Human

The time before Hell

Warning: strong language

I yelled in anger as another one of my comrades was shot down beside me by one of those fucking robots. I felt the blaster gun in my hands jolt as I shot another robot down. They were human once but that side of them was long gone.

"AIM FOR THEIR HEADS, SOLDIERS, NO CARELESS SHOTS!" yelled our commander. I didn't even know his name, he replaced our old commander that morning when his leg got shot off and was permanently put out of action. Poor Alarick. He was the best commander we've had in my 5 years of service, actually one of the best commanders we've ever had. He served for a full 7 years while most only last 2 and he was retired, not killed. Like I said - impressive. He was my first commander and at age 13, he was tough as hell, myself only being 11 at the time - the age at which I had to learn to fight. 

"These bastards are shooting us down too fast! We're going to need to retreat soon!" My best friend and, unfortunately, long time crush Dane yelled.

"I agree, COMMANDER!" I yelled.

"I will NOT be taken by a FUCKING ROBOT!" Twix, a comrade and friend in my troop yelled behind me.

"WHAT?!" the commander yelled anxiously, informing me that this must be one of his first times in the field.

"We have to retreat, they're gunning us down too fast!" I yelled while shooting as many robots as I could, refusing to take my eyes off of them.

"Fine, but we hold for another 5 minutes!" He replied.

"NO! We will lose too many men, we need to retreat now!" I heard Dane yell.

"We do NOT retreat until I say so soldier, THAT'S AN ORDER!" our commander screamed. A big explosion ricocheted to the left of our formation, scattering our soldiers and killing many more. I heard Dane yell in anger at the loss, increasing his fire power. I focused my attention to the robots in front of us. I kept shuffling backwards, the robots were pushing us back down a slope toward the forest, all the trees either blackened, fallen or shot to splinters. I glared at the robot in front of me. It's body looked around 25 with the standard buzz cut and grey uniform that all robots have. This robot didn't look too challenging, only a robot arm and foot: a newbie. A few years ago the robots had discovered that they could create super enhanced limbs to replace weapons, making them even more dangerous. I didn't examine him for too long, rapidly shooting from my blaster gun, aiming for his head. All my shot zipped past him, hopefully hitting other robots behind him. I stopped backing away and focused, the battle making me careless. 

Breathe. In. Out. Both eyes open. In. Out. Raise the gun. In. Out. Aim. In. Shoot. Out. I hit him in the middle of his forehead and I grinned savagely in triumph. I looked around quickly, noticing that our army was finally retreating from the onslaught of robots. I started backing away quicker than before, keeping my back to our forces. But I stopped when I heard a pain filled yell. A familiar yell.

"DANE!" I screamed in terror, sprinting towards his yell with no regard for my own safety, lasers zooming past me in every direction. I spotted him being dragged over a hill, back towards the robot base we attacked, struggling and bleeding but alive. "DANE!" I yelled, my voice full of thoughts of revenge. I refused to let them take him and turn him into an emotionless fucking robot like them. I tried to shoot the robots taking him but I missed in my haste to save Dane. I growled in frustration and ran faster, stopping 100 metres away.

"No Luna, don't" I heard Dane say, barely conscious. I ignored him and aimed at the robots, hitting one in the leg and the other in the side.

"Let him go!" I demanded, my voice hardened in anger. They stopped, dropping Dane and shooting at me with their mechanised arms. I took cover behind a tree, shooting haphasardly in their direction, only concerned with keeping their attention so Dane could get away. I spotted him crawling towards our army, Twix and some other friends noticing his struggle and running over to help. I turned my attention back to the robots only to notice that instead of the 2 that were there before, there were now 30.

"Oh shit." I exclaimed running out from behind the tree, towards my platoon. I screamed as I felt a flash of pain run through my side, realising that one of the robots hit me with a laser. I gritted my teeth against the pain and covered the hole in my side with my hands, rushing as fast as I could towards our army. I could feel the blood rushing from my wound, my vision blurring. No, I thought. I have to get back. But I was too slow, the robots rushing forward and grabbing my arms. I immediately began to struggle, twisting in every direction despite the pain, screaming profanities at them the whole while.

"YOU FUCKING ROBOTS LET GO OF ME, I AM GOING TO KICK YOUR METAL ASSES, LET ME GO!!!" I yelled, hoping to attract the attention of my platoon. But my vision got even blurrier as one of them injected a serum into my neck, paralysing me.

"She will be taken to conversion room 10A, secure her quickly." I heard one robot say to another, handing me over.

"Yes sir." The robot replied, dragging me away from my friends and my family.

"NO, LUNA!" I heard my friends yell, Dane's voice louder than the rest. Their voices were foggy, as if heard through water. I tried to respond but my limbs were too heavy and my mouth felt lined with lead. Fear seeped through me as I realised my fate. What about Dane, and my brother Orien? I wouldn't ever see them again. Orien's only 11, I couldn't leave him alone, I couldn't! But I had no choice. My mind would be erased, my body possessed, used kill my friends and my family. I started to panic, adrenaline rushing through me, trying to burn through the serum they injected me with. I saw through hooded eyelids that I was being dragged down a white hall towards a door that had 10A printed on the front. My breathing got faster as I tried to regain control of my limbs. The robots opened the door and tied me down on a doctors chair in a plain white room. I felt movement returning to my limbs so I slowly started to struggle.

"No... no please... no..." I mumbled, trying so hard to move my limbs, only to find them weighing me down, like lead sinking in the sea. Desperation swept through me as the door opened and another robot came in, this one dressed in a doctors uniform. I started to struggle harder as the robot came closer.

"Please do not resist, you will feel a slight pinch and then you will die." The robot said emotionlessly. I struggled as much as I could.

"No don't do this... please stop it please..." I pleaded with it. It ignored me and sat next to me, grabbing a scalpel. "Stop it no... NO STOP!" I screamed, fighting against my restraints my limbs becoming lighter, adrenaline fighting my paralysis. He turned my head and ran the scalpel along the base of my skull. I screamed in pain as I felt it deep under my skin.

"NOOOO! NO PLEASE!" I screamed. My vision blurred again as I felt his fingers slide something cool into the incision. I screamed one final time before my voice cut off. I won't go. I will fight. I am stronger than them. I WILL NOT DISAPPEAR! I screamed.

And then my world went dark.