Girl Cyborg: A Dystopian Action Adventure Thriller

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Bess took off her respirator mask. She held the dust-covered baby close, peeled its blanket back a little and sniffed the top of its head. Despite the burning plastics and concrete dust around her, Bess's sensitive nose delighted in the carroty-sweet baby smell. It was subtle, and faintly corrupted by a whiff of damp diaper, but it was still the best perfume she'd experienced.

Around her, the city popped with random gunfire. Against velvet blue night she could see flames from the city's iconic tower burning downtown. The view should have been blocked by buildings, except so many of them had been knocked down over the past several years. Now, in places, you could see landmarks practically on the other side of the city. At night, despite the ravines which scored the city vertically as it rose from the lake shore to the south; she could see factories and tall buildings because they were on fire. It used to make her angry, the way the EA deliberately blasted anything still standing.

This was the city of her birth, but at least it wasn't home. Home was the land promised to her when the war ended. In the NUS, she would walk through urban parks where the trees hadn't been burned for fire wood. She would drive down smooth streets lined by pristine buildings and hospitals. This was the promise that helped her get through the day-to-day destruction. It had become something to endure but Bess had learned not to waste her anger on it. She reserved that for cowardly strikes on schools and hospitals.

The sound of gunfire moved a little closer. The fighting couldn't be coming this way, could it? She unzipped her fire-retardant coverall and pulled her arms out of the sleeves. Slipping the baby inside, Bess held it against her chest where it would feel protected.

Out of the haze of concrete dust and smoke, Capt. appeared. His eyes widened when he saw her cradling the baby.

"Come on Bess, don't zone out on us. It's time to get out of here."

She ignored him. He was always telling her what to do but this time she was in charge.

He put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed until it hurt. "I shouldn't have to say it. C'mon Bess, lead, follow, or get the hell out of my way."

The rest of her team seemed so distant compared to the baby in her arms. She looked south and watched the lakeside tower burn.

"Look." She gestured her chin toward it. "That tower will be ashes by morning. They finally hit it." By the time baby grew up, it was anyone's guess what would be left of the city, or which side it would belong to. She corrected the disloyal thought. Of course, their side would win.

Cherry shouldered in between Bess and Capt., "Ooh, can I hold the baby?"

"Just a minute. I'm reconnoitering."

Capt. snorted. "She's lost it. Won't even call the mission finished."

Bess sent out the signal for her little team to return to their vehicles. The other search and rescue teams had already left. What was wrong with her? Usually she was so efficient.

Still, Bess couldn't bear to leave. She held the baby close against her body, letting the others retreat to the vehicles ahead of her. The top of its tiny head was covered in dark peach fuzz.

"Ma'am?"

There was a medic in front of her, dipping her white helmeted head in a show of respect.

"What do you want?"

"The baby, Ma'am."

Despite a lifetime of bombings and close calls and sleepless nights, this soft little body made the chaotic world around her feel silent and still.