Rae’s eyes darted between the kids gathering at the buses and the now vacant school yard. On the far side of the yard lay the drainage ditch, trash-strewn path to freedom.

Even through the metallic tang of her mech voice the hesitancy came through as Violet asked, “What are we going to do?”

Lining the scooter’s front wheel towards the yard Rae gave a harumph, “What can we do? They control the vertical. They control the horizontal.”

After a pause, Violet replied, “Heck of an obscure reference to throw out there.” Rae only shrugged and played with the throttle. “So,” Violet continued, “We let them all get led to the slaughter, just like that?”

“I suppose you think we should go riding in to the rescue, one little girl and a scooter mech against the world?”

Despite the sirens, whoops of excitement to be out of school from hundreds of kids, and the whir of engines the afternoon felt very silent.

Rae gunned the engine, “It’s a shit life. Not much we can do but survive.”

They left, innocence be damned.