Project Wren

Alex bolted deeper into the alley, his boots crunching over shards of glass and debris.

The chaos on the street spilled closer, the echoes of gunfire and wet, guttural screams bouncing off the narrow walls.

Alex stopped around a corner to catch his bresth. His suitcase thumped against his leg, Wren's frame cushioned safely inside.

A sudden, inhuman shriek tore through the air behind him.

Alex whipped his head around just in time to see one of them barreling into the alley, its twisted body contorting unnaturally as it sprinted after him.

Its face—half-human, half something else—was smeared with blood, eyes glowing faintly with an eerie light.

"Warning: hostile entity detected," Sparc noted unhelpfully.

"No kidding!" Alex barked, pumping his legs harder. His lungs burned, and the suitcase felt like a lead weight dragging him down, but he refused to stop.

The creature was fast, faster than anything that size should've been. Its snarls grew louder, closer, the sound like nails on glass.

Alex reached into his jacket, pulling out his trump card for any dangerous situation—he was reserving this for the train dog fight earlier that thankfully didn't happen.

A compact stun rod.

He thumbed it on, the tip crackling with blue energy.

He didn't slow down, didn't think. At the next corner, he pivoted hard, spinning on his heel just as the creature lunged.

He thrust the stun rod forward, aiming for its chest.

The rod connected with a wet thud, and electricity arced through the creature's body.

Chichichichichi!

It convulsed violently, its limbs jerking like a puppet on tangled strings.

Alex pressed harder, gritting his teeth, until the thing collapsed in a twitching heap at his feet.

But it wasn't dead. Its glowing eyes snapped to him, filled with rage and hunger. Alex staggered back, panting.

"Hostile immobilized for approximately seven seconds," Sparc announced.

"Seven seconds?" Alex shouted, already running again.

He didn't even dare stay to finish it off as he heard more shrieks coming from behind him—dozens, maybe more.

The others were coming, drawn by the noise.

He sprinted out of the alley and appeared into an abandoned square, its once-bustling market now a graveyard of overturned carts and scattered goods.

A group of survivors huddled near a fountain, their faces pale and weapons trembling in their hands.

"They're coming!" Alex yelled, waving his arms as he passed them by. "If you want to live, move now!"

The group hesitated, then scattered in all directions as the first wave of attackers burst into the square.

Alex dove behind a cart, dragging his suitcase with him as the chaos erupted.

Gunfire and screams filled the air.

One of the survivors, a burly man with a crowbar, swung wildly at an attacker, only to be overpowered and dragged to the ground.

Blood sprayed as the creatures tore into him, their movements frenzied.

Though it was the Golden Era for Technology, bionics were still not available for everyone.

Unless you're extremely rich, has good connections or volunteer for experimental bionic research, it's difficult to access good bionics.

One can buy from the black market or some shady group but you won't have anyone to run to when you start heating up or bleed to death.

Alex peeked over the edge of the cart, his mind racing. His fingers brushed the suitcase, and an idea struck. He yanked it open, revealing Wren's compact frame.

"Alright, girl," he muttered, unfolding the drone. He wore the HoloLens glasses next to it and NAI-7 connected him to it's control system.

He powered it on, and Wren's tiny rotors whirred to life. The drone lifted into the air, steady despite the chaos.

[Project Wren activated. Systems online.]

The HoloLens gave him a digital overlay to work with and control the pocket drone.

The scene changed from his line of sight to an elevated one that went higher by the second.

Lines of environmental data appeared on the left while a PIP footage of what's in front of him appeared on the right.

A ball appeared on the bottom right corner and he placed his hand over it to control the flight system.

Wren's tiny wings snapped into place with a satisfying click after flapping like a bird, making some minor adjustments.

"Let's see if you're still as fast as I remember."

Wren's control system uses unique and advanced hand controls. Each finger has their own roles to do.

The thumb controls the left wing while the pinky controls the right wing.

If you want to enter tight spaces, you can fold your thumb and pinky fingers into your palm and the wings would fold itself to its body, making it thinner.

The right wing always fold topside while the left wing folds bottom. This will ensure control of the drone's vertical movement.

The index finger and the ring finger are assigned for left fan and right fan rotors respectively.

Raising these fingers means increasing power output into that rotor, increasing the speed in which the drone makes a turn.

As for the middle finger, it handles the most important feature of the drone: forward thrust.

If you're drone can't move forward, you might as well use a long stick for your camera.

There's a couple of pre-programmmed commands.

Fully stretched palm: fly forward.

Thumb and pinky stretched while index, middle and ring fingers folded: hover in place.

Thumb, index, middle fingers and pinky stretched while ring finger folded: hover-strafe left.

Thumb, middle, ring fingers and pinky open while index finger closed: hover-strafe right.

All fingers folded: perform shutdown procedure.

Alex directed Wren toward the nearest group of attackers, his fingers dancing in the air.

The drone zipped forward, faster than the eye could follow, weaving through the melee.

Wren's tiny frame whizzed in between the attackers' heads, attracting everyone's attention.

Alex grinned as Wren hovered out of everyone's reach. "Still got it."

Attracted by the sound of the drone's motor whirring, the crazed people tried and reach for it. Slowly, they got led away from the market.

Beep, beep!

"Warning! Rapid footsteps detected from the right side." Sparc said in a hurry.

Alex barely raised his right arm to block whatever's coming his way.

"Ooof!"

Alex hit the ground hard, the wind knocked from his lungs as he caught sight of the culprit who tackled him.

The view switched from Wren's focus to the PIP feed on the AR Overlay.

A deranged woman pinned her full weight on him, claws scrabbling at his chest, teeth snapping inches from his face.

Instinct kicked in, Alex thrust his bionic arm forward, trying to push the figure away from him. The servos in the bionic arm whirred as motor muscles strained against the mindless strength of the undead.

"Damn it, get off me!" he spat, twisting his body to try and dislodge the creature.

He failed.

Wren buzzed erratically on the feed, weaving through the air.

One of the attackers leapt for it, claws swiping, but the nimble drone narrowly dodged, banking hard to the right.

Alex unaware of the lucky maneuver, flew Wren high up in the air before focusing on the monster in front of him.

The drone climbed quickly, its tiny frame wobbling as it adjusted to the sudden shift.

The woman snarled, its rancid breath washing over Alex. He gritted his teeth, his free hand fumbling for the stun rod strapped to his jacket.

His fingers brushed the handle, but the angle was awkward, and the creature's weight made it nearly impossible to pull it free.

"Come on, come on..."

The creature lunged again, its teeth snapping shut just shy of Alex's face.

He increased the power on his bionic arm before grabbing the woman's jaw, pushing it's head into the sky, buying himself a moment to grab his stun rod.

Before he could grab the stun rod, a loud thwack rang out.

The woman's head jerked violently to the side, a deep crack splitting its skull. Its body went limp, collapsing next to Alex in a heap.

Panting, Alex shoved the corpse off him and looked up.

A man stood over him, wielding a heavy hammer smeared with gore. He was in his mid-thirties, his clothes torn and dirty, but his eyes were sharp and alive.

"Thought you could use a hand," the man said, offering Alex a calloused hand to pull him up.

Alex took it, wincing as he got to his feet. "Yeah, thanks for the assist."

The man looked at Alex and said, "I was about to push it off you, but you gave such good opening that I had to take it."

Alex shrugged, wiping sweat and dirt from his face. "Not on purpose, trust me."

The man smiled but stared at Alex's outstretched arm. "Nice drone. Fast little thing. I'm guessing you're the reason the crazies shifted away from my block."

Alex nodded, busily leading off the crazies away. He flew Wren higher and surveyed the area, making him travel the long way.

"Well, whatever the reason, you bought me some breathing room. Appreciate it." The man slung the hammer over his shoulder and jerked his head toward a side street. "You're not gonna last out here alone. My place isn't far, and it's safe—for now. You're welcome to tag along."

Alex hesitated, glancing at the carnage around them. The street was quieter now, but distant screams and gunfire warned that the peace wouldn't last.

With one hand occupied piloting Wren, he used his free hand to adjust the strap of his backpack and picked up Wren's suitcase.

"Alright," Alex said finally. "Lead the way."

The man grinned, clapping Alex on the shoulder. "Good choice. Name's Marik, by the way. Let's get moving before more of those things show up."

Marik led him down a narrow alley, his hammer at the ready. Alex followed, Sparc humming quietly on his wrist.

"Observation: this individual demonstrates a survival rating of 72.4%. Trust rating: 40%"

"Shut it, Sparc," Alex said, then whispered, "Turn on suggestions."