Ok I got computer access a while back but haven't really thought about updating since then. But weekends I've found internet is slow, so all I can do is play offline games or write.. soo anyway. Without further delay, the exciting uh... well next set of chapters.
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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."
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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."
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"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.
