A Clockwork Green Ch. 11

I kneel down and run my hand through the green grass. The bathrobe I grabbed hangs open lewdly, untied, as I stare. Charlotte bursts out the back door a few seconds later, bedsheet wrapped tightly around her shoulders and dragging along the ground behind her. I look back over my shoulder at her. I'm sure her blank stare matches mine.

***

"Should I bring the ones marked yelloooh?"

"No, leave them," I say. Tubbins tucks the blueprints under his arm and scampers out of the garage. "Raphe! C'mere!" I squint and put the razor's edge to the ball in my hand again.

"Yes?"

I wait for him to jog in from the kitchen. "Is everyone else gone yet?"

"It's just me and Peat. Peat's gone as soon as he finishes loading up his pack."

"Make sure he doesn't just grab all the potatoes. Gotta be some cans with green stuff."

"I'll make sure." He hesitates and takes another step forward. "Mack?"

"Yeah?" Just a couple more etches.

"What's happening?"

"They're gonna find us now," I say, terser than I meant.

"Weren't they always gonna find you guys? Here? At your house?" I frown and keep going. One more, and then a little bit of ink. "I mean, there's a big sign with your name on it!"

"Charlotte needed to be somewhere familiar. Had to risk it."

"And this 'gress' stuff is a problem?"

"Any airship up high enough is gonna see it. They'll know something is different. It's the only vegetation for hundreds of miles and it wasn't there 6 hours ago.. Only takes so many tongues waggin' before it gets back to someone who matters."

Raphe steps right up next to me, keeping his voice low. "How did that get there?"

"We don't know!" I wink a few times and take a deep breath. "I'm sorry. That came out harsh. We have no idea. It's somethin' about us."

Raphe takes a half step back. I pop open the orange ignis bottle on the desk and lay a careful stroke down into the groove on the side of the ball. "Are you..."

"We don't know. We don't know anything. It's one or both of us, almost certainly both of us, and it's getting worse." Delicate. Delicate now! "You should check on Peat. You know where you're going?"

"Y-yeah."

I turn and look up. "If you guys aren't there, we'll understand."

Raphe nods slowly, and calls to Peat as he heads out into the hall. I blow softly on the ink and dab at the corner with a cloth. Now or never...

I grimace, lift up my scarred eyelid, and push the aluminum ball into the socket. Oh... Oh! The shape is a little off. Fuuuuck, that's uncomfortable... Size can be fixed, though. I take a deep breath and mutter, and the imbuement comes to life.

I scream and fall to my knees! It fucking burns! GODS, GET IT OUT!

I claw at my eyelid, and in seconds it's out. I probe around in a panic, but there's no actual burns. Everything feels fine. Or at least, it feels like it did before I started. I can't quite seem to open my eye though, so I settle for hyperventilating while the memory of pain fades. The front door slams shut distantly. After a few minutes, I put the ball in my pocket and grab my eye patch off the desk as I head upstairs. Fix it later.

Charlotte is standing in front of the bed. The over-the-shoulder scabbard is strapped to her back, but she's got the sword out in her hands and she's just staring at it. "I don't think I should..." I'm still breathing heavy as I step up next to her. She tries to hand the blade to me.

"Is she telling you you shouldn't have that?" Charlotte nods reluctantly. "You may never get rid of her voice." Charlotte nods again. "You don't have to listen to it though. You were born to wield one of those." She gasps as my hand slips inside her waistband to grab her length. "What is that voice telling you right now?"

"Th-that you aren't good enough," she says fearfully.

"And what are your instincts telling you?" I give her a little squeeze and she sighs.

"More," she whispers breathily.

"Trust your instincts, Charlotte." She licks her lips nervously, and slides the sword over her shoulder and into it's sheath. "Come on. We need to go." She nods and falls in step behind me. I hustle down the stairs, throw open the front door, and step-

"HALT!"

I step backwards. Charlotte touches my arm, which I hadn't even realized I'd thrown out in front of her. Fucking surrounded! Again! Glass shatters back in the house; they're filling in behind us. My eye hardly knows where to look as I try to assess numbers. The black, blue, and grey of the Peace Department is everywhere.

"That's them!" Charlotte gasps as Rasputin steps through the line of officers with his finger pointed. "On the honor of my house, I witnessed these two viciously attack and murder Lady Amaranth, as well as a number of her guests!"

"What?!" Two mechs on my right step forward menacingly at my outburst. Both of their arm cannons raise up. "That fucking whore kept us prisoners for a month!"

The ranking asshat, or at least the one with the most bars on his chest, steps up. "Mackenzie O'Reilly! Charlotte Hamilton! You are hereby ordered to stand fast! Desist and-"

"Fuck this," I shout. I point my hand down in front of my feet and let off a Boomer. The explosion knocks both of us back into the house, but I manage to shield Charlotte from the worst of it. I roll off of her and look back. Beyond the front door is an impenetrable cloud of smoke. I turn back just in time to see a man dressed in the black, blue, and grey come barrelling out of the kitchen only to be impaled on Charlotte's blade. Her fluid stabbing motion reverses instantly, and the man gapes as he tumbles. She and I look at each other for a moment. "See? Good instincts!"

She bolts for the garage, and I'm right behind her. Once I'm through the door, she topples over one of my toolboxes to block it shut. I hop onto the tricycle I'd stolen, and it roars to life between my legs. Her arms wrap around my shoulders as I back it up to the rear wall. I try to shout that 'this is going to hurt,' but I can't even hear myself. The door budges beside me, and I gun it.

The big garage door shatters. A half dozen peace officers, shock painted on their faces, turn as we plow into their ranks. Dumb luck has me avoid one of the Walkers. We jump the curb into the street before there's any gunfire, and it's only another second before we barrel into the boarded-over structure.

The front of the bike scrapes viciously against the ceiling of the stairs. My shoulder brushes it too, and for one terrified fraction of a second, I'm really wishing I'd ducked my head to the right and protected that eye a little better, but then we're falling. The rear axle cracks as we land, and I go tumbling. I kick out one arm and a leg and start sliding, but as soon as I have my other arm raised to try to cover our retreat, I skid over the edge of another flight of stairs and start tumbling all over again.

Charlotte lifts me up by my armpits once I stop tumbling. I dizzily throw a few boomers behind us; no one is in visible pursuit, but it's just a matter of time. We stumble onto the platform and jump down between the tracks. The tunnels are poorly lit. Regularly spaced exhaust pipes that go all the way up street level help, but it's pretty dim even directly beneath them because of the distance.

A Walker comes crashing down one of the pipes behind us. I lob a boomer at it, and curse as it sails wide. This is why you aim at the floor or the wall, Mack! "Yeah, I know!" I lob another one at it's feet as it takes aim at Charlotte and pops off a few rounds, and it topples. Charlotte is looking back at me quizzically. "Oh shut up," I huff.

Another Walker comes crashing down the pipes, and lands directly in front of Charlotte. In one move, she has the blade drawn and ignited. She leaps up onto the things knee and drives the flaming blade through the canopy door. Her shoulder slams into center immediately after and tips it over. She somersaults over the top of it and lands in stride. Gods, she's magnificent!

"How did that feel," I shout as we run.

"Really, really good!" She grins and bites her lip.

Another crash and I turn. Another Walker dropped down 30 yards behind us, and 50 yards past that, there's more coming around the bend. I lob a few boomers indiscriminately and the tunnel in front of us straightens out. The big switching hub is the light at the end of the tunnel literally and figuratively. Suddenly, a heavily armored mech drops down in front of us, right at the mouth of the tunnel

"Vesper," I shout.

Charlotte ducks down as she runs. I fire a few bolts at the titan as it rises to it's full height. She and I both serpentine, with me crossing behind her. The thing raises it's left arm, with a heavy machine gun mounted to the forearm, at me, tracking me as I try to circle it.

Charlotte streaks in and jumps. She hooks her arm around its arm and swings up into the air behind it. As she hits the apex of her arc, she spins and brings her now-flaming sword down just behind the cannon, severing a hydraulic hose and a few control wires. The monstrosity whips around and catches her with a broadside swipe. It's attention turned away from me, I hit it right between the shoulderblades with a boomer.

I only stagger it. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Charlotte is up on her knees. I pump out ten boomers in an arc across the ceiling above the armored mech, and it disappears in a cloud of downrushing debris.

She slowly rises to her feet as I jog over to her. Blood trickles from the corner of her mouth, and she's clutching her rib, but she's grinning. "I never had the chance to do a Vesper with the Captain."

"Me either," I say, scooping up her blade and tossing it to her. She grabs it mid-air and we limp towards the track-switching control building. Peat pokes his head out of a smaller tunnel behind it and waves at us. "Hell of a morning, huh?"

"That, Mistress, is an understatement."

We slip unnoticed into one of the service access tunnels that run parallel to the disused rail system. It's significantly smaller, but there's a little handcar on smallscale tracks. Raphe and Peat work the lever like a seesaw. The rest of us crowd around and sit off the edges as we hurtle through the dark after my kite.

***

"Don't stop here," Tubbins pleads. "There's Deadies over there!"

"They're fine," Sera says. "They don't even know we're here."

I hope off the cart and stretch my legs a little. The deserted maintenance station looms in the dark. It's big enough for all of us to stretch out in, and I can't wait for some rest. The kids are having a jumble of conversations all at once now that they can hear each other, like they were saving up all their thoughts until it was quiet enough for someone else to hear them. Charlotte plants herself by the door once we're inside, keeping it barely cracked as she watches.

"So you guys're gonna stay here, right?"

"Right." Raphe and Sera say it together, and then blush.

"Charlotte 'n me are gonna head out to the P'fessor's. See if her skiff is still airworthy, and then we'll come back for you."

"Mistress," Charlotte says from the door, "some of those 'deads' are coming over here."

"They're harmless," Sera insists, but Charlotte frowns and slips out the door. "She's not gonna hurt them, is she?"

"Not unless she has to," I say as soothingly as I can, but Sera doesn't look convinced. "Now, once we pick you up, Charlotte is gonna guide us out into a shipping lane, and we'll see if we can't find an airship that'll take us on. Even if we don't find one, our heading should take us near water long before we run out..." Voices are rising outside. The kids slowly turn, some terrified and some just confused. I step outside after Charlotte.

She's yelling too. "-off!" One of them stumbles backwards away from her. She pulls out her sword, lifts it high overhead,and taps her thumb against the underside of the hilt. The blade flares brightly in the dimness. Dozens of deadies become visible, half surrounding Charlotte. I cross the space between us to stand at her side.

"You come!" One of them whimpers. "You come!"

"You come!" The group of them repeats it, voices overlapping. Men and women. Young and old. Ratty hair, dirty rags, and sallow skin are the only unifying features among them.

"Come where," I ask hesitantly.

"Him," they all say, together. Charlotte and I both take a step back.

Suddenly, Rissa screams out behind us. I spin. One of the has her head in it's hands, but it's staring at me. "No hurt," it whimpers. "You come, no hurt!"

"Whistler?"

"Whistler," I reply. I raise my hand and unleash a bolt at the one holding the girl. Charlotte's blade whirls behind me, casting fast-moving shadows as she lays into the crowd. Bolt, bolt, bolt as I turn, dropping three more. Charlotte is in their midst, carving a swath. Some charge her weakly, some turn and amble away, but all of them fall quickly. Rissa nods her head at me that she's alright. "Did you hear them say 'him'?"

"They said it just like she used to", Charlotte says. "Full of... reverence."

"These... shells... are his doing, and he has them looking for us." I kick one to make sure it's down. "They know who he is. Or maybe where he is."

Charlotte turns to the kids. "Where do the deadies congregate?"

***

"Oh my gods, they're everywhere down here." I step back from the end of the service tunnel, and Charlotte moves up to take my place. Most of the kids are waiting a little ways behind us "Why The Grasp though?"

"I dunno," Raphe shrugs and peeks under Charlotte's arm. "They go back and forth from here to somewhere under the Havenwood district. We never looked further because it didn't matter."

"What are we even doing this close to so many of them," Rissa practically shrieks.

"It was one thing when this was a.. whats the word? um... Nebulous! A nebulous threat," I say. "Now we know roughly where it's coming from, and I wanna know more."

"We need some sort of distraction," Charlotte says, staring out over the sea of empty stares. "Or we need to start doing a lot of killing."

"Look at them all," Raphe quietly exclaims. "They're like a herd!"

"Oh, that's good," I say. "That's real good. Hey, Cherry... see if any of them grabbed that bottle of whiskey?"

She smiles deviously and nods. "Thinking of putting on a fireworks show, Mistress?" Peat takes a few steps back, clutching his bag, and she goes straight for him. She clucks her tongue and shakes her head as she yanks the bottle out of his bag.

Gods, I love that girl. I nod at her and turn to face the crowd. "Toss it when you're ready, babe." I need a large dispersal pattern of fire here, more to scare them than to do any real damage. They may be barely better than animals, but even animals know enough to run from fire. I'd rather not do any more killing today if I don't have to. I begin to charge up a kite, waiting for Charlotte to throw it overhead.

"Fire in the hole!" She giggles as she throws it over handed, sailing over the crowd of Deadies. The kite streaks through the air in chase, striking the bottle with a flash and igniting the contents of the bottle as it shatters. Liquid flame showers the herd, and they begin to trample one another in order to get away from the fire. Three boomers arc out over the crowd and explode to great effect, driving them even further away and opening a path for us.

"Come on. Lets get a move on before they put two and two together. You got point, girl?" Charlotte nods silently as she runs on ahead. "Ya'll stay here and stay outta sight, ye hear me? Sera, Raphe... make sure they do it, ya got it?" Both nod fearfully as I take off after Charlotte at a dead run.

"What are we doing here, Mistress?" We skid to a stop between a concrete shaft as thick as our house and a rail car. Charlotte peers around the edge while I get low and peek under. The shrieks and cries of the Deadies echo in the cavernous chamber.

"I'm tired of running from a pronoun. If we're gonna run, lets at least figure out why." Charlotte pulls out her new shotgun, checks the counter I put in the handle, and then checks the barrel. I step to the far side of the car and take a beat. The massive station, once the pinnacle of urban sophistication and technology, is an absolute wreck. I'd have thought this was some sort of industrial shipping yard at a glance, but the skeletal remains of a ticket window, and holes in the stairs where there would have been a bannister... "Go!"

We scurry from car to car as even the whispers of echoes fade to nothing, until we finally reach the massive platform. "Hard to believe there's such a big hole in the ground underneath The Grasp," I say, looking around. The ceiling must be 200 ft high.

"They don't build them like this anymore." Charlotte shakes her head, but then immediately ducks back down below the platform and waves me back. A rhythmic thudding, getting louder. I rise up an inch and...

A mechanical sentry hops down off of a different part of the platform, and strides across the empty tracks. It walks... oddly. Ploddingly. It's torso is a large flat surface, with arms and legs attached to it rather than flowing out organically. Charlotte waves her hand, curling up two fingers and pointing towards the stairs. Two more, but I keep watching the first one. It's heading towards the dying embers of the fire we started...

Charlotte eases the shotgun out of it's holster. I follow her eyes. The two she's tracking come down the stairs, but only briefly glance in toward us before turning in the opposite direction. The first one, however, is now staring at the scorch marks I made, and he's getting really close to the service tunnel. Charlotte gasps, slaps a hand over her mouth, and with the other points to the tunnel. I have to really squint, but after a moment I can make out Tubbins' tiny helmet poking around the corner.

"Get them outta here," I whisper-shout as I hop up onto the platform. "HEY! HEY!!"

"Halt," The first one screeches. "Stand fast! Halt!" It turns toward me and begins crossing the yard in a straight line. I smirk and shake my head, and unleash a boomer right at it. I turn to the other sentries just as it explodes and fire two more at the approaching machines. Charlotte scampers across the yard, circling wide around the combat. "Halt!"

I turn in horror to see the first one was barely slowed down. I hit it square! Center mass! I glance over, and the other two aren't down either. Charlotte is halfway there... I turn and run towards the two at the bottom of the stairs. Keep the focus in this direction.

Another one had been hiding in the rubble on the platform. "Stand fast!" I skid to a stop just out of his reach, and grit out the hottest torch I can manage. The heat reflecting off of him is almost too much for me to handle, and I have to take another step back as he lumbers on. Another step back. "Haaalt!" I throw everything I have into it and the thing stumbles to it's knees, voice warbling.

A metal hand clamps around my wrist and lifts me up off the ground. "Halt!" I scream, plant my free hand against it's head and unleash, but the second sentry grabs it. They hold me up in the air like a wishbone. "Stand fast!"

***

I skid across the floor of the boiler room, curled up while air returns to my lungs. The sentry turns around and walks back out the door.