I ran to the edge of the property, the heat from the machines racing toward me was nearly enough to make me sweat. I gripped the ax tight in my hand, as I felt the nerves from everyone through the connection. Niki tried to stay strong but losing someone was hard enough, having to put the weight of responsibility on her shoulders was worse.
I am sorry John, if I was stronger perhaps this threat wouldn’t even have dared to cross us. If we were more numerous, then you wouldn’t have to risk your life facing an unknown danger.
“It is alright Myc, I believe that you and your vision are worth dying for. Although I have no plans on doing that so soon.” I took a deep breath and twirled the ax in my hand, it felt familiar and comfortable. I focused my senses, trying to dim the distracting thoughts from the connection to focus on the beings that sought our destruction.
When they finally climbed the small hill in front of me, I saw why I could hear them from all the way back at camp. They were machines, belching smoke and spewing heat into the forest around them. They looked like they were built for war, long claws and spikes on their limbs. Steel covering the majority of their body leaving only a few small openings with carbon fiber poking out at the joints. Wings adorned their back and sped to life as they saw my figure standing on the other side of the hill.
“Species Class Fungoid Hybrid, Hive Mind confirmed, initiating Extermination Protocol.”
There were only three of the creatures but they were tall, fast, and heavy. The only chance I had was to finish this quickly. As they approached me they looked me up and down, scanning me to determine my threat level. As they finished their examination, they came to the conclusion that they only needed two of their members to take me on.
The third machine in the back, turned and peeled away. Kicking up dirt and sticks as it headed straight for the camp, it turned around not deeming me worth its time. Without even looking away from the other two, I pulled back and threw the ax at the thin sheet of carbon fiber that made up the creature's neck. It didn’t even have to turn as it dodged the projectile that cut deep into a tree, skidding to a stop and turning again.
“Well it seems I have all of your attention.” The third machine moved back to the other two, upping my danger level a step. They would need all three to take me out, caution was always a good virtue. But it seems they thought of themselves as above us, I was just going to have to prove them wrong.
The two machines that stayed to fight me sidestepped, attempting to circle me as the final one moved closer to engage me directly. As it brought its claw up to attempt a quick finish to this fight and brought it down at my chest. Moving just enough to avoid the blade, I brought up a bone blade that had barely formed as I attempted to drive it deep into the machine's stomach joint.
It pulled back in an unusual manner, its arms didn’t seem to change position but its legs moved its body at an angle away from my blade. Then the other two attacked, both stabbing forward with speed and precision. While one aimed at my heart, the other aimed at my head, they both missed as I fell down quickly. Using the same bone blade to cut a long gash in the knee joint of the one in front of me.
It cut cleanly through the carbon fiber armor, but was stopped half way through the steel gear making the joint. I wanted to finish this fight quickly but I was reluctant to put all my effort into a single swing, they were an untested foe, I had to be careful.
Before I could even stand up, the right one leaned its body forward and attempted to cut me with its razor sharp wings. A small line formed on my chest, but it wasn’t even deep enough to draw blood. My skin was tough and thick, but they had pierced it with ease. I grew more cautious as I rolled back to get away from the machines.
I could sacrifice some flesh to get a killing blow, but with every stab my resources dwindled. If I let this fight drag on for too long I wouldn’t have enough nutrients or moss left to fight with. I would be a sitting duck in front of machines made to slaughter and kill.
They rushed me again, barely letting me orientate myself as all three came forward with claws and feet ready to cut me to ribbons. I couldn’t dodge every single blade, so I chose the left one and rushed forward. Letting a few of the blades dig into less vital parts of my flesh, I had one claw in my rib and a foot in my hip. The pain was dulled by Myc, but I could still feel the sharp steel scraping my bones.
If I couldn’t feel anything it would dull my senses, so I ignored the pain and grabbed the remaining claw with one hand. Stabbing forward with my blade, if most of their internals were made of steel I needed enough force to break them. So giving myself a second to pull back I dug my blade straight through the torso of the creature, cutting it in half. My success was unwanted, as the other two rushed back to skewer me in place.
I turned and threw the machine’s top half at the one with the cut knee, forcing the creature back to peel the metal corpse off its blades. Without enough time to react, I was stabbed in the chest with a massive steel blade. It pushed through my chest in between the ribs and out the other side, missing my heart by not even an inch. I screamed in pain, cutting the elbow joint that connected the blade to the machine. Once the limb was detached I drop kicked the machine, forcing it into a tree and giving me some time to remove the severed limb.
Slowly extracting the blade from my chest revealed it was covered in teal blood, as the wound slowly knit closed I brought my new blade up to clang against the crippled robot’s frontal assault. It had dashed forward, forcing me to defend against the flurry of strikes. It leaned in to use its wings as more blades, forcing me back and into a tree.
The other one had righted itself and rushed forward to end me before I could do anything to shift the balance. It came in from the side, attempting to slice me in half as the other used its body to limit my ability to escape.
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So with the only direction to go that wasn’t covered in sharpened metal, Myc dissolved as much of the tree as fast as possible. Then with a small step forward into a cut from the machine's wings, I flew back crashing through the weakened tree. Crushing the trunk and causing a massive shower of wood chips and bark to cover the three of us.
The blade that had attempted to slice me in half continued its forward momentum, causing a large gash to form just above my hips. I kept my momentum up to gain some distance from the two machines, backing into a tree. Looking over at the white ax still holding its shape, I pulled it from the trunk and turned to see them stand and attempt to circle me again.
I took the moment to actually catch my breath, using the oxygen I got from my skin photosynthesizing the light wasn’t enough. I was already running low on reserves of excess fat, soon I would have to sacrifice my own flesh and muscle to keep myself going.
Just before they were on opposite sides of each other, I dashed at the injured machine. Pouncing forward and coming in from an upward angle, I forced myself on top of the machine pushing it to the ground. I received two more blades, one to the chest and the other pushing into my arm and getting caught in the bone. Luckily its wings were caught underneath it and I stood on the creature's legs.
I tried to push the steel blade into its arm but the machine’s limbs were strong enough to hold me back. Failing that, I dropped the ax on the creature’s chest letting it lie there uselessly. Then a burst of bubbling flesh covered the bot's face, an arm made of bone and muscle but nothing else reached from my chest to grab the ax. The arm without skin pulled back up, bringing the weapon inches from my face and slammed it down into the neck of the machine. Severing wires and steel connections like butter.
With a single deep breath of pain, the arm dissolved back into my chest. I turned to see the last machine had righted itself but was cautious to approach. It couldn’t decide if the loss of materials was worth another attempt on my life. Without breaking eye contact with the creature I grabbed my ax and dropped the steel blade.
The creature finally decided, it had looked over my thinning and cut up frame, deeming me weak and injured. It rushed forward, uninjured and having learned its few weaknesses. It pushed as close as it could get, attempting to minimize the effectiveness of my ax. It worked, but due to its caution it never fully went on the offensive. Keeping the large wings hovering around its joints to block my attempts at ending this fight. We were locked in a stalemate, it couldn’t land a lethal blow on me while I couldn’t get past its winged defense.
We both pushed at the same time, locking blades together before pushing back. Putting a small distance between us, it made me more cautious. It had the advantage in close combat, the distance would give me an advantage if I decided to engage. This made me reluctant to do so, it learned of its weaknesses and my strengths it wouldn’t do something that foolish.
The machine sat still as we locked eyes, it didn’t move an inch as we continued our little standoff. Then the ever present heat of the machine spiked, a wave of heat washed over my already red skin. The melting flesh and burning hair distracted me for less than a second as the blades on the wings flew forward to skewer my limbs and chest.
The six separate blades all aimed for strategic locations, two in both arms, one in a leg, two in my lungs, and a single attempt at my heart. Myc had pushed my heart to the right side of my body, causing the last blade to pierce through my sternum, but only cutting flesh and crushing bone. The creature rushed at me before the blades had even landed. It attempted one last blow, one blade swung to sever my neck, while the other aimed to stab through my eye.
I had barely enough strength to lift the heavy ax, but with a burst of adrenaline and sacrificed flesh. I leaned down, forcing the blades deeper in my flesh, dodging the two blades aimed for my head. Then swung the ax straight through the center of the creature's chest, cutting through steel plates and gears. The creature stopped moving, its joints failed and it crumpled to the floor like a doll with its strings cut.
Pulling the ax out of the machine revealed it was coated in an acid that attempted to eat through the bone blade. I dropped the ax as the burning yellow liquid threatened to coat my shaking hand, I could barely stand as I attempted to pull out the blades still cutting my flesh.
My limbs were weak and my frame was thin, Myc had been forced to sacrifice much of my muscle and flesh to keep my increased speed and strength. Without it I wouldn’t have been able to keep in pace with the robots. So with a final pull I yanked the last blade that was shoved deep into the center of my chest.
I looked down as the blade clattered on the floor, to see the top half of the first machine to fall, swiping at my legs with its blades. Cutting both my feet off at the ankle, it pushed itself off the ground, with remarkable speed and landed on my chest. It pulled back to finally claim my life, the blade shimmered in the morning light blinding me in my last second of life.
Then with a crash of bone on steel, the creature stilled and fell lifelessly onto my face. With a deep breath I turned to see Niki standing over me with Nate’s black and gold sword. She had pierced the robot's neck, barely stopping as it nicked my thinning skin and exposed ribs.
I breathed a sigh of relief and let my head fall back onto the dirt, relieved to be alive but too weak to even push off the half of a machine. With a soft grunt, Nate lifted the robot off my body and threw it into the rest of the machine’s parts. I squinted up past the sun’s rays to see Niki breathing heavily and her eyes watery with tears.
I was reluctant to move, but I needed to heal and reassure the rest that I would survive. I looked over at my old ax covered in acid and slowly dissolving, crawled over to the felled tree and grabbed a small branch. Myc’s moss slowly pushed out over the branch, barely capable of covering the small two foot piece of wood.
Slowly it dissolved away and Myc continued absorbing nutrients from the fallen tree, until I didn’t look like simple skin and bone. My bones were still thin and my muscles felt weak, but I wasn’t currently dying and my feet were back so that was good news. I got up and walked over to Niki who was still standing in the same spot staring at the black residue covering the blade, reached my arms around her and pulled her close. Her breathing slowed and she seemed to realize that we were going to be all right.
We will need to grab these parts, see who or what has made them. Perhaps find out why we were targeted, although it seems easy to tell that this was another species from the capsules. Although I would have never guessed a sentient race of machines was possible.
“Alright, everyone grab a part and let's head back, we will need to kick Phase 2 into overtime.” I reached down to grab the robot with a gash in its chest, when the fans on its wings whirred to life. Before dying out a second later, a small bone blade formed on my hand. Caution was a virtue, I sliced the neck of the robot to separate its head from its body.
“Come on, let’s go home.” The others had finally arrived, each grabbing a part of the robots. Trying to hold both them and their weapons in hand as we all headed back to camp. Happy at the success but unwilling to tempt fate and believe that this would be the end of it.
***
That creature is far more formidable than I had first guessed, this will give it time to grow its horde in both numbers and strength. This was a failure that I will not make twice.
Watching the once massive muscled man cut through the neck of my creation as the video feed cut off. It was a waste of time and materials, three fully functioning machines built to near perfection. However, they weren’t even capable of taking down a single of the hive mind. It was foolish to believe that the creature would even out the strength of all its bodies. It seems to have focused a great deal of effort on the single host, the connection was strong and nearly complete.
It seems that I am not ready to fight them yet, letting them grow to this strength was the mistake. I will not let any other species have the time to fortify themselves, the machine lovers will have to die first.
I thought about the first species I had found, they were sickly and weak. But the machines and contraptions they made were the peak of organic ingenuity. However, they, like the hivemind, were organic in nature and not deemed worthy of living.
They are cooperative and numerous. They are also willing to use technology to fight, unlike the hive mind they aren’t as foolish. Although individually weaker, I will not give them the time to choose a champion.
Looking over to the open doors of the factory a single machine stepped off the belt. It walked over to a shipping container to stand alone in the corner. It will take time to build more, but with enough, an army of metal will crush this world.