Part one-broken planter (autumn cont'd)
She looked upward and saw what looked like a girl only a few years older than her, kneeling on the machine’s back, hands on the hilt of the katana which was now out of the walker’s severed system.
The girl leap down from the dead robot, straight into the path of another walker cannon. It reared up, opening the side panels on either side of its round head to reveal smaller versions of it’s deadly main cannon. The girl smiled and shoved the point of her sword straight through the cannon’s glass eye, shattering it to pieces as she pulled out the weapon to face the third walker.
SRG-3’s, spider bots the size of dogs, began pouring in through the broken door, followed by two more walker cannons, apparently summoned when the other robots died. The girl with the katana seemed not to notice the flood of insect-like creatures coming towards them, the other two walkers in their midst like elephants among gazelle.
“Autumn?” The voice of the radio crackled, still strapped to the dead body of the man that owned it. “Autumn are you down there?” Autumn didn’t hear a word. The girl facing the robots was like watching something both horrible and beautiful. She simply walked through them, slicing off parts, cutting them in half, and severing what served as their heads. The wave of robots came, chattering and screaming in their way that almost seemed like a battle screech but was nothing more than programming. The spider bots crawled over the walls and clung to the ceilings with their pointed legs, multi-colored metal eyes searching for life forms and confused when they found only one. The noise in the tiny concrete room was nearly unbearable. “Autumn, answer me if you’re still there!” The girl crawled up one of the walker’s back and shoved the katana straight through its back, slid down the metal of its body while bringing the katana with her, slicing the creature in half. Wires fell out like nerve endings and the spider bots crawled towards her, nearly useless. One had time to open its miniaturized cannon but was sliced neatly in half before firing.
Within minutes there was nothing, not a sound. The girl stood, breathing with the katana raised as though expecting another flood of creatures. When none came she grabbed a bag on the floor by the door and put the katana away in its black sheath, the only sound that of the metal sliding into the scabbard and clicking into place.
“Autumn?” the radio crackled again, this time scaring her so badly that she jumped. The girl turned around and stared at the closet at the noise. Autumn quickly backed into the corner of her hiding spot, hoping she didn’t survive the battle just to be killed by the sword-wielding stranger. She heard the sound of boots on concrete stop, and looked up.
“Hey?” The stranger said with a smile. “You gonna get that?”
“Who…who are you?” Autumn asked at a length after the girl had moved away, apparently searching for something. The stranger picked up what looked like a body and moved it over to the wall.
“No one important,” The other said with a contented sigh as she sat down next to what looked like a corpse. Autumn looked over and saw a slow but steady breathing that signaled he was actually still alive. “Cigarette, buddy?” The stranger asked the man, who was wounded badly on his forehead and had blood dripping down his face all the way to the collar of his shirt. “More fer me,” she said cheerfully and put the cigarette in her mouth and lit it with a match. Autumn noticed a thin scar running from the bottom left side of her nose to her chin.
“How’d you get that?” Autumn said, slowly crawling out of her hiding place.
“Someone decided he didn’t like me,” the girl smiled, the cigarette between her teeth. It was then Autumn finally noticed how long her teeth were...and how deadly sharp. She looked up into the stranger’s eyes and saw they were slitted slightly, like a cross between a cat’s and a human.
“You’re…a…Vampire?” Autumn asked.
“Yup, goin’ on a couple hundred years now,” The girl held out her hand. “My name is Auryn Santos, nice to meet you.”
“Autumn, Autumn Weiss.”
“Pretty name.”
“Yours too,” Autumn smiled. “What are you doing here?”
“Lookin’ for something,” Auryn pulled a piece of paper from the back pocket of her faded and torn jeans and opened it. The paper looked like it had been singed in several place, wind-blown, dust-torn and faded, but still readable. It showed seven different objects, and gave a brief description of each. The paper looked like it was originally written and hand-drawn with great care, but had fallen into the hands of a twelve year-old. There were odd pieces of commentary in what looked like blue ballpoint ink scrawled sporadically around the page, and red slash marks over three of the objects. “This one,” Auryn said, pointing at what looked like a dagger embossed with roses.
The Rose Knife, The beautiful, flowing script read; was made and created by Knights of St. Anthony on the 332 year in the age before our Emperor. In that time it was used and created to seal away the demons that had infested a local church. The knife worked remarkably well. So well, in fact, that the local demon Lord feared the Knights re-creating their weapon and eradicating his kind from the land, and sent for the knife to be destroyed. The Knights of St. Anthony guarding the weapon were all killed in the resulting years. The weapon itself fed off the energy of the pure souls of the Knights and has since become a Holy Relic. It was last seen on Earth 554 and has not been re-claimed.
Silver dagger of demon slaying +4!!!!---The crude ballpoint read.
“Did you write that?” Autumn asked, pointing to the blue ink.
“Nope, it was like that when I got it. In truth I kind of like the commentary. Adds character.”
“Why are you looking for it?” Autumn asked when she heard the sound of people coming downstairs. They both stood up, Auryn putting the paper back into her pocket and slinging the katana across her back like a guitar.
“Yes, Vampire, why are you looking for a Holy Relic of the Rettuli Empire?” Matthew’s voice said from behind them. His gun was drawn right at Auryn’s head, though the Vampire didn’t even flinch at the weapon.
“Cause I’m Indiana Jones, biotch,” The Vampire shot her fanged grin.
“Matt, Matt this is Auryn, she saved me,” Autumn said, putting her hands up. Auryn’s going to eat him, if it comes down to it. Oh please don’t let it come down to it, please? Autumn prayed silently.
“How many survivors?” Matt called to the other men, who were shifting through the wreckage and blood.
“We have three so far!” A man called.
“So what are you doing helping a bunch of humans?” Matt asked Auryn, who’s cigarette was burning to ash in her mouth.
“I saw a bunch of giant robots attacking people. Figured I’d be neighborly and help out, but if you’re okay I’d just as soon be on my way. I have a lot of walking to do and I have to find Riddle,” Auryn shrugged and picked up her worn backpack. “Take care, aright kid?” Auryn rubbed Autumn’s head messing up her already ratty hair.
“Don’t come around here again, okay?!” Matthew called after her. Auryn flashed him the finger from over her shoulder and kept walking. “Effing Vampires, Christ,” he said, making sure she was gone. “She comes around here again I want you to tell me, okay?”
“Why? What’s wrong?” Autumn said, her hazel eyes getting wide like a child about to cry.
“Vampires can’t feed off of robots, Autumn. She may have saved us just to kill us,” He muttered.
Autumn looked toward the misty field, not trampled flat by the small army that had run through not more than ten minutes ago. “Well I thought she was cool….” Autumn muttered to herself and went upstairs.
The girl leap down from the dead robot, straight into the path of another walker cannon. It reared up, opening the side panels on either side of its round head to reveal smaller versions of it’s deadly main cannon. The girl smiled and shoved the point of her sword straight through the cannon’s glass eye, shattering it to pieces as she pulled out the weapon to face the third walker.
SRG-3’s, spider bots the size of dogs, began pouring in through the broken door, followed by two more walker cannons, apparently summoned when the other robots died. The girl with the katana seemed not to notice the flood of insect-like creatures coming towards them, the other two walkers in their midst like elephants among gazelle.
“Autumn?” The voice of the radio crackled, still strapped to the dead body of the man that owned it. “Autumn are you down there?” Autumn didn’t hear a word. The girl facing the robots was like watching something both horrible and beautiful. She simply walked through them, slicing off parts, cutting them in half, and severing what served as their heads. The wave of robots came, chattering and screaming in their way that almost seemed like a battle screech but was nothing more than programming. The spider bots crawled over the walls and clung to the ceilings with their pointed legs, multi-colored metal eyes searching for life forms and confused when they found only one. The noise in the tiny concrete room was nearly unbearable. “Autumn, answer me if you’re still there!” The girl crawled up one of the walker’s back and shoved the katana straight through its back, slid down the metal of its body while bringing the katana with her, slicing the creature in half. Wires fell out like nerve endings and the spider bots crawled towards her, nearly useless. One had time to open its miniaturized cannon but was sliced neatly in half before firing.
Within minutes there was nothing, not a sound. The girl stood, breathing with the katana raised as though expecting another flood of creatures. When none came she grabbed a bag on the floor by the door and put the katana away in its black sheath, the only sound that of the metal sliding into the scabbard and clicking into place.
“Autumn?” the radio crackled again, this time scaring her so badly that she jumped. The girl turned around and stared at the closet at the noise. Autumn quickly backed into the corner of her hiding spot, hoping she didn’t survive the battle just to be killed by the sword-wielding stranger. She heard the sound of boots on concrete stop, and looked up.
“Hey?” The stranger said with a smile. “You gonna get that?”
“Who…who are you?” Autumn asked at a length after the girl had moved away, apparently searching for something. The stranger picked up what looked like a body and moved it over to the wall.
“No one important,” The other said with a contented sigh as she sat down next to what looked like a corpse. Autumn looked over and saw a slow but steady breathing that signaled he was actually still alive. “Cigarette, buddy?” The stranger asked the man, who was wounded badly on his forehead and had blood dripping down his face all the way to the collar of his shirt. “More fer me,” she said cheerfully and put the cigarette in her mouth and lit it with a match. Autumn noticed a thin scar running from the bottom left side of her nose to her chin.
“How’d you get that?” Autumn said, slowly crawling out of her hiding place.
“Someone decided he didn’t like me,” the girl smiled, the cigarette between her teeth. It was then Autumn finally noticed how long her teeth were...and how deadly sharp. She looked up into the stranger’s eyes and saw they were slitted slightly, like a cross between a cat’s and a human.
“You’re…a…Vampire?” Autumn asked.
“Yup, goin’ on a couple hundred years now,” The girl held out her hand. “My name is Auryn Santos, nice to meet you.”
“Autumn, Autumn Weiss.”
“Pretty name.”
“Yours too,” Autumn smiled. “What are you doing here?”
“Lookin’ for something,” Auryn pulled a piece of paper from the back pocket of her faded and torn jeans and opened it. The paper looked like it had been singed in several place, wind-blown, dust-torn and faded, but still readable. It showed seven different objects, and gave a brief description of each. The paper looked like it was originally written and hand-drawn with great care, but had fallen into the hands of a twelve year-old. There were odd pieces of commentary in what looked like blue ballpoint ink scrawled sporadically around the page, and red slash marks over three of the objects. “This one,” Auryn said, pointing at what looked like a dagger embossed with roses.
The Rose Knife, The beautiful, flowing script read; was made and created by Knights of St. Anthony on the 332 year in the age before our Emperor. In that time it was used and created to seal away the demons that had infested a local church. The knife worked remarkably well. So well, in fact, that the local demon Lord feared the Knights re-creating their weapon and eradicating his kind from the land, and sent for the knife to be destroyed. The Knights of St. Anthony guarding the weapon were all killed in the resulting years. The weapon itself fed off the energy of the pure souls of the Knights and has since become a Holy Relic. It was last seen on Earth 554 and has not been re-claimed.
Silver dagger of demon slaying +4!!!!---The crude ballpoint read.
“Did you write that?” Autumn asked, pointing to the blue ink.
“Nope, it was like that when I got it. In truth I kind of like the commentary. Adds character.”
“Why are you looking for it?” Autumn asked when she heard the sound of people coming downstairs. They both stood up, Auryn putting the paper back into her pocket and slinging the katana across her back like a guitar.
“Yes, Vampire, why are you looking for a Holy Relic of the Rettuli Empire?” Matthew’s voice said from behind them. His gun was drawn right at Auryn’s head, though the Vampire didn’t even flinch at the weapon.
“Cause I’m Indiana Jones, biotch,” The Vampire shot her fanged grin.
“Matt, Matt this is Auryn, she saved me,” Autumn said, putting her hands up. Auryn’s going to eat him, if it comes down to it. Oh please don’t let it come down to it, please? Autumn prayed silently.
“How many survivors?” Matt called to the other men, who were shifting through the wreckage and blood.
“We have three so far!” A man called.
“So what are you doing helping a bunch of humans?” Matt asked Auryn, who’s cigarette was burning to ash in her mouth.
“I saw a bunch of giant robots attacking people. Figured I’d be neighborly and help out, but if you’re okay I’d just as soon be on my way. I have a lot of walking to do and I have to find Riddle,” Auryn shrugged and picked up her worn backpack. “Take care, aright kid?” Auryn rubbed Autumn’s head messing up her already ratty hair.
“Don’t come around here again, okay?!” Matthew called after her. Auryn flashed him the finger from over her shoulder and kept walking. “Effing Vampires, Christ,” he said, making sure she was gone. “She comes around here again I want you to tell me, okay?”
“Why? What’s wrong?” Autumn said, her hazel eyes getting wide like a child about to cry.
“Vampires can’t feed off of robots, Autumn. She may have saved us just to kill us,” He muttered.
Autumn looked toward the misty field, not trampled flat by the small army that had run through not more than ten minutes ago. “Well I thought she was cool….” Autumn muttered to herself and went upstairs.