18 Don’t Look

They get to the river that sits along the west side of Coldstone. The truck pulls up a couple feet from the ice, and everyone gets out to stretch and survey the area. Sia makes sure to get the crowbar from off the floor and swings it at her side as she follows everyone's progress to check the river's condition.

Some areas seem frozen solid, but other areas look to have been cracked along the surface. There are no holes in sight. There doesn't seem to be a clear pattern. The back bumper of a small motor vehicle can be seen sticking out of a mount of snow outside the river, but it seems to have been there for quite a while. There are no signs that humans have been in the area in the past few days. Large animal tracks can be seen in the snow that had fallen in the night.

Sia shivers and puts the crowbar under her arm. She puts her cold gloved hands into her small jacket pockets. The mercenary camp had some spare jackets, but they were exactly Sia's size. She would have preferred a jacket larger than her, so she could bask in the warmth. She had borrowed socks from a woman at the camp to wear under her rubber gloves, but it does not seem to help much.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I need to speak with that woman," Ika says while focused on Sia's back.

Turner grins. "Sia?" he whispers conspiratorially.

"If the others follow us, distract them."

"Sure thing, boss."

Turner smiles at himself. His boss hasn't pursued a woman in years. This might be good for him.

Ika walks by Sia and waves her over to him.

~~

Turner goes to distract Raymond and Vanessa, but the moment Vanessa sees Ika looking to talk to Sia alone she breaks from their conversation.

"Oh okay then…uuh, well Ray. You been around here before?" Turner says while looking away from Vanessa's stomping form.

~~~

Ika walks by Sia and waves at her to come along with him.

'Oh, crap.'

"Uuh…" She begins to follow, but feels her shoulder being touched.

"Hey, go grab my backpack from the driver's side for me."

"Okay," Sia answers. "I'll be right back."

She doesn't wait for him to reply to her quick stammering before jogging away. Sia jogs toward Raymond and Turner.

ASK TURNER FOR HIS LIGHTER

Sia pauses for a moment.

'What?'

ASK TURNER FOR HIS LIGHTER

"...Hey, Turner, do you have a lighter? I need—"

"No, I haven't been to Richard's Bay," Raymond says to Turner. "I heard people get gunned down without an invitation. He's got the whole bay area scared."

"Well, this place is way colder, but just as frightening as Richard's Bay. At least the guy has everyone following his rules. Froze-stone is eerie territory. We already knew about the crazy survivor groups that hold up here. Now with the beast?"

Seeing Turner preoccupied, Sia worms her way into his view until he finally gives her a glance and registers her words. He reaches into his side pocket while continuing to speak.

"Yeah...I wanna know the deal with that creature. No one has reported how it killed those men."

Turner retrieves a baggy from his pocket and withdraws a lighter, handing it to Sia without looking at her.

"Thanks!"

'So…why did I ask for his lighter?'

OPERATION HOG-NOSE PHASE 3 COMMENCING

'Yeah. Whenever we can take advantage of their distraction, but with all this wide-open space I doubt I can run very far without them catching me.'

The Synthetic Intelligence Developer does not reply to her statement.

Sia picks up Vanessa's backpack and sees the keys still in the ignition of the truck.

RETRIEVE THE KEYS FROM THE IGNITION

'Wait, we made a Phase 1 and a Phase 2--'

AFFIRMATIVE

'When did we make a Phase 3?'

SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPER WRESTED CONTROL OF OPERATION HOG-NOSE TO ENHANCE COMPLETION OF OBJECTION

PHASE 3 ESTIMATED SUCCESS 92%

Sia's eyes raise at such a high probability and decides to stop thinking too hard about the new plan. Lil Puter has her best interests in mind. She takes the keys and slips it into her own backpack. She slams the door and jogs back toward Vanessa with her backpack hanging at her side. She hands Vanessa her backpack.

Vanessa grabs it without looking and uses the motions of fixing her backpack onto herself to distract from her palming her gun at the small of her back.

Ika suspiciously watches Vanessa, but keeps his hand loose on his rifle. He looks over at Turner to see if Raymond is distracted, but as he looks back at Vanessa, she is pushing Sia behind her and getting into a position to…

"HANDS UP!"

Ika grimaces at the gun in her hand. He does not release the hold he has on his weapon. He tightens his grip as she backs up. Turner notices the yell and assumes it's an outsider approaching them. He lifts his weapon and turns to their surroundings. Raymond hears the signal and points his gun at Turner's back while taking a few steps back.

"Don't."

Turner groans at the sound of Raymond cocking his weapon behind him.

"Come on. I said we're all friends here. It's not…"

"SHUT UP!" Vanessa yells.

"You're letting this paranoid bi- "

Raymond shoots off to the side to interrupt Turner's grumbling.

Ika sees Raymond aiming for Turner's chest and lowers his weapon with a sigh.

While Vanessa and Raymond are leading the two mercenaries to a tree to get tied up, Sia stands in her spot with her hands raised. Her shocked eyes watch Raymond toss Turner a rope.

'Uuh…'

RUN

'What if they shoot at me?!'

FALSE CONJECTURE. THEY WOULD NOT RISK HARM TO SUBJECT 001

Sia trusts the devices words, but tentatively picks up the crowbar she dropped.

She walks at a steady pace, trying to appear natural. She winces at the crunch of the snow under her steel-toed boots, but she didn't dare to look back and see if anyone was paying attention to her. The moment her boots touch the ice, she begins sprinting for her life. She needs to catch herself a few times and complains to Lil Puter about this plan.

'I…damn this…Pretty sure they've noticed me…A little help!'

tRainQuilT646 RUNNING

SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPER ENHANCING LOWER EXTREMITIES

Sia's body pauses for a moment and then her entire running form changes. Her arms are no longer flailing at her sides. They straighten out and her legs take surer steps. She is gliding across the ice at an impressive speed now. The uneven surface of some areas contact the steel toe of her boots, and spray bits of ice up into the air. With a tilt and push, she avoids cracked thin areas.

It changes their direction to the left and holds the crowbar high in the air. In its peripheral, it can see Raymond coming closer to their location, but he is much too far to affect its current plan.

Sia's body gradually slows down and it walks over to an odd, white, raised area along the ice. Tiny ice crystals protrude out the ice in a circular form. The crowbar comes down upon the area twice.

Sia can hear shouting from the land. She assumes it's one of the Wanderers trying to reach her.

'Do we have time for this?!'

TO ENSURE SUBSTANTIAL DISTANCE SUBJECT 001 MUST SECURE PERSONAL ROUTE

PURSUERS MUST TAKE ALTERNATE ROUTES UNFIT FOR IMMEDIATE APPREHENSION STRATAGEMS

'What are you doing?' Sia questions while watching from inside her mind.

METHANE IS TRAPPED BENEATH THIS BODY OF WATER

IF ONE BREAKS INTO A METHANE BUBBLE AND IGNITES IT WITH FIRE

'Wow! It's blasting up so high! Again!'

Sia's body backs away from the blaze and hits into the other parts of the ice like a machine. Over and over. The spots seem to be random. It strikes and moves with a burst of speed, stops, and hits the ice once again. The cracks spread and connect with one another. After a few seconds of vigorous labor, it kneels and ignites the gas once again. A wall of fire shoots high up into the air.

Sia cackles from within her mind. The synthetic intelligence developer turns away from the inferno and runs off to the other side of the river. It's several miles of ice, but it skates over it all at such a speed that the distance does not seem very daunting any longer.

OPERATION HOG-NOSE PHASE 3 COMPLETE