The Expandables - A Post - Apocalypse Cyberpunk Adventure

As they walked pass a warrior that had been torn in two, a blade swung up, catching Mako on her leg.

"Agh!" Mako muffled a shout and unloaded a clip onto the warrior's head, obliterating it.

"F.u.c.k! I was so careless!"

Hurrying over, Riley saw that the warrior's foreleg blade was still embedded in Mako's leg, just above the knee. He lowered Cheng to the ground, noting on his friend's face a mixture of horror and worry.

"Hang on! I'll handle this!" Saying through gritted teeth, Mako dropped the rifle, took out the injector and plunged the needle onto the area around the wound.

"Jenkins, take this hemostatic spray!" Mako gave Jenkins a white spray cannister, "When I pulled it out, spray it on my wound! Got it?" Jenkins frantically nodded. Riley took Cheng's rifle, checked the magazine and prepare to hold off the termites.

Mako grabbed the blade and took a few quick breaths. With a painful scream she pulled it out, and Jenkins sprayed onto the wound. Mako took the cannister from him and finished the spray herself. The hemostatic substance soon congealed around the wound. It was an emergency treatment to stop the bleeding and prevent infection. Later Mako would have to get proper treatment and get the congealed gel out of her wound to let it heal properly.

"I'm good now!" She said, putting away the injector and spray cannister.

"Can you move?" Riley asked. Several termites began to catch up to them. He cut them down with several bursts from the rifle.

"I have to!" She said with a grimace as Jenkins helped her stand up. From the moment she was hit until she finished treating her wound, the whole process just took two minutes.

Riley handed back the rifle to Mako and continued carrying Cheng. They moved to the end of the tunnel section, taking extra caution.

"Turn right. Let me plug this part," Mako took out another two foam grenades.

Using the grenades she covered the tunnel they just crossed. The termites either have dig through it or find an alternate path to get to them.

"Alright, let's go!" Mako said.

Despite Mako being wounded, their pace didn't slow as she could still limp faster than Riley, who had to carry Cheng. As the floor under his feet became even, Riley could spend more time watching the map. Together with Mako, he identified paths that would led to the fewest number of aggressors. At some locations, they would either detonated foam grenades or direct Jenkins to set up mines that were later detonated to slow down the flow of pursuers. They would also throw the remaining termite eggs they had on them to further distract and confuse the swarm.

As they navigated the labyrinthine sewer system, Riley began seeing places they had passed earlier. Signs of battle and dead bodies marked their previous skirmishes and ambushes.

They were backtracking to the spot where they had eaten lunch. From there, it would be a straight shot through the first three nests and back to the entrance.

"Lunch," Riley sighed inwardly at the thought. He couldn't believe that just a few hours, they were having lunch and chatting without a care. Things just went sideways so quickly.

Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought. All was not lost. They had completed the primary objective, and would only need to make it back to the entrance. It was a shame they couldn't get any bounty. The icebox was dropped but no one was in the mood to retrieve it. Riley didn't care.

He just wanted to get Cheng, Mako and Jenkins home. He just wanted to get himself home to Ivanka.

His legs screamed as Riley pressed onward. His mind was set on putting one foot in front of the other. His vision blurring, his breath ragged. The adrenaline had drained from his system long ago, only sheer willpower remained to drive him forward.

On his back, Cheng was drifting in and out of consciousness. Thankfully he was still and did not flail around in his sleep.

In front of him, Mako was hobbling at a steady pace, stopping occasionally to pick a path. If she was in pain, she didn't show it.

Behind him, Jenkins covered their retreat. He had run out of ammo for his shotgun, and was using Riley's rifle and pistol. With Mako's instruction, he had also been entrusted with using mines and grenades to slow down or divert the flow of the swarm. He was doing a remarkable job of keeping himself calm.

Mr. Goodman was also with them. Riley didn't see exactly where he is - he was probably using some sort of camouflage device - but the motion detector occasionally showed an extra green dot not too far from his group. Most of the time, Riley had forgotten Mr. Goodman was there, but now that he didn't have to focus on surviving, he noticed the supervisor had always been keeping a close eye on them.

Grabbing Jenkins' hand, Riley heaved himself up from the sewer entrance. They were back at the mission site. The academy's van was waiting for them.

Cheng was secured on a gurney between the two rows of seat, an oxygen mask on his face. Earlier, Mr. Goodman had helped them haul him up. The veteran had strapped the 95kg man (plus gear) to his back and effortlessly ascended the ladder. Mako was already inside the van, checking on Cheng.

His legs feeling like jelly, Riley climbed onto the van and sat next to Mako. Jenkins and Mr. Goodman were seated opposite them. Then the door closed and the van began moving.

"How is he?" he asked Mako, who was scanning Cheng with some a small device.

"He's stable for now. They'll do the rest at the academy," Mako answered and placed the device back inside a container mounted on the van's wall.

"How's your leg?"

"A couple days and I'll be fine."

"You okay there, Jenkins?" The man nodded back. They then began to trade back their equipments that were switched around earlier.

After they were done, Mr. Goodman said: "Turn in your mission recordings." He held out a box the size of his palm.

Taking off his Vision Enhancing Eyewear, Riley deactivated its recording function. Opening a small compartment on its back revealed two memory ch.i.p.s. He pulled out one and put it in the box. Mako and Jenkins did the same. Riley reached down and fiddled with Cheng's machine until he could retrieve his recording.

As the supervisor could not possibly keep an eyes on all examinees at the same time, footage from everyone's points of view will be used as the basis for assessment.

After four ch.i.p.s were collected, Mr. Goodman put his own in, closed the box and put it away. Eyeing them, he said: "You did good. Now get some rest."

After Mr. Goodman's extremely brief assessment, no one spoke another word. The rest of the ride went quietly as each person began doing their own thing. Mako sat with her eyes closed, as if meditating. Jenkins shifted around, unable to relax next to Mr. Goodman.

Riley turned on his 'Net connection on his smart-pad, and was instantly bombarded with dozens of messages and notifications.

He selected the tab marked "Important" and was greeted with three messages.

The first one was a video message from his sister Ivanka: "Brother, how are you? How did your examination go? Don't worry, you'll do great! Be home soon, I'll make you cookies. Bye!" Then she smiled that broad, gap-toothed smile. Riley unconsciously smiled back.

Then he realized it was almost 8 p.m. He had been out for over 12 hours, much longer than the usual examination time! He called Ivanka, who answered immediately, her voice filled with worry. He apologized for failing to call her earlier, assured her he was fine and would be home soon. He also called Cheng's parents, briefly explained his condition, and told them he would be in the academy infirmary.

Ending the call, he continued sorting through his messages. The next two reminded him of his monthly rent (9500 RP) and utility bills (1240 RP). Sighing, he authorized the payments. His balance dropped down to a nice, round 999 RP. About enough for a week's worth of food.

The subject of money reminded Riley that he had 20 days to come up with 10,000 RP for the first debt payment. He made another note to check the legitimacy of this debt.

Most messages of the "Regular" category were advertis.e.m.e.nts for various types of anatomy replacements, enlargements or enhancements. There was also a reminder to renew his subscription for the VR companion service (It was one time! I was sixteen and curious, okay?). Sifting through the junk mails, he made a note to update his spam filter.

About half a dozen were notifications of livefeeds from third-string 'Net personas, who were doc.u.menting themselves doing mundane things and stopping once every few minutes to urge viewers to send some RP their way. Riley never enjoyed watching those, but he found out several that were really good sleep-inducers.

Eventually, only a message remained. It was from Kayla. A mass invitation to her birthday party. His already sour mood dropped even lower.

Their story was as old as feudalism, possibly even older. They had a thing for each other. Then her parents forbade them from having any sort of relationship because he was poor, blah blah blah. Eventually she caved and they had a nasty break-up. He never got around to deleting her contact info, and it seemed she didn't delete his either. After a few moments of reminiscing, Riley deleted the message. He had enough things to worry about already.

With nothing else to do, Riley leaned back on his seat. Then the exhaustion and lack of sleep caught up, and he dozed off.

Riley started awake when the van stopped. They were at the academy. As they got off, several EMTs who were waiting got on the van and checked Cheng's vitals. Satisfied that he was stable, they lowered the gurney onto the ground. They also had a wheelchair for Mako, which she sat in.

After making sure Cheng and Mako were admitted into the infirmary and saying goodbyes, Riley headed to the requisition office. He returned the loaned equipment and excess ammunition, receiving some RP in return, then headed to the subway for home.

The apartment door opened and Riley saw Ivanka at her workstation as usual. She turned and looked at him, then gestured for him to come closer. Then she put her arms around him, pulled him close and hugged him tight.

The room was quiet save for the regular humming and beeping of machinery. Gordon poked his head out of his place and inspected

"You stink!" Eventually, Ivanka said, pushing him at arm's length, then looked down at her night clothes: "and you've got slime all over me!"

"I'm sweaty and covered in bug innards. It'll be strange if I smell nice!" Riley said, relieved that his little sister is in the mood to joke now.

"Go take a shower and eat. I've made cookies!"

"Have you eaten yet?"

"I've nibbled some!"

The shower was amazing. Riley could feel his tension melting under the scalding hot water. He had to force himself to dress up and step out of the bathroom.

He joined Ivanka at the table and together they had dinner. The cookies for desert were cold and no longer crispy, but Riley considered them the best in the world.