"Drone-01" (Nature)

=Chapter 10: Drone-01= “Keep this door shut, under all circumstances,” Reed ordered the guard, as the cell door was closed behind him. For his own protection, one armed guard had entered solitary confinement with him.

“Sullivan, Simon, and Moriah…” Reed began, looking at the three prisoners slouched against the wall in front of him. “I take it you three need no introduction to each other. I’m not dumb, I know this attack was orchestrated, and I know that you’re all connected. I don’t know why you came to rescue Sullivan… Camp Leroy has enough losers like him from what I understand.”

All three prisoners laughed gently. Reed turned around, prompting to the guard to have his handgun ready just in case.

“You think you captured me because you’re skilful?” Sullivan mocked Reed, “I wanted to get captured… Screw Camp Leroy. I have my eyes on something far bigger than that.”

Reed crouched next to him, producing a baton and then fully extending it, “And what’s that?” He acted as though he hadn’t produced a weapon.

“Moriah’s Militia… That’s who we are. I first heard about their plan during a trade for spare parts… That is when I hopped on board. You see, our goal was never to eradicate your Camp. We avoided as many headshots as possible. We only need some subjects…” He stopped there, as Reed cleared his throat, gesturing to his baton.

“You’re a fool, Reed. I hope you know that,” Again, Sullivan taunted him. As Reed raised his baton over Sullivan’s head, one of the guards grabbed his arm, twisting it back, as he winced out in pain. The other guard flipped Reed over onto the ground.

“Like I said, you’re a true idiot. We wiped out your camp, including your guards.” The two ‘guards’ released the three prisoners. One of them handed their gun over to Moriah, as she stepped over Reed, who was clutching his arm. She examined him, tilting her head.

“This one will do just fine…” She smirked at Reed, before her face lit up in a truly devilish smile. Unwilling to die here, he swung his leg up, knocking Moriah off balance. She twisted her around, holding the pistol against her head. “If you kill me, my reflexes will pull this trigger and she will die as well…” The trigger was already half-way pressed to make of this. “Weapons down, now…”

The guards looked to Simon, who nodded at them. They lowered their weapons. “I don’t know what’s happened to my friends, but I’ll be damned if they’re dead…” He pushed Moriah back towards the guard, quickly readjusting his aim and shooting her in the back.

He was a quick shooter, as he took out the two guards. As Sullivan charged at him, he pushed him to the ground, shooting him in the head.

Simon made a break for the door, quickly regaining Reed’s attention. The door opened slightly, as he slipped out, narrowly avoiding a bullet – The guard outside was clearly a soldier from Moriah’s militia as well.

Reed walked over to and began banging on the door, “Hey! I’ve killed your pressure Moriah! The heck you gonna do now? You’ve lost your precious leader!”

From behind Reed, someone began getting up. He turned around instantly, swinging his pistol out – Shock and horror filled his face. Moriah simply stood back up, exercising her arms and swinging them about.

“No… No!” He shot at her again, this time in the heart. She fell back to the ground, but then pushed herself up again. As he aimed for her head, she quickly threw a ninja star at his pistol, slicing the barrel off. He dropped the remains of the weapon.

“Impossible…” He dropped to his knees, gazing upon her in awe. She pulled out two more ninja stars from within her skirt. Reed looked at her chest, the bullet hole went directly through her ‘heart’, except it appeared she did not have one. “What the hell are you?” He sounded terrified.

“I am… The Grim Reaper.” She fiendishly smiled at him, she ripped her shirt off – her chest was not skin, it was metallic, with only a small dent from where he had shot her.

“Inside this metal box is a fully automated machine which powers my life support… My body was once blown in half by a landmine. Major Anderson put me back together using advanced Military-Government technology… It’s the future of the human race, Reed.” She sounded far more robot-like now. “I am the first of my kind. I am Drone-01. There shall be others like me soon. The only way to survive is for all of us to merge with and become a new Hybrid species… Half-Human, Half-Reaper… You shall be the next,” She readied her ninja stars, preparing to slice him up…

For the majority of the night, several survivors of the battle at Camp Hackley had been running across the French wilderness, desperate to escape the range of Moriah’s hellfire. Among these survivors were: Erica, Tina, Celeste, Peter, Arthur, Jacob and Agnes. They had to keep taking frequent breaks in order to regain their strength – However, these breaks were becoming too far apart.

“Jesus Erica, can’t we just rest for a little bit longer this time?” Arthur panted. “I agree with him,” Jacob was also struggling to regain his breath, “You’re both nurses right? Surely this ain’t good for us,” He asked Erica and Tina, desperate for a rest.

Erica knelt down in front of him, “Perhaps it isn’t, but do you know what’s even worse than the inability to regain your breath? The inability to even have breath in the first place. If you don’t start running, then we’re all gonna get killed, then you really won’t be able to regain your breath!” She iterated.

“Erica!” Tina called out distressfully, prompting her to run over to where she was. “Look,” she pointed to Agnes’ stab wound – it had gone septic. “Christ,” Erica put her head in her hands, “This is the last thing we need right now,” she was truly at a loss for what to do. “It’s your call dear,” Tina informed her. While Erica was going to react to the ‘dear’ part, she knew she had to remain serious for everyone else’s safety.

“Ok guys, listen up.” She spoke out to all of them, as they looked up at her – still desperately catching their breath. “There are times in life when you have to do things you really don’t want to… That’s never changed. That’s always been a thing even since before the god damn apocalypse happened. This right here is one of those times, my friends. This is a great sacrifice we must make indeed… Our beloved Agnes here has suffered a lethal injury. If we don’t leave her behind, we’ll never make it,” she lowered her voice at that sombre end part.

“No, no way.” Peter shook his head straightaway. “I’m not leaving anyone behind!” He stood up, “Listen, if you and your girlfriend wanna keep running, then that’s fine! But some of us are tired of running… Both literally and figuratively speaking. So, you have to make this sacrifice. Not me.” He sat down next to Agnes again, “It’s ok, I’ve got you,” he reassured her.

“R-R…” She was trying to tell him something, but her wound had made it far more difficult for her to draw breath. “R? R what? What is it Agnes? Hey, you can tell me anything,” Peter had an idea these could be her final minutes, therefore treated her as humanely as possible.

“R…Reed… Tell Reed…” He nodded in affirmation, knowing what she was going to say. “I will, I promise. I’ll tell him… Just you rest.” But it appeared that Agnes wasn’t finished speaking, “W-with Eric-a… G-go…” She began choking, as Erica leant in to stabilise her.

“She hasn’t got long,” she gravely informed the others. “She has perhaps only minutes left to live.” Everyone then heard ominous shouting in the distance. “It’s them. We have to go, now.” She looked down at Agnes, “I’m sorry…”

Agnes smiled up at her, as if to tell her ‘It’s ok’. Nonetheless, Erica still appeared disheartened about having to leave someone behind. “Arthur, Jacob. Let’s go,” she nodded at them, as they reluctantly got up, venturing forth. “I’ll catch up with you,” Erica told Tina, as she nodded, “Make sure you do,” she grinned at her, before running off to catch up with Arthur and Jacob.

“I’m not going anywhere, and that’s final…” Peter had his mind made up, but Erica’s response shocked him, “I know… I’m not going to try and stop you. Your life, your choice. I’m sorry for trying to rob you of that,” She was now debating in her mind whether or not it was even worth surviving in the apocalypse.

“I’ll tell Reed,” she looked down at Agnes, yet again giving her an apologetic expression. She looked to Peter one last time, “Your parents would be proud of you,” She put her hand on his head, “God’s speed…”

Moriah raised her ninja stars, but before she could harm Reed, the cell door opened. “Wait!” Major Anderson had arrived…

“Major!” She dropped her two ninja stars and bent down on one knee. “Princess,” Anderson knelt back down in front of her. Simon stood behind him, looking at Sullivan’s corpse at the other end of the room. Reed watched their interaction in bewilderment.

Both Anderson and Moriah rose back up to their feet, as he closed her shirt up slightly. “I see you’ve met my remarkable creation,” Anderson circled around Moriah, while talking to Reed. “You’re confusing remarkable with sick,” Reed was disgusted by it.

“It’s a shame that you cannot see the wonders of technology,” he sounded genuinely passionate about his design. “Project Zodiac was just the start. Testing human survival in even in the harshest of conditions… But the Hybrid Project… Oh, this is the long game I’ve been playing the entire time. Why survive in harsh conditions when we can survive anywhere with the right… Equipment? Shall we say?” He continued to circle Moriah.

Reed noticed the three-star badge on Anderson’s jacket, “Are you a general military Major? Or are you just some faker?” Anderson turned around and punched Reed directly in the face. The punch was so forceful that Reed’s nose could be heard violently cracking, as blood began pouring out.

“I served in the military for twenty-four years of my life you little scumbag! How dare you disrespect my valour and my honour to my country!” Reed found this comment amusing, “Valour? Honour? You’re a British major and you just beat up someone who was born in that country! What honour is there in that?”

Anderson didn’t have an answer, “The apocalypse makes survivors of us all… Some evil, some more evil than others, but no one is good. There’s nothing good about this world anymore, Reed… Judging by Simon’s quick two-second rundown before I ‘saved’ your life, that is your name right?” He had to verify for a hidden reason.

Reed cautiously nodded, “The leader of this place, correct.” He looked disgusted still, but there was also an element of worry coming across on his face too.

“Excellent. You’ve got a brave heart… Well, at least for now you do. You’ll have a cold heart when I turn you into one of my Drones. Take him away…”