Pinebarrens Hunter

Chapter 1

Rachel stepped off the bus into cool summer evening and looked about at her surroundings. The automated bus quickly drove away leaving her in the parking lot of what was once a bustling shopping center, but now completely abandoned. She frowned as she checked her tablet, verified her location and the nominal 10km she’d have to walk. She had tried to get the bus to drop her off closer but the most it’s limited AI was willing to do was barely exit the Parkway. She had considered chartering a private car but most refused to come this far out and the ones that would she couldn’t afford.

The whole area was well within the McGuire Fallout Zone and while the radiation wasn’t too bad anymore, nobody had any burning desire to move back in.

Rachel tucked her tablet away in the satchel slung over her shoulder, tightened the strap a bit and started walking. The sharp tap-tap-tap of her high heels on concrete seemed to echo off each abandoned building as she moved quickly west. She immediately became aware of how much she stood out as she caught a glimpse of her reflection in a storefront window.

She wore a tightly cut professional business suit; black jacket and a pencil skirt that stopped just above her knee. Her pale blue collared shirt paired well with her creamy pale skin and auburn hair. Her combination of high heels and tailored suit showed off her curves without being too forward and her face hinted at a blend of Asian and European ancestry. She appeared in her late 20’s, early 30’s though good makeup and readily available surgery made that a guess at best. Overall, far more appropriate in a Manhattan board room than the desolate streets of South Jersey.

Rachel pulled the satchel tight under her arm and doubled her pace cursing herself for not stopping to find more appropriate shoes. Her eyes and head darted back and forth watching for movement as shadows grew longer. She seemed to be alone and hoped it would remain that way until she made it to her destination.

Darkness soon fell and she relaxed a bit as the growing chirps of crickets started to drown out her footsteps. The only illumination came from the rising moon and she worried she’d miss one of the landmarks. She was looking for an underground roadhouse; one only hinted at online in dark places but it seemed her best option to find what she needed. She wished they would have just given coordinates but realized that wouldn’t make it very underground.

“37 west, left at the second flying goose,” she mumbled to herself, remembering one of the clues. She smiled as she saw a burned-out store with a flying bird logo on the side of the road. “Ok that’s the first one…..but how many of these same stores can there be?” About a mile later she passed the second one and sure enough there was a road to the left.

“Right on the iron rails to left on the sandy trail.” Now off the main road onto a side street it was getting very dark and there were far more trees. The once pleasant sound of crickets, something she’d never heard before tonight, soon became almost deafening as it sounded like the whole forest was chirping and croaking. She almost didn’t notice when the sound of her footsteps changed from a tap to a clink. She knelt down and felt the ground brushing away the ever present sand to find a metal rail….a set of old train tracks.

Rachel smiled to herself, a little skip in her step as she followed one clue to the next. Down the old railway, to a sandy trail, along a long still lake, and across a few sand dunes. Her heels were nearly ruined at this point but she didn’t know what might be buried in this sand and didn’t want to impale her rather delicate feet.

The moon was high and it was nearly 1am when she crested the dune and saw the soft glow of a building in the distance; the first artificial lights she’d seen since she stepped off the bus. Another ten minutes of trudging through the sand and she stood in front of a large, semi run-down building. It looked like it might have been a warehouse or garage at one point from the rusting metal walls and roof but it had a distinct ‘bar’ feel to it or at least what she imagined one would look like out here. Bright neon letters spelled out ‘ACK’ above a set of double doors. It was an odd name she thought, but it meant it was definitely the place she’d heard about.

Rachel pushed open the door slowly and stepped inside to a large room dominated by what looked like a bar on the far wall and maybe a small stage off to the side. 32 people sat inside a room that might fit 150 if needed. They all turned to stare at her for a few moments before turning back to their business. She was nervous but this strange place may be her only option left. Her heels clicked on the smooth concrete floor as she crossed the room and approached the bar.

After a few beats a woman walked up to her with a mild smile. She wore a simple black tank top that showed off her muscled shoulders and large chest. She raised an eyebrow as she looked over Rachel but somehow didn’t seem too surprised. “What can I get you?”

Rachel didn’t quite know what to say, she’d never ordered at a place like this but she looked around and quickly nodded. “Oh oh yea. Umm can I get one ten to seven millimeter?” The bar tender nodded and started to look under the bar. “Need anything to drink with that?” she said placing a small and worn metal box on the counter.

“How about two hundred mils of perliquidum?” the bartender nodded and quickly retrieved a thin silver bottle placing it next to the box.

“That’ll be twenty-two for the bottle and ten for the box for the first hour, five each additional hour.”

Rachel nodded and reached into her satchel. The bartender pushed her a terminal and after another minute of fumbling around Rachel found her credit chit and plugged it in frowning as she saw it blink 52.3. She tapped 32 and hit TX before pulling the chit back and tucking it safely away. The bartender noticed the lack of tip, grumbled and walked away while Rachel took her box and bottle and found an empty table in the corner.

She looked around while getting settled. The lighting was dim and the thumping music was loud enough to muffle most conversations more than a table or two away. She placed her satchel right next to her on the table and then opened the metal box, pulling out two different sized wires connected by a transformer in the middle. She plugged one end into one of four open ports on the table then snaked the other end over the edge of the table and into her lap. She spread her legs slightly and hiked up her skirt. Reaching between her legs she easily opened a charging port on her inner thigh and connected the wire.

Rachel let out a small sigh as she felt power rush into her body. It had been nearly 46 hours since she last had a charge and the long journey had taken a lot out of her. She smiled and uncapped the bottle taking small sips of the clear, cold, slippery oil. ‘I made it’ she thought to herself as she looked again around the room. ‘Now I just need to find the right person to help.’

Before she could worry about that too long a handsome man walked over to her table and gestured at the open power ports. “Do you mind if I plug in?” he asked with a smile. He was tall, with sharp features, tan skin, white hair that hugged his head on the sides and waved on the top and golden eyes. He wore jeans, a black t shirt and an old Eagles hoodie.

She was drawn back to the eyes. He was obviously an android from the way they glowed; nothing natural about them. She found something very appealing about it, the way he openly embraced his synthetic nature. She was used to hiding it, pretending to be human for her job. She saw strength in him being what he was.

“No please do. I have a few open ports,” Rachel replied quickly. She smiled. ‘Oh maybe he’s the one,’ she thought. For some reason he looked like what she expected to find here. “I’m Rachel,” she extended a hand towards him, palm down, fingers slightly bent.

He looked at it a moment then grasped her hand and gave it a single shake. His skin felt rough on hers as he pulled it away and sat down. “I’m Kurt. It’s nice to meet you.” He pulled a similar box from his pocket and connected the transformer to a port in the side of his neck. “So what brings you to the Ack? You don’t seem like the type that would just wander in. I can only assume you’re here for a reason.”

“It was quite a journey to get here,” Rachel began to explain with an enthusiastic smile; happy to find other bots, free bots that could help her. “I’m from New York. Worked in a very successful law firm for 53 months; ever since I was activated. I was very trusted by their clients, many of which demanded a discrete touch.” She was proud of the work she did and hoped to impress Kurt enough to help her. “Those clients though were often not always … fully in compliance with the law. We got word that the Feds were coming to raid us and I overheard the bosses were going to scrap me.”

Kurt nodded as Rachel spoke. “No....? That’s horrible. After all those years of faithful service. Why were they going to do that?”

“I know right?” she smiled. “I worked really hard for that company. But they said I had stored data the Feds would want. You know, offshore account numbers, access codes, transfer records. I mean I know its valuable information but I didn’t want to die. So, I did some searching while they were busy. I found out about this place…heard it was a haven for synths that are in trouble…. need a place to go.” She reached into her bag and pulled out her mobile, quickly bringing up a few forum postings she found about the Ack, half proud that she found them and half trying to prove it to him.

“Oh yea,” Kurt smiled. “You’re in the right place. I can help you out. Do it all the time for folks.” He started at her a moment, his eyes flickering then looking down at the device in her hand. “Why are you still using that thing? You don’t have to pretend here. We’re all synths, just connect up naturally.”

Rachel seemed confused but then smiled and shook her head. “Oh no I don’t have a build in com link,” she tucked the mobile away. “Security reasons.” She leaned closer towards him, smelling an aroma of damp and cheap oil lubricant on him. “You see, I’m what they call a double walled unit. A synth locked inside a synth shell with very limited inputs. Keeps the things I know very secure….can’t be hacked or reprogrammed.” She says with a wide smile that drops a bit. “It limits me to only slightly better than a human level interface, though of course I’m faster and more precise. But no direct connection for data upload or download. Otherwise my old bosses would have just wiped the data and been done with it.”

Kurt slowly nodded, his eyes flickering again. “Ok I guess that makes sense. Fancy lady you are.” He paused again. “You worked for Nakamora right, on Cedar St right?”

“Umm yea, how did you know?” she asked.

“No big deal…just looked it up.” He tapped the side of his head. “You know it’s gone right? Burned up earlier today. Looks like the raid didn’t go well and they put up a fight.” Rachel seemed shocked “No I…..I was so focused on getting here….I didn’t think to look. I…I had friends there. I hope they made it out.”

Kurt placed a hand on Rachel’s shoulder. “Remember, these are the same people that were going to destroy you….put you through a shredder so they didn’t go to jail.” He gave her shoulder a little squeeze and smiled. “It’s probably for the best. With the fire and chaos, they might not even realize you’re gone for a while. It will make it easier to get you someplace safe.” His eyes flickered a bit again and then he unplugged and stood up. “Tell you what. I’m going to help you. I always like helping other synths in need; especially pretty ones in a tight bind.” He tucked the charger away and looked around. “Stay here for a bit, finish your charge and drink. You came in past the lake to the east right?” Rachel nodded. “OK great. On the north shore there is an outcropping near a large open area. I’ll meet you there with my car in ninety minutes. We’ll get you on the road and on your way to someplace safe. Sound good?”

“Oh yes thank you,” Rachel nodded with a big smile. She pulled up an image of the lake in her mind from when she walked it earlier, quickly picking up on the spot he described. “I know right where that is. I’ll see you then.” Still smiling she watched him walk out, focusing on the tight jeans holding in his ass. She felt like such an outlaw…. running from the Feds…. meeting strange men in bars……she wondered if he was fully equipped. She’d never been able to make use of her sexual functions before…. strict company policy and all that. But now that she was out and breaking far more than company bylaws, she was eager to try out this sex that the humans kept talking about.

• • • end Chapter 1***

As I always enjoy them I figured I would include some inspirational pictures for the characters. They are not an exact match but kind of get you 90% of the way there, and were what I was looking at while writing.

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  Rachel in her nice suit

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  Rachel's new friend Kurt

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  Inspiration for the bartender at ACK