Escape from Metal

Location: Deep in sector 1.

The woman took a deep breath as she pressed the button to open the sliding door. The memory of her encounter with Gwen and another one of her strays still fresh in her mind. At least… she finally got to take something from Gwen.

She entered the building with her rust-stained white clothes. All that could be heard was the clicking of her boots. She was happy to be back in a place that was not falling apart at the seams like the rest of the city.

Her hand glided over the walls as she walked. The smooth surfaces and cleanliness was refreshing, outside she couldn’t do this. The jagged and rusted edges of the walls would certainly cut or stab her.

As she continued through the hallway the damaged hunter followed close behind her. After it was damaged in one of the spires chasing the new stray, she was forced to make emergency repairs. It kept it working optimally for the most part. Sure it had a few glitches here and their but it was still operating. This one had finally begun to show some actual personality compared to the other hunter bots, it was perhaps the only one she got to interact with that was this way.

Many of her excursions into the wastes with a hunter or two have ended with her coming back alone but they couldn’t afford to let any more hunter units get destroyed unnecessarily. Unlike before they didn’t have unlimited hunters anymore.

She finally reached her room and put away all her fighting gear save for one or two smaller items like a knife she always kept with her and an emergency beacon button which would summon any of the machines in a range of its signal.

Her room was nothing special in fact it was almost identical in style to the rest of the district with the exception of facilitates specifically built for humans. Clean, white and monotone. With a cabinet for her clothes and a bed. She didn’t need anything else in the room it’s not like she spent a lot of time in here anyway. She was always out there hunting the others.

She liked it, it was clean and functional what more did she need. She thought back to the events of the hunt with Gwen a few weeks back. She thought about what she could have done differently. Maybe she could have made less of a dramatic entrance and just went straight for the kill.

But she knew this was more than a physical war it was a war on emotions and thoughts, and she would pry ever emotion Gwen had buried and hold it right in her face. She smiled at the thought of Gwen’s face when she took something… someone from her.

Most of the other hunts she had after Gwen were mostly routine lots of begging and groveling and crying and yelling but they all had the same result. Some put up a fight, but she and the hunters were restless opponents.

She put away a memento she took from Aisha. She had cut out a symbol that was sown into her jacket and put it with the other couple hundred mementos. She had a small locker where all sorts of bits and bobs hung.

A voice snapped her away from her daydreaming. It was one of the relay units.

“I presume your hunts went well.” The machine said coldly.

Unlike most machines she had to interact with on a daily basis this one was smart and could think for itself. She liked this about it, but it also meant that it was the one giving her orders.

“Would it kill you just to ask how I am, all you ever want to know is how the hunts went.”

The machine was roughly the size of a short human being and had thin legs and arms. Only having one long finger one each arm instead of a full hand. She found its single menacing eye the most intimidating feature of its hollow look.

“We care not for your feelings only your productivity and we require an update on the one designated ‘Gwen’.”

“She got away, but I did manage to kill her smith, so she won’t be getting any new weapons and armour.”

“This progress is minimal, and we require completion of the task.”

“Well, if it’s so easy why don’t any of your hunter drones or actual war machines go and get her. Oh, wait that’s right you had to consolidate all your resources to this district, guess you’re stuck with inefficient me.” She said sarcastically.

“We have noticed your hunter is damaged and will begin repairs immediately.”

“Wait, he’s still functional right?”

“That is correct.”

“Then leave him I like it he’s… different.”

The Relay unit didn’t say anything instead staring blankly at the patchwork Solita had done as the hunter was hoisted up with two mechanical arms into the wall and was quickly taken to the floor below them.

“Now, we must proceed with the review.”

Solita sighed as she followed Relay into a small room, although she knew the reviews were for her own good, she never could quite come to like the process of it.

The room was sleek, clean and looked like everything else in the district. Patterns ran along the wall like a twisted waterfall running backwards. Even with all the time Solita had spent in the room she still didn’t know what they meant.

The room or as Solita had come to call it ‘the sanity room’ barely had anything inside of it save for a chair in the middle with various apparatus hanging around it and one section of the room had pitch-black one-way glass. In most cases it was there so that the person in the chair couldn’t see the operator.

Solita however didn’t care she knew exactly who stood behind that glass or rather what stood behind it. She knew exactly what he was going to do. As the whirring of the equipment in the room grew louder as it prepared to initiate the procedure.

Solita sat down as her jutted forward slightly and became tense. Her lips curled inwards ever so slightly. Even though she had done this more times than she cared to count it still made her stress. The Relay unit moved behind a one-way glass quickly interfacing with all the systems of the room.

She thought to herself that maybe… before she could finish the thought a electrical shock coursed through her body. It wasn’t the most pleasant experience, but she knew that it was necessary. Necessary for her survival.

A few split seconds later something happened which she wasn’t expecting. One of the hovering arms above her jammed a needle into her neck and injected some green liquid into her bloodstream.

She felt herself fall into a void, felt herself sinking into the blackness as the liquid coursed through her veins.

“Until you awaken again seeker of prey.” These were the last words that echoed through her mind as she gave into the void. They rang through her head bouncing around as a ball being hit over and over and over.