“Where are you, you little ant?” The expunger said, malice dripping from its voice. “You talk big, insulting a being much higher than you, and then hide? Just as pathetic as the rest of humans that have come before.” That was Tracy’s queue. She grabbed a small stone and tossed it out one of the peepholes. As she had guessed, at least three fingers smashed into the rock, kicking up dust.
“That won’t do you much good, sweetheart. I still see you rushing me.” The expunger said. Tracy pursed her lips as she ran towards the Expunger’s form, spear in hand. She didn’t have much time to think of a great idea. Still, she hoped in the deepest part of her heart that this would work. Tracy felt anxiety knot in her stomach as she heard the crack of the Expunger’s fingers. She closed her eyes, the moment of truth. She braced for the claws to pierce into her body. Instead of her body, the fingers struck stone. Tracy smiled as she heard the expunger gasp in surprise. Her gambit had paid off. She had thrown her rock at the leaning statue, and like a fish to a hook, the expunger had attacked the stone, triggering the statue to fall. Tracy gambled that the expunger would notice the statue before it would notice her running. Now, She had a brief window before the expunger could shoot its fingers at her again.
Tracy raced forward, diving through a hole in the thick shield of skin the expunger had over itself. She was here, right in front of the metallic core of the expunger. She jumped forward, ready to plunge her thunder spear into the expunger’s heart. As she thrust forward, she heard flesh ripping, followed by extreme pain. Tracy flopped on the ground, just shy of the main body of the Expunger. Looking up, she noticed some of the shield flesh had hardened, creating a spear ripping through her thigh. She saw more flesh stretch from the shield, wrapping itself tightly around her neck. Tracy used her strength to pull at the skin to no avail. It had hardened to the consistency of stone. The expunger walked over until its eerie skull was only inches from hers and its eyes staring directly into hers.
“I’ve never seen anyone get as close as you did. I commend you for that.” The expunger said, the skull widening as it got closer. Tracy’s heart pounded like a drum. Each beat filled her with alarm as the monster got closer. In her panic, Tracy grabbed the dust in her back pocket and tried to throw it at the monster, only for the expunger to grab her wrist.
“That same trick won’t work again.” The expunger said. Tracy winced as more of the skin covered her fist. Then, in a second, she heard the sickening crunch of bone followed by more excruciating pain. Tracy tried to hold back from the pain, but it rose through her entire system until she screamed with what air she had left in her system. The expunger laughed.
“I told you that I’d make you scream. Are you going to beg for mercy now?” The expunger mocked as the skin uncurled itself from Tracy’s fist. The dread drove through her heart like a needle as she saw the mangled purple mass of her fist. The Expunger laughed at Tracy’s reaction. Tracy stared back at the Expunger, putting all of her effort into struggling against the grasp of the expunger. Despite her efforts, she barely got any air in as she felt the skin tighten around her neck. Still, she used what energy she had left as she kicked at the Expunger.
“Still got some fight left? You have no end of energy, do you?” The expunger looked down, chuckling as it saw Tracy’s attempts at kicking at its gem. “oh,” The expunger said in realization. “That was your plan? You thought that you could destroy my power source? There must be no end to human foolishness.” The expunger chuckled some more. “Although, as a prize for your insistence, take a look at it.” Tracy scrambled against the skin as it dragged her close to the gem. Tracy smiled, checkmate.
Using her unbroken hand, Tracy pulled out the head of her thunder-imbued spear from the sleeve of her hoodie, and with as much strength as she could muster, she slammed the head into the gem.
“No!” The Expunger screamed, but too late. As the skin tried to restrain her other hand, the thunder worked, pulsing through the spear and into the gem, overloading it as it shattered. The Expunger screamed in agony. The skin holding Tracy around her neck grew limp and dropped her to the ground. She gasped for air, coughing as she took in large swaths of it. Looking up, she saw the body of the Expunger shake uncontrollably as the steam escaped from the chrome, and the chrome began to melt down. The mechanisms in its bones twitched. Tracy held her breath as its red eyes flashed in her direction. Then, with a last groan, the Expunger reached out to her. Tracy’s heart jumped through her chest as it scooted closer. Tracy scooted away, each moment agonizing as she tried moving her limbs. Tracy heard a distinct hum from the Expunger’s as it came closer body as it came closer. As Tracy looked at its eyes, she could see the mechanisms overloading. She looked at the Expunger’s skull again, its smile replaced with desperation.
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“I won’t. I CAN’T displease the mind!” The expunger screamed. Tracy heard something akin to fear in its voice. Its eyes flickered for a second as its claws reached out for her. The back of its skull exploded in fire and blood as it did. Tracy looked in gleeful retribution as the Expunger looked at her in agonizing defeat before it fell onto the ground, its red eyes going out.
Breathing heavily, Tracy looked at the dead Expunger. That was something, Tracy thought to herself. She couldn’t bring herself to look away from the corpse, as disgusting as it was. Sighing in relief, she lay down on the floor. She smiled to herself as she replayed the final moments in her head over and over again. That. Was. Badass! She was like a sentinel from her game! She tried to stand up, the pain shooting through her leg. She sat in as triumphant a pose as she could muster. She had won on the first attempt, too!
Shaking herself from her thoughts, she looked around the room. The skin still covered the area like a web. Each strand dripped like a booger. Shaking the view from her mind, she thought about Lula. She had to be around here somewhere.
“Lula! It’s okay, the expunger is dead. It won’t hurt us anymore!” Just as Tracy called out, she spotted Lula peeking from behind one of the statues, anxiety written over her face.
“Don’t worry, it's dead. It won’t bother you anymore.” Tracy said, trying to comfort her. Lula still hugged the statue. What was she afraid of? Tracy thought to herself. The Expunger was dead next to her. There wasn’t anything else left in this abandoned cathedral. As Tracy thought about this, that is when she noticed it. The thumping of the Expunger’s pulse was still there.
Tracy looked at Lula one more time, her face stricken with fear. Confusion filled Tracy’s mind as she heard buzzing next to her. The thoughts of her victory were quickly dashed from her mind. A million fears replaced them. Slowly turning, she looked at the corpse of the expunger. Tracy watched as the shards of the gem stitched themselves back together, chrome filling in the gap in the back of its head. Slowly but surely, Tracy watched as the expunger placed itself back together as it stood back up. Tracy’s heartbeat doubled as the grin from the skull looked back at her. Tracy was paralyzed with fear, unable to move as Its eyes went from a light red to a dark crimson. Something triggered in her brain, and Tracy snapped out of her fear.
“Lula! Run!” Tracy said. Lula didn’t need a second order as she jumped around the statue. The expunger chuckled.
“I’ll deal with that soon.” The Expunger said. Tracy snapped her attention back to the Expunger. “You’re a bold player. I hope you enjoyed your false victory. But as always, humans underestimate us. I’ll give it to you, though. You aren’t an ant. You are an annoying rat scurrying around. We can’t have any of that in our simulation.” The Expunger pulled back the fingers of its hands. The skin condensed as it partially covered the Expunger’s core. As the hand clicked back into place, it picked up the head of Tracy’s spear. Its smile was as menacing as ever as it slowly walked towards her. Tracy tried scampering away, but the pain only made her attempt futile. “Let’s finish this, shall we?”
Changing her attempt, Tracy grabbed what rocks she could with her good hand and threw them at the expunger. To Tracy’s chagrin, it was an effort just as futile as the last. The expunger just swatted away the rocks. The expunger got closer. There wasn’t a way out of this one. She was out of options. The only thing she could think of was death. She closed her eyes, bracing for the final blow that would take her life. She could only hope that it was quick.
Thoughts flashed through her mind. She had lived a pretty good life. She didn’t have any regrets in her life. Except for one, a tear flowed down her eye. The only thing she wished for was to see her older brother one last time.
With that thought, she awaited death, but instead of another bout of sharp pain, she felt heat lapping at her face, growing from a gentle warmth to an intense stream that evaporated the tear off her eye. She smelled seared flesh and heard the Expunger scream. As Tracy opened her eyes, an orange enveloped the room. The center of the Expunger had been incinerated. Its eyes rolled back. Standing next to her was a fox with fur made of flames that stood at least seven feet tall. The heat died down to a gentle warmth as it stared into Tracy’s eyes with its white-hot pupils.