“I’d better, uh …” Dodd indicated the direction that Toby and Bob had gone.
“You go. We’ll take care of Savina.”
“Thanks.” Dodd turned, feeling a peculiar reluctance to leave. He forced himself to trot off toward Bob, who was still at the corner. As he ran he felt he had thrown all his emotions up into the air, and they were raining down around him at random. He felt bad, he felt good, he felt guilty, he felt like a traitor.
Bob spotted him coming up the street, and waved.
“The alley was a dead end,” Dodd said. “Where’s Toby?”
“He went off that way, toward the subway,” Bob said. “I’m here in case she doubles back.”
“If you see Toby, tell him I went this way,” Dodd said, pointing in the opposite direction Toby had gone. He waved and trotted off down the city sidewalk, avoiding other pedestrians and hoping to get himself utterly lost. He didn’t care where he went, he just didn’t want to be found again.
The end of the world, he thought. The end of the fucking world.
#
Inside the box it was hot and smelled of moldy coffee grounds. The deep black color was soaking in the sunlight that the white concrete all around it was reflecting. When Dodd had opened the lid a rush of cool air hit her and revitalized her, but now that it was closed again the oven effect was back and her blue jumpsuit was becoming soaked with her sweat.
Savina waited, as Dodd had told her. She knew he’d help her, she just knew it. She loved him more than anyone in the world at that moment. The crush she’d always had on him matured, blossomed.
She was in love with him now.
A woman’s voice from outside the dumpster spoke her name.
“Savina, we’re going to help you. I’m going to throw a shirt and a hat in, I want you to put them on before you come out. The shirt is overlarge, you can wear it like a dress. Take off that jumpsuit.”
Take off the jumpsuit? She had only panties and a bra on underneath. The top opened only long enough to let in a rush of air and a few cloth items, then it was closed again. Savina stood, lifted the lid just enough to peek outside. It was the Indian woman.
Savina struggled out of her jumpsuit in the cramped box, then put on the shirt and the wide-brimmed felt hat. The shirt hung almost to her knees. She opened the top and she self-consciously pulled herself out of the dumpster, dropping to the ground next to the woman. “My jumpsuit,” she mumbled, looking back.
“Leave it,” the woman said, closing the lid. “My name’s Evelyn. We have to hurry.” She led Savina down the alley toward the street.
“Are you a friend of Dodd’s?”
“Yes. Don’t be frightened, but I’m going to get jumped. Get ready. Someone’s going to grab you, but it’s a friend.”
They emerged from the alley right into the line of sight of two police drones. They were ugly oblong floating bugs about 2
meters long and painted black; scanning receptors swung back and forth like antennae and legs on a insect. Savina was so close she could hear the servos whirring.
Two men jumped from the crowd and tackled the Indian woman to the ground. The Indian woman screamed at the top of her lungs, and the men swung their fists, smacking brutal blows. Arms grabbed Savina from behind and pulled her back. It was a large redheaded man with a beard, he stepped in between Savina and the fight, blocking her view of the drones.
“Help!” the Indian woman screamed. “Oh, help me! Rape! Rape!”
“Eeeyaa!” one of her attackers yelled.
The red-haired man and Savina backed away slowly, very slowly. Both police drones moved to hover over the fight, and a mechanical voice warned them to cease and desist immediately. The second drone pulled back, moving around to scan the growing crowd.
Rocks flew from nowhere and pelted it, drawing it away as it searched for the source. One of the wavering insect legs was a stunner gun; it began zapping indiscriminately into the crowd as it grew disoriented. The other drone was busily spraying down the Indian woman and her attackers with an aerosol paralysis gas.
Within seconds they were limp.
Savina and the red-haired man made it to the outside edge of the crowd and he directed her to slowly turn and begin walking away. “Walk,” the man told her. “Walk calmly. Never run. I’ll be behind you.”
Savina turned and walked down the sidewalk toward the northeast, walking slowly. She couldn’t stand it, she had to run, but she trusted the man and walked, trusting Dodd, biting her lower lip and feeling that all eyes were on her. Every footstep was an agony, every yard she gained an eternity. She doubted she would get as far as the corner.
Her imagination put one of the police drones right over her shoulder, following silently, scanners looking right into her mind, into her thoughts. Just following, knowing she would not be getting away – any sudden moves and it would be a hiss of gas and she’d drop to her face on the pavement. She hoped to God the footsteps right behind her was the redhead. He wasn’t close, but he was pacing her.
Straight down the street in front of them came a manned police cruiser, racing through the air about four meters over the street traffic. It was heading right for her. “Don’t run,” the red-bearded man said to her in a conversational tone. “Look right at them, watch them as they approach. If you avert your eyes or break your stride you’ll catch their attention.”
“I thought if you look at them then you catch their attention?”
“That’s if it’s a program watching you. These are people in an air launch, they’re used to people looking at them. They’re always watching for people who don’t want to be seen.”
The police cruiser passed practically overhead, and she turned and watched. They ignored her completely. The cruiser lowered to the ground and two sharply-dressed women jumped out, stun pistols in their hands. One began questioning the people in the crowd about what had happened, and the other began accessing the intelligence in the drones. When she finished with the first drone it rose up into the air and began drifting toward Savina.
“Oh shit,” she said.
“Don’t get nervous, it’s just scanning. Let’s turn and walk away.”
The man put a arm around Savina and they continued their walk down the street. They reached the corner and turned left, walking around the block. Ahead, on the other side of the street, stood Bob Recent. “He knows me,” Savina said to her companion.
“He knows me too. Damn.” He glanced over his shoulder, saw that the drone was still heading in their direction. “If we double back, we’ll catch that fucking thing’s attention.”
“I’ll stand on this side of you,” Savina said, crossing to his other side so that he was between her and Bob.
“It’s not going to do much good.”
“Did he see me?”
“I don’t know. He’s seen me, he’s coming this way.”
“Marauder!” Bob’s voice called out. Savina felt stupid hiding behind this man, Bob was going to see her anyway. They had gotten half way down the block, and the police drone had turn the corner and were still pacing them.
“This is it,” Danny Marauder said to her in a low voice.
“You’re going to be on your own, now. Go for the old college in the Depopulated Zone. Stay away from security monitors if you can.”
“What old college?”
Danny didn’t answer. Bob had reached them, and he saw Savina.
“Hey,” he said. “You found her.”
“Found who?”
“Savina!”
“That’s not Savina,” Danny said, and punched Bob in the stomach. Bob gasped for breath, looking very confused. Danny hit him again, very hard, and Bob fell to the ground. Danny took off running, and the police drone came rushing after him. He swung on it, a gun in his hand from the inside of his shirt. There was a deafening concussion, and part of the drone disintegrated in millions of flying shiny pieces, like glitter, and the machine began spinning in midair. It made a noise like a wounded animal, bleeding smoke and parts, spinning faster and faster as it rose up into the air. Its spinning quickly reached a terminal velocity and it flew apart with a startling bang. Danny, running again, disappearing into an alley way. Another drone seemed to come from nowhere and when hurtling after him. Both disappeared from Savina’s view, and there was another loud concussion, then silence.
Just walk away, Savina told herself. She put one foot in front of the other, took a step, felt herself moving. It all seemed so unreal. She was walking away, she was just walking away, and more police drones were flying in from all directions like giant angry wasps, buzzing in the air, crowding into the alleyway where Danny Marauder had gone. She walked away, down the street, her muscles taut and her spine stiff, but she was walking away, just walking away.