Chapter Fifty-Four - Essentially Doomed


    Chapter Fifty-Four - Essentially Doomed


    The entire generation born after the year 2000 was made aware, from a very young age, that they were essentially doomed, and that no one was going to do anything about it.


    Climate change continued to be ignored, because fixing that would require too big a change. The government continued to print money to bail out corporations. Inflation jumped to an all-time high while interest plummeted.


    That generation saw a tightening of the cycle wherein the middle class got a little poorer and the rich got a little richer.


    So for a lot of them, the alien invasion was just a cherry on top.


    --Extract from Memoirs of a Zoomer, 2047


    ***


    I glanced around the parking garage, helped by the spotlights from the two mecha cats that were still lingering by the entrance. I cant see anything left alive down here, I said. Except for us, I mean.


    Emoscythe nodded, flipped her sword around, then slid it into a loop on her belt. Somehow that loop coated the sword in something that looked like a sheath. Were done here, I think, she said.


    I asked Myalis for a few of those nano-machine grenades that ate antithesis flesh, and after activating them, I tossed the nades to the far ends of the room. The few resonators left were winding down and going quiet at last.


    That should make the area a little less hospitable for them.


    But only here, Emoscythe said. Ideally wed go floor-by-floor to ensure that there arent any more xenos left, but I dont think that would be wise right now. Securing one building which is likely surrounded already isnt going to help anyone. Were going to have to push back the entire wave, then secure this part of the city building-by-building.


    Were going to have to do that everywhere, I said. The entire country side, every little shithole town, every cave and forest... were kinda fucked, you know.


    You dont sound depressed about it, Emoscythe said.


    I shrugged, but I wasnt sure how well that gesture came across with my bigger armour on. My entire life I have been acutely aware of just how fucked I am. And I dont mean just the big-picture shit. Ive always had bigger, closer problems to worry about than climate change or the economy.


    Emoscythe started towards the exit. You know, Im the one thats supposed to be all doom and gloom.


    Hey now, theres enough gloom for everyone to share a bit of it. We walked up the exit ramp and I raised my gun and fired point-blank into the side of a model three that was sniffing around. Back to the wall?


    Emoscythe checked our surroundings, then started walking that way. Might as well. Something tells me the defenders are going to need all the help they can get.


    Is that something the presence of a model twenty-something? Because Im pretty sure we arent supposed to see those for a while.


    The gear was wildly different. One group had exo-suits and heavy machine guns. They had tanks parked behind purpose-built barriers with forward facing spikes. Next to them, civilians with cheap headphones and rifles were shoring up a wall of sandbags.


    It was a fucking mess.


    I took note of the heaps of dead aliens around the first wall of debris. It was an effective mess maybe.


    Emoscythe took a running jump off the top of the building we were on and rolled to a landing below. I respected gravity a bit more and took my time descending with my jump jets, landing with a crunch a few steps behind her.


    You think the Family will be telling us where to deploy? I asked.


    Likely, she said. It wont be hard to see which area needs the most assistance regardless.


    That made an uncomfortable amount of sense.


    I noticed a lot of guns from a lot of groups turning our way, but most were clever enough to aim elsewhere as soon as they noticed that we were human. It wouldn''t be hard to guess that we were samurai, I imagined.


    Emoscythe looked like a pretty plain tech-goth kind of girl. The sort of person that had no business walking out of a section of city entirely overrun by aliens without so much as a blemish on her black lipstick, and I was wearing power armour with cat ears.


    We ran across the no-mans land, around the corpses of the few aliens who had made it deeper in and over craters left behind in the dirt and mud. Someone had been using explosives all across the area. I couldnt really blame them either.


    Emoscythe jumped over one of the cement barriers, then slowed to a stop on the other side. I climbed over it with a bit less grace. Almost as soon as she stopped, a man in full combat dress ran up to us. Maam, he said with a sharp salute. Glad to see you here. We could really use the help.


    How bad is it? I asked.


    He turned towards me and snapped the same crisp salute. I didnt know which PMC he was part of, the symbol on his chest read Bear but I wasnt sure if that was the company or his group. Things have been positive so far, maam. We pushed back the last wave, but they broke through in four places. We had to relocate some of the rear lines to prevent the breach from going in too deep.


    I looked past him and to the rear line he was talking about. The front had barricades of one sort or another, with the few odd tank or machine gun emplacements here and there. Then there was the space where the wall would be. Workers were pouring cement and machines were digging out holes even as we spoke.


    Past that was a second line of barricades. That one had a lot more armour. Tanks, properly big ones, with temporary towers that had gun emplacements on them. A few AA trucks were parked here and there, guns aiming skywards.


    You getting paid more to be up here? I asked.


    Combat pay and a half, he said.


    Right. Well, I wasnt going to get paid like that, so I might as well make the best of it. Tell me where the breaches happened. Ill try to shore up those spots.


    ***