Code Breakers: Alpha by Colin F. Barnes

sends out UAV drones to keep places like these under control. Like flocks of birds, but with hi-res cameras, integrated VPNs, and weaponry.”
    “What kind of weaponry?” Gerry scanned the dark skyline, expecting to see dark assassins flitting between the clouds.
    “Lasers, particle beams, graphene-tipped ammunition… there’s a bunch of different models.”
    Gerry shook his head. “Great. This place just gets better and better.”
    Gabe sat with Cheska in her vehicle. He turned to regard Petal. “Okay to drive you and Gez?”
    “Sure,” she said, grabbing Gerry’s hand and pulling him to the now-vacant buggy.
    Gerry hopped in and sat next to Petal as she took the wheel and stomped the throttle. The vehicle lurched forward with a roar of internal combustion, sending a plume of red dust in its wake. Gerry whooped and laughed at the madness of the situation. He felt free and alive, and for a brief moment he forgot who he was. But with all things that are forgotten, the memories have a habit of coming back.
    His family, his life, his job—everything gone. But for that short moment it didn’t matter.
    The journey to the ramshackle town lasted just a few minutes as they powered on through the scrap metal gates. Following the lead of the woman, Petal pulled the buggy up at a slightly less battered building with a sign on the front: The Spider’s Byte.
    The leader of the gang jumped off her trike and strode towards the door. Gabe followed.
    She whispered something, and Gabe passed her the card.
    “Okay, suckers, Bilanko’s in the back room. Good luck. I hope you come out alive. Mama always needs more bins.” She winked at Gabe and headed off.
    Gabe looked at Gerry. “Arm up, man. This place is volatile.”
     
    ***
     
    The bar’s palpable darkness shrouded the three of them as they entered the building. The bright, dry atmosphere of the desertlike exterior seemed so far away now, as if in another dimension altogether. Gerry didn’t know what the rules were here. Didn’t know if physics were the same. What was the right etiquette? A feeling of being on that razor’s edge of doing or saying something extremely dumb overwhelmed him entirely.
    “What are we looking for, exactly?” Gerry said to Gabe, trying to calm his nerves.
    “Bilanko, of course. You don’t listen very well, do ya, man?”
    “I know that. I mean, what or who is she? I can’t see anything in here.”
    “Just chill ya bones, man. Take it easy and follow my lead.”
    To see Gabe and Petal shrink into themselves, become as non-threatening as possible, wasn’t a sign that this place was a safe haven filled with people full of bon vivant and good intentions.
    Beady, glowing eyes emerged from the gloom and struck Gerry in a series of non-blinking stares. The people to whom these augmented eyes belonged stayed deep in the shadows of their upholstered cubicles. Shot glasses of neon blue liquids littered their round metal tables.
    Wheeze, clank, wheeze, clank.
    The sound of a hundred shadowy patrons shooting their drinks and slamming the glasses to the table in unison created a kind of death march. Not one voice. Not one greeting. Even the bartender stood motionless with a filthy rag in one hand and a curved dagger in the other—laid casually on the rusted metal bar top as if to say, ‘Here’s my knife. It’s in its happy place right now, but it won’t hesitate to cut you.’
    Gerry felt around his belt and found the comforting cold steel of his revolver. How quickly he’d grown to rely on it. Looking at these augments, he wondered whether he’d even be able to fire off a single round before they would jump and slice him. Who knew what other modifications these people had? Were they even people? It was hard to tell when all you could see were gloved hands gripping shot glasses and glowing amber and red eyes.
    Below the bar floor a deep bass wave rumbled. It continued to build until it formed a pulsating rhythm right up into Gerry’s guts.