by Troy Dukart
“Let's be careful then,” I surmised.
Coming to a jolting stop, the platform door opened about three-quarters of the way up the tower. I couldn't believe what I saw.
There was blood and body pieces everywhere.
These people were torn apart. Liquids spilled out from large broken capsules. I picked up a rifle off a dead soldier and stayed tacit. Flashing yellow lights from the ceiling indicated danger and were coated in blood. From the look of it, we just missed a massacre. Brutus curled up next to me and was on high alert.
The layout was multiple t-crossings adjoining each other. Next to each capsule with flashing monitors read, “Containment Breach.” In the far distance looked to be a sturdy door where I could see a few bodies laying motionless; maybe it was an emergency escape?
I turned back to the platform we rode on but the door slammed shut. The same “Containment Breach” message was printed across it, and no button I pushed would open it.
“We are not alone Strafe. I can smell…something,” Brutus warned.
”Shit,” I whispered; there was no choice but to proceed.
Crouching and moving against the walls, we pressed forward. Whenever we got to the t-crossing, I would check each corner and Brutus the other before proceeding. We moved quickly to get out of plain sight. There was some rubble from an explosion blocking our advancement, along with dangling electric wires that were sparking, which I didn't want to touch.
I heard a faint gnawing noise, like that of a dog chewing a bone. Brutus began to growl, “That's the thing that killed everyone here.”
“Stay close to me Brutus,” I patted on his side.
There was no stopping, so I took a deep breath and moved forward toward the next t-crossing. Looking right around the corner I found a creature eating the flesh of a corpse. It was a twisted being, large like the Slates I found being commanded by the Senti troops but deformed.
Its body was half Slate, half human; the head being of a bald man. I wondered if this was a virus. “Damn, you are one ugly son of a…” I said accidently; I quickly slapped my mouth with my hand.
The creature jerked up quickly and made an alert sound. Brutus tugged me back. I stayed close to the corner and lined up the rifle to the head of the creature. Brutus was ready to attack, but I had no idea what we were dealing with, so I told him to stand-by. Still confused, it moved around the corpse it was eating and began to sniff the air. I almost had my shot lined up but I noticed something in the corner of my peripheral vision, another one was breathing in my ear. “Oh shit!” I bellowed.
Before I had a chance to react it screamed in my face and backhanded me. The hit sent me across the room to the previous t-crossing. Brutus jumped at it and began to battle the creature. There was a small tussle, but then I heard Brutus yelp and the room got extremely quiet. Jumping to my feet I ran over ready to blast that creature off my wolf but they were both nowhere to be seen.
A chill ran down my neck.
They were calculating when to make the best strike. It was a hunt now, and I was the prey.
Dark shadows and emptiness lined the ceiling, and I could tell they were moving around me. My vision was distorted from the flashing lights. My adrenaline was cranked to the maximum and even a spark from a dangling wire made me twitch. There were two of them, I knew that, but there could've been more. Now it was just a waiting game, seeing which side made the first mistake.
As I began moving toward the platform, I heard a snarl. I raised the butt of the rifle I held against my shoulder. As I crossed one of the t-crossings, I caught a glimpse of one of the Slates and took a shot at it. It screeched a high-pitched yell as it ran out of my view; I made my way toward where I shot at but didn't find the creature. On the floor lied some shards of its crystal-like body, no blood. That shot would've put a hole right through a man.
One ran behind me and I jerked around. I shot at it but missed. I made my way around another t-crossing and had almost made it back to the platform. Staying here wasn't an option but I wasn't leaving without Brutus.
Suddenly I was grabbed through a grate in the floor by a Slate and then another one charged at me from around the corner. With the rifle up, I shot it a few times before it rammed me across the room. The force from the impact shattered me through one of the glass cylinders. In pain, I laid there, summoning the strength I had to get up and get the rifle a few feet in front of me.
Crawling across the floor, I managed to grab the weapon, but the creature smashed it with its foot as it stood above me. It grabbed me with its large claw. “NNNNNAHHHHHHGGGGG!!!!” the Slate hissed in my face.
Being this close let me get a good look at the creature. The face was human with some differences. The eyes were yellow and had retinas like a cat; the undeveloped arm was long and deformed with crystal shards protruding out.
It slammed me against the wall before it jumped in the air at me. It tried to stab me but I moved out of the way and it got stuck in the wall. Trying to break free, it began screeching terribly; I ran out around the corner and out of sight. “This is like a nightmare!” I panted.
I ran as fast as I could to the platform but one of them jumped down from the ceiling and blocked my path. I turned to my right but saw another crawling out of a crawl-space from the floor.
Turning around I saw the one who attacked me before, clawing the wall as it walked toward me slowly.
The only clear path I had was toward the sturdy door on the far end of the room but it was blocked with rubble. With no other options left, I sprinted as fast as I could.
Their footsteps never left mine and I could almost feel them breathing on my neck. The electric wires were still snapping but I felt I could vault over all the rubble. There was enough room on the top for me to jump over and hopefully slow these bastards down.
Before I jumped I envisioned myself making it through unscathed. Jumping through would be tough; the hole was only about three feet in diameter. With my arms pointed forward, I proceeded to jump through the small window. To my dismay though, I didn't make it all the way through. I felt a sharp clasping grip around my left ankle, one of them had grabbed me.
Wires were misfiring on the other side, keeping the other two Slates away as I tried to free myself from this creature's grip. It was really squeezing hard and moving its sharp fingers back and forth. My leg was getting cut up, “AHHHHHHAA!!! Damn you, you freak!”
With no other weapons at my disposal, I began to punch the crystal arm while hanging upside down. Every time it tried to pull me through, I would push off the ceiling with my other leg and prevent it from doing so.
Even with my aura, my punches were doing nothing except making small cracks in the crystal arm of the Slate. The more I punched, the harder it squeezed and sliced my leg.
My abs grew tired from curling up and gave out, so I let my upper body fall to the floor. As I closed my eyes, I had a flashback of the time I punched a Slate and it shattered to pieces. How did I get that power? I remembered winding back, taking a deep breath and having the mindset to punch through it.
I opened my eyes and began punching the arm with all I had. Each strike hit harder and harder until I sprang up, cocked my right arm back, and threw a punch that flashed red when it connected. My fist penetrated right through the creature's arm and even dented the ceiling.
Falling to the floor, I landed on my back, but it was my leg that pained me the most. When I looked down, the armor I had on was shredded and blood was dripping everywhere. Putting pressure on it did no good, “Damn, it must have cut my muscles up.”
All I could hear on the other side was screeching and electricity flashing; maybe the Slate had fallen back into the wires and gotten fried? It didn't matter long as the other two had surrounded me, growling and ready to strike. As one was about to take a slash at me, it got pulled down to the ground. Brutus had come back and with a twitch of his jaw, he snapped its neck. He then stood over me, growling at the Slate.
“Brutus, you're alrig
ht,” I said.
“I told you, I will always be there for you Strafe,” he assured.
The second Slate came at us with furious anger. It smacked Brutus across the room and jumped on top of me. We were face-to-face. Its arm went skyward and was about to take a swipe at my head but a different flash cut through the debris and the creature, slashing it in two.
The creature fell on top of me, and when it did it shattered into a million pieces. I pushed away the crystals and looked to the right to see an object lodged into the sturdy door. It was in the shape of a boomerang.
There was a figure that ran up to me in a flash. He picked up a pipe lying on the floor and held it over me, ready to strike. I waved my arms up and shouted, “Whoa, whoa whoa!!! Rousseau it's me, Strafe!”
I pushed the visor on the helmet up so he could see my face, “Strafe!? Whatcha doing with that crap on!?” Rousseau calmed down and dropped the pipe on the floor.
“This was the only way in. I didn't have a boomerang to blow things to pieces with,” I told him as he helped me off the floor.
“You like my new toy? I call it the 'Shatterang.' Pretty cool huh?” Rousseau insisted.
“What the hell-o is that?” Brutus asked him as he made his way over.
“My cousin and I were developing them as anti-vehicle destroyers that foot soldiers could use. I fabricated it while on the Bullrose! Looks like it's strong 'nuf to rip through these asshats anyways!” Rousseau explained.
Rousseau helped me walk over to hug Brutus and saw he was shaking in fright. His right arm was bleeding as well. “Well, we officially owe you our lives to you. I gotta patch the both of us up. Roya is up high in the tower, we should go find her,” I said as I pulled a First Aid Kit off the wall. There was a Fiber Gun inside, which could repair tissue rapidly.
“Strafe, let me do that,” Rousseau said as he took the First Aid from me, “They are experimenting on prisoners and creating these Proto-Slates. This is a Senti instillation for sure, very high level and very top secret. I wouldn't be surprised if we ran into some high-ranking ass-munches here. Maybe even Marcio.”
As he was fixing up my leg with a Fiber Gun, I put my hand on his shoulder, “Let me tell ya, these things were a lot nastier than him and you took them down like nothin'. I know we're in a difficult situation, but he isn't going to slow us down. I know you'll be able to face him if he's here.”
“You're right. I'll make Argenta proud,” he replied after he finished up.
“She's safe and alive. She's getting patched up with Tom,” I assured him, he smiled.
After he fixed up Brutus, he walked over to the Shatterang. With a little wiggle, Rousseau pulled it out of the wall and tucked it on the side of his leg.
Before he typed in a key code for the door, he looked over his shoulder and said, “Thanks for being a good friend to me mate. I may be a Prince, but I've got flaws, just like everyone else. Part of me wishes I could go back to being Aeileo Marmahere, but for now, I need to be Rousseau, the freedom fighter. Maybe one day I can be that man again.”
“You will Rousseau. You are brave like a prince should be,” Brutus commented.
Chapter 7
Roya
It was only a matter of time. It'd been a long while since I saw him. That's when he wanted to prey on me, when I was weakest. I knew that he brought me up here. He was the only person who lived after Falco, Itust and I escaped.
The one who was hunting me.
I was still disoriented from the blast of the ship. He was trying to get me alone, so it will be harder for me to regain my emotional focus. The room was large and empty, with a translucent window which I could see the wreckage from. The carpet was red. “What is this place?” I moaned as I rubbed my head.
I rose to my feet, turned around and found the hunter, Faiz, standing in front of me. He was the warrior my tribe had sent out to find me. I had been evading him for months. He was one of Falco's best friends.
“It's been a long time my Lady. Did you miss me?” he chuckled.
“Faiz,” I said, “You are done with this, do you HEAR ME!?! Our people are in danger! I must warn them.”
“No, you see, you don't get a say in what I am to do, remember? You belong to your tribe and I will bring you back to face justice!” Faiz exclaimed as he slammed down one of our tribe's special weapons.
He wielded what was called the “Balis.” It was three giant balls of steel that a person could shoot towards a target. The Balis would roll back to the wielder through magnetization. They were each about the size of a child.
I looked him straight in his eyes, “For too long we have suppressed women in our tribe. Nobody owns anybody and I will not let you continue this. You are a disgrace, you are Faiz. Why didn't you come to Falco's aid!? When he needed you most, you chose your title instead!”
“And you two chose yourselves above the entire tribe! We have operated this way for over a thousand years. Who are you to challenge the ways?” Faiz yelled as he threw one of his Balis' at me.
As soon as it got close I side-stepped it, touched it with my palm and made it the size of a marble. Faiz's eyes opened wide in amazement, but then his eyebrows shot down in anger. He still had two other Balis floating near him. He sent them both flying at me, one after the other. I side-stepped the first one and shrunk it but the second one grazed me on my left shoulder, which knocked me down. I cried in pain while clutching my arm.
Faiz walked over and stood above me, “You belong to your tribe, and I think it's time you remember that.”
He began to unbutton his pants but he didn't know I was holding onto one of the Balis in my hand. With a flick of my wrist, I threw it into his gut and snapped my fingers. It transformed back to normal size and tossed Faiz into the wall. I grabbed the other Balis and threw it at him, pinning him against the wall. I heard him grunt.
I pulled the two Balis balls back and watched him collapse onto the floor, motionless. “You will never hurt anyone again,” I said with a tear running down my face.
I raised my arm up and down. The Balis followed my command and crashed down onto Faiz. They sent him through the floor, and all the way down the tower. I looked down the hole as the Balis returned to my hand.
Clutching my arm, I curled up into a ball on the ground, and began to cry hysterically. It was terrible to have someone hunting you for falling in love.
I noticed that the other two Balis balls had made their way up to my ears and hung like earrings. The weapon was special, it always claimed loyalty to the one it was defeated by. I didn't know if I killed him or not, but if he ever came at me again I would be ready. It made me worried though, that my own tribe might be working with the Senti. How else would he be here?
Chapter 8
Strafe
Those Proto-Slates were the nightmares of this reality. We made our way past the large door to find a small bunker inside with some computer monitors and no windows. Rousseau walked over to the left wall. He began knocking on it and circled the room until he found a hollow spot. He then drew out the “Shatterang” and slashed an x into the wall. Rousseau motioned for me to come over and knock it down. I grabbed some of the rubble from the room before and tossed at the mark.
After the smoke dissipated, we saw a latter. It stretched all the way up and down the entire tower. He told me he read about it in a document earlier.
The climb was grueling, but we got as high as we could. I held Brutus on my back. After we got to the top of the latter we found ourselves behind a slab wall like the one we broke through. We noticed a vent to the upper right of the slab that we could climb through.
We took down the grate and entered the ventilation. The crawlspace was flawlessly metallic. Up ahead of us was a covered opening that cascaded daylight through. Looking through the grate we saw a wide-open room with a huge translucent window on the opposite side of where we were that looked over the canyon.
Far away we could see someone lying on the ground, writhing in pain. There was a h
uge hole in floor too. A door opened and we could see a few Senti soldiers enter the room. Their commander ordered them to search the place while he approached the person on the ground. He knelt down and looked over them, then stood and turned around. Rousseau closed his eyes for a moment and then tapped me on the shoulder and whispered, “I think that's Roya over there!”
I closed my eyes too, and sure enough I saw her yellow dot. I nodded and pointed forward. We turned around a corner up ahead and found a cover leading to a different room. Rousseau looked around and gave me a thumb up, so we decided to pop it open and go through. The room was some sort of office, with papers on the floor and cluttered desks.
“You don't think you'd be able to take down all those dudes with your boomerang do you?” I asked.
“Hey, it is the mighty-mighty Shatterang, but with only one throw, no. They're too spread apart,” Rousseau replied, “But, if I was your prisoner, maybe we could get close enough and we could knock them down?”
“You mean with our aura?” I said.
“Yes. Draw them close to me and as soon as they are near we can both power on and knock them down. Brutus can help out too, right Mr. Wolf?” Rousseau explained, he spun his weapon around his fingers.
“One wrong move and we could all be dead Rousseau,” Brutus told him.
“You better be quick, I don't wanna get shot!” I pointed out.
“You got the armor on mate, it's me you should be worried about. Drag me in and I'll pretend to be unconscious,” Rousseau replied.
Rousseau got down on the floor and I grabbed his left arm. I approached the door and it slid open, and as we walked inside the soldiers turned to face us. Kneeling up from where Roya was lying, the commander turned and stood tall.
I dragged Rousseau to the middle of the room. I dropped his arm and looked at the commander. “I found this one down in the barracks. He survived the crash and has been wrecking the place,” I explained.