Mistrunner - Chapter 35 - A Desperate Escape (Patreon)

There are almost always an endless number of ways to solve any problem, but killing is usually the easiest.

Jeremiah Braddock III

I sank to the metal balcony, curling in on myself in an attempt to look as devastated as possible. It was a split-second decision built around my desire to leave some of the villagers alive. Even as I watched Burton’s hulking body tumbling over the edge to fall to the floor far beneath us, I wondered if my ruse would work. The shot I’d fired at the window hadn’t been a miss. Instead, it was intended to set the scene of the assassination I’d just staged. The idea was simple – I would pretend that, while I was talking to Burton, someone had shot through the window and taken him out. And I was banking on my low level of apparent power and a distinct lack of weaponry to support my act.

I was taking a chance, though, and I knew it. The balcony wasn’t the ideal place to take a stand, but it wasn’t horrible, either. Though it didn’t provide the cover I’d have hoped for, the elevation would allow me to pick off any attackers without much issue. Choosing not to take that route was a risk, but one I could wholeheartedly commit to. The people of Bayou La Batre were just people, not some great enemy that needed to be exterminated. In fact, aside from their obvious poverty, they weren’t so different from the people back in Mobile. Or Nova City, come to that. No - I wouldn’t engage in wholesale slaughter unless it was absolutely necessary for my survival. I’d gotten to know the people too well to go down that route.

Soon enough, the pounding of boots on metal stairs announced the arrival of a pair of Operators. One was male, while the other was female, though they looked similar enough that, initially, I had trouble telling them apart. Both were bulky, with short hair, and squashed-looking faces, and I’d have been surprised if they weren’t twins. The man knelt beside me, demanding, “What happened?!”

I stammered, “I…I don’t know. I was just…I was just going to see Miss Savannah. And…then, Mr. Burton came up behind me and…and…I heard a gunshot…”

For effect, I let my eyes wander to Burton’s headless body, which was unmoving on the building’s floor. It had already attracted a crowd. I mumbled, “Oh, God…oh, God! He’s…h-he’s dead!”

The man growled, “Pull yourself together, girl.”

“Have some sympathy, Rock,” said the woman, pushing him aside to kneel beside me. Her voice was strangely soothing, completely at odds with her rough appearance. The both of them were Tier-2, if my senses were anything to go by. They weren’t always perfect, but ever since attaining my first level, I’d been able to get a sense for other people’s relative power. Usually, I took it for granted, but after coming to Bayou La Batre, I’d begun to realize just how useful the inherent ability really was.

And given that everyone there overlooked me, I had become well aware of just how easily fooled the pseudo-ability was, as well. Idly, I wondered if there were skills with actual abilities that might cut through my Disguise ability, which was what let me conceal my true power. Probably. Even Hadley could tell that something was off, even if he couldn’t exactly see past the effects of the ability itself.

“Are you okay?” asked the woman, her hand on my shoulder.

Eyes downcast, I muttered, “I…I…I didn’t…it just happened so fast.”

That’s when the woman saw where I was looking and said, “Oh. Let’s get her somewhere else, Rock. Miss Savana won’t mind if we use her office.”

My heartbeat sped up as Rock said, “We ain’t s’posed to go in there.”

“I don’t care,” the big woman said, already dragging me to my feet. I made sure to feign unsteadiness as I clutched at her beefy arm. “Don’t go lookin’ down there, okay? Ain’t nothin’ good gonna come of it.”

I tore my eyes from the grisly scene down below, but my heartbeat continued to race as she led me into Savanna’s office. It hadn’t gone exactly as I had expected, but I couldn’t complain about the results. My goal had been to get to the leader’s office – or more accurately, her terminal – and now, it seemed as if I was going to get free reign.

Once we were inside the familiar room, I hung my head, but I managed to get a good look out of the corner of my eye. Savanna’s personal terminal was within arm’s reach – a simple box, maybe six or seven inches wide and half as deep, embedded into the desk. I knew from my training and experiences in Nova City that sanctioned terminals functioned on their own wavelength of Mist and were wholly impenetrable, except via a hard connection. In essence, they were similar to the implants that gave people access to skills, except with a focus on storing information rather than unlocking the potential of a body infused with Mist.

Either way, as soon as I was alone, I could get down to doing what I’d come to Bayou La Batre to do. Certainly, I’d learned a lot about how to blend into a population, but ultimately, I knew that my trip was more than just the test it had been made out to be. My uncle – or more likely, the people in Mobile – needed the information in that terminal. I had no idea what they would do with it, but then again, I didn’t need to know. For now, I was just a cog in their machine.

After getting me settled into the chair behind Savanna’s desk, the woman said, “My name is Teri. What’s yours?”

“M-mirabelle,” I said, adding a little sniffle at the end. Already, tears were flowing down my cheeks. “I…is he okay?”

“Who?” asked Teri.

The man, who I assumed was her twin brother, gave a snort at the end, which earned him a glare from Teri. He shrugged his shoulders, saying, “What? Nobody here actually liked Burt. He was an asshole, and I’m sure plenty of people will be happy he’s gone. Besides, it was a stupid question. His head was exploded.”

Before Teri could berate him, I said, “Oh. He was nice to me.”

Teri looked at me like I’d just revealed the most surprising thing in the world. “Burt wasn’t nice to nobody,” she said.

“He was to me.”

Rock started to say something, but Teri cut him off. As she rose, she said, “We need to go make sure whoever did this is gone. You okay in here?”

I nodded, saying, “I…I guess.”

“Good,” Teri said, already moving. Her brother followed her, shutting the door behind him. Like that, I’d gotten exactly what I’d needed, and I wasted no time in retrieving the cord from my wrist and jacking into the terminal’s port.

Secure Terminal: [Enter Password] or [Mistwalk]

Without a password, I had no choice but to initiate a Mistwalk. The moment I did, I felt a sharp pain in the base of my skull. I gasped, but I didn’t lose my concentration. Instead, I focused on the series of nodes in front of me. There were far more than I’d ever seen before, and when I counted them, I saw that there were sixty-four points I needed to conquer before the terminal’s security fell. Knowing I didn’t have a lot of time, I immediately dove into the first and was relieved to see that the puzzles weren’t more than I could handle. The first one fell after six minutes and forty-two seconds, which was quite a long time, considering how much I’d practiced Mistwalking in the past few months.

It didn’t matter, though. I still had sixty-three to go.

Over the next forty-five minutes, I solved one puzzle after the next. Some consisted of simple logic chains, while others required full-blown mathematical proofs before they fell. Even so, I persisted, crashing through each obstacle until, at last, the system was laid bare before me. Cognizant of my time constraints, I quickly started downloading the system’s contents, sequestering it into a specially constructed, quarantined section of my implant.

During training, I had made the mistake of downloading some information without sequestering it into its own section, and because of the virus my instructor had planted within it, I’d had to deal with a migraine as well as a weakening of my skills for the next week. After purging the malicious program from my implant, I had vowed not to make that same mistake again. So, I’d spent quite a lot of time partitioning a bit of my implant’s storage capacity and cutting it off from the rest of my system. It was hard work, but I’d learned the necessity firsthand. If that virus had been truly malicious, I could have been permanently incapacitated.

Never again.

By the time I finished, almost an hour had passed, and I kept eyeing the door, expecting to see Savanna or one of her mooks returning to either check on me or finish me off, depending on the results of their investigation. When none of them came, I realized that I didn’t have any other reason to remain in Bayou La Batre. So, I got up and casually walked out of the office. The scene I found was a little less than ideal.

“Who are you?” came a voice from the catwalk that cut across the building. I blinked in confusion as I saw Savanna standing there, four drones hovering above her, and her son at her feet. He was battered and bruised, with blood dripping from multiple wounds. I couldn’t help but notice that the drones were combat models.

“W-what?” I asked, clinging to my role. However, as I spoke, I embraced my Arsenal Implant and focused on my Kicker. With only a thought, it could be in my hands in a fraction of a second.

“Did you think we were stupid?” the portly woman demanded, tears streaming down her face. She kicked Hadley in the ribs. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out that you’d turned my boy against me? That you killed my Burt-Burt? Who are you? Tell me, and I’ll make your death quick.”

I knew the jig was up. I had been found out. What I didn’t know was if my sloppy killing of Burton – or Burt-Burt, as she’d called him – had been discovered or if someone like Hadley, who knew too much, had squealed. But regardless of how she’d figured it all out, the fact was that I needed an exit plan, and fast.

A quick glance down below, and I saw that there were dozens of mooks aiming their weapons at me. Some, I recognized from my previous trips through the building, but others were completely unfamiliar. I wasn’t worried about most of them. However, there were a couple that looked like outsiders, identifiable by their higher quality cybernetics and better weapons. From so far away, I couldn’t gauge their strength, but something told me that they wouldn’t be the pushovers Savanna’s people would be.

“I’m going to offer you the same deal,” I said, discarding my role completely. I knew I couldn’t really cut an intimidating figure. Maybe if I had a mask. Or a nice hooded cloak. But for someone like Savanna, who had seen me clearly, intimidation just wasn’t in the cards. So, I chose to rely on the truth. Raising my voice, I announced, “I really don’t want to kill any of you. But if you make me, you’d better believe that I won’t hesitate to do what’s necessary.”

The older woman cocked her head to the side and asked, “Are you threatening us? We got you surrounded. The building’s locked down tighter than a newt’s ass. You ain’t getting’ out of her, little girl. The only question is how much pain you’re in when you die. Now, answer my goddamn question.”

The last bit was said in a menacing growl, and I knew I’d used up what time I had. So, I didn’t waste a second before summoning my rifle and taking aim at one of the drones. One burst. Two bursts. Three. Two of the mechanical constructs fell from the sky, and one of them exploded. Even as Savanna screeched in pain – maybe that was part of the skill that let her control them so completely – before the last drone opened fire. A buzzsaw of gunshots filled the air, but I was already diving back into the office. I took a shot in my calf, but it only hit meat. It hurt, but it didn’t lose much in the way of functionality.

I rolled back to a kneeling position and pressed myself against the wall. Luckily, I had seen a couple of gunshots hit the barrier, so I knew it could hold up and would offer decent cover. Taking a deep breath, I leaned out, but I was quickly greeted by another hail of gunfire.

With a sigh, I reconfigured my weapon into its sniper form, then leaned out and fired a shot directly at Savanna. I hadn’t wanted to kill her. In fact, I was trying to avoid it at all costs. But I knew she had many more drones at her disposal, so if I wanted to make a proper retreat, I needed to cut the head off the proverbial snake.

The bullet tore through the air, but just before it ripped a hole in her head, it hit a blue shield. The energy rippled, but it held. However, my skills weren’t just for show, and that, combined with my high-grade rifle, meant that my shots were incredibly powerful. And even with a personal shield, momentum can be a pain in the ass to deal with.

Savanna was sent tumbling backward, and I took aim at the next drone, destroying it with a well-placed shot.

I was already sprinting forward before the drone hit the ground. As I ran, my heavy footfalls threatening to dislodge the balcony, I stowed my rifle. A hail of gunfire, arrows, and even a couple of thrown rocks followed me as I traversed the balcony, then leapt toward the window I’d shattered during the confrontation with Burton. It was already cracked and sported a decently sized hole, but I still knew my plan was going to hurt.

I hit it shoulder-first and broke through, slowed by only the slightest of resistance before tumbling along the rusty roof made of corrugated metal. I skidded to a stop just as another pair of drones homed in on me, sending even more gunfire my way. I rolled to the side, but the roof was devoid of cover, so I still took a shot to my shoulder and another to my lower back. Thankfully, it missed my spine. I wasn’t certain whether my constitution could heal a severed spine; nor did I have any desire to find out firsthand.

Leaving a trail of smeared blood, I continued to roll until I hit the edge of the roof. Then, I fell, grabbing the edge of the building just in time to arrest my fall. My fingers, slippery with blood, weren’t up the task. After only an instant, my grip failed, and I fell the rest of the way. Fortunately, the building was only a couple of stories tall, so my legs were more than capable of absorbing the impact.

It still hurt, though.

Whipping my head back and forth, I took stock of the situation. With a thought, I summoned the Kicker and shouldered the weapon as I’d been taught. Then, I crept along the edge of the building until I reached the corner. Once there, I leaned out of cover, taking a quick mental snapshot of the scene before pulling back.

And it wasn’t good.

There were dozens of men and women in the area, and they were coming my way. I wanted to avoid a wholesale massacre, but it was quickly becoming clear that I might not get what I wanted. That’s when I looked behind me and saw the harbor.

There were a dozen huge shrimping boats at the dock, but beyond that was open ocean. My training had included spending quite a lot of time swimming, so I was confident in that arena. But I also knew that the ocean was home to a host of dangerous monsters. During training, I’d had one of the capable amigos looking over my shoulder, making sure that I wouldn’t be swallowed by a giant alligator or attacked by other vicious aquatic predators. If I did what I was thinking of doing, I wouldn’t have that kind of safety net. I would be at the mercy of whatever horrible monsters the ocean could throw at me. But it was that or rip my way through a bunch of people who I really didn’t want to kill.

Killing would have been a much easier path to tread.

Most of the people I had encountered in Bayou La Batre were, at best, Tier-3, and there were only a few of those. The outsiders I’d glimpsed in the building were probably at that level, and they would be more difficult to take out, but I could easily kill enough of them to make my escape.

Then what, though? Was I going to solve every problem by killing people? It would get easier every time, too. I knew it would. And where would I draw the line? Ten people? Twenty? A hundred? With my potential, the number could be far, far higher.

More than that, though, I’d been in Bayou La Batre for a few days. I’d met some of those people. I’d talked to them. I’d stopped looking at them as an enemy to be subdued, instead putting them in the same category as the people of Mobile. They were just trying to get by.

Once, I’d thought it a simple problem, not so dissimilar from the logic puzzles I so often completed. If someone tried to kill me, I’d kill them before they had the chance to follow through. The same went for anyone who attempted to hurt my friends or family. I had already chosen a side, especially after what had happened at that farm. The image of that tiny man ripping through those civilians wasn’t one I would soon forget. I hated him for what he’d done, and I’d chosen to paint all the residents of Bayou La Batre with that same brush. My short time in the village had put the lie to that categorization, though, and I’d come to realize that it was far more complicated than that. This wasn’t a simple black-and-white issue where I could easily label someone an ally or an enemy.

All of that raced through my head over the course of a few seconds, and I quickly made up my mind. So, without further hesitation, I turned and sprinted toward the dock, my injuries slowing me only a little. By the time I reached the wooden platforms, the pursuit had caught up to me, and the sound of gunshots filled the air. Wood splintered behind me as I tore down the dock, and when I reached the end, I dove into the water. Kicking out, I used every point of my enhanced constitution attribute to propel me into deeper water.

As I did, bullets rained down on me, rendered harmless by the dozen feet of salty water. I kept swimming for a few minutes, putting ever more distance between my position and the village. After fifteen minutes, I finally surfaced, only to see that I had gone much further than I expected. Land was only barely visible in the distance, and no pursuit dogged my path.

I had escaped.

But now, I had to worry about finding my way back to shore – and avoiding the monsters I knew dwelled within the sea. As if to highlight my plight, I felt something brush against my leg. I let out a slight yelp, but I forced myself to remain calm. Panic wouldn’t help anyone.

That was all well and good, and it lasted right up until I felt something slimy wrap itself around my waist and drag me down into the water.