Death Drive

Chapter 27

He was about to kick open the rusted gate at the entrance of the sewer when he got himself under control. For a moment his anger and grudge had gotten hold of him, and he had just wanted to tear into his enemies and to hell with what happened to him. But he recalled to mind that he was doing this for them and therefore could not afford to be careless. Today was not the day to make his stand. Closing his eyes he inhaled deeply, concentrating on his diaphragm and exhaled even slower. He opened his eyes, and it was like one of those modern visual filters had been turned off so he could again see things clearly instead of through a lens of hate. He surveyed the yard on the other side of the bars before stepping out and walking crouched from one cover to the next, glancing over his shoulder regularly to ensure Lucas was still following, until he was by the dumpsters where they had left his car which he found under the front of trash. No sign of the people that had deserted in the night and even the vehicles that had scoured the streets just the night before where nowhere to be seen.

"Sorry about that back there," he told the younger man. "Shouldn't have grabbed you like that. When I get angry enough, it takes me a moment to get myself under control."

"Don't worry about it," he muttered.

"What can you tell me about the place they're being held?" he asked as he drove down the empty streets.

"It's one of Ampere's factories. Not much else."

"Why would they take prisoners there?"

Lucas shrugged.

"Wonder why we aren't being attack. A thousand cameras must have made us by now."

"They probably have something more important to do. They most likely don't see us as much of a threat right now."

"Guess so. Still, where we're headed will be guarded. Might be we're going against impossible odds."

"The odds have been against us the entire time."

"I just wanted to say that if we die I'm sorry I dragged you along but I'm going to need your skills and knowledge."

The young man turned to him which struck him as unusual for some reason. Then he realized he usually shied away from those speaking to him, his eyes darting around looking at everywhere but the other person's face. But now he was looking straight at him, his expression hard to read, and not just because the glasses hid his eyes.

"You're the best hope I've got," he vouched. "I think we have a chance to accomplish something great together. We can't let Routh win." Then he turned away and fiddled with his glasses.

Thomas wondered what could have caused the usually so insecure man to appear with a degree of composure. Such open admissions of feelings seemed unlike him. But he had been through a lot and had sticked with him even when everyone else had left. In a way, he pondered, the man had lost more than anyone as a system of his dreams had been at hand and then taken away and turned into a nightmare. So, it made sense even he, who seemed afraid of his own shadow, would be willing to take up the sword. He found a new sense of appreciation blooming for the man whom he had until now considered with feelings of barely kept contempt and pity.

A spare few autonomous vehicles gave perfunctory chase and were outran without much difficulty, so they mostly had open road all the way to the industrial area of the city. In a way that was more harrowing than the constant attacks, since he knew they were being followed by a hostile being with thousands and thousands of eyes, hands and teeth, and as he figured it would be better to see the predator rather than know it was stalking him somewhere in the treetops. His tension grew the closer they got to the enormous factory.

Large, lifeless facilities surrounded by rusted chain-link fences defined the industrial area. Most manufacturing had been delegated to machines, the same as transporting, packing and most other manual jobs until there was little reason for people to ever enter the area. As they left, so did cafeterias, stores and other services until just the machines were left to toil away in the no-man's land and things were left to crumble so the buildings and streets were dilapidated, the same as the rest of the city, but there was little trash to be seen as there was no one to litter.