Glitch

Chapter Fifteen

Briggs taps into our radio. "Cooper? Reilly? Do you copy, over?" She tries reaching us.

Cooper responds before me. "Yes, we copy. Over." I look at him, wondering what she would ask us to do.

"The object is creating energy signatures. The IMC might be able to track it." She pauses, allowing me to take in the information. "We are unable to pick you up without getting shot down. You'll need to move down further south. Sending you coordinates now, over."

I received the coordinates in the HUD and looked up at Cooper. He looks back at me. "Alright, we'll be there as soon as possible. Over." Cooper replies.

"Briggs out."

"Come on. We could get there in about two days if we hurry." Cooper told me. I nod and followed as we ventured through the forest.

It was getting dark quicker than I would have liked. Streaks of red and purple collided and mixed across the sky, creating a beautiful display.

I began to notice animals were watching us. I thought that it was nice to see animals on such a destroyed planet, but then I began to notice how unnatural they were. Their heads and limbs moved too sharply and their eyes were dull and lifeless.

I took out my knife slowly, making sure not to alert the fake animals. In a swift move, I turned and through the knife straight into a fake squirrel. Cooper, surprised, quickly raised his gun and checked the area. His eyes landed on the fake squirrel which was now twitching as spark flew out from within it.

I moved over to it for further inspection. Within the fake squirrel, there's a mechanical body which is now torn in half because of my knife. "Looks like someone's trying to watch us." I remark and look at Cooper. "What should we do? Every animal we seen acted the same way."

Cooper looked off in the distance. "There's not much we can do. We should just keep moving, cover our tracks, and stead clear of all mechanical animals as best as we can." I didn't really like the answer, but I didn't have any ideas either.

No one spoke. Cooper motioned me start starting walking again, but didn't speak. We walked side by side, keeping our eyes open for anything. I hated the silence. It let thoughts that I didn't want to think about into my mind.

And I of course started again to think about what I've done. The terrible things I've done. I soon started to think about everything that's happened.

"I know what you're thinking about." Cooper broke the dreadful silence. I almost sighed in relief, but then I realized what he was referring to. "Do you want to let it all out?"

I looked at him. "Huh?"

He glanced at me. "Just let it all out. Speak your mind. Whatever it's saying." He explained to me. "You can do that to me. It's not like I'm going to say anything."

I let out a long sigh. "Everything feels like it's weighed down on my shoulders and I can't lift it up." I pause. "None of this feels real. Except for B. She felt like the most real thing here. I guess it was just the link. No offense, but you don't even feel real. Not to me. My dad's death doesn't feel real. I keep thinking maybe he'll be home when I go back.

"But the worst part is...that I don't understand anything that going on. Nothing makes sense. I can't even comprehend half of what has happened to me. It leaves me clueless and helpless and desperate because I don't know what's going on. And I hate that. I hate feeling like I don't know anything or that I can't do anything. Like I'm the little kid everyone says I am.

"To be honest, I don't know if I want to go home. I don't want to see everyone's face when they realize that I came home alone and that I couldn't save dad. I don't know what my mom would do. And I don't even want to see what she would do.

"I just want to be a kid. I don't want to have to be in a war zone where I have to kill and fight. I just want to be home where my family and friends are. Home and safe. But we all know there's no such thing. There will never be a life like that. Where everything is perfect. That will never happen." I breathing became shaky. A tear slipped out of my eye.

Cooper put a arm over me and put me in close. He didn't say anything. There was nothing to be said. And I was glad for that.

A twig snapped behind us. Cooper and I broke apart and checked the area. "What was that?" I ponder out loud.

Cooper shrugs. "I don't know. But whatever it is, I don't think it was a normal animal." I nodded in agreement. "We should just keep our eyes and hears open for anything." I nod again.

I keep my gun raised, ready for anything that came my way. With the sun setting, it was getting much darker. I could only see so far now. The rest was darkness. Shadows started to lurk. They seemed to only want to annoy us. They played across trees and the ground. Circling around our feet. I was trying not to focus on them, but that was hard cause I was looking for movement.

The darkness began to take over soon. I was trying to stay awake. But I haven't gained much sleep and now, with quietness and darkness, my mind was trying to force me to sleep. I was trying to refuse, but I knew I was losing. My steps were getting clumsy and my eyelids began to droop.

Suddenly a like blinded me for a quick second. What was that? I thought that I was just imagining that. But then Cooper pulled me over to the side. This is real. It was as if my body just switched back on. My mind started to work again and my heart rate quickly picked up.

I jumped when Cooper grabbed me. He pulled me to the side. We began to run, but a grenade when off behind us and it sent us flying. I was sent into a tree. I groan, but got back up. Cooper was lying on the ground a few feet away from me. He shook his head and looked at me. I nodded and we took off.

We ran side by side. Dodging bullets and grenades that came in our way. I then realized they were above us and raining hell down on us. Great, just great.

A bullet flew pass my ear and I saw it land on the ground a couple years in front of me. It didn't look like a normal bullet. I picked it up as I ran. It was much longer and slimmer than a normal bullet. Then I noticed the needle on the front of the bullet. Tranquilizer. They want to take us alive? Why?

That doesn't make much sense. I would think that would just kill us and take the object without a second glance. I guess that's good though because we would die. Not yet at least. But they might start using bullet soon. I feel like they're going to soon.

I heard something come from the sky. I didn't know what it was, until it dropped down right front of us. A titan. I could tell it was a IMC titan from markings. Yeah, they're going to start using real bullets. It's a legion. Yeah, they're ready to kill us now. Well...crap.