Riot by L. E. Erickson

Author:L. E. Erickson [Erickson, L.E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: dystopian cyberpunk thriller
Publisher: JMA Publishing
Published: 2017-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

3

JAGER and Nunes never fought, so far as Daria had seen. But they were bluntly clear in stating their opinions to each other.

Jager looked angry. But then, she always did. Short and stocky, with a top-heavy build and a bristle of auburn hair, resting bitch-face was apparently her natural state. She spoke precisely and clipped her words, so she always sounded a little pissed off, too.

“You shouldn’t be here.” Jager didn’t look up from the energy rifle she was assembling.

Nunes had already snapped together her rifle. She pressed her back to the stone and steel side of the building across the street from South Tower where Gid had led the four of them—Gid and Daria, Jager and Nunes.

Midafternoon sunlight played at the open end of the alley, but shadows gathered closely enough to keep them out of sight of the main thoroughfare. In case of emergency, the entrance to the passage they’d emerged from lay just at the end of the dead end behind them. Gid had chosen well.

“And yet here I am.” As tall as Jager was short, Nunes’s square jaw and clear blue eyes painted an impressive figure. Even wearing loose-fitting pants and a wrinkled tee, she resembled some ancient goddess of war. The blonde braid draped over one shoulder only reinforced that image. Nunes’s voice matched Jager’s, brusque but calm.

And firm. Neither of them was arguing. They were simply stating their individual sets of facts. Daria glanced at Gid, who was not assembling a rifle or any other sort of firearm. Gid smirked and shrugged.

Despite her amusement, Daria was tempted to agree with Jager. Nunes bore the tell-tale bulge of heavy bandaging beneath her tee. But she moved steadily enough, and Daria hadn’t quite figured out how to refuse help from either one of the two. Staying the hell out of their current discussion seemed the wisest choice of action.

Jager finished assembling her rifle and took up a position against the wall opposite Nunes. Her only response to Nunes was a grunt.

“This is what we’ve been working toward.” Nunes fixed Jager with those piercing eyes of hers. “I’m not missing out on a second of it.”

Jager’s dark eyes tracked across Nunes’s face. After a second, she grunted again and then glanced back at Daria. “Go time?”

And just like that, the issue was apparently decided.

At the end of the alley, the streets and moveway north of South Tower didn’t exactly bustle, but they were no longer ground to a complete halt, either. The public monitors on the corners of buildings unfurled the same staid newscast Daria had glimpsed earlier that day: Remain calm. Trust the APS to protect you. We have everything under control.

Protectors stood at the corners, too, but there weren’t more of them than usual. APS had mostly regained the appearance of order here.

The appearance.

At midday on a work day, people came and went about their business pretty much as usual. Although, Daria noted, there seemed to be fewer of them. And of those, most walked quickly and without much eye contact between them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.