Word had spread quickly around the school. Ever since her beating last month Ellie had become known as ‘the girl who beat up two cops’ it had earned her an equal measure of glares and approving nods. The case itself hadn’t gone anywhere, reports were filed, accusations leveled, investigations started but never finished. Whatever progress had been made had been quashed under the meaty fist of bureaucracy, she doubted the case would close before she finished her degree. If it weren’t for midterms and tests eating up all her free time, she’d take the investigation into her own hands.  

The door to the dorm creaked open spilling an unwelcome beam of glare into the darkened room. Alex stepped in and closed the door behind her, frowning down at the stacks of books, piles of empty cans and discarded food wrappers tossed haphazardly onto every available flat surface. They were both in the midst of test fueled insanity and cleanliness had taken a backseat to studying. 

Alex sat down on her bed with a huff. “Well that was a massacre.” 

Ellie looked up from her holo-notes. “I hear you, these tests are killing me. I need a break.” 

“That sounds like a good idea. You got anything planned or this weekend?” 

Ellie shook her head. “Econ midterm on Monday, but nothing this weekend. I’ve studied until my eyes bled. Let’s get out of here.” 

They left the dorms behind, packing clothes for the weekend and stepping out into the bright mid-day sun. “Where are we going?” asked Ellie. 

Alex shrugged, opening a holo-page from the comm on her wrist and summoning a car. “Liquor store first, then we’ll wing it from there.” 

Ellie rolled her eyes, of course the liquor store was priority one. It seemed like everything Alex did revolved around drinking. The car pulled up and they climbed in, waiting for it to take them to their destination in tired silence. While they waited Ellie opened up a couple web pages on the Reinhardt Corporation. There was something decidedly not right with that company. In the time since the attack she’d beefed up the security on her iComm and found a few apps written by ‘information specialists’ on the darknet. While Alex was shopping for booze she was poking around Reinhardts employee portal, she took a guess that the username was in a ‘first.last’ format, typed in the name of the local director of operations and then opened a new tab to search for him on social media. The idiot had no privacy locks on his account, within a few minutes she knew his son’s name, his birthday, the name of his childhood dog, and where he was going for vacation this weekend. It was all suitable ammunition to guess his password. After two attempts she was in. The company website threw a warning about insecure connections, limiting her access but she could view email and check messages. 

There was one recorded holo-call sitting in the inbox. Ellie shifted in her seat, unable to decide whether to open the file or leave. With a deep breath she opened the file, listening intently as the recorded audio streamed through her implants. Two men were engaged in a heated discussion. 

“Are you an idiot, Neal?” said the first man. If his internet security was anything to judge by, then yes, Neal Reinhardt was the biggest idiot on Earth. 

“No, sir.” Neal replied in a nervous stammer.

The other man made a comptetous sound, as if he’d just stepped in something foul. “You certainly seem like an idiot. Tell me why did you feel the need to deploy two of our disposable assets to assault a girl in broad daylight, in the middle of a crowded dormitory?”

Neal swallowed hard. “I was worried she was on to our plans. You have to see where I’m coming from. Charles Reid’s daughter ships in from Wolf on the same day our algorithms find several searches for our company coming from the her university’s IP address. I thought it best to go ahead and stop the problem before she found anything.” 

“Do you know anything about Wolf 1061c’s history, fool?” 

“No, sir.” 

“Wolf is a desolate rock on the hind end of the colonies. It barely supports its population and the people there are the most obdurate, pig headed, imbeciles I’ve ever had the misfortune of meeting. I know Charles Reid by reputation, if his children share any of his qualities you have made a grave mistake, Neal. One that I will not let you make a second time.” 

There was a long pause. “No, you can’t be serious! I have a family!” 

“Don’t be so dramatic, fool. Killing two thugs posing as police officers is easy and they will not be missed, killing the head of one of the larger corporations on the continent is hard and people will notice. On Monday you’ll find an offer that you should not refuse waiting on your desk, I suggest you start looking for a new career.” 

“Yes, sir.” said Neal, defeated. “I understand.” 

“We will be watching you. If you speak one syllable of our plans to anyone. I will not hesitate to arrange an accident for you and your family.” 

Ellie closed the file as Alex climbed back into the car carrying an armload of grocery bags. She frowned down at the grocery bags. “That’s not all liquor is it?” 

Alex piled the bags in the backseat. “Heavens, no” she said laughing. “It’s only half liquor, the other half is steaks and sausages.”

Elie wrinkled up her nose at the mention of meat. “Did you buy anything for me to eat?” 

“Shit, I forgot you’re a vegetarian.” 

Ellie sighed, she was tired of being lumped together with the vegetarians and vegans. “I’m not a vegetarian, I just don’t like meat.” 

“And that’s different from being vegetarian how?” 

“Because everything in your ocean is delicious food. I just don’t like any meat that walks on land.”

The car crept out of its parking space and pulled into traffic, carrying them towards the outskirts of the city.  “Oh come on, it’s great. You ever tried it?” 

“I have and it tastes like hot gresy manure.” 

“You guys don’t have beef or pork on Wolf then?”

“It needs too much space. We grow mollusks and ocean bottom feeders in clone vats and bio-recycling tanks.” 

Alex turned and slapped a cold package of fish fillets into Ellies lap. She flinched and stifled a squeak as the cold squishy texture hit her. “I didn’t forget about you.” Alex laughed. “I just wanted to see if I could convert you into a proper carnivore.” 

Ellie shook her head and put the fish in the backseat with the other food. “You’re an idiot. Where are we going anyway?” 

“Oh don’t be so mean, you know you love me. I’m taking you out of the city. We’re going to see some real nature.” 

Ellie swallowed hard. She didn’t like the idea of being so far away from the city. Being outside still made her nervous and she had heard nothing but horror stories of the untamed wilds of Earth. “Real nature? You mean the kind with real bears and wolves?”

“What? No, we’re going to my parent’s cabin. No bears or wolves there.” 

The car sped out of the city, engine purring with delight as it merged onto the highway and picked up speed, tires tearing across the pavement as it bore them away from home and into the wilds. Ellie opened up a holo-page to read while they drove, brushing up on what to do if they ran into any unfriendly wildlife. A soft ding interrupted her reading, Alex had tagged herin a post on the school’s social network. The post was a terrible picture of her staring vacantly out the car’s windshield with a caption that read: Finally tricked this nerd into coming out to the party this weekend. 

Ellie shot her roommate a withering glare. “You didn’t tell me this was a party!” 

“Duh! You wouldn’t have come if I had.” 

Ellie heaved a weary sigh. Another ping cut off the retort she was preparing. It was a comment on her picture from a young man with long wavy dark hair and kind eyes. The name next to the display picture read Toby Reinhardt.

Ellie blinked in shock. “Who’s this guy commenting on your post?” 

Alex opened the network, scrolling through a busy feed of posts. “Toby? He’s cute right? He should be coming tonight.”

“His last name is Reinhardt, any relation to the Reinhardt Corporation?” 

Alex shrugged. “Yeah I think so”

He might have some clue as to what was going on at his father’s company, Ellie just hoped that no more thugs masquerading as policemen showed up. The car pulled off the highway and trundled down a winding bumpy road. The massive skyscrapers gave way to rolling green fields and thin stands of trees. The car pressed on, driving them further from civilisation and into denser forests. Ellie eyed the trees nervously, peering into the shaded depths under their boughs, terrified at what might be staring back. She couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being followed.

Alex’s cabin was a quaint little building standing proudly in the middle of a small clearing. It was a single story cottage with bright yellow siding and a spacious deck stood at the front of the house. Alex led her inside and showed her to a small room with a single bed. The inside of the cottage was cozy, with soft well worn furniture, a wood stove and an ancient television set. Comm signals were patchy at best. If they ran into trouble out here they might not be able to cry for help. 

The rest of the guests arrived in pairs and small groups, unpacking tents and preparing for the party. By the time the sun dipped down towards the horizon the party was in full swing. Ellie picked her way through the crowd of students, looking for a place to sit down where she wouldn’t be tripped over or have beer spilled on her. To her surprise she found Toy Reinhardt sitting on a stump at the edge of the crowd, tossing an empty can into the growing pie by his feet, opening a fresh beer, and staring intently at a holo-page projected from a comm bracelet. 

Ellie shuffled closer, twisting a lock of hair around a finger, unsure of what to say. “Um, hi,” she stammered. 

Toby jumped, looking up and closing his holo-page. “Hi, you need a break from all … this, too?” he said, pointing towards the throng of people drinking and dancing in the clearing. The invite list had gotten out of hand. 

Ellie shifted her weight from foot to foot. “I guess, I’m more of a wallflower than a partyer.” 

Toby pointed to a short stump next to him. “Pull up a stump,” he slurred with a smile that lit up the night. “We can be wallflowers together.” 

Ellie shuffled over to the stump and sat down, her heart fluttering. “So, you seemed pretty excited about tonight based on your posts earlier. Something bugging you?” 

Toby drained the last of his beer and blew out a long sigh. “Just bullshit at home, I’m sue you don’t really care.” 

“I know how you feel, I’ve got my own share of bullshit from home too.”

“Can you though? Do you know who I am? I feel like family drama for me is a lot more serious than the little problems everyone else has.” 

“Right, because no one understands you,” Ellie scowled. “No one can possibly relate to the great and terrible drama of the Reinhardt family.” 

“They can’t!” 

Ellie shot him a smile that she hoped didn’t look too forced, just a normal human smile, she did it every day, but suddenly she felt like she wasn't doing it right, like she looked like an idiot. “I think I know what you mean when you say ‘family bullshit’ what’s going on? Pressure to get top scores so you can take on the ‘family legacy’? I get that a lot.” 

“I get that daily. This is worse news than that. We’re getting bought out and everyone is super stressed about it. They don’t want to give up the company.”

“You can’t take it to the mercs and settle it on a War World?” 

“I wish,” Toby rolled his eyes. “I suggested that but I guess we’ve already spent double our merc budget this year.” 

“That doesn't’ sound right.” 

“That’s what I said! Man, we’re like this,” Toby crossed his index and middle finger. “Get out of my brain. So I asked where all that money went and here’s the crazy thing, you know the big dust up over the arcologies that’s going down now?” 

Ellie leaned in, alcohol really was the best truth serum. “I actually have a brother fighting that dispute right now. He’s in the Ironstorm.” 

Toby let out a low whistle. “I have some bad news for you then. Our entire merc budget paid for some other company to hire Hamilton’s Hammers and we’re selling intel to make sure Ironstorm loses that battle.” 

Ellie was glad she was already sitting down. Hiring mercenaries for another company was unheard of and selling battleplans was highly illegal.  “That’s … fucked up” she said, shaking her head. She didn’t hear Toby’s reply, another ping rudely burst its way into their conversation. She opened the message, it was from the Reinhardt employee portal, she had forgotten to log out. The signal was choppy and the message didn’t come through clearly, she only caught the words ‘Toby, happy accident, sorry’. The hair stood up on the back of her neck and her heart threatened to leap out of her chest. She may have just gotten Toby killed. “So, do you want to get out of here? Go somewhere more fun?” 

Toby frowned for a moment before responding with a shrug. “Sure, I’ll have the car take us back to my place.” 

Ellie cast a furtive glance into the trees behind them. “How about my room instead?” she inched closer, running a hand down his bicep. “My roommate will be here all weekend,” she said in a breathy voice that she desperately hoped sounded sexy. 

His eyes lit up and a grin spread across his face. “Yeah, that sounds like a much better plan.” 

He took her by the hand and led her to a sleek two door sports car. They climbed inside and set the navigation to take them back to the university. Ellie peered out the back window, watching a car pull away from the party behind them. The engine roared as the tires found pavement again, speeding back towards civilisation. Ellie reached over to the nav panel on the dash and increased the speed. 

Toby shot her a quizzical look. “In a hurry are we?” Ellie nodded and went back to staring at the car behind them in the rearview mirror. It was a boxy black vehicle, bearing down on them and gaining speed. Toby followed her gaze into the mirror and saw the car closing in. “God damn he’s following a bit close isn't’ he?” He rolled down the window and leaned out into the gale of onrushing air, waving a rude gesture at the car behind them. “Piss off!” he shouted. An identical vehicle pulled onto the road ahead of them. Brake lights flashed, warnings blared, their car tried to swerve. Time broke down into a staccato series of still images and sounds. Tires squealed, the rear of the black car filled the windshield, glass shattered and the world came undone in a storm of smashing and shattering. Ellie was thrown forwards and slammed into an exploding airbag. Everything went black for  a moment, she tasted blood. 

Everything had gone fuzzy around the edges, the thought of where she was and what she had been doing had been battered out of her skull, but she knew she had to get up and get away. With numb clumsy fingers she unclipped the seatbelt and opened the door, spilling out of the car, limp as a boned fish. Dragging herself across the pavement she struggled to pull her legs back up underneath herself. They had all the rigidity of a cooked noodle. 

By some small miracle she found her feet and crunched over a scattering of shattered glass away from the crash. Leaning on the ruined black car for support she pushed forward, stepping past the hood of the car and stumbling to the left, trying to get out of the middle of the road. Her boots squelched through a smear of raw hamburger and she went down again, palms slapping into the rough pavement and sending red waves of shock rolling up to her elbows. Lifting her head she came face to face with Toby, or at least, whatever was left of Toby. He had been leaning out the window when they crashed. The impact had tossed him down the road like a ragdoll, leaving a red smear and scraps of meat smeared across the pavement. Her stomach churned as the heavy coppery scent of blood filled her nose and something snapped in the back of her mind, some part of her consciousness that was concerned with more than fight or flight broke down to a screaming, gibbering wreck in the corner. 

Scraping herself through the mess, Ellie inched closer to the side of the road, crawling on her hands and knees. Something crunched up the pavement behind her. She had to hide. Pulling her numb body sluggishly onto the gravel shoulder Ellie, leaned and rolled into the ditch. She lay there in the cold swampy muck, flies crawling across her face and listened, hardly daring to breathe. Two voices broke the silence.

“Hell of a wreck, did we have anyone in the other car?” said the first voice, a rough grinding tone, like two stones sliding against one another. 

“It was a drone,” the second voice was soft and silky, alluring but hiding a dangerous quality. If a viper had a voice this was it. 

“Good, should we make sure this one is dead?” 

“He is splattered all over the road. I think it’s safe to call him dead. Did you see where the girl went?” 

“She tried to hide in the ditch.” Footsteps pounded across the pavement and splashed into the shallow fetid water next to Ellie. She lay there staring up at a stout man in a dark suit clutching a black nylon bag. He slipped the bag over her head and pulled a drawstring tight around her neck. “You’re coming with us, love.”