Run Away Mad Dog

CHAPTER XIII: Scarlett's New Orders

Post-apocalyptic Earth the Eclipse headquarters 2037

As the Eclipse suffered not one but two attacks in the same day, the ruthless military quickly got back on their feet, investigations were at an all-time high, one attack from the mysterious time traveller the Black Vulture and the other from the Reckless Salvation Division led by Kat.

Hector Reed was controlling his bot from all the way from the United States of America, the Eclipse being now the only form of government in the world left that was fully operational, Scarlett was sick of taking orders from his security bot.

As the Black Vulture attacked the base Victor was in the security board room, but this time Scarlett was in the room, she stood pacing around the large table they had the meeting in, talking about what made Claudia special with her artificial genetics.

As Scarlett awaited vital intel from her soldiers who chased the Vulture she paced back and forth bored of out her mind. The transfer of military data crucial for survival in this post-apocalyptic world was much different, the demise of the internet and cloud storage, the digital age of 2025 had to adapt but backwards.

Military operatives now crisscrossed desolate terrains, carrying encrypted physical data drives. These drives, containing the essence of strategies, tactics, and plans, passed from hand to hand as the world adapted to a more deliberate, analogue means of communication.

In this primitive yet reliable network, radio frequencies and satellite uplinks replaced the seamless connectivity of the past, which was the internet.

While the highest tech was satellite uplinks in space, the new makeshift "internet" embodied a lifeline in a world that had regressed to basic communication methods. Each data transfer took hours but it was better than waiting days or weeks, when the world went into the digital age, they could never come back from it, they were and still are... dependant of it.

Amidst her daydreams, Scarlett's forearm computer device illuminated, snapping her back to reality. Swiftly swiping the screen, she delved into the files transmitted by her cyber soldiers. The visual data, recorded through their helmets, it showed their mission to locate the child in the darkened bushland—a spectacle reminiscent of police recording vests.

The footage unfolded in a first-person perspective, capturing the rhythmic sway of soldiers' arms bearing their guns. As she navigated through the recordings, she witnessed the Vulture under attack, subsequently rescued by the RSD. However, what caught her off guard was the unexpected appearance of Victor.

Through the destroyed cyber soldier Scarlett eavesdropping on the conversation between Kat and Victor a sly smirk crept across Scarlett's face, almost culminating in a psychotic laugh, upon hearing Victor's renouncement of the Eclipse.

"I knew it, coward," she muttered, absorbing the details and jotting down notes in the solitude of the security room. With Victor now labelled a deserter, Scarlett contemplated strategies to locate him. Her attention already fixed on tracking the Vulture, Scarlett's network of spies reported sightings—a hooded figure that sprouted wings when provoked traversed woods and deserted roads for hours, even days.

In the town of Dirt, a spy caught sightings group of kids and the Vulture, seeing someone being taken by the Vulture and a woman dressed in white.

Scarlett sent out drones across throughout the state, these miniature quadcopters, equipped with powerful cameras, they could circle the skies for weeks, relaying data directly to the Eclipse. Scarlett traced the lone vehicle from Dirt to Pretty Oak and, eventually, to a desolate bushland area devoid of settlements, as the kids were on Ashanna's trail Scarlett was on theirs.