Sinner's Game

10 - Growth

Hendrick

The navigating process through the second stage was a lot easier than through the first one. Hendrick didn't need to go one defined way or miss his destination, he just searched for an open space to reorientate and they were good to follow the red beam in the sky. They had around three days of journey in front of them before they would reach the factory. After that, things would get more complicated

He needed to make sure that he wouldn't get killed. The truth had to come to light soon. If he would have to taste just a single strawberry ever again, he would go insane, or more likely, more insane than he already felt.

Vines that looked more like cables covered the space between massive copper and brass painted trees. A river of oil slithered its way through the scenery nearby. From the lush trees hung lightbulbs as fruits, keeping the place lit accompanied by a faint buzzing of electricity. There was no visual explanation from where the forest got its energy, but he knew better than that.

Hendrick held out his arm to stop Anna and Jim, which had been walking briefly behind. He raised his voice in a quiet tone, said: "Shh... You see that one right there?"

He pointed towards a deer drinking from the river of oil, its metallic ears twitching back and forth in high alert. It had copper-coloured skin, pistons and other machinery covering its body for the most part. Here and there a part of the real faun looked through, but only faintly. Smoke emitted off its shiny nose as it breathed slowly.

"Is that a... cyborg deer?" Anna asked, had leaned forward in an attempt so see the creature more clearly.

"This one's infected. Look closely now." Hendrick moved out of the hiding spot, slowly approached the being from behind. It was busy drinking, but he still needed to make sure it wouldn't notice him.

Prey has a wide field of view. It's in their nature. It is to make sure they can spot any predator or danger close to them early enough so they can run away. The eyes of a predator – on the other hand – are good for locking prey.

Hendrick's eyes were locked.

He lifted his newly acquired weapon – holding it tightly with both hands – up, brought it down at a spot between the creature's neck and upper back where some fur stood out between the metal. The blade cut through the flesh smoothly; the deer letting out a mechanical bleat before stumbling to its knees and finally falling to its side. Its pistons stopped moving, and the smoke ceased to emit from its nose.

Jim and Anna followed after a wave of his hand, moved closer as he cut the creature open, revealing leftovers of organs as well as some which were replaced by all sorts of cables and machinery. Some parts of its flesh was tainted like metal, some clumped up and hard, and some even soft, almost like rubber. "This is what happens to living creatures after they infected them with their disease. They take out what they need and let the rest here as spare for later."

Anna, who avoided looking directly at the deer, said, "Who would do such a thing to an innocent creature like that? Is that infection the reason why this whole place looks like this?"

"Yea. And if we won't move fast enough towards the center of this place, the border will kill us." He pointed upwards. Anna followed his finger, saw something which looked like a red static field far in the distance. It was barely visible through the treetops because of the dense fauna, maybe 5 kilometers away from their current location. "We have enough time for sleeping, since it moves rather slow, but we still have no time to waste. The barrier is some sort of Energy field which kills everything that has less than a certain percentage of machinery inside of it."