Babylon Lost

Chapter 8

Out of the vast darkness in an unseen corner Jiro heard footsteps hurrying toward him.

For a second, he thought to stop. He had no idea what he was doing, what was going on. Even if this was a trap it seemed like whoever his pursuers were would know something. They had to have planned this, why not ask?

A shot rang out, whipping by his head, loud and deafening.

Better to keep to moving.

Without thinking he moved closer to one of the walls to throw off the aim of whoever was after him.

He heard more cries from behind but was too panicked to make out what they were saying.

More shots came at him, ricocheting off the wall and onward.

He had to get clear of here, the exit to the passage was just up ahead, but still much to far to survive prolonged gunfire.

More shots.

He wasn't going to make it.

"Hello Jiro" Pax kicked back in, "why was I offline just now?"

"I have no idea" Jiro said "you just went dead all of a sudden in the middle of the passage before the attacked."

"Are we in danger?"

Another shot hit the wall next to them.

"Yeah, you could say that. Do you have any idea what the hell is going on?"

"Negative, but if they were somehow able to deactivate me than their intentions are proving hostile."

"Yeah, that and the fact they're shooting at us, is there anything you can do?"

They were almost at the other side.

"Given how easy they were able to subdue me my options are fairly limited against them. I would advise you keep running."

Good advice Jiro thought, although maybe not the easiest to follow. He could feel his pursuers closing in.

"I can redirect power from other parts of your system to motor functionality." Pax said "increasing our rate of acceleration and speed."

"Do it" Jiro replied without a second thought and suddenly he felt a jolt of power, his legs began to carry him faster. "Could we have done this the whole time?" he asked, thinking how much more useful this would have been on the way here.

"Yes, but it would not have been advisable. This rate of power usage is not sustainable. We will have to outrun our pursuers quickly before the system crashes."

That did not sound ideal, but Jiro was definitely all about losing whoever it was that was trying to shoot him.

More shots came at him but with his increased speed soon he was able to clear the alley.

Now what?

"Pax, I need a new route back to the interlock" he said hurriedly "whichever way leads us quickest to 2012."

"Unless more cameras have been deactivated, I'm afraid the only unmonitored route is the one we took here."

"don't worry about that now" Jiro said running as fast as his newfound speed would take him, "we've already been made. We just need to get out of sight." He had a hopeful thought, if this were Block security they wont follow him into the Interlock. All he'd have to do is get there in one piece. "what's the quickest route we can take that'll keep us in cover?" He threw a glance back at the two buildings that were now getting further in the distance.