Sleeping demons (1)

At the point where one blow had practically split your skull in two, no one would get up, no matter how many enhancements had been installed. It was something that would kill them instantly. Or if they didn't die, at least they would be, at best, in a condition to crawl on the ground like worms while they agonized.

In no case would they stand up. And move towards them, as if nothing had happened.

"We shouldn't have gotten out of the road," Roxy said, and Jonathan agreed with her.

He didn't know what the hell they had gotten themselves into, but it had clearly been a bad decision.

Jonathan took a step back.

Still, it's not like it was an army. It was only one person. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

Cracking his skull open hadn't worked, but once they, say, cut off his head they would die like anyone else.

... Because it wasn't like he wasn't human.

Yes. Of course he was.

It wasn't an animal, so it could only be a human being.

There was absolutely nothing else in this world.

In other words, you could kill him. But not reason with him. In that sense, he was more like an animal. He was walking towards them slowly, more like crawling.

With those deathly white eyes, opening and closing his mouth, saying nothing, his jaw creaking like the lid of a tomb.

Yes. There was no way to reason with him anymore, if there ever had been.

After he had attacked one of his own, after he had tried to rip her throat out with his teeth, Jonathan wasn't in the mood for it anyway, being honest.

The slowness and his strange movements showed that the attack had affected him.

It hadn't killed him outright, but it had clearly made a dent in him.

So they had nothing to fear. It wasn't as if he couldn't be killed.

But...

"Back off! "Jonathan shouted, pointing with his arm.

He hadn't survived this long by being complacent. He couldn't assume that his enemy was already half dead and had no ace up his sleeve.

So, he was the one who had to take the risk.

It was his responsibility.

There was no reason for them to do it for him.

Roxy and Jamie listened to him immediately. As for Mary, lying on the floor, she started crawling backwards seconds later. On her hands.

Without getting up from the floor. And, of course, without looking away from the animal that had almost sunk its teeth into her neck.

Jonathan, by contrast, took a step forward.

Had he been feigning weakness or had he by stepping forward awakened him from his lethargy? In either case, the enemy lunged at him with his arms outstretched and his mouth wide open.

Bastard, Jonathan thought, feeling a pang of panic. For a moment.

But a moment passed, and he found it was all too easy to dodge him. That... The thing fell to the ground. Jonathan stomped on its back, preventing it from getting off the ground.

Next he plunged the sword into its neck, slashing.

Slashing.

Its head rolled off the ground, followed by a thick trail of blood. There was now no doubt that he was dead. His blood was strangely black, having cut so recently, but perhaps it was a trick of the light?

No. Nothing of the sort.

It wasn't blood in the first place. That is, it had flowed from him. In that sense, it could be called blood.

But it had never been red.

It was black as coal tar. No, black like...

"Gasoline? A robot?" Jamie said, thinking aloud.

"Impossible." Mary dismissed the possibility immediately. "I've never seen a robot so advanced."

She stood up.

Jonathan noticed that her legs were shaking.

I mean, he had given her a good scare, he had been on the verge of seriously injuring or even killing her. But it had happened, and it wasn't the first time by any stretch of the imagination that she'd had a near-death experience.

So why was she so agitated?

Surely it's nothing, Jonathan told himself. He was thinking too much, as usual. His head never stopped. Sometimes for good. Sometimes for bad.

Jonathan moved closer to the blood and the decapitated head.

"It's certainly like gasoline. Even the smell. But... The skin and flesh. The skull. All organic. Is it really possible that it's some kind of robot?"

Jonathan pursed his lips.

He couldn't accept such a thing so easily, something that profoundly went against common sense. But if it wasn't that, what then? Where was the explanation?

Did he really want to know in the first place?

Jonathan shuddered.

He decided no, after all. That it had nothing to do with them. And the best thing they could do was get the hell out of here.

Roxy stood in the same spot as him, only on the opposite side. Then she bent down and hit his head with one of her daggers several times. As if examining it.

If anyone was watching this spectacle...

Well, they look like a bunch of lunatics playing with the corpses of their prey.

"What the fuck is this," Roxy said. Continuing with the tapping.

"Haven't you heard that curiosity killed the cat?"

Roxy raised her head, looking at him. After a moment, she winked at him.

"Yeah. And satisfaction brought him back." She smiled. "No, but seriously. Jokes aside, I don't think we should just turn around and pretend we didn't see anything."

"Why not?" Jonathan said.

"Because this is a big deal."

"We're mercenaries," Mary said, folding her arms. "Not charity workers."

"First," Roxy held up a finger, "that's not quite true and we all know it. Second," she held up another finger, "who says we can't cash in on this? We can profit from this half-organic robot, or whatever. More, if there are others like him. Not just a good paycheck. We could get rich. Something like this is brand new."

Jonathan had a bad feeling about it, but he couldn't say she was wrong. Still, that didn't mean they had to stay in this place.

Jonathan nodded, finally.

"Get him and into the trunk. But that's all. As soon as I fix the car, we'll be on our way."

"But..." Roxy said.

"Have you forgotten who's the leader here? Just listen to me. Please."

Roxy sighed.

"Okay, fine. I can't say no to you when you make that face. Can you give me a hand, Jamie?"

"Sure."

Mary was the strongest of the group, in a purely physical sense. But Roxy didn't ask her for help, anyway, because she was still feeling uneasy. Sometimes she'd look at the guy he'd just killed.

Sometimes Mary would look at the guy Jonathan had just killed as if he could get up at any moment. Even if the head wasn't attached to his shoulders.

Roxy and Jamie picked up the corpse, lifting. The head they left where it was.

Together, they headed for the car.

Jonathan and Mary also set off, but faster, naturally. They had no weight to carry.

However, they couldn't make it to the car.

Roxy's assumption that there were others like the robot (he hadn't accepted it yet, but he had no other way to call it) turned out to be accurate.

In other words.

They came out of the alleys, out of every dark corner. Knocking down doors and windows, chased by a rain of glass. And all with the same features.

The pipes and wires. The white eyes from corner to corner, which despite everything didn't block their view.

He hadn't cut them, but he was sure they would be just as hard or harder to kill than the first. And that they would bleed black.

Jonathan licked his lips, frozen in fear, like the others.

Because there were simply too many of those vermin. Dozens and dozens. ghost town an abandoned settlement? Nothing of the sort.

All the residents were here, right before their eyes.

And they had been expecting company.

But not just for that.

Outside this settlement, there was little more than desert for miles and miles around. And the car had failed them, and Jonathan still hadn't fixed the charging station.

In fact, he hadn't even been able to start work on it. It had all happened too fast.

His team stepped back. Positioning themselves closer to each other. Back to back.

"What do we do now?" Mary asked, voice trembling.

The question hadn't been directed at him specifically, he was sure. But he was the one who had to answer it.

And what could he say? What could they do under the circumstances?

Only one thing, he quickly decided.

"Run to the car!" Jonathan yelled as he did just that. "And leave that shit behind!"

So they did. They dropped the decapitated "robot" on the ground, and started running.

If they made it to the car, safe and sound....

Although it wouldn't take them very far, it should have enough battery power to get them a distance away from this place. To make them lose interest in them, or at least have a considerable head start when it came time to flee.

If they made it.

If they did.

That was... easier said than done, like so many other things in life.

Jonathan looked back, though perhaps he should have concentrated only on his and the group's progress. And he saw that they were fast, unlike the other one.

Or just as the other had been before he attacked him, rather.

They would be on them in no time. At this rate, this was going to get bad. If it were twelve of those robots, or two dozen, maybe he would contemplate turning around and fighting. But it was several dozen. So many that he couldn't count them, only make a vague estimate.

They would have no hope, no matter how strong or skilled they were.

But, as long as they could get to the car. As long as they got to the car and got it running, then they had a chance.

Those things ran in absolute silence.

They didn't speak, in fact they made no sound at all. But Jonathan could hear their footsteps, which were getting closer and closer. And their breaths. And that was worse than if they had been howling like animals, like rabid, hungry dogs. Much worse.

Jonathan couldn't remember the last time he had been so scared.

Boy, was he scared. He had even forgotten that he was still carrying the sword. He unraveled it, the nanomachines returning to their original, much less heavy form.

So he could run faster. If only a little.

Everything, every minute, every second, counted.

Jonathan put the key in the ignition.

Before he could start the car, the roof shook with several impacts that could only be robots jumping on top of it. They were already on top of them, literally.

Shit. Fucking shit.

Roxy jumped in her seat, almost at the same time.

He noticed that she hadn't put her seatbelt on. None of them had, of course. Too much of a hurry. They couldn't waste a second.

"I'll be damned! Oh, if I've survived so much shit to die like this.... "Roxy complained.

Jonathan couldn't agree more.

It couldn't be here, like this, how they died.

It started up and got into gear, him pushing the throttle to the maximum. With that, the robots on the roof flew off. He managed to shake them all off.

No.

No, not all of them.

There was still one left. One that covered the windshield... and started banging on the glass, trying to break it. Jonathan clicked his tongue. Damn, what a pain in the ass.

"I'll take care of it," Jamie announced.

Jonathan had certain reservations, for example, the possibility that she might end up blowing up not only that pesky insect but the vehicle as well. But he kept his mouth shut, trusting her.

That she would only fire when she was sure, and that she wouldn't cause such an accident. Although it wouldn't be the first time they had been in serious trouble thanks to her explosions....

But hey, you live and learn. At least that was what he told himself.

He drove, concentrating solely on trying to get them out of here. Despite making a skid and sharp turns, the robot kept hanging on the windshield. Punching the glass. He didn't manage to get rid of the son of a bitch that way.

It was like it was nailed to the car.

Meanwhile, Jamie pulled her head out of the car. And also her staff, her own weapon, pointing it at the robot.

She blew the son of a bitch robot up, sending it flying through the air, in pieces.

Fortunately, the same didn't happen to the car. They were able to continue.

But, despite everything, they couldn't get much further.

Jonathan didn't see it coming. He didn't see it at all, even afterwards. He only knew that he suddenly lost control of the vehicle. He screamed like everyone else and tried to regain control. To no avail.

The vehicle ended up crashing into and through the front of a building, instead of simply stopping in the middle of the abandoned settlement, surrounded by dozens and dozens of those things. With the impact, Jonathan went forward. He hadn't buckled up in his haste, as he had said earlier. And he didn't react quickly enough to catch himself.

So, long story short...

He flew.

He flew, shattering the glass that that robot had failed to break into a thousand pieces with his head.

And he flew further still, falling between the rows of benches.

Pulling one down with him along the way.

He let out a breath. Jonathan felt like he was drowning, even though he was on solid ground. He gasped, coughed loudly, several times.

"John, are you all right?" Roxy shouted.

"Perfectly," he mumbled, still writhing on the floor.