Incarnate- Essence Read online

  The UAVs and UGVs showed up on a mapping program displayed on our ARs as well as showing up as glowing green superimposed on top of them moving about the desert.

  “Y’know,” Darren chimed in, “if ya’ll insist on making me drive, you could let me use some tech so I can help with-”

  “Not gonna happen,” I said, “how do we override the unmanned vehicles?”

  The voice, in its usual overly talkative fashion, began explaining as Darren stopped the truck near the top of a hill, shutting it off. He didn’t plan on going any further. Border guards, some in the EXO:B-009 exoskeletons and some in uniform, could be seen moving across the paved parking area in the distance, the green glow of one of the UGVs patrolling near them. Our crash course on how to operate the unmanned vehicles allowed me to bring up displays for their information – its system identification, whether it was being manually controlled and from where or if it was on autpilot, what alert level it was on, and of course, how to take manual control.

  “The remainder of this undertaking I surrender to your demonstrably capable hands,” the voice said, “do not succumb to hopelessness, for I still may have a measure to contribute in your future endeavors. Until we speak again.” it added, pride once again coming through the electronic scrambling.

  There was no indication that whoever was behind the voice was no longer listening, but it said nothing more.

  After a few moments of quiet, Darren said, “Ya’ll know yer gonna die in there, right?”

  “At this point, it doesn’t really matter to us,” I said.

  “But what about me?” he asked, “are ya’ll gonna let me go?”

  “So you can go back to human trafficking?”

  “You think I wanted ta sell children?” he asked, the words coming from his mouth as if they tasted bitter, “I was doin’ what I had to. And a lot of them children are better off now than they was back across the border.”

  “Can I shoot him now?” Laura asked from the back seat.

  “We might still need him,” I said, but I wasn’t sure what for. “Let’s get this going.”

  “I am taking a UAV,” Laura said, more than a hint of pleasure in her usually deadpan tone.

  “Fine,” I said, “I’m going to take a-”

  Before I could even finish, an explosion erupted at the wall. I could already see the UAV she had taken flying unsteadily back around. When dust from the blast began dissipating, a large gap split the wall vertically. Another explosion burst from the same area, knocking the rest of the concrete down.

  I took over a UGV down on the pavement, ARs switching over to remote viewing from cameras mounted on the unmanned vehicle. Its display said it was a Standard Assault and Tactical Unmanned RecoN – SATURN – unmanned vehicle.

  It was disorienting at first, but I quickly adjusted. Using the command interface on the ARs, I started moving forward on its caterpillar tracks toward the command center built up against the wall. People ran helter-skelter in confusion as another explosion wracked the compound. I slid by unnoticed.

  “It really is a merry Christmas,” Laura said, her voice sounding disembodied as I navigated into the command center, “I almost can’t blame them for killing so many people this way.”

  The doors opened for me, but already an alert came up on the display that this wasn’t an authorized use of the UGV. I would become more noticeable now, but I throttled forward, rounding corners through the compound as fast as I could. None of the guards bolting through the hallways seemed to notice.

  This seems almost too easy. Why aren’t they-

  A large animal lept in my path.

  No, not an animal…

  A different kind of UGV. My display said it was a Special Assault Biomimetic Engineered Reconnaissance and Containment All-Terrain – SABERCAT – unmanned vehicle.

  Gritting my teeth, I pivoted the M249 SAW rifle and hit the command to fire. Bullets sprayed, tearing through the four-legged robot in front of me before it was able to get a shot off with its .50 caliber rifle. Still firing, I rolled forward, rounding a corner. Tinny screams sounded in my earpiece, blood splattering the corridor walls as the rifle mowed down three border guards.

  “Get us down there,” I ordered, “now.”

  “But what if they…” Darren protested.

  “The faster we do this, the faster we’re out of your hair,” I said, “go!”

  My display shook as Laura fired more Hellraiser missiles. Even as I drove the UGV remotely through the hall, seeing a deportation processing center ahead, I felt the truck start moving forward. The abundance of sensory stimulation was almost like having my mind reunified after a split-brain episode. Darren breathed heavily beside me, the pistol gripped tight in my hand still trained on him even though I couldn’t see past the remote display in my ARs.

  “Oh god…” he moaned as the din of shouting and gunfire amplified.

  When my UGV got to the deportation processing center, my hunch was confirmed. I could see on a monitor that Akira and Masaru were in there, Masaru lying on a bed as Akira looked out into the hallway at the commotion. I turned the vehicle around, heading back to the entrance to make sure it was cleared out for us. Just as I started shooting at two more guards, seeing at least one get hit, a message came up that said the UGVS had been manually overridden by a higher clearance, shutting down my remote display.

  Out the windshield, I saw breached wall approaching fast, smoke and dust blotting out the horizon above it.

  “They’re onto us,” I said, “Laura…”

  “On it.”

  A moment later another vicious crashing sound echoed across the desert, rattling the truck as we accelerated forward. Laura’s UAV slammed into the front of the command center, sending a rooster tail of smoke and debris hurdling over the wall. A chorus of shouts and pained screams followed.

  Darren skidded the truck to a stop on the pavement, dust kicking up. We faced a section of wall, five hundred meters away, reduced to rubble where Laura had bombarded it with Hellraiser missiles. People poured through the opening from the other side – the refugees had found their way in.

  “Shoot them!” someone shouted, gunfire already raining down on the torrent of people flooding through the smoking wreckage into Texas.

  “Get out,” I said, holding the pistol up to Darren.

  “But I-”

  “Just get out,” I said, watching him unbuckle and open the door. I turned to Laura, “lose the tech. They can use it to track us.”

  She looked like she wanted to protest for a moment before taking them out, tossing the tiny components across the pavement as she exited the truck. I did the same. Bent down, I ran. Gunfire popped. People hollered. A distant explosion rumbled.

  Arriving at the next vehicle, I put my back up to it. A mangled corpse lay with its legs still in the passenger seat, drops of blood dribbling into a puddle around it. Bullets glanced off pavement as Laura and Darren caught up.

  Darren moaned. “How are we going to-”

  “Shut up,” I said, raising my head above the wrecked vehicles hood.

  All the border guards faced away from us, taking cover behind other vehicles. They only concerned themselves with the hundreds of people pouring through the missing section of wall. A number of which had formed a line, firing back at the guards.

  I turned around, putting my back to the vehicle and wiped sweat off my forehead. Whatever reservations Laura may have had about getting rid of the tech were gone when she spotted the corpse’s M16 assault rifle. She pried it from his bloodsoaked hands with what passed for glee on her dour face.

  “They’re not firing at us,” I said, “come on.”

  Before Darren could protest, I grabbed him and started running. He let out a yelp as I pulled him along, ducked down, heading for the next cover. It was a long sprint. My vision narrowed as I drowned out everything except the next destination. No use worrying where a stray bullet might land.

  Finally, I lept behind the crate, catching my
self as I rolled. Darren fell forward, scraping palms and knees on gritty pavement. I jumped back up to a crouch, trying to catch my breath and see-

  “Shit,” I hissed, watching Laura stumble when a stray bullet hit the ground in front of her.

  She fell forward, dropping the rifle. I jumped out from cover and sprinted. She scrambled clumsily, trying to get up, and fell again. A bullet whizzed by me somewhere close enough I felt its heat. Laura was back on hands and knees when I arrived, grabbing her arms, pulling her up and running.

  “Stop!” she said.

  “Huh?”

  She shook my hand off, bent down and retrieved the rifle before moving again. I waited for her to get ahead of me and ran behind her. Another stray bullet glanced off the parking lot. Laura stumbled. I grabbed her. She caught balance. Both of us made it behind the crate. Darren had stayed, back up against the sand-blasted wood, face pale.

  “That was fun,” Laura panted.

  I grunted. Her weakened state is catching up to her, now.

  “Should we go back?” Darren asked.

  “No,” I said, “we’re almost there,” I signaled to the open doorway in the command center. “Let’s move.”

  I could tell Laura was tired, but she stoically readied herself. I pushed Darren out in front this time, shoving him forward. He resisted at first until he was exposed at which point he bolted forward. I then signaled for Laura to go. She gave a subtle nod and ran. I took off right after her. All of us made it to the doorway without incident.

  “Now what?” Darren asked.

  “In,” I nodded to the door, making Darren lead us into the compound.

  He stood dazed for a moment. All around people shouted, gunfire crackling to our left near the opening in the wall. A moment later another explosion went off right near us, rending a parked semi-trailer to ribbons. Chest ached, ears popped when the shockwave slammed into us, rattling the building.

  “They have exos!” someone shouted in the distance in English.

  Brazilian exos…?

  Darren seemed to understand this, running for cover in the command center. Laura and I followed. The ground trembled from another explosion some ways away. Chunks of siding fell from a hole blasted into the side of the building. Shouting echoed from the hallways. Darren stopped. Laura nodded at me and stalked forward, holding the assault rifle up.

  Something about being turned on by the image didn’t sit well with me. Especially in the midst of the violence.

  My right hemisphere…me.

  I ignored the thought, walking slowly behind her as she neared the corner. She crouched down to a prone position and then peered around the corner, almost immediately opening fire. There were shouts of confusion and pain as Laura rolled back over, a hail of bullets tearing up the floor.

  “It’s your UGV,” Laura said with a grin.

  “Who the fuck is over there?” someone shouted from around the corner.

  I turned back to Darren kneeling on the floor, looking like he was about to mess his pants. Laura glanced up at me and gave a nod. We both trained our weapons at him.

  “Get up,” I whispered.

  “Wait, what?” Darren said, panic in his voice.

  “You look like them,” I said, “We need you for cover.”

  “They’re gonna fuckin’ kill me!”

  “I’m going to fucking kill you if you don’t get up,” I said.

  He slowly got to his feet. I signaled with the pistol for him to hurry. He walked near the corner.

  “I’m not an intruder!” he shouted, wincing as he did, “I work for the border guard!”

  “Fuck you!” someone shouted from down the hall, “you fucking shot me!”

  “I thought you was one of ‘em!” Darren called back.

  “Where’s your tech?” the other voice asked.

  I nudged Darren with my pistol, signaling for him to go around the corner. He did so reluctantly, putting his hands in the air to show he wasn’t armed.

  “I lost it,” he said in a quieter voice now.

  “What department do you work for?” the other voice asked, “and who’s with you? Who was that girl?”

  Darren looked back over at us nervously. “She, uh…”

  Laura stepped out and stood behind Darren, aiming the rifle under his right arm and began firing. I shouted in protest as bullets hit metal. Another hail of bullets sprayed down the hall, at least two striking Darren as he fell backwards, knocking Laura over.

  I stepped out, aiming my pistol down the hall. There was a dead body, the UGV now sitting still. It had been controlled by him. I ran toward it, seeing it come back to life just as I got beside it, putting the barrel of my pistol up to the camera and pulled the trigger, shattering the lens.

  The M249 rifle pivoted back and forth, unable to see now. Down the hall Laura pushed herself out from under Darren’s body and stood up. Darren started slowly getting up, not making a noise until he tried propping himself up on the stub that used to be his left hand. He began screaming.

  “Quiet!” I hissed at him.

  The robot turned toward me, but still didn’t shoot. It was able to pick up sounds, but without imaging it wasn’t firing.

  I signaled to Laura to follow. She looked to Darren as he held the stump in front of him, a surprised look on his face, before she followed me.

  We both sprinted down the hallways in the direction I remembered until we found the deportation processing area. When I opened the cells, people began pouring out into the hall, just about to trample us when they saw our weapons.

  “Keep going,” I said in Spanish, signaling for them to continue moving.

  I led Laura to the cell where I’d seen them, finding Akira bent down by Masaru, taking medical equipment off him. He’d had several IV’s dripping into him with instruments to monitor his condition.

  “Going somewhere?” I asked in Japanese.

  Akira looked back at me, her face twisted in panic. When she saw who it was, she exhaled, collapsing down to the floor near Masaru, tears streaming from her cheeks. Laura and I approached.

  “I told you we’d get you out,” I said with a weak smile.

  “Where’s Yuki?” Akira asked, raising her head with renewed panic.

  “She’s safer than we are here,” I said, “come on. Let’s get out of here so you can go see her.”

  Akira jumped up and continued removing medical equipment from Masaru. He had a level of alertness in his eyes I hadn’t seen in a long time. Akira and I were the ones supporting Masaru this time as Laura walked ahead, keeping the assault rifle at ready. Masaru was able to be of more help with the walk this time, having regained some of his strength.

  When we got back to where we’d left Darren, we found him still sitting on the floor in front of the confused UGV, holding onto his left arm with this right, looking in horror at where his hand used to be. We were walking right by him before he noticed us.

  “My-my hand…” he said, “they-they shot my hand off…”

  “Who is that?” Masaru said weakly.

  “One of our captors,” I said, “I mean, I guess he did help...” Then in English, “we’re getting out of here. Hurry up if you want to come with us.”

  “My hand,” he repeated, “my fucking hand.”

  “Can I shoot him now?” Laura asked.

  “If you don’t get up, she’s going to finish you off,” I said, signaling to Laura.

  Darren seemed to register this, climbing clumsily to his feet, still whimpering. He hobbled behind us as we made our way back out toward the parking area, his left leg soaked in blood. Before we exited the compound, the sound of the firefight echoed down the halls. Akira remained determined as we walked out into the afternoon heat.

  To our right, a line of border guards in exoskeletons, a few in some new model, aimed their weapons away from us toward the busted wall. The new suit had EXO:B-024 stenciled on the back. The guards in the B-009s fired M16s toward trucks parked fifty meters away where armed ‘ref
ugees’ were hiding. The B-024 raised its right arm, launching a grenade. A deafening blast erupting around a personnel carrier. Another explosion cracked through the air as a UAV fired on a large group of people fleeing from the burning truck, followed by a much closer explosion, bursting in front of the border guards, sending three of them flying back. A body landed right in front of us, his skin red and charred, eyes hollowed out and oozing blood. Four shrill screams escaped his shredded mouth before falling silent.

  Akira and I stepped over the body, Masaru’s feet dragging across the corpse as we fled back to the truck. The windows on it were all shattered, several shrapnel holes dented into the side. When we got in, Akira insisted on driving.

  “None of you will drive fast enough for me,” she said as she tried starting the vehicle. It took three tries before it finally sputtered to life, and almost immediately Akira accelerated, kicking back dust behind us.

  Gunfire continued behind us as Akira careened across pavement into the desert, both Darren and Masaru moaning as we bounced over the rough terrain. An explosion thudded against the side of the truck, lifting it up onto the driver side wheels before crashing back down. The truck swerved as Akira tried to regain control.

  “What the hell…”

  Two SABERCAT UGVs bounded toward us from behind. Akira zigzagged, another plume of dust erupting upward beside us as an RPG exploded, barely missing the truck. No way to lose them in the wide-open terrain. One of the SABERCATs approached, the four legs easily keeping up. We lurched sideways, but the UGV maneuvered easily and kept up.

  “They want my other hand…” Darren murmured.

  “What do we do?” Laura asked just as another blast detonated near the truck, thrashing us around inside.

  Before I could answer, another explosion rang out, this one engulfing one of the UGVs. The other peeled off, turning left. Another pickup truck headed toward us, cheering Mexican ‘refugees’ in the back as the SABERCATs .50 caliber opened fire. Before even registering the sound, the other pickup truck was riddled with bullets, sending shards of glass and metal plummeting into the air. The truck swerved, tumbling over sideways. Limp bodies cartwheeled into the desert as the truck rolled, kicking up a cloud of sand.