Free FAI by Jake Lingwall

sounded calm and calculated. Kari didn’t have the time to decide whether that was a good thing or not.
    “How many?” Kari asked between gasps for air.
    “Around ten, from my readings,” Fai said. “But there could be more.”
    “Have they noticed us yet?”
    “I don’t believe so, the cave bends enough that they can’t see us yet. If we hurry we might make it to them before they can see us coming.”
    “I can’t . . . go . . . any faster!” Kari said. Her side was throbbing and her throat burned.
    “If I carry you, we can make it in time,” Fai said.
    “OK!” Why didn’t you mention this earlier?
    The cave was too dark to see well, but Fai’s green eyes appeared in front of her.
    “Jump, I will catch you,” Fai said.
    “I trust you!” Kari jumped forward, which resulted in only a marginal gain of speed or distance. But it was enough.
    Fai’s remaining arm wrapped under her legs and held in her place. They spun around so that Fai was running forward and suddenly their speed increased. Good thing I built her to outrun a horse.
    Kari didn’t stop to catch her breath as she raised her energy rifle and fired it wildly back toward where the attacks were still coming from. She didn’t expect to hit anyone, but she hoped to decrease the chances that a random energy blast would hit them.
    The wind whipped through Kari’s hair and soon they had put enough distance between them and their human pursuers that Kari stopped firing. She looked over her shoulder to see they were rapidly approaching the mouth of the cave. Sunlight poured into the dark tunnel, and her eyes hurt as they tried to adjust to the light. Fai was sprinting, which made her ride just bouncy enough that she couldn’t get a good idea of where the rest of the League of Humanity soldiers were waiting at the mouth of the cave.
    “Take us into the woods as soon as you can,” Kari said. “They won’t be able to chase us in their auto-autos that way.”
    “Of course,” Fai responded.
    Fai was fast, but she wouldn’t be fast enough to outrun auto-autos. Kari’s heart didn’t slow down as they approached the opening to the cave. She could clearly see manual vehicles piled up at the mouth of the cave with several men waiting around nervously.
    In a few mechanical steps, Fai stepped into the sunlight and launched herself onto the top of a rusty old manual Jeep.
    “What the—” a female League of Humanity member exclaimed as Fai’s metal feet dented the hood of their old vehicle.
    Before anyone could get a shot off, Fai jumped out toward the woods while carrying Kari on her chest. Some energy blasts hit the ground just behind them as Fai scrambled up a hill and into the forest.
    “Don’t stop running,” Kari said.
     
     
    “We need to keep moving,” Kari said. She picked herself up from the rock she had been sitting on. Her breathing was finally under control, even though her brain was still in a state of shock. The image of John’s body being tossed through the air replayed over and over in her mind.
    “I don’t believe they will be able to catch up to us,” Fai said. “Like I said, we have put sufficient distance between us and them.”
    “That’s assuming they don’t have mountain-cycles or a helicopter or something they can use to run us down. You leave quite the set footprints and you would be the only thing to register on scanners for miles.”
    “Good points,” Fai said. “Where are we going?”
    “We need to make it back to civilization. Somewhere we can get an auto-auto and get out of here.”
    “Where to, then?”
    Her persistence in wanting to know what came next reminded Kari of David’s father. But instead of being worried, Fai just seemed to be her ever-eager self.
    “I don’t know, somewhere we can be safe. Maybe to Vision headquarters.”
    “If they were able to attack us here, why would there be any safer there?”
    “A lot of the security around this place was counting on people not knowing that it