The Unwritten Sin

Chapter 28

Wilder's legs ached from walking. He saw a cluster of the drones up ahead in the street. He didn't have the strength to fight them. He ducked behind a dead electric hover car, and broke the window. He quickly climbed into the driver console, and said, "Neptune, come here."

Neptune peeped into the car. "Do you have any idea how to hotwire this thing?"

"Yeah," Neptune said, fidgeting with his pistol. "But it's been awhile."

Wilder sighed. He popped the casing off with his dagger, and surveyed the system. Hover cars weren't the newest in tech, and he had a vague idea.

Ness, he said to himself. If you know how to get one of these old things running, I'd love to know.

As he ran his hand along the circuitry, he felt a strange pull. He suddenly remembered exactly what to do. "Blue on blue," he whispered to himself. "Blue white to green white...."

"What are you talking about?" Neptune asked in a hushed voice. "Can you do it?"

"Apparently Ness can," Wilder said, clicking the ignition switch. The car hummed to life. "Get in."

Neptune climbed into the other side, and said, "These things can reach a top speed of 305 miles an hour. They have a carrying capacity of 6000 pounds. Their wingspan is just 12 feet long...."

"You know all this, but couldn't tell me how to start it?" Wilder was incredulous. Neptune shrugged.

"I'm going to need you to have your gun ready," Wilder said. "If we are lucky, we will be able to go right over them. But I doubt they will miss us."

Neptune nodded. "I've been practicing," he said. "I'll get one this time."

Wilder nodded, and instinctively lifted the craft off of the ground. What else do you know how to do, Ness? 

He zipped through the city, at the height of the rooftops, to avoid being spotted by the droids, who all seemed to be floating about five feet from the pavement. Wilder still could see the mother-ship, floating just out of reach. The sun was still struggling to get through the cloud cover. He guided the ship towards the Grand Hall, and then paused, bringing the ship to a near standstill.

"Neptune. Neptune look down."

Below them, sitting in the middle of the street, was a giant robotic creature. It was wider than the street itself, and made of a shiny black alloy. It had many spidery legs, like the drones, but it had one singular huge whip-like weapon arched over it's back, like a scorpion. "Ohh, that does not look pleasant."

"Let's hope it...." Wilder's statement was cut short as rounds pinged off of the thin shell of the hovercar. "Dammit!" He swerved the car away from the fire, and dipped down between two buildings. In the rear-view, he could see the Scorpion smashing cars, droids, and everything else in it's way as it hurried to catch up to them. He had never seen a bot go so fast.

He moved the throttle out farther and farther, dipping around buildings and swooshing past billboards. "Steady!" Neptune called. "I'm gonna try and pop it."

"Neptune, be careful, that thing has...."

Just as he spoke, the Scorpion climbed a building like a spider, and leaped from rooftop to rooftop, crumbling the structures it landed on. SMASH! SMASH!

Wilder felt a bead of sweat trickling down his brow. His hands were slick on the controls. Neptune leaned out the window and squeezed off a round. It missed by a mile. "We're going straight to the top window of the Grand Hall!" Wilder called over the whipping wind. "Get ready to jump!"

The Scorpion was still hot on their heels, showering them with explosive fragments. Wilder felt a piece of shrapnel bury itself in his arm, cauterizing the wound immediately and leaving a gaping hole in the flesh. "Shit! Get down!"

He thrust the controls into Neptune's hand, and aimed his own pistol through the broken back window. Neptune was a terrible pilot, and couldn't hold the craft steady at all. Wilder bucked and caught himself as he tried to aim. He pulled the trigger, and his laser pistol got off a shot that hit one of the Scorpion's legs, but didn't seem to do any damage.

"There's no way to kill this thing," he yelled. "We're going to just have to avoid it!"

He took the controls back, and they sped towards the Grand Hall, trying to avoid the barrages of explosives as they fell. They zipped past the Great Hall, and Wilder said, "That window should still be open on the second floor, right?"

Neptune nodded. "Try and park around the back," he said, "I'll stay outside while you go in to find James."

Wilder nodded. He brought the craft down to a hover behind the spire, and could faintly hear the smashing as the Scorpion followed them. He edged the craft as close to the window as he could, and stood on the edge of the door. He took a deep breath, and jumped the gap between the two, trying very hard not to look down at the distance below him. He barely made it. "Better hurry!" Neptune called. "If you're not back when it gets here, I'm leaving without you."

"Understood," Wilder said, hauling himself inside. "Thanks, Neptune!"

The boy tossed his blue hair back from his face. "Go!"

Wilder rolled into the Machine room, and ran down the empty aisles. James would have come out not long ago, he thought, there should have at least been wet footprints leading him out.

He searched frantically, even calling. his name. The longer he looked, the more desperate he became. He searched the hall of memories too. Nothing. He hurried back upstairs, just in time to see the Scorpion take out the building directly in front of the spire. Tears welled in his eyes. James was gone. Again. He had been too late. Maybe killing Theodore had cut off precious seconds. He berated himself for letting him go. He should have sat with him near the Machine all night. It wasn't hard for O to come back as October. They even remembered their old name.

Wilder shook his head. He could see Neptune waving at him to hurry through the window. "Hurry!" he mouthed.

Wilder gestured that he couldn't find James.

"Come on!"

Wilder screamed in frustration. "James, if you're in here, I swear to God!"

There was suddenly a clicking noise. A droid stepped around the corner, it's bayonet swiveling around, searching. Wilder's eyes widened. They had infiltrated the Grand Hall, most likely waiting for reincarnates to capture.