I let my breath rattle through whatever it was that passed for my lungs now, pushing myself onto my feet. I lifted my helmet so I could dry off my tears, which was, not great, as it wasn't like I had Kleenex's inside this armor, but I managed to clear off my face enough that I could at least see now. Placing the helmet back on my head, as I wasn't going to wander around without headgear in a warzone.

  Because that's what this was. A post apcylptic warzone. Against the forces of space Skynet, brought to us by some alien cockup. Whatever it was that made them, and whatever it was that shunted me off into this little hellhole. I wanted nothing more than to shove my rifle up their ass and pull the trigger. But that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. If ever.

  I scowled, looking around at the damage I had done to the area around me. It looked like I'd torn everything around me to shreds. Which was impressive, given how I barely felt any pain in my arms or hands. I briefly shock them, trying to clear them off as much, coolant?

  There was a flash in my head as I winced. You know what? Blood. It was meant to be blood, it looked like blood, it probably tasted like blood, it was blood, and I would call it such.

  "Are you okay?" I heard Mihara ask, still over by the transport.

  "No," I said simply, glaring at her. "But the sooner we get this done, the sooner I get to see if this body can get drunk. Lead the way."

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  I don't think Mihara had exactly expected that response. But we did manage to get underway, moving through the ruins of what had once been a city. There was a bit of greenery, some trees breaking through the concrete, grass growing, and mold inching its way over any surface moist enough to host it.

  But no Raptures. At least, no Raptures, yet. Between my rage-induced fit and aircraft, something should have seen and heard us by now. So by now, the place should be crawling with the bastards.

  And it wasn't. I kept my eyes on a pivot, trying to spot anything that could be hiding away in some corner, readying an ambush. In a city, there were plenty of places to hide, a myriad of locations, and angles to make a first strike from. City fighting was its own form of hell, from my understanding of historical warfare, and I imagined things hadn't changed one bit.

  If I had it my way, we'd be the ones creeping through the buildings, rather than be out in the open. Sadly, we needed to get to the area Chatterbox was spotted in before the trail went cold, and time was not on our side. The fact it was avoiding encounters was, suspicious, to say the least. Possibly a blessing, and maybe I was still jumping at anything that looked like a shadow.

  But every reaction that put off disaster always tended to feel like an overreaction. And I had no intention of correcting that, either. But the silence was, unnerving. The fact there was nothing, no birds, nor insects, or anything else. Nothing made a sound. That just wasn't right. Even in ruins, there should be animals scurrying about. Rats and other rodents should be in every nook and cranny, watching us from the shadows. The cockroach, something that could inherit the earth, even if we nuked ourselves off the planet, should be anywhere and everywhere.

  And yet, nothing. Which meant one of two things. Either Raptures were doing far more than just brutally kill off anything human or human-like they came across.

  Or a lot of animals were hiding right now.

  Both were bad, but one was immediately worse than the other. And I honestly had no idea how much animal or plant life was even considered normal on the surface at this point. I was guessing not much, but there were more than a few species on this planet that should be more than plenty resilient to the end of the world.

  And if they were hiding, they were hiding for good reason. Meaning something nearby was scaring them away from this area. Chatterbox was high on the list of suspects. But it could just be Raptures in general.

  Crap, I was already spirally. I pulled my head up, trying to shake my thoughts free. I was lucky I did so because otherwise, I would have completely missed it. I raised my rifle, staring down the scope into what was already empty air. Did I miss it? Or was it some sort of visual hallucination, or hell, error? Scanning the area wasn't all that useful, either.

  Whatever it was, it wasn't a Rapture. At least, I was fairly certain that it wasn't. I couldn't see much beyond a brief scrape of white, but the shape looked vaguely human-like.

  "Did you see something?" Mihara followed the barrel of my rifle into the distance as I lowered it.

  "Key word being something," I scowled. "I don't think it's a Rapture, whatever it was. I was lucky to even spot it in the first place."

  "What else could it be, though?" The way Yuni handled that rocket launcher did not give me a pleasant feeling.

  "As far as I know, I don't think Raptures have a lot of white coloring or are particularly human-shaped," I said. They shared a glance, an expression on their faces I couldn't quite read. "I mean, if they are, please, by all means, let me know."

  "It might be a Pilgrim," Mihara said simply as if that explained everything. She seemed to notice my glare. "It would take too long to explain, but it might be a sign that we're on the right track."

  She didn't elaborate on how, or why, one of these Pilgrims would be a sign that we were at least somewhere near our quarry.

  "First time on the surface and you might have seen a Pilgrim. Lucky," Yuni pouted, like a child. I felt my eyebrow twitch.

  "Good to know that the universe is trying to compensate me for my suffering."

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  "That's its tracks?" I looked down at the prints in the ground, suppressing a shutter. No Raptures still, before we stumbled across a particularly eroded bit of concrete, which left an imprint of something big. It looked like someone's fist, scaled up about ten times over. With a name like Chatterbox, I expected something that looked like a bird.

  Sure, a fairly big, robot bird, but not this.

  "Yeah. You scared or something?" Yuni seemed to taunt.

  "I'm a civilian being brought out to hunt what looks increasingly like a heavily armored, mechanical gorilla. What do you think?" I shot back, resisting the urge to smack her upside the head.

  "It's heading that direction," Mihara pointed, gesturing down the road.

  "Isn't that the opposite direction than it was originally spotted in?" Yuni frowned, as Mihara nodded her head.

  I raised the scope of my gun to my face, looking down range to see if I spotted anything. No such luck.

  "Then it doubled back for some reason or another," I frowned. I had no idea why. Worst case scenario? It knew we were coming, as it was laying an ambush. The best-case scenario was that it was doing whatever controlled the Raptures was telling it to do.

  "It was heading up north. If it continued, it would have gotten to the snowfields very quickly," Mihara seemed, concerned by this development. Yuni nodded her head as well.

  "I'm going to say it now. It's probably trying to sucker us into an ambush," I said bluntly, trying my best to peek at the rooftops. But I didn't have a good angle from the ground, and I doubt the internal structure was stable. They both looked at me.

  "Raptures aren't supposed to be that smart," Yuni responded firmly, though she sounded as if she was talking to a child.

  "And how many times have you fought it, exactly?" I responded, glaring down at her. "It's been avoiding a confrontation, and it may continue to do so, but the fact it hasn't Zerg rushed you two at any point in the past means it's one of the brighter bulbs."

  The two stared at me, letting me know part of what I said had fallen out of cultural relevance. Which really shouldn't be a surprise.

  "The fact you haven't fought it yet means it's smarter than most Raptures," I corrected. Yuni did not exactly seem pleased, though she wasn't saying anything, as the expression on Mihara's face became unreadable.

  Hopefully, she was considering the point. She looked as if she was about to say something, only for a sound to come from further down the road. I raised my gun again, scowling as I zoomed in.

  Contacts. About a baker's dozen.

  "Raptures, incoming. I don't know if they've noticed us, but they're heading our way," I scowled, immediately looking for anything I could use as cover. If there was anything I'd already gleaned that time in the simulation, it was that staying out in the open was a stupid, stupid idea. Trading shots with the enemy never went well.

  Mihara gestured, and only took a second to figure out what she meant. Yuni in the middle, behind some rubble, with the two of us out on the wings, taking cover behind the corners of ruined buildings. My breath rattled in my chest, and my heart felt like it was beating a thousand times a minute.

  I poked my head around the corner, bringing up my scope. Breathe in, breathe out. It was easier, as they weren't shooting, at least, they weren't shooting, yet. As well as one of the things I learned about the visor. This was probably common knowledge, but I felt clever for managing to figure it out. It told me exactly how the bullet was going to fly. Sure, this could probably be considered cheating, but frankly, I couldn't be bothered to care less. If the universe wanted to kick me while I was down?

  Then I'd scrounge up every advantage I had and pay it back with interest.

  BOOM!

  I'd never been much of a gun person. Sure I knew how to shoot one, how to treat a deadly weapon with the proper respect it deserves, the basics of trigger discipline. But the amount of hands-on experience I had was limited. And my time in the simulation was more, a panicked attempt at survival than anything planned out. But my body was sturdy, even as the rifle kicked into my shoulder.

  The bullet flew straight and true into my target, the Rapture at the front of the formation, one that was scuttling around, almost like a demented mechanical spider. The shot wasn't perfect, as I aimed for the center of mass, but its movements made the bullet impact the monster instead between the joint between its leg and the main body. It let out some alien screech, coming to a complete stop as I fired off another round.

  The second shot still wasn't exactly accurate from its trashing, but this time, the round managed to find something that seemed a bit more important, causing it to start firing its weapons, even as its friends continued to advance. The fact that it took a third bullet, and based on my visor, half my magazine, was not a promising start.

  By the time I was selecting my next target, a walking, thing with a disk for a head, shots were already being made on my position. Erratic enough for me to crack out the rest of my clip without too much issue, putting two shots into the disk walker, as its head, or what passed for such, made for an easy target. My third was aimed into the swarm, hoping I'd catch something important with the round.

  I was midway through reloading by the time Yuni and Mihara began to open fire, rockets, and rounds flying into various targets. Frankly, the rocket launcher was probably going to do most of the heavy lifting, given how tightly knit the group was.

  The engagement was short and sweet. I'd managed to unload one more clip before every Rapture was dead. Destroyed. Whatever it was you wanted to call them. Yuni's rockets had done a number on them, leaving piles of rapture parts in their place. I'd managed to drop two by myself and picked up a third, but that was practically kill stealing. Scanning the streets for survivors, or even a second wave proved fruitless. If there were more coming, they would announce themselves later, rather than right now.

  "That's a sign we're heading in the right direction, at least," Mihara said, pulling herself fully out of cover, as I ultimately did the same. By all rights, my own, mediocre at best performance aside, that went well. Hardly any ammunition was used up, and as far as I could tell, none of us had taken any injuries. An efficient engagement, if nothing else.

  But that was a small group. And I highly doubt the sound of gunfire and explosions did anything to mask our presence. If they weren't aware of our existence before, they were now. They would come in greater numbers.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  The trail still hadn't gone cold. Which was good for them, but at the same time, Mihara expected far more resistance than they were getting. Was used to more resistance. Normally, there were more Raptures about than this. They were decently close to the Ark, so that could have been a reason for why the population was so sparse.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Of course, that wasn't her only concern. 313N was, well, at least it seemed as if her personality was intact. If she went through Mind-Switch in the first place. But she still seemed, more stable than she had been before. Maybe stable wasn't the right word. Focused? Subdued? Her attitude had gone from one to panic, to, let's get this over with.

  She was still trading barbs with Yuni, so things hadn't changed much on that front. And the underlying current of anger and bitterness was still there, just, better hidden? No that wasn't it. Channeled more productively?

  The girl was increasingly an enigma. Sure, 313N seemed to be handling herself well, for now. Her accuracy wasn't great, but she was showing a marked improvement compared to her time in the simulation. That wasn't saying much, given how most of that was spent in a panic, with her only firing her rifle a few times.

  Then there was her pivoting. Yes, the idea of looking out for enemies was sound, and Mihara appreciated that lesson already being in 313N's skull, but she was a bit too nervous about it. 313N was looking, but not observing, the world around her. But she was new to this and didn't have NIMPH programming to help her along. Even more concerning was that it had become even more erratic, with 313N wearing a face that displayed discomfort.

  Mihara knew what she had to ask, even if she already knew the answer. 313N was not okay. Ideally, Mihara could keep her away from any bars, as well. 313N being drunk was not going to be good for anyone involved. But she was going to ask anyway.

  "Are you okay?" She turned around looking as a scowl appeared on 313N's face.

  "So I'm the only one hearing that?" That, was not the answer Mihara was expecting.

  "Hearing what?" Yuni gave 313N a look, one that 313N returned with all the vigor she could muster.

  "That buzzing sound? I've been hearing it for a bit, and it's getting annoying," 313N tapped the side of her helmet lightly with the palm of her hand as if that would solve the issue. It was probably nothing, some audio error caused by debris from 313N's mental breakdown. Or maybe just from the mental breakdown itself. But it also could be a sign of a greater issue. "It's kind of directional, too."

  313N turned her head from side to side, before pointing. In the same direction of Chatterbox's tracks.

  "Yuni, please run a diagnostic," Mihara said, frowning. That was odd, and something she certainly didn't want to hear. It was most likely nothing, but she wasn't going to take any risks to the contrary. 313N clearly didn't like it, her expression making it obvious that the idea of Yuni being anywhere near her personal space was not wanted, but didn't raise any protests either.

  "I'm not finding anything," Yuni's response came, as Mihara shook her head. Of course, it wouldn't have an easy field fix.

  "Let me know if anything changes," she said. Hopefully, it was nothing. But it was best that they treated it as something.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  We continued our march. The trail was laid out before us, the footprints becoming more and more distinct.

  The buzzing in my ear remained though. A constant irritant, and by this point, I was starting to get pissed by its existence. Of course, I didn't like Yuni being close enough to touch me, but I wanted the blasted noise gone even more. Sadly, I got the worst of both worlds with that one.

  By now, we managed to reach what looked like a square, a large opening between the buildings. There was just one problem. Well, two. First, this just screamed trap, to high heaven. There was no other word for it. The second? The buzzing in my ear had been leading us right along the trail. And now?

  It was not.

  "Hold up," I said, scanning the nearby buildings. Mihara and Yuni stopped. "The direction of the noise shifted."

  That got their attention.

  "Where?" Mihara asked, a frown creasing her features.

  "Over that way," I pointed into a group of buildings, glaring at them intently. "Given the open area, I think this is a trap."

  Sure, I was jumping to several conclusions with that. But the fact that the noise had been exactly along Chatterbox's trail, right up until now? Sure, it could just be happenstance. But gambling on it being dumb luck? Not a chance. I expected Yuni to protest, claiming that Raptures were simply stupid, only for her to point up and shout, raising her rocket launcher.

  Following her gaze, I saw it, leaping down toward us. Like someone had seen a gorilla, and decided to make it made entirely of metal, adding a bladed tail, and decided it would be better off without its face. An absolute nightmare abomination that was probably going to have me waking up screaming tonight.

  Provided I wasn't dead, and all that.

  I brought my rifle up, and let my power activate. The world slowed down around me as I fired all six rounds from my gun, before using what time I had left to open the distance as I watched Mihara and Yuni do the same in slow motion. I reloaded as I moved, a surprisingly simple process, given the clip, allowing me to fire off another magazine of bullets. Time resumed its normal flow, and Chatterbox was caught in a crossfire as it came down. The first six rounds rose up to meet it, managing to catch it in several places along its underside. Each bullet bit deep, and I didn't see them come out the other side.

  The second burst came in at an angle. More than half went wide, as I miscalculated how fast the giant Rapture was falling, but I spotted one puncture into the side of its head. Explosions and bullets rained down on it from the other side peppering Chatterbox with fire. However, the second salvo wasn't the only error I made. I went right, while Yuni and Mihara went left, putting Chatterbox between us. Great for pinning the thing in, bad when it meant it could just kill one of us to escape.

  Still, I kept firing, bullets raining along its back as it turned to face Yuni and Mihara. Where, those, missile pods? Did this thing have a way to shoot missiles out of its back? Oh, god, I was so screwed. Just as it appeared to be about to raise its fist, its body froze in place.

  Holy shit. Yuni's power actually worked on that thing? That was both impressive and terrifying. Then the gunfire ceased as well. That could only mean one thing. Mihara was using hers as well. I stopped shooting, for all the good putting bullets into Chatterbox's armored backside was doing me. Only for the now traumatic sound of a handgun to begin going off. I began to try and squeeze around the monster, seeking to regroup and possibly have a softer target if it did shake off either ability.

  As I did so, I saw Chatterbox's arm twitch. Before I could shout out a warning, Chatterbox used its arm to grab the other and pull, tearing the limb clean off. Mihara let out a scream of pain, before slumping to the ground, unconscious. I barely had time to react, Chatterbox moving quicker than something its size should even be capable of, as it swung its torn-off arm at me.

  I barely had time to process that massive metal club heading towards me, much less that Chatterbox had already grown a new arm to replace its old one. Time slowed, but it wasn't enough. I could avoid the worst of it. But even a glancing blow was pain. I felt part of my chest simply concave as I was sent flying straight through at least one wall, probably more as alarms almost blared in my mind. The pain from the blow alone was nearly enough to render me unconscious, and the only reason I remained awake was a second searing flare of pain as part of my body was impaled.

  Right about where my right lung should have been. I tried to push myself off it, but the strange piece of white metal was heavily deformed, catching in painful ways as faint explosions rang out in the distance. Grinding my teeth through the pain, I struggled to think of a solution. Yuni was still fighting, but Chatterbox had dealt with Mihara in a matter of seconds, and there was no way Yuni was enough to win on her own.

  We were outmatched, completely and utterly. Retreat was our only option to make it out alive. Syuen's demands be damned. Syuen herself be damned. The fact I couldn't pull myself off this piece of metal be damned! More explosions continued to ring in my ears, overriding the buzzing sound. Screw this. I could shatter concrete with my fists. If I could do that, then crushing whatever this metal was embedded in should be easy. I pushed backward, straining my feet until I felt the surface my back was against gave way.

  It still hurt. The white metal was still poking out of my chest like someone had stabbed me with a spear. But I moved forward anyway, pushing myself forward, even over the remains of my now destroyed gun. I don't know how long it took, but I pulled myself out of the hole in the wall, only to be met by Chatterbox itself, its face glared at me, a hate that could only exist in something that was aware existed in its soulless eyes. I didn't dare take my eyes off it for more than a second.

  Mihara was still unconscious. Yuni was cut in half at the waist, but her body was still crawling toward Mihara. They were alive. For now.

  "Obey." A single word came out of Chatterbox's mouth, and I felt a chill go down my spine. I don't know why it was trying to give me an order. But frankly? I wasn't taking orders from a brat like Syuen. And I certainly wasn't going to take orders from some genocidal, alien machine freak.

  "Fuck. Off." I snarled back, despite my pain. I had a plan. It was a good plan. Grab Yuni and Mihara, if simply to make it so Syuen was less likely to kill me, and then run like hell. I just needed to get Chatterbox angry enough to charge and OH SHIT!

  I got out of the way just in time as Chatterbox surged forward, burying himself into the ruined building, and sending a portion of it crumbling around him. Hopefully, that would be enough to pin the bastard down. Long enough for us to make a clean getaway. Up ran over to the couple, shoved Yuni under my arms, grabbed Mihara around her waist, and started running.

  "What do you think you're doing!" Yuni shouted as reality slipped back to normal after a few seconds of confusion.

  "It's called retreating, you ungrateful shit!" I snapped, even if I shouldn't. Yuni seemed like she was about to shout back before an enraged roar came from behind us.

  "Retreat faster! Retreat faster!"

  She didn't need to tell me twice!

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  Everything felt like it was on fire. I was hiding behind rubble, barely able to keep ahead of the thing, even with me running myself ragged. I was hoping the lead, and the cover, would lead to it passing us by, but Chatterbox was smarter than that, taking an effort to sniff us out.

  I felt my heart, or whatever my heart was supposed to be these days, jump into my throat as its fist came down right on top of the pile of rubble we were hiding behind. Its face began to turn down towards us, only for Chatterbox to suddenly look up, and try to move.

  But it was too late. A beam of light tore its arm clear off, Chatterbox letting out a scream of pain. I thought it would just regrow its arm again, despite the impressive display of firepower. But for some reason, it didn't. Or couldn't? My eyes flicked up at the source of the shot. A tall woman stood on one of the buildings, wearing a white cloak, almost like that of snow, that bellowed in the breeze.

  Frankly, I had no idea who our savior was. I'd seen her earlier. That much I was certain of. Was she hunting Chatterbox as well?

  Well, capable of hunting Chatterbox, at any rate, as the creature was already turning tail. I pushed myself off of my feet, as the woman spared us nothing but a glance, before continuing off after her quarry. All the more power to her, if she could make that monster run off like that.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  "Get. Us. Back to the Ark. Now!" I ground out, as the pilot stared at us with an expression of pure shock on their face. Not that I blamed them. Yuni has gone from the waist down, I was carrying Mihara like a sack of potatoes, while I had gained several pounds from being impaled by who knows what.

  Thankfully, they did what they were told, as I slumped down the floor. Everything hurt, and it felt like my chest was on fire. Wait, wasn't my body mechanical now? Then this thing impaled me in the chest. Did it, sever some coolant system or something? I groaned through pain.

  It probably had, hadn't it.