inMagazine/January, 2012 3
"In my workshop," replied Mac. Mac ran down the corridor and the others got up to follow. When they walked in the room they saw Mac standing next to a hunk of metal. With a big grin Mac pressed a small button on the machine and it's eyes began to glow. "So what can it do?" Asked Nero.
"I'll show you what it can do," replied Mac. He pressed another button but the machine sat stationary. He pressed the same button a few more time and nothing happened still. He kicked the machine and gave a sharp yelp. "It has no programming does it?" Mark asked.
"Oh..." Mac replied "I thought I forgot something," disappointed and embarrassed sat down on the machine and turned it off. "So it's a waste of time then," Nero muttered.
"Not necessarily," Mark pointed out. Nero and Mac both turntable towards him.
"If you know something then tell us," Mac said.
"If we went back to London and get to my house," Mark responded "I have a laptop in my room with some programming software on it," Mac face lit up with renewed hope.
"If you are all willing to take the risk then I will plan a route to your house," Nero announced
"I'm willing to," Maia replied. Mark nodded in agreement and Macs grin got bigger.
"In that case your have to teach Mark to shoot while I plan the route," Nero pointed out.
"This armour is surprisingly light," Mark said. Mark was stood under a tree waiting for Maia to set up the targets. "Yeah, Nero designed it a few years ago," Maia replied "he was a scientist before this," Maia struggled to put put up the last target and fell over when she did.
"How did you have armour that fits me perfectly?" Asked Mark.
"Got lucky I guess," replied Maia "do you know how to fire a crossbow?"
"Yeah," Mark replied "take aim and pull the trigger," Mark lined up his first shot and fired, hitting the closest target in the centre. "Nice shot," Maia cheered "but it was only at close range," the auto loader on the crossbow loaded the next shot before Mark had time to aim. Mark fired his next shot but missed quite badly. "Try using your other arm to stabilise the shot," Maia suggested. This time when Mark aimed he stablished the shot, he hit the target right at the back a few inches from the centre. "Nice," Maia cheered. Mark practiced for an hour straight, he didn't miss a shot now that he learnt to stabilise his aim. "One those machine it doesn't matter where you hit them," Maia pointed out "the bolts will disable them," Mark nodded and took of his helmet and headed back inside. After putting their armour back on the stands Mark and Maia headed back to the main room. Nero was sat at the end of the table, illuminated by a faint fire. "I have a route," Nero announced "now all we have to do is wait till tomorrow," Nero spent an hour explaining the route and all the risks. The sudden amount of risks started putting doubts in everybody's minds. Mark was the first to go back to his bed, followed by Nero. Maia went outside to clear her head again. After a few minutes she turned to back inside. As she went in a faint clunking began in the distance.
6
The ruined city
Mark woke up to a load banging on the door. "Mark wake up!" Shouted Mac. Mark dived out of bed and got dressed. He opened the door just as Mac went to hit it again. Mac accidentally hit Mark on the head. "Ouch," Mark moaned.
"Your breakfast is ready," said Mac "better hurry, you over slept," hearing that Mark dashed to the main chamber. Nero was preparing his equipment and Maia was finishing her breakfast. "We leave in 15 minutes," Nero announced "you better eat quick," Mark took a seat at the table and scoffed his food as quickly as possible. By the time he had finished his breakfast Nero was already geared up. Maia was in her armour and was loading up ammo into the auto loader on her crossbow. Mark started to put his armour on but was running out of time so Nero prepared his equipment for him. When they were all ready they went to the workshop. He workshop had been tided up to be used as a briefing room. "We have three objectives," Nero announced "number one, retrieve the laptop. Number two, take an energy core from one of the machines. Number three, return safely,"
"Why are we taking an energy core?" Mark asked.
"Simple," Nero replied "this bunker needs power and they are our only source of power,"
With the Nero opened the bases entrance. Mark, Maia and Nero all walked out the base. After wishing them good luck Mac closed the entrance behind them. Nero led the way, leading the group around the lake. They had a long walk ahead of the and they all new it.
"You can have a rest now," said Nero. Nero kicked in a door of a house and sat down on the stairs inside. Mark walked into the living room and sat down on the sofa. Maia joined him and passed him a white pencil like the one he used to etch the design on his helmet with. "Each time you kill one of those machines Mark it on your armour," whispered Maia "we can see who killed the most," Mark nodded in agreement and concealed the pencil in his armour. A small amount of time passed before Nero called them to get moving. The group moved slowly through the city, dashing from shadow to shadow. After a while they stopped hiding realising that the city was abandoned. It didn't take them long to find out why. The closer the got to the city centre the more half destroyed machines the saw. This cause a lot of false alarms for the group. Not long after seeing the first group of 'dead' machines the saw burning buildings and chunks of rubble on the street. Thus forced them to go through some building and use their grappling hooks to get around. "This doesn't seem right," Maia whimpered "where are those machines," the closer they got to Mark's house the more jumpy they became. "We're finally here," said Mark. Nero signalled for Mark and Maia to enter the house while he stood guard. Mark headed upstairs while Maia searched the ground floor.
ack downstairs where Maia was waiting. "Got it then?" Maia asked. Mark nodded then pointed at his backpack. "I managed to scavenge some energy cores Nero!" Maia shouted.
Nero dived into the house as a red arc of energy flew through the door. "Good job Maia," snapped Nero. Mark dived for cover as Maia ran to the door dropping the energy cores. Maia saw quickly poked her head around the corner to see how many there were. "One assassin class," said Maia. Just as Nero was about to line up a shot with it Maia dived out the door, rolled, the shot at it. She hit the machine in its arm, the bolt caused the machine to short out and fall of a distant room top. "They must be trying to kill of any survivors," Nero muttered "I should of accounted for that. Maia picked up the energy cores and strapped on to her belt. She then threw one at Nero who did the same. "Let's get out of here," Nero said "before more of them come," Mark poked his head up and ran after the others. The trio ran down the street using their grappling hooks to speed the up. After about ten minutes they started to sneak around the city. "Nothing else so far," announced Nero. Nero turned into a building. He sat down on the floor and took off his helmet. "Let's hope none of them are following us," he muttered. Mark sat down next to him taking his helmet off too. Maia went into the next room and drew a little skull on her gauntlet. In the corner of Marks eye he saw a flicker of movement. He tapped Nero on the should and made a signal to be quiet. Mark put his helmet back on and slowly approached the doorway. The window on the building opposite was cracked and at an angle. In the glass he could see the reflection of a machine. Mark bent down and picked up a bit of rubble and threw it away from them. The machine jumped and walked over to where the rubble landed Mark checked for anymore before firing a bolt at the back of its head. The machine turned around after being hit and went to aim at Mark before it shorted out and collapsed.
7
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