Chapter Twenty-Eight - Stepping Up and Out

“Air filtration technology has changed significantly in the past decades. Most of this change was pushed by the increasing need for unpolluted, pure air that won’t ruin your lungs and fill your brain with lead and mercury. It’s why HVAC specialists are some of the best paid people in the infrastructure industry.”

--Extract from What to be When You Grow Up! a job-guide pamphlet, 2056

***

The civvies in the enclosure looked ready to go, or as ready to go as a dozen under-fed, slightly traumatized civilians could be under the circumstances. Shaun had one of the guns hanging by his hip, and I noticed the other was in the arms of a young woman who looked tense enough I figured she’d jump and shoot at the first thing she saw.

I didn’t ask about the two Sewer Dragons that had been left in one of the enclosures. I suspected they’d been used to bleed off some unhealthy emotions.

I stepped back from the enclosure, flicked off my invisibility, then walked back in, making sure to rattle the gates a bit. Didn’t need to freak anyone out. “Hey,” I said as I walked in. I had a lot of eyes on me. Somehow, knowing they saw me as some sort of saviour made the tension of so many people looking at me worse.

“Cat,” Shaun said. “I think we’re ready to move.”

I scanned the group. A few looked rough. Some of them, I imagined, were going through withdrawal or hadn't taken the meds they needed, but they were all on their feet.

Was it better to heal them up now, or move out and take care of them outside?

“We’re going to move now. We’ll be using the buddy system. Find someone, and stay next to them. If anyone’s injured, we’ll pair them with somebody in better shape,” I said. I couldn’t sound uncertain. If convincing these people to move was anything like herding my kittens, then hesitation would mean trouble for me.

“We can do that,” Shaun said. He moved back, tapping shoulders and telling people to partner up. It was nice having someone who could help while I just did my best to look cool.

“How are things coming along?” Gomorrah asked.

“Fine on my end,” I said. “We’ll be out in a minute or two. A lot of normal folk, and some of them haven't enjoyed the Sewer Dragon’s five-star treatment.”

“Understood,” Gomorrah said.

Once everyone was partnered up, I nodded and then gestured to the exit. “There’s another samurai out there. The girl with the big flamethrower. She’s on our side. Anyone else you see isn’t.”

I spun around and led them out. I kept myself visible too. They’d need someone to see, someone to reassure them they were safe.

It was often like that with the kittens too. If one of them got hurt, it helped to see someone nearby who could keep them safe.

We moved into the corridor and I noticed the folk behind me slowing down. Were they afraid of leaving the enclosure room?

Gomorrah stood nearby, a leg shaking with obvious impatience. “I checked out the room you cleared. It’s safe.”

“Cool,” I said. “Want to take the front, or the rear?”

Rac giggled, and I held back a laugh of my own when I realized what I’d said.

“You take the vanguard,” Gomorrah replied, unamused.

“Okay, people, follow me,” I called over my shoulder. I tugged my Icarus out from under my jacket and popped the spent magazine. “Myalis,” I muttered.

New Purchase: Non-Lethal Explosive Ammunition
Points Reduced from... 10,880 to... 10,870!

The ammo wasn’t too expensive, but I could only afford a thousand or so new magazines. That was a good amount, but I didn’t know when I’d get another bounty of points. The blueprint for the ammo was definitely going on my “to buy” list if I was going to use more of it. That way I’d get plenty more for essentially nothing.

Maybe I could hire Rac to work the printer? It used trash, as far as I knew.

The room I'd partially exploded was in shambles. Dust still clung to the air, and the ground was covered in smaller stones and chunks of cement.

There was also a huge-ass hole in the far wall. The other side was higher, so we’d need to step up to climb to it, but it wasn’t so bad as to need a ladder or anything.

I entered the hole and stared around the room. It was some sort of storage space, with boxes rotting in the corners and a distinct lack of light. My helmet’s visor compensated, but I imagined it wouldn’t be pleasant for the folk behind me. Then I noticed the light switch near the door.

“Alright, come on up,” I said as I leaned down and helped Shaun. He turned and helped the next person, and they did the same. The weakest of them were hoisted, and some of those more hale bounced through without difficulty.

“How far is the surface, ma’am?” Shaun asked.

“Not too far, I think,” I said. “A kilometre, maybe. Lots of stairs, and we don’t exactly have a straight-line path out of here.”

Shaun nodded. “Good, good. That’s not too bad. I don’t know if everyone here is in the shape to walk that much.”

I glanced back and noticed a few of the civvies panting with hands on knees; some of them looked a little yellow. Shaun might be right. “We’ll take it slow,” I said. “If anyone flags too much, tell me, alright?”

“Okay,” he said.

Gomorrah was the last one to climb up. She stood, turned, then sprayed a layer of foam over the hole in the wall. “That won’t stop someone determined, but it might slow them down,” she explained. “Besides, it masks the direction we moved in.”

I nodded, then moved to the door at the far end of the room. It led to a long, low corridor. More pipes on the ceiling, but these looked less like massive industrial things and more like standard air vents and plain old water stuff.

I glanced at the map Myalis had put up for me, then started forwards. I heard the folk we were rescuing lining up behind me. “Once you’re done bringing those people to the surface, what will you do?” Franny asked.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “We’re missing a lot of them, which means we need to head back down. But... I don’t know what to do or say to these people. They’ll be safer, at least.”

“I... don’t know what I’d do either,” Franny admitted. “But we can’t just leave them all on the side of the road somewhere.”

“Well, what do you want to do?” I asked.

“We could contact local law enforcement,” Gomorrah said.

“The cops? What in the world would they do to help? Shoot the minorities and the poor? I don’t know if you noticed, but none of these people are upper-class white men.”

Gomorrah sighed. “You’re not used to dealing with the police from the position you’re in. You’ll find that they’re very polite and helpful to anyone who’s a samurai. They’ll help. EMTs as well. They can write off the losses easily enough.”

I didn’t like it, but... Gomorrah hadn't steered me wrong yet. “Alright, but you call them. I’m liable to toss in a few slurs too many. Don’t need the cops that show up to be angry because I kept calling them pigs or something.”

“Sure,”Gomorrah said.

I glanced back. We were at the first set of stairs we’d need to climb. So far everyone seemed fine. If anything, moving around might have made them feel a little better.

I started to jog ahead. The power armour made the stairs easier to climb, and if we were going to run into any traps, I wanted to be the one to trigger them. I wasn’t invincible, but I was a damn sight harder to kill than the people behind me.

There weren’t any traps, just more corridors and passages, with a few doors to barge through along the way. Gomorrah didn’t notice anyone following us, and neither of our AI caught any interesting chatter.

In the span of thirty minutes, we were out of the maintenance areas and into a plainer corridor, one with beige walls and fluorescent lights. An old lady with a few bags, likely heading home, stared at us as we moved past to the double doors at the end.

Outside.

I stepped onto the sidewalk, then took a few steps forward so I was under the warm glow of the morning sun. Cars zipped overhead, and a few self-driving trucks rumbled by on the road.

“Oh, this is nice,” I said.

“Lady, you fuckin’ reek,” a hobo said from his spot on the ground.

“Get fucked,” I replied with all due respect.

There were giggles and a few hearty laughs as the folk behind me poured out onto the street, then Gomorrah followed them and nodded to me. “EMTs should be here within five, police two or three minutes after them.”

“Should we wait?” I asked.

She shrugged. “If you want. I think it would be wise.”

“Cool.” I pointed to a fire hydrant. “I’m going to pop that open, then stand in the water.”

“I... might join you,” Gomorrah said.

***