"Sly, Kaleb, Kostya, secure the injured! Yuki, Kate, cover them." Aranea commanded, sending an image of the car with the wounded people to her pack. She noticed that Kostya appeared before one of the warriors, pushing her aside as a soldier with an energy weapon fired, melting away flesh and armor from Kostya’s side. The gun in the arms of Aranea fired, killing the enemy armed with an energy weapon, "Kostya, this was an order. Kaleb, treat his wound," She said angrily, The soldier had more than enough time to dodge, Kostya’s help was unneeded. What was up with him?
Aranea quickly glanced around. The enemy attack was slowing down, foes were dropping dead left and right. Some tried to escape but were gunned down. A few had already surrendered and were now being restrained. It seemed that…
One of the warriors screamed as a red beam appeared behind her, shooting her through the chest. A nearby male wolfkin turned around but found no enemies nearby. In the next moment, someone broke his neck like it was a dry branch. A slick, metallic body jumped from the cliffs above, landing near one of the males. The body was designed in the shape of a woman, with a bald head and glowing blue lenses in place of eyes. The being stood up, facing a male wolfkin. The soldier aimed his shardgun at the being and demanded that she state her business here. The metallic woman tilted her head to the side and suddenly charged into motion, her palm piercing his chest, pushing through armor with ease, reaching the heart, and splitting the spine column. A nearby warrior took aim at the woman, but she dodged at the exact moment when the warrior was pressing the trigger of the shardgun. The shards missed their target. The next burst of motion carried her foe to the wolfkin, and with a single strike, the woman beheaded the warrior. Another beam of red light shot behind one of the scouts, instantly killing the wolfkin. Once again, Aranea could neither see, nor smell the foe.
"Yuki! Kostya!" Sly shouted over the com network, "I have an idea how to take out an invisible enemy."
"Then do it already!" Yuki snarled back, fighting with the green creature. After a brief struggle, she dodged the hit and pressed the shardgun to the enemy’s head, blowing it up. Nearby, Sonya saved Kostya from being torn apart by another green creature, and he returned the favor by shooting another green creature that tried to sneak on the wolf hag from behind.
"I need your help for this! Bastard only uses a low-range energy pistol and melee attacks, so he or she must be close to someone to attack..." Sly began explaining.
"Cut the crap, what must we do?" Yuki demanded to know.
"Go to…" Aranea failed to hear the rest of Sly’s words as a new foe arrived and her full attention turned to it.
The sound of a working engine broke through the night. Something enormous landed on one of the cars, crashing the entire vehicle underneath its steel feet. A behemoth crafted from steel rose up, the machine shaped in the form of a man. Shoulders extended way behind the head, and a single arm was almost as big as Aranea’s body. When this new foe stood up, he towered above everyone on the road. The torso was connected with the legs via a long pillar of steel, which served as a parody of the spine column, the chest resembled an enormous cage. A human face was sculpted on the head, the mouth twisted in the eternal smirk, and instead of eyes, two red lenses glanced at the world. A series of red, glowing dots covered the armor. One massive steel spike was on each leg of the monster, going all the way from the knee to the foot. Inside each foot was a circular opening, meant to allow the spikes to slide into the ground for an unknown purpose.
"Abnormals of Reclaimers?" A male human voice boomed from the steel chest of the entity. The leg made of metal rose up, moving with a speed unbecoming for such a giant. A male wolfkin failed to get out of the way, and the leg smacked him, crashing him into the stone wall of the canyon. "Pheh. Not impressed." He started to move at the wolfkins, each of his steps accompanied by the roaring sound of the engine.
Several more figures crashed into the road, half men, half machines. A creature that landed before Aranea lacked all skin on the right side of its body, gleaming steel replaced the soft human skin. Both arms were replaced with mechanical claws, and one eye glowed with blue energy from within. The cyborg struck with his right arm, and Aranea grasped his right hand with her own left paw. This foe was smaller than her, yet she felt that he was about to crush her own paw.
"Lesson learned, no hand-to-hand with it. Or is it him?" Aranea gritted her teeth and unleashed claws from the fingers of her left paw, piercing through the hand of the foe. Not even a sign of pain was in the enemy's human eye as he reached for a gun on his waist with his free hand. Aranea moved faster than he, pressing her shardgun to the enemy’s neck. She pressed the trigger twice, and the enemy's head had fallen backward, still dangling on a few wires, while the enemy’s hand almost reached the gun. Blood, oil, and sparks were pouring out of the neck’s wound, yet still no sign of pain was on the enemy's face, only concertation. Aranea fired once more, shooting away the head of the foe, and the body finally dropped dead. The head rolled on the ground, and the human eye looked at the wolfkin with hatred, the first emotion that this new enemy displayed. In a few moments, a gleaming blue eye turned black, and a human eye closed itself. Finally, this strange foe was killed, and once again, blasted power attempted to force reward on Aranea, but she resisted.
The steel behemoth pointed his hand, and from his wrist, a fire came, killing one scout as she tried to get the wounded member of the caravan out of the way. The behemoth’s head moved, and two beams of energy shot from the eyes, slicing a male in two. Nearby, a smaller steel enemy crushed the head of another male wolfkin like a pebble. Several warriors opened fire at the metal behemoth with shardguns, yet armor piercing bullets failed to do anything more than scratch the enormous creature as it laughed.
They are butchering us! Aranea angrily understood and contacted her pack, "Change of plans everyone. Take whoever you can and retreat. We need heavy weapons to bring this thing down, and there are none in sight."
"What about you?" Yuki asked. Her breathing was calm. Aranea could see that the warrior was standing in the shadow of the truck, breathing calmly. Turning her night vision on, Aranea could see a steel net surrounding the space on the ground around Yuki’s legs. Aranea was about to ask what was going on when sparkles exploded on the net from behind the warrior, and Yuki suddenly kicked back with her right leg in almost an arc-like motion, the armor on her foot sliding away, allowing her claws to be released. Someone screamed behind her, and a new figure appeared in the night, a man in a black uniform, his right arm sliced in two, and his energy gun on the ground.
"I'll try to distract the big thing and join you later," She said. Kaleb began to protest, and Aranea snarled, "No second-guessing. Take the injured and run, this is an order." She moved to the left as another mechanical foe jumped at her.
Kostya appeared near Yuki, just as a gun moved into the left hand of the wounded man in a black uniform from the sleeve of his clothes. The body of the man began to disappear from view, but Kostya shot him in the head, killing him. Kaleb helped two normies get from the car and turned around as he heard the steps of the metal woman behind him. Kaleb tried to stand his ground, understanding that if he were to retreat, the enemy would be able to kill the people. He began raising his weapon a moment too late. The mechanical foe jumped on Kaleb, crushing the wolfkin to the ground. Aranea could see how the enemy twisted the right arm of the soldier, breaking both the armor and the bones within, causing Kaleb to scream in pain. Sly shouted in worry over the com network, running to Kaleb. The mechanical creature pushed her hands into Kaleb’s mouth, trying to tear away his lower jaw.
But before she could rip off Kaleb’s, the metal woman sensed something and jumped away from the wolfkin as Kate fired into her back. Shards missed their mark, and the metal woman stood up, looking at Kate, who was standing near the car. The scout pressed the trigger, and the metal woman started dodging just as Kate’s armored finger was pressing the trigger of the shardgun, evading the shot with automatic efficiency. In the next moment, she charged at Kate, and the scout had to use her own shardgun to block a piercing strike from the enemy’s palm. The palm broke through the shardgun, causing it to accidently discharge into the nearby car, and the engine of this car exploded when armor-piercing bullets broke through the metal of the energy cell within. An explosion threw Kate and her foe away from each other.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
The scout rolled away from her enemy, loudly cursing the situation because, as a result of the explosion, she now had a metal spike stuck in her lower back. The metal pierced her armor and injured the scout slightly, making her unable to reach the vitals. Meanwhile, the mechanical woman tried to stand up. She was just a moment too late. Kaleb, still lying on the ground and holding his gun in his left paw, and Sly, who finally reached Kaleb, both fired shardguns into the back of the metal woman, making two large holes in her chest. The body of the foe stumbled, and Kate was on her, tearing away the head of the foe and smashing it with her paws.
Blood and brain matter flowed from the crashed metal head. Kate growled for a moment as reward hit her, then turned to Kaleb, quickly grabbing him and putting him over her shoulder. Then she grabbed an injured person from the convoy with her second arm, while Sly was helping the others. The members of Aranea’s pack and the members of Sonya’s pack were busy quickly grabbing whoever they could, retreating ungracefully from this battle.
Aranea finished off the mechanical creature just as the steel leviathan noticed her. He carelessly threw away a warrior’s dead body and stomped toward Aranea. The chin of the behemoth spread wide with the sound of moving metal, revealing guns hidden in it. Aranea cursed and jumped back as bullets hit the place where she stood just a moment ago. The creature jumped, landing before her, blades slid from within the fingers of his right hand, and he made a slash with new weapons. Despite all attempts by Aranea to dodge, the blade hit her across the ribs, tearing through her armor as if it were paper. The massive blades slash across her skin, causing laceration wounds and nearly opening her stomach. She moved her shardgun up, firing at the smiling face of the steel behemoth, but only scratches remained on the target.
"Not once, but twice, you survived me," The voice from the chest spoke once more in a thunderous sound, "Know this, oh pathetic yet stubborn foe. On this night you die by Allahkoliken's hand." Aranea saw a flame within the wrist as the hand pointed at her.
She jumped back as the flame shot forward. A searing flame hit her feet but failed to do anything because of her armor. Her armor screamed a warning, advising her to leave this "hazard area," and she turned off all warnings as she desperately tried to think of something. Her foe was all but invincible, her weapon and claws could not even hope to damage this machine.
"At least I am faster than…" Something clicked behind the back of the legs and behind the back of Allahkoliken’s body. Thrusters spit fire behind him, propelling him forward in a straight line. His body moved forward, throwing the nearby car aside like a card box, reaching Aranea faster than she could have run. His shadow fell on her, and she felt horror.
No. She thought stubbornly, looking around for a way out. There is still so much to do. Tribe. Mother. I can’t, I refuse to die he… Her mind went dark for a moment as the mechanical hand swiped her, tearing through the armor on her left arm, leaving torn wounds on her flesh. She rolled to the side, ending up in front of the truck. Pain hit her as her consciousness came back.
"Die." The mechanical monster said, raising his hand for a final hit. Aranea slowly began standing up, trying to force her body out of the danger zone, but her own body simply refused to follow commands. She moved as if in slow motion, while death was falling upon her.
She felt herself hit to the side and flew to the left as Sonya appeared, standing in her place. In the claws of the wolf hag was the form of a torn-apart mechanical soldier, she threw aside as she pushed her left paw forward, and an energy shield shot outward from the wolf hag’s arm, deflecting the incoming hand. The mechanical beast’s arms slide from the shield, crashing into the ground instead of crushing the wolf hag.
"Bitch." The voice boomed from the chest of the machine, and the energy beams were shot from his eyes, only to be deflected by the shield. The hand rose again, and this time he pushed through the shield, tearing a piece of meat from the left side of Sonya’s body, "Should have run when you had the chance." The enemy mocked as the machine kicked, and Sonya flew into a car.
Aranea looked at this situation as she stood up.
Tonight, we will finally settle this. You and I will fight. A memory flashed in Aranea's head. Aranea was weaker than Sonya. If the wolf hag were to die here, Aranea would be promoted. Sonya probably deserved it anyway. You are a disgrace. I can see that punishment is needed. Aranea remembered Sonya’s paw, which was ready to maim Kaleb. She remembered every single time that Sonya left claw marks on Aranea’s body and the bodies of others. How many scars has she had by now because of the wolf hag? Surely, Aranea was a better person, a more valuable person, than this spiteful bitch. For the good of the Wolf Tribe, Aranea had to survive at all costs…
"And I have a great many things I want to change in our order. And for this, I need authority" Tilden spoke in her head, and the scout shook her head, looking at the truck. The door was melted away by the acid spit of the creature. She leaped inside, desperately looking around crates, until she found a familiar sign. The sign of portentously dangerous equipment. She tore off the lid of the crate and saw rows of energy cells within. Long objects, roughly half a meter in length, were encased in the armor glass, yellow glow was within them. Metal lids were at the ends of each object. At the top were several buttons.
What am I doing? Aranea asked herself, but then she stubbornly decided. I will win in my own way. Screw it all, I won’t become him. A good person helps others no matter what. No matter what comes, I won’t become another Tilden!
"Sly, I am in need of your advice," She called the wolfkin over her com network, grabbing two fully charged energy cells, "You once told me that if you smack energy cells together and press red buttons, something catastrophic will happen. This means, running for your life to the hills type of catastrophic, correct?"
"Yes. It will begin releasing energy and… The hell are you planning?" Sly asked, his breathing was hard.
"Want to cook someone, no biggie." Aranea responded quickly, grabbing three energy cells.
"Aranea, whatever you do, do not use more than four energy cells at the same time. Otherwise, you will end up in…" Sly began to scream, but she turned off the communications.
She charged out of the truck, just in time to see how Sonya's shield went off. Bullets from the jaw of the machine hit the wolf hag in the left hand, piercing through the armor. Sonya growled, but still stubbornly continued to lead the foe away from the cars and trucks. New scratches were on her black armor, she left a blood trail as she moved back. Booming laughter came from inside the chest of the giant machine, the foe was enjoying himself. A few remaining members of the pack were locked away in a fight with mechanical enemies and a few green creatures. The majority of the pack managed to escape, taking wounded members of the convoy and even prisoners with them.
The scout darted toward the enormous beast of steel, evading a green creature on her way. The green creature turned after her, but a nearby scout charged at him. Aranea wished her kin the best of luck as she herself sneaked upon the massive body of the enemy. She slammed two energy cells together and pressed two red buttons. There was some place where the torso of the foe was connected to the metal legs, and she dropped cells into this space. Suddenly, the torso turned around one hundred and eighty degrees to face Aranea, with the legs still facing Sonya.
"What are you doing, little beastie?" Allahkoliken asked in a mocking voice, and as he moved backward with deadly precision, his leg rose up to smash the scout.
"Oh, to the abyss with this." Aranea pressed the red button on the remaining energy cell and dropped it. She jumped away just before the steel leg could crush her. The mechanical leg collapsed the energy cell on the ground, causing it to explode, and the world of Aranea turned white as an explosion rocketed through the canyon. A shockwave carried her all the way back to the truck, slamming her into the steel side of the vehicle and making her croak from pain. Not even her armor absorbed all the impact from this collision. Cars were forced to fall to the side, and fighters all around were thrown off their feet. Even the massive truck trembled. As Allahkoliken was dropped into a newly made crater that appeared beneath him, smoke and dust hid him from Aranea’s view. The stone at the edges of the crater melted due to the sheer heat from the exploding energy cell.
"One of these won’t do shit, beastie!" Allahkoliken laughed in a voice that sounded like a mix of static and the cackle of an elderly man. This voice echoed in the canyon while he was getting out of the molten crater. His leg was covered by a black substance, the steel on his leg no longer gleamed, but otherwise he was unharmed.
"How about two more, you freak!" Aranea shouted back. Laughter came to a halt for a moment as the adversary looked at his body with concern. The red dots that covered his body moved, appearing to be a host of cameras on the wires. The red lenses of cameras were moving around his body, looking for anything suspicious.
He failed to find the danger in time, and a new explosion started. For a brief moment, Aranea could see the enormous black silhouette of her foe before it too disappeared against a white color that seemingly engulfed the entire world. Aranea could hear nothing but the loud screaming of the explosion. Her armor's warnings resurfaced, activated by the auto system. Loud sirens in her armor began to scream, indicating that Aranea should escape from this location as soon as possible. No matter how she wanted to, she physically could not move anymore, as she was slowly pushed into the truck behind her by the shockwave. Finally, the inevitable happened. The truck, which was meant to endure an avalanche of stone from the canyon’s walls, fell to the side, and Aranea flew backwards, her body dangling in the air, before being slammed into the wall. The end came abruptly, the white color disappeared from view, the noise stopped, and Aranea could finally breathe deeply. She lay on her back, looking at the night sky, feeling that it was impossible for her to stand up.