Reaper: The Novel

The First Salvaged Truth

The real Salvaging Room was even more dimly lit than the dark hallway. The soft glow of the orange lights and wooden equipment gave the place a rustic feel. In front of the girl was a single wooden table, accompanied by a chair of the same material. Beyond the illuminated portion of the room, the girl could only see cold, empty darkness. With hesitant steps, the girl shuffled towards the chair, and sat down.

No sooner than she had taken her seat, a cassette tape that she had not noticed earlier started playing. As she turned her head to look at the tape, a booming voice from the tape suddenly said:

"DO NOT FACE THIS TAPE. I REPEAT, DO NOT LOOK FOR THIS TAPE."

At that moment, the girl was struck with a terrifying sense of impending dread. It felt like something was crawling under her skin. Like something would burst out. Like something was in the dark with her.

...

The girl decided she would follow the tape if she did not want any incidents of the sort.

After she faced front again, the tape stayed silent. She wondered what would happen, but she didn't dare look at the damned tape beside her. A few seconds later, the tape resumed.

"If you are listening to this tape, this means that you have been assigned to salvage any robots that have been found drifting around the Kappa Asteroid Belt. As a fellow Salvager, I am sure that you know the possible repercussions of salvaging robots that have been exposed to Geuterium, or Soulilite, as that idiot Xhargreg calls it. Anyway, you know the drill. An audio prompt will play, and after it does, you are to check the appropriate movement-reaction tickbox. The sheet of paper you need is in the drawer under your table. The drawer is to be opened on only one occasion, and that is when you will retrieve the paper. Close it immediately after. You need not see the horrors that may be lurking inside. If the subject shows signs of movement that are not in the range of the current tickbox, you are to immediately "calm" the subject with the plasma T.A.S.E.R provided to you. If the subject is not affected, then only then are you allowed to face this tape and press the button with the word "MEM" sprayed on to it. Close your eyes when you do, and God forever forbid that you ever feel the cold, lifeless hand of that which does not belong in this world. We've lost enough already. For more instructions, press the button in front of you now."

A panel on the table suddenly appeared. The girl swore that it was never there. The panel split into two, and out of it, rose a small button. With her heart pounding in her chest, she gave it a push.

She couldn't precisely remember what happened next. Brilliant flashing lights, the sound of a wailing siren, the brief vestiges of a heavily damaged robot. But the girl simply couldn't process everything. At some point, everything just faded to black, and the girl fell asleep, head in arms.

When she came to, she did not know how much time had passed. Looking behind her, she saw that the door was no longer there. All that remained familiar in the room was the table, the chair, and the cassette.

At least, those were the only things visible from her angle.

Rubbing her eyes again, she was surprised that there was now another chair in front of her.

A chair that a familiar heavily damaged robot was sitting in, looking down on the table.

A robot that was slowly lifting its head up.

The robot looked at her with eyes that barely glowed.

It revealed teeth resembling that of a predator. The robot itself looked like a predator.

And the girl was his prey.

(Author boi here. Just wanted to let you guys know that I may not be able to update the novel as often as I thought I could. But that's not gonna hold me back! I'll update when I can, because It's mah main priority to give everyone a novel they'd never expect! Be sure to updoot, leave a comment, and follow if you guys wanna read more!

P.S

Your feedback is more appreciated than you think...