Prompt: Expanding "Upgrade Time" (con't)
[Author's Note: I'm taking a break from /r/WritingPrompts. Instead, I want to expand/combine a couple of the existing posts. This will continue from from where yesterday (Mo Gets Out) left off.]
Standing near the Colorado Convention Center loading docks after one AM had never been a good idea, even when the center was being used and maintained regularly. Now it was wasteland of broken security lights, trash bins and bottomless shadows. Mo and the other infected inmates were free, but far from safe.
Without her antenna bars, Mo was unable to run any of her usual area scans. She could not see who else was around trolling, phishing or war driving. She could not infiltrate their systems and start using them as offensive shock troops the way she had two days prior with Gabriel. Not that that had been particularly effective. On the other hand, without antennas no one else could do the same to her. And that included the three other people out in the dark with her.
"All right," she said. "My infection tells me that you are Melissa." Mo pointed at the women in the blouse and skirt. "You are Arthur." She pointed at a man wearing jeans, an "A Dick Ted"[1] t-shirt and wire glasses[2]. "The scrambler was someone named 'Ed Lin,' and you are my old and dear friend of twenty-four hours, Darren. I'm Mo. I'm the first one that got caged. As far as I know, I'm not patient zero for this infection. More like patient one. Patient zero is still out there. We all know this much from the throat singing back in the cages, right?" There was general head nodding. "So, now that the intros are a bit more formal, does anyone have a ride? The buses aren't running down here at this hour and no taxi in their right mind is coming in here either, even if I could connect enough to call one. We all need to get as far from here as quickly as possible."
Melissa raised her hand. "I've got a car at my work garage. It's about five blocks from here, on the other side of sixteenth at the IRS building. I'm not sure you all will fit, but it's what I've got."
"Thanks, Melissa. Anyone got anything closer?" Mo got two other head shakes. "Then, Melissa, you're in the lead."
The four of them headed out, sticking close together. Mo found herself in the middle, between Arthur and Darren. Darren tapped her on the shoulder as they were walking. "I would not have pegged you as the take-charge type after our conversations inside."
"I'm not." Mo turned her head slightly and tried to direct her voice over her shoulder. "I'm scared and, like I said, I need to find a way to feel like I have some control. I don't really care who's doing what as long as there's a plan and I have some say."
"It wasn't meant as criticism, I was just surprised. Any thoughts on what's next, after we all get to the car?"
"Not really. We need to find someplace safe. I'd go to my apartment, but that I'm sure that's going to be watched. Same for all of our homes and workplaces. We'll need to find someplace else. Someplace that they won't know to look."
Arthur turned his head and said, "I can't do that. I've got to get back to work. Missing today was bad enough, but missing tomorrow would be really bad. I've got to present a budget. If it doesn't get approved, then my whole division might get cut. That's like forty or so people who will lose their jobs. I've got to be there."
Mo looked down at the sidewalk and shook her head. She had never been someone in charge of other people or had a job where the lively hood of others relied on her. What she did know was that their time in the convention center had changed all four of their lives. "Plan on missing that meeting," she said to Arthur.
"You don't understand," he continued. "I can't miss it."
"No," Mo looked up at Arthur, her brow furrowed, the silver traces of her celtic butterfly glinting in the sparse street light and making her face look angrier than she might have intended. "You don't understand. If you go-"
Darren put a hand on Mo's shoulder. "I think what Mo is trying to say is that, if you show up at work, they will be waiting. They will have you back in custody before you make it to your desk. Either you don't go to work and you stay free or you go to work and get recaptured. Either way, you're not going to be presenting your budget."
Mo nodded and tried to relax her face. She needed to remember that others might have more to lose than she did. So she got fired from The Quiet Place. She needed a pay check, but there were plenty of other places paid minimum wage. She had not talked to her family in years and had already lost whatever there was to lose with them. No boy or girlfriend to miss her, at least not in several months. The only thing that halfway mattered in her life was her friendship with Sandra and she would understand after Mo explained. And after Sandra sold all of Mo's stuff to cover rent and found someone else to sublease Mo's old room. Again, nothing much to lose there.
As they approached 16th Street, Melissa stopped and ducked into a doorway. The rest of them piled in after, though only the darkness kept it from looking ridiculous in Mo's opinion. "There's some people up ahead," Melissa said in a whisper.
"Probably bums," said Mo.
"I don't think so," said Melissa. "Too upright. Too clean looking."
"How can you see how clean they look in this light?" asked Arthur.
"I don't know." Melissa shook her head. "The silhouettes just doesn't look like homeless people."
"So what do we do?" asked Mo.
Melissa looked around. "We can go back to 15th and head toward Broadway. If it is them, and I think it is, then they probably have people all the way down 16th."
"Makes sense," Darren nodded. "Most of the hotels and such are on the other side. It keeps us closer to their base of operations."
"Look at you," Mo said to Darren, "Sounding all military and stuff."
"Two tours."
"Then maybe you should be leading."
"No thanks. I was just a grunt then and I'm glad to stay a grunt."
"Okay," said Mo. "We can head for Broadway and then up to Melissa's car. Other options?" There was a general round of head shaking. "Then back down to 15th it is."
They all turned around, putting Darren in the lead. He headed off, but as soon as they were at a gap between street lights, he crossed the street to the other side. Then they turned left onto 15th, heading to Broadway. A few minutes of walking and they were at the intersection, across from Civic Center Park. And the homeless community. Which gave Mo an idea.
[1] A band that started their life in Lincoln, Nebraska playing college gigs. After several years, they finally had a song that went viral, "Light Her Fluid." The video was a basic stage performance, but they convinced a fan to pretend to urinate gasoline on stage and then light it on fire. This brought in the initial traffic. The song itself had enough of a hook to keep it in people's heads. From there, they were able to book a few gigs and tour. During that first (and last) tour, there were no end of female fans trying to climb on stage and light their own mixture of pee and lighter fluid on fire. This culminated in the Frog Spot fire in Lubbock, Texas which claimed the lives of three hundred and fifty-seven people including all members of the band and their road crew. Afterwards, no one wore their shirts as fans but as statements about the stupidity of viral band wagon jumping. Which was itself a band wagon on which to jump.
[2] There remains a set of people who are uncomfortable with inserting and removing contacts.
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Not prompts I've used
