The Deathless Trilogy

3.28. More of Us Will Die

The drone lights turn on with power. Now each of the mindless soldiers is two weapons in one: A human with a gun and a machine with a laser. Gunther closes his eyes to order his troops again, only now the drones buzz with life, and the soldiers' eyes fly open. In one monotone voice, they say in unison, "Algorithm upload complete."

It's as if they've all been empty shells this whole time, and new souls now fill them, rediscovering life. They search their bodies for a moment in confusion. General Kazemi uses this opportunity to open fire on them from their northern front, and the forest erupts in bullets and electric pulses. The line of soldiers directly in front of them fall dead, and I fight everything inside myself not to weaken at the sight.

The soldiers all turn toward the northern front. "The Germans!" one of the soldiers in front of us yells. "They're attacking the Ardennes! Hold them back!"

"Do they think they're allied soldiers in World War II?" Mom asks under her breath.

There's no time to think about who Gunther's soldiers think they are. I have to lead my troop.

"Try to preserve their lives," I say, thinking of Ian. This way, I'll be able to see if they can survive it, and if they can, we'll be giving these people the best chance to survive. "Aim for the drones. Fire," I order my troop.

Beneath the chaos of war, luckily only a few of the nearby soldiers overhear me, but when my entire troop opens fire, those soldiers are no longer problems. Light from our electric weaponry bursts from our front, hitting most of the soldiers' drones and knocking them unconscious. Some of my soldiers miss and hit the soldiers instead, but this is war. It's us or them, like Phoebe once told me it would be back when this was just an immersion. Now it's real, and I have to be serious if I want to survive and keep my people alive.

Most of Gunther's soldiers are focused on General Kazemi's attack at the northern front, but some have shifted their attention to us. As they approach our trench and as our guns charge, I yell, "Aim for their drones! And fire!"

We spring up and shoot at the soldiers again, but now they scatter, running into the forest and closer to our trench. The soldiers who avoid our shots hide behind trees and reload their weapons as we charge ours. An English accent cuts through the shots: "Be strong, men. Remember who you're fighting for back home." Sergeant Major Lawrence.

"You are not in the Ardennes," I shout from beneath the trench. "You are outside of Washington DC in the United States of America. You are Sergeant Major Belinda Lawrence. You are not an allied soldier."

"They speak English," one of the other mindless soldiers says from behind a tree.

"In position," I whisper down the trench, and my troop pokes out from beneath the cloth. My mom and my dad are stone faced, but Celia pants with anxiety. "We're getting out of here," I tell her, and she nods, still fixed on the trees around us.

"Now!" one of the mindless soldiers shouts, and they reveal themselves from around the trees.

We fire. I aim for Sergeant Major Lawrence's drone, but my shot only tears some bark away from the tree she's taking cover behind before she and the rest of the mindless soldiers hide again.

We're sitting ducks here, I think. We need to spread out. I peer down the trench toward Jane and Meg, and they meet my gaze. I wave my hand toward the woods as a signal for them to run behind a couple of trees to corner the soldiers hiding in front of us. They nod, and as they begin to run out from the trench, I yell, "Cover!"

Only three of the mindless soldiers are dumb enough to poke their heads out from behind their trees, and Mom, Dad, and I get their drones. They fall to the ground unconscious.