Doran's Arc

Chapter 2 of 5

They stopped running when the metal forest fell behind them. Doran leaned against Atlas and pressed his human hand to his side. Blood soaked his shirt. He wanted to hunt the company that built him. But he had a bigger problem first. "I don't know who they are," he said. "No name. No place. Nothing." His memory held only his own name and Atlas. He had a goal and no trail to follow. "You are losing blood," Atlas said. The mech's blue optic swept the horizon. "We fix you first. Then we find them." Atlas lifted its arm. A map flickered across its palm, most of it dark. Only one point glowed. "A clinic. The edge of the forest. It is the only place I can reach." Doran nodded. Atlas carried him toward the light. The clinic sat low and cramped against the last of the metal trunks. Neon signs buzzed pink and blue across patched panels. A cross flickered above the door. The place looked built for people who paid cash and asked nothing. Inside, a repair tech worked without looking up. She had grease on her hands and a torch clipped to her collar. "Arm's grafted," she said. "Corporate work. I've seen it before." She said the word corporate like a curse. Doran's chest tightened. "You know who made this?" he asked. She finally looked at him. "I know the mark." She turned his rifle arm and pointed at a small stamp near the elbow, worn but clear. A serial code. "Every unit they build carries one. Tells you which plant. Which line." She wiped her hands. "You didn't know that?" "I don't remember anything." She was quiet a moment. Then she pulled a scanner from a drawer and ran it over the stamp. Numbers filled the screen. She read them, and her face changed. "This code. It's a district. North sector. There's one company out there big enough to brand people." She wrote a name on a scrap of paper and pressed it into his palm. "That's where they build things like you." Doran stared at the name. For the first time he had a trail. Not a memory, but a direction. Atlas leaned close and read it too. "I know that district," the mech said. "I can guide us." The tech sealed the wound in his side with quick, sure hands. Then she stepped back. "You should go," she said. "You're not the first runaway they've tracked here. And their hunters check this clinic." She nodded at the door. "Someone came asking about a prototype two hours ago. Woman. Corporate badge." Doran's grip tightened on the paper. Kira Vance had already found the trail he now followed. He pushed off the table and stood. He had a name and a place at last. He also had a hunter one step ahead of him, walking the same road. The repair tech pushed him back into the chair. “You are going nowhere till I fix you up.”