by Eric Vall
It checked all the boxes. Super-hot woman feigns interest in a nerd due to ulterior motives? Check. Giant-ass robot who comes to kill the nerd, and the hot woman has to defend him? Check again. All that was missing was time travel and the post-apocalyptic future.
My heart was hammering in my chest, and I could feel myself hyperventilating as I hobbled down the street. There were now sirens off in the distance, probably thanks to the miniature warzone outside my apartment, but what in the everloving fuck were the cops going to do?
I just saw Hannah put two full clips into this guy, and he was still going.
The sounds of the Behemoth’s heavy footsteps plodded behind me, but I didn’t dare try and look back to see how much distance I had on him. When a light punch from your enemy made you feel like you’d been hit by a car, every single inch mattered.
“You will not escape,” the man said from behind me. “The Hive will destroy you.”
I had no idea what this guy was talking about, but his voice was far too close for comfort.
Suddenly, there was another hailstorm of bullets, and I heard the large man let out a grunt of frustration.
“You are annoying me, traitor.”
“You are the traitor,” Hannah called back. “I had this situation under control, but you still interfered.”
More shots rang out behind me as I made it to a nearby alleyway. I limped around the corner, pressed my back against the wall, and then let out a deep breath. I wanted to keep running and get as far away from that big dude as humanly possible, but I didn’t want to abandon Hannah, so I peeked my head around the corner to watch the battle unfold. I couldn’t really help out too much, but maybe I could at least offer her a second pair of eyes.
The blue-haired woman was now leaping around the man’s massive frame like a spider monkey and striking him at every angle with her fists or feet. I could tell she was trying to find a weak point on her enemy, but it seemed like her efforts were fruitless.
Every time the Behemoth would come close to grabbing the woman, she would blast him in the face with her gun. The bullets didn’t seem to hurt him, but it at least seemed to distract him long enough for her to slip out of his grasp. With each shot, a new indentation appeared in his skull.
Then I remembered how the back of his head had looked, full of holes from where she’d unloaded a dozen bullets into it.
That was it.
If this guy didn’t have a weak spot, then Hannah would just have to create one.
“Hannah!” I called out from my cover. “Your bullets! You need to shoot them all into the same place!”
Suddenly, the man was able to grab ahold of Hannah. He slugged her across the face, and I gasped as blood sprayed across the sidewalk. Then the Behemoth flung her body at the corner of the alleyway where I was standing.
I stumbled back right as Hannah crashed through the brick and mortar of the building and rolled to a halt.
“Shitshitshitshit!” I cursed as I hobbled over to see if she was alright.
Hannah’s blue hair was matted against the side of her face, and its aqua shimmer was now dulled by a deep crimson. Her face was blackened and bruised, and she had several deep gashes on the left side of her face.
“H-How are you still aliv--” I stammered, but she cut me off.
“You had an idea about a tactical advantage?” she hissed as she pulled herself back to her feet. “We have approximately two minutes before he’s on our position. Tell me right now.”
As she spoke, the flesh on her face seemed to grow a thousand bubbles that then moved over her wounds. Quickly, her bruises began to fade, and her cuts started to close on their own, almost like she had hundreds of tiny organisms just underneath her skin who acted as her own personal first-aid kit.
I opened my mouth to ask the millions of questions that were running through my mind, but Hannah cut me off.
“Tony!” the blue-haired woman demanded.
“Right,” I said as I snapped back to reality. “The bullets aren’t killing him, but they’re denting the metal, and you were able to put a few holes in the back of his skull.”
“And?” she retorted.
“Where is the weakest point on one of those things?” I asked.
“The B-models are built to be nearly indestructible,” she explained. “The only way to destroy them is to take out the central processor located in their head. But that’s surrounded by five layers of metal, and this is my last magazine. I do not have enough bullets to get through there.”
“How does his processor communicate with the rest of his body?” I asked in desperation. “Does he have, like, wires or something?”
“Behemoths were an early decoy model,” she explained as if I would understand what she was saying. “Their wires slightly mimic a human nervous system so they could bypass early x-ray scans.”
“Then you need to take out the spinal cord connection to his brain,” I said. “His head might be impenetrable, but I’d bet the base of his neck isn’t.”
“Let me find out.” Hannah nodded and then stared off into the abyss for a moment.
She was emotionless as she stared, and her bruises and cuts had now completely faded away. Then she snapped back to reality.
“You’re right,” she said with a coy smile. “The neck is no more protected than the rest of his torso. Perhaps--get down!”
Hannah tackled me to the ground just as a whole freaking car smashed through the side of the building.
Our eyes met for a second, and I swore I saw the badass assassin blush before she rolled off me, rolled up into a crouch, and then propelled herself back into the fray.
“Your resistance is futile,” I heard the massive robot-man say. “You are not designed to combat my model directly, HFD-576.”
I tried to push down the pain as I stood back up to my feet and limped over to see what was going on.
Hannah had closed the gap quickly as she ran toward the large man with her pistol in hand.
He took a swing at the blue-haired woman, but she swiftly dodged under his attack.
As she came up, she fired a few shots into the side of his neck. Then she ducked underneath an incoming elbow, popped back up, and blasted a few more rounds into the back of his head. Hannah cartwheeled to the side, raised her gun once more, and shot him in the other side. She hopped over another swing, landed in front of the man, and … click.
Her gun was empty.
Hannah avoided the Behemoth’s grasp as she jumped back a few feet, but he was now coming at her hard. She barely had her footing back when she was forced to roll out of the way of another swing.
“Stop moving,” he droned.
“No,” Hannah replied as she dodged his arms again.
When it became apparent he couldn’t catch her with his bare hands, he had to improvise. He began to walk backward on the street, all while he absorbed blow after blow from Hannah’s fists. Finally, his back was up against an old Honda coupe that sat along the side of the road.
“Hannah!” I screamed from across the battlefield. “Watch out!”
The Behemoth reached back, picked up the vehicle, and then swung it at the blue-haired woman.
But Hannah was still too fast.
She backflipped over the attack, landed, and then springboarded over the Behemoth. Now that she was behind him, she spun around, jumped onto his back, and smacked her hands firmly against his head. Hannah was completely expressionless as she thrust her heels into his back and began to pull with all her might.
The large man tried to reach back with his good arm, but Hannah had positioned herself so she was just out of his reach.
Even from this distance, I could see the skin on his neck tearing like wet cardboard. Blood was spraying out like a geyser as he fumbled to get the assassin off his back, but it was in vain.
Then he squatted down and hopped up half a foot in the air, intent on crushing his enemy under his own bulk.
Hannah anticipated the move, and she fl
ipped back over his body. Her heels landed on his chest as he smashed into the ground, and she now had even better leverage.
The Behemoth began to tweak out. His arms and legs started to spasm, and his eyes were now flashing a deep yellow with an almost strobe-like effect.
Finally, his head yanked free of his body with a spray of blood and sparks, and his entire body went rigid.
The sirens were now only a few blocks away. How the fuck were we going to explain this one to them?
I didn’t even know what the hell was going on myself.
Hannah ran back over to me with the Behemoth’s severed head still in her hands. Then she glanced down at my injured leg for a moment before she tossed her arm around my shoulder.
“It is a hairline fracture,” she explained. “You are lucky. Usually, those who are struck by the Behemoth do not live to tell the tale. Still, it will be faster if I help you.”
“So that’s it?” I gasped, still in shock. “We’re just going to run away from the police?”
“Yes,” Hannah said matter-of-factly as she and I walked down the alley as briskly as possible. “If not, that would create all sorts of problems in the future.”
Son of a bitch. I guess there might be time travel involved after all.
“Wait, wait,” I protested. “Where are we even going?”
“We cannot go back to your place,” she explained. “Once The Hive finds out one of its children has been killed, at this location, it will know where you live. It’s no longer safe there.”
“Look, Hannah--” I growled as frustration boiled in my veins.
“Shhh!” she commanded.
The blue-haired woman pulled me over behind a few trash cans and motioned for me to remain quiet.
“Jesus, Brock,” I heard a man’s voice whistle. “How many incidents does that make this week?”
“I dunno, Duncan,” another man’s voice sighed, “too many to count. I heard it through the grapevine they might be bringing some Feds up here. Especially since they found out most of these dead guys had the same name.”
“Shit, man … ” the first cop, Duncan, mused. “This ain’t no run of the mill crazy. This is premeditated crazy.”
“And now we got a decapitated bodybuilder to top it all off,” Brock huffed. “The dude must have been ‘roided out of his mind. I mean fuck, look at this.”
“Any sign of the girl?” Duncan asked. “The call said he was brawling with some blue-haired chick.”
“No clue,” Brock admitted. “I swear, this city’s going to shit.”
“Duncan! Brock!” a third voice called out in terror. “You’re gonna want to take a look at this!”
Hannah held me behind the trash cans for a few more moments, and then she helped me stand back up.
“There are not any police on this side of the building,” she explained, “but there are more vehicles approaching. If we can get to the other side of the street before they arrive, our chances of getting captured will be reduced by eighty percent.”
I didn’t even ask how she was calculating this, nor did I care. I just wanted to get the fuck away from the active crime scene and figure out what was going on.
Hannah and I hustled out into the street and then moved quickly across it. Just as we entered the alleyway on the other side, a slew of flashing red and blue lights rolled up on my apartment building.
We walked for about a dozen more blocks, making sure to stay under the cover of alleyways as we moved. Finally, Hannah came to a stop and released her grip on my shoulder.
“There,” she sighed. “Our chances of getting caught here are only two percent. We should try to weigh our options before we make our next--”
“Oh, hell no!” I shot back as I tried to ignore the pain in my leg. “We’re not doing anything until you tell me what the fuck happened back there! I was just attacked by a giant-ass robot that looked and talked like a human. I need answers, Hannah, and I need them now.”
The blue haired woman’s brow furrowed with anger, but then folded into a look of sadness. Her entire body seemed to slump as she leaned back against the side of the alley and let out a long sigh.
“Fine,” she conceded, “I at least owe you an explanation. But you are probably going to want to sit down for this one. You humans get overwhelmed so easily.”
I sat down on one of the small crates that littered the alleyway.
Whatever came out of Hannah’s mouth next, I was sure I wasn’t prepared for it.
Chapter 12 - Tony
“What you witnessed was the B-81 ‘Behemoth’ model,” the beautiful blonde woman began. “It was one of The Hive’s first vanguard infantry ground models, built more for its pure strength than its intelligence or stealth or--”
“Can we start at the beginning?” I asked desperately. “And for the love of God, why are you still holding his severed head?”
“Because if they find his internal processor, the humans will have technology and information that shouldn’t exist for a few more decades,” she explained. “It might create a time paradox.”
“So, what?” I chuckled skeptically. “You’re from the future or something?”
“Precisely,” she admitted. “I hail from a few decades from now, after the machines take over the world.”
“What the fuck,” I sighed as I rubbed at my temples and closed my eyes. There was no way in hell this was real. This was all just a crazy dream, and I was going to wake up in my apartment tomorrow and go back to the same shitty job like I always did.
“This is the truth, Tony,” she said.
“Alright,” I muttered as I opened my eyes, “let’s say I believe you, then why--”
“That robot was here to kill you,” she interrupted me.
My heart fell into the pit of my stomach. Something about the way Hannah said the words, so cold and calculated and matter-of-factly, made my skin crawl.
“But why?” I questioned. “Why would a robot from the future want to go through all the trouble of killing a gamer who works at a damn electronics store?”
“Because you are destined for far more than that, Tony Amin,” she continued. “It is your child who will lead the human Resistance that eventually destroys the machines.”
My blood ran cold in my body.
“No, no, no,” I muttered as I vehemently shook my head. “That can’t be true. I’m not exactly the ‘savior’ type.”
“You do not have to be,” she admitted. “It is your son who will do the saving.”
“But … I don’t have a son,” I explained. “Damn, I haven’t even been in a serious relationship in forever.”
“Your son will be born in the next twelve months,” Hannah continued. “That is why the Behemoth was sent back to this time period. It was supposed to find you and the mother and then kill you both.”
I shook my head rapidly as the world began to spin around me. This was a lot to take in. Not only was I going to meet a girl in the next few months, but I would also get her pregnant, and our son would lead the humans against the robots in a post-apocalyptic wasteland?
Was there a hidden camera around here somewhere? Was this all some big, elaborate joke?
“Well, at least that means I’ll end my dry spell soon,” I joked, but I was still shell-shocked from the revelation.
“This is not a laughing matter,” Hannah said in her usual flat voice. “The Hive still has one more charge on its time machine. That means another assassin will be coming. Probably a more powerful one, too.”
“They get more powerful than that guy?” I whistled.
“Not in terms of raw strength,” she explained, “but there is a lot more to power than just lifting heavy objects. As long as the identity of Alexander Amin’s mother remains a mystery to us, you are in danger. I need to keep you safe for as long as I possibly can.”
Maybe it was the fact that I’d just seen a six-foot tall woman with blue hair take down an ox of an android, but something wasn’t sitting right with m
e.
“This is all starting to make sense,” I continued. “On our date the other night, you couldn’t stop asking about the women I’d been with or who I was into. And then you confronted Renee about it the next day. Is that what you were doing, looking for my baby mama?”
“Correct,” Hannah said with a slight nod, “but my only concern right now is to protect you, not her.”
“Uhhhh,” I snorted, “shouldn’t your top priority be to find the mother? And make sure the two of us procreate?”
Hannah went silent as a blush crept up her pale cheeks.
“That is not what my mission is,” she grumbled.
“So, what is your mission?” I asked. “And how were you able to heal so quickly? Is that technology from the future? Does it let humans heal really fast?”
“That is not important,” she grumbled. “What is important is that we find a place to lay low until the threat passes.”
“And how do we know when that happens?” I argued. “After you kill another robot?”
“Perhaps,” the blue-haired woman admitted. “Or when I discover who Alexander Amin’s mother is.”
“Do you have any idea who it might be?” I asked. “Because I can tell you with one-hundred percent accuracy it’s not Renee.”
“I know,” Hannah mused. “She is not an ideal mate, anyways.”
“Uhhh,” I said as I glanced down Hannah’s still bloody body. “Do you think it might be you?”
“No,” the blonde woman answered quickly.
“I mean, uhhh, we get along well, and I like yo--”
“It cannot be me,” Hannah said as she looked away. “That is not my objective.”
“Oh,” I whispered.
“Not that … ” she started as she looked back at me. “Not … that I would … ahhh … Whoever your mate is, I’m sure she will be grateful to have your child and be with you. I would be. If I could.”
“I get it,” I murmured, and then neither of us said anything for a few moments as we listened to the distant sounds of sirens.