Lusso connected. Ria was still driving, now in a larger street. The shops here were unshuttered, open, but missing all their wares. Windows were broken, and wares were completely missing. A moth the size of Ria’s fist made a thump sound as it collided with the car, and it flew away unharmed. Lusso squirmed. In the second it had lay flat on the window, he’d seen that the moth’s eyes were human, with blue irises, and a thin, useless human arm dangled from it’s back. Lusso guessed they had just headed into Sector 10.

Ria said, “Where are we going?”

The phone was still in the passenger’s seat. Lusso assumed it was Maru.

Maru said, “Somewhere we can meet. Close to my place.”

Ria said, “You live close to where my parents used to live. Sector 12.”

Maru said, “Now?”

Ria said, “Sector 5. They won the lottery with me.”

Lusso disconnected.

“Call Unknown.”

“Hullo.”

“They’re heading into Sector 10.”

“We know. Your idol has company. Let them know.”

Lusso ended the call. Lusso opened his mouth to tell Micky, but she met his eyes in the back mirror, and nodded.

Lusso said, “You know where it is?”

Micky said, “Pretty much.”

Lusso said, “Ever been there?”

Micky said, “Drunk. I remember some bad shit.”

Lusso said, “You know it was JGE, right? They were on that gene editing shit ages ago.”

Micky said, “Yeah?”

Lusso said, “Fitting, isn’t it?”

Lusso connected.

Ria said, “They found us?”

Maru said, “Cameras.”

Ria glanced at the back mirror. A beat up white van was thirty meters or so behind them, and was catching up. Lusso made out four people in the van - he guessed one of them was waiting in the van outside the concert hall. Ria’s knuckles turned white squeezing the wheel.

Ria said, “What do I do, whatdoIdo, whatdoIdo?”

Maru said, “Go straight, as fast as possible.”

The driver’s seat was intended for someone taller than Ria. She slipped lower into her seat to floor the gas pedal. The car purred as it picked up speed.

“Slower now, full left.”

Ria sent a family of raccoons scurrying into the shadows. Every one of them had too many limbs, or too little. But each one of them had a sharp, hooked human nose growing on their foreheads.

“Right at the next corner.”

The narrow alley’s walls hugged the car. Vines grew from the walls, slapping at the car as it passed by. Small, full breasts grew periodically from the vines like fruit.

“Left again, keep going.”

There were less vines here, and no animals, but a bump in the road eaten up by undergrowth. It looked like a speedbump. As Ria sped right over it, something broke, cracked under. If Lusso had to guess, he would have guessed it was a corpse.

“Right.”

They turned into a wide open street. Two lefts, two rights. They were going straight, deeper into Sector 10. Closer to ground zero, where Sector 10’s problems had started. Plant life in Felicity was usually controlled or nonexistent. But as Ria kept driving, overgrowth began to cover more of the cityscape.

Ria said, “Did we lose them?”

As in reply, the white van burst out of the alley Ria’s car had just come out of. Now they were just ten meters behind. An arm pumped full of grafted muscle stuck a gun out of a window, took aim, and pulled the trigger. Bullets whistled through the air. A couple found the bumper of the car.

Lusso felt Ria’s muscles tense, and freeze up. Ria bent over the wheel, keeping herself as low as possible, but still high enough to see the road.

Maru said, “Stay calm. You’re almost here. Unless they’re got body mods, they won’t have the aim to actually—”

A trio of bullets found their way through the back of the car, and whizzed clean through the front window. Another bullet found a rear tire.

Maru said, “Okay. Swerve left and right randomly. Let’s hope they have low-end mods.”

They drove deeper into the overgrowth. Vines formed a canopy above, covering up the moonlight that was the only source of light.

Maru said, “A minute, and you’ll be here.”

The second back tire was shot out, and the sound of metal grinding on plant and asphalt sounded from the rear.

Ria said, “Don’t have a minute.”

The van was right up against Ria’s car. It slammed into the back bumper, sending Ria’s head careening into the driver’s wheel. Ria let out a cry of pain, clutching her forehead with one hand and keeping the other on the wheel. The van backed off from the car for a moment, then accelerated forward again to hit the car a second time. Ria clenched her eyes shut and held her breath, bracing for impact.

A small explosion echoed through the ruins. Ria fell over the driver’s wheel, hitting her forehead on it. In surprise, she opened her eyes, finding herself unbloodied, and fully intact. She looked into the back mirror. Another white van’s front end was connected to the side of the white van that was chasing Ria.

Maru said, “Ria. Get out and run!”

Ria leaned down into the floor of the passenger’s seat to retrieve her phone, threw open the car door, and took off running. She was trying to run as fast as she could, but all she could manage was the speed of a jog. Her legs felt weak, and her sneakers slapped helplessly on the pavement, like she was running in water. The mechanical clicks of bullet fire sounded behind her, and Ria turned back for a moment. Muzzle flash lit up the dark from either side of the crashed cars. The men with motorcycle helmets were pinned down behind their van. Men with brown balaclavas shot from cover and slowly closed in on their position. One of the motorcycle men scurried into the undergrowth on all fours, leaving the rest of them behind.

Lusso disconnected. Lusso looked outside the windows. They were in Sector 10.

Lusso said, “They’re heading towards the research facility. You know the short cut?”

Ria said, “The one through the tunnel?”

Lusso said, “Yeah. Careful. They have guns.”

Lusso connected.

Ria was close to the research facility now. Lusso could tell by the cracked asphalt, the thick overgrowth blanketing everything, and the bird nests dotting the overhead canopy of vines. The entrance of the facility was open, as it always was. The doors had been taken off a long time ago. When Ria was a couple meters away from the facility, a figure emerged from inside.

A shard of moonlight caught the figure’s face. Ria gasped. Dark purple hair, yellow eyes, average build, average height. Lusso would have never guessed he was Ria’s boyfriend if he hadn’t known better. The man held open his arms, and Ria pounced at him, embracing him, pressing her face into his shoulder. Tears trickled from her eyes, soaking into his t-shirt. He held her close.

A familiar voice called from behind. “Hands up.”

Ria whipped around in alarm. A man in a motorcycle helmet held a pistol at them. His shirt and jeans were muddied, stained with green. Lusso knew who the fourth helmeted man was now. He wasn’t the getaway driver.

Lusso disconnected. They were close, a twenty seconds drive through undergrowth to where Ria, Maru, and Ulrich were.

Lusso said, “Floor it. We’re going to hit Ulrich. He has them at gunpoint.”

Micky said, “Roger.”

Lusso said, “Duck, he has a gun!”

The cab’s wheels ground through years of brush and brambles, making the sound a smoothie machine does when it cuts through vegetables. Lusso forced Ding’s head down. Micky lowered her posture, getting as much of herself below the front window as possible.

They burst into the clearing in front of the entrance to the research facility and screeched to a halt. Lusso slammed his head into the driver’s seat from the momentum, letting out a short screech of pain. The clearing was empty. Lusso did a three-sixty, but found nothing. Lusso connected.

It was dark like the inside of a black hole. Lusso wondered if Ria was dead. But he began to feel her legs moving, her breathing, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Lusso disconnected.

Lusso said, “They’re inside. Let’s go.”

Ding rose, but Lusso pushed him down.

Lusso said, “Stay in the fucking cab. Back it up, towards where we came from, and hide. You’re our escape if something goes wrong. Get it?”

Ding nodded with his mouth wide open. He looked like he’d stuck his face into a sack of flour.

Lusso and Micky stepped out of the cab and crept inside the facility.