Chapter 229: (Hesstla) (1/2)
For all she knew, she was driving in circles. Every time she was forced to choose which way to go the only way that mattered was away from smoke, white lines in the sky, or the sound of explosions, lightning, and buzzing. The car ran smoother and she was grateful for that. Her brother and sister played with the dataslate, playing games with Mewmew, while the baby laid on the floor in front of the passenger side of the bench seat and gnawed on her sucky to help her new teeth come in, the whole time glaring at Dambree with her amber eyes.
She drove with a bottle between her legs and the pistol on her lap, keeping one eye on the charge level, which was working again. She had no idea that the car was getting a lot better milage out of the charge that previously, the quick tuneup altering the mechanisms to be far more efficient.
Every time she finished a bottle, she slung it out the door, leaving it on the dirt of the road. At crossroads she slowed down and dropped a sippy bottle out the door to mark that she had gone that way prior.
The dirt roads were a long winding maze between fields of grain, fruit, and vegetables. The rain stopped and the day got hotter even though there was still heavy cloud cover.
She came around and corner and slammed on the brakes, making her siblings cry out and Mewmew stand up with its rear paws on the seat and its front paws on the dash.
In front of her was a black metal thing, stretching across the road, disappearing into the grain on either side. It had holes in it that no longer smoked, although she could see sparks inside of it. It had dozens of thick insect legs and she could barely see thick treads on the other side of the insect legs. It had protrusions, bulges, and half open irises.
She backed up quickly, driving almost a mile in reverse before she found a large enough spot to turn around. At the intersection she made sure to mark that one with three sippy-bottles before taking a left and hoping for the best.
An hour later she realized that she had only one way to go, and that was toward more smoke. She sighed, checked the pistol, seeing again LOW-V APERS on the little tiny display on the side, and set it in her lap. Her elbow hurt on her left arm, her wrist and shoulder hurt on her right arm.
She never thought driving could be tiring but Dambree felt like someone had stomped on her shoulder blades and back, her legs ached, and her feet hurt.
Driving toward the smoke, watching the sun slowly lower, she saw one of the big towers and slowed down. It was tall, at least two hundred feet tall, a metal lattice reaching up in the sky with dishes on the top and blinking lights.
”We're hungry,” Tru said.
”I know. Eat a nibble,” Dambree said.
”We're tired of nibbles,” Elu said.
”I know. So am I,” she said, taking another long drink off the bottle and slinging it out into the grain.
”Punee's stinky,” Tru informed her.
”I know,” Dambree said. The baby had been stinky for a while, but so far had seemed content to sit there with a full diaper and gnaw on her sucky.
The tower turned out to be in the middle of an open spot and Dambree pulled over, next to the tower, and shut off the car.
”Let's have something to eat, go potty, and walk around,” Dambree said, getting out and stretching. She almost dropped the pistol but caught it.
”There's no where to go potty,” Elu whined.
”Pee on the back tire of the car. Nobody will watch,” Dambree said.
Elu looked a little huffy but went around the back of the car.
”Mewmew is watching,” Elu complained.
”Mewmew's a robot. I'm sure you'll be fine,” Dambree said, picking up Punee, who promptly tried to smack her. Dambree grabbed a swaddling and another milky. She popped the tab on the milky, waited for the nipple to pop up once it was warm, then handed the milky to Punee, who spit the sucky out and started sucking on the milky.
At least she only tried to kick Dambree twice while she was being cleaned and changed. Dambree picked up the sucky, put it in her mouth to clean in, then put it in her pocket.
”Are those your clothes?” Tru asked. ”They don't look like your clothes.”
”I know. They are now,” Dambree said. She walked to the back of the car, pulled down her pants, and squatted, leaning against the back bumper.
”I have to pee too,” Tru said.
”Go ahead,” Dambree said, sighing in relief. Tru pulled her nightgown up and followed her sister's example, staring off at the field of grain like her sister.
”There's no potty wipes,” Tru said.
”I know. Sometimes there isn't,” Dambree said, standing up and pulling her pants up. She buckled the belt and shook her head, looking down at herself. A fuzzy checkered shirt over a dark shirt, heavy pants, boots.
She wouldn't have been caught dead wearing those clothing a week ago.
”Let's have a picnic next to the car,” Dambree said, digging in the back. She found some can of self-heat and started holding them out until her siblings each grabbed a can. She found a nice soup, picked Punee up, and walked over to where her siblings were sitting on the plascrete base of the tower.
”It's going to be dark again soon,” Tru said.
”I know,” Dambree said, staring at the fields.
”Mewmew's climbing the tower,” Elu said.
”Mewmew will be fine,” Dambree said, shoveling the food into her mouth. She didn't notice that it didn't really have a taste to her. It was almost mechanical, shovel the thick soup into her mouth, chew, swallow, repeat.
”Can we go...” Tru started to say when Dambree heard a faint roaring noise, getting louder.
”Get in the car,” Dambree ordered, grabbing Punee up, who promptly passed gas and laughed.
”But Mewmew,” Elu started.
”Mewmew can take care of himself,” Dambree snapped, hustling to the car. She climbed in, waving at her siblings, and laid down, holding all three of them tight.
The roaring got louder. It sounded like the Slorpys but not sputtery. It circled once then got really loud before cutting off. There was a whining sound overlaid by heavy sounding footsteps coming up to the car.
Dambree looked up and screamed.
It was a jet black bipedal robot with a skull face, wings lowered to the sides of its body, and a big gun with a drum underneath it. It looked fearsome and Dambree knew right there that her long run had come to and end.
She yanked out the pistol and put it against her brother's temple.
”Weapon lockout,” the armor said.
The pistol beeped and the words vanished to be replaced by ”LOCKOUT” on the side.
”Chromium Christ, kid, you were about fucking snuff your brother for no reason,” the big black robot said.
Dambree looked back at the robot in time to see the skull split down the middle then pull back to each side, revealing a brown skinned primate like the one she had hit in the middle of the road. The primate was sweaty, with eyes that had a glow in them that was slowly fading from red to amber.
”A Terran!” Tru squealed, wiggling to get loose.
Dambree sat up and Punee bit her arm, gnawing on it and drooling.
”What are you doing out here? This whole region's a battlefield,” the Terran said, moving up and kneeling down.
”Running,” Dambree said.
”Bree shot some people! They were trying to grab our stuff and one grabbed Punee and tried to pull her out of the car, but Bree shot them! She didn't have a shirt then! Bree ran over some people! Bree stole clothing! Bree stole the nibbles and sippies!” the words all came tumbling out of her siblings mouths.
The Terran just nodded, looking serious. ”That sounds like you've had an exciting night,” the Terran said.
Mewmew vaulted through the window and into Tru's lap. Tru started petting her without thinking about it.
”Bree didn't pay for the stuff we got from the store or for charging the car,” Elu said. ”There were bugs fixing the car but then they started shooting at Slorpys so Dambree drove away!”
”Bree ran over a Terran then a Slorpy got him then the light turned red on the Slorpys head and it started hitting itself,” Tru snitched.
”That where you got the pistol, kid?” The Terran asked.
Dumbree just nodded.
”That's a dangerous weapon,” the Terran said.
”I know,” Dambree said, thinking about how the guy trying to pull her out of the car had exploded.
”I'm going to unlock it if you promise not to shoot your little brother,” the Terran said.
Dambree nodded and the pistol beeped. When she looked at it it read ”Hi-V DP” on it.
”All right, this whole region is a shit-show and you can't stay here,” the Terran said.
”Why not?” Tru asked.
The Terran looked at her then pointed at the tower. ”That's a wireless signal repeater. Right now those are priority. You got lucky I heard your purrboi's SOS signal.”
”Where do we go?” Dambree asked.
The Terran heaved a breath in and out. ”I'm trying to raise an Evac Hospital or a Refugee Point, but the commo net is all hash,” he(?) said. ”You can't go back into the cities, and out here in dangerous.”
”I know,” Dambree said.
”To be honest, every time we put up an evac or refugee point those Precursors mass assault it. They really want large groups,” the Terran said.
”They suck out people's brains. SLUUUUURP!” Elu said.
”Yeah, we figured that out earlier today, kid,” the Terran said. ”These aren't like the other ones, these ones are a lot different.”
”Oh,” Dambree said. ”Have you seen machines like that before?”
The Terran shook his head, a quiet whirring sound accompanying it. ”No, these ones suck out brains.”