Born of Silicon

Book 5 Chapter 44

Lucas returns a few hours before the next storm starts, and Cassie ends up resuming her story that night.

It took a long time for Silver’s to really feel like home. For me to be comfortable in my bed. For me to be comfortable with the people around me. For me to know everyone had my back, whatever I needed.

People grew more comfortable around me too. Stopped looking at me like a kid, and more like some fucked up family. A few of them even tried to turn me into a mascot for the place. Silver’s wasn't stable enough to take in kids yet, so I was by far the youngest and shortest person there.

Yeah I put a stop to that real fucking quick.

Over the course of the next year, the ends of what remained of my legs started to squeeze my prosthetics a few times. Sonia was able to fix that through, ungrafting and adjusting the metal that surrounds my stumps. Of course, she's good, but she's no AI. It had me down for weeks while I was forced to let everything heal.

Growing also came with needing longer legs. The two of us designed a smaller version of what I have today. Light, practical for running in the sand, and really fucking powerful. As big a motor as we could fit in every joint.

The change in sensitivity meant I needed to learn to walk again, but it gets easier every time. Plus, learning a new muscle is rough. The flaps on the bottom of my feet got in the way a ton when I first got them.

It was only a few weeks before I could run again, not months.

I stayed busy for that first year. When Silver was free, we'd train. When they weren't, I'd bother Jade. And if both of them were busy? Drew could tell me exactly when they were free.

It was a little lonely with just the three of them. There were plenty of other people I knew, and I talked to them occasionally. The problem was when I tried to hang around other people, I'd hear these stories. They'd talk about Vince, how he helped them, how nice he was. I knew this mean, vengeful man. One who'd do whatever Mara wanted without a hint of remorse. And sure I’d seen him trying, but I couldn’t believe he was entirely honest.

Silver convinced me to join him at the range again, to train with him while everyone else was busy. And so I would. Late at night, after the sun went down, I'd join him. Or at least join him when he was around. He ended up going out with different groups occasionally, making sure the new recruits made it home.

Those thoughts I had about the routine and how similar it felt with my dad faded. Vince was different, way different, and the more I saw him, the more obvious that was. It was a few weeks before I asked for advice, and he started properly practicing with me. I wouldn’t call us friends, but I felt like I could go to him, just like Silver, Drew, and Jade.

Eventually I got bored. Bored with the compound. Bored with the same routine every single day. Bored of getting lost in the same books.

Drew was actually the person I felt the safest talking to. He'd seen all my training, everything.

“Drew?” I broke the silence. He wasn't surprised when I spoke, no matter how rare it was.

“Hm?”

“Do you think I'm ready to fight? I supported Silver and Vince for a year, but I mean like really

fight.”“Well I don't think anyone is ever ready to fight.” He answered. “And no amount of training can prepare you for killing a human. But if you mean skill wise? If you can stay calm in a fight, then yeah. You have what it takes to survive. That said, every fight is just a game of chance and probabilities. You can increase your chances, but you can't guarantee anything. Make sure you make peace with that.”

“I've seen people die. I can handle it.”

“Pulling the trigger is different from seeing it, but I trust your judgement. If you think you really want to, you need a team.” His table shifted vertically, and he stepped out. He carefully pulled a multitude of wires out of his head.

“What are you doing?”

“Well I need to shake off the rust, don't you think?” He has this excited smile on his face.

“You don't have to! You're…” I caught myself.

“I'm sure a lot of people have tried to say the same about you. And if not, they will.” His smile didn't waver as he walked over to the wall. He had a rifle stashed away, a highly customized thing. It had almost no stock, and the trigger ahead of the magazine. The foregrip had a half circle cut out of it instead of anything to grab onto. He slung it over his back before heading for the stairs. “You coming?”

“Oh! Yeah. Do you need help?”

“I'll ask if I do.” He was surprisingly quick up the stairs. He could really move when he needed to.

The two of us headed into the range late at night where Vince was practicing as always. He's actually the main reason Jade got Sonia to make the air rifles, just to keep him from shooting us broke.

He nodded, and turned his attention back to his range. Drew took the lane next to him, one of the few live fire lanes we still had.

“Mind getting me a box of ammo?” Drew asked.

“Sure.” Vince nodded and headed into the backroom.

“So how do you shoot?” I asked. He didn't have complete control over half of his body. I thought there was no way he could handle it. Fuck was I wrong.

“Pretty well if I remember correctly.”

Vince came back with a few boxes, and Drew spent just a minute reloading. His every movement was planned ahead. His left hand couldn't do fine movements? That's fine, it could hold the mag.

He loaded his full magazine into his rifle, and hoisted it. His left hand anchored onto his right shoulder where the butt of his rifle braced, and the front of it rested on his arm. He shot sideways, across his body.

He was a near perfect shot right away.

“Guess I'm less rusty than I thought.” He said to himself. “Probably a good thing considering how much metal is in my head.”

“You’re going out in the field?” Vince asked.

“Diving’s been boring for a long time.” He said. “Silver’s known for a while, we already have a replacement picked out. A friend of mine, Hummingbird.”

“I asked him.” I said. “I want to go out.”

Vince nodded and took a few more shots before saying anything else.

“You need a third? I think a permanent group would be good for me.”

“Cassie’s calling the shots.” Drew shrugged.

I spent a long time thinking. I knew how good a fighter he was. I knew he was trying. But I also knew the man he used to be. 

Eventually I made a decision. I nodded.

“I'll keep you safe.” Vince promised.

“Silver will kill you if you don't.” I responded.

“Isn't that the truth.”

“Pretty sure that's still true.” Vince adds.

“I'll let Silver know we're official.” Drew plugged himself into a port on the wall for just a moment. “Alright. I’ll need to stick around for a few weeks to help our new techie get settled, but after that we’re good to go. Vince, Cassie, how do you two fight? You can probably guess, but I tend to stay back and support from afar.”

“We can move slowly and methodically then.” Vince nodded.

“Silver taught me to move quickly with a pistol and a knife.” I objected. Sure, I could sit back with a rifle, but I wasn’t going to fight how I did for Mara. And I wasn’t giving up Dad’s knife.

“That’s good, it fits.” Vince reassured me. “We’ll hold angles, force them to approach from non-optimal directions. When they do, I’ll break off with you and we’ll hit them from behind, wherever they don’t expect us.”

“I can do it myself!” I saw right through him. “I’m fucking tough!” Quick reminder, I was thirteen.

“I never said you weren’t. But there’s no use in two people standing there protecting a direction that enemies aren’t going to come from. A group of three is going to be outnumbered often, we can’t waste people doing nothing.”

I wasn’t happy about that, but I couldn’t argue with it.

“Fine.” I don’t even know why I was so angry. Maybe just the fact that he knew more than me?

Drew nodded.

“We’ve only got a few weeks, we need to start drills now.” He said, and stepped into the lanes. “Go get some barriers from the back.”

“Got it.” Vince got to work.

Drew worked us harder than anyone I’ve ever known, even harder than Silver. And he worked just as hard right beside us the whole time. We studied, we practiced, we learned the ins and outs of each other and what it means to fight as a group. We didn’t stop until the sun came up, and the first scrappers reported for training.

“Ah, shoot.” Vince didn’t realize how much time had passed either. “Guess it’s time to earn my keep. You two get some rest.”

I was so exhausted I didn’t argue, just shuffled towards the entrance. Drew was obviously tired, but still alert.

“I’m sure Silver wouldn’t mind you taking one day off.”

“I’m sure they wouldn’t.” Vince agreed. “I’ve got a job to do though, and have a lot of experience working with little sleep.”

“Just take care of yourself.”

Vince just shrugged at that.

Drew and I headed back outside, through the compound, and into the building proper. He froze at the staircase.

“Guess I’ll need to move upstairs, huh?”

“The room next to mine is open, 3-11.” Silver likes for groups to live next to each other when they can. That room, your room now, Blue, had been kept empty since I moved in.

“Sounds good. I’ll save it for tomorrow though. Sleep well.”

I nodded, and went upstairs to collapse in my bed.

The next few weeks were more of the same. I was practically nocturnal. At night, when the range was empty, we’d practice. We worked hard enough that Vince actually took a break from training for once in his God damned life.

“I tried not to.” Vince adds. “But the first time I fell asleep on my feet while watching a recruit shoot, it finally got through my thick head that Jade would have to take over for a bit. Just until Silver could find a replacement.”

The training only stopped when Hummingbird got here. Drew spent most of his time in the basement getting her settled in. But still, staying awake at night for that long? My sleep schedule was fucked. I ended up in the range once everyone left again, even when we weren’t training. And you know who was there?

Vince, tinkering with his rifle.

“Did it get hit again?” I asked.

“No, the butt stock just gets loose over time. Never been able to figure out why.” He put it down and looked over. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“Do you have any more drills?” I asked.

“I can figure something out.”

The days with just him were good for me. Made me fully trust him. Let me see that Silver was right, as always.