Shuqba met Graycie at the bottom of her building. There was colour in the little girl’s cheeks. Her eyes, although red and puffy from crying, were free of their sandy crust, and she was no longer as skeletally thin as Shuqba remembered her. Her hair had been arranged in an elaborate braid that hugged her scalp and fell down her back. She chewed on the collar of her silky blue pyjamas and clutched her beaten-up toy panda. Shuqba hugged her. It would be too much to ask the child to go back upstairs to change. The pyjamas would have to do until they could pick up more appropriate clothing.
‘Alida’s waiting outside the city for us. I’ll call her. She’ll be so pleased to hear your voice.’
Shuqba pulled out her OmniScreen and initiated a call to Alida.
This individual is no longer contactable. Please contact Intelli-Enhance Support for help.
Shuqba frowned. It could mean anything. Alida’s implant could have failed or there could be a problem with CorpNet.
Or Alida could be in trouble.
There was no advantage in speculating. The best course of action would be to commandeer a van and get outside the wall. Shuqba shook her head at her own negligence. They should’ve made more specific plans.
Shuqba hauled Graycie onto her hip and ran. Alida could be waiting, fretting because she couldn’t contact them. A group of Neo SFOs outside the workers’ barracks watched her and Graycie pass with questioning expressions. Shuqba ignored them and turned into the vehicle depot yard. There was no sign of Amud or Ferrassie.
‘Amud,’ Shuqba called out. ‘Amud!’ She crouched to let Graycie off her hip.
They held hands and walked towards the wide-open office door. Sobs and cries came from inside.
Shuqba put her hands on Graycie’s shoulders. ‘I want you to stand right here and wait for me. All right?’
‘Yeah.’
Shuqba’s hand went to her nose to block the odour of blood and faeces. She ignored BIS’s hails as she crossed the reception and entered the tearoom. Bodies lay all over floor. In the middle of it all Amud sat in a pool of blood with Ferrassie in his arms.
‘No!’ Shuqba pressed her eyes closed and opened them again. ‘What happened?’ Ferrassie was pale and grey, her neck glistening with bright-red blood.
Shuqba pulled Ferrassie from Amud’s arms. ‘We need to stop the bleeding.’ There were deep, jagged tears in Ferrassie’s neck. ‘Amud, find me something to wrap around the wound.’
It wasn’t like Officer Nguyen with the implant malfunction. There was nothing she’d been able to do about that. This was an injury she could fix. Ferrassie had escaped from organ harvesters, recovered from a deadly fever, managed to evade certain death at the medical research centre and been rescued from Neo Control Officer Noon, twice. She was meant to survive.
Amud blubbered about a Sapien biting Ferrassie and pointed to one of the corpses on the floor. Shuqba pulled off her own shirt and pressed it to Ferrassie’s neck. The blood was sticky and coagulating. It wasn’t even flowing anymore. A small hand touched her shoulder.
‘When there’s no more breathing it means they’re dead. Like Mum and Mother and Father,’ Graycie said.
Shuqba sat back on her haunches and pressed her fists into her eye sockets. Graycie was right. She hated that the child was familiar enough with death to be right. Shuqba stood and wiped her bloodied hands on her slacks. Ferrassie had died before Shuqba even entered the room. Bled out. Most likely through her carotid artery. It would have been quick. Even if she got Ferrassie to a med droid, there was little they could do to bring her back. A Neo would never be a priority anyway, not with all the Sapien corpses littering the city.
Graycie and Amud needed her. And so did Alida, if she was still alive. She walked over to Amud.
‘Come on. Let’s bug out.’ She put an arm around his shoulders.
‘Rassie’s coming with us,’ he said. ‘We can bury her somewhere nice. Somewhere she can be free.’
Amud picked up Ferrassie’s body and they went out into the lot to commandeer a van.