Liberty by Niall Teasdale

Author:Niall Teasdale
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Detective, ultrahumans, Superhero, Sci-Fi, AI, alien, Science Fiction, Superheroes, action, artificial intelligence, Adventure
Published: 2018-10-25T22:00:00+00:00

Part Four: Iron Cap

Charleston, WV, 3rd May 2017.

Weston Carter had woken up in a field just west of Winchester, Kentucky. That had been four nights ago. As usual, he had had nothing with him. The clothes he was wearing barely fit since he had stolen the best he could find from washing lines. The sneakers he was wearing had come from a charity bin and they pinched his toes. But he was almost at his destination, for a given value of almost. If he kept pushing east, he could be in New Millennium City inside of two weeks, and that was fast enough. He would have four or five days to find Cygnus before there was another episode.

Right now, West was walking along the I-79 just east of Charleston with his thumb out. He was not especially hopeful, but someone might stop. Every lift cut time off his journey. Trucks were the best. Truck drivers seemed happy to have some conversation. West had got pretty good at talking without saying anything, which seemed to suit the drivers perfectly well. He was a little surprised when a sedan pulled to the side of the road just ahead of him. Not a truck, but maybe they could get him a few more miles down the road.

The passenger-side window rolled down as West approached it and he looked in to see an attractive woman in a white, kind of sheer blouse smiling from the driver’s seat. ‘You looked kind of forlorn walking along there,’ she said. ‘Where’re you headed?’

‘New Millennium City,’ West replied hopefully.

‘Well, I can get you as far as Andrews Field, or just outside. I think there are buses from there.’

West had no money for bus fair, but he knew Andrews Field was practically on the doorstep of New Millennium City. This would cut days off his journey! ‘That’d be great,’ he said. He heard the car’s locks disengage, opened the door, and stepped in. The locks clunked shut as soon as he closed the door. ‘Really, I can’t thank you enough.’

‘Don’t sweat it. You’re not a serial killer or anything, are you?’ She pulled out onto the freeway and the car rapidly picked up pace.

West thought about the people who had died in his episodes so far. He focused his attention on the road ahead. ‘No, ma’am. I’m West.’

‘I know you are,’ she said. There was a soft ‘thup’ sound and West felt an impact in his side. He looked down at the dart now sticking out of his abdomen, then up at the weird-looking handgun the woman was holding. ‘Just go to sleep, kid. It’s nothing personal.’

‘What…’ West began, but his vision was already narrowing. Before he could even focus his thoughts, he was asleep.

The woman pressed a button on her steering column with one thumb. ‘This is unit three to control. Over.’ She released the button and waited.

‘Unit three, report. Over,’ the voice issued from speakers in the car. It was, as usual, toneless and efficient.

‘Subject identified as codename Overpressure.

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