Anna
Anna got pulled out of her dream by something lightly shaking her shoulder. She immediately darted up into a sitting position, pushed the hand away while doing so. As her view cleared from the fogginess of sleep, she saw a lightly confused Hendrick kneeling in front of her, who had backed off in surprise.
“Oh… It’s you.” Anna’s expression softened.
Jim was standing a few meters behind Hendrick, leaned against cave wall. He was balancing his scissor on the handle, seemed to be in thought about something. Rays of blue light shone into the cave, reflected the metal which plastered the walls. It also made the tip of Jim’s scissor glimmer like it had been bathed in a blue sun.
“I think you should see something,” Hendrick said. “Both of you.”
Anna’s sleepiness was like washed away by the sudden urgency of the situation. She got up, swiped some hair out of her vision. “Alright.” Jim pushed himself off the wall, caught the handle of his scissor mid-air. Anna wondered how he could look awake after being awake for so long last night. Just for how long had he continued practising?
The small fire they had made yesterday had been reduced to nothing but coal and ashes, a faint line of smoke still rising from its middle, where a couple of lightly glowing embers fought for survival. They really had been lucky to have found a piece of real wood in this jungle of steel and metal, a nice relief from the so cold seeming surroundings they were facing.
Hendrick waved with his hand and started walking towards the entrance of the cave. Jim and Anna followed him. Outside, they were greeted by a light-blue, single coloured heaven. The trees underneath them reflected the light, emitted a heat that could be felt even up here. The jungle itself had been rather cool, probably because it kept the light and warmth shut out. It made sense that the reflection of the sky caused the area above it to heat up.
Weird that there is light even though there is no sun up there... and heat as well. Almost as if god went out of every colour except light-blue. Well, it’s still calming to see the sky for some reason. Even if only temporary.
Hendrick guided them around the mountain, along a small hillside towards the north. Anna made sure she would stay as far as possible away from the steep slope to their right, since she really didn’t want to risk falling around 20 meters before getting pierced by the tips of the metal trees below. She noticed Jim keeping even more space from the slope, while Hendrick basically moved right next to it.
The border was a lot closer to them now than the night before. She still couldn’t spot how fast it moved, but it had to be rather slow. As she followed Hendrick along the mountain’s side, she asked, “For what is the border good anyways? If they only want to scare people away, then why should it move? Also… why is it so slow?”
“It’s purpose is not to scare people away, Anna.” Hendrick stopped for a moment, nodded towards the barrier. “It’s that slow because you are meant to outrun it. And it’s supposed to pressure living beings towards the factory. That’s also why the fountain shows us where to go.”
The mentioned fountain was now clearly visible as well, a red line piercing straight into the sky from somewhere hidden behind a mountain rather far away. From their current location, it was not possible to see where it came from, but Hendrick had told her yesterday that if they moved towards it, they would find the factory. And the factory was where they had to go.
Jim stopped as well. He looked at the fountain, said: “So we are running towards where they want us to go?”
“Exactly. The portal is over there... which makes it our only option. Don’t worry, I know how to get around most of the conflict in there.”
“The most?” Anna asked.
“Let’s just say it’s not that easy, okay?” Hendrick gestured with his right hand, the scissor gesturing with him. “We’ll be fine, I promise.” Hendrick sure promised a lot lately. Anna just hoped he would keep it this time.
They continued walking around the mountain, soon reaching the other side from where they had originally started. It had been pretty dark yesterday evening as they had ascended the mountain, but now, because of the blue daylight, the scenery was breathtaking. Anna wondered how Hendrick had even managed to find the way up there. His steps had been the same as now: certain and without hesitation.
Hendrick stopped once again, signalled the others to take care. He pointed towards a piece of forest which was quite far away, but close enough to more or less see what was going on there. Between the cables and metal; the platings and screws which painted the scenery, a small spot of fresh green presented itself.
Healthy trees out of real wood, she thought. So this place really had been a normal forest in the past.
Then – coming out from between the trees – a flying… thing ascended. It was a machine judged by appearance, but what she had seen yesterday made her hesitant if there might be something organic underneath. The distance made it hard to guess its size, dozens of tentacles hanging off the lower half of its spherical shaped body. It was more like a giant ball formed out of wire and steel, not something crafted with much care for its looks.
It flew higher as if it tried to scan the area surrounding it, then spread its tentacle like tubes away from its body. It looked a little like an upside down hedgehog now, just a giant metallic one with tentacles instead of spikes. The tentacles started to shiver in unison.
“It found a spot which is not yet contaminated,” Hendrick whispered. “It will now proceed to infect it.”
A cloud of grey smoke emitted from the tips of the being’s tentacles, the creature slowly rotating horizontally while hovering over the treetops. The smoke soon covered the entire green area.
“I called it a virus for a reason. Like I stated earlier… it only covers the outer layer, slowly taking control over the organism, turning it into a vessel with an armor of machinery around it.”
The creature finished and started flying away, soon being out of sight again. The cloud of smoke started to dissolve. There was no green left in the trees, and they had joined the dense ocean of metal, almost as if they had been part of it for decades.
Anna swallowed, then whispered, “So if the spreaders catch us, then…”
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“… then we will end up like these trees, or, more accurately, like that deer from yesterday,” Hendrick completed. “We need to keep going now. The barrier is getting closer, so we better hurry.”
And far in the distance, towering over the rest of the scenery, a massive structure was now visible. A red fountain emitted from it into the sky as it moved and turned, giant gears and mechanisms covering its surface in multiple moving layers. Dozens of chimneys emitted darkened smoke towards the heavens.
And they started moving towards it,
slowly inching closer towards the heart of the machines.
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Jim
It twisted and turned to get free, tried to escape at all costs, but was suspended by a relentless grip. The metallic bunny Hendrick was currently holding down was tied together by its legs, laid a couple of meters away from the huge garage door in the middle of the jungle. The structure seemed to be leading down into the ground to a place out of sight. In front of it, something which closely resembled a control panel could be seen.
Jim looked over to another tree which wasn’t too far away, spotted Anna. She was holding her bow ready, prepared to strike. They had been lucky in the last two days, had found another spot of uninfected jungle to gather resources which had turned out as a big plus. Jim slowly got the feeling that it wasn’t as big of a coincidence as Hendrick had pointed it out to be. He balanced his wooden shield in his hand, held it close to his chest in case he needed to block unexpectedly.
Hendrick brought down his blade, sliced through a spot between moving technical parts as the helpless creature stopped twitching. Blood started pouring out between the gaps of the now unmoving creature. Hendrick didn’t even tense a muscle.
Hendrick got up and backed off. He hid next to the garage, got something off his back. It was one of two wooden spears with a sharp stone as a tip. The other one was still attached to his back with a rope. He put his scissor down, nodded towards the others.
The three of them turned silent, waiting. One minute passed, then another.
With the sound of a muffled motor, the door of the garage turned open. Out of it, a spreader emerged, floating around half a metre above the ground. It made its disgusting sounds, moved closer to the rabbit. It then expanded a single tentacle, made itself ready to revive the rabbit.
Okay, he thought. Now or never.
It didn’t even see Hendrick coming as he leapt at it from behind, rammed the entire length of the spear inside of its round body.
“NOW!” he shouted.
Jim abandoned his cover, started sprinting towards the being, which was now no longer floating. He saw an arrow swish through the air, embedding itself into the creatures’ side. The spreader started leaking a red liquid.
A tentacle shot out in his direction. He held his shield up, redirecting the tentacle’s movement and dodging to the side. He brought his scissor down with a swift slash, cut through the tentacle as it squirmed for a moment after being separated from the main body before curling up to die.
Another arrow hit the spreader, then another. Anna was doing a great job confusing it, staying rather far away and shooting from different angles. Suddenly, the spreader moved all its tentacles outwards.
“AWAY!” Hendrick shouted.
Jim backed off just in time to dodge the cloud of smoke the spreader emitted.
The spreader disappeared into the cloud of smoke for a moment. The scene fell silent. Jim made himself ready.
So far, so good, he thought. It should take it a moment until it can launch an attack like that again.
As the smoke cleared and he dashed towards the center, he threw away his shield and held his half-scissors with both hands. He would need all of his strength for this strike.
His breath was calm.
He positioned his weapon like he had practised and he found the right footing.
But as the clouds parted more, and the spreader got visible again, it had already started to float again. And as Jim realized that it had already regenerated its wounds, it was already too late to back out.
Between the parting clouds, a single tentacle was pointing towards him. Jim held his arms up in front of his face in search of cover, but it was too late. The smoke started shooting out of the tentacle directly towards him.
Right before the burst of smoke hit him, he was pushed out of the way. He fell down to the ground, realized he hadn’t been hit by the attack.
Anna was standing there with outstretched hands, unmoving as the small cloud of smoke disappeared. She backed off as small spots of metallic particles started growing on her hands and upper arms.
The spreader didn’t seem like it planned on continuing its attack. It made ready to lift off, started ascending.
Then, Jim saw Hendrick jump into his field of view, spear gripped with both hands as he forced it into the spreader’s side mid-air. It dropped out of the sky as its tentacles curled up, and it stopped moving.
Panic.
“Anna, are you okay?” Jim felt the shivering in his voice as he got up as fast as he could.
“Don’t touch her! And don’t touch anything with the metal spots!” Hendrick shouted, started running towards Anna.
Anna had fallen to her knees, stared at her arms as the infection spread slowly.
“I-It hurts… make it stop, please.”
Jim hesitated. His heart started pounding like crazy. He remembered the cave, the toys, the Doll-Maker. His head started spinning, turning, clanking like the steam engines on the metallic deer. He remembered the thick layer of metal coating the tree, making it unable to breathe but still remain alive. He remembered the insides of the deer, the rubber skin and brass cables which had pulled themselves through its insides.
“Hendrick, do something… please.” Anna pleaded out, the skin reshaping and hardening on her arms.
“No, just don’t touch anything. It will spread faster if you do,” Hendrick responded, now sitting down next to Anna.
This is my fault, he thought. I did that... I need to stop it.
Jim looked at his hand, saw it shake with the scissor still gripped tightly. He looked at Anna, saw the infection spread up to her elbows as her screams for help increased in volume. He looked back at the blade, the cries in the background now being drowned out by the pounding of his heart.
He couldn’t lose her like that. No, not again. He had already failed to protect Jack, and he had made a promise to Anna yesterday that he would keep her safe, to keep the pain away from her. It couldn’t end like this, not this time. It wouldn’t end like this.
I can stop it before it’s too late.
He moved closer to Anna.
You saved me… now I need to save you.
He saw the tears streaming down her face as she held out her arms while sobbing.
This is my fault...
And he raised his weapon with both hands heavily shaking.
...and that’s why...
They made eye contact for the glimpse of a second.
...I can’t let you die here.
And he swung downwards.
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