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Asleep

Chapter 5

He pushed the window open, leaned out to look at the view below. It'd be an easy drop onto the outstretching kitchen roof below and from there into the garden. Without knowing it, he was sketching out his escape plan in his mind. He climbed out, dropped silently and padded lightly across the kitchen roof, then down onto the small path. He moved across to the hedge then lightly pushed the branches aside to look at the road outside.

It was empty, not even a single car parked along it.

He pushed his way through the hedge then brushed the bruised branches back into place behind him. He adjusted his gloves, zipped up his jacket then set off, determined to see more of this city. He wanted to see Providence in action now that he knew that they patrolled the city for EVOs. Strict reconnaissance, he told himself. Don't get involved unless you want to be caught and dissected. He suppressed a shudder.

The pavement was less well tended than he remembered. There were old cracks in some of the paving stones, as though something heavy had fallen onto them, and moss had crawled out to fill the cracks. He stepped around the lines, a bit spooked.

There were no streetlights either. His eyes adjusted to the dark quickly as he strode towards the town. Every shop he passed was behind a thick set of padlocked metal shutters. There weren't even trash cans anywhere. When he looked into a gap between a set of buildings, he saw a security gate had been set there, preventing anyone from escaping down the alley, and its top wound high with barbed wire and a voltage sign fixed to the wall claimed it to be an electric fence.

It's just an alleyway, he thought incredulously. Every time he passed an alleyway he found the same thing. All the shops barred and shuttered, every escape route covered, and the city was utterly silent.

He pulled up the collar of his jacket, telling himself it was because of the cold air and not because of the prickles on the back of his neck.

Something crackled far up ahead and he walked towards it, drawn to the sound.

It was a loudspeaker. As he came closer, the voice boomed from it. "You are in a restricted zone. Cease movement. You are in a restricted zone. We will shoot."

Then the sound shut off and a hail of gunfire exploded in the night.

Before he knew it he was running, an old instinct rising in him to get into the battle. His heart pounded as he forced himself to stop only the corner away from the continuing gunfire, hearing the bullets sound against metal and then the shatter of glass, and then a scream and another scream, a man's voice. "She's in labour! We need to get to the hospital!" his voice was shrill, his wife was still screaming. "We need help! Please help us!" then his voice exploded into an inhuman roar of pain.

Then silence.

Did they shoot him? Them? Shoot a pregnant woman? Rex felt panic surge inside himself, he'd never imagined such brutality could exist. There was buzzing in his ears.

Then there was a screech of metal.

"Open fire!" this time the voice wasn't affected by a loudspeaker. The voice was even familiar, an accent but still crisp with the presence of violence.

Gunfire blazed again. His fingers biting into the brick wall that shielded him from the scene, Rex inched towards the edge, he had to see, his heart was loud in his ears or else the gunfire was deafening him.

Caught in the blaze of headlights from a truck crossing with the far less powerful headlights of a small car, men were stooped, shooting at the car as the car roof buckled and groaned and then something pushed through it with a roar. He could faintly hear the woman still screaming.

The husband must have gone EVO, Rex realised faintly. The woman must still be in the car.

The Providence men were all shooting at the monster but none of them were moving towards the car, none of them were trying to get the woman.

I need my nanites, Rex realised with a rush of desperation. Clenching his fists he raised them to his face, stared at them and felt the nanites inside him surge.

Metal grew out over his skin, his fists morphed into smackhands and then he ran forward and hit the EVO, sending it flying, then he smashed the top off the car, dropped the smackhands and activated the Boogie pack. Exhilaration soared through his whole body and the engines. He punched the air in triumph and looked down, grinning despite the situation into the twisted wreckage of the car. Then he dropped the smile, became more serious.

"Don't worry, I'm here to help," he told the woman urgently, grabbed her. "I will take you to the hospital."

She stared at him in terror.

"I'm a good EVO," he told her fiercely, holding her eyes with his own. "And then I'll save your husband."

"Save him first," she whispered, gripping her swollen abdomen.

"Fine," Rex didn't waste time arguing. He set her down on the pavement then flew at the EVO, the Boogie Pack sucked back into his body and he grabbed the EVO's thick scaly arm. There was buzzing in his ears but not enough to block out a familiar voice whisper, "Rex?"

He turned to look before he could stop himself.

There stood Callan, a gun in his hand, his eyes wide. He wore more armour than he did usually. He saw the guns shake among the men, but couldn't see the bullets flying out from them, only heard the buzzing in his ears.

The EVO began to shrink against Rex's grip.

Of their own accord, the nanites activated inside Rex, and he felt his right hand straighten out and form the sword. His whole body shook as the bullets hit the sword, and then the sword blade shattered. Rex's knees went weak and he fell down behind the newly-healed man.

"Dude," he murmured, "Your wife needs you." Then he passed out.

His dreams were brief, bright green trees waving in winds above white picket fences, the chopping of helicopter blades, the bang of something against his chest, banging like a set of drums. Six! He felt like screaming.

Then a hand slapped him.

He opened his eyes slowly, looked up blearily. "Huh?"

"You are in a world of trouble," Callan's voice said. Rex's eyes sharpened until Callan swam into vision.

"Callan," Rex's tongue felt thick.

"My men know about you, and they might not keep quiet," Callan's voice was low and furious. "You run back to your parents and you NEVER tell anyone about tonight."

"Are the people okay?" Rex asked weakly. "You aren't gonna dissect them or something?"

"They are at the hospital right now," Callan said coldly. "They will not be dissected. But if you don't go right now, my men will arrest you and you do not want to know what'll happen. Now go!"

"I don't know what's going on!" Rex yelled, fury surging up inside him, tears sprung to his eyes, angry tears. "Who am I? What's wrong with my nanites? What's wrong with this world!"

"Just go!" Callan roared, pulled Rex to his feet and shoved him.

Rex ran blindly back into the maze of streets, ran but could still hear the men protesting Callan's orders. "Sir! We should contain him!"

"That is an order," Callan's voice was steely. "Stand down."

"Explain that to Fell," one of them said quietly, bitterly. "You just let the only cure we've ever seen run away."

When he was sure no one was following him, Rex sagged down against a wall, his knees were so weak, his body so tired and his heart pumping so fast.

Callan knew about him, when he'd looked at Rex, he'd recognised him if he'd not known him like a friend. He'd known about Rex. How then? Why had he let Rex go?

He looked down at his trembling fingers. There was something different about his nanites, a different feel to them. There was still a thin coating of metal over his fingers.

He scratched at it gently but it didn't dislodge.

He put his gloves back on, hiding his metal fingers from sight. His skin tingled, but he started walking again, silent as a ghost, his brown eyes solemn. He walked back to the house, pushed his way back through the hedge and stood in the garden for a bit, his hands in his jacket pockets and looked up at the windows. A bit of light peeked between the curtains of the room he knew was Six and Holiday's.

He couldn't think of them as Mom and Dad. He'd tried, but he just couldn't.

Finally he heaved a sigh and went towards the garage, wanting something more than he'd ever wanted anything.

He unlatched the garage door and let himself in, fumbled for the light pull, heard it click against the wall as he closed his eyes against the immediate flood of light until he could adjust to it, and went to the cupboard. He looked at the combination padlock then went to the workbench, searched for something useful but there were no screwdrivers, nothing he could use to remove the hinges. I'm learning that combination, he promised himself. All he could find was a torch. He took it. He pressed his face against the cupboard, shining the torch through into the cupboard and looked in at the only thing he could find that could remind him of the world he wanted back, gazed at the distant gleam of Six's katanas.