Engagement [Book 3: SEKTOR V Trilogy]

Chapter 21: Rise of the Hybrids

Chapter 21: Rise of the Hybrids

One hundred and eleven souls.

One more than we started with, Jake thought as he continued his slow methodical march westward. Within seconds, he shook his head because he knew what was coming next. "Thirteen less than we should have..." Cairo responded telepathically with a note of sadness. Jake shook his head and smiled at Cairo who was walking in single file directly behind him. She was listening. She was always listening! For Jake, unspoken communication was still unnatural but for Cairo, he knew it was simply part of who she was.

Returning his gaze towards the horizon, Jake watched the first part of the yellow-orange sun disappear. He estimated that they were about 30 minutes, or 3.3 kilometers into their 170-kilometer journey to Petersburg, West Virginia. The plan was to meet up with the Pittsburgh Resistance unit just before daybreak. After allowing for a bit of rest and sustenance, the entire entourage would head northwest towards western Pennsylvania where a (relative) stronghold existed for Terran forces. However, Jake knew that simply getting to Petersburg would be a challenge. The trip was impossible to complete in one shot which meant they would have to re-group once the sun came up roughly 65 kilometers west of the RCC they had just abandoned. The good news was that during their trek southward weeks earlier from New York, generals Coker and Holland had the presence of mind to establish such a contingency in advance. The makeshift, well-hidden camp they had quickly put together was by no means luxurious but it did provide adequate visual and thermal cover from both AI drone surveillance and ET ground force detection. It was there if and when they needed it. And at this point, the "if" had become a certainty, and "when" would be very soon.

Jake knew that journey to get there was going to be a bit more dangerous than normal, which is to say that it would be very dangerous in absolute terms. Any type of Human migration effort on Earth was a risky proposition these days. Considering their oversized group, coupled with the fact that 14 of the 111 individuals were untrained, tired, and physically abused Zeta camp refugees meant that the entire caravan was at significant risk. It wasn't all bad news, however. A mitigating factor was that it was nighttime and they had sufficient IR cover for all travelers. Still, given the number of individuals and level of inexperience in play, Jake knew that they ran the risk of being nothing more than sitting ducks if anything significant went awry.

Jake estimated that they had roughly 10 hours to travel 62 kilometers before the sun came up. If they didn't have sufficient cover at that point they would be toast. He also realized that a 6.2-kilometer per hour pace would be tough to maintain given the "Hybrid Hamstring" they were facing. Thankfully, the recently emancipated Hybrids were getting help from everyone else which allowed the convoy to stay on track. That is, at least for now...

"I still can't believe we did it," said Cairo aloud after about 10 minutes of silence.

"Whoa! Sound. Words. What gives?" He said with a smile as he turned towards her.

As she rolled her eyes at his admittedly weak attempt at sarcasm, Jake added, "No way. This is far from over, Cairo." Jake's smile disappeared as recent dark memories began flooding his brain. "At this point," he continued, "these machines are nothing more than killers. Killers that keep getting smarter. In fact, I'm worried that this IR gear won't help us much longer. A better idea would have been to split up into smaller groups and travel in a staggered pattern during daylight hours. As it stands now, we're sitting ducks draped in awkward, IR gear that might not even work."

"We'll be fine Jake, just have some faith," she communicated telepathically. "After all, you have me...right behind you...over-analyzing every thought that cute brain of yours comes up with 24/7."