The Eden Projects (Book I)

Chapter 39. A friend of the Enemy.

- Kasper - 

Wake up.

Kasper threw himself at the robot. wrapping his arms around it as it pelted him with explosives. He drew it in tighter. It's serrated fingers cutting into his back and shoulders, digging at his spine and poking between his ribs like hot pokers. He clung to the thing desperately.

What's happening-

"RAAAARGH!-" The sound of mechanized clicking echoed as it fired off the last of the explosive rounds. It stopped, and the head lowered back into position. Everything stilled. Except for the sound of Riley and Ryker prying at the door.

<CALIBRATING- STATUS CRITICAL>

"Ah..." Kasper let go. Thankful for the intermission. Stumbling away from it. His heart pounded uncontrollably, threatening to break through its bony cage with an explosive thump. "Hhhh..." I can't feel my legs... Moving backwards he slid into one of the cubicles, lowering down gently. "Sh- ughmhh..." His abdomen had been shredded, his blackened muscles writhed over each other like eels in a slurry of their own blood and viscera. Not knowing what to do, he pressed a clawed hand against it. "Ah-" Grimacing, his long fingers forced down into the mess and he held himself together. It was all impossible. He wasn't something that could be understood. This wasn't something that could be explained. His body was its own thing, and he just lived within it. He was coming to understand it. He was a vessel.

<CALIBRATING->

The scrape of metal against metal snapped him back.

"Doors open! Kasper let's go!" Riley shouted over the whirring.

I can't move... "GO!"

"What?!?"

"GO NOW!!!" He moved his hands away, watching the dancing ribbons of flesh stitch themselves back together, he had to buy some time. "GET OUT- I'll deal with this!" His ribs popped back into place and he rolled to his side. Searching the cubicle slowly for anything to use. Nothing. Then he stood, feeling the pull of his healing fibers clinging desperately to each other, spitting out metal shards from the explosives. "Riley-" He leaned out of the cubicle, looking to the door. "Riley- are you still there?" A familiar sense of loss drifted in. They left.

<BEACON ACTIVATED> REPORT ALPHA STATUS COMPLETE. SHUTDOWN COMMENCING>

They left me. He looked to the camera that hung against one of the supports. It blinked, rotating on its base until it aligned with him. His body pulsed. Every muscles tensing as his skin cracked and peeled with a whir of energy. "The camera- I know you're there- are you watching?" Kasper muttered, his vision changed and his head grew heavy with the crown of horns he now wore. He walked to the motionless robot, staring down the camera as he wrapped his arms around it again and squeezed with everything he had. The spikes that lined his arms pulled back as he did. The sound of snapping metal broke the silence.

Click click click click...

<PRESSURE DETECTED_ STABILIZATION DISRUPTED_ ATTEMPTING_ FAILURE>

"I know you're watching-" He growled, squeezing tighter and tighter until the cracked metal dug into his chest and forearms. He kept going. The bot twitching until whatever made it tick broke and searingly cold coolant poured from its chest. Its eyes flashed rapidly before snuffing out as it folded backwards from the pressure. 

It was dead. 

Kasper loosened and tossed the thing at the camera. It clanged against the cement pillar and landed in a heap below it. "Nothing?" He stepped backwards, the red dot blinking to green once more before powering off. "I knew it." His racing heart calmed and his vision cleared. He staggered, ripping the remainder of his shirt off. Massive scars covered his chest and abdomen and though they were healed externally, his insides were churning.