Heart Like a Machine

Chapter 72

Late in the middle of the night, I heard something far in the woods. I slowly got up and grabbed my bow and spear, quietly walking out of the house to make sure I didn't wake the others. I looked over to see Lis' door was open. I walked out of the house and scanned her footprints she had left. I slowly followed them to see they were leading back to the place we had trained earlier this morning. I found her as she was running along side the Lancehorns. She was taking them out quickly this time and with more precision. She didn't miss a single Lancehorn and was hitting them right in the weak spot. When it came time to fight the Scrounger, it popped up and she threw her spear at it, but it missed. And she was out of arrows. She was in trouble. The Scrounger swept at her, scratching her on her arm. I grabbed my spear and threw it. It ended up lodging right in the Scrounger's mouth so it wasn't able to bite her.

"Run back home!" I called to her once she saw I was there.

I grabbed my bow and loaded the arrows. I shot at the Scrounger and it fell to the ground. Letting out a sigh, I grabbed my spear and turned to see Lis was gone. She was running back home. I nodded and walked towards home, but another sound came out from the woods. Charging towards me was a Scorcher. I jumped out of the way, but I ended up getting burned a little. I let out a sigh as I saw its red eyes in the dark night.

"Come at me!" I yelled and loaded my bow.

After a while of fighting this Scorcher, I knew it wasn't like a normal one I had fought before. It must be an Apex. I was scratched here and there and was bleeding out of them. I was becoming winded and I was getting light headed. The Scorcher had arrows coming out from all different places of its body. I stood tall and noticed I was out of arrows. I threw my bow to the side and grabbed my spear.

"Give me all you got."

The Scorcher jumped towards me and I placed the spear head in its mouth, preventing it from biting anymore. It ripped its head violently from side to side and it eventually broke my spear. I had no more weapons and I was getting pretty tired. I fell down and the Scorcher was above me. I took in deep breaths as I knew I was going to die here.

"You made a clone of yourself just to get hurt more? Just to die again?"

"This time. I don't plan on dying anytime soon."

Not here. Not now. Not after all we have been through. Not after all I have been through. Sacrificing myself to save all of humanity and here I am, going to just lay down and die to a machine I could kill easily. It wasn't Nemesis and it wasn't a Zenith. It was actually killable without having to take down its shields and without having to lead it into a black hole. I gritted my teeth, grabbing the broken spear head. I raised it and let out a yell as I drove it into the Scorcher's one eye. It let out a yelp and backed off. I ran towards it, charging as fast as I could. There was a cliff nearby and if I could push it off, the fall damage would take care of it for me. I pushed it as hard as I could, but it fought back with all its might. It tried to swipe at me, but I dodged and I grabbed one of the arrows that was in its metal frame. I ripped it out and drove it into one of its feet. It let out another yelp and I was getting closer and closer to the cliff. With one last push, I shoved it over the side. It fell down and its glowing red eyes faded away.

I fell to my knees and looked at what I had done. I was breathing heavily and my body was screaming in pain. I slowly closed my eyes and fell onto my side, looking at the rising sun coming above the horizon. From far away, I could hear muffled voices.

"Y/N?"

"Aloy?" I breathed out.

"What is your location?"

I sent her my corrdinates and my hand slipped from the side of my head, landing on the ground.

"I'll be coming soon, Y/N. Just hang tight! Y/N? Y/N?!"

I closed my eyes and everything around faded.

I opened my eyes to see I was back home. I was on our bed and I slowly sat up. I looked down to see my arms and legs were bandaged. Thankfully, I didn't sustain any injuries to my head and abdomen region. I stood up and slowly walked out of the room. I bit my lip as my legs were screaming in pain. But I needed to see where the others were. I needed to see where Lis was and if she was alright. I walked out onto the porch to see her, Aloy, and Beta were sitting by the campfire we had made. I slowly walked towards the stairs, but I slipped and fell. Aloy stood up and rushed over to me. She helped me up and sat me down on the stairs. Lis and Beta came over to see if I was doing alright.

"What happened?" Beta asked.

"Scorcher. I think it was an Apex one," I breathed out.

"You do have some burn marks on your neck, arms, and legs. As well as some scratches from it. But other than that, you'll heal just fine. You mostly passed out due to exhaustion," Aloy said.

"Thanks for getting there so quickly."

"Lis told me what you were doing."

I looked over at Lis. She avoided my gaze, as she thought I was going to scold her. I reached over and grabbed her, pulling her close.

"Thank you for getting your mother."

"Mom wasn't the only one to help. So did Aunt Beta."

"Thank you, Beta," I said to her. "But it was mostly you who helped. If you didn't come home like I said, I would never have been found until who knows when."