The cover is not mine. The rights go to its respected artist.
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I awoke on the floor. It was rather uncomfortable. Not that I could see why.
The room I was in, at least what I believed to be a room, was pitch black. Without my sight, all I knew was that I was on a relatively clean flat surface.
With a grunt, I pushed past the dull throbbing that I was feeling in my head and searched my surroundings. Maybe I could find a light switch or something. Or even a door that led to a place with a bit more lighting.
It only took two steps before I walked face first into a wall. Probably should have had my arms out so that wouldn’t have happened. Rubbing my nose to alleviate some of the pain, I used the other one to feel out the wall in front of me.
Smooth. Cold to the touch. Most likely made of metal. Eventually my hand found a door handle. It took some effort, but I managed to turn it. A metal click signifying it had been unlocked.
Pulling the door to the side, red light shined through the crack. I smirked, taking some small satisfaction in my accomplishment as I opened the door fully.
My smirk died when I saw the carnage that laid before me.
It was a hallway that looked like it had a tornado go through it. Pieces of the ceiling were missing. Holes were punched into the walls. Scratch marks decorated the floor. The red lighting only added to the eerie atmosphere.
Unsettling was the only word I could use to properly describe what I was seeing.
Staring for a few minutes, I finally managed to gain the courage to take a hesitant step into the hallway. Looking left and right, the empty hallway was no different from what I had seen through the open door. The red light the I had seen had come from an emergency light that was attached to the wall. One of several that stretched down both directions.
Looking back into the room I had been in, more to drive off the building anxiety than simple curiosity, I saw an odd sight.
It wasn’t some janitor’s closet or a supply room of any kind. Moving around earlier I could tell that there wasn’t much in there with me. But it was still a surprise to see that it was completely empty.
Just four smooth metal walls, with a ceiling and floor that were just as barren. Nothing more nothing less. The strangest thing though was the door. It didn’t have a handle on the other side. Which brout up a simple but important question that lead to many more.
How did I even get in there? Why was I in there? Why was I unconscious?
Before I could contemplate things further, I heard a sound echoe down the hallway. I jump slightly. The noise had taken me by surprise. Facing the direction it had come from, I only saw the end of the ruined hallway as it took a turn to the left. Whatever had made the noise was deeper into the building I was in.
Should I follow it? From what I can tell, right now things are a bit dangerous. Red lights usually mean you’re in an unsafe environment. There could be a fire. Or, god forbid, a murderer on the loose. Regardless, I may very well be walking towards my doom.
I only entertained these thoughts for a moment. After that, common sense kicked in. A murderer? Unlikely. A fire? There isn’t any smoke. For all I know this could be a drill or at worse a terrible prank of some kind.
Convincing myself that my fears were baseless, I walked. The noise I had herd repeating and getting louder as I went along
A few twists and turns later, I had reached a hallway that was different from the rest.
The occasional bit of vandalism that had become less frequent the farther I went from the empty room, seemed to have returned with a vengeance. Except it was now focused mostly on the long scratches on the ground. Almost looked like whatever made them got moving in a hurry instead of focusing on pure distruction.
A minute later, I made a turn and finally found where the scratch marks were leading too. I also found what was making the noises I had been hearing. From my current position, the hallway lead into an open room.
A room that unfortunately was in desperate need of some repair. Not too dissimilar from the destruction I had seen earlier, it was on a completely different level. Mostly because the roof had caved in and bared anyone from going any further. Bits of metal and cables that hung from the ceiling or piled up on the ground made the makeshift wall.
But as interesting as that all was, the thing that really caught my attention was the body buried underneath it all. A body that was still clearly moving.
From where I was standing I couldn’t make out many details. Other than the way the red light shined off its metallic like skin that covered their entire body. A robot? They looked to have their lower half stuck under all that ruble. An issue that thrashing around didn’t look to be helping much. Especially when its back was on the floor, keeping it from getting a good grip on the ground.
“Are you all right?”, I had unconsciously asked. My voice, which sounded too soft to my own ears, had been loud enough for them to hear. The being had instantly turned their head to face me.
I could feel my blood run cold when its eyes met mine. They were eyes of a machine. Small pinpricks of light shifting rapidly. The yellow glow they had could still be seen even with the red tint the world was currently bathed in.
Silence had befallen us. Neither me or the creature making a sound. It responded to my question after what felt like an eternity. I was met, not with words, but with a screech of metal. Its thrashing had doubled up in intensity, its mechanical eyes refusing to leave me.
I should have just turned around right then and there. The amount of destruction I was seeing was just unbelievable. There was some… thing on the floor. And it looked like it most definitely wanted to destroy me. I was who knows were with absolutely no idea what sort of situation I was in.
It was all just too much. It was a perfect moment to just turn tail and run. But for whatever reason, I didn’t.
I don’t know why, but the fear that should have been there just… wasn’t. Intellectually speaking, I knew what I should have done. I knew that the thing in front of me was dangerous. I knew things would end badly if I got any closer.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
But instead of prioritizing self-preservation like any sensible being, I took a step into the room. Morbid, or more accurately suicidal, curiosity won against whatever inhibitions I was having.
Then the floor underneath my feat shifted, and I stumbled a bit. Looking back after I regained my balance, I saw the hallway I had walked though had disappeared. More accurately, the floor had risen and merged the doorway with the walls.
Before I could contemplate how that was even possible a loud metal snap filled the room. Remembering I was not alone, I turned back to see the monstrosity had freed itself. Somehow, it managed to twist its body enough to be lying on its stomach. This also ended up breaking its torso enough were its lower half was separated from the rest of it.
Needless to say, I felt like shitting myself at the moment.
I was trapped. I was alone. And there was something trying to kill me. Things had just gone from bad to worse in seconds. I couldn’t wallow in my sorrow though. Not when the metal beast went in for the kill.
Using its arms, it pushed its body into the air and leapt towards me. Thankfully, it wasn’t used to that kind of movement. It landed with a bit of distance between us. Understanding the kind of danger I was in, I did what any sensible person would have done. Run like my life depended on it.
And run I did. Problem was I only took a little more than two steps and the thing was flying again. Only this time it was a lot closer. Pain burned across my back, the force of the blow pushing me forward onto my hands and knees.
The machine landed ahead of me. Its midair attack had unbalanced it, leaving it to unceremoniously flop on its back. It wobbled on the ground, like a turtle that had fallen on its shell.
We both struggled to get off the ground. Somehow, I managed to shakily rise to my feet, adrenaline and my survival instincts allowing me to push past the pain. Unfortunately, the machine was faster. Twisting itself back on to its stomach. It lashed out instead of leaping once more.
With such a short distance between us it was almost impossible to miss. I was hit hard and fast across the chest. So hard in fact, that I was sent flying. The unforgiving ground and metal bitts met me soon after.
In much more pain than before, it was a struggle just to put my elbows underneath me and see my would be killer. The thing was dragging itself slowly but purposefully in my direction. With what little strength I had, I scrambled away, slipping countless times. Wheather on my blood or the oil that had been leaking from the torn robot I don't know.
I was the slower of the two of us. For every move I made, the machine made two. It wouldn’t be long before I was finally within its reach again. Funny thing is though, it would happen sooner than I thought. Because by this point I felt my back touch a rough surface.
I didn’t need to look behind me to know I had run out of room. And it just so happened that it had gotten close enough. With a push of its mechanical arms, it launched itself. Right in for the kill. I couldn’t run anymore. I couldn’t fight back. I was too weak to defend myself… I could only stare in horror as death approached me.
But it never came. Weather by accident or an unbelievable amount of luck, the machine was stopped in its tracks. By a metal rod sticking out of its head. Following the rod, I could see I had ended up next to all the ruble that filled in the room. Which so happened to have a few pieces of metal sticking out here and there. One of which the machine had impaled itself on.
The machine struggled, trying to pull the metal rod out. It just made things worse by widening the hole it was sticking out of. I pressed myself against the ruble behind me to not get hit by a wild swing. In the process my hand brushed up against something solid. Looking down I saw another metal rod. Only this one wasn’t stuck. Without a second thought, I picked it up.
The first strike hit its arm.
The second its torso.
The third the head.
On and on its went. Blow after blow. Being almost defenseless and no real way to retaliate, all it could do was raise its arms in a meager attempt to protect itself. All this accomplished was render them useless after I hit them enough times. From then on all it could do was hang there and take the punishment.
Witch took quite a while I might add. It looked to be tougher than the metal rod, enough so that it had warped and broken. It wasn’t much of a setback though. I just grabbed another and got back to work. And then another. And another.
It took a while. I broke a lot of rods. And I was beyond tired. But eventually… I killed it.
A loud clang is made when the machines body hits the floor. Bent and broken beyond measure. I had not held back. I had just kept swinging. The machine couldn’t even move any more at some point even. Probably because I had damaged whatever had function as its brain. Or it could be the fact that the head had been detached from the body.
It was still pierced by the rod. Although barely. Assuming it had been the most important part of its body, I had concentrated most of my attacks in that one area. It ended up being the toughest area though. The reason so many rods had broken. But persistence can be rewarding. Especially when the skull was caved in, lower jaw ripped off, and the neck fully distroyed. The thing only had one shiny eye left. The other was dislodged and hanging by a thin wire.
The soft yellow glow had died down. To the point where it was a bit hard to see with the red emergency lights. The thing was still alive. If a machine was capable of being alive anyway. It was still easy enough to notice that the thing was staring at me. Its eye twitching, looking me up and down. Watching every little move I made. Almost like it was evaluating me.
Suddenly, its eye shut off. I was taken by surprise when that happened. Confused for but a moment, it was easy to understand the thing had just died. Or run out of power to be more accurate. Either way, it wasn’t going to be hurting anyone from here on out.
A sigh escaped my lips, the metal rod slipping from my hand, clanging against the metal floor. Following it as well I fell on my ass, too tired to keep myself upright anymore. Trying to kill that thing had taken what felt like hours. It didn’t help that the adrenaline leaving my body was leaving me keenly aware of the aches and pains that I was covered in. Looking at my hands, I could feel as well see the amount of strain I had put them under. They shook even when I didn’t move them. Trying move my fingers proved to be difficult and mildly painful.
But all that was pushed to the side by one all important fact. I had survived. Somehow, in a situation where It had been near impossible to have lived through. And yet I had. It was nice enough that it brought a small smile to my face.
Still, now that I wasn’t in any more danger, a lot of question came up. Like what in the hell that thing had been? Why was the room caved in? How did I end up in such a dangerous place? Were there more of these things? Were there things more dangerous than this one?
I grimaced at the thought. If there were things stronger than something I had beaten by sheer luck, god knows what would happen if I met something stronger. Hopefully one strange machine monster was the last and only weird problem I would have to be facing.
Ding!
You have defeated Elite NanoCrawler(Origin) Lv10.
…
Well shit.
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I’m open to criticism and any idea’s anyone is willing to share with me.
P.S.:https://www.google.co.kr/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fres.cloudinary.com%2Fteepublic%2Fimage%2Fprivate%2Fs--zIx6efZR--%2Ft_Preview%2Fb_rgb%3Ac62b29%2Cc_lpad%2Cf_jpg%2Ch_630%2Cq_90%2Cw_1200%2Fv1449601610%2Fproduction%2Fdesigns%2F139635_1.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.teepublic.com%2Fkids-t-shirt%2F139635-i-am-not-fast&docid=lpVfxgy5EPzUFM&tbnid=aioqZLwOtZxI3M%3A&vet=1&w=1200&h=630&bih=963&biw=1920&q=i%20am%20not%20fast%20meme&ved=0ahUKEwjsgLqA7p3RAhVCGZQKHdoKDbYQMwgtKA4wDg&iact=mrc&uact=8