Extensis Vitae

Chapter 20



Reznik felt like he was being crushed in a massive fist of pressure from the blast. The vacuum effect from the thermobaric grenade made it feel as if his lungs were being squeezed shut. He was dimly aware of his clothes catching fire as he allowed the shockwave to propel him toward the far exit.

With his augmentations boosted to maximum, he raced across the room with astonishing speed. The wounded outlaw woman was screaming, her hair and clothing on fire as she futilely tried to crawl away. Reznik snatched her by the arm and hoisted her up as he bolted to the hallway, the expanding fireball at his back.

Rin was a blur ahead of him as she streaked out of the room. Reznik raced down the corridor and rounded the corner into the next room, just avoiding the column of flame that roared down the hallway in search of escape.

Reznik dropped the woman unceremoniously to the floor and took a deep breath of the sweet oxygen. He glanced up as he noticed Rin across the room from him. She was covered in soot and blood, yet her turquoise eyes gleamed brightly in the gloom.

Meeting his eyes, her lips twitched up into a half-smile. “You’re still on fire,” she announced sardonically.

“Shit.” He dropped and rolled on the ground as he had been taught back in grade school. After he put out the flames and got back to his feet, he noticed the strong stench of singed hair and burned flesh in the room. The outlaw woman cried as she weakly tried to pat out the flames on her hair and clothes.

Rin yanked a tarp free from some canisters. She snapped it open and Reznik grabbed the other end. They wrapped it around the woman, smothering the flames.

“WARNING!” Reznik jumped as an automated voice blared over the PA system. “THERE IS A FIRE IN THE FACILITY. PLEASE EVACUATE LEVEL D IMMEDIATELY. ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO YOUR DESIGNATED RALLY POINTS.” The message repeated itself several times and then went quiet.

An electric whirring sound approached from outside the storeroom. Reznik poked his head into the hallway to see a pair of robots barreling down the hallway toward the fire. The robots resembled fire extinguishers on wheels: they were round and squat, painted bright red, and their arms looked like massive fire extinguisher nozzles.

“Sir, please evacuate the area immediately,” one of them called out as they rolled past. The robots disappeared into the thick smoke and flames of the storeroom. A moment later, he could hear the blasts of fire retardant as the robots battled the blaze.

The woman—Izzy, Rin called her—was in rough shape. In addition to the gunshot wound in her thigh and a broken collarbone, her skin was blistered with severe burns and most of her hair had been burned away. She lay still now, and Reznik didn’t know if she had passed out or died, but he knew she wouldn’t last long. He knelt over her and was relieved to see that she was still drawing breath. The wet rasp of her breathing indicated she probably had a collapsed lung, which had likely resulted from the shockwave generated by the thermobaric grenade. He hoped she would cooperate, as he didn’t have the stomach to torture an injured woman. Just remember who these people are and what they’ve done, he told himself.

Rin must have seen the distaste on his face. “I can question her, if you prefer,” she offered.

Reznik shook his head. “The responsibility is mine. I’ll do it.”

“Listen to me, Izzy,” he began. “I can ease your pain, but first I need information. If you don’t cooperate, I can make your pain much worse.”

“You don’t need to torture me—I’ll talk.” Her voice was a painful wheeze. “What does it matter anymore? Haze and all the others are already dead. I’m as good as dead, too. I could care less about protecting his secrets.” She went into a coughing fit. Blood flecked her lips as the coughing subsided.

“I need you to tell me everything that happened after you left here with the prisoners.”



***



After Izzy had told them what she knew, Reznik eased her passing by delivering a quick knife strike into her brain stem. She hadn’t had a whole lot of information, but it was enough to give Reznik a starting point in his search for the missing colonists.

He and Rin went back to the scene of the battle and looked around. The fire had been extinguished, leaving a smoldering ruin behind. They searched the charred bodies, but it appeared that Mason had managed to escape the inferno.

“He’s dangerous… I don’t like the thought of him getting away, and I certainly don’t relish the idea of him waiting for the opportunity to set an ambush for us. Hopefully we can catch up with him before he gets too far.” Rin nodded in agreement.

Reznik checked himself for damage now that the danger was past. From the wounds crisscrossing his torso, he looked like he had fought a band saw and lost. The teeth from Angus’s chain had shredded his uniform and torn bloody gouges in his flesh. The stab wounds in his abdomen seemed to be relatively shallow from what he could tell by gingerly probing at the wounds. Fortunately, his nanites had stopped the bleeding, and the cuts were beginning to scab over already. He still had a couple of ugly bruises on his arm and ribcage where he had been hit by Mason’s slugs, but no major damage had been inflicted. Other than those wounds, just minor burns and bruises covered his body. A good night’s sleep, and hopefully most of that will be gone.

They scavenged whatever weapons and ammo they could find that was still usable. Reznik was pleased to discover a Winchester bolt-action hunting rifle strapped to one of the unfortunate outlaws whose neck had been shredded by shrapnel from the anti-personnel mine. The rifle appeared to be in working order, and there was even some .308 ammo on the body.

“It looks like a slaughterhouse in here. Flash-fried meat,” he said as he poked around at the corpses. He was surprised at the number of bodies with fatal sword wounds. “You know, I had my doubts about anyone that brings a sword to a gunfight, but damn, you sure did some damage with that thing! I’m impressed,” he remarked with a glance at Rin.

She was leaning against the wall, wiping the grime off her sword with a rag. “What can I say—I’m not a fan of guns,” she replied, focused on cleaning her weapon.

“What about chainsaws?” He kicked at the chainsaw, but it was lodged in someone’s ribcage. He didn’t know why anyone would use such a clumsy weapon. Must be for the fear factor, he thought. Rin’s only reply was a derisive snort.

After acquiring an Uzi, a couple small handguns, and various knives and ammo, Reznik decided that everything worthwhile had been salvaged. As they prepared to return to the common area and gather their supplies, he nearly tripped over the chain that Angus had used to ensnare him. He kicked it aside and rejoined Rin in the hallway.

“Those bastards would have had me there if you hadn’t come to my aid when you did. Thanks.” It came out almost shyly as they walked side-by-side down the hallway.

The small woman glanced up at him. “You really should consider giving up the guns and just getting yourself a good sword. They can be quite useful.” Her smile was fleeting, but it was the first genuine one Reznik had seen.



***



They took turns standing guard near the tunnel just in case Mason decided to return with any more nasty surprises. Both of them took the opportunity to shower and clean themselves up. They decided it would be best to rest briefly and get an early start in the morning.

Reznik scavenged a new uniform from an empty room since the one he was wearing was shredded, burned, and bloodstained. It wasn’t even worth the effort to try to clean and repair the one he had been wearing. No shortage of these uniforms anymore. It’s not like there’s anybody here to miss it, anyway, he thought. He also found a duffel bag in which to stow his growing arsenal.

At Rin’s suggestion, they collected a crate full of fuel cells and other electronic parts that she thought might be useful for bartering. Rin had recovered her pack of personal belongings from somewhere inside the colony. Together they gathered as much food and water as they would be able to carry on the bikes that Mason’s men had left behind.

Reznik attached the last comm relay and called back to Colony 12 on his Datalink. The connection was clean, and he informed the contact that his part of the mission had been successful. The contact relayed his well wishes to Reznik, and asked him to collapse the tunnel on the way out. Reznik informed him that he would, and terminated the call.



***



The circuit board crunched beneath the heel of Reznik’s boot. After using the mining rig to collapse the ceiling, he had torn the circuit board and wiring harness out of the machine, rendering it inoperable. The breach in the wall was now buried beneath tons of rock and dirt.

Reznik didn’t know what the colonists would do if any strays from Colony 13 showed up (assuming he was able to rescue any of them, or if they escaped on their own), but he guessed they would figure something out.

He and Rin slogged through loose rock and dirt, kicking up an orange-brown cloud of dust, as they labored tirelessly up the steep slope of the tunnel. His eyes settled on Rin for a moment as she walked a few yards ahead of him. Her ponytail swayed from side to side and she vigilantly kept one hand on the scabbard of her katana where it hung at her waist. Soon we will find out how far I can trust you, he thought.

With a brief glance at his HUD, he noted the countdown timer. “TIME REMAINING UNTIL UNIT EXPIRATION: 06:13:35:46.” A little over six and a half days left, then. Plenty of time to either get this kill switch cracked, or, if I fail at that, ensure I go out with a bang. Maybe even a literal one, he thought wryly.

Reznik was filled with anxiety as his imagination ran wild with thoughts of what he might encounter on the surface. He remembered his old friend Gerald White telling him that his future was a blank slate and he could make of it whatever he chose to. Can’t get much more of a clean slate than a new life in a new world. Although, I think this has got to be more than either of us ever imagined, old friend.

As he neared the surface, Reznik raised a hand instinctively to shield his eyes from the harsh sunlight, but it was unnecessary, as his enhanced vision quickly adjusted. He crested the slope, tense with the expectation that any variety of horrors might jump out at him.

And then he stepped outside, on the surface of the Earth for the first time in his new life. A world of possibilities lay before him, but first he had pressing matters to attend to.