Girl Cyborg: A Dystopian Action Adventure Thriller

Snakes and Vegetables

His reaction convinced Bess to take a gamble. "If I release you, promise you'll stay quiet?"

He nodded, neck still in her choke hold.

Bess let go and took a step back.

He gasped, lungs heaving. If the man following Bess were still nearby, his wheezing could attract attention. She stood still, willing him to quiet down.

When no giant cyber rushed into the tent, she whispered, "I should report you to the Academy. What do you want?"

He scowled. "Peace. Isn't that what all you NUS types want?"

"We're here to defend you."

He shook his head. "I made a mistake."

"Grabbing a woman from behind. Yeah."

"To save you."

"Funny, it felt like an attack."

"I saved you from a bounty hunter." He massaged his neck tenderly. "You're welcome." He sank down into a folding chair beside a worn card table and propped his head up on his elbows. The tent around them was lined with crates of vegetables. "He'll figure it out and come back. You should get in your Jeep and drive like hell."

"Thanks, but I can't." How long had he been watching her?

"Today I pulled a baby out of a bombed building in the east end. Hear about it?"

"No." A faint smile played across his lips.

"Do you know where I could find the parents? They still have a day to claim it."

He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "The Academy will keep it, anyway. Don't bother yourself."

"If I find them, I'll drive them to the Academy right away."

"Hmm." He looked her in the eye. "I didn't think you Academy types cared about civilian children." He spat on the dirt floor.

"Please, I don't have much time."

"Yeah, I heard you've been recalled."

"How?"

He got up and pulled the tent flap open revealing adults and children holding Roman candles in their hands and shooting off fireworks in every direction. "Did you not notice all the people dancing in the streets?"

But how could an ordinary citizen know the Academy ordered a recall? "Can you help me find Carmen?" Bess decided to report this creep when she got back.

"Wait. If you keep fishing around the bounty hunter will find you." He quirked his head to the side. "How long have you been in the Academy?"

"I'm a graduate. I led the rescue team today."

"Impossible. How old are you?"

"Do you want my name, status, and student number too?" Bess didn't know how to take this guy. He seemed so anti-NUS, she wondered if he could be a prefect under cover, testing her.

"Just a kid and already brainwashed." He clucked his tongue.

Enough time wasting. She pushed through the tent flap and out into the street.

"Wait!" He came up beside her. "I'm twenty-five, old enough to remember the city at peace." He put a hand on her shoulder.

Bess turned to face him. She wanted to see if he was being truthful.

"I'm also old enough to have seen cybers like you taken from the market, dismantled, and turned into assassins by gangsters."

"I know the risks. Don't worry yourself, citizen."

"And you beware, cyber." He stood straight, shoulders back, as if he'd already forgotten how easily she had overpowered him.

"Is that a threat?" If he were a rebel, it was Bess's duty to capture him and bring him in to the Academy.

"Let me help you."

"Why?"

He waved his arms. "Does it matter? Your life's in danger here, but it will be worse at your army base."

"School."

"Right, and Academy students aren't an occupying army. Whatever. But if this is peacetime, I'm afraid you'll find out just how scholarly your masters are." He looked at her with an intensity that made her uncomfortable, but Bess refused to let him stare her down.

He walked almost full circle around her before she realized she was practically standing at attention, as for inspection. Why was she listening to this Loon?

He stopped in front of her. "You mean it? You came to help the parents?"

"Is that so hard for you to understand?"

He moved in close enough to whisper. "With so many people shooting off their guns tonight, the Academy might not come for you, but the bounty hunter will..."

"The Academy doesn't need to rescue me. I'll get back on my own."

"Bad idea. Besides, your vehicle's gone by now. For a trained killer, you sure are naïve."

Bess wouldn't let him pick a fight with her. Anybody who looked could see she wasn't a killer. The killers, if you wanted to call them that, were big guys like Capt.

"I don't need your help." The people in the street had run out of fireworks, and seemed to have settled into dancing and singing. She didn't think she had ever seen so many residents smiling at once. Before tonight, the biggest smiles she ever saw were the grins of ragamuffin children when she handed out candy. She turned her back and walked into the night.

Bess felt him rush up behind her again but she didn't want to talk anymore.

"Sorry," he whispered.

For what?

Her legs collapsed and her vision went black.

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