Mai left a mine by the entrance to the stairs.

BIOMASS 45%

She felt guilty at the thought that a civilian might detonate it, but if they had any sense at all they’d have either already fled or taken shelter in their habs.

Pushing that concern to the back of her mind, she moved ten habs down the corridor before breaking into one. This time it was empty, still-warm plates of food telling her what had happened to the people who lived there.

Looking out of a far cleaner window, she could barely get an angle on the Cullers in the beauty shop but had a perfect line of sight on the Cullers at the end of the close.

Why aren’t there any Cullers in this building? There must have been. Just not on this level. Or none that she’d heard. There was always the chance that they were using weapons just as silent as hers.

But are they short on bio-mass or not?

She didn’t want to get into a fight with an overwhelming number of Cullers who had the ability to form any weapon they wanted. That would be fighting fair, and the Culling was most definitely not about fighting fair.

Those who fought and played fair in life outside of the Culling also tended to do badly. It was those with no real morals, or a sense of ethics that was slightly different from those around them that truly succeeded.

Leaving the recently evacuated hab, Mai moved down the corridor to another hab door where she listened carefully. There were no sounds as far as she could tell, not even the stifled sobs of inhabitants.

Trying the door she was surprised to have the handle turn in her hand. Whoever had lived here must have forgotten to lock it in their haste to escape the battle.

Slipping through the door as soon as it was open wide enough, she crouched as she moved through the apartment. Flattening herself against the wall by the window she peered out.

The Cullers she was to rescue were still pinned by enemy fire. From what she could tell there were a few more Cull markers on her minimap in their position, and a couple more markers in the enemy Culler position below.

Using her weapon’s sight she watched as fire was traded between the two sides. Neither seemed to be willing to take the fight to the next step and actually assault the other. It was like two leashed canines barking at each other, safe in the knowledge that they wouldn’t actually have to fight.

Although, to be fair to the Cullers fighting, they were actually killing each other, just not that effectively. As she watched she tried to work out a plan that would help her rescue the trapped Cullers and not get Culled herself.

Rope, bundle of explosives, drop it down, detonate in front of the enemy Cullers, rappel and kill the survivors.

That was the best plan she could come up with. She wasn’t satisfied that it was the best plan, but explosives usually solved a lot of problems depending on how much you could make. Plus, it was simple. And simple plans were always supposed to be the best plans according to common wisdom.

First, she formed a series of small hooks that she placed into various walls and fixings, so small that she didn’t even get a BIOMASS notification. She’d have had to have form hundreds to even use one per cent. Then, forming the rope, going for fifty paces’ worth at a cost of half a per cent, she looped it through the hooks, pulling hard each time to make sure that they were definitely anchored firmly.

I really don’t want to end up smashing into the ground because these buggers give way, she thought with a shudder. The idea of falling helplessly to her death sent chills down her spine. City dwellers were used to heights, they had to be, but the fear of falling was built into her DNA.

Next was the explosive. Z-10 was the most powerful that she could form. Each one kilo brick was capable of destroying a tank if placed in the correct place. So she made one at a cost of five per cent, then formed a remote detonator for one per cent. Activating her USE EXPLOSIVES she carefully picked up the detonator and slowly pushed it into the brick of explosive.

BIOMASS 39%

Once it was in, she pressed a small button on the side, holding it in for a slow count of three. There was a bleep, then a small green light blinked three times in quick succession. Mai appreciated the in-built safety features of the remote detonator. It was surprisingly thoughtful considering the way the system treated indentured workers.

Tying them to the rope she made sure that even if the explosion destroyed a length of the rope that there’d still be enough for her to rappel down safely.

She chuckled at that thought. Safely. She hadn’t been safe since she’d been indentured. A safe life was something other people had. A safe life was something that people didn’t realise they had until they lost it. And their families. Mai sighed at the thought of Li and how she must be struggling.

Opening the window, rather than breaking it, she crossed her fingers that the Cullers she was supposed to be rescuing wouldn’t see the window opening and fire at it. Friendly fire was a stupid term for something that was distinctly less than friendly, and far more deadly than a hug from a loved one.

Holding her breath for a count of five, she decided that she was probably safe.

Taking hold of the explosives, she gently pushed them over the windowsill. Keeping a firm grip on the rope she started to lower the explosive brick, hand over hand. It was surprisingly tricky to keep it from swinging, and she was glad she’d decided to not just let the rope slide through her hands.

I’d not have any skin left if I did that.

Looping the rope around her wrist to stop it moving any further, she carefully popped her head up and then risked a look down.

The explosives were about halfway. She kicked herself for not forming some sort of camera, but clever people do stupid things all the time. And she thought she was a prime example.

Although I think I lean more towards being full-time stupid, she thought wryly.

Ducking back down into cover she started lowering the explosives again.

Brainwave, she thought. And let go of the rope. It sailed out of the window before suddenly going slack. She didn’t hear it hit the ground, but that wasn’t surprising considering the battle going on outside. As soon as it did she snatched it up and pulled it back hand-over-hand until she felt the weight of the explosives again. A couple harder pulls and then she detonated the explosive.

It was a far larger explosion than she’d thought it would be. Smoke and flame roiled up the building and all of the windows in her room shattered with the force of the blast.

Thank the Emperor’s belly button I opened mine!

KILL!

CONTESTANT 930493 ELIMINATED

KILL!

CONTESTANT 499993 ELIMINATED

KILL!

CONTESTANT 000372 ELIMINATED

HIT! 47%

BLEEDING @1% PER SECOND

STUNNED

INTIMIDATED

HIT! 35%

BLEEDING @17% PER SECOND

STUNNED

PANIC

HIT! 37%

BLEEDING @9% PER SECOND

STUNNED

UNCONSCIOUS

HIT! 46%

BLEEDING @23 % PER SECOND

STUNNED

INTIMIDATED

Clipping herself to the line with a carabiner she took a deep breath and dropped face first down the window.

Whilst one hand controlled her descent, the other formed into a double-barrelled SMG for twelve per cent BIOMASS.

BIOMASS 27%

The scene below was of utter devastation. Smoke still boiled out of the front of the building and there was rubble strewn in a wide arc in front of the detonation point.

As soon as her head was clear of the shattered brickwork of the room that the enemy Culler was in she was firing. Sub-machine guns caused the SUPPRESSED status and all she had to do was to get her shots close enough for the status to take effect.

Glyphs started to pop up, letting her know where the enemy was and allowing her to aim more effectively.

None of the wounded fired back as her bullets stitched a path across their already damaged bodies. Blood and clothing puffed into the air, the bodies twitching as her bullets struck them. Thankfully the sound of her weapon firing drowned out the screams of the Cullers.

KILL!

CONTESTANT 592227 ELIMINATED

KILL!

CONTESTANT 003827 ELIMINATED

KILL!

CONTESTANT 097754 ELIMINATED

KILL!

CONTESTANT 020394 ELIMINATED

Dropping all the way to the ground she performed a smooth flip and landed on her feet. As soon as she was down she charged into the broken room, still firing, sweeping it with a hail of bullets, making sure that no-one was alive.

MISSION COMPLETED!

YOU HAVE PUT YOURSELF IN THE FIRING LINE ONCE AGAIN TO HELP YOUR FELLOW MAN, NO MATTER WHAT THE RISK. JUST DON’T TAKE TOO MANY RISKS, WE’D HATE TO LOSE YOU!

Well, that’s the weirdest completion message I’ve seen! She thought.

RANK UP

CULLER LEVEL 9

Tucking down into cover, she quickly opened up her SASS, trying to see if anything special had happened. From what she could tell in a brief glance, it hadn’t, so she closed it.

“Anyone still alive over there?” She knew that there were, but just wanted the other Cullers to start talking. If they were talking they weren’t shooting. “I’m a friend. I’ve come to help you.”

“Why the hells would we trust you?” the voice was hoarse, as if it had been worn raw from shouting.

“I just killed all of your enemies for a start. And I haven’t shot at you.”

There was silence at that. She didn’t blame them. She’d be leery of trusting someone just because they hadn’t shot at her yet.

And she’d have been especially wary of trusting someone who clearly had a lot of bio-mass to spare.

“Look, I could easily form some more explosives and use that to kill you. But I won’t. I’m here to help. I’m with the rebels.”

More silence. Mai decided that it was probably because they hadn’t heard that there were rebels in their previous life.

“Which ones?” Another voice, Female this time.

That stumped her. She hadn’t realised that there were more than one sort of rebel.

“The ones that want to help you! If I stand up and come out where you can see me, promise not to kill me?”

“Yeah,” agreed the first voice. “We won’t shoot unless you make us.”

Good enough, she thought. Not that she was going to trust them. Taking a drink from a bio-mass boost bottle, the number of which was going down alarmingly quickly, she added more armour to the front of her suit. It was just enough to be able to soak up anything the Cullers fired at her and allow her to move back into cover.

“Okay, I’m coming out.” She stood and moved swiftly to the front of the ruined room, stepping out into the open arms spread wide, weapon less. No bullets greeted her which she took as a good sign.

“Your face,” called the woman. “I want to see your face.”

Mai opened the visor on her helmet.

“Mai? What the hell!” The woman stood up, a smile stretching from ear to ear.

“Dakota!”