Sarah7
Chapter 26

Ch26

Sarah opened her eyes as she smelled something savory and spicy cooking. She found herself wrapped in threadbare but warm blankets and surrounded by a makeshift tent. She heard the sounds of men talking and the memories of the past few days came flooding back.

She cried out, despite herself and the worried face of Creed appeared at the opening of the tent.

“Sarah! You’re awake! ”

Another head popped in the tent opening with curly grey hair and striking eyes. “Welcome back Sarah .” Captain Danner said with a half smile.

Sarah’s eyes widened.

“Captain Danner! How can you be here? And where is here?”

Sarah stood up awkwardly and the two men retreated as Sarah emerged from the tent. They were in a bright clearing surrounded by thin tall trees. A campfire burned with a pot above it filled with something good to Sarah’s nose. Two other tents were nearby and a few paces further away stood Max.

“It is good to see you have awakened Sarah.” Max sounded sheepish, and he was in his collapsed state - arms retracted and resting on his legs. It was almost as if he sought to look smaller in the confined space of the clearing.

The sky was light blue with only a wisp of clouds. ‘It must be fully midday’ Sarah thought.

“How long was I asleep?” She asked.

“We set up camp late at night after we fled the city. It took a lot of cajoling to get you to vacate Max. You didn’t seem quite yourself .” Creed said, rubbing the back of his head.

“I don’t remember anything much after Max came up to me. Things were pretty crazy.”

She walked up Creed and looked him in the eye. “Thank you Creed, for saving me, and Max.”

Creed kicked at some dirt and looked over at Captain Danner.

“I didn’t do it alone, and you’re probably going to wish we had left you there with your new friends after you hear what we have to tell you.” Sarah winced inwardly.

“How did you find Max?” She asked. She was hoping to avoid his bad news as long as possible.

Captain Danner spoke up.

“We spotted the caravan carting the mech out of the city. We had managed to track you to New Chicago with some tech I had kept under wraps.” He held up the old device that had been instrumental in tracking her down.

“How does it work?” She asked after he handed it to her to examine.

“You have a chip in your head, girl.” He tapped at his own temple to illustrate the point. “One that - among other things - allowed the military to track you. They did not want their special investment to get lost now did they?” He laughed a bit harder than Sarah expected. She looked down at the ground.

“Look, Sarah 7, I am just honored to be able to have helped you out. I always wondered why I have been alive for so long, and now I know.” He gave her a lopsided smile and caught her eye.

“Don’t start talking about the Prophecy again, Danner” Creed quipped. He pulled out some small metal bowls and handed a full bowl of stew to Sarah, who began eating eagerly.

“Well, there’s not too many people left in the world who would know how to reboot a mech after an EMP - Electromagnetic Pulse - failure. I was a decent soldier in my day before becoming captain you know.” He stood straight and nodded as if assuming the role of a soldier all over again.

Sarah smiled. She was still alive. And Max was back, along with Creed and Captain Danner. They had reached her! Her mind was still swirling around the events of the past few days. There was so much to process.

Not to mention Orna.

She walked up to Max, bowl in hand.

“Max, I’m so glad you are back. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you when you were trying to tell me to be more suspicious. I guess I just wanted things to be easy.”

“Sarah…” Max’s voice trailed off.

“I too am sorry. There are many things that I have not told you. I am… afraid you will no longer wish to be my … friend.”

She quirked a smile.

“You mean like about Orna?”

Max was so surprised he took a step backwards and stood to his full height, as his arms and head expanded to active mode.

“How do you know about Orna? Did that other Sarah tell you?” Max said quickly.

“Other Sarah?” Captain Danner asked, with arched eyebrows.

“I know about Orna, because she has been talking to me. A lot.”

“Who’s Orna?” Creed asked as he sat down and pulled out his sword. He began polishing it out of a longstanding habit.

Captain Danner stared at Sarah. His eyes were wide.

“The Weapon” he whispered.

“The Weapon? You mean from that Prophecy? That’s crazy talk.” Creed scoffed.

“I’m afraid it’s true.” Max said. Everyone turned to him.

“The Weapon exists. It’s name is Orna. It was lost in the final battle with the Vixen. How can you know about it Sarah?” Max asked.

“She’s been talking to me ever since I came to Old Chicago. My earpiece communicator must have come within range of her transmitter.” She turned to Creed with a determined look on her face.

“I have to go find her.” She said.

Creed raised his hands, as if in surrender. “Woah. Hold on there. Don’t tell me you are starting to believe all this Prophecy talk? Who ever heard of a Weapon that talks? There was nothing in the stories about that. What if it’s just some crazy person with a radio?”

“The Weapon was ... contained within a highly sophisticated amplifier device. After the original Sarah died, the Weapon did not respond properly to the first Sarah clone. This amplifier ... adapted the weapon to the altered genetic line. One of the surprise side effects of the process was that the Weapon assumed a personality of sorts. It is not unlike the process that my personality donor went through to record his engrams into my neural network.”

Sarah walked up to Max. “You’re wrong Max. It wasn’t a side effect. Orna is alive.”

Creed looked at Sarah, then Captain Danner. He burst out laughing. He laughed so hard tears began to flow down the corners of his eyes and he slapped his hand on his thigh.

“What are you laughing about, Creed” Sarah said, somewhat hurt.

“Oh Sarah.” he had to stop and catch his breath. “Talking weapons? Living weapons? You must have bumped your head harder than I thought when we came to rescue you!”

Sarah turned to Max, ignoring Creed. “Why didn’t you tell me about Orna, Max? You knew.”

Max was silent for a moment. Finally, he said “You were not ready. Are not ready. It is too soon.”

“Too soon!” She snapped, stomping her foot and startling both Max and Creed. “I am so tired of everyone - everyone on this whole planet trying to decide what’s best for me, protecting me. I am not a child! I was never a child. And I am apparently here for a purpose. But I am sick and tired of everyone thinking they have to protect me. I know who I am and what I am. I’m going to have to deal with it - but I have to be told the truth!”

Creed stood up and walked to Sarah. His eyes were serious and his face suddenly grim. “Listen, Sarah. You want the truth. Here it is. The rest of the village. They’re gone. Everyone. The Vixen took them the night you left. Even Amil.”

“What?” Sarah gasped. She clenched her fists.

“It’s true girl. That was why we were coming to get you. If there’s any hope of getting them back. It’s going to involve you. You and your mech.” Captain Danner said gravely.

Sarah’s vision blurred with new tears. “Do you know where they went? How could we find them?” she asked.

“Sure, that’s the easy part. The Vixen often made raids to villages to acquire humans for various reasons. Mostly to get them to work in the resource processing centers. The places the Vixen have set up to gut this planet. We’re just plowhorses to them now, and they know it.” Captain Danner said bitterly.

“And you think I can help?” Sarah asked.

Creed put his hand on her shoulder. “You know how to fight. And - ” he gestured to Captain Danner and Max ” - there’s nobody else to do it.”

“That settles it then. I guess I have no choice. But there’s something I have to do first. We have to get Orna.” Sarah said and turned to walk sadly back to her tent.

Creed glanced at Captain Danner, who shrugged with a “what do I know” expression.

“This is all my fault.” Max said.

“I think you’re going to have to get in line, Max. I think the Vixen, the Earth army, and just about everyone you know will be ahead of you in line.” Creed said and started the long and involved process of breaking camp.

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