Contractor (53 page)

world’s most powerful magnet. The cone of

shrapnel gashed holes in the ranks behind it.

An extractor on the left came in with a

punch. He raised his new shield to block and

braced his body for the impact.

The punch dinged away. Daniel blinked.

No buckling. No strain.

Heh. Oh yeah. He was stronger.

He lowered his shield and swung. His

bat drove a dent into the middle of its steel

torso. He swung back the other way,

knocking it into the crowd.

Empowered by his new boost in

strength, Daniel lunged forward. Almost

every hit was a kill, damaging an extractor to

the point it was no longer functional. He

fought them back to the edge of the alley and

held there, fending off their black lasers with

his shield and striking any that got close. He

felt like a Spartan hacking against the Persian

army.

A scream split the air. Daniel glanced

back. The woman was down, and the birds

were swarming her. He raised his shield and

charged in.

Where his ram struck birds, they were

blown away. He took a few wide swipes to

drive them back into the air, then looked

down. He felt a little dizzy when he saw the

blood. Her forearm was missing a chunk of

flesh all the way to the bone.

"Hey! You alive?!"

She bit her lip and pried her eye open.

"Hurts. Shit."

Daniel tried to think. They had to stop

the bleeding.

He sensed magic. He raised his shield

automatically. A dozen lasers slammed into

him. A second volley forced him into a

crouch to protect the woman. The birds

hovered overhead like vultures. The

extractors marched forward.

An answer snapped into his head. Not a

good answer, but he didn’t have anything

else. "You still with me?!" She grunted her assent. "Ok, just stay the hell awake! You got

it?!"

"Yeah."

He knew moving her was a bad idea, but

they didn’t have any choice. Daniel dropped

his bat and shield on the ground. He picked

her up in one arm.

The birds dived in. He jumped and

rebounded off the alley wall, leaping over

the gathered extractors in a sharp V. He

landed at the back of their group.

He prayed that this was going to work.

Daniel charged his power into his

gauntlet. He slammed his hand through an

extractor’s torso and curled his fingers up,

lodging his first inside it. The robot beat

against his armor, trying to tear itself free.

Daniel pushed his power into every part

of his body at the same time. He glowed like

a miniature sun.

He was screaming down the street as

fast as he’d ever gone, dragging the extractor

and the woman both. He ducked around a

corner and skipped to a sliding stop.

He threw the extractor against the wall.

With two rapid punches, he bent its arms

back. He kicked its legs out. It flailed on the

ground like an overturned turtle. He set the

woman against the opposite wall. "Hey!" He

snapped his fingers at her. "Rise and shine!"

Her head lolled, but she didn’t respond.

Her face was pale. Blood smeared her

clothes.

He checked the sky for the birds. It

wouldn’t be long.

He grabbed her shoulder. "Kill the

extractor! Can you hear me?! Kill it! Come

on!" She blinked confusedly. He grabbed her

hand and pointed at the target. "It’s right

there! You have to destroy it! Kill it!"

Something got through. Her eyes

refocused. Purple lightning snapped down

her arm and hit the robot.

It wasn’t as strong as before, but it was

enough. Already damaged, the extractor was

burned to a smoking wreck.

It disintegrated to black dust. The power

seeped through the air and into her body.

Fresh skin and muscle grew over the injury

and sealed it shut. Color rushed back to her

face.

"…what…" Her feet scrambled on the

ground. Daniel gave her a bit of space. She

looked at her arm, then at him. "What

happened?"

"You almost bought it. I -"

The arrival of the birds cut off Daniel’s

explanation. Their new alley glowed with

purple light. He felt the ground tremble.

"This time I’m fucking you up!"

A cloud of sparks engulfed them. Purple

lightning pulsed outward like an EMP.

Daniel lowered his shield. Half the

flock was down. Their limp forms were still

sparking with purple electricity as they

turned into dust.

The extractors weren’t far behind,

sprinting along the ground with power

channeled into their iron legs. Daniel ran to

meet them. Without his bat, it was tougher to

make every blow as powerful, but the

extractors couldn’t keep up with him. He

used how crowded they were against them,

slipping between their ranks to cripple arms

and legs and smash them together.

A bolt of purple lightning flashed past

him. An extractor lost its head. Daniel kicked

its legs out and smashed into its torso with

his elbow.

He glanced back. The woman was

standing close behind him. "Birds are all

dead!" she said.

"You take the left!"

With the cover from her purple bolts,

Daniel felt bold enough to smash his way out

of the alley. It was an intense fist fight, but by

the end of it, they’d killed at least fifty

extractors. He swept his eyes around for

more, but the street was empty. No

overseers. Maybe it had been a patrol, or a

group headed toward the front lines.

His stomach, still empty, churned. His

vision felt blurry. His body felt ready to

sprint, but his mind was dragging a bit.

Maybe it was stress. He sighed and rubbed

his eyes.

"Were you following me, or

something?" the woman asked.

Daniel glanced back. She had a soft,

mousy face, hidden behind long brown

bangs. He’d put her between 25 and 30.

"No," he said. "Why?"

"You got here just in time to save the

day."

"It wasn’t that complicated. I heard an

explosion. I felt your magic. I ran over.

"The store’s ten blocks away."

"I can run fast." Daniel grinned. "Hold on a sec." He sprinted away. A few seconds

later, he was back with his equipment and

both their bags. He dropped hers at her feet.

"Guess I owe you one," she said.

Daniel popped off his helmet, stuck it

under his arm, and held out his hand. "Daniel

Fitzgerald."

She shook with one of those limp-fish

handshakes small women always seemed to

use. "Gabby McCauley."

"Pleasure." Daniel glanced around the

alley. The walls were burned and chipped

from their fight. "I’m good close in, but those

birds are annoying as hell," he said. "With me protecting you on the ground and you

sniping from behind, we’d make a good

combo. And if I wanted to kill you, I

wouldn’t have dragged an extractor half a

mile as your personal medical kit."

"…true," Gabby said.

"How about it? Buddy system?"

"How do you know I won’t stab you in

the back?"

Daniel frowned, then, he shrugged. "If

this shit’s really worth saving, I have to

believe I can trust people."

"…sorry, but no thanks."

Daniel was surprised. He’d thought she

was coming around. "You sure?"

"I’m sure." She walked past him. "Thank you for helping me. Don’t get yourself killed

playing hero, alright?"

"Yes ma’am."

Gabby threw him a half-smile. "Later,

savior." She raised a hand. Purple static

leapt between her palm and the power lines

above them. She floated up to them, set her

feet on the thick wires, then cruised away

like a human maglev train.

Daniel whistled as she zipped around a

building. He might outpace her, but she

definitely had style.

****

After finally eating lunch and getting his

breath back, Daniel traveled to a new pillar.

It was teeming with extractors, birds, and

overseers. He decided to try an attack

inspired by the navy’s jets. He focused all

his power on speed, then soared by an

unsuspecting overseer. His bat clotheslined

it across the neck.

He decided that would work out just

fine.

He kept on at top speed for a short time,

then immediately suppressed his presence

and hid inside a building. A flock of the

birds scattered through the air. He waited

until they stopped searching, then headed out

for another round.

His new tactic proved effective. The

brief bursts put a lot less strain on his magic,

and occasionally he was able to take out

two, even three overseers before retreating.

He could feel his power continuing to grow,

but he forced himself to stay conservative.

The first time he let his guard down might

very well be the last.

In time, impatience started nagging at

him. He wasn’t doing enough; he felt like he

was poking at them with a stick. He decided

to travel to the front lines on the west side of

Queens.

The magicians were out in force on the

streets. Some were manning helicopters,

others trucks, using magic to let the army do

their thing with rockets and grenades from

the safety of the vehicles. Those like Daniel,

specialized in close-range magic, were the

boots on the ground, slicing through the ranks

of extractors. They were backed by other

magicians fending off the birds with

everything from fireballs to blasts of pure

energy to nets of wind and ice and walls of

earth.

Whenever the overseers showed up,

they switched to the method Daniel had seen

earlier. The magicians overwhelmed them

with numbers to pin them down, forced them

to focus on their shields rather than making

those matter-eating orbs. The army brought in

the big guns to finish them off.

Daniel stayed on the fringes of the

conflict, taking out waves of extractors trying

to flank the magicians and picking off

overseers between fights. With their eyes

focused on each other, he was free to come

and go—as long as he stayed out of sight.

The army made steady progress, often after

he undermined the Vorid from behind.

The overseers responded to their losses.

They started traveling in groups of ten or

more, leaving behind the bulkier extractors

for their flying companions. The birds

circled their masters like schools of

piranhas. Confronted with waves of blue

lasers and grey spheres, the magicians were

fought to a standstill.

At that point, Daniel discovered an

extremely fun tactic. The overseers and their

birds were tightly clustered for defense. He

started a long distance away, lined himself

up, charged his shield, then boosted himself

forward as fast as he could while holding his

shield out, punching through them with sheer

speed.

His efforts mashed holes in their

formation. The army took advantage of the

openings, finishing them off and claiming

more territory. Daniel worked his way up

and down the line, racking up kills. His

shield was stained with dark green blood.

After breaking apart another Vorid-bird

sphere, he found two magicians cornered by

a lone overseer. Daniel intervened just as a

grey orb was about to eat a hole in one of

them, whisking him up to the roofs. A flash

of white light later, he killed the overseer.

He’d long since passed the threshold of

being able to kill them in one swing.

He landed on top of the building,

observing the magicians coming forward to

reinforce their friends. The very man he

saved started shouting. Glances and fingers

were pointed his way. Three helicopters

were coming in over the horizon; half the

mages charged up spells.

He raised his hands and called for them

to stop. They ignored him. When they fired,

he ran.

****

Three days passed.

The city was a wreck. He’d seen

buildings that had been chewed to bits by the

matter-erasing grey spheres of the overseers.

Other buildings were damaged by

explosions, both conventional and magical,

and most of the rubble was hanging in

midair.

The fighting was endless. Daniel

stopped trying to count his kills. He made

appearances in front of human forces to test

his reputation. They all prioritized the Vorid.

He started waving to friendly troops, and he

found that a lot of them waved back.

The magicians all still tried to kill him.

Sleep didn’t come easy. He tried to find

the most out-of-the way cranny he could, but

every tiny sound made him jerk awake, and

within the dome, the sun never stopped

shining. That was probably the most grating,