The Immortality Game

“Ah, Dios! Look at that!” Marcus cried out between coughs, pointing beyond the firebots.

Zoya followed the direction of his finger and would have gasped if her body wasn’t racked with coughs. Two expensive-looking Meshing beds were smashed against the far wall, their occupants pulped into bloody lumps. A third bed seemed untouched, a woman with long red tresses sleeping away blissfully a mere two meters from the flames, skin blistering from the heat. “Don’t look!” Zoya yelled above the noise of the sprayers and the crackling flames that still filled the rear of the room. Choking smoke filled her lungs and it hurt to try to speak. “Come on!”

Marcus was coughing continuously, his face smoke-blackened and slicked with sweat, but he rasped out, “Wait, what about the driv—” He coughed again. “The driver? We can’t leave him.”

Zoya could barely suck in any oxygen. The card flashed at her to leave by the door she saw past the firebots. The way the card seemed to slow time in dangerous situations was disorienting when she couldn’t make up her mind what she wanted to do. Her body wanted to cough. Her mind seemed to have all the time in the world to ponder whether to escape or turn and help Marcus pull the driver from the vehicle. She had always imagined herself as a decent person; she couldn’t have imagined herself as the type to desert someone in need. Even if he’s treated me rudely from the moment we met. As Marcus hauled the driver up from the seat, Zoya ducked under the driver’s arm to help prop him up. She coughed some more and pointed a thumb toward the doorway. Marcus nodded and both of them began to drag the heavy body across the carpeting.

The air was better once they stepped into the corridor. Zoya scanned the short hallway and saw no one coming. They’ll be here soon, though. Which way do we go? She looked at the choices presented by the combat card and saw that it didn’t know either. It kept flashing a command to get away and find a hiding place or an exit from the building.

“This way,” Marcus said, and started hauling the driver to the right.

“You just guessing?”

“My father tells me security is coming from the other direction.”

“When we get a moment, you need to tell me about your father.” Her throat felt seared and it hurt to talk, but at least she could breathe again. As she stumbled along under the weight of the much larger man, Zoya examined him for any obvious injuries. Other than a bruise forming on the side of his face, he seemed intact. None of his limbs seemed broken. Good. We need to wake him up so he can walk on his own.

As if he had read her mind, the driver suddenly hacked up several deep coughs and opened his eyes.

Zoya and Marcus stopped dragging him down the corridor. “Can you walk?” Zoya said.

“Where…? What…?”

“We crashed into the building. Remember?” Zoya saw understanding dawn on the man’s face.

“We must go back,” the driver said. “Diplomatic Security will come for us.”

Zoya shook her head. “Along with building security, and probably those creeps as well.”

“Well, you go on if you must,” the man said. “I can’t leave my car.”

“You have more obligation to your car than to your passenger?” she said, indicating Marcus, who had the look of someone having trouble keeping up with the translation software.

A look of uncertainty passed through the driver’s eyes as he glanced at Marcus, but he shook his head. “You can leave him with me, but I have to remain with the vehicle.”

Zoya blew out her breath and said to Marcus, “You coming or staying?”

Marcus thought for a few moments. “I’m not staying here and letting those guys get me.”

They left the driver leaning against the corridor wall and walked on at a much faster pace. Zoya’s knee was starting to ache again. She heard shouts behind them, but when she looked back she saw only the driver and a lot of smoke still pouring from the burning apartment. She looked at Marcus and said, “Can your father give us any more directions?”

“He says to take the fifth door on the left if you want a place to hole up. Escaping from the building will take more planning.”

“What’s in that door?”

“Ummmm…‌he says it’s a utility room, robots, repair…‌I don’t know. He says there are no people there.”

“Sounds good to me.”

An engine roared behind them, followed by gunfire.

“What’s that?” Marcus said, looking back over his shoulder as he sped up.

“Cars don’t sound like that,” Zoya said, “so I’m guessing it’s a sky cycle. There, that door!”

The pair pulled up at an unmarked steel door. “Door open,” Zoya said. Nothing happened.

“Just wait. Father’s working on it,” Marcus said.

The engine suddenly sounded very loud behind them, and Zoya’s heart raced even faster. “It’s in the hall, coming for us!” The combat card began laying out tactical options for her, and none of them looked very promising.

Marcus’s smoke-streaked face looked panicky. “Come on, Papa!”