A stop along the way (2)

That too.

"Jonathan," Jamie said, her voice full of tension, of anticipation. They had survived countless battles. And on the roads, bandit attacks were just another fact of life.

Like sunrise and sunset.

So, it's not like she was really worried. But it was always good not to let your guard down, no matter how used to something you were.

"Keep pushing," Jonathan replied.

He doubted they were going to pass them by, but he wouldn't be the one to make the first attack. However, he was already preparing for what he saw as an inevitable fight.

He activated the enhancements on his left eye. He didn't even have to take his hands off the car for that. In older models, many years ago, the design was more complicated and clumsier to use. Now it required only a mental command.

Jonathan was thankful he was born in this era, because it was too useful to overlook, but it would have been very awkward to use one of those old models.

The vision in his left eye changed. The program pointed out points of interest, like the bloodstains on their clothes, or the places where they probably hid weapons.

That wasn't where the usefulness of enhancement ended, of course.

But the rest would only be revealed if they ended up going into battle in the end. They were bandits, no doubt about it, but it was still possible that they might chicken out. That they would decide it wasn't worth trying.

Jonathan preferred to avoid battles and senseless killing when he could. Too many people already died every day.

It wouldn't be like that.

As soon as they got close enough, they drew swords, spears and daggers. As if hoping to catch them by surprise. Or intimidate them. They earned neither of those reactions.

They just looked back at them.

"Give us all you've got or die," someone said, presumably the leader of that little pack of sons of bitches.

"We don't need to do this," Jonathan replied, taking his hands off the car.

His teammates also stopped pushing it, of course.

They still had time to listen to the voice of reason.

He understood that since they were outnumbered, they should look like easy prey to them. But they should know by now that appearances were deceiving.

They should, if they had survived this long doing this.

But he supposed some people were just born lucky.

"That's a strange way to beg."

"Because I'm not begging. I'm telling you what's best for you. Put down your weapons, let us pass. No one needs to die here today."

The thugs looked at each other, for a moment he thought they were considering his offer. Then they dared to laugh in his face.

"I'll give him that. For someone who looks more like a girl than a guy, you've got guts."

What did he say? Jonathan gritted his teeth hard.

"But your bravado won't work on us. Stop pretending."

"Girls..." Jonathan said. "I've changed my mind. You don't have to try very hard not to kill them."

The tip of the leader's spear grazed his neck. Jonathan closed his eyes, as if resigning himself.

"I've had enough. On your kne-"

He didn't get to finish the sentence.

That was because the leader's head exploded at that very moment. Since he was so close to him, the contents of his skull sprayed him, especially his face.

Jonathan had foreseen the explosion without needing to actively communicate with his teammates.

That was why he had closed his eyes.

He didn't want the blood to get in his eyes. It was annoying and the last thing he needed in the middle of a battle was anything that would hinder his vision.

He heard gasps. A muffled scream.

He heard the bandits, all or a good portion of them, taking steps back. Something tinkled.

Jonathan guessed it was the sound of the dead enemy's spear after falling to the ground.

Taking it as a signal, Jonathan pulled a handkerchief from his pocket over his chest, still with his eyes closed. He then wiped it across his face, wiping away blood and other fluids.

Only then did he open his eyes again.

As he had assumed, after the leader's death, the spear had slipped through his fingers and now lay on the ground. Jonathan took a brief look at it. Dismissing it quickly.

Not to pick it up and defend himself against the remaining bandits. For one thing, he already had his own weapon.

The only other thing a weapon was good for was commerce, and it wasn't good for that either, this particular piece.

The spear didn't look very tuned, if at all.

They were broke, in serious need of money. But it wasn't worth taking it and wasting time trying to sell it.

Hell, he wasn't even sure he could sell it.

"What was that...? What was that?" stammered one of the bandits.

"Jamie." He hadn't seen her do her thing, but he didn't need to see to know it was Jamie. She was the explosion girl. The only one who could do such a thing. Everyone had their talents. Sometimes I'm afraid you're going to blow my head off someday. But well done.

"Do you think this is a joke?" A second bandit raised his voice and stuck out his chest, trying to make himself look bigger. A puerile attempt at intimidation.

Truth be told, he didn't think they'd been in this business long.

Jonathan was really angry at what the late, and still presumed, leader had said. It wasn't the first time he'd been told something like that, but that was precisely why it bothered him. So he had been more than willing to put them out of business. Permanently.

Still, it was also true that he preferred to avoid unnecessary deaths.

He didn't consider himself a good person, but he wasn't a psychopath who enjoyed the heat of battle and senseless massacres. None of the members of his group were like that.

And Jonathan realized that this was the perfect opportunity, if he really wanted to stop the killing.

An opportunity bought with the presumed leader's life as a sacrifice, but an opportunity nonetheless. He had to at least try. If he failed, then he could say it was their fault and kill them all. But only if he failed.

It was for the good of the group, too.

They weren't the best-known mercenary group in the country, or even the region. But they had a certain reputation, and if that turned into a reputation for taking out everyone who got in their way, well, then things could get very ugly.

Any enemy who came across them and met them would become desperate, knowing that they couldn't count on them sparing their lives.

One had to know not to escalate things unnecessarily. Especially in a business like this, where everyone was making deals with death.

"I think this should have been a sufficient demonstration. Are you in a hurry to die? Go away." Still, Jonathan wasn't in the mood for long, elaborate speeches.

He hoped that would be enough, or not much more.

Silence ensued as he expected. Now all that remained was to wait and see if they would listen to the voice of reason. Or if they would turn a deaf ear and have to be squashed like ants.

"Let's get out of here. It's not worth it." One of the bandits, one of the many who hadn't spoken until now, broke the silence.

"But... they killed..." Another one protested, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists so hard they were shaking. Strength. And impotent rage.

Deep down, he knew he couldn't do anything even if he attacked. That he would only succeed in dying uselessly.

But no one wanted to accept his own impotence. No one. It was a human thing.

"So what? So what, tell me? He was an asshole. It's not worth it."

Neither the battle, nor the leader, he meant, in the end. Well. He'd certainly been a prick, but it bothered Jonathan that the bandit thought he was better than the other guy.

They were all scum, leading the life they lived. Highway robbers had no right to look down their noses at anyone. Least of all one of themselves.

The bandit who protested seemed to agree.

Still, he bent down to pick up the leader's body in his arms (now he was sure it was). A grotesque headless corpse.

After that, he left along with everyone else. In the opposite direction.

The direction they had come from in the beginning, of course. But even if that wasn't the case, they wouldn't have stayed near them. Anywhere but there.

Jonathan watched them go, one hand on the hood of the car. He wasn't doing it out of caution or fear of how the situation might develop, if they changed their minds and attacked them, overwhelming them with their superior numbers.

None of that. It wasn't what was going through his mind.

He was thinking... of things of a very different nature.

As the bandits disappeared behind the misty horizon, Jonathan shook his head. And turned away.

The four of them then resumed the task of pushing the vehicle forward.

He saw that the battery had been charged a little by exposure to the sun, ten percent or so. But if they got in it again and started it up, the battery would be drained again soon after.

It wasn't worth it.

Worth it, huh?

"What are you thinking about?" Roxy asked. Perhaps he had let his thoughts show too clearly on his face.

"How long it will take. What to do, once we get somewhere." It was true, all of it. But at the same time, it wasn't a sincere answer.

It was getting away from the heart of the matter. And Roxy knew it too, even if she had no idea what had him like that, exactly.

She saw it in his eyes.

But of course, how could she not notice? She'd been with him too long not to read him like an open book. The same went for Jamie and Mary, of course. Years and years...

"And?" Roxy added, nudging him to continue slightly.

Lots of things, he thought.

For one, morbid as it was, Jonathan was wondering how they would react if he died. Or rather, perhaps, when he did.

That is to say, people in this business tended to get out of it when they ended up backstage for good, walking out the back door.

And young. It wasn't a profession in which there were many old people, certainly.

Then there were those who were lucky, or stronger, or a bit of everything. Those who managed to amass a fortune sufficient to retire and live a decent life....

But, as he had said before, they were broke. And the future...

Anyway, he had a lot on his mind. Because he was the leader after all.

"That's all," he lied.

Because Jonathan was the leader, he had to know when to shut up, not just when to act.

■

They moved the car up the hill, pushing and shoving. Going uphill pushing that thing was the worst, and Jonathan couldn't go on a second longer. Not anymore.

"I need to rest," he said.

Then he let go of the car. And he dropped to the ground, his back against the rear of the car. He took a deep breath and let it out.

"Yeah, we'd better..." said Roxy.

"Girls," Jamie said.

He was about to joke that he wasn't a girl, although it was only fair to put it that way since he was outnumbered.

But Jamie's next words erased all thought from his head.

"There are houses there. In the distance."

"It looks abandoned," Mary said. "And... it isn't on the map."

It's not as if she'd memorized it, but she'd just taken a little peek at the map. To be sure.

"That's not unusual," Roxy said. "There are many settlements that are born, grow and die like that. Outside the system. Abandoned, left for the next group to pass through. Or turned into ruins. Whichever comes first."

"Our destination is far away," Jamie said. "And we need to charge this thing. It's worth a look."

"Yeah..." Jonathan said, still out of breath. If there's a charging station in decent condition, I'll be able to take it the rest of the way to ok. I should, at least. Okay, team. Push.

And so they did. As they had been doing for hours, literally. But their journey was about to end.

Finally, a bit of good luck.

Maybe things would go better from now on. They deserved it.

■

Finally, that was all he could think, coupled with a deep relief, as Jonathan bent down to take a good look at the charging station. Finally, for fuck's sake.

The trip across the desert with a useless car had truly taken forever.

They would still be in the desert, melting alive, for hours. That they couldn't avoid. But at least they could fix the useless car.

"Well, is it in decent condition?"

Jonathan nodded.

More than decent, in fact. It was as if the settlement hadn't been abandoned long ago. A week, maybe. Or a couple.

They couldn't just come in and use it, even so. But...

"It shouldn't take long. Then we can get going. We really can. But I'm not driving," he felt the need to add. Just in case. He knew them all too well, he did.

That he was the only man in the group was usually a very good excuse to burden him with chores they didn't feel like doing.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll do it. I feel like it."

"Yes? "It was more than asking for confirmation, that question. I mean, Jamie could drive. But he'd never seen her very comfortable behind the wheel. She preferred to avoid it when she could. It was obvious, even if she tried to disguise it, out of pride perhaps.

"You know, take control, feel the wind in your face. Seems like a nice... change of pace, after all this."

She could feel the wind in her face from any other seat, not just the driver's. But he guessed that "take control" were the key words in this.

Knowing her, the key words of her life, really.

"I'm not arguing with you," Jonathan said at last.

"You better," she gave him a playfully menacing look. "Need anything?"

"Nothing that's not in the trunk."

If he needed anything extra, he didn't think he'd have much luck in this ghost town. So that was nice.

Roxy approached, hopping and twirling. She was unusually animated. Jonathan couldn't say he didn't understand. He felt like jumping up and down too.

"This is a real ghost town. I'm a little disappointed."

Although her face didn't show it at all, anyway.

Smiling to himself, Jonathan opened the trunk to gather the necessary tools, his back to her.

Then something very simple occurred to him. Someone was missing.

"What about Mary?"

"Oh. She went to take a piss."

"Ladies shouldn't say it like that."

Roxy gave him the middle finger as her only response. He'd seen it coming from a long way off, but it still made her laugh.

The general good humor didn't last long.

A scream rose in the air. In the air of this ghost town, where there wasn't a soul except them. So, before the second it took him to recognize the voice had passed, he knew.

Something had happened to Mary.

Tools fell from his hands, clinking on the ground. Jonathan didn't pay the slightest attention to them.

His heart was pounding, as if trying to force its way outside through his chest.

Something bad. Something wrong.

They weren't alone, and something...

Damn it.

Jonathan had wondered how they would react when he died, but he had never wondered how they would react if another member of the team did. Such a terrible thing had never crossed his mind. And now...

No. Nothing.

His forehead throbbed, his ears were a continuous buzzing, like a hornet's nest.

He could hear nothing but that buzzing. And the beating of his unbridled heart.

The three of them broke into a run, praying that it wasn't too late.

They didn't have far to go following the screams.

A door opened and out tumbled Mary and another person. One person that fell on top of her, and when he saw them, Jonathan's breath caught in his throat.

He had never seen such a thing. He had seen people go crazy with enhancements, but this went way beyond that.

He looked more like a machine than a human.

He had tubes inserted into his skin. There were also wires hanging from his back, wires that sparked.

His eyes were white as milk, completely white.

Like the foam coming out of his mouth, except for the thin layer of blood that bubbled.

He had attacked Mary by surprise, showing unusual strength, being able to pin her to the ground when she was resisting with all her might.

And now...

Now he was... Trying to bite her neck?

What did it matter, what the fuck did it matter?

He'd attacked one of his teammates. He'd made her scream. There was nothing more to talk about, nothing he needed to see.

Jonathan lunged forward.

Moving as if wielding an invisible sword. But soon it became visible. To be more precise, the nanomachines formed the sword in his hand as he performed the motion of the attack.

Swiftly, gathering great strength.

And, of course, his sword was no ordinary one. It was replete with enhancements to make his job easier.

And it turned out to be easy.

The blow nearly split the enemy's skull in half. Now that he was dead, Mary easily shook him off, tossing him aside.

"Fuck. Thank you. No... It can't be."

It couldn't be. But it was.

The guy, whose skull was practically bisected, stood up again like that in front of everyone's eyes. Where the hell had they gotten to? Was that really... human?