It also wasn’t man made.

  “Where did you get this?” Marcus asked, opening and closing his hand in and out of a fist, turning his wrist over, and then swinging the arm through the air.

  “Traded for it some time back. Didn’t know it wasn’t human at the time, but I sussed it out soon enough when I tried to hook her up to the hardware. Thing sucked all the juice right out of the local battery and damn near drained the power from the backup in no time flat. Har! That thing’s storing power in it somehow and somewhere and for some reason I don’t really understand. What I do know is that I had to build a circuit between it and the ring along with some really tiny signaling connectors to put it all together just to get it registered with the software. Let me tell you, these sausage fingers of mine ain’t great for work like that, so I had to build a bot with tiny digits to make that happen.”

  “You did all of that while I was unconscious?” Marcus asked.

  “Har, har! Hell, no! I’ve been messing with that arm for near on five years now. You crushing my wrist with it is probably one of the most exciting moments of my life. Shit, even I can’t believe I did it.”

  Marcus kept moving his arm around, turning it over and looking at it. “How long was I out then?”

  “About ten hours, give or take. Sorry, I ain’t got pants that’ll fit you or I’d offer you something dry.”

  “Nevermind that. I’m sure Sheriff Duke can get me new pants. Ten hours is a long time. Did he come back?”

  “He checked in a few hours ago, and then headed out again. But we can go link up with your group soon as you’re ready.”

  “I’m ready,” Marcus said. He tried to get up on his own, a wave of dizziness slowing him. “I just need a little help standing.”

  “Just be careful with me,” Halston said, putting out his other hand.

  Marcus took it in his human hand and let the borger pull him up. He held onto Halston’s shoulder when he got dizzy, waiting a moment before he felt steady. “I’m good.”

  “Follow me,” Halston said, leading him back toward the garage.

  “What about Sheriff Duke?” Marcus asked.

  “We’ll get to him in a minute,” Halston replied. “We need to finish calibrating before you break something else.”

  They entered the garage. Halston stopped next to the large bot arm balanced on a pair of sawhorses. “Pick it up,” he said.

  “What? That thing has to weigh at least a hundred pounds.”

  “One-sixty,” Halston corrected. “Pick it up.”

  Marcus didn’t think he could, but he walked over to the arm. Positioning his hand beneath it, he tried to pick it up, laughing out loud as he lifted the arm easily off the sawhorses.

  “Not bad,” Halston said. “Now put it down.”

  Marcus lowered it, a little too quickly. The arm landed hard on the sawhorses, splitting the wood and threatening to collapse them. “Shit.”

  “It’s okay. I expected that. Your brain needs to adjust to the load potential of the augment. To get a feel for it. Do it again.”

  Marcus did as Halton asked, though he approached the arm more cautiously this time, focused on being more gentle. He applied increasing pressure until it came off the mounts and then he lowered it back down again, a little less forcefully this time. He repeated the process a dozen more times until he was able to lower the bot appendage smoothly and without doing further damage to the sawhorses.

  “Good,” Halston said. He walked over to Marcus and held out his hand. “Shake.”

  Marcus stared at it, hesitant to hurt the borger again. “I don’t—”

  “I’m not concerned,” Halston interrupted. “Shake.”

  Marcus took the big borger’s hand, squeezing firmly but not too hard. He smiled as he released Halston’s hand without breaking any bones. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for this. To you and Sheriff Duke both.”

  “Yeah well, don’t waste it, you got that? That arm’s my pride and joy, and I only gave it to you because I owed the Sheriff. Make sure you do right by both of us.”

  A pit of guilt formed in Marcus’ chest. He had tried to kill Sheriff Duke twice, and the Sheriff had repaid the act with only kindness. It didn’t seem natural. His entire world was getting flipped on its head.

  “I’ll do my best,” he replied.

  “Har! Good man!” Halston clapped him on the shoulder. “Come on, we can walk over to the Magiff. It’s just on the other side of the bridge, and I could use the exercise.”

  Marcus looked down at his soiled pants. “Do you have a car, maybe?”

  “Nope. I can do you one better.” He reached into a pocket and removed a small tablet from it. Tapping on it a couple of times, he put it up to his face. “Charlotte, come.” He returned the tablet to his pocket and smiled at Marcus. “You’re gonna love this.” He grabbed Marcus’ shirt from the bench near the door and tossed it to him. He caught it smoothly in his new left hand. “Nice!”

  Marcus smiled in response to Halston’s enthusiasm, putting the shirt back on. He enjoyed the feel of the material sliding over his augment.

  “Can you pull up the garage door for me?” Halston asked, pointing to the handle on the roll-up door.

  “Another test?” Marcus asked.

  “It’s good to help break it in that way.”

  Marcus went over to the door, lifting it smoothly, without using too much force. He heard the whining of servos and motors, and when he looked to the east, he saw the large Spider bot was headed his way.

  “Charlotte?” he asked.

  “Yup,” Halston replied.

  The bot scurried over to them. When it arrived, it lowered its torso between its legs. Marcus followed Halston as he climbed onto the machine, holding fast to a handle welded to the thick armor.

  “Charlotte, take us to the Magiff,” Halston said.

  The Spider rose on its legs, the torso spinning to face the opposite direction, carrying Halston and Marcus with it. It started walking back toward the bridge, legs clanking and whining as it carried them to the main road, to the bridge, and across. The Spider changed course slightly, pivoting northeast and scaling a grassy slope to the building on the corner before stopping and lowering its body again.

  “This is our stop,” Halston said.

  He and Marcus jumped off as Sheriff Duke emerged from the front of the building with Vazquez and Fairy. He had cleaned up and changed his clothes, trading his Custodian utilities for the jeans, shirt, vest and duster that was more familiar to Marcus. It made the Sheriff look more like a cowboy than a militant.

  “We’re all done, Sheriff,” the borger added. “Better than new. I knew I could do it, har!”

  Sheriff Duke’s eyes fell to Marcus’ replacement. Marcus noticed a glimpse of trepidation in them, as though he was uncertain about the appendage now that it was in use. But the look vanished almost as quickly as it arrived.

  “How do you feel?” the Sheriff asked.

  “Great,” Marcus replied.

  “That looks so cool,” Fairy said. “I’ve never seen an augment like that.”

  “Axon?” Vazquez said, looking at Halston. “The Custodians would have killed you for that if they knew you had it.”

  “Except they didn’t know I had it,” Halston said. “And they’re already done for around these parts.”

  “They can try to take it over my dead body,” Marcus said.

  “They just might,” Vazquez said.

  Marcus shrugged. He wasn’t about to lose his arm for a third time.

  “It’s time to get going,” Sheriff Duke said. “We’re already a few hours behind schedule, but I think it’ll all be worth it. We’ve got an hour to Houston. Another hour to refuel, and then six hours to Sanisco. Let’s hope we won’t be too late.”

  “We won’t, Sheriff,” Marcus said. Then he turned to Halston. “Thank you again.”

  “It’s no trouble at all,” Halston replied. “Like I said, put her to good use and we’ll consider it even.”

  “I will.”

  Halston looked over at Sheriff Duke. “You want a ride over to your bird?” he asked, jabbing his thumb at Charlotte.

  “I do!” Fairy said.

  The Sheriff eyed the Spider for a moment before smiling. “Pozz. Why not?”

  46

  Hayden

  The Osprey was running on fumes when Vazquez brought it down in the field outside the barracks of Ruger’s militia, forcing the recruits training in the area to scramble out of the way to avoid them.

  Hayden was already at the hatch as the landing gear bounced gently on the grass. As he opened the door, the turbines immediately began to slow. He jumped out and approached the nearest group of trainees, led by one of Brink’s corporals. The man turned to him and stood at attention as he approached. Fairy and Marcus trailed behind Hayden while Vazquez prepped the Osprey for refuel.

  “Sheriff Duke,” the corporal said. “Welcome back, sir.”

  “Stand down, Corporal,” Hayden replied. “I’m not part of your army. You don’t need to stand at attention for me. Though I do appreciate the show of respect.”

  The corporal relaxed, shifting to a parade rest. “Right. Sorry, Sheriff. How can I help you?”

  “I need to talk to Brink asap. Where can I find her?”

  “She’s in a meeting with Ruger, down in the officer’s barracks.”

  Hayden grimaced at the news. He would have preferred to deal with Brink alone and avoided getting Ruger involved with any of this. He didn’t have time to wait until the conditions were more ideal. They had already lost four more hours than he had anticipated waiting on Halston to finish Marcus’ replacement.

  And what a replacement it was. As perfect as he had imagined it would be. Seeing it on the man, Hayden almost wished the Hunger had never returned him to his original human condition.

  “Thank you, Corporal,” Hayden said. “I’ll find her there. What you can do for me is get the fuel truck out here to top up the Osprey. We don’t plan on staying long.”

  “Yes sir, Sheriff,” the corporal replied. “I’ll relay the request immediately. Is there anything else you need?”

  “Neg. That’s it. Much obliged, Corporal.”

  The man saluted, forgetting himself again before leaving one of the recruits to lead the others and rushing off to the admin building to get the fuel truck moving.

  “Follow me,” Hayden said to Fairy and Marcus.

  “Uh, Sheriff,” Marcus said hesitantly. “I don’t think you want me to come along if Ruger is down there. He hates me because King’s the one who took his arms. He’ll hate me more because I have this…” He waved his Axon replacement. “...and he doesn’t.”

  “Makes sense,” Hayden agreed. “Why don’t you two wait here with Vazquez? I’ll be back soon enough.”

  “Pozz, Sheriff,” Fairy said.

  She and Marcus went back to the aircraft as Hayden jogged across the field to the street and across the street to the research building. A pair of burly men were stationed outside the front door and they didn’t move aside as he approached.

  “Pardon me, fellas,” Hayden said. “I need to get inside and have a chat with Brink and Ruger.”

  “Who are you?” one of them asked.

  “Sheriff Hayden Duke,” he replied, his name softening their hard expressions. “You two are Ruger’s bodyguards, I take it?”

  “That’s right,” the one on the left said. “You’re Sheriff Duke? I thought you’d be bigger.”

  “And have a metal arm,” the other one said.

  “Pozz. I get that a lot. Do you mind stepping aside?”

  “Sorry, Sheriff. We’re not to let anyone inside. Ruger’s orders.”

  “No offense, pardner, but I’m pretty sure Ruger didn’t mean me.”

  “He didn’t specify.”

  Hayden sighed. “I’ll tell you what. You stand aside or I move you aside. I’m sorry to consider it, but I’m in a bit of a hurry.”

  The two guards looked at one another, and then at him. Hayden could sense their minds working, trying to balance Ruger’s wrath if they let him inside against his potential wrath if they didn’t.

  Then they stepped to either side of the door to allow him to pass.

  “Thank you kindly,” he said, crossing between them and through the door into the building. At the elevator he entered the master code to bypass the installed security and call the cab. He took it down to the former research lab, noticing how silent the facility was as soon as he stepped through the cab doors. There had never been a ton of activity in the subterranean barracks, but if he hadn’t already known Brink and Ruger were down here, he would have assumed the place was abandoned.

  “Sergeant Brink!” he shouted. He didn’t have time to search them out by a quieter method. “Ruger! Your boys upstairs told me you’re down here.” He waited a few seconds, listening for activity before repeating the shout.

  Ruger appeared around the corner at the end of the corridor, Brink right behind him. He was dressed more formally than Hayden had seen him. A dark suit jacket and pants over a white shirt with a faded red tie. Brink wore her normal fatigues, but they had been cleaned and pressed just so.

  “Sheriff Duke?” Ruger said. “This is a surprise.”

  “Good or bad?” Hayden asked in response.

  Ruger hesitated before answering. “Why don’t you tell me?”

  Hayden didn’t like the way the man was dressed. He was already in charge of the city and aligned with a fair number of the settlements in both directions. So who was he trying to impress? “Got a date, Governor?”

  “I don’t think that’s any of your concern, Sheriff,” Ruger replied.

  “I think it is,” Hayden said. “We have an agreement. I just want to make sure you’re holding up your end. Especially since you shut the rest of your people out of the bunker and you’re dressed for a cocktail party. I’m trying to guess why that might be, and the only explanation I can come to is that you’ve been in touch with the other side again. You do have the switchboard on premises, after all.”

  “You’re way out of line, Sheriff,” Ruger said.

  Hayden noticed the man didn’t deny the accusation he had just made. “Am I? Then what’s with the formalwear? Were you headed out, or is someone coming in?”

  “Just tell us why you’re here, Sheriff,” Brink said. “You obviously need something.”

  “Yes ma’am, I do,” Hayden replied. “For starters, I need to affix a tether to the Osprey for a lift operation.”

  “Forget it,” Ruger said. “I wasn’t here to tell you that you couldn’t have the Osprey before. I am now. When I told you that you could have whatever you needed, I didn’t mean one of my most valuable tools.”

  Hayden smiled. “I’m not asking anymore, Governor. I’m telling you what I need and you’re going to make sure I get it.”

  “That’s not our deal.”

  “Neither is continuing to consort with the Custodians.” Ruger opened his mouth to complain. Hayden talked over him. “I don’t care one bit about why you re-opened communications with them. Do you know who the Colonel is?”

  “He’s their top officer. Just under the Grand Custodian.”

  “You ever talk to him directly?”

  “No. Why?”

  “So you don’t know who he really is?”

  “No. What’s your point, Sheriff?”

  “I hear the reason you’ve got those old augments is because King took your arms when he took Haven from you.”

  Ruger was getting frustrated by the statements. “So? Again, what’s your point?”

  “The Colonel is King,” Hayden said.

  Ruger’s face immediately went slack and pale. “Bullshit.”

  “Is it? Because I’ve got Marcus back at the Osprey. He went north to meet with the Colonel after he nearly killed me. Swears he’s his old man, in the flesh. They infected Marcus with an alien symbiote and sent him back south to kill me. He’s not very good at that.”

  Ruger smirked. “You’re lying.”

  “Come on outside, I’ll reintroduce you.”

  Ruger’s mouth worked but nothing came out until he finally bit his lip and started talking again. “King is supposed to be dead.”

  “I know. I’m the one who killed him, remember? But Marcus knows who he saw. However it happened, King survived. Which puts you in an awkward situation. Do you really want to help the man who took everything from you gain even more power?”

  Ruger didn’t speak right away. He didn’t move either. He stood in the hallway, his hand covering his lower face, smoothing back and forth over it as he worked through his options. Then he exhaled sharply. “Son of a bitch. The Grand Custodian patched into the switchboard directly. He told me he had a new offer for me, one I couldn’t refuse. I didn’t have to promise anything up front; he just said he would send someone to meet with me.”

  “Where? When?”

  “The Zoo, less than an hour from now.”

  “That’s awfully fast to get someone into the area.”

  “I know. He must still have agents in the settlement. I didn’t see any harm in hearing them out.”

  “Even if they told you to kill me and go after Natch City and Arcadia again?”

  “I didn’t see any harm,” Ruger repeated. “I make my own grepping decisions, damn it.”

  “Well, maybe you can see the harm now. The Custodians aim to give Earth to the Hunger. To the aliens that sent the trife.”

  “Why would they do that?”

  “A majority of humankind become slaves and fodder. The remaining few live a life as a different kind of slave. False freedom, drenched in the spoils of selling out the rest of our species.”

  Ruger considered it. “I could see how that would offer stability and security to those few. It’s not necessarily an unacceptable price.”

  “It is to me,” Hayden said. “And if you had any sort of soul left, it would be to you too.”

  “We can’t let aliens take Earth,” Brink said. “We just got those bastards off our planet.”