer to where the others had landed and comes down in, luckily a fairly dry area. Her boots sink several inches into the loamy ground.
Everyone eventually groups up. "Nice... a forest huh. Full of lakes and ponds!" Stephanie exclaims shaking the water off. They all bundle up their parachutes to prevent them from being seen.
"Sorry, I had no idea." Tabitha says trying to find a path through the clumps of grass. She grabs a branch which promptly breaks off sending her straight down into a pool.
Aaron looks back as Tabitha climbs out, "None of us knew.. besides, inhospitable land makes it less likely we were spotted too.... Lets just find a nice place to dry off... " They find a small hill covered in trees. They struggle to start a fire for a while but eventually Stephanie steps in and gets it going.
------
Stephanie starts to pull her shirt up much to the amazement of the others only to disappoint the guys when she has some sort of a gray-silver shirt on. "Oh yea this... that other Tabitha made it for me. It's fire resistant, so it won't burn off if I use my ability fully. Otherwise I have to limit it a lot... don't know what Tabby's gonna do though."
"Yea well... I am not going to strip naked..." Tabitha shyly replies. "Besides, I really never get sick anyway... so as unpleasant as the wet clothes are, I can deal with it." She glances to her right noticing that Aaron and Nick wasted no time getting rid of the wet clothing. "Aah! what! ... you could have said something!"
"... yea well I don't want to get sick out here." Nick replies hanging his clothes up to dry. He looks up seeing Tabitha increasingly uncomfortable. He grabs up some jerky snacks from his pack "These are easy and won't require any prep.... Tab you're going to have to relax. We can't have you falling to pieces any time somebody takes a shirt off."
They laugh it off while Tabitha glares trying to avoid looking at them. "Well sooorry... I always just lived alone with Father. He really kept me sheltered most of my life... it sounds really pathetic when I think about it. I act tough and then can barely look you in the eye now." She finishes still avoiding eye contact her face red from embarrassment.
-------30
"Well... actually when I think about it, all of us are an 'only child'. But I suppose your house is a bit more reserved huh." Stephanie says.
Tabitha nods in agreement "He never wanted me hurt. I understand why now. He never wanted me to find out what I am. Just live on never knowing.."
"Speaking of which... If it's not too much to ask. Did you ever find out exactly What you are? I mean if you're not quote human... if you never said anything I'd never have known.. it seems too amazing to be true. Like a movie." Stephanie says. She checks her clothes drying by the fire and puts them on.
Tabitha leans back and looks up through the trees. "No, I do not mind. Well, my other counterpart explained it a bit.... uh.. but how to say it best. Like I know I can heal and self repair. She said it was due to nanomachines, really small robots that can move and repair material. But then my structure is close to identical to a human. Like artificial muscle and stuff like that. There are also things built in like those buttons, and ...failsafes.. to prevent capture and copy..."
"Failsafes?" Nick says with his mouth half full finishing eating.
"If the enemy copied me, it could be really bad.. So I was built so that can not happen. Incidentally it was how the lab in Myron was destroyed." Tabitha says plainly.
"Well that's comforting..." Stephanie says as everyone finishes packing up. She lifts her own pack an continues. "I had to ask. Like I know you mentioned it before. But like... yea you seem odd, but no more odd than any other human."
"Supposedly the programming is based on a human genome and algorithms from human behavior. The rest is dictated by my life and experiences I guess.."
"I don't think it matters. Honestly, you could say you're a hard programmed machine or have a flesh and blood human brain. You're still the same person, right? Your life is as valuable as anyone's." Aaron says as they start walking along. Tabitha smiles back.
They eventually come out from the edge of the swamp to a highway. They expect the city of Morshansk to be in front of them when they look out but instead simply a burnt waste stretches on. The land is cratered and buildings broken but no smoke rising from the destroyed city.
"Wow I ... didn't expect anything this far in still. Nothing's burning, it must have been done a long time back. Should we go in? Maybe we'll find something we can use..." Aaron says looking out.
"I think we should." Tabitha says. "Our only other option is to walk sixty miles south.." They trudge onward to the city. Early on they come across a bike shop. They look in with it completely abandoned. Tabitha smashes out the front window and they pull out some bikes to continue through the city.
Areas of the city are reduced entirely to rubble. The attack was thorough but not nuclear. Houses were abandoned entirely but gutted of anything valuable it seemed.
"Nothing in the residential areas... they must have been attacked and then the rest were evacuated later. If we want anything, I bet we'll have to get further in.." Nick observes as they bike deeper into town. Eventually they make it to a bombed out shopping center. "Hey! Cars!" He says and speeds off toward it. Most of them have broken out windows and dents and damage from the bombing. They comb over the whole lot until he calls out again waving to the rest. "It's another old Merc like the one we used to have! Well... close, this one's even newer! Can you start it though?"
"Maybe.. " Tabitha says looking in "It does have electronic locks, that makes this easier." She uses her watch wire to hack the locks open. They slowly whine as the car unlocks.
"That... didn't sound good." Stephanie says as Tabitha opens the door. Sure enough after a couple attempts, the car refuses to start. "Great now what?"
Nick quickly responds. "Two things... either find a working battery, or another car..." He sets off picking up a bar bashing out the windows of some of the damaged vehicles. They pull out the batteries of several cars to no avail.
"This is nuts, ten batteries and they're all just about flat...." Aaron says looking into the last car they popped open. "What ever happened, it has been a long time for sure... You think maybe one in there?" He says pointing into the bombed out shopping complex.
"It's possible I guess... what choice do we have? Lets just go and find out." Nick says frustrated by the lack of success and heads toward the building.
------
Inside the building the roof has caved in the center. The girders are bent down with some broken. As they walk through, the store is badly weather damaged from sitting out for so long.
"Tell me when you find it... I can't make out any of these signs..." Aaron says looking around at the Russian signs. "Oh gruuuhh.... it's the food section..." He groans and points out the rotted produce section and worse yet the meat counter.
"Crap... sorry looks like I went in the wrong one.... lets try and get to the other side then. Lets go through, maybe we can find some preserved stuff that would be good." Nick says as they head to the back. They thumb through the food sections most of it stale or broken up by rats and pests. "Man this place has just been sitting for ages... we must be getting closer to the front... this is probably just a taste of things to come."
"AHA ahaha" Stephanie happily giggles as she runs up to everyone. "Candy! it's still good! vacuum sealed! And peanuts!" She pops the jar and eats some of the peanuts. "Yea they're great! You'd never know they expired."
"I guess even here there's preserved stuff... Good find" Tabitha says taking a handful. Shortly after, a loud clang and a series of thuds sounds off from the back of the store. Tabitha whispers "What the hell?! I think there is somebody here..." She gets her gun ready and cautiously moves up row by row checking around the corners.
Two of them fan out the opposite side. They come into view where the noise came from and see a group of rats ripping a box apart. Tabitha looks back at Aaron and whispers "Well... maybe we are alone here." Seconds later a shot rings out blasting away one of the rats. "That came from the left... somebody really is here"
"It's just some rats.. I told you. These things come in here constantly. the voice of a young man says. The voices of two others say some inaudible things as they approach.
"What now?" Aaron says. He looks up at one of the security mirrors "There are three, one has a rifle, don't know about the other two.... They don't have uniforms or anything... it's not military... what do you think?"
"Scavengers like us. Or punk kids... who knows. If they came out with weapons drawn... they probably are not friendly." Tabitha says. She spots Nick and Stephanie on the other far side and signals '3 people' pointing to where the group was. She waits for them to approach closer as Aaron retreats to find a water source.
"Hold it! We mean you no harm!" She sternly calls out as one of them comes around the corner.
"****! what the... " He says slipping from being startled. He gets up on his knees seeing Tabitha aimed at him. "er Who are you"
"Wait you speak English, I heard it!" Tabitha says lowering her gun. "Please.. "
"... are you kids from Salem County? I'm Derek, uh Summers." Derek says continuing as Nick, Aaron and Stephanie approach. "Guys it's ok!... they're like us" He calls out to his friends. Eventually two others come out another young boy and a girl about their age. After some explanation from Tabitha he continues "This is Neil and Samantha.. We escaped like you, but I've never heard of Myron.. I started a team of students when I suspected. We had similar disappearances so we banded together and destroyed the lab. I've even got the hard-drives from their server. We're trying to get them over to the good guys.."
----
Derek is 6' tall dark short hair brown eyes - 17
Neil is slightly shorter with lighter brown long hair blue eyes 17
Samantha is 5'4" black hair blue eyes 16
"Really? Let me see." Tabitha says. He hands over the drives and she connects to them looking through the files. "Wow there is really a lot here..." She says staring blankly ahead. The newcomers just watch confused as she sits motionless. "I am going to copy these to my own memory, the more duplicates the better."
"Wait what?!" Samantha says "What are... how can you even access those? they're not even plugged in!"
Tabitha hands the drives back over. "Well, I have artificial memory I should say. I can access computers... we came in here looking for a working battery really."
"Yea there's batteries in the automotive section... you could try those." Neil says apparently unimpressed by everything around him.
They make it over and find that the ceiling partly collapsed on some of the batteries. The floor scorched from the acid that had broken out. Still some batteries remained. Nick takes a metal piece from the broken roof and touches the terminals that spark wildly.
"Yea these will work!" Aaron says shielding his face from the sparks.
----
They install the battery in the car and it seems to start without any trouble.
"So you all came from out East? You really came that far?" Samantha says as Nick works filling the car's fluids from other vehicles. "Salem, they told us was in the Pacific northwest, but in reality it was in the Ural mountains. We eventually made our way here. It took us months though.. We've been stuck in this town for a while. We went further but we lost some people... "
"Sorry to hear that... but what do you plan on doing now?" Tabitha says. "We can get you a car running too if you want."
Derek replies "Well that would be great actually. But we really couldn't go further. The one we lost was basically our leader and kinda the most powerful... The rest of us really have rather minor abilities.. We managed to escape, but much further than here it gets dangerous.. My ability is camo. Or rather I can disguise us as anything within a short area I'm still practicing. It's been enough to keep us hidden while we wait it out here. Neil's ability is to merge through walls, it's been useful getting us supplies mostly. Samantha's still practicing, but she's learning to control wind."
"W... what so you just intend on staying here??" Stephanie jumps in.
"There's more than enough food to last us, and we're just not strong enough..." Derek replies "We'd go with you, but a huge group would slow you down. If at least one of our groups could escape and deliver the information you now have.. we can get rescued later."
"You have quite a head on your shoulders. I hate to say it, but I do agree." Tabitha says to the amazement of her own group. "Sure we can get cars running, but if we start getting a caravan going... we will get spotted easily. And if we set them off on their own... it might not work. But we can get you a car or two running so you have something to escape with should the time come..."
---
After some time they fix up a small truck and a car to run for the three that decided to remain. Nick says to Tabitha "Are you sure about this? Just abandon them here in a dead city?"
"You heard them... Their powers are useful, but they need each other just to survive. If we took any one of them, they would all be done for." Tabitha replies and gets in the car. They start off and head north when Derek comes running up behind the car, they stop and let him catch up.
"I didn't expect you to leave so sudden... anyway take this...." Derek says lifting a bag. "It's Russian money. It's no use to us here, but you might as well take some. Good luck."
They all thank him and drive on north toward Shatsk where they turn and head west to a large city of Ryazan. After a couple hours of slow boring travel they reach the outskirts of the city and stop to look out at the city. The city is of about half a million people. They pass through the edge of town on an outer road eventually passing an air base. Fighters fly overhead as they continue to the west end of the city through suburbs and residential districts.
The sun starts to drop in the sky gradually. Tabitha peeks below the car roof and remarks "Guess we can try to find a place to stay... keep eyes open for a cheap looking hotel that will take cash." She turns back toward town. Traffic backs up and they pull in to refuel. Tabitha jogs back out after paying "I got good directions from the owner, he said down this side road we can find a room easily."
"Good, cause this traffic is insane!" Stephanie says pointing at the constant deadlock. They turn down the side road and travel a few blocks until finding a hotel. As usual Tabitha runs in and arranges everything and leads everyone in. They climb up and reach the room eventually "4th floor.. really?..."
"Sorry! It was the best I could do... I told em I had cash and just needed a room..." Tabitha says jumping on the bed. "At least this one is nice, it may be the last bed we have for a while. "Hard to believe we are merely 100 miles from Moscow... I almost want to go... you know?"
"Yea, kind of like how I would like to see a dinosaur eat somebody." Aaron retorted. "It's a wonder we're this close. We should just count our blessings and squeak by and get out of here." Nick agrees and just gets in bed early.
"Right... we're all tired after today. Lets just get to bed." Stephanie says getting a place ready. Tabitha shrugs it off and gets ready too.
----- Wednesday Day 15 cloudy
Everyone gets up gradually and gets ready. They climb down and get in the car. "Probably the last nice place...... 200 miles from the boarder. Lets go." Stephanie says as they pull out. The outgoing traffic was light at that hour early in the morning. Instead of traveling north they decide to cut south around Moscow. They continue southwest for half an hour passing through Mikhaylov and passing further down the road. After some time the road turned into a country highway walled on each side with hedgerows. They skirt a river over a dam and continue south to Kimovsk and past Donskoy, both towns over 30000.
Tabitha says as they pass town after town, "After passing those infinite fields it is so strange going through civilization..."
"No kidding, Just an hour or so of driving and we've passed more cities than we've even stopped at.. not even noon yet." Aaron says agreeing. They reach an intersection shortly later "I say keep going west, it's a smaller road anyway." They wind through the country and eventually end up taking a long time reaching the main road which leads to Tula, a large city.
"Yea small road..... crap I thought we were practically hanging off the sides in some areas." Stephanie says with her head against the window.
They come close to Tula and skirt around the metro area. After another hour of driving they reach Belyov to stop to eat. They find a small eatery and stop in and continue down a small back country road west. Abruptly the car comes to a stop.
"What the **** Tab!!" Stephanie exclaims as they stop.
"The road just...." Tabitha says pointing ahead as the road disintegrates. She crawls the car through the back road which is practically just dirt ruts through the grassland. The grass in the middle gets thicker and the road bumpier until the car starts pulling hard to the right. ".... Hell..." Tabitha mutters before stopping and getting out. "Yea we have a flat..."
"In the middle of ****ing nowhere?! are you **** serious?! Why'd you go!!!" Stephanie freaks out and Aaron grabs her by the arm. "Let go of me!"
"Calm down! We have a spare!" Aaron says opening the trunk. He pulls up the small spare. "Ok well we will need a new tire in the next town but we can change this.
Nick checks his GPS "Uh... yea there is no next town. I can see like a group of houses south, there's no way it has a garage." The nearest town is the one we just left... 5 miles back through country. Or 10 miles to Belyov. Or we can crawl through the country road north and hope for a town.."
They crawl through the country at maybe 20mph for an hour until reaching a village. They stop and ask around in the farm town. The man they ask laughs and points them toward the local repairman.
Tabitha walks up and explains to him "...Any tire this size? You have that car what will you let me buy its tire for?!... " She continues arguing with him and later walks back and says to the others "He refuses to help he thinks we are like a bunch of idiot rich kids cause of the car. My guess is he thinks we are the kids messing up the town recently... I tried to explain but he just refused. Said after 'we' trashed his tractor he refuses to help 'stupid kids'."
Nick checks the map again "We're really out of options... the nearest town is miles off. Granted, you could jog back but if somebody caught you running with a full sized tire, it would be bad for us... I'm thinkin... we catch these brats ruining things for us."
Aaron responds too saying "I agree, four of us vs some kids... as long as we don't get caught using powers it will be nothing.. right?"
Stephanie reluctantly chimes in "Sure.. even though Tabitha screwed up and borked the tire. It wouldn't matter if these kids weren't doing this."
"Ok I get it..." Tabitha says moving the car outside the village. She parks it in a wooded area in view of the village but mostly out of sight. "So I guess we wait... there has got to be something around here that regularly draws these punks in right? So it will happen when it comes I suppose.
They take turns watching out all the while burning daylight and stranded. Later in the afternoon Nick perks up as the sound of a car barreling down the road resonates. He points out a small car charging down the road out of the village at a reckless speed. It continues down the and turns off to a second road. Shortly after a second car follows suit. "This is it guys... time to see what these brats are up to." Nick says jumping off the car. He leads everyone through the forest shortcutting the road and comes in view of an abandoned airport in the forest. "Looks damn old... possibly as far back as ww2... I guess they come out here to dragrace on it. It's far enough out of the way."
"Yea great, another airport... trees around it will make it easier to get close. They're just kids like us. I bet they're from up in Belyov." Stephanie says as they move closer. Eventually they come to a line of brush headed toward the landing strips. "... ok so plan?"
"Nick and I will move out first." Tabitha says pointing to the end that the target group is gathering their cars on. "Our objective is two things, drive the kids off, but wreck up the runway enough they know they can never use it again. Do not damage operable components to their cars, so lights, windows paneling, but avoid the engine, wheels, fuel tank, and so on. Lastly... Aaron and myself will destroy the runway in front of them. Otherwise, they will simply return later. Everyone ok with this?"
Aaron starts drawing water from the ground and gradually gathers a small 8 inch orb of it. "No problem, the ground is wet here. I can gather as much as we need... "
They walk out straight in front of the group of kids talking. Tabitha calls out to them "You the kids messing with that town back there?"
"Just a bunch of dumb farmers, what is it to you? Four of ya going to stop us?One sitting on the hood of his old boxy sedan calls out.
"You will need a new playground when we are done with you." Tabitha finishes and crouches down reaching into the seam of the concrete. She gradually pries it up lifting the 4x6 foot block over her head and chucking it into the center of the runway. The kids start to scramble yelling out unintelligibly. Nick had already carried Stephanie behind their cars where she fires a series of shots into the windows intentionally avoiding anyone. Aaron was on the other side using the ground water to split the runway into pieces. "Nick! We need to stop one of them at least!"
Nick zips past Tabitha picking her up on the way and they beat the cars to the exit. Tabitha draws her gun and shoots out the tire to the last of the two vehicles causing it to spin out the side into the muddy ditch.
"Sorry.." She whispers to Nick, I forgot that if we let them all go... we have no proof we stopped them." Tabitha quickly puts the gun away. "Oh my.. a flat tire. How horrible. Let us escort you to town." She says and the scared kids are pushed toward town. Eventually after a long muddy walk, they reach the village and the repair shop. "This the group messing with your town? We caught them at the old air strip... you take them to the cops, give us a tire.
The man glares at the kids and later apologizes to Tabitha and her friends. Tabitha offers him money for the tire, but he refuses and explains the damage done to the town over time. Nick lifts up the tire and they wave back as they head to their car. As soon as they make it out of sight, he quickly hands Tabitha the tire.
"That's enough of that.... so how long do you think til they see the damage to the runway." Nick says as they reach the car. Tabitha lifts up the back of the car as they put the new tire on.
"Hopefully by the time they get done dealing with those kids, we will be a long ways from here that's for sure." Stephanie says as soon as the car is ready.
They reach the edge of town and instead take a side road west toward the forest. They take a seldom used but decently surfaced gravel road. They make their way to a real paved road and are quickly and nearly run off the road by a charge of large military vehicles. "Dammit Tab really?! ... they are all going west lets cut north at the intersection ok? I think those are bases up ahead... lets avoid that."
"Sorry! How was I to know...? They just charge through and I had to turn suddenly.." Tabitha says turning right. Eventually they move into a vast open field. "The forest cut out early.... what the heck? Usually the hills have more than this right?"
Stephanie was quick to point out the black broken stumps on the hillside "The trees are bent upwards... all of them. This is another nuke site. This whole area was hit hard about the same time as that last town. Things are growing back but it's still all barren." The road is mostly rebuilt in front of them as they continue over the valley. The crops overgrown and tangled in weeds, obviously untended in years. After a half hour of driving they come to a highway just after the town of Sukhinichi. "How far are we now?..."
"Roughly 100 miles due west to get to the boarder. We are close. And I know the small roads bother you. But that is just the thing... if we take main roads we will get spotted." Tabitha says and puts away the map.
"We burnt a lot of time getting that tire. We need to both put distance between us and that town, as well as find a secluded place to camp for the night.." Nick says and continues. "Hate to say it Steph... we have no choice but to take the back roads as long as we can. It may come to a point we can't even drive.."
They continue northwest as things get darker. The road is small and continues through open field and various farms. After an hour they reach the highway outside Spas Demensk. They take a back road into a forest a few miles from the town. Everyone gets their usual tasks where Tabitha and Stephanie set up the shelter while Aaron and Nick get firewood.
"You know.." Stephanie breaks the silence. "In most cases, the guys would be making shelter while we do the easy stuff."
"Well our abilities make it easiest for us to set it up I suppose." Tabitha responds quickly
"I'm just sayin... I agree though. It's just funny." She finishes the last of a pile of long cut sticks that Tabitha takes. "So... ok You and Aaron? Where do you plan to go with this.. like when we finally escape?"
Aaron and Nick were fairly deep in the forest at this point. Tabitha ties the roof up at the side of an outcropping. "I have no clue.. Like if it works out.. it could right?" She sits down visibly bothered by something and continues. "Is it fair to him though? Should I just step aside and let him find a real human girl instead? I mean like what if he wants married... what if he wants kids.. can I even... ugh I have no idea!"
Stephanie clenches her teeth nervously and tries to get a hold of the situation "Eh... er well ... Why not just worry about one step at a time... Right? If he likes you, and you like him, that's enough for now right? He already knows about you. He obviously doesn't care about all that. So if it makes no difference at this point... just go with it."
"Sure. I am over thinking things again. You know, I never dated anyone... Father always prevented anything like that. Told me 'no dating until you are 18' and all. I was thinking even... We have been out here 15 days already. I turn 18 in just a week... or at least, the day Father always said is my birthday."
"Well then. Next Wednesday we can do our best for your birthday party. Though it won't be great in a warzone." Stephanie says as Nick and Aaron come back with the night's firewood.
Aaron chimes in "Birthday party?... Tabitha? You never mentioned anything." He says poking at the fire as Stephanie starts it.
"To be honest I really gave up on it in light of recent events...." Tabitha responds. She opens a pack from her supplies and hands out some broken up breakfast pastries badly crushed from her backpack. People pick at them trying to eat them the least messy way possible.
"I should have asked sooner I guess." Aaron says playfully pulling his collar. "We'll make it work. Don't worry."
----- Day 16 Thursday. clear and sunny
Everyone gets up gradually and quickly gets to dismantling the camp as much as possible to get back on the road. They head down the main road toward Yelnya turning toward Pochinok reaching there about a half hour later. They pull in stopping to refuel. The station attendant comes and asks "You kids came in from East? Most people are getting out of here.. They say the war is not going well.."
Tabitha looks up and responds "Oh.. yes I know, but my Grandma had some things back home she left. Her any my parents cleared out early. I wanted to see the place one last time before it was too late.
The man pats her on the shoulder and heads back in. Tabitha sighs and heads back to the car after paying. "He said the war is going poorly for this side. So we may find the front closer than we thought. I wonder if that is a good or bad thing." Tabitha says starting off north. After a few minutes she exits to avoid Smolensk and head further west. Shortly after they come to an intersection with a checkpoint.
"God... a checkpoint. West won't be an option will it." Stephanie says plainly as they pull forward. "No dogs... thankfully..."
The car pulls up and the soldier flatly says the road is closed turning them away. The western road is heavily blocked with APCs and trucks. They continue toward Rudnya instead. They turn southwest down a small road and continue on past several small farming villages. A formation of jets blasts overhead startling Tabitha off the road partially.
"Jeez that was nuts!" Nick says leaning out the window to look up at the fighters that break up intercepting oncoming craft. "Holy ****! a real freaking dog fight!" They all look through the nearest window as explosions go off in the air with the occasional craft exploding in the distance. After a few moments a jet is seen heading down quickly then pulling up toward them. "Cover!" Nick yells out and they jump into the ditch. A fighter in pursuit buzzes a large machine gun with the high caliber shots hitting around the group.
Tabitha gets up looking around, her ears still ringing from the explosive shells. After a moment, the smoke clears. "Everyone ok?... guys?"
Nick helps Stephanie up and Aaron climbs from the ditch afterward. "Yea... that was close. Too close..." They inspect the car which is mostly fine aside from a few dents from splash from the shells. "That'll hurt resale.. "
They hurry in and continue down the road until it tapers off to an end. They continue through a gravel road through a field. "... we're so close... like miles from the boarder. And the road just stops??"
"It makes sense. Just a mile beyond here is Belarus... Things change beyond here. I know people live beyond there but... the military presence will be much higher. At least in Russia their focus was west. We had close calls even back then, but now things will be dangerous." Tabitha says before continuing through the field into the forest. They pass an open field and eventually find a farm road connected to a country street traveling north for several miles. After hours of driving they reach Vitsyebsk or at least a forest on the outskirts. They stop by the river to eat lunch.
Statistics: Posted by Znath — August 26th, 2012, 11:19 pm
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So what's my new story I'm considering?
Probably something focused on Myron County itself. In the original roleplay game I had, I wanted to focus on the school. But this quickly fell apart. The advantage of doing the story here is... no google maps required. And it might be a better read... I can also write it in office, copy and post it online and keep writing offline. I will also, however, have to redo almost all of the stuff that happens IN the 'Myron' area.
It'll start much the same but more detailed. Less forced travel eg "they drive for 100 miles of boring country" which was mandatory for EfR. The next advantage being that when I go on my *special vacation* in a few weeks, I can keep writing even without internet access.
SO! that's that. I'll try and get the first chapters up this weekend.
Please also note this DOES NOT mean I'm giving up on this story!
It just means this one will be .... delayed... because my ability to write on it is crippled.
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Well I think how I'm going to do updates is have the "newestx" posted each Friday on the stuff I work on for the week. Then I'll move it each Friday or weekend whatever comes easiest.
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Also to get to the 3rd post search 3rdx
DONE! I've finished editing the old first person parts and blended it back into one continuous story!! So if you want to re-read the first few days, go ahead. If not ok, it doesn't explain a ton more, but it fills out some of the details better. And makes it a better read imo
---------
A brief cliffnote on the story's plot
Hidden:
a brief description of the main characters.
Tabitha
Age: 17, Mostly white blond hair, very light skin, light blue eyes. light build 5' 8"
Typically wears subdued clothing, lots of grays and earth tones. A good student but not really involved in much of the school clubs.
Nick
Age: 18, brown hair, brown eyes, tanned skin, athletic build 6' 2"
Sporty type, does well in almost all sports he's involved in
Aaron
Age: 16, blonde hair dark blue eyes, light tan skin, on the skinny side 5' 10"
Underclassman, old for a sophomore. Doesn't usually stand out much.
Stephanie
Age: 18, dark brown hair, light brown eyes, tanned skin, cheerleader build 5' 8"
Head of the cheerleading squad with a reputation of being a spoiled princess.
Here's the old 1st person version if anyone wants to read it.
Hidden:
----------------------------
Day 1 Wed, sunny.
Tabitha had just sat down at a fairly empty table with a few of her friends. No sooner did she attempt to take a bite of what they claimed was beef but one of them blurted out
Jane partly gets out of her seat and leans over the table says with her mouth completely stuffed, "You hear abourp Ron? The shrmay he mrrrfved"
"How about chew and finish." Tabitha said gritting her teeth.
Jane hastily gulps down the food and continues, "Ya anyway... Ron left. Just like yesterday I guess. Said his parents got a job somewhere... mm or something like that."
Tabitha sits back and thinks to herself, "That makes ten in the past year, and more of them seem to happen later in the school year." Her thought was interrupted by Kent Branigan, one of the varsity football players constantly hounding her.
"Hey Tabby, how about you reconsider my offer for Saturday?" Kent says putting both his hands on the end of the table intentionally causing it to pop up in the middle.
"Just forget about it, Kent. No, for the last time." Tabitha says getting up and walking off to the bathroom furiously. She hears the table slam behind her "Safest place from morons... " She mumbles washing her hands and trying to kill time until the lunch period was over. She rinses her face off and sees Kent behind her with a knife. He grabs her arm swinging her around into the wall and plunges a knife into her chest.
Kent watches as she goes limp and falls to the ground. Realizing what he had done his hands shake and he splashing his face with the still running water.
Tabitha's vision blurs back into focus. She looks around in a daze and looks down seeing the knife. She pulls it out feeling nothing from it. A strange sense of rage builds and she stands up. Kent sees her in the mirror and turns like he had seen a ghost. The knife in Tabitha's hand goes straight into his heart. Quickly Tabitha wraps his hands around the knife and sticks it in harder.
After staggering back and slipping to the floor, Tabitha looks down at the stab wound. She touched it expecting any feeling. She tries to open the deep cut with her fingers and instead a clicking sound and a small square door opens on her chest. In the few seconds she could see into it she could see unnatural wires and a set of buttons. "What is t... AAaaaaaaaah!!!" She screams out loud enough for the whole cafeteria to hear from within the bathroom. A quick and good lie had to come to explain all this. She looked around formulating plan as she shut the strange compartment.
A teacher, Ms. Hastings, quickly came in to the bathroom seeing the scene in front of her, "Dear Lord what happened?!"
Tabitha sat pretending to be scared, "Kent.. he killed himself in front of me.... I am so sorry! I could not stop him!" She said nothing more shivering and acting scared as possible. They lead her to the office and let her lay down on the bed for a while.
After roughly an hour, Lt. Smith, of the Myron county police force came in to question her. They lead her to an office and start asking, "If you can, we would like to hear your story. Please try to be as accurate as possible. Even if it sounds impossible to happen, we'd like to know everything."
Tabitha recalls her story, "Kent had been constantly asking me to go out with him on the weekend. I turned him down but he kept asking... Then this time he seemed angrier than usual. He slammed the table when I left for the bathroom. Next thing I knew, he had a knife in his hand saying stuff like... 'FINE if I can not have you, there is no reason to live!' and he turned the knife on himself. I tried to fight it out of his grip, but he pushed me away and.... and then he..." She recoils away forcing tears.
Lt. Smith finishes writing, "Hey, I understand what you're going through. These things happen far too often. It's just worse that you had to see it."
"I tried to stop him!" Tabitha exclaims.
"Of course, nobody is blaming you. We just wanted to make sure we knew what happened." Lt. Smith says getting up. "Ms. Hastings, we'll let you know if anything else comes up. For now, that bathroom is off limits though."
They lead Tabitha back to the nurse's office and let her rest for the rest of the afternoon. Several hours later she gets up and greeted by Ms. Hastings.
"I hope resting did some good for you. You seemed pretty shaken up so I already informed all your instructors." Ms. Hastings says with Tabitha's backpack already packed by the door. "If you would like, I can call somebody to take you home."
Tabitha picks up her backpack. "Mmm... no this is fine. I live close, some fresh air would do some good."
On her way out of the school, the bell rings and the flood of other students comes as she reaches near the end of the hall towards her home. The first she runs into is Aaron, a younger underclassmen. Tabitha forces out, "Sorry, I did not see you there." Looking around she sees Stephanie looking around the hall. She leans in and says "You are now my escorts home, like it or not. The last thing I want to deal with is Stephanie and her insincere help... She does this stuff to be popular I am sure of it." She puts a hand behind one of them and guides him toward the exit.
Stephanie jumps up a few times "Hey Tabitha! We were thinking of going to Papa Leo's as a treat for you." She says forcing her way through the crowd.
"I would, but today has been tiring. And these two just offered to take me home. I think I just want to rest." Tabitha says heading out with him. "I am sorry about that. I can compensate you for this."
"It's no problem, really." Aaron says shyly
Tabitha points in the air and then at Aaron. "I have you in a class... Psychology right?"
Aaron replies, "Yea that's the one. We were in a work group once even." For the next several minutes, an awkward silence built with each step on the sidewalks towards Tabitha's house. Her place was in a fairly upper scale part of town with brick sided houses.
After missing her house, Tabitha turns around pointing back to hers and leads them in. "Sorry, I am a bit distracted."
"Forget about it, it's just stress." Aaron says as he follows her in. Aaron was more hesitant coming in to the large house. He follows her up to her room which was clean and organized. She rummages through her fridge and pulls out some drinks tossing them lightly.
"I just really wanted to get out of there." Tabitha says with Aaron nodding. "I mean... like somebody I knew well died. Maybe I didn't like him, but still. It makes you think of death. Like what if I was the one that died. I wonder what would happen."
Aaron look around other slightly freaked out by the situation
Tabitha noticed his discomfort. "Sorry, it is not that I want to die... I just wonder. Anyway.." She turns on the TV as a distraction. She comes past the local news station and a house was on fire. She looks at the headline. "This is live!.. Jefferson street is just a few blocks from here." She looks out the window seeing a plume of smoke rising from beyond a tree line. They continue watching until a flash of light goes off and for a matter of seconds, the house was completely frozen with ice raining down.
"What... exactly just happened." Aaron says as the TV signal goes blank. He runs to the window seeing that the smoke trail abruptly stops in the sky as well. "That just actually happen?" They all three wait in her room for a while, as they do more of a police presence shows up blocking off the adjacent roads.
"I hope none of you live out that way." Tabitha says counting the roadblocks. A matter of minutes later gunshots go off in the direction of the house. "A fire stops and now shooting?" She gets a text message on her phone. After reading through it she says "Nick might be coming too." They continue watching TV to avoid conversing too much. A while later, Nick's car, an old used Toyota, pulls in. "He is here!" She hurries down the stairs and opens the door before he can get to it. "Oh hey! Wow, good timing right?... ahah... Um, so well... come on it, I mean in!" She lets him in and clenches her fist behind his back mouthing the word "stupid" silently and repeatedly. "Aaron is upstairs if you want to join them."
"Ah.. oh ok sure." Nick says following Tabitha up the stairs to her room. He walks in and takes a drink from her fridge like usual.
She sat and explained the situation about school, the strange fire, etc. "Wow.. what a day huh. I wonder what's really going on.
A car pulls in to the driveway. Tabitha quickly says "Father is home... I must go now. I honestly did not expect him for several hours, but I suppose they notified him already from the school." She sighs and runs her hands through her hair. "He should be fine with guests over.. though I imagine the visit will be cut shorter than I thought. Sorry but this will just take a minute or so."
Tabitha jogs down the stairs, "Father you are home early I see."
Her father, Hanze Schablone. A tall, older, German man says in reply, "Mmmhm.. It was a slow day anyhow. You can explain later at dinner."
"I should mention.. Some friends came home with me as well. It has been helpful for them to be here for me" She says taking his coat and hanging it up.
Hanze takes off his glasses and wipes them down with a cloth. He clears his throat saying only "Tabitha, please now."
"Oh yes, sorry." She responds hurrying off to fetch a cold glass of water for him. "Is that all?" He nods and she walks back upstairs.
"Sorry it took so long. Father has.. a routine when he gets home." She says slightly embarrassed. "I ... well it may be best to just head home. I have a lot of explaining to do. I can give you my number if you do not have it already. If anything happens tomorrow let me know." She finishes giving Aaron her cell number. "If you need anything, let me know."
Aaron heads out first. Nick hangs back and says to her, "You're really doing fine? Nobody really said much."
"I know, but I really just kind of wanted to relax. Even if nobody really talked much, it was nice... Though I think I may stay home tomorrow."
"Sure, no problem. I'll keep in touch."
"Sure, see you later." Tabitha says following him to the door.
Tabitha was both sad and relieved to see them go. It was already quite late so she headed to her room for the night. Curiosity was getting overwhelming. She carried a butter knife with her up to her room. Pulling her shirt back, she used the knife to pry at the door on her body. With little effort, it pops open. The door reveals the same weird button panel and other bundles and fibers. "What the hell am I?" Tabitha murmurs feeling with her finger in the compartment. She happens to press one of the buttons by accident. Instantly, her left arm goes numb and she hears a thud onto the carpet.
Somebody knocks at the door. "Tabitha? is everything alright in there?" Her father asks.
"Yes, everything is fine. I dropped some of my books is all." Tabitha says picking her arm up and snapping it in place. She mockingly whispers, "Apparently I snap together like Lego bricks too. I would hate to find out what the other ones do. What if that made my head fall off; I would be in major trouble."
Rather than tempt fate, she decides to head to bed for the night.
-----
Day2, Thur Sunny
-----
Tabitha wakes up late without the alarm to wake her. After browsing the net for an hour she realized how little there was to do at home alone. She tried to play some games online, but quickly grew bored of them finding herself texting random friends at school trying to find out what was going on. "I guess Stephanie is still upset I did not go with them. Damn this is so boring... Maybe being harassed all day would not have been so bad." After a while she gets another text saying Erin Brown, one of Stephanie's friends had also suddenly left town. "But she was there.. like yesterday! And Nick says she left early.. I wonder how this is related."
Tabitha opened a map of the town. "If Erin left Papa Leo last night that would put her in a direct line through the house that burnt down. And then the fire and ice still makes no sense. Maybe she saw something she should not have?"
The last message she got said simply "We're coming over"
Tabitha sat back waiting until a knock at the door. She saw Nick's car out the window and happily ran downstairs. She opens the door, "Oh Nick, yea. Oh come on in. Right... Oh uh Aaron is here too?" They all come in gathering around the entrance. Tabitha tries to casually lean back on the rail and falls backward. "I am fine... sorry. How silly of me. Hmm anyway I do have a theory. It sounds crazy but it makes some sense."
"Sure, go on." Nick says as they head up the stairs back to her room.
"Ok, I was mapping out the fire and things and found that the fire is in the path Erin takes home from Papa Leo's. I know she left early yesterday. That would put her at the scene around the time of the incident." Tabitha says pointing out the map.
"Wait... you think she got shot?! For what.. being near a fire?" Aaron says looking up from the map.
"I have no idea why. Maybe she saw something or who knows." Tabitha says. "But like what if she caused it, like the fire or the ice thing. I mean it was like magic. There is no logical explanation why a fire would freeze instantly."
"People with magic powers huh... sounds weird." Aaron continues the same thought, "So what like if people have powers like magic they get shot? It would be kinda hard to prove anyone. And who would admit it... Anyone could be a spy. So if somebody had powers it makes sense that few people know."
Tabitha sighs, "Yes, that is an issue. Even people I know well could be spies or something. The punishment is so severe."
"Right, unless you fully trusted them... It would be trouble." Nick says and adds, "It makes you think a bit."
"It could be nothing though, right? This is the first time I've seen anything like this." Aaron says admiring Tabitha's computer. "Er, the magic stuff I mean. Sure there's been some people missing, but I've never seen anyone use magic or fly or whatever. It sounds like a comic book or something."
"It does. It was just a theory really. I have no proof of it or anything. Just that is the older blue house we always passed dropping her off from the pizza place." Tabitha says.
"Nah, it's not a bad theory. Damn I've got to go though. Do you need a ride Aaron?" Nick says putting his phone away after having checked the time.
"Sure, it's not far actually. But it would keep me from walking the whole way." Aaron replies following along.
"See you guys at school." Tabitha waves on and heads back up the stairs. She pulls some black items from her closet. Shorts and tights, black jacket, an old blacked out baseball cap, machine shop goggles. "Like a super hero or something hmm." She muses at the idea and puts it on and wraps an old kneehigh around her mouth to conceal her face. After posing in the mirror a few times she clenches her fists, "I have to be serious now. This could be big."
She lets herself down from the window and jogs through the back yards avoiding the light. The thought crosses her mind. "If I have artificial body parts, maybe my strength is not limited like other people. Each bush she jumps over she tries to ignore limitations and simply imagining herself being pushed harder. Not long later she finds herself jumping fences with ease.
Eventually she comes to the area blocked off with a few police cars still guarding the roads. When the lot for the old blue house comes, she sees that it is completely empty down to the foundation stripped away. The entire lot and then some dug down to several feet below. "How the hell? They erased the house this fast. Everything is gone... Dammit!" She crosses the street to take an alternate route home when a shine from the gutter catches her eye. She effortlessly lifts the cast iron drain cover and reaches in for the object. Examining it closer, she finds it was a cell phone badly beaten up with bullet hits in several places. "I was hoping it was not true." She takes it with her and makes it back for a late night sleep.
----
Day 3 Fri, slight overcast
The next day was constant hounding. The usual rumor mongers and insincere sympathy. "Are you ok... wanna talk about it"
Tabitha continued on wishing she could reply "I killed him and he deserved it." But never saying it, of course. Instead she would reply with the typical, "It was frightening, but I am trying to move on. I really do not want to focus on it." type response.
Later in the day Tabitha manages to pull both Aaron and Nick from lunch around the parking lot. "So I found the same type of phone Erin had at the scene. It was shot up badly."
"That's pretty damning evidence. You're sure it was hers?" Nick says
"I can show you later. I thought it would be best not to bring it here, we do not know who we can trust." Tabitha replies
"Right..." Aaron scratches his head. "But pulling us out of lunch looks odd too."
"... Well yes. But so does inviting two boys home." Tabitha says sarcastically. "I thought I had to tell you now so that you keep an eye open for things. I guess we had better get going though. We should meet up later too."
"Even me? I mean like..." Aaron barely lets out before interrupted.
"Sure, you helped me out when I needed it. I figure you must not be that bad to agree to that." Tabitha says happily and continues to her next class.
Before long Stephanie storms down the hallway nearly running into Tabitha. Stephanie taps Tabitha's shoulder. "Hey call my phone now."
"... um ok?..."
"Just do it!"
Tabitha slides her phone open and autodials Stephanie. A second later a boy's backpack starts buzzing and Stephanie runs after him.
"I would hate to be him... Crap! I am almost late!" Tabitha jogs on to her next class.
Tabitha started home without stopping for her locker; She had planned ahead the previous period to get home faster. After a while her foot catches a bit of the sidewalk and she tumbles to the ground. "Damn!" She gets up to her knee seeing her shoe ruined and her knee scraped up. "These were new too.. and on top of everything! Graah!" She rummages for her first aid kit in her backpack.
Aaron had been trailing behind trying to catch up and jokingly says "How about some duct-tape to patch you up?"
A wave of rage came over Tabitha and she shouts, "NO! I am a REAL person!!" She looks down at her clenched fist having completely crushed the polycarbonate 'indestructible' first aid kit. "I.. can explain. Sorry." She picks up the pieces of the kit and using one of the bandages for her knee and another on her hand from the shards of the case.
"What, like you're an alien or something?" Aaron said and continuing noticing Tabitha's glare, "Well... I mean I won't tell anyone. Just let me help you home."
"Alright... I should be fine though. It really barely hurts." Tabitha says taking her messed up shoe off. They continue on to her house several blocks of awkward silence. "Honestly, I am glad I said it to you rather than somebody else."
"What really? I guess somebody else would think you were nuts."
"Probably. Or turn me in immediately." Tabitha says taking a seat. Seconds later a car pulls in. She runs over to the door and sees Nick coming in. Opening the door, she greets him. "Aaron is already here. Come on in. Father got some candy things on the table if you want."
"Ah.. well ok. What's wrong? You seem upset... and shoeless." Nick says entering the house.
"Well, my shoe got screwed up on the way here." Tabitha replies. She sits back down picking up some of the chocolate raisins. "Well since you are both here. I trust you with this." She undoes a button on her shirt and notices the surprise in their faces. "... not that... just wait two seconds." She opens the panel on her body and pushes the button sending the familiar numbing sensation through her arm as it falls onto the couch.
"Holy
!" Nick blurts out. Aaron was too busy covering his face to notice what happened."Aaron... I did not strip, just see what I mean. I found this out when Zach Branigan followed me into the bathroom. He had a knife and tried to kill me. Or rather he almost did. He stabbed me here and I discovered the hidden door... It has a set of buttons that do this. I am probably not an alien, but I do not know what I am. And yet I lack the courage to ask Father straight out."
"That's impossible though. How could anyone have made you? Androids just don't exist, nothing this advanced is possible." Aaron says getting more confused as he goes.
"Damn Aaron you're just making her feel worse!" Nick says pushing Aaron in the shoulder.
"No, he is correct. Something like me should not exist. And yet I do. Just a few days ago nobody had any idea I was different, not even I knew." Tabitha fiddles around with the detached arm pressing a button inside it. Several maintenance panels along the arm open showing sets of black muscle groups and false flesh. "As far as I have seen and experimented with, most of me is like this. And I can not help but to wonder... is any of me real!? I have no idea if my memory is mine or if my thoughts are real at all. What if everything I know is a lie? What if I am no better than a toaster, just some soulless creation." She bows her head in tears over her own arm embracing it with the one she had left.
Nick hops over to the couch she was on and puts an arm over her. "It's not like that. You'll be fine. We've known each other for a long time and sure you're weird, but not alien or false. I never suspected anything like this for six years. You're as real as anyone. Pull yourself together, you're stronger than this."
Tabitha mused at the last unintentional pun laughing softly. "Oh, Nick.. you are always so good to me." She lifts the arm into place and it snaps effortlessly back again. The clock showed the time well past six in the evening. "Well... how about we head to the pizza place ourselves. I can cover the bill."
"Tabitha, that's fine I have my own money." Aaron says waving his hands. "Besides, they could just deliver right?"
"True, but I want to eat there." Tabitha says grabbing up her jacket and a new set of shoes. Nick points to his car on the way out but she shakes her head and waves him on. "It really is only ten blocks away. I never really thought it was odd that I get hungry until I found this out either."
"Yea I guess so. I dunno maybe some of you is human?" Aaron glances away at the ground to avoid eye contact.
"Huh. Maybe. But at the moment. My goal is strictly getting something to eat." Tabitha says whipping her phone out and autodialing the pizza place. "Three original style calzone specials no onions. Yes, this is Tabitha,... ... ... ok... no we will be by shortly. And there we go."
"Wow. I thought you would have us each order but that works." Nick says shrugging. "Hope you like it Aaron. Tabitha is ruthlessly efficient about food sometime."
Not long had passed before they walked down into the commercial district of Myron. They pass a few shops with just a few more blocks to go when a man grabs Tabitha and pulls her into the dark alley. The salty bearded man grunts, "Right, hand over your wallets and I'll let er go! I need cash so I can get out of here! This whole world is fake!"
"Think we can take you... crazy old bat." Nick says clenching his fist.
The old man pulls a stout revolver and points it at Tabitha. The two boys take a step back. "Things need ta go my way!"
Tabitha examines the gun thinking to herself. "Is it single or double action.. if I could grab it. I could really use a gun if things get bad." She looks back at Nick and Aaron and says, "Just go! leave me and run for it."
The old man turns "What he hell?" At that time Tabitha pushes his arm away from her and reaches for the gun but it fires a single shot hitting her in the arm. She wrenches the gun from his hand and it falls to the ground. Nick runs up and ties the man's hands together with some wire he found.
Tabitha leaned against the wall and went around the corner. Aaron followed her. She says to him, "We have to report that man to the police, but do not tell them about me. Gaah..." Aaron hands her a sock and she rips it down the middle to form a bandage.
"Dang... you work out a lot or something?" Aaron says jokingly. "But we can leave you out of the report, don't worry.
Tabitha grits her teeth and her eyes go into a blank stare. She fights the blackout that tries to overtake her. Aaron helps her from falling over. "Sorry, it happens when I get injured. I start to black out, usually by the time I wake up, Father is there. I only recently learned how to stop it from making me black out entirely."
"Are you really going to be ok? I mean.. he shot you." He says helping her up.
"I will be fine... Let us at least pick up or order to go." Tabitha replies heading down to the pizza place with Aaron since Nick stayed behind to file the report. "That man is probably crazy enough they will never believe what he says anyway."
They wait for a few minutes at Papa Leo's and get their food while waiting for Nick to show up. About an hour later he walks in. "Well that guy won't be bothering anyone for a long time. They said they were after that guy for a long time. Honestly, it's weird... we never have much crime here. Sure there's some shady areas of town, but nothing bad."
Everyone had barely begun eating when the door flew open. A man comes into view heading straight for them. "Tabitha! Come now. We are leaving." Her father's voice calls out from the front of the eatery.
"Dammit... " Tabitha says under her breath. "How could he even know we were here?"
Tabitha's father comes closer and straight to their table. "You heard me, Tabitha. Get up and come with me."
Tabitha looks down humiliated, "Yes, Father." She follows him out leaving her dinner behind. They drive silently until coming back to her house.
Her father leads the way in. "You somehow are able to ignore the pain, but not completely." Tabitha moped along taking his coat and bringing him a glass of water like she always had when he got home. "Forget the paper for now. Sit and explain. And be honest."
Tabitha sat with her hands folded. "I found out a couple days ago when Kent attacked me. I found the panel on my chest and what it does to me... Father, what am I? am I human? Or.. "
"No." He says coldly. "That is the short answer. Your thought process and structure is based on human DNA. But there is no biological component to your body, nor has there ever been."
Tabitha sat in shock barely able to speak back, "Then.. am I nothing? Just a mechanical creation?"
He stops her, "Nothing has changed. You are still my daughter. Please come and I can replace that arm."
They go into a sub-basement. Tabitha looks around at the cabinets and equipment. He directs her to lay down on the table and wait. Her father opens some of them full of extra parts. He picks up a case with an arm in it and brings it over opening the panel to detach her injured arm. Immediately all the pain vanished. In a few minutes he had already replaced the arm.
"You need to be more careful." Her father said. "You may not be human, but you can still be killed."
"Yes, Father. But... I have grown in the past years. I eat, feel, and everything like a human does."
"Of course. The easiest explanation is the use of nanomachines makes you very human-like. It allows you to grow and heal like anyone else... What ever the case. Be careful in the coming days. I have to get back to my work." He says and leaves without stopping.
About an hour later, her friends come back over. "Hey, you forgot this." Nick says handing her a ball of food wrapped in foil. "Hey, Listen... Stephanie asked us if we would join her group."
"..Group?" She inquires.
"Yea, looks like she's forming some team of people with special abilities. To be honest, mine is the ability to move quickly. I can only do it for a short time, but I can move in an instant."
Aaron chimes in waving a hand at Nick. "Well... I don't seem to have any abilities. So I doubt they'd let me join anyway."
Tabitha stood leaning against the stair rail. "I do not care if you join her group. I can not stop you. But I do not trust Stephanie enough myself."
"No problem. I may go with her tonight and see what the big deal is." Nick says heading out. "Don't worry Tab, I won't forget about you."
Tabitha waves as they both leave and immediately heads back upstairs to her room suiting up in the same black uniform she made the day before. "Sorry, Father. This is something I have to do." She climbs out of her house and quickly heads to the southern end of town bounding over fences and going from rooftop to rooftop until landing on a church roof overlooking one of the worse areas of town.
7/20
She climbs to a church roof with a view of a trailer park nearby watching over the area. After a long while of observation, she notices one particular trailer became more active with men carrying in cans and boxes of things in. She waits until two of them leave and slides down and sneaks over. Looking around the creek, she finds a 4 foot section of iron re-bar and some rocks. She spies through a window to confirm her suspicions. "A meth lab alright.." She jumps onto the flimsy roof of the trailer as a distraction.
"Wutha! .. get out there, somebody's sneakin around" A voice from inside yells out. Shortly after an ugly man comes out with a baseball bat looking around. Tabitha swings her bar taking the bat out of his hands and clocks him in the jaw knocking him out.
The second man comes out "Who the
are you."She replies in a whispery voice to disguise her own "Justice, nothing more."
"Yea?! well eat it!" The man hastily replies while pulling out a beaten up 9mm, his hand shaking as he tries to take aim. He fires two quick shots missing as she runs around his side. She thrusts the iron bar into his gun and swings the other end around to hit him in the side.
As the man collapses to the ground, she picks up his gun. "Your time producing filth is over." She says and heads inside picking up a half empty box of bullets and some zip ties. She dials 911 from the phone and leaves it off the hook and ties the two men together going back to the church roof waiting until the police come to take them. She looked at the old Soviet Nosorog 9mm. "Not the best thing, but it will work for now. At least it is interesting."
Tabitha climbs the roof of the old shoe factory to take a look on my new loot. "The gun really was in decent condition, not that I have seen too many." She was startled by none other than Stephanie behind her. "Of all the things, this is where her little training for her group is!?" She says to herself. She says to them in a disguised voice "I mean you no harm" and jumped off climbing down the side as fast as she could. "That was too close... I had no idea what powers her flunkies have. I even saw both that kid form school and the thief.. How odd..."
She makes her way home as fast as she can barely making it before sunrise. "What a day.." she gasps climbing into her bed.
------
Day4 Sat, overcast
----
Tabitha got up late for breakfast and decided to go out and get it instead. She makes it within a block of the main highway not really paying attention and a fuel truck explodes the force sending Tabitha tumbling backward. "What the hell?" She looks up at the plume of smoke and fire and sees a figure hovering in the smoke. "Should I go get my disguise and chase it or... no it would be gone. I have to go now!" She chases after it quickly as it flies north.
She arrives at the park somehow followed by both Aaron and Nick. "How did you guys get here?"
"We saw you running, figured it was for a good reason." Nick replies
Stephanie yells out from in the park, "Run you idiots are in danger!" Then the black armored figure points at them and firing a small rocket destroying a tree in front of them. Tabitha pulls out a street sign and charges in. "Oh.. guess you've been hiding something from me huh." Stephanie heats up a fist full of rocks and throws them at the enemy, they bounce off of its armor harmlessly. "Dammit!"
Nick seemingly teleports behind the figure smacking it with a metal rod doing little to nothing to it. The figure swings at him knocking him away. Tabitha jumps over it swinging the traffic sign hard into its side knocking the figure down to the ground. It gets up looking at some minor damage to the shoulder armor and jumping into the pond just before blasting off into the air and flying low through the trees.
"What the hell was that?" Tabitha says aloud to everyone.
"We would have had it if you hadn't interfered!" Stephanie says with her group coming from the woodline. "We were tracking this thing for the past four days! The plan was to lure it here and my associates would blast it from the sky and tie it up for some answers."
"Yea but who owns it... is it an ally or enemy??" Nick says approaching the rest of them.
"Idiot, it attacked us... enemy!" Stephanie yells.
"No.. actually you attacked it first. We did not even scratch the thing. It let us go." Tabitha says going to where it stood. She picked up a small fragment of dark hard material. It was somewhat translucent, hard like metal but almost like crystal. "Well maybe we hurt it a little bit. I have never seen material like this ever. It almost feels like a diamond, cool to the touch but not metallic." She puts the object in her pocket for safe keeping.
Off in the distance, sirens were approaching. "Hell... we can't be caught here. They'll kill us." Stephanie says waving her group to run.
"I'll go with you guys since you may need protection."
They all make it to a small riverbed with a narrow pipe bridging the gap. Three boys their age blocked the way. The lead one said "Not so fast... if you want through we need 60 bucks. A few rich lil kids like you easily have that between you all." The leader has ice crystallize over his body forming a suit of armor. The twin guards to his sides were holding metal pipes arcing with electrical energy.
Tabitha tried to run back pushing too hard on the soft ground and falling. She swings her hand through the ground sending a splash of dirt and mud into the eyes of the left attacker temporarily blinding him. While trying to wipe his eyes he seemed to spark and glow more wildly.
"Well crap if we can't touch them... " Stephanie said grabbing a dead branch up and igniting it in her hands. "I can at least hold them off from getting to me." She swings the burning stick at them keeping them at bay.
Tabitha reaches into her pocket and draws the revolver. "We have no time for this" She says pointing it at the leader. "Get the hell away!" The others stand in shock seeing the gun.
"Whoooa geez, miss! Ok! we get it! Go on through!" The leader says backing away from the pipe.
Tabitha keeps the gun on them as the others go over the pipe. "Do not try anything."
"How would we!... if we mention this to anyone we'd get caught too..." One of the twins says wandering off with his group.
Stephanie turns to Tabitha soon as they reach an empty lot far from the park. "We could really use somebody like you, Tabitha. I had no idea you had abilities like us."
"I understand, but this is far too dangerous. Father would be outraged.." Tabitha replies heading home.
"Sure, I understand..." Stephanie replies letting her go. "Damn.. we really need somebody that can even scratch one of those things."
---------
Day 5 Sun, mostly clear
---------
Tabitha thought about just staying home, but instead decided to walk to church anyway. Her mind wandered from thought to thought about everything that happened not really paying much attention to the readings until hearing the priest saying, "...The gifts God gives us make us all unique. We use them to better the world and help those around us. Everyone is unique, and one of God's children."
She stays later and talks to the priest herself he leads her to a private room. "Father Windsday.. Can a machine have a soul?"
"Well.. a toaster certainly not, and a computer can learn, but it does not feel. It just reacts based on the program correct?"
"Yes, but.. what about a really advanced computer."
"Even still, that is just responding based on a program. Why do you ask these things?"
"What if it was like a robot or android. Advanced enough to feel and react. Like one advanced enough to willingly decide to believe in God?"
Father Windsday sat back looking up. He hunched forward thinking. "What brings this up child?"
Tabitha avoids making too much eye contact replying, "I found recently that I was artificially made. Like that no part of me is human. I am simply a machine with no organic components."
"... Oh my.. Well then." Father Windsday thinks hard and continues, "Well, man may have made the machine, but I would say you have a God given soul like anyone else. You believe by your own free will not by a program, then yes I would say you do. You make your decisions good or bad. So it doesn't matter if you're a clone, a human, an alien, or an android. So then yes, if you were to die, there is a place in heaven for you. I hope that helps."
Tabitha cheered up a little. "Thank you Father Windsday. It means a lot to me." She wipes her eyes and shakes his hand before leaving.
She ran into Aaron on the way back and he says reluctantly, "I was useless yesterday! I have no abilities at all..." They walked back to the park where all that happened the day before. Aaron said to her "You've got your strength and um... a gun apparently. You're like a super hero or something. Well sorry I'm just useless I guess."
"I do certainly use what ability I have, but I would not call it a gift. I have to admit it is nice in some ways. I would give it up for a normal life now though." Tabitha said while walking along. "Besides, maybe you will find something you can do?" As they entered the park, Sean and Nick had apparently the same idea. They were investigating the damage at the park as well. "Hey! find anything?" she shouted over to them.
Tabitha showed Nick the fragment she found before "Some sort of ceramic I guess. So light and still hard as hell" I said trying to bend it or break it. "I have never seen anything like it."
As we were looking at it, a man approached. He was all clean cut and buffed out and in some simple clothing. As he got closer he called over to us. "Hey!, you kids.. you were some of the ones here last night."
Tabitha jumped in first saying, "Um what? What are you even talking about?? We just came here after hearing about the park being trashed." Everyone else followed with something similar to say.
"Ok don't give me that.. I recognize you. I stopped because I noticed you speak English" He said.
Nick replied, "Well yea.. of course we do why wouldn't we? This is America genius."
The man looked like he had seen a ghost or something "Wait what?! No.. let me explain... hmm It makes a lot more sense now... Ok don't be alarmed. I know you because you attacked me yesterday. Except then I was in my battle armor. It was a misunderstanding I assure you, I wasn't trying to harm you, just scare you off." Naturally, everyone freaked out.
"Yea but you destroyed the oil truck and shot and all that!" Tabitha said. At this point she was ready for a fight, but if he was telling the truth it could explain a lot.
"The truck... no there was no truck. A missile narrowly missed me and crashed into the ground. Anyway. You said you think this is America?? I hate to say this but you're gravely mistaken somehow. This area is in the middle of Asia.. I'm part of the US Marines investigating the area. Somebody went through a lot of trouble to make this town look exactly like an American city, now I know why. I would show you, but my electronic maps don't work here... but I can tell you this town is in the middle of a few others in some weird walled area."
"You know it is kind of hard to believe. We can meet up later if you can prove it." She said
"Fair enough. I can get a paper map and some other proof to show you. This area isn't good though.. I say the roof of the old factory south side of town. Meet me there tonight." We nodded and he ran off. Moments later the same black figure jetted off.
-----12
"Think we should?" Nick said scratching his hair. "If this is a set up we'd all be screwed right?"
"Yea there is that but if he was with 'them' you'd think he would just take us out now right?" Aaron said "And with how he did last time, I doubt it would be any trouble for him."
Tabitha responded quickly "Right, I was thinking the same thing. Only.. he said the shoe factory. Sure it is remote. But I was there last night. That is the area I saw Stephanie with her little group of fighters...." She looked south and continued, "Well I was... um crime fighting and afterward I hid on the roof there. It is how I got the gun too. I saw Stephanie and her group there."
"Oh Great! so.. she's going to probably get involved,... or maybe she already is?" Aaron replied.
Tabitha nodded and started home "It is a risk we have to take. At this point this is our best clue. I really wish Ste... nevermind. We can meet there tonight at 11."
--
Later that night they all met up at the entrance. "Great, locked.. of course." Anyone got magical lockpicking power? Tabitha growls out.. "Screw it!" She grabs the lock and is about to pull it off.
"Hold it!" Stephanie calls out "Ugh if you break the lock people will know somebody's been here.." She waves to the skinny kid Joe Larson, who phases into the lock and undoes it and the door. "Make sense now? Before I was melting the chain and rewelding it, this is a bit easier What are you even doing here??"
"The dark figure came back, it said to meet us here. It is a long story, but he may not be the true evil here. He said to meet him here. He said this area is not really even North America and he can prove it.. "
Stephanie led them in "I know already... Why else would he meet us here. He came to me first."
Tabitha followed Stephanie at a distance up the musty old factory floors. The building had evidence of their training sessions, melted metal, burn marks, broken bricks and stone, craters in the ground, some of the markings were incredibly old like the damage was done over a decade ago. "Um... how long have you been using this place?"
Stephanie turned while still walking, "Well initially, I was recruited in as a freshman. I discovered my ability early, almost got caught even. But ever think it's odd nobody graduates and comes back?.. I know I don't have much time now neither do any of us upperclassmen. It's the same each time, my superiors all got caught or left too but that's not going to happen to me.."
Tabitha's note: I really still don't trust her but maybe she's not as bad as I thought. This factory looks positively ancient though... If people have been fighting and training this long, what makes her think she is the one that will stop this cycle?
Eventually we all reached the roof and waited with a lot of awkward smalltalk. We must have waited for at least a couple hours... before he showed up
-----
The dark figure landed and soon after removed his helmet. It appeared to have no visor or even a face to it. He spoke up to everyone "Most of you know already, but you requested I prove my intentions here." He tossed over a suitcase with a bunch of maps and gps units and other papers. "These are maps of the area. I included some GPS units but they don't work within 50 miles of this location for some reason. I've also included a list of things we believe going on in this area. The CO's theory is this area is being used as an area to breed the super-soldiers we've been encountering. We're not sure how they're doing it. But we suspect the school is the centerpoint."
"Ok... why don't you just... bomb the place or something" Stephanie interjects.
"Well, it's hard enough getting my suit here and it can dodge radar. At this point in the war, it's nearly impossible for any large scale operations this deep into the continent. So if you can investigate, or even destroy the lab.. it could prevent hundreds of these super-soldiers from reaching the front lines and cripple their production. For some reason they have apparently chosen to kidnap American families and bring them here.. and then manipulate them into empowered fighters."
"You think that's where the graduating students go?" Tabitha adds.
"Very likely, any they capture or get out of this are brainwashed and sent into battle." The dark figure says while putting his helmet back on. "I can't stay longer, sorry, I can't force you to do this. If you do, we can do anything we can to try and help you escape as well. The GPS will help with that too. This is very serious, you can either go back to your lives as normal... or you can try to help stop this abuse."
-------
Stephanie looks through the papers "So they believe the school is some kind of lab? Breaking in to a lab that has been secret for this long would be nearly impossible. I've had a theory it could be true, but never found anything."
Tabitha was holding a GPS and a map. "If this map is true, it could be a thousand miles to the nearest friendly base... How the hell could we make it that far. Even assuming we did all this... even by car that would take days!"
"We could try a plane or something." Aaron adds. "But that's a bit ahead of ourselves. We should find a way of investigating that lab first. Any ideas?"
"That's the thing" Stephanie starts and sits looking through the suitcase. "We used to have a phaser err... somebody who can go invisible and some go through walls like Joe here.. Our last one got caught somehow and never seen again. I can only imagine what happened. After what they did to Erin I assume they just shoot the ones they catch, then brainwash the ones that graduate." Looking up at the confused faces she adds "I should be clear.. to my knowledge there are a few key types of powers, shifters like people who teleport, run fast, or stuff like that.. phasers who can disappear, go through things, or whatnot.. ones like me, elementalists, who have power over hot, cold, matter..and of course jocks, people with physical power."
"Far as I can tell I can't do anything.." Aaron mumbles
"Well it does take some time on some people. That's what makes it so hard to round up a group. Most people don't even discover their abilities until like 16" Stephanie replies.
"Well school is tomorrow. Keep on your guard. Avoid using powers in the school grounds too. IF there is a lab there.. it'll be very hidden anyway. I doubt we can find it in the daytime. Just be careful." Tabitha says and heads out.
-----17upd
Tabitha entered her house and started up the stairs when her father call out "A word with you." She heads down into the main room where all the curtains are drawn. "I assume you know what time it is... but more importantly this." He sets the plastic store bag of bullets on the table. "Explain"
The shock of being caught still fresh, she tries calculating an array of lies and stories but ultimately rejecting them. She was caught dead to rights. "I picked it up from some criminals I took out. I thought it would be helpful after I found out Erin was shot." She stops to look up at him and his cold expression. "I have a feeling you already know what I am about to say anyway. Some of the kids at school have special abilities, like magic abilities! Erin got caught.. she is dead now we think."
"I trust you have been careful then. And then the meeting you had tonight went well?" He says and removes his glasses and wipes them. Tabitha watched on as he apparently knew everything "I can confirm what he told you. There is no question, this is in Asia. I infiltrated this program with you posing as my child to rot out the soldier factory."
"WAIT, how do you know all this!" Tabitha blurts out and backs off to take a seat on the couch. She had a feeling about the answer which was soon confirmed.
"I have access to you at any time.. That should be obvious. It is necessary for my work. More importantly, now is the time to act. I need you to access the computers and see if we can crack their servers. If we can get a full roster of the past 10 years and any other information, it can be damning evidence against this atrocity."
He goes and hands Tabitha a small case containing a small black watch. After putting the watch on her left wrist, he shows her the hidden com port where a hair thin wire can be pulled out. He plugs it into a port on his computer.
Tabitha's notes:
Suddenly I felt a tremendous rush. It was like being pushed off a cliff into a pool without warning. Father told me to fetch some files.. it both made no sense, and seemed completely natural. I was amazed with how much ease I could get it all. I was even able to go from his computer into my computer through our network. It was as easy as just walking upstairs..
I hate being a simple tool. And now knowing Father has been spying on me constantly. But if I can do this, it may be the evidence we need to help destroy the factory lab.
----Day 6 sunny some clouds
Tabitha's notes :I tried to get to school earlier, but it seemed nothing would cooperate. I will simply have to try to get to the computer lab later... The watch Father gave me looks really plain. Matt black, a simple digital face.. I wonder how it connects with me. As far as I can tell, it must be a short-range wireless device... or something.
The morning was almost as mundane as it had ever been. Classes in and out. I had a hard time focusing on much of anything. Luckily nothing was really going on. My Physics teacher delayed the due date on my report in light of recent events anyway. I wonder how long I will end up being here anyway...
I finally made it to the computer lab though during my mid day study hour...
"Alright then...here we..." Tabitha starts to mumble to herself just as she gets interrupted by a tap on her shoulder. She looks back to see one of her friends, Sandie, dammit why now..
"You take your study hall in here? I'm with my sociology class. We have to find something like a region of the world to do a report on.. super lame stuff you know." Sandie rambles on about her ideas barely interesting enough to list.
"That really is great and all, but I have my physics paper to work on. Mr. Heinz gave me an extension, but I really have only a couple more days and a lot of work to make up." Tabitha says to dismiss her as soon as possible. Luckily she leaves shortly after. "Lets see if this works as well as before..." she whispers while pulling the nearly invisible wire from her watch. She sticks it into the computer USB port and instantly gets a visual of the files on the computer.
"Nothing on here, of course. There has to be a way into the network... then probably networks beyond that." She 'moves' from the computer into the school router. Visuals come up of all the security cameras in the school but only the obvious ones.
After what seemed like a long time of floating through the network she finds a small connection with a strangely large barrier. "All the school computers have a 32 bit firewall, but this one is well over 256?! This is it! It is surreal finding it. Now to get in." She 'pushes' on the wall which barely seems to budge.. "But a small amount of data is being let in so there must be a way.." She 'grabs' the data stream and uses it to break through the firewall.
The inside of the secondary network is a cold organized space compared to the bright main network. Row after row of security footage from everywhere from classrooms, to bathrooms, locker rooms, even the building rooftop. Each of them with a stream to a mainframe.
Tabitha followed the streams into the mainframe which was being regularly accessed from at least 5 -10 terminals at any time. "Well, now to find the roster.. but wait what..!" Her attention was caught by first person video of a series of killings. Eventually she found the footage of Erin being gunned down. "There has to be.... dozens of them here. All these kids went here and disappeared. Damn monsters!!" She grabs a few of the files to make duplicates and continues through the mainframe. Not long later, she finds a record 'room' and pulls up the roster. Kids like Erin labeled "Failure" and others named either "In progress" or "completed"
A red timer appeared in front of her counting quickly down from 20. "**** what is this, a lockdown timer!!" She says quickly flying back to the main entrance 10. "Open damn you!" She pries at the data stream which was all in-coming. "Oh God is it one way only??? 5 no wait! there must be outgoing data to the cameras! 3" She finds a small outgoing packet of data at the last minute and breaks out.
---20 upd
"God... I nearly died.." Tabitha says grabbing her hair and leaning back.
"...Uh what?!" Sandie reacts while passing to the copy machines.
Tabitha quickly closes the browser "Nothing.. I was playing some games, sorry. Really, nothing! I thought you were somebody else... uh how is the report? Good?"
"Bah.. no. I got stuck with Kazakhstan. They launch rockets there, but ... oh well. See ya" Sandie says going to her work table.
Tabitha's notes: Too close, I let something slip like that. If it had been a teacher... Oh well, I have the data I needed. Even weirder, the data just feels like a memory of reading a list or seeing a video. Every time I "remember" those video recordings.. each one is so horrible. Almost like it happened to me. I can barely stand it!
On her way back, Tabitha happened upon Nick and he jogs to her and says "Something wrong? You seem angry slash depressed? Don't worry, we'll find that lab right?"
"Well that is part of it. I know where the lab is.. I hacked the mainframe and found that school roster even videos of the killings. All the kids that have disappeared were like us and they were gunned down and marked "failure" on the lists." Tabitha says sitting down on a brick retaining wall.
"Wait what? How did you hack into it and videos of all of them?!" Nick responds in amazement letting her lean on him.
She shows him her watch and the super thin wire. "It lets me download data directly. But when I exit the system, the data is stored like memories.. So... it hurts. It feels basically like I watched all my friends die in front of me. I knew many of these people, and the rest did not deserve this either! It is almost too much to handle.."
"Sorry, I wish I knew how you felt. Stay strong. If we can pull this off, nobody else will have to suffer like they did." Nick says helping her up again
---
"Thank you. Uh well... I" She lets go of his hand after holding it an awkwardly long amount of time "Sorry, I must just be a bit out of it today." She says and heads back to her place looking back to wave for some reason.
Tabitha's notes: "Out of it" Nothing! I have no idea why occasionally when I am around him I get completely stupid! And what is worse, why? Father says no part of me is even biological. And yet I find myself babbling like a moron. I had to get home anyway.. I wanted that sensation again. I think I may be addicted to the internet.
Her bag crashes into her bed followed quickly by her hair band. "What a day... rrrrraghg well I have a few hours until Father is home. I wonder how far the network goes?" She says pulling the wire from her watch and plugging it in.
There is the instant rush like a roller coaster and after the sudden calm as she hovers looking for the way out from her computer to her local network, then into the open net. Or so she thought, "Wait this is wrong.. At best I can detect maybe 5 cities with open connections... and beyond that a few high secure connections. Many of these websites available are within the city network!"
The number of individual houses connected seem to be in the thousands, not the millions one would expect. The largest of them being dummy hubs with fabricated websites. The rest of the world effectively shut off from the local network. All the secure lines heading out likely the secret establishments monitoring the district.
Tabitha looked at the secure barriers on the outside. "If I get trapped behind a barrier, it might kill me... or at the least lead them straight to me. If I am just a data stream right now. I would not die, but they would certainly know how to find me with how secure this is.... damn. I would love to see in there." She opts against trying and logs out slightly disappointed.
-------
Much later in the evening Stephanie shows up. "Hey Tabs, so how about joining us tonight? We were going to go eat and then to the place tonight. I think you could really be a big help to us with your abilities. You know what these people have been up to. We have to do something."
Tabitha gripped the bannister during the brief speech Stephanie had.
Tabitha's notes: Why do I even dislike her so much? I know before I thought she was some manipulative jerk.. even still I find myself detesting her even though she has the same intentions I do.. I went ahead with it anyway...
"Yea.. I guess so. I can be there." Tabitha replies reluctantly.
"Great! You won't regret it! I've gotta go for now, but just show up around 9 k?" Stephanie says and happily trots off.
-----
Tabitha wore her black uniform and made herself quickly through town and climbed the old factory to get in rather than wait on everyone. After a while everyone showed up.
"Ah Tabby's already here huh... nice getup... wait! so that was you that night?? And why do you have a gun anyway??" Stephanie said with a few others following behind her, most notably Charles and Nick.
"Yes it was, I had busted a drug lab over the street there and taken the gun the guy had. I had no idea you guys were using this place. I took the gun on a whim. I thought if they are shooting kids up around here, I should have something to defend myself." Tabitha responded and continued. "I have some new information though. I can confirm a few things.. first I have a roster of all the students registered and disappeared. I also have video of the killings and the location of the lab..."
"The hell?! I w... well I wanted to talk about that tonight. How the heck did you manage that?"
"I will just say for now that I am rather good with computers.." Tabitha says while taking two flash drives from her pocket. I have copies too, but somebody take these. The more that exist the better odds we can get them out when the time comes."
"Well... that just leaves the lab itself right? You know where it is, but how do we get there?" Nick says as Tabitha finished.
Tabitha explains "The lab is cut off from the school for the most part. All the air systems are too small for a human, and the only entrance is in the library. So in the day there is no way we could get into there... and at night the place is locked down and probably full surveillance. I believe the lab is active during the day too.."
"So what if... there was a fire." Stephanie suggested "If there was a fire, somebody could have the library cleared and make it in. Sure there is surveilance, but with a fire, nobody will charge in, not even those kill squads. I bet that lab would try to lock down, but Joe can phase throu..." She was interrupted by Tabitha
"It is too risky for him! They may even have defenses against that... no the only way is if I go. I can break through any fire door they might have anyway. If you do light a fire, make it discrete like a natural fire or something.. no fire starting powers." She says pointing out Stephanie and Charles.
"Yea, ok.. The best non-magical means of fire I could start.. gosh what like a cigarette into the bathroom trash? That might work it is close to the library too."
Tabitha nods and thinks about things for a few minutes. "If this works, be prepared to leave as soon as the lab is destroyed... and I mean leave. Like... forever. Because if we do this, they may go as far as wiping everyone out involved.. Father already told me he is working on an escape plan for our parents, but it must be separate from ours. If I fail.... somebody must escape at least with the data. It is vital, the lab is secondary."
Nick raised his hand "I can do that. Worst case scenario, I am the fastest. It only works for short durations right now, but I would have the best chances."
Stephanie added "Then we're agreed.. I will start the fire while Tabs goes in. The cameras will certainly see her go in, so this is a one time shot, in and destroy it.. I duno how you're gonna do it, but... you have the best chance... good luck Tabitha... I know we've been at odds sometime, but this would mean so much to me and the friends I've lost if you can do this."
Day 7 Tue, overcast and windy (7 23)
---------I'd like to add also I don't advocate shootin up a school I try to make it quite clear that this isn't a school at all, but a super-soldier factory lab run by communists. Any other interpretations are the reader's own fault.-------
Tabitha knew the "school" or as they now knew, the factory, had no metal detectors. It was risky, but she took the gun and a fist full of ammo just in case. It would be unlikely she would get randomly searched, and it was the only way. She repeated this in her head over and over.
As the day went on Stephanie and others would give the occasional look, nothing more reassuring everyone was on board.
As the 5th period starts, Tabitha enters the library just as Stephanie enters the bathroom. Earlier she had thrown some tar covered rags into the trash to cause more smoke.
"This is really it... No way to back out now." Tabitha thinks to herself as she goes into a forgotten corner of the library. She waits for what seems like forever until the telltale blare of the fire alarm goes off and smoke begins to leak into the library door. She listens as everyone leaves and she hears a 'that's everyone? ok lets go' from the useless librarian.
Tabitha quickly makes her way to the hidden door behind the library desk's shelf. A firedoor had already closed, but she is easily able to force it and travel down the long staircase down. The final door is a simple metal office style door which is strangely unlocked. This is it... 3 ...2....1.. She opens the door to the shock of the scientists in labcoats working around a number of terminals. In the background, large tanks and holding cells with former students and some 'failed projects'.
Tabitha draws her gun and fires taking down two right off the start. They start to duck behind the terminals where the next few shots hit and burn out the computers. 3 left... I can fire two and leave one in the chamber while I reload "Stay down!" She yells out as one comes around the corner.
"You weel nevarr get out of here!" A random scientist yells out in bad english.
"Who said my goal was to leave this place intact?" Tabitha sas coldly to the shock of the group in front of her. She makes her way to the back generators keeping the Scientists in her peripheral vision. One of them tries to charge her with a tazer, she fires two shots. Dammit.. if I reload I know they will try something She drops out the magazine and starts to reload it and a hidden security guard smacks her from behind. It hurts a lot, but does nothing. She turns and fires her last shot and a second guard fires a short rifle hitting her through the hand and into the side.
Tabitha tries to fight the blackout but drops the gun and fades out.
The sound of people working fills the room and speaking Russian constantly. Russian.... why... ... why can I understand Russian Tabitha wonders while slowly regaining consciousness.
One of the scientists walked over looking at her as she lay motionless on the work table. "Bolt her down and remove the arm first. We have to find out who built her and who is after us. I will inform Commodore about this breach... the base may need moved again. These attacks are getting too frequent."
Tabitha fades out until the sudden shock of a saw buzzing into her arm wakes her abruptly. She screams loudly until they gag and tape her mouth. The lead scientist says "Ignore it, they simply programmed it to mimic humans."
The room begins to shake! The assistant says "Impossible!, this area was specifically chosen to avoid that!" Water begins to leak into the cracks in the wall gradually increasing in pressure. Not long later the concrete bunker wall caves in and the lights go out.
All Tabitha can see is a figure with... a hose or something as water plows down the scientists and guards in a sudden wave. A light comes on to reveal Aaron undoing Tabitha's restraints and her gag. She says "Please not my arm.. They tried to cut it off. It hurts like hell." She says opening the chest panel and detaching it.
Tabitha's notes: The pain immediately stopped in my arm, but my side still was throbbing. Aaron apparently has some kind of power over water. He said he just took a guess where I was. Guess we both got lucky. We had to destroy that lab and free the captives..
Aaron went to the back to open the cages and holding tanks. Gradually the captured students regain composure as Aaron explains. Tabitha opens the compartments on her forearms pulling out blocks of C4 given to her by her Father.
"W... what is that?! Bombs?" Aaron says as Tabitha struggles to rig them to the main supports one handed.
"Of course, this place and these people must not continue. If we destroy their computers and leadership, it will cripple the operation and save hundreds of kids like us." Tabitha responds as Aaron agrees to help.
"Ok.. just tell me what to do you won't be able to do it well with one arm." He says. She quickly explains the simple process and they get a few bombs set up. She finds her gun in a deposit box and stuffs it in her pocket. "What about your arm?"
"Lets get out of here, they will go off in a few minutes either by my detonation signal or on their own if I do not signal within 5. I can get a new one, that will just have to be destroyed in the fire." She finishes setting up the last one and they sneak out the back of the school obscured by smoke. After making their way up the wooded creek she bites a button on her watch and a major explosion shoots from the center of the lab factory. "Thanks for coming for me.. I thought I was done for."
"We all did. " Aaron replies looking surprised "You were in there for days, we kind of assumed you didn't make it. I felt so helpless and tried anything I could think of and finally discovered quickly I could control water.. They tried to stop me but I came in when they cancelled school on a ..."
Thursday day 9 clear--- (24)
"THURSDAY?!" Tabitha blurted out abruptly "I was out that long? That must be how they knew.. I bet they did a scan on me or something... just help me to my house..."
Tabitha's notes: Aaron helped me back home. I guess the shot that hit me in the side went clean through.. if that is really a good thing. I need at least to get home for a new arm and supplies for us to get out of here.
Aaron gives her his jacket to drape over her missing arm as they come into her neighborhood. The house is completely dark as they come in. "I guess Father left already. I hope he is alright. We really do need to get going as soon as we can, the fire at the lab will keep them occupied for quite some time." Tabitha says opening the hidden door to their basement lab. She wanders a bit looking through the shelving and finds the "right-arms" case. Taking one from the box, she promptly attaches it and stretches the fingers to test. "I should really not get used to this, as soon as we leave we are out of replacements... damn."
"Guess you could take spares.... but man this is creepy..." Aaron says looking at the lab. "Gurg... even spare heads what the hell.."
"I try not to think about it.. Father probably has this place rigged to burn completely though.' Tabitha says leaving the lab with a bag of things. She proceeds to her room and grabs up a backpack and some random snacks. They both also raid the kitchen for what ever they can find that will survive a long trip. "Good thing Father always kept the shelves well stocked."
"What about your gunshot wound?" Aaron said pointing to her.
"As long as nothing gets broken majorly I heal fairly quickly. But if I get my arm sawed up or shattered, it used to be easier to just replace it. I can probably heal anything over time.. I really would rather not test it now that we have no more do-over parts... anyway... lets get to the factory and get out of here."
They both manage to sneak over to the factory where Stephanie and Nick were waiting. "What the heck? Is this all that made it?" Tabitha says as they enter.
"Charles went with the parents and your father along with Joe Larson and some of my friends to help protect them. Your father said it would be better for a small group to carry the data out anyway since we can get it out faster, and find them later." Stephanie says setting down her pack for a bit. "good to see you again.. ya know.. alive and all."
Nick gave Tabitha an abrupt hug, "You had us worried when you didn't come back."
"Well, to be honest.. I almost did not make it back. They had me until Aaron showed up. Instead of even trying to question me, the
went straight to disassembling me . It was the worst pain ever." Tabitha says grabbing her arm. The memory of the saw was vividly present still.*pffffffft* "Dissawhat?! What are they cannibals too or something?" Stephanie does a spit-take in response.
"Urg no, that slipped, but you should know too since we will all have to depend on each other. My strength comes plainly from the fact I am not an ordinary human. Father says I am entirely artificial. I can heal, eat, and think like a human, but he never offered much detail." Tabitha says somewhat shyly.
"I guess I'm the last to know then by the looks on everyone's faces. That's fine, I never told you about me either til you found out by accident. Ya know, I had always suspected you had something special, which is why I always tried to get you into my group. I couldn't exactly blare out ' hey join my superhero squad ' in school without being sure." Stephanie says while trying to open an energybar promptly giving up and burning the end off.
Nick sits with everyone and says "Well... lets rest up a bit and head out soon. I imagine with their lab destroyed, they'll be up in arms soon... GPS won't work for another 100 miles... it's going to be a long trip." He looks at the map, "Sooo which way... we can go west to Europe. South to... more of Asia... East to China and Japan... it's shorter but looks like the worst terrain imaginable!.. and North through central Russia and Siberia and the NORTH POLE... I'm just ruling that one out.. west it is I think.."
"Not to be too pessimistic but that's a long way..." Tabitha says while thinking of the longest she had walked. School was always close but aside from that maybe a couple miles tops. Everyone sat for a moment thinking about the upcoming journey the silence was long enough to hear the crunch of a large vehicle pulling up followed by the sound of people jumping out.
"I'm not the only one hearing that right?" Stephanie says running to the window. "It's a black van full of those riot police you saw. Hate to say it but you've been followed or somehow they found out."
Nick speeds off to check the other windows and back. "Looks like just the one van checking this place out. Maybe they just thought this is the ideal hiding spot for a bomber."
"We have four floors to avoid them... they will probably do a two man crew up each stair. That leaves what... the side of the building? If we can get to the van I can start it!" Tabitha says looking down as the soldiers survey the door and start breaking into the building. "Yea they know somebody is here at least.."
"Wait a sec Tabitha... we can't just jump off the sides like you can." Nick interjected. "We have to find some kind of cord or rope...something." He looks around the mostly empty building, it had been gutted for the most part. He heads to the roof to look around more. "Tabitha can you pull these wires?"
Tabitha follows and looks at the old cables supporting some ancient antenna. "Yea sure, get back they might whip around." She says pulling at the base to undo it and tugging it off the tower causing it to whip to the ground. Eventually all four were pulled out and she lugs them to the side. "Stephanie, weld them together while we barricade the 3rd floor." She says while She, Nick and Aaron go together to the stair wells to pile bricks in front of the doors.
Moments later, the soldiers start testing the doors and ramming them. The three head back up stairs to see how far Stephanie was. At the time they reached the top she was welding the end onto the rooftop. "Well I think it should support one of us at a time... " She says tugging on it a few times.
"I can hold em off a while." Tabitha says holding the gun and inspecting it.
"No Tabitha we need you to start the car. All I need to do is shoot at them a few times and then zip back up here, that will give us the time." Nick says reaching to her, she hands him the gun and he heads down looking at the entrances. Tabitha makes it down the side and waits by the van followed by Aaron. By this time the soldiers make it up through the barricade by chopping out the door and come up the stairs. Nick takes a couple warning shots but they quickly retaliate he tries taking some random shots but they ignore it and start pushing in.
Stephanie makes it down and Nick speeds up the stairs as she makes her way down. He jams the door with the downed antenna and slides down. Tabitha backs the van closer so he can get in quickly and they take off.
"Well... we have a van now..." Tabitha says while scanning the area for threats. The radio randomly blipping in with things like Suspicious activity sector 5 but, naturally, in Russian. "All their radio talk is in Russian, but it is all in code I have no idea what they mean... get the local map up we probably should avoid the main road.. though I bet they will only have a few ways out, this van will get us a good distance away."
------I'll use bold text for being Tabitha's translation from foreign languages---
They snake through the country roads trying to keep as west as possible. The radio blips up [Van 12 missing, requesting a pick up at the abandoned factory]
"Well they know we took the van I guess." Tabitha says bouncing around through the rough country roads. "Clarksville is 30 miles from Myron, Father took me a few times for his research... on electronics... NOT ME. Like phones and stuff. Ugh."
Nick had shrugged while she was talking to taunt her. "Of course, phones. We get it.. 30 miles of this is pretty rough. Probably for the best since they will be watching the big roads."
After some time they come to a fairly tall and clear hilltop half way. Sure enough, there was a roadblock checking vehicles through the main road.
"Even if we rammed through, they'd have us in no time." Aaron said looking out at the squad full at the road. "It kinda sucks... at some point we will have to ditch this thing."
"Well when that time comes. We need to rig up some of those grenades to destroy the van, make it look like we went with it." Tabitha says pointing out the grenade case in the back. "Can not hurt to take a few with us, maybe some of these shotguns and assault rifles. I already packed up some of their AP 9mm ammo in here... what we need to do, is bail out and let the van crash into their roadblock and detonate. That might distract them long enough after Clarksville for us to slip through their outer defenses."
"You're damn scary sometime Tabby... Not that I disagree with you, but damn.." Stephanie said from one of the back seats while checking through the supplies. The back of the van had a case of 10 grenades, 2 shotguns, 1 AR and ammo for each along with various ammo boxes. Naturally, the soldiers took all the body armor with them aside from a few spare helmets.
--
A while later... they pass Clarksville and merge onto the highway. Stephanie and Nick get the grenade trap mostly set up. It's set so a collision will pull the pins out right over the fuel tank and detonate the vehicle. Tabitha pulls over to let everyone out but her as she makes the final charge. As soon as the van gets about 200 feet away, she makes sure the wheel is locked and jumps out the side.
The van continues on as the soldiers try to flag it down, by the time they realize what it's doing it slams into another riot van and explodes. Tabitha regroups with her friends and they sneak into the woods.
"So far so good." Tabitha says quietly when she reaches them. "The map says the perimeter is another 10 miles by foot from here. The satellite map shows an air base of some sort... if we could hijack a plane... or stowaway for part of the distance that would shave days off the journey right?"
"Well... YEA if it's goin the same way. But I guess when it changes, we can take control right?" Stephanie says looking at the map. "But can any of us fly a plane??"
"Certainly not." Nick responded. "I assume that's why we need to wait for it to already be in the air." Tabitha nods and charts a path toward the air base.
----26
After a an hour of hiking Stephanie groans "Comon we need to stop... this is nuts. We need to set up camp or something right?"
"Well... if the map is correct.. we should be a mile from the boarder fence.. If we stop here they will find us for sure." Tabitha replies looking at the map. A while later, they come in view of the perimeter. They are shocked to find very little stopping them, no wall, no fence. Off in the far distance is a "fire watch" tower, or rather, obviously an observation deck. "They are only interested in attackers, the area is set up to hide it, they never expected anyone to leave it I bet."
"Yea well.. lets get a good couple miles from this place before we even try to hide out for the night. Even though it's getting dark already that is.." Aaron adds jogging along with the others out of the perimeter zone.
Tabitha and Stephanie start by cutting away branches and logs to make a bedding area for the night. "It won't be anything really comfortable but it'll keep the bugs off us." Stephanie says trying to prop up the branches.
"Man you know it's weird, even though we're doing this, it seems unreal. A week ago my biggest concern was an Algebra test..." Aaron says setting up his bed.
"Yea, now we're running from our lives from Russian scientists and soldiers.." Nick finishes for him. "It'll be hard but lets try to get some rest..."
Tabitha sits by the rest keeping watch the rest of the night until she gets interrupted by Aaron. "You don't have to take it all on. Get some rest. You might not be totally human, but you're not a total machine either. Even if you don't get tired, do it for me so I don't feel like you're taking everything on yourself."
"Right... ok." Tabitha says sitting with her arms around her knees. She looks up at the moon and back towards Myron county. "I had lived there over 10 years. I know you mentioned how weird it was leaving. Suppose the idea had not really hit me until I really had time to think... I think sometime I get ambitious and try to keep occupied to avoid thinking about it all. I keep hoping if I just ignore it... maybe I will be a normal human teenager.... running from communist death soldiers... ugh" She finishes resting her head into her knees.
"I guess none of us are normal and maybe there is no normal. It'll be morning soon enough, I can take over the next few hours to watch while you at least rest a bit." Aaron says and adds "You're normal enough for us Tabitha, that's what matters." She nods and smiles turning away hiding her face while wiping it off as she gets into the bed.
Day 10 Friday --- partly cloudy ---
Just around sunrise, people start waking up and stretching. They start disassembling the campsite and burying the campfire.
"That base is... uhf.. 10 miles northwest? Time to move out huh?" Stephanie says while kicking away one of the last sticks of the camp.
"There will be a dead zone around the runways.. if we can find a place to hide while waiting for the right craft, can we make it?" Tabitha says looking at the map and checking their course.
"I can take Steph and Aaron. I can go in bursts, but as long as I can lift them for a second, I can carry them. You getting there will be up to you Tab, but I figure you have the best chance on your own." Nick says after which Tabitha nods. At this point the terrain is fairly hilly temperate forest largely pine.
"We should be fairly close... maybe this next hill we can get a view on what distance we need more." Tabitha says pointing up the next steep incline.
"I guess it can't he helped.... good lord I hope we get a plane..." Stephanie says while everyone starts up the hill."
The hillside is crumbly and rocky making an otherwise difficult climb even worse. They all stick close together so when somebody slips, they can be caught by the next in the group. Eventually they do reach the rocky capped hilltop. Over the brush cover an airfield still apparently in active use spreads before them.
"Oh GOOD! I was afraid it would be abandoned!" Tabitha cheers. Stephanie, behind her, is aghast by the thought. "Maybe this base supplies the Myron facilities?"
"Screw it I don't even care!" Stephanie says starting down the hill and whiping the sweat from her forehead. "We can figure out what it's for soon as we're in the air." Tabitha shrugs and follows
--
The base has very little defenses being this far in land. There is an open area around the airfield simply for debris and clearance issues. The runways are fairly small, not big enough for a major carrier to land, mostly just medium aircraft and cargo carriers. They meet up at an area near the end with some thick overgrowth.
A KC 390 twin engine cargo carrier is at the base loading up unknown boxes and a forklift loading in the back side. After waiting what seems like forever, the plane taxi's toward the back of the runway. "Now or never kids." Tabitha says.
The craft circles toward the runway and Stephanie and Aaron hang on tight to Nick. In an instant he vanishes and makes his way into the craft's wheel well. Tabitha waits to make sure nobody is looking checking the activity in the small control tower and grounds crew preparing the next aircraft. She braces her foot against a rock and shoves off. She sprints at a blistering speed toward the craft and makes it to the same wheel well with Nick helping her up.
"We made it! Lets wait a few minutes and then worry about the crew." Tabitha says upholstering her gun and checking it. Stephanie grimaces at the idea. "We can hardly afford to take chances, we have to do this fast enough they have no time to make a distress call."
The plane began to speed up and everyone kind of gave the knowing look at each other when they realized there was barely enough room in there for them and the landing gear. Tabitha looked at the ceiling pushing at sections with little luck.
Tabitha's notes: I thought this was it, like we had gotten so far just to be screwed that early. Sure it would be great being hydraulic crushed too. Surely there would be some hatch or something and eventually found it, some hatch that led into the cargo bay. I have no idea if it was bolted or what, but it was stuck enough to be a real pain. It eventually forced open as the plane began to lift. I swear we barely made it out in time before the damn gear lifted.
What was that? Check it out, probably just a hook coming undone the pilot yelled over to the copilot.
"Well this screws things up! we have to do it now! Nick, go stop the pilot from making the call I will take down the copilot." Tabitha says running to behind the box closest to the door as the copilot comes out to check out the cabin. He moves around the right side of the ship. Tabitha waits until he makes it mostly to the rear before jumping out. "Go now, Nick!" She fires three shots directly at him and he falls. At that instant, Nick zips into the cockpit and disables the commander. Tabitha comes in shortly after pulling him out and firing three more shots.
"Was there no other way?!?" Stephanie says covering her mouth. The others were also visibly disturbed.
"I mean it when I say we can not take any chances!" Tabitha says running to the pilot seat to stabilize the plane. "If you saw everything I did, you know these
would never hold back against us. As far as they are concerned, we are all failed experiments and must be destroyed.""Well.... I don't know what you saw. I just know it's terrible.. This is just part of the shock of the reality we're being thrown into..." Nick reluctantly replied.
".... yea so where are we gonna go.... can we land this or what?" Stephanie says trying to keep her eyes off the former crew
"We will have to ditch it somewhere." Tabitha says trying to monitor the instrument dials. "Fuel is full and I would guess this is a light load since it is headed out. We should get almost a 2000 mile range if we go nonstop... surely the crew has food in here."
"Gotta be kidding me..." Stephanie mumbles and wanders to the cargo area. Nick had already drug the former crew near the back. Tabitha could hear them anyway. "Are you sure she's stable, Nick? I know things are messed up, but she didn't even flinch and just downed em..."
"Try not to think too hard about it, Steph. Odds are, eventually we'll all have to fight..." Nick says covering the bodies. "I wish things were different too."
----
Aaron enters the cockpit and sits in the copilot seat looking at the various screens and controls. "So... any idea where this thing is even headed?"
"The autopilot has us on a course for some place called Salekhard.. unfortunately, it is nowhere near where we really want to go. I have a feeling if we deviate from the course, they will know something is up. And if we shut off the transponder, it might buy us time.... but how much..." Tabitha says poking through the controls of the autopilot map systems. "If we follow this course... and break off half way...." She starts barely speaking out loud mostly just calculating the risks while Aaron looks on in confusion.
Eventually Nick peeks in, "Aaron mentioned you have a plan on where we can go?"
"Uh what? Well.. sort of. The autopilot has us traveling northwest to the northern coast. Even though this has the fuel to cross the icecaps... if we got shot down we would not survive. So my theory is to break southwest before Surgut half way and disable the transponder. We would have to bail out along the way though."
"Sounds like a plan, I was hoping this would take us the whole way, honestly." Nick replies "But I'm sure you looked at all the options. I'll get the parachutes ready since we don't know how much time we have."
-
An hour or so later Tabitha checks out the window and the map. "Ok... here we go." She reaches up for the transponder switch and then disables the autopilot and turns the craft gradually southwest. After leveling off, she forces the plane lower.
"What the hell Tab!? What are you trying to land us into a mountainside?" Stephanie freaks out grabbing the rail as hard as she can unconsciously melting it partly in the process.
"A multimillion dollar cargo plane just disappeared off their scanners that was leaving the area of their secret supersoldier lab. If they put all that together they may try to shoot us down." Aaron says bluntly.
"Exactly. We have to avoid as much radar as possible... but still leave enough altitude to bail..." Tabitha adds keeping a steady eye ahead to level off the plane. They speed over a mountain and into a large valley.
"Damn glad we aren't down there." Nick says looking over the sprawling land of lakes. He walks back to the rear and looks out the small window. A brief flash of light appears for a moment. "Um... Tabitha I think we have company!"
"Radar shows nothing for ... crap! they must be fighters!" Tabitha says. No sooner did she finish when two streams of high caliber cannons rip through the hull.
Nick zipped through pushing people out of the way of shots. "Damn that was close! Not even a warning shot?"
"Taking us down closer! We might be able to keep going if we follow the river between the mountains! Get ready for another pass!" Tabitha yells out and banks the plane as hard as she can to a river pass. She cuts the power gradually to maintain control. She spots the two fighters coming in from ahead. "Watch out! here they come!" The first stream of shots zip past as she dives the craft again and banks right. The second stream misses at first but clips the wing until hitting the left engine.
The engine smokes and shutters until bursting into flame. Nick appears in the cabin door and yells out, "The left engine's been hit! It's burning! Is there anything you can do?!"
"Brace yourselves! I will try something!" Tabitha yells back. She pulls the com wire from her watch and plugs it into a port on the main console. Instantly she blanks out and is thrown into a dark world with little more than a ghostly outline of the craft. She can see the lines to the sensors around the craft showing various stats about the craft. She moves to the engine and sees an engine dismount and taps it.
A warning pops up saying "Engines dismounting in 5 seconds"
"WHAT not both! ****!!" Tabitha says aloud as the engines break free from the craft and fall, the right engine jetting off and spinning.
"Um.... Tabitha? We're engineless now what are you doing in there?!" Stephanie says watching the other jet engine smashing into the ground.
"I made a mistake! I can at least try and set us down!" Tabitha says trying to hack the navigation systems. The planes flaps deploy and it noses up causing it to slow down immensely. "Strap yourselves in, I have it programmed to try and land in the clearing ahead." She says pulling the cord out and running to the back with everyone. They all secure themselves in the side benches as good as possible. "Here it comes!"
The plane belly lands the downside slope of a hill snapping away small trees and sliding through the grassy field and scraping a trail. Everything shakes madly as everyone yells and screams. The plane slides along crashing through the underbrush until it rams into an uphill slope continuing up until slowing to a stop.
The cargo bay is full of dust in the air and Nick calls out "Everyone ok?" Everyone responds positively.
"Er well.... except for those guys." Stephanie says pointing out the dead crewmen thrown to the front in the crash. She throws another sheet over them and tried to shake the thought away. She takes out one of the GPS units "ok so.. where are we? 40 miles east of .... Yal...u..toro..vsk... looks like a small town. Maybe we can get a car or something there."
"Good idea. I can manage something since I can talk to them." Tabitha says. She rips off the harness and looks into the boxes the ship was carrying. "Nothing much use in here... we need something we can trade..try searching the rest."
Aaron goes to the rear pallet and rips off the tarp revealing a big crate. "Anyone want to get into this?" Tabitha rips off the side of the crate to reveal a 6 wheeled off roader mini truck. They pull it out and try to crank it a few times to no luck. "Ideas?"
"It has gas and oil just won't fire.. I can clean it out. It will take a while though so try to look for some firewood in the meantime." Nick says looking over the engine. Aaron volunteers to help with the engine to their surprise, thus leaving Tabitha and Stephanie for firewood duty. (The crate is treated wood, not good for fires)
They both exit the wreck and find themselves in a pine forest near a river valley. Stephanie looks around and starts up the hill immediately. "Is it a good idea to stay around this thing? Won't they find us here? They did shoot us down..."
"Well, I forgot to mention it. Those were not the same nation jets as this one. They must have seen us as an enemy and shot us down... so unless some locals saw us go down, nobody knows we are here." Tabitha says picking up some branches from the ground.
"Oh great... we finally see a friendly face and it tries to kill us.. nothing we could do about it though in that crate." Stephanie responds "But we're still like... thousands of miles away!"
Tabitha says. She sits to think for a bit "Yea... our best bet is your idea... go to Yalutrovosk and try and barter this off roader for a real car... even then it will take maybe DAYS to get out of Russia... assuming nothing goes wrong.."
"I guess so. And Tabitha, I'm sorry I doubted you. I know you did everything you could." Stephanie continues "We'll make it out fine."
"No, I screwed up... when I was in the system I accidentally activated both engine dismounts. I got hasty and messed up and nearly got us killed." Tabitha replies. She marches off with Stephanie in pursuit.
"You're too hard on mistakes!" Stephanie says grabbing Tabitha's arm "Do you think any of us could have jettisoned the engines before they exploded? Or even pull that landing off?... fuh... you did fine ok? lets get back and find a suitable camp site." They both head back down the hill to the wreck. Stephanie piles the logs in the back of the off road vehicle.
--
"Yea I've gotten it to start now." Nick says as they come in. "We had to clear out the carb, but it seems to run fine now. A simple fix really. So if we head west we should be able to get close to town before nightfall, but it would probably be best to get there in the morning." He finishes while wiping his hands off.
They all get in, throwing their packs in the back and following a trail through the forest. The area is still mostly grass covered plains and a few forests, in the distance there are a few farms and fields. They ride and bounce along for at least half an hour before the sun is close to setting. Nick drives the vehicle into a clearing where they start to set up the tarp as a quick tent. Stephanie piles the wood and superheats her hands to start the fire while everyone else sets up makeshift beds.
"Already going to be 11 days in, tomorrow.... well since all this began." Tabitha mutters out. She pokes the fire with a stick until the end starts to smolder. "I can hardly believe how sc..."
Aaron interrupts before she can dwell on it further. "Crazy to think how far we've made it in just two days right? It's still a long way to go, but if we can find a car it might be pretty fun."
"Yea by this far, we're just a group of kids, well... probably. We still need to be ready, but it's less likely they know we made it this far. Especially since Tabitha said the jets weren't from here.. so they just think we're dead possibly."
"I sure hope so." Aaron responds "Urg I'm tired as hell man, even this campsite looks as good as home.. night guys" He heads off to a bed. The others poke around and stall a bit, but eventually everyone gets some rest.
Day 11 -- Saturday, partly cloudy
Aaron wakes Tabitha up for her watch before sunrise. "Hey, time for your watch. Come on I want to show you something." He leads her down the far side of the slope with an outcrop looking over the town. Aaron sits next to her "I figure I might as well stay up at this point."
The river sparkled from the town lights and the moonlight. "Yea, so that is Yalutrovosk huh. Looks a little larger than Myron did. I wonder if..." Tabitha is interrupted by Aaron taking hold of her chin and ..
Tabitha's Notes: Kiss me? Why?! Here and now he decides to kiss me?? As though things were simply not confusing and weird enough. He spent no time waiting either. I did not resist, it was certainly not something I asked for. Knowing now how he feels.. Or rather that I am so unsure how I feel. Regardless, this is not a camping trip... I wonder if I should even get attached to anyone.
Tabitha is let go and sits silently avoiding eye contact. They both sit for an eternity of awkward silence which turned out to be half an hour.
"Er... sorry I ... don't know what I'm doing." Aaron mumbles out "I don't even know if you like me but...I"
"Just stop." Tabitha interrupts, her hands tightly gripping the rock ledge. "It just happened is all. No need to apologize." She glances over at him obviously beating himself up on the inside even more. "You know it is not like I have any experience in relationships either. We can just see how it works out. Not like we are dating though!.. running and surviving comes first."
"Right, uh thanks for understanding... maybe I should get some rest after all." Aaron says climbing the hillside to the camp. She watches on as he stumbles up the slope.
"What the hell now ....." Tabitha trails off looking back out at the town. "What good is it for me to date someone anyway. Uff... why" She gets up and resumes a patrol until morning.
---morning---
"Bleh... you want to drive?" Tabitha says to Nick and lets him take the drivers seat. "Town is just over the hill, we can find a road just down that way."
Nick silently takes the keys and starts down the hill slowly. They find a road with a little traffic but not much and keep to the side of it for the next few miles until town. The city seemed similar to Myron with some minor architectural differences. The people on the street easily notice four teenagers riding in on an offroad cart. They pull in at a restaurant. "Well... we have no money but we can use the bathroom. Tabitha, you see if you can find some kind of a used car dealer or somebody willing to trade for this thing. It's gotta be worth a thousand or so right?"
Eventually everyone makes their way over to the used car dealer. Tabitha chats a bit more with the older man running the place moving along toward the line of cars. He points over to an old 88 Mercedes turbodiesel enthusiastically. Tabitha looks inside and unlatches the hood gesturing for Nick to come look. She says in Russian to him "Looks good right?... yes?" nodding her head to give him an idea what she was saying. Nick replies with the same "yes" word.
After not much time, the old man hands Tabitha the keys after which the others load up the stuff in the back of the car. The man looks over the off-road car another time quite pleased by the deal. "Thank you again Mr. Salamov I will miss you." She says getting in and blowing a kiss. The old man laughing and waving them on.
"I told you she was scary sometime.. damn" Stephanie says looking back. "This the best we can do though?"
"He was pushing me toward some newer Toyotas at first. But this has a better suspension and engine. We can get more distance out of this one." Oh yea on top of all that" She pulls out a sum of cash. "It is a few hundred worth, not a ton really, but at least a start."
----------------
They head west for a long distance, occasionally passing small villages and farms. Traffic in the area is fairly minimal for the most part. Eventually they make it to a small town around 5k-8k with a bridge. Stephanie checks the GPS map. "We can either head south over the bridge... looks like there's some big town later down that road... or keep following the river. It's a more empty road which might be good in my opinion. Unless we pass some secret base.. but they wouldn't have those by a highway right?"
"Ha, I doubt it" Nick chuckles. "The road less traveled seems fun anyway. We have plenty of fuel too. So we can just stop and eat part way and then refuel at like...Shadrinsk"
After about an hour of fairly dull driving they pull over and get something simple prepared to eat. Stephanie puts together some sandwiches made with graham crackers and hands them out. "The thought ocured to me.... why the heck do you speak fluent Russian??"
"If I knew I would tell you." Tabitha responds. Stephanie winces and sits munching on the sandwich. "As best I can figure, Father just programmed me that way or something. I guess it makes sense if I was made to infiltrate that lab and escape. I suppose it has served that purpose... for all I know I may speak many languages, but not until we encounter them." The peanut butter graham crackers were surprisingly good.
"How many meals do you think we have just packed with us?" Aaron said finishing off his sandwich.
"Well, between you and me, Aaron. I would guess a couple weeks worth for all of us if we conserve it. After raiding my kitchen back home that is, I do not know about you two." Tabitha says and gestures to Stephanie and Nick.
"I got a ton of Jerky I er.. *found* from a convenience store on my way out as well as some packs of nuts and stuff from the snack aisle." Nick says and opens his pack partway to show it.
"Well I brought a pan to boil water in and some bottles... and some first aid stuff too since I knew Nick and you gus would have food and snacks.. not much food though aside from like some emergency stuff." Stephanie replies.
"I know I'm going to regret asking.... but how much further"
"Approximately... 800 miles due East of Moscow... and probably about 1000 from the boarder... if there is a war going on... I wonder what the boarder will be like though." Tabitha says looking at the map.
------------------
They get nearer to Shadrinsk and notice an unusual amount of air activity. Nick points it out "There are a lot of large ships in the air, no windows though, cargo ships. It's crazy busy, at least one every five or so minutes. I think there's a base around here... Should we skip town?"
"No we should not.." Tabitha replies quickly "The jets are north correct? If that is the case, we should go through town. We need fuel anyway.. especially if we keep this northern route." She continues down the main road instead of taking the bypass around town. Shortly they enter Shadrinsk, a fairly large town.
Tabitha pulls the car into a gas station where the attendant comes out and fills the car. A few minutes pass before the man asks for the payment. She hands over the amount requested. She thanks the man and heads back to the car about then a man headed the opposite direction bumps into her, drawing a short gun "I saw the cash just fine, hand it over"
"Please, no need for trouble. Let us pass through and nobody has to die." Tabitha says plainly in a whisper.
The man stunned for a moment pauses and in his reaction cocks his revolver. "Hand it over now or I'm done with you!
Nick zips in quickly grabbing the gun and pointing it upwards causing it to fire. "Dammit Nick!" Tabitha says ripping the gun from the attacker. She jumps into the car and pulls out of the driveway and quickly head down the main road until coming to a heavily wooded area where they turn north. She continues about a mile down the road until finding a dirt path to travel down and stop.
"What the hell happened?" Stephanie chimes in.
"A mugger, to put it simply" Tabitha responds. "Nick came to help me and the gun went off. I doubt anyone was watching us enough to get a fix on the car. If we wait about an hour it will die down... on the plus side we got a crappy gun." She handles it a little checking it over. The gun is a R-92 compact revolver. "Not amazing but might be good for in towns while we can not exactly go waving around shotguns. Who wants it?" She holds it out and Aaron takes it after nobody else goes for it.
"I guess I'll take it. I probably need it more anyway since my ability only works with water present." Aaron says looking at it. Tabitha hands him a small box of bullets afterward.
"I didn't want to tell you, but the reason the gun went off was he had already fired it." Nick said afterward. "I don't know if he decided to shoot or it was an accident though."
"Oh.. sorry then. I had no idea, I thought it was a mistake... Thank you, Nick... well time to head out."
The car starts and begins to pull out when a compact 2 door police car pulls in and waves them to stop. One officer gets out and walks to them slowly "Hey, what are you doing here?? Get out of the car, driver."
Tabitha gets out slowly "Umm sorry? we were just well... this is embarrassing... " Her hand hovered in reach of her pocket for her gun in case the story failed. "My friend had to use the bathroom and could not wait! I am so sorry!"
The officer winces looking into the car. "This is private property... you need to get out of here. He begins to get in the car and then "Wait! Somebody reported a gunshot not far from here, has anyone passed by that looked suspicious?
"Ah Nah we have been here for quite a while not any traffic really" Tabitha says and waves as he gets in the car and heads south. She waits until he is out of sight and heads north. The next hour of driving goes without any real incident. "Too many close calls back there..." They come in view of Yekaterinburg. A huge metro area of well over a million people.
"I guess it goes without saying... with all the signs it'd be a huge place." Stephanie says as they all get out to look. "We can't go through cities that big right? It's too risky if we got searched or something." Nick nods, and everyone seems to agree silently.
"Damn... I kind of wish we could you know?" Tabitha says sitting on the hood of the car. She looks at the map. South looks pretty flat and lots of lakes and stuff... we could try that I guess. It looks the best way to cross the mountains anyway."
--------
After a while of traveling south they come to a smaller highway and turn west. Not long after they come to a roadblock just outside of the town. She slows to a stop and an officer says "Snezinsk is closed to traffic state your business.
"Oh Sorry I gook a wrong turn! How do I get to Chelyabinsk from here?" Tabitha says pretending to be surprised.
The officer was visibly annoyed. "TURN AROUND then! Take a RIGHT! He shouts and points away.
They quickly U-turn and turn South again. "Jesus I thought we had it there! It's some nuclear facility did you see that?" Stephanie brings up the GPS of the region. "This whole area's loaded with giant lakes. Maybe that's what they're using to cool the reactors.. Crap! this means we can't take any more back roads in this area!.. man at least it's fairly warm this time of year.."
"Yea it'd suck the big one to do this in the cold.." Aaron added. "But if we end up in Chelyabinsk, it'll be nightfall by then. What do we do then? Find a hotel?"
"I guess.... it will cut into our budget, but it would be nice.." Tabitha says as they approach the city. The city is large, about 1million. They stop at a small 2 floor inn on the edge of the metro area. Tabitha walks in and asks about a room. After a few minutes she jogs out. "Room 223 on the 2nd floor it was only like 20 so... try not to expect the world."
The room is small with one bed and barely enough floor space for a couple people and a bathroom with a simple shower.
"We can give the girls the bed; you and I are on the floor looks like Aaron I guess." Nick says grabbing a spare blanket and some pillows for the floor. "We can take turns on the shower too. It's probably best we got the room just for that I think."
------
Tabitha exited the shower last as everyone but Stephanie was already asleep on the floor. "Nice to have a shower finally and a somewhat clean bed." She says wringing out her hair.
"Yea, right. I just couldn't sleep, it's probably nothing.... "Stephanie incoherently mumbles before laying down again.
~~~~
Tabitha gets up and walks outside. The dark city lights illuminate the sky. The cold air bites on her skin as puff of fog from her breath. A thunderous roar overcomes the area as a wave of T-90 tanks rumbles past the hotel. A hellstorm of missiles rain down bursting all the tanks into flame.
The flames swirl around constantly seeming to escalate. After some short time, jets fly overhead firing rockets and bombs. The ground began to shake as a wave of atomic fire flashed by annihilating everything.
~~~~~Day 12 Sunday
Tabitha gets up quickly to see smoke throughout the room. "A dream?.... but wait what the!" She looks around at the light haze in the air of the smoke filtering in. She looks over and Stephanie is quite literally burning up. Spots on Stephanie glow and cool randomly causing the bed to burn in places. Tabitha runs to the bathroom grabbing a wet towel and wringing it out over Stephanie's face. The water splashes and sizzles over her causing her to awaken.
"What the hell?! What's your problem!?" Stephanie blurts out not noticing the bed. Tabitha points it out quickly. She gets up and there's a rough outline of where she was on the bed.
"What's going on??" Nick says as he gets up
"Stephanie burnt the bed or something in her sleep." Tabitha says shaking Aaron up. "We have to get out of here!" She picks the mattress up and flips it to hide the damage and throws up some covers over it. "That should buy some time if it can not completely hide it... grab your things and lets get out before things get too nuts."
They exit the room just as the fire alarm begins to go off. They shuffle down the stairs and cram everything into the car. By the time people begin to exit their rooms, their car just pulls from the parking lot and follows the highway circling town.
"What happened back there??" Aaron says looking back at the hotel. At this time Stephanie is rubbing her eyes and leaning against the car window. "Are you ok??.... " He nudges her a few times and burns the tip of his finger. "What the?! um guys?? I think she's sick or something?"
Stephanie groans looking down "Sorry I screwed up or s......." She slumps down in the seat abruptly.
"**** um.... " Aaron takes a shirt from his bag and soaks it with his canteen to cool her off. "Find somewhere to stop. Fast!"
"Damn!, we are still pretty far in town." Tabitha says looking desperately for a way out. "Try to keep her under control. There is a park... wait no a huge park coming up, surely we can find somewhere to stop." She continues until they find a good entrance. Tabitha snakes through the pathways until they find a secluded camp site. She helps Stephanie out of the car to the bench.
"Guys it's nothing... just let me rr *hrrrfffff*" Stephanie mumbles out before throwing her lunch behind the bench. Randomly her hands burning the bench
"Bull ****, we need to do something about this." Nick says tending to Stephanie. "It looks like just a regular flu bug, but usually if I got something like this, I stayed home all day and rested... I have a feeling somebody would spot us if we rested a sick girl in the park all day."
Aaron rummages through Stephanie's pack for relevant meds. Uh... Nyquil? It'll knock her the heck out but it might sedate her enough to get past it. Especially if it's just a 'day bug'.."
"Uuuhhh... just.... anything." Stephanie says waiting as they get her some ready. She lays down on the bench for a moment and gets up briefly to gulp it down. "Hell... hope it works.. " She lays back down trying to rest, still visibly in pain.
cont..
Statistics: Posted by Znath — July 3rd, 2012, 11:56 pm
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