Chapter 283 - Automations (1/2)

Lax was crouched behind a metal wall while his group was spread out around him, ducking behind other walls, rubble and whatever else could be used for cover. Seeing this, Laz knew that they were just sitting ducks and he had no idea even what was shooting at him.

Taking a deep breath, Laz stuck his head up and looked.

The gate was located in what used to be some sort of gathering area. It looked like an open yard while the ground was paved with a weird, black stone. All over the edges of the area, Laz could make out solders having taken cover while shooting recklessly towards a shed like structure sitting off to the side, almost completely unnoticeable. While Laz looked on, a door on the shed opened, revealing a small, knee height, robot looking contraption. It resembled a box with two bent sticks pointing out of the top of it. Before Laz could even take in what was happening, the stick like, metal poles pointed towards an area that had several troops shooting at the shed.

The red light condensed on the ends of the sticks and then shot out, piercing the wall the men where hiding behind and killing off two of there number before they could spread out.

In response, the still living troops threw over several grenades' that rolled underneath the tiny robot before exploding. The robot shot in the air several dozens of feet before it came crashing down, a mangled mess of parts.

”That's five,” Laz heard one of the men yell out.

”How the f.u.c.k many of those things are there? We got to f.u.c.k.i.n.g wait until they stay still long enough to blow them up while several of us die each time,” Laz heard another guy yell from the other side of the circle shaped area.

”HEY, NEW GUYS! YOU BASTARDS OK?”

”WE'RE GETTING ATTACKED BY ROBOTIC GARBAGE CANS. HOW THE F.U.C.K ARE WE OK?” Laz shouted back, letting him know they were there.

”We need to hold this position for as long as it takes to clear all these things. There is about a two minute gap between when it sends one out,” The guy to the left of Laz's position yelled.

”Why didn't anyone come back to warn us about this?” Laz asked, wondering what they would do when civilians started coming through.

”Can't get back in. The gate seems to be one way only. At least that's what those special bastards said before taking off and leaving us here.” The guy on Laz's right replied.

”They left?” Looking around, Laz noticed only military personal in the area.

Laz then looked up and around, trying to catch sight of something, anything, to get them out of this. His eyes landed on a screen in the center of the area, floating around thirty feet of the ground. On it were a strange collection of what looked like words, projected in white against the natural blue of the screen. It almost looked like a pop up menu from some video game.

”What the hell? Is that a hologram?” Ruby said, following his sight. But Laz didn't respond back, instead, he looked at the screen in thought.

For anyone else reading it, it looked like a bunch of strange symbols that probably meant something, but there was no telling what. For Laz though, it felt like he could recognize what it said, but had no idea as to why...

”Welcome to Rapture...” Laz said, mostly to himself.

”HEY, ANY OF YOU OVER THERE,” Laz called out before Ruby could asked him what he meant by welcome to Rapture.

”What Captain?” One of the other teams leaders called back. He just so happened to be a Captain as well, Laz just didn't know it.

”When you came in, did anyone look closely at this sign up here?” Laz asked, having a thought.

”What? The sign? The glowing screen thing?” That Captain asked back.

”Yeah. That.”

”No. Why the hell would we look at something we can't read?”

”Alright. Then what happened when you came in?” Laz needed more info to see if he was right. Because unless he could verify it, there was no way he could get anyone through this safely and the best course of action would be to escape.

”When We got in, the Evolved were standing around, talking and pointing at things. We took up positions and started laying out our gear. One of them walked over to us and said something about a time difference. Apparently, they had been in for about an hour when we got in. Considering the five minute time in between groups, we knew that indicated the difference. While we were trying to get any info we could about what threats they had encountered, the one who spoke to us said there was nothing here and they were moving on. So just sit tight and wait for the remaining groups while they go have a look around. After that, they left. And shortly after they left, we got attacked.” The Captain explained things as best as he remembered.

Laz thought to himself for a bit and looked around. He could see where there was remains from the blown up trash cans, several bodies that hadn't been retrieved and various bits of rubble. Strangely enough, there was also one trash can like lump that was far from the shed, on the other side of the area.

”When they were leaving, did one of them hit one of those trash can like robots over there?” Laz asked, pointing to where he saw the creature.

”Now that you mention it, yes. He was walking and kicked it accidently after not seeing it. As the others made fun of him, he then stomped on it as hard as he could, destroying it,” the captain finally answered back, having remembered.

”SHIT. THEY'RE COMING AGAIN,” Someone yelled out, getting everyone's attention. The shed, which had been in a dormant state, lit up while the tiny door in the front opened. Just as everyone got back undercover though, a second shed popped up a ways away from the first. This one was dangerously close to where the second squad had found cover. The tiny door on the front if it opened as well, just as the captain was yelling for his men to move out and find other cover.

Seeing this, Laz looked up to the sky again, focusing on the sign.

”Is that... what that means?” Laz mumbled before Ruby got his attention with an elbow to the ribs.

”We need to provide covering fire...” She said, pointing at the men making a run for it before the tiny robot popped out.

”Right. Take aim at the bots and open fire. And make sure to avoid the other squads.” Laz couldn't say too much to those who had gathered since he didn't want to alert the other squads, but Laz was worried that one of his people wouldn't know what they were doing and accidently shoot someone.

Luckily his worries were unfounded. In fact, even though most of them had never fired a gun before, they knew the mechanics of how to. Once you added that into their natural body strength along with their heightened senses and each one of them could have been considered a sharp shooter in another squad.

There was no doubt from the other squads that Laz's group was a big help.

The same scene as before played out as the little robots zoomed around. Once they stopped to fire, some grenades were lobbed underneath them, causing them to explode and break. If it wasn't for that, then the hard armor on the exterior of this little automations would have been impossible to penetrate.

”They are reactive...” Laz said to himself.

”They are also ignoring us,” Ruby noted as she looked on. It seemed as though she noticed it too.

”It's the effect of the runes. They are still active, even in this place. And what's more... the energy here is actually thicker than anywhere I have been on Earth... minus that spirit zone.” Laz responded back softly, keeping the conversation between the two of them.