RONAN The adrenaline was the only thing holding back the pain in my ankle. It pushed the feeling from my mind and let me think. Ahead, I could see a line of cars barreling down the interlink highway. Their owners were trying to escape the battle unfolding behind me. I could see it clearly from their windows. The sounds of battle behind me went quiet. I pushed myself harder. My breath came in ragged gasps. I knew I didn’t have much time left to reach the safety of a vehicle. The edge of the road was just there. My foot hit the pavement. My whole body jerked to a stop. A strange hollow feeling overcame me. All sound faded from my thoughts except for my own breathing. It was a wet, wheezing noise that didn’t sound right.I looked down. A fountain of red was blooming underneath my shirt. It spread quickly, staining the fabric and flowing down to my belt line. A heavy exhaustion fell on me. It felt like the road itself was pulling me down. My legs gave out and I fell to my knees. I tried to push myself back up. I stumbled forward into the middle of the lane before falling again. I collapsed onto my face. The rough asphalt tore at my skin. I pushed myself up, using only one arm to do the work of two. That’s when the feeling came back. Pain. It was so intense I could never have imagined it. I had never experienced anything like it. I managed to turn myself over. In doing so, I fell onto my back. My good arm shot out to stop the fall. Breathing was nearly impossible. Every tiny movement sent a wave of searing heat through my body.I looked back toward the command building. A single drone stood on top of it. It held a dark black rifle tight against its shoulder. It kept the weapon pointed at me for a long moment. Then it casually tossed the rifle aside. It began to take long, loping strides right toward me. In a few short moments, it would be on me. And then the pain would end. The sudden screech of tires drew my attention. I looked to my right just in time. The bumper of a compact cruiser slid to a stop mere inches from my head. The exhaustion mixed with a conscious, numbing cold. It was beginning to take its final hold on me. I felt my supporting elbow buckle under my weight. I fell flat against the asphalt once more. I lay there, staring up at the empty blue sky. I contemplated how there were far worse sights to have at the end of one’s life. It was almost peaceful. Then I felt hands grabbing me from beneath. Fingers gripped deep into my armpits. Several of them pressed hard on the damaged tissue near my left side. A fresh bolt of agony shot through me. I let out a scream as the person dragged me desperately backward over the rough ground. "Use your fucking legs, damn it!" a man shouted close to my ear. I tried. My brain sent the command, but the response was weak and distant. I did manage to push my heels against the asphalt a few times. I wasn’t sure how much I was truly helping. Within a second or two, I felt myself being lifted. Then I was being placed into the cabin of the family car. My blurring eyes found the face of a woman in the front passenger seat. I had met her before. A small boy sat behind her, his knees pulled up tight to his chest. His father shoved my legs fully into the car and laid me on the floor in the back. "Drive, Elena! Now!" the man shouted.The car sprang to life. He and his son were now in the back seats with me, both of them staring out the rear window in terror. "Dad, it’s coming! It’s going to catch us!" his son screamed. The man, Aaron, jumped over my body. He leaned between the front seats and began stabbing at the car’s digital controls. "The current speed limit is thirty-five miles per hour while in urban areas. This vehicle cannot exceed the speed limit set by local and federal law," a calm computer voice stated. "I don’t care about a ticket!" Aaron yelled back at the dashboard. I was about to try and access the car’s network myself when the entire rear end of the vehicle lifted off the ground. The safety glass in the back window shattered into a thousand pebbles. The boy was thrown from his seat onto me. We both rolled across the cramped floor. The pressure of his small body on my chest was crushing.A dark curtain started to fall over my vision, but I fought it. I pushed through and stayed awake. As soon as the car’s rear slammed back onto the ground, the boy’s mother, Elena, ripped herself free of her seat belt. She fell into the back beside her son and wrapped her arms around him. I could hear all three of them screaming in pure panic. It was possible that I might have been screaming too. Explosions began to buffet the car from both sides. The world outside flashed white and orange. Light pierced the tinted windows. Artillery from the nearby Tri City Airport was hammering the overrun army position. I hoped it was obliterating the machines that had done this. Unfortunately, those still left alive in that area of effect were meeting the same fate as the machines.Not that many likely still remained. The thought was cold and simple. I watched the flashes of light paint the faces of the family trying to save me. Their fear was bright and clear in the sudden, violent light.