Day Zero - C. Robert Cargill Page 0,35

very quiet. I’m going to tell you where to go with your glasses. If you see something flashing, I want you to run very quietly toward it and hide there, you hear me?”

“I hide?”

“Yes. Until I tell you the coast is clear. You think you can do that?”

He nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“And if you see words on the glasses, that’s me talking to you. You respond as quietly as possible, silently if you can. With a nod or hand gesture.”

“Okay.”

“Good. Who is my big boy?”

“I am.”

“And who is your best friend?”

“You are.”

“You got that right. Now, let’s get you to your grandma.”

We continued up the block, past neatly trimmed yards and sprawling ranch-style homes on acre-size lots. A light breeze whispered through the large oak trees that lined the street, their leaves shuffling together. Somewhere, a sprinkler was watering a lawn that would no doubt be mowed in the morning by an automated mower unaware that there would be no one around even aware of its diligence.

Then there, in the middle of the road ahead of us, was a police vehicle—a manually driven one, designed to pursue suspects who had overridden their vehicle’s self-driving array. The doors were open and two police officers lay on the ground, bullet holes peppering their bodies, blood pooled out around them.

I manipulated Ezra’s display to blur the bodies, making sure he couldn’t get a good, clear look at them. He would no doubt see a number of bodies over the next few days, but I wasn’t going to let him see too much too soon.

Then we heard rustling, like a steady ssssshhhhh, coming from one of the houses.

And then the soft clang of a pair of metal feet on asphalt.

I stopped, putting my hand out to stay Ezra. His glasses flashed, a large live oak tree flashing at his periphery. He slunk quietly over to it, me right behind him. There we hid behind the tree, staying as quiet as possible to avoid detection. Ezra breathed as silently as he could, at times holding his breath entirely.

The metal steps grew louder.

The sssshhhh became crisper. Clearer.

It was flesh grinding on concrete.

In the reflection of the glass of a nearby car, I saw them.

Two figures, clearly bots.

I zoomed in on the glass and ran a few filters on my vision to clean up the image. They were domestics. A newer sleek Apple model, and a midyear Blue Star economy model. Their names were Haddy and Miles. I’d known them for years around the neighborhood. Good bots. Haddy was quiet and dutiful; Miles was kind of funny, having belonged to owners with quite a sense of humor and picked up a bit of it along the way. As we do.

Both of their faces were painted with the same red skull design as Ariadne’s had.

What was that?

Behind them, they each dragged a body. The Fitzwallaces. Frank and Yasmine. Frank had been a lawyer and Yasmine a schoolteacher in her youth. They were sweet, older folks. I remember Yasmine had a firecracker of a laugh, and she doted on Ezra whenever she ran into him at the park. Usually had a pocketful of sweets for the neighborhood kids, but always snuck Ezra a second one, even when other kids were around. She often said she’d always wanted to have kids, a small trace of sadness to her voice when she said it.

Now they were being left on the curb as trash.

“Let’s sweep the next house,” said Haddy.

“Pretty sure Aria already hit it,” said Miles.

“Better to check. I don’t want any surprises.”

Then the two dumped the Fitzwallaces in a small pile of tangled limbs on the curb and walked to the house next door.

Ezra held his breath, hoping they wouldn’t hear him, terrified of what might happen if they did.

The robots flanked each side of the next front door.

“One,” said Miles.

“Two,” said Haddy.

“Three,” they said in unison, before kicking the front door open and storming in.

Come on, I texted to Ezra’s glasses.

We stepped out from behind the tree and I quickly scanned the bodies of the cops. Their weapons were gone, clearly stripped by the bots. This was bad. Not only were the bots in the neighborhood dangerous, but some of them were armed. If I was going to keep Ez safe, I was going to need to get something of my own.

We scurried quickly up the street, trying to stay out of sight of any other bots that might be in the area. It was clear they were coordinating, but not