The Immortality Game

How much time had passed Zoya didn’t know. Her hands were soaked with Marcus’s blood. She’d held them to his belly long after his chest stopped moving. I did this, she kept thinking over and over again. I got him killed. I refused to listen to him.

She saw the Gsh-18 handgun lying forlornly on the floor of the lift, and she decided she’d never touch a gun again. If a mobster walked up to her now, she would beg the man to end her misery. Lifting her head, she was surprised to see the monstrous war bot clicking down the corridor away from her on its spindly steel feet. At the end of the corridor she saw two med bots whisking toward them. Too late, she thought. Much too late.

The bots went about their jobs with incredible efficiency. She’d seen them at work before, helping the coroners at the morgue, but she’d never experienced their work with a dying patient. The closest bot quickly and carefully guided a tube into Marcus’s mouth and began respiration using a pair of thin steely arms, while the other one got plasma flowing into Marcus’s arm.

Zoya cradled Marcus’s head in her lap and reached up with her left hand to eject the combat card. Through eyes blurry with tears she stared at it. This wasn’t the card’s fault. If it had done anything today it was to save her life several times, but in her mind the card would forever be associated with today’s horrors. By her left knee she saw the narrow crack between the lift and the carpeted floor. She held the card down to the crack and let it slide down into the dark abyss.

Moscow

Sunday, June 8, 2138

11:21 p.m. MSK

Tavik watched the view screen with a mixture of horror and fascination as the lift door slid open.

“Here we go!” Viktor said, his voice giddy.

There was motion in the lift, the fat American standing up, using his body to shield Zoya. Then the war bot began firing one of its shard guns, and…‌stopped. Huh? Everything should have gone off. The war bot had enough barrels to turn the entire end of the corridor into a shredded wreck in a few seconds.

The American was down, Zoya crouched above him. Tavik was glad there were no speakers; Zoya’s silent screams were bad enough to watch.

“What the fuck happened?” yelled Viktor. “Shoot her! Why are you standing there?”

Tavik looked at the war bot and saw that it wasn’t obeying Viktor’s orders. It wasn’t doing anything at all.

Every man he could see suddenly screamed simultaneously. All around him men dropped to the floor and began flailing madly, screaming nonstop. As unsettling as all this havoc was, it was even worse to see the indomitable Viktor flopping about like a dying fish. Tavik was stunned for a moment, but he understood what was happening. The American’s father! He leapt up from the armchair and shouted, “Turn off your wireless! Now! Turn it off!” He began kicking the men around him and repeating his instructions. He ran to Viktor and shouted directly into his ear, “Turn off the wireless, Viktor!”

Viktor’s body stopped jerking. He cradled his head in his arms and moaned. Tavik stood up and looked around him. Most of the men appeared to have finally understood and had shut down their wireless, but two men were thrashing out their final convulsions.

“What…‌what the hell was that?” Viktor whispered.

“The American boy’s father,” Tavik said. “I told you about him.”

“Help me up.”

Tavik got an arm around Viktor’s shoulder and heaved him to his feet. Viktor’s eyes burned redder than Tavik had ever seen them as he glared around the room.

“Get yourselves together,” Viktor rasped. “We’re going down to get that bitch. Then we’re going to track down every relative, every friend she’s ever had, and we’re going to fucking kill them all! You hear me?”

The surviving men were all moaning or crying softly, but they obeyed Viktor and climbed to their feet. Tavik turned and was surprised to see Bunny still kneeling by the armchair holding the scientist, both of them looking as if they’d been unaffected by what had happened.

He hefted the stun rifle and turned to Viktor. “Come on, let me go after her. It’s over. She’ll be no more trouble, I promise.”

Viktor’s eyes flashed red and he glared at Tavik for a long while. “I’ll give you three minutes. After that I’m coming for her.”

Tavik grinned and sketched a salute before heading toward the door.

Tyoma—the Bunny Tyoma—was having trouble maintaining his mute persona. He didn’t understand anything that was happening. How was he suddenly involved with mobsters? Why were the mobsters under some sort of attack? And what could make all these vicious men squirm on the floor screaming in agony while doing nothing at all to three of them? He wanted explanations, and it was all he could do to stay silent. He had tried to move once, but his original self clutched hard at his arm and hissed at him to stay still.