Faster than the wind, Dana descended from the terraced roof of the house to the half-empty street. The awnings of the counters are lowered, the owners and visitors are locked inside, squeezing all the power out of the puny contraband air conditioners. People do not suspect that trouble is about to happen in the city. Ignoring the surprises and fleeting stupid questions, she did not spare her legs and rushed down the broken street to the Three Crosses. A couple of times they tried to grab her, probably mistaking her for a thief, but the girl jumped aside and continued running. She noticed to herself that the sun was scorching on the Three Crosses from the approach of the drones - in case of problems, the Black Angels would have a hard time.
The entrance to the Three Crosses is wide open - a huge gate is pressed by a holding mechanism. Visitors lazily entered and exited, two Angel guards yawned from boredom at the edges of the gate with pistols at the ready. Dressed and decorated like a cross between a metalhead and Satanists, symbolic white wings are stuffed with applique on the back of a branded black jacket made of leatherette. On the lean faces languishing from the heat, it is clearly written -they would much rather spend time in the cool depths of the building. They perceived Dana's unusually high-speed appearance automatically - they raised pistols and gave a warning shot into the air
- Stop! The next one will be in the forehead! Who and why? Answer immediately!
-Drones!!!Dana shouted with all the strength of her high voice. - Drones are flying here!!! Close the gates, prepare protection, take people away! At least raise the alarm!
- Girl, are you overheated? The guard on the left asked. - What other drones? We control the area, and a fly won't fly off the shit without us!
- Fighting! Flying from the Intersection and Fallen Roses! From the tunnels, so they didn't notice... Don't stand like lanterns! Warn everyone!
- Ha-Ha - the guard on the left laughed heartily. - Is this a clever new way to distract us? Some tried here, I had to shoot them... Baby, I have a great drone in my pants, it flies the best! It will lift you up for sure. Do you want me to give you a ride on it?
- Well, the devil take you! Dana snapped. - Let me inside!
- Come in, - the left guard waved his hand inviting her. - There was no need to shout, the entrance is free. It's so hard to understand you girls...
an older security guard came out of a smoking room nearby than these two funny stooges. He looked intently at Dana and recognized her:
- Guys, this is Madita Daniela Martez, the best runner of old grumpy Alonso! Bono dia, Dana! Excuse these mutabores, the poor devils are completely overheated!..
- Manzer Rakillon!- Dana remembered one of the regular customers of the running service - Listen, I'm not kidding! Our host is in touch with me, he shouts that combat drones are flying here from the Intersection and Roses! A lot! Have you launched drones?
From behind the roofs of buildings around a small square near Three Crosses, several small, black-wasp-like aircraft with thrust on vibro-wings flew out. They fired the first volleys of light hanging cannons! A loud crack rolled across the square, splintered fragments of ceramic window panes and gray porous shreds of construction plastic. A few people fell who were not ready for such a hello. Some of them lay down themselves, but, alas, some were killed. The guard who offered Dana a "ride" was pierced by a burst of several bullets, malicious semi-soft bullets with kinetic gel inside transferred an exorbitant amount of energy to the unfortunate body and tore it apart, everything around, including partially Dana herself, was splattered with a fountain of bloody fragments. The girl's mind turned off shocked by what she saw. The body acted. It grabbed the fallen pistol of the dead guard with both hands and, with shaking hands, fanned out a long, wide burst of bullets into the sky. The recoil compensator worked, but it didn't help much- my hands were shaking too much. The drones are directional, they can only shoot in the direction of movement and have now turned back to go to the second round. And a new wave of flying electronic monsters flew out from behind the roofs. A blind shot into the sky hit two cars and they crashed into the walls, falling into black debris. They carried death, but they themselves were not very durable. The shutter clanged. One hundred bullets, driven into flight by a gel fuel cylinder with an electric trigger, ran out in three seconds and the metal-ceramic short barrel under the casing was close to the melting point. Dana threw the useless cannon and ran inside the building hiding behind the tall backs of other visitors. The second guard and Raquillon cut off three more drones in more skillful short bursts - it was difficult to hit them, but the density of fire decided.
Rakillon pressed the cyber headset in his ear and yelled into the microphone:
- Post zero one! Post zero one! Drone attack!.. Ahhh! the connection is broken! Interference! Eduardo, Dana, get inside right now! We need to close the gates!
All three of them ran inside without a word, into a building with many pavilions and high ceilings. A fair crowd of people from the street rushed in after them - everyone was trying to find shelter. The sellers, who realized by the explosion of the commotion that some shit had happened, hurried to slam their shops with shutters and hide in the basement of the building. From inside, Angel fighters ran to the entrance, without collusion, they raised their trunks and began to pour crazy dense fire into the entrance area right over the heads of the rushing visitors. Each of them now dreamed of falling into the ground, and in the literal sense. Frail construction-plastic bulkheads on frame supports are not protection. Bullets from outside lekgo passed inside at supersonic speed with a frightening whistling and ringing, every second another unlucky person fell clutching at the wounded place. The building was filled with hysterical screams of women, the dirtiest curses of men, children crying and the trampling of hundreds of feet. The sharp stench of gunpowder smoke filled the air. Someone knocked Dana off her feet and she painfully hit her whole body on the floor. She tried to crawl away to the side of the wall so that she would not be crushed by people running in panic. Meanwhile, the Angels who ran up continued to fire outside, changing shop after shop. A fan of raging bursts crushed a swarm of drones that were about to almost fly the whole crowd inside the spacious building. Meanwhile, Raquillon and his partner somehow figured out the locking mechanism and closed the gate by rotating the levers. Two massive construction plates slammed shut. Outside, someone was pounding on the gate with his hands. The sound of a buzzing and a shot- and the knocks stopped. Who did not have time - he was late.
- Dana!- Raquillon ran up to her, felt her pulse and looked at her pupils. - You're hurt, you need help! he picked her up without ceremony and ran with her deep into the building. He didn't look well himself, but he didn't forget about her-it was nice.
- Let me go, it's not my blood!- she shouted and Raquillon stopped. - Help those who are really injured!
Dana understood that she could not stay here. We need to find a back entrance. And even better - a trapdoor to the subway. He should be here!
She went downstairs and began to pull on all the door handles that only came across her way. A couple of times she was rudely shouted at, but she did not pay attention and moved deeper and deeper. Here he is! The coveted hatch leading to a contraband tunnel, and from there you can exit into the sewer or into the tunnel of garbage trains. Yes, it was dangerous, Nathan warned her that the drones had taken off from the ground and they could still be there, as well as their operators. I didn't catch the connection here. Underground, Dana will not be able to contact the Shelter. But staying in the Three Crosses is even more dangerous. If there are not only shooters among the drones, but also with heavy weapons, this building and everyone who is there will come to an end. She thought that surely all the drones have already been released into flight and those who sent them no longer need to linger in the tunnels. But how it really is is unknown. With difficulty, Dana removed the latch from the hatch and slipped inside, closing the hatch behind her. She went down an old damp staircase into a dark tunnel. Not the freshest smell of the dungeon penetrated into the nose. The sounds from above did not reach here. From somewhere above, drops of water were falling from some places in the ceiling. In the distance, the dim light of an autonomous flashlight could be seen. In the tunnels there is lighting in most places, it leaves much to be desired. To begin with, Dana just sat down and examined herself as much as possible without the light. Yes, she shouldn't be looking in the mirror right now. Dried someone else's blood, a lot of small cuts, bruises, hair dusty and disheveled, simple clothes- shorts and a top, torn in a bunch of places. Everything hurts and shakes. Dana tried to catch her breath, calming herself. I felt better, but not much. With displeasure, the girl discovered a new problem. She suddenly got her period. The lower abdomen became hot and humid, the pelvic area was squeezed by a tight unpleasant sensation, occasionally turning into pain injections. The first time it happened to her recently, not more than a month ago, she felt how gradually her body began to change. She didn't think it would come so soon, but you can't go against the fact. She made an ironic joke to herself: "That's it, girl, you're not just a girl anymore, but already a bit of a woman. Don't be a noodle and meet the requirements." In a good way, it shouldn't have been a problem. After all, there have been female bio-implants for a long time - you insert it where it should, it is fixed, absorbs blood, returns useful substances to the organism and naturally removes useless ones, simultaneously generates and injects substances into the blood that facilitate the course of "red days". A wonderful thing that greatly facilitated the life of the fair sex. It costs a mere couple of credits. But recently, the smuggling logistics in the Lower City has gone wrong, many goods have become scarce. It is unclear when it will be possible to find such an implant on the free market. And now she has not splashed her blood on her legs only because the cunning material of her tight-fitting clothes is like skin- it lets in air but does not let in liquid.
Dana listened to the sounds from the air currents in the cave. Where it sounds stronger - there is more space. Gathering her courage, the girl cautiously walked forward.