A Perfect Machine(74)

“Henry,” Milo called up to his friend. “Listen, you’ve got to respond now. Which way do you wanna go? The old tunnels will be less populated – and no trains running in them – but they won’t extend as far out of the city as the new ones, so… what do you think?”

Henry just breathed in, breathed out. Stared down this slightly smaller tunnel, which led to the working subway lines. Blinked every once in a while.

Milo was about to ask again, clearly frustrated, but then Henry’s giant metal eyeballs swiveled around, found his friend, and some kind of understanding passed between them. Henry didn’t speak, but Milo thought he saw a brand of despair on Henry’s face that he would not have thought possible. It made his heart ache.

What is he thinking? What does he think he’s done? What does he know he’s done? As Milo thought this last, the sound of a subway rumbling down the line nearby filtered over to where they stood. Henry’s eyes settled momentarily on Faye, then he turned his head, and continued stomping away down the old tunnel, away from the sound of the train.

Milo looked at Faye, who shrugged, said, “Guess that answers your question.”

They moved ahead of Henry, Milo leading the way through the pitch dark with their newfound flashlight.

They walked along in silence for a few hundred feet, then Henry suddenly stopped, turned himself around more quickly than Milo or Faye would have expected, given his size and downturned mood.

“Whoa, whoa, Henry, what…” Milo began.

And then Henry was running.

The ground shook. Henry’s head scraped the tunnel ceiling with each step. Nearing twenty feet tall now, if he was an inch. Bits of tile and concrete crumbled off the walls. Milo and Faye ran after him, the flashlight a feeble cone of useless light in the darkness as Henry faded from view.

“Henry! Christ! What are you doing!? Where are you going!?” Milo yelled after him.

Henry reached the entrance to the working subway line, ducked down, and thundered through.

Moments later, he emerged into a different tunnel, this one strung with occasional lights, and the sound of a subway train somewhere in the distance.

Henry ran toward it.



* * *



When Adelina stood to her full height – Kendul, Marcton, Bill, and Cleve helping her get her footing, then assisting her outside the crumbling walls of the house – she was nearly as tall as Henry, but nowhere near as bulky. Something about her, though, inspired more terror in the men’s hearts than Henry had when they’d seen him entering the old subway tunnels. Some indefinable dread that latched onto their minds.

The snow was two feet thick in some places – snow drifts more than double that height. And it was still coming. Now faster and harder than any of them had ever seen snow fall in their lives.

Marcton glanced up into the slate-colored sky, said, “Chopper.”

A few seconds later everyone else heard it, then they all saw it. It dipped down, then a searchlight scoured the houses several blocks over. Another chopper appeared a bit farther away. The sound of sirens.

The veil has definitely been pulled back now, Kendul thought, the ideas bubbling up from his guts, his intuition, his very evolution. We will be hunted, exterminated, wiped from the face of the earth. Not only have we been exposed, but whatever used to protect us seems to now be actively looking to destroy us.

“We should get moving,” Kendul said. The others nodded slowly. They felt it, too. There was a wave coming. First the snow, then the people.

Seeking to bury them completely.

“The old subway tunnels is where we last saw Henry, Adelina,” Marcton said. “The abandoned entrance.”

Adelina gave no indication she heard him. But then she looked side to side, up and down the street. She still said nothing, but began walking in the direction of the subway tunnels.

“Uh, should we…” Cleve began.

“Follow? Yeah,” Marcton said. “But in the Hummer. She’s focused, alright. Now we just have to keep up. I’ll bring it over. You guys keep an eye on her.”

Marcton hustled to the vehicle, jumped in, started it, pulled it around. It nearly got stuck in snow twice, but he was able to wrench it out before the tires dug in.

Kendul took the passenger seat; Cleve and Bill hopped in the back. They pulled away from the house, found Adelina in the headlights. She stuck to the roads, walking right down the middle – the occasional pedestrian fleeing in terror, or just edging away slowly, unsure what they were seeing, finding it difficult to believe, and then running away. There was no toss-up between fight or flight – everyone turned tail and ran like hell.

The sirens sounded like they were getting closer; the helicopter searchlights would be zeroing in soon – only a matter of time till they saw, or got word of, the giant steel behemoth walking around the city.

The second one.

The men in the Hummer understood that this would be an all-out attack. The city would come to bear with full force. They silently pulled out whatever weapons they carried, loaded them, sat grimly and waited for it to begin.

A cop car streaked by a couple of blocks ahead, lost control in the snow, vanished from sight. They heard a crash moments later.

They’re insane, Kendul thought. They’re being driven to the point where safety on any level is not a concern.

Three blocks away from the entrance to the old subway line, two more cop cars emerged into view – these ones going slightly slower. Their searchlights swiveled, found Adelina. Both cars slammed on their brakes, slid about thirty feet in the ice and snow, stopped.