Escape from Metal

Finally, outside the sight Jake and Benedict were greeted with was a chaotic one. The chaos outside was as if inside the building had simply been a preview of what was to come. The ground was completely metallic and had the same pattern as the one inside.

Gigantic spires reached for the skies as far as the eye could see. In front of them there was a giant hole in the middle of the floor. Probably big enough to fit a small ocean inside it.

A gigantic bottomless pit lay between the spire they came from and the next one over. Each of the paths on the side of the pit to the next spire blocked by wreckage and rubble.

A light fog hovered in the area and many of the spires surround the one Jake and Benedict came out of were in a similar state of disarray and destruction. As smoke poured out of the many pockets of holes in the spire walls.

All the spires seemed to look identical, each of them so precisely symmetrical. Each tower bore the same patterns on its walls. It almost seemed as if they were carved by a fine artisan. The patterns were in great contrast to the towers. Where the towers were straight and had a point, these patterns were circular, twisted and seemed to have no end.

Further ahead of them charred corpses of people and robots lie scattered in front of them, in a seemingly in sequential pattern. Some still burning, others still smoking. Thousands and thousands of corpses stretching as far as the eye can see. Many were shattered, torn and broken. Destroyed, shattered and broken vehicles littered the horizon adding to the monstrous site.

“What do you make of all this…Ben?” He said with a slight pause and hesitance.

“You don’t remember… what happened” Ben said as he looked around and took in his surroundings.

Suddenly Jake was abruptly cut off by a sound of metal being cut. Several meters ahead of them four Blades pierced the floor as they turned in a perfectly circular motion. After the piece of the floor fell, the bipedal monster landed with a thunderous bang in the eerie quiet as it echoed throughout the area. The silence felt as if it was hanging over the two men.

The monster slowly rose from its crouched position in the dust. With only its red eye being able to be seen. As the dust cleared around it, Jake and Benedict saw what was chasing them. It was a bipedal robot with four arms with blades at the end. A piece of its head had been damaged and was sparking.

The machine suddenly stood more upright than before, its arms stretched out as it went into a ready position. It’s cold and soulless single red eye stared at them. As its head continued sparking its eye kept changing colour every few minutes from red to yellow. Every time its eye change colour it would lower its blade and idle. As it switched it would go back into its ready position.

Even in its damaged condition the robot still had a threatening presence. Its body was covered in chrome. A fancy looking machine, built to top-quality Ben and Jake had ever seen. Even with the damage to it. It still had an air of aristocracy and death.

“This thing looks way too fast, we probably can’t outrun it.” Benedict said.

“Yeah, having no weapons either might be problem too.” Jake said, just as the robot’s head turned towards them. “Just maybe.”

“Don’t move a muscle.” Jake said as he whispered through pursed lips.

Both men stood still not doing anything as the sweat on their foreheads increased.

“Jake…Jake” Benedict said as he whispered out of the corner of his mouth trying not to look at Jake. “Now might be a good time to bring out the other guy.”

“What other guy?” Jake asked with slight confusion in his voice, as he nervously glanced at the robot.

“You know the other guy… the one who saved my life.” Benedict said as he became increasingly aware that the killing machine in front of them temporary delay might not last long.

“I saved your life!?” Jake said as he started talking slightly louder whilst gritting his teeth.

“Well, if you don’t find him soon. We’re dead.” Benedict said still standing as still as a statue trying not to move.

“Well maybe it’s a friendly robot”.

“Does that look like…”

As the two continued to argue about “the other guy” the machines intermittent switching between the colour of its eyes had stopped. The machines mechanical whirring started growing louder. Suddenly it started sprinting towards them with its blades poised forwards. As its feet tread on the floor with near silence and with each step it took sparks flew out from under its feet as its metal feet lightly and quickly grinded on the floor.

At this point they were yelling and did not care about moving anymore. They seemed completely oblivious to the enormous robot charging towards them. When it was several meters away Benedict looked at it and his eyes opened wide. As the towering machine approached them, ready and poised to strike.

“Jump!” Benedict yelled as he and Jake jumped away from the robot in opposite directions. The chrome death machine came to a screeching halt.

“Deviants located. Eliminate all Deviants.” The machine said in its contorted robotic voice.

“Split up!” Benedict yelled as he started running away from the machine.

The machine looked at Benedict then at Jake as if it was unsure which one of them to chase. For a split second its eyes flickered to yellow and then back to red. In that moment the robot seemed to be completely frozen where it stood. As its eye became red again it quickly started sprinting after Jake.

It stampeded towards him as it unsettled the dust with a rhythmic beat, having no concern for any of the dead lying in its path. Demolishing any remains that stood in its way.

Jake ran around a destroyed vehicle. Hoping it would slow it down or stop it. The machine had no problems with the destroyed vehicle as it ploughed through its remains and burst out the other side in a cloud of smoke and dust.

Even with the few seconds head start Jake had gotten. The silent whirring and metallic tapping had grown louder with each second behind him. He felt his skin crawled with the thought of the robot closing in on him.

It’s only a matter of time he thought as he ran.

Only a matter of time

After running for what felt like an eternity, he came to the wreckage blocking the path to the next spire.

“Damn.” Jake said out of breath, as he fruitlessly tried to climb up the rubble. Each time he tried something fell taking it down with him. A few tries later the clicking stopped and with the thick fog the only evident light source was a red glow behind him.

As he sank down slowly from the rubble he slowly turned around. To see the robot standing behind him as if waiting to look his prey in the eye before the kill. Behind the robot he could see Benedict slowly approaching from behind one of the wrecked vehicles.

How Ben had ran away from them and made it all the way back to him was beyond him.

Jakes muscle tensed. As the robot slowly got his blade-arms in ready position. When the robot launched one of his blade-arms at Jake he jumped out at just the right time to dodge the strike. With the blade barely clipping the back of his shirt.

The robot struck again with one of his other arms. Jake dodged again. The robot continued to strike at Jake repeatedly. Each time Jake miraculously was able to dodge its blows.

The blades struck and pierced the rubble as it shrieked in protest. The older now rusting metal invaded by the new sleek and clean metal refined and forged for one purpose. Were the rubble was thrown together in chaos. Moulded simply by others calamitous actions.

The robot tore out the blade each time it shrieked again, as the blade sparked as the order left the chaos.

The robot seemingly growing frustrated to not be able to execute a simple kill command, bashed the rubble with the side of its blade.

Creating a loud echoing clank in the empty silence around them.

“D-D-Deviants located, elimination a-a-authorised.” It said robotically as its head twitched and its eye light flickered with each stutter.

Its four blades once again poised to deliver the final blow. Jake tried stepping back only to find that he was on the edge of the giant pit. A few rocks fell from the edge into the abyss forever falling. He had nowhere to go, his eyes welled up with fear as he stared into the eye of death.

When suddenly a metal bolt hit the back of its head with a soft tink.

The robot slowly turned around to see what would dare oppose it. Each step it took not even disturbing the dust on the floor. Benedict stood in the open wide eyed. In disbelief of what he had just done.

The robot started chasing Benedict with a feather light pace. As if it were running on thin air.As he ran frantically, he saw a derelict ship. Ben ran as fast as he could to his only hope.

He quickly scrambled up the ship using the battle-stricken holes in it as steppingstones to get up to the top. The robot was hot on his tail and even though it didn’t need to breathe Benedict could feel it breathing down his neck as it pursued him.

The ship seemed to be a small freighter equipped with some form of weapons that Benedict couldn’t recognise. It must have been in a gruelling battle as it was riddled with bullet holes and black scarring. Whoever was inside was lucky if they could get out.

Judging by the semi-trench it left behind from its crash, it must have been going at a high velocity. A few more meters and it would have gone into the pit.

Benedict was snapped back into reality as the robot’s blades pierced the ship’s hull as it started climbing.As Benedict started to climb over the cockpit, he grabbed his side in pain with one of his hands. Benedict’s other hand slipped he managed to grab onto one of the levers in the cockpit and not fall into the jaws of death.

After a moment of holding on for dear life. Some of the ship’s lights started flicker back to life, the ships engines started to sputter as they desperately tried to turn on but after a few attempts they died once again.

Benedict breathed a sigh of relief, he wasn’t going to die from being flung into the unknown blackness of the pit. He still had to worry about the monstrosity mere meters under him. He was now at the very top and had no were left to go as the robot was right on his tail.

Suddenly the engines of the ship roared as they came back to life with a vengeance. The ship started moving forwards at an immense speed. Sparks and smoking appearing from everywhere within the ship. The robot was thrown off with the sudden jolt, Benedict’s hand was still clinging to the lever as Jake screamed for him to let go.

After the ship went over into the pit Jake breathed a silent no as he fell to his knees. His only friend, the only person he had known lost forever.

Out of the dust and smog left behind it, the red eye of the robot was hovering staring at Jake. Slowly the entirety of it was revealed as the dust and smog drifted away. It stood their silently and without moving at all.

“Not again.” Jake said.

The robot pounced to action as it leaped with its four arm-blades ready to strike its target. With such speed and agility, it seemed to be a weaponized blur.

Jake knew that there was nothing he could do. It was over and so he closed his eyes and waited for everything to fade to inky blackness. But instead of inky blackness all he got was a sharp whistling sound and a thud. Jake slowly opened one of his eyes as he glared at the robot.

He stared at it in disbelief as he opened both eyes. It had been pinned to the ground with two metallic arrows. Which were perfectly placed between the connecting joints and the blades.

Suddenly another arrow flew meters above his head from across the pit. A hooded figure glided over using the rope and their bow. To Jake they looked oh so graceful as their cape fluttered in the wind. The Gray clothes they wore was somewhat refreshing. Compared to the all-consuming metallic chrome.

When the hooded figure was a few meters above them they detached the bow from the rope and rolled as they landed. They quickly jumped up and ran to Jake grabbing him by the arm as they kept walking to the edge.

Their cape fluttered gracefully in the wind but there was something about them. The way the stood and looked a straight at the robot without fear whilst protecting Jake. The absolute determination Jake saw in them.

Jake had a million questions to ask them. He had thought he had the right to ask. After all a few seconds ago, he thought he was dead.

“Who are you, what do you want?” He said half confused, half panicked as the figure kept walking to the edge of the pit. “Can you just stop for a minute?”

The figure promptly stopped took out an arrow and notched it. They fired it off into the pit another rope following behind.

Just then the robot broke loose and started sprinting towards them with its supersonic silent speed. The figure quickly grabbed Jake around the hip, flung the bow around the rope and jumped. For all the composure Jake had shown nearly dying several times, that was when he lost it as he screamed.