Refracted

- - 10 - -

"We need to move, now!"

I gulped. My eyes fixed on the truck that was coming ever closer.

They had come for me.

They had come for the Resistance.

I led them to the Resistance.

I had a feeling that this time the VISORs wouldn't be so kind and protect me. This time they were coming in for the kill. I registered Rachel tugging on my arms, the other scouts had rushed over. Up on the skyscrapers, the snipers were waving to us, shouting. We couldn't hear them. They gave up and left, taking cover. We needed to warn the others.

"Run! Tell the others! The WalkTalks aren't connected!" Rachel commanded.

"Yessir," the scouts replied in unison.

And we fled.

This time our footsteps were mismatched, no longer in sync. My breathing was irregular, my stomach in my throat. This was the end.

The truck would have entered the construction zone by now. Dirt tracks would have turned to rough tarmac and the truck would be weaving its way round skyscrapers and debris. The weight of the VISORs would provide momentum and the automated driving eliminated any chance of collision. The VISORs were much more developed than their prototypes. They were perfect.

It reminded me of their choice to protect me when I was falling from the structure on the side of a skyscraper. The VISORs may have been perfect but they weren't cheap and destroying three must have been pretty damn expensive. It would have reduced the cost of re-educating me, my place at the new facility could have gone to someone else. The government may have had a policy on murder but a freak accident? Surely, it made more sense to let me die. Surely.

There was something not being said, another piece of the puzzle. For some reason, the Lower Authority at the very least needed me for something, something big as expense was very much against prosperity. Money was not easy to come by, but it was worth wasting on me?

Behind me, I heard the screech of tires and knew deep in my gut that it was too late.

Then came the whir of an engine and the honking horn.

A robotic voice crackled over the speaker of the truck:

"Stop running. The Higher Authority has commanded you. I repeat stop running."

Rachel and I were at the back of the reconnaissance group, just a corner in front of the truck know. I had to make a decision.

Just as the truck came round the corner of a skyscraper, I launched myself on Rachel and pulled her behind one of the ubiquitous piles of debris everywhere. She looked at me in surprise but had the sense to keep quiet.

Half a second later, the truck zoomed past us and stopped about ten metres ahead. Right where we would be if we had kept on running...

The others weren't so fortunate.

Peering round a pile of bricks, Rachel and I observed as the VISORs piled out of the truck and tased the other scouts. Guttural screams emanated from deep inside them as they were rounded up, hand-cuffed and forced onto the truck.

I watched them as they walked towards their demise, I didn't help or protest. I acquiesced and let VISORs destroy more honourable, good people's lives. It was my fault.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...

Seven lives, seven people, gone forever.

I wished them dead, that would be the best outcome to what I just witnessed.