by Nathan Ward
But as Murdock approached the window, from beyond the fire, hope slowly crept forth like it promised to grant immunity to all the chaos around it - the impossible face of Sasha which suddenly etched itself to the back of his eyes, so even in closure he could still see her staring back at him, he could finally grasp on to the memories that were once buried deep, thought lost forever and remember that when the battle was finally over he did in fact have something to live for and something to fight for, and that thought was all he needed as new hope sprung to life in the man worn out by warfare. The thought of Sasha brought an out of place smile to his beaten face as he leapt through the second broken wall, returning to the room in which Houghton had remained, as predicted by Murdock with her guards stood at ease behind her, all six of them.
“Captain?” asked Houghton, unsure of whom she was looking at as Murdock’s body was covered in his own fresh blood and hidden beneath shadows as black as the night sky which had now begun to lift as the morning sun rise approached, riding the distant hilltop.
Murdock moved from behind the shadows and in to the eerie tangerine glow, grabbing his sword off the floor as he moved closer, slowly, carefully towards the centre of the room which was softly lit by the mixture of blazing fire and icy blue skies.
“Commander…” Murdock confirmed, nodding his head towards Houghton as he came to a sudden stand still, observing the surroundings and casting a glance to each of the guardsman's unearthly eyes.
“Not entirely what you were expecting, I can tell.” Murdock added, meeting Commander Houghton’s gaze with one of pure despair, while a mix of blood and sweat gleamed on his partly exposed body where the uniform had been ripped away, how very human, this sweat and this blood, how mortal – and yet not so, after he had survived so much more than a mortal should survive...She was thinking that, processing it in her cold analytical steel head, he could see it in the way she regarded him in silence...
That state of silence lingered as Houghton scanned Murdock's body with her luminous glare, casting a faint blue beam of light up and down his torso, it was impossible for this human to be stood there, she thought as her readings detected the damage that had been inflicted by Enrique’s weapons and not to mention the quantity of blood that now stained the tiled ground of the tower as well as what remained of his uniform, which stuck around his waist and to his legs, drenched by a mixture of bodily fluids.
“You should not be standing, Captain…” said Houghton in a raspy uncertain tone.
“Quite right, you are. Something has gone very VERY wrong on your part here my friends, because when I was treated for similar injuries once before - it happened to take place inside one of your facilities.” Murdock reminded Houghton, “You have so much control and advancement that there really wasn’t any need to think about what would happen if it fell in to the wrong hands, it wouldn’t be a logical scenario from such a great height of power, would it?” he added accusingly, with an increasing rage burning from deep within him as he stood just a couple of meters from Houghton’s grasp.
“We have evolved to be accepting of lacking logical explanation” Houghton replied, and that was all she got, because Murdock was not done yet.
“Perhaps that all happened a moment too late, all that was needed in the end was a gentle touch from a harmless soul, one that may no longer be with me or perhaps she is! And she is the one you have to thank, Commander! For I am the vessel of your own undoing, you handed us the ingredients and we baked a cake, there’s simply no bad without the good!”
Murdock followed this declaration with a sharp swing of his sword towards Houghton’s head, taking her by surprise as she attempted to process where the UNA had gone so horribly wrong, but the royal guard stepped in without a second to spare, lodging their staffs together in a defensive formation which deflected Murdock's attack, launching a flurry of bright golden sparks into the air as the two compounds collided against one another.
Murdock was once again fuelled by an impossible force, like a tidal wave of raw natural power that could only be the effect of the treatment that was used on him during his near death encounter at the Fort, after his brutal run in with the captain named Jordan which turned into a gladiator match that he had hoped he would never have to take part in again, but as time seemed to freeze around him in this moment of aggression, he felt as if the worst was still to come, knowing the royal combatants wouldn’t just walk away, they had a duty of protection without the understanding of right and wrong.
Murdock suddenly disengaged his weapon, lifting it up and over the enemies staffs and down through the torso of the sixth unsuspecting guardsman, slicing apart the navy leathers and the cybernetic components embedded inside. The guard instantly lost all of its power and balance and plummeted like a broken doll down into the littered ground which was already stained and covered in debris.
Murdock took a subtle retreating step to regain his composure and fighting stance, readying himself for the next strike from the opponents that had already begun to circle him, lowering their staffs and pointing them in towards his body, limiting his movement and placing him in a rather vulnerable position, he realised this as he cast his sights around him, watching their every move as they circled in unison, like sharks surrounding their prey as they waited to strike.
The war for the city had begun to come to an end as the sound of explosions and Howlers shrieking from fatalities diminished in the urban streets, the blasts lower now, smaller, far off, the shrieks fading out and carried off on a wind that carried with it the stench of burning corpses. But the flames continued to rage on, purifying what was once a thriving hive of life, overturned in just a couple of heavy progressive years.
Normality was now something that made even less sense, but the sound of Steph and Michael praying for Lynches recovery brought things into perspective, as Murdock listened in, during a moment of unfiltered silence while Michael moved Lynches body in to the neighboring room, away from the fire and closer to Murdock, who had wandered knowingly in to an uneven death match, but numbers had never remotely phased him, it was time that always used to slip away, especially when staffs were suddenly lunged towards him triggering a chain of evasive actions which came naturally to the captain, anticipating each of the bladed jousts that neared his bare chest, it just seemed to throw his train of thought which was already two tenths up on the opposing enemy before they launched their attack, he had to take that time back, it was crucial to the outcome of the conflict and right now he was well and truly on the ropes...
Murdock knew time was running out and he had a brilliant plan mapped out in his head, but he couldn’t gain the courage to make the move, knowing how painful it would be, so instead he continued to weave in and out of the five guards staffs as they continued to advance, holding a roughened battle stance, jousting their weapons towards Murdock's body in an untiring motion, like cogs gleaming with efficiency, outclassing the human who only had a limited supply of energy no matter how well reserved it seemed at times. They moved relentlessly, unending, a reminder of the might of the UNA...
The captain could feel Houghton's eyes burning against his flesh as he turned his back to her - which was enough of a statement to sum up just how threatened he felt, to not even feel the necessity to look his enemy in the eye, let alone their general direction, however his concentration was still assigned to the royal guard, which he knew he had to dismantle and fast, judging by the lack of hesitation in their progressive advances.
Murdock could make out the faint outline of one of the incubation chambers lurking just a few meters to his right hand side as he raised his sword to deflect a glancing strike by one of the guards, so carefully he took a step, countering and stepping in a formulated motion until the chamber had come in to arms length.
The Captain made a sudden and surprising attack, pressing the sole of his boot
to the chest of the closest guard, launching it backwards and against the back of the inner chamber, where its body collapsed hard
to the ground. Murdock dived at the opportunity, swinging the door around the front and crumpling on to the face plate of the droid. What was left of its head made a loud pop and a frantic burst of fiery sparks ejected from some inner components, before the rest of its body slumped even further, sprawling itself along the floor in a definite state of failure.
There were just the four guardsmen left; Murdock observed as he quickly reached down for the long disarmed weapon which had fallen amongst the debris.
His right hand was still clenched to the handle of his trusty sword as he knelt, but as his body rose back to the height of the android guard he let it slip through his fingertips, freeing both hands to take a tight grasp around either end of the lightweight staff.
“We’re fighting fire with fire here boys!” Murdock claimed as his fallen sword shimmered at his feet and neon blue reflected in his eyes.
The man that hadn’t stopped, the warrior that thrived off the thought of helping those in need around him launched what was left of his body into a final round of combat, twirling the length of the staff around his hand and against the defensive guardsmen, knocking them off their stride as they attempted to move in for an attack. But Murdock took a grasp of every opportunity, smashing each end of the weapon against the androids heads, leaving no chance of regaining composure, cancelling the crucial counter strike that must have been ticking over with every fierce pounding.
Murdock whipped the staff in a horizontal motion, slicing the tip along each of the droids necks, piercing the delicate wiring and tubing feeding down into the torso system. All four guardsmen let out a thunderous grinding sound of failure that crashed down in unison, which almost sounded like a cry of pain to Murdock as he stood observing the bodies while blue lubricants and crimson fluids poured from open ends, polluting the already chemically stained floor.
The Captain could still feel the glare of Houghton’s eyes being cast from behind the fallen bodies of the guardsmen as she watched on into the centre of the room where Murdock was once again stood.
He had now begun to wonder exactly what thoughts, what android processes now ran through her manufactured mind as the UNA Empire begun to crumble right in front of her eyes in a ball of blazing defeat. But her face remained stiff and cold, unprovoked by the captains victory over the royal guard which he naturally found difficult to comprehend as his eyes climbed towards Houghton’s rigid face plate, it left a sour taste at the back of his throat and a curdling dark mass in the pit of his stomach that churned up an overpowering sense of fearfulness, uncertain of the commanders next move which seemed to bury itself away, deep within the void of her augmented mind.
This is what it had come down to, what it was always leading towards since the day that the captain separated from the UNA ranks and led the humans to a greater cause that had taken the efforts of every single one of them, even those who hadn’t made it, like a piece to an ever expanding jigsaw or a stepping stone to a much greater journey: The End was finally set in sight…
Chapter 42: A soul for sacrifice
Like the roll of tide to shore, a rhythm of calmness eased like a gentle ebb and flow and a faint whistle reached the ears of Josh and Thomas as their bodies laid peacefully on the ground among the assortment of shattered glass from the damaged window. The fragments glimmered like sharp morning frost; it was almost as if they were in a state of trance as they lay there, transfixed by the sight of the bright blue energy pulsating around the apex of the tower.
It felt like the heart and soul of creation, so beautiful and unlike anything either of the two men had ever laid their eyes on before, they confirmed with a quick glance to one another that matched the same look of wonder.
But they weren’t fooled by its beauty; they both knew that behind the shell of what the country had surrendered to lie something far more sinister, deep within was the true intelligence behind the entire UNA name and they couldn’t get any closer than where they had come to stand, or in this instance, to lay.
Thomas slowly and cautiously pulled himself up from the ground, panting as the sharpness of glass biting into flesh made nerves shock sharply, electrified by the stabbing pains. It didn’t feel unbearable, it was merely painful but the frosty blue glow of Astral seemed to distract his gaze and his mind completely, like a cure to the affliction, a driving force that had been in effect since the first day a human cast its eyes against the neon glare of the android soldiers.
A shard of glass wasn’t going to stop them, Thomas reminded himself as he leant against the appliance white wall of the tower, directly opposite a long, dark corridor lit only by the soul of Astral, travelling back and forth like a manic heartbeat.
“We made it!” said Thomas, with his hand clutched against his freshest wound, his hand dripping in thick crimson as it seeped from the opening in his leathers.
“We sure did,” replied Josh, who was still sprawled on the ground but beginning to carefully prepare to move, as he observed the mysterious surroundings that seemed a world apart from the rooms he had already come through since his arrival at the tower.
Everything before had felt so artificial and seemed as if it had been delivered from a mass production facility, walls the same, floors the same, all identical units of manufacture - but this was the complete opposite, it felt so alive, Josh thought to himself, still in a state of bewilderment as he finally pressed his hands into the unsafe debris beneath him, pushed his weight off the floor and into an ascending stance, stabilized now by the bruised stumps that had formerly been referred to as knees, they were now numb, Josh could barely feel them as he pressed forward to relieve his back of tension.
“Oh boy, now that’s a view and a half!” exclaimed Josh.
He had just set his sights across the city landscape that sat in front of him, casting his gaze towards the light, the rising sun, orange and warm against his skin as he bathed in its light. This felt like rebirth as the new day had finally arrived and the storm contained within the darkness was all but a fragment of the past, fading away into the distance. The fiery glow was like an injection of energy that brought numbness to the pain circulating around his limbs in contrast to the cold, brisk air, blowing like the breath of life through the centre of the grand tower, welcomed by all for the chill had made a welcome return, once banished by the weapons of mass destruction that had caused havoc with the delicate atmosphere of the Earth.
This moment was the best of seasons, the warmth of summer and the cool of winter, its airflow gently brushing against his flesh.
Thomas couldn’t believe his eyes as he stared at the harmonic expression etched across Joshes face, and then he too threw himself towards the orange mass, sinking in gratitude to the ground and into the warmth of the sunlight, knocking aside the glass as his knees swept through it. He closed his eyes to defy the glare of the sun and took a breath, a cold, fresh breath of air that felt as good as that first sip of ice cold water on a summer’s day after an afternoon of sunbathing and high octane sports. This was a promise of the return of the world as it once was, mother nature making her pledge that this day would be a new start, with hell blown over, the light was returning and bringing fresh hope in its wake.
“I could fall asleep, I can feel myself slipping away in to a world of dreams!” said Thomas, with his eyes closed and his arms outstretched as if reaching to touch the heavens that had opened up.
“There’s no need for dreams, the things we’ve done are what dreams have always been made of,” Josh replied. As he spoke, he watched on into the distance as Howlers could be seen dispersing into the mountains and along the river beds.
“It really is coming to and end, isn’t it?” said Thomas.
He had no need for Josh to answer that question as they watched on, catching a glimpse of the mutations returning to their hives, scattering away from the city, running from the fire and destruction, for they had now played their part and driven the UNA into the stone cold ground.
All that remained now were those inside
the tower and the select few positioned around the countries outposts, at least the ones that hadn’t already been over-run and those were dropping by the day. The hour of the AI had well and truly come and gone and was now holding on by a single shard of weakened alloy...
As a bone jarring scream echoed against the walls, it came as a sudden shock to Josh and Thomas, who were almost lost in a world of dream. Their bodies sprung around to face the darker side of the room from which the horrifying sound had come. Both men’s eyes remained wide in fear as they listened for further sound, but all they could hear now was the whistle of the wind and the hum of the Astral energy pulsating above them, casting shadows down the further side of the room.
“Who was that?” asked Thomas, struck by sudden fear.
“That…sounded a lot like…” Josh and Thomas met each others gaze and as they did their facial expressions changed to match that of realisation, it was someone, or something, they both knew...
“Williams!” they said in unison.
The two of them leapt on to their feet, disregarding all pain as they broke away in a frantic sprint along the hall, crunching the soles of their boots against the already shattered glass fragments.
Josh had taken the lead and arrived at a crossroad, one path leading to the elevator shaft and the other towards a gloomy open space, it was blurry from the distance where Josh stood but the energy was provoking them to choose it, pulsating in an advancing motion, back and forth, as of to silently beckon, Come here...