A Rude Awakening

[Zesiir]

I throw the grenade towards the cluster of machines ahead of me, and dart into the forest. I can hear the explosion behind me, there’s a fierce roar followed by gunshots, and before I can make any sense of it a tree trunk beside me shatters into splinters. I don’t stop. If I stop, I’m dead. The ground is littered with rocks and dead branches, and I trip more than once but I don’t slow down. I can still hear them behind me. The thumps of their heavy feet, twigs breaking, the sound of metal moving, traversing the forest with ease. The woods are thick with vegetation, brushes and pinetrees. The sun is on my back, lighting the way for me as I run for my life. But not for a moment I stop. I’m marked for death by these… Hunters.

Before I know it, I leave the trees behind and I can see the cloudy skies above. My light is gone, and rainfall is not far behind. The clearing is large, and there’s no cover. Woods all around. I can still hear them behind me. My chest aches, and my body is numb. My head feels like it’s going to explode, and I feel sick to my stomach. My legs are just about to give in. This place will be where I meet my end, I grow certain of it. There’s no point in running anymore, I’m only prolonging the end.

There’s a slight, cold breeze upon the air and the pinetrees gently rock back and forth, as I sit down on my knees in the clearing. A rumble in the distance indicates thunder, and a slight drizzle of rain begins to fall.

“What a somber end” I think to myself. “Even the sun shuns me now.”

I hear them behind me, coming through the underbrush. That terrifying, bloodthirsty roar as it sees me. The sound of a blade being extended. Jesus, this is going to hurt. I shut my eyes.

The other Hunters let out similar roars. But as I expect death, something happens that not even a Hunter-Killer Machine can predict.

A brutal, deafening crash sends me to the ground as it comes smacking down. I barely have the time to see a nearby tree being obliterated by the sheer force, and the Machines standing around it, for one brief millisecond, see it approaching. Their electrical bodies contort and twist violently, before erupting in four grand, bright green explosions that send shrapnel and orange metal parts all over the area, before collapsing into nasty, entangled piles. I scream as it happens. I think that for a moment, if they could, the Hunters would’ve done the same. A bright light, then death. It feels oddly appropriate… And almost supernatural. You can’t buy this kind of luck.

It takes me a little while to gather myself before I can clamber to my feet. My ears are still ringing after the lightning strike. I don’t know how I’m still alive, though… I feel slightly singed. My antagonising foes lie spread out around the tree that’s now burnt and shattered. I slowly approach them, as if they would suddenly come back to life. One of the machines has it’s bladed arm pointed straight up, at me. It’s big enough to cut me in half.

On it’s shoulder sits some kind of device, it resembles a camera, or perhaps binoculars. It still gives off a faint glow, so I carefully pry it loose. Looking through it, I start to realise how the Hunters could’ve followed me so closely. An Infra-Red vision scope. Displays anything living or heat-source in bright yellow. Everything else is red or blue. The thrashed bodies of the Hunter Machines still glow faintly orange. I kick one of them in anger. All it does is hurt my foot a bit.

Pocketing the Thermal Scope, I start to move away from the clearing. It’s cold as hell outside. No snow yet, but the rain and the wind is not helping. I need to find a place to lay low, to hide. Anything for a cup of coffee, hell, a roof over my head. A large ridge sits in my way, so I climb it. The wet rockface makes it precarious, but after what I just survived it’s a cake walk. With all the adrenaline going through my battered body at the moment, I doubt anything would stop me now.

The top of the ridge reveals the valley below. There are roads, farms, fields… The farmlands! That’s where I am. I can see the top of a church tower to my west, but a pillar of smoke rising nearby leaves me discouraged from going. I’m in no shape to fight anything. My luck reserves feel like they’ve run out. Turning my head east, there’s mostly just farmlands and roads. I do spot a crossing, though. A few houses, and a news kiosk. A few cars as well, perhaps one of them still has the key in the ignition? It’s not much of a plan, but it’s better than freezing to death. The climb down would probably qualify as something of a risky gamble, but with some effort I manage to not trip and break my neck. Considering the state I’m in, there better be some keys in one of those cars. And a few million crowns. Yeah, and a bottle of champagne. That’d be golden.

There are a few houses at the crossing, but considering the location being so exposed in every visible direction, it doesn’t feel safe to take shelter here. A thick fog is also rolling in, blanketing the entire area in a nigh impenetrable mist. Better to get moving. Get north, to the mainland. It’s far, but with wheels… It’s doable. Just need to follow the main roads.

My stomach grumbles. Another problem that I try to just… Put in the back of my head, focus on surviving. No, that’s not happening, is it? I need to eat something. I stagger up to the blue news paper kiosk. It’s adorned with some ice cream signs, some newspaper headlines. Some news about the Berlin Wall, and the end of the Iron Curtain. Wait… I stop for a moment. The Cold War is over. But… There are these Machines everywhere. And there are no people. Cars are left abandoned in the roads, and the houses appear vacated. Were we wrong to assume that it was really over… Or is this the beginning of a Soviet invasion?

I think about it as I rummage through the garbage bin. Nothing but trash. Eagerly digging to the bottom, I end up cutting my hand on a broken soda bottle.

“FAN!” I proclaim loudly. “Helvetes satans jävlar…” I grumble a long line of swedish curses as I make my way around the back. I wipe my bloodied hand against my shirt. The wound’s not very deep, it’s more another annoyance than anything to worry about. The door to the kiosk however is completely pulled off it’s hinges. From the outside.

I cautiously peek inside. It’s dark, but empty. What looks to be drag marks can be seen on the wooden floor, and stains. Dark red stains. Shit. Another reason not to linger. I search through the cabinets, and to my delight they look like they were recently restocked. There’s Bepp Soda, Chocolate wafers, candybars, chips… I fill two bags and probably my entire mouth with candy before I head back out into the rain. The sugar helps me focus, a bit. Maybe it’s just placebo, but it does feel a little bit better. Now, to get a car. There are two cars here, a white Björk, and a Ville station wagon. Tossing the bags in the back of the Björk, I sit down in the drivers’ seat and begin to check around for keys. It proves to be an easy task, as they’re still in the ignition.

Who leaves their car just like this? But no matter. The engine hums to life with the turn of the key, and I let out an enthusiastic cheer. I am out of here! Onto the main road, then to the Östertörn Bridge, and… Wherever. Preferrably behind some heavily reinforced military barricades.

I pull out onto the main road, and speed up. As the engine growls, I barely make out the noise in the background, a kind of heavy thumping sound… Approaching somewhere up ahead. As I peer through the windshield at the foggy road, an enormous, dark and bipedal silhouette comes into view.

One single red eye staring back.

[Bazyl]

Once more, I’m reading a captivating and intriguing text. And there is a genuine link between text and photos. It is good to wait for another chapter. When I was young, we used to read novels printed in a daily newspapers, each day one chapter (I know, I know I am not a youngster). However, it’s a first time a can ask a question to the author. Why the tree fell, luckily crashing the metal pursuers ? An accident, a friendly fire from a Tank, a land-mine or maybe some mysterious saviour hidden in the fog, another survivor, fired a granatgevar rocket ? Will we get the answer in the next delivery ?

[Zesiir]

As it says, lightning struck the tree. The Hunters being of metal, did not survive.

[Bazyl]

Oh yes, you’re right. I have read it once more. It appears now clearly to me. Distant thunder, rain, deafening crash, electrical bodies, bright light, luck. A good idea. How could I have misread this I must have been really tired looking for three missions and three weapons a in large and desterted space of Normyrra Base last night.

[Zesiir]

Without so much as blinking, I pull a hard left on the steering wheel, forcing the car onto a small side-road. Whatever huge, lumbering machine this is, it roars with a deafening sound that resembles a mix between a 1950’s movie monster and the startup sound of a workstation computer.

Essentially, it’s absolutely terrifying.

I see it’s one red eye piercing through the back window of the car, as it disappears in the distance. The ride’s very bumpy and unpredictable, and with darkness starting to fall I find barely enough time to look behind, focusing on what’s ahead. Bushes, twigs and branches whip against the windshield as I drive forward. Whatever that thing was, it was huge. And I’d like to put that behind me, before it decides I’m a threat worth chasing down. After what seems like a few minutes of dirty, country dirtroad and quite a lot of twists and bends I begin to slow down. Not just deliberately, either. The car is actively resisting going forwards now. The engine must be overheating, with all the billowing steam coming forth from the hood. But I don’t want to slow down. Not now.

Then, something happens very quickly. An extremely high-pitched noise screeches through the night, through my reckless driving the Ville’s engine to exhaustion. There’s a brief red light ahead, and before I can step on the breaks it comes crashing into my windshield. Something metallic, large, round and very angry. Before I can retake the wheel, I lose control. The car shifts violently upwards, then down.

Then… Blackness.

---

There’s this dream that I have. I can tell it’s a dream, because I’ve already lived it.

I’m sitting in my office, writing down the last bits of a script for a program they want me to design on this computer. The blue screen glares at me. I’m not explicably told what the program is for, but it’s not hard to find out. Runtime commands like “execute directive” and “accept order” make it fairly obvious. It’s not really that important, it’s the last job I do before I quit my position and become a writer. The office smells similar to… Wood, and old coffee. Slight cigarette smoke. Fax machine papers. The window’s slightly open, despite the season. Fresh air’s good. Well, as good as it gets in Stockholm this time of year. The distant sounds of traffic can be heard… Slight rain on the windowsill. There’s a knock on the door.

“Come in,” I say. Though I’m fairly certain they’d do it anyway.

A costumed man comes inside, and closes the door gently. He’s in his fifties, with all the appropriate insignia on his jacket for a man of his stature. I recognise him well; it’s Thomas Åkerström, my boss.
He takes off his coat, and hangs it on a nearby coat rack.

“Karl…” He begins.

“You can’t persuade me, sir” I interrupt him. “The moment this task’s done I’m gone.”

He nods, solemnly. “Becoming a writer, moving to the countryside? That’s still the plan?”

“That’s the plan.”

“How are things with Linda and the kids, Karl?”

I draw a heavy sigh, and leave it hanging a bit dramatically. Things aren’t that good. The work I’ve done lately really drove a wedge between us. I’ve worked on this project for two years and I don’t even know half of it. Some nights, I rarely came home. Other times, I did so less than sober. No wonder she needed the break.

“They’re fine, sir” I answered him, finally. He observed me for a moment.

“That’s good. I know you’re almost done with this task and I know you’re anxious to kick back and get personal relations going, but I was hoping that I could, perhaps… Offer compromise.”

I reached for another cigarette, glancing at him. “Compromise, sir? Is that what we do?”

“We do what we can, things being what they are with the world” he said, stoically.

Did he really belive that at this point? Seemed only a few years ago, the incident with the stranded Soviet submarine in Karlskrona. With some effort, I found a lighter underneath a document folder. It had the underlined words ‘Redovisningskansli Öst’ written on the front. I lit the cigarette.

“Fine, what is it?”

“We have a project on Östertörn. It’s not widely known, but it’s related to what you’ve been working on for these past two years. I can’t go into any details…”

“…you rarely do, sir” I said, interrupting him. “But Östertörn? Linda’s staying with her grandparents there.”

“The compromise being, you stay on with us, and in turn I can move you to the project. You’ll be living comfortably on Östertörn, and come a few years you’d be joining a team of top scientists, once we’ve won them over. That’s still being worked on by a collegue of mine. It may take years, but… I am assured, it will be worth it.”

“I’ll consider it” I said. Even though I’d made up my mind already.

My pondering was interrupted with the phone ringing. I lifted the reciever to my ear and answered a bit tiredly.

“Swedish Armed Forces, Documentation and Analysis Department, this is Karl Björkman.”

"BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP"

---

I awoke, lying slumped over the steering wheel with a huge, round robotic thing in my lap, throwing sparks and thrashing about angrily with a single red eye glaring right at me, emitting an awful high-pitched noise.

[IanForce]

Really cool story. Thanks for sharing it with us. And that illustrates the power of a good game: it fires up your imagination. And that’s why I would love more interaction with the surroundings. It expands the scope of your fantasy!

Someone should consider making this an alternative entry into the story. Remember Half-Life? After the initial installment, we had Opposing Forces (military) and Blueshift (police). It could start out as single-player and eventually develop into co-op as the different protagonists are brought together (e.g. by missions).

[Simulacrum_Protogen]

Best piece of fan literature I have ever read on the internet. I’m not joking! This is amazing! Keep up the good work!

[Zesiir]

Crawling clumsily out of the wrecked, flipped upside down car I clawed my way in the mud, the angry machine still glared at me with a single, red eye in the driver’s seat. I got onto my back and looked at it, then towards the road where I’d came from. It was almost dark now, but I could make out the forest line, and the slightly sloped hill where I lost control of the car. My forehead hurt. Touching it, I realised I was bleeding. I considered looking for a first aid kit in the trunk, but my thoughts were interrupted by terror. A mechanical drone, high-pitched and echoing from across the woods. Heavy stomping, the sound of trees and twigs being crushed and tossed aside. Something was coming… Something big. I wasn’t keen on finding out.

I scrambled to my feet, still dizzy from the crash. The chilly November air fresh in my lungs, and made a run for it. Anywhere but here, across the muddy field, away from the stomping. The little angry machine in my car blared loudly, as if calling it forth. In the distance, I saw lights, and a blazing fire. A building. No… A church. Just across this field, and then another one. In front of it, two cars ablaze. Not exactly a welcoming sight, but what choice did I have? As I cleared the distance between myself and the blaring machine I slowed a bit, and listened. The stomping seemed to have ceased. From behind the cover of a tree, I peered back from where I came. Darkness had fallen at this point, but I remembered the infrared scoped I had picked up, and switched it on.

I could scarcely believe what I saw. Something hulking, several stories tall, dwarfing the crashed car next to it, stood on two massive legs. A whole array of spotlights adorned it’s chassis, searching around it’s area. Two enormous weapons situated below it’s ‘head’, that also seemed to scan the surroundings for movement. It casually turned it’s head around, and as it faced my way, I held my breath. Then it turned away again. I let out a relieved sigh.

The massive war machine began moving in another direction, and the small hovering unit seemed to follow. I took that as a cue to head for the Church. I cut across the last field, scrambled over a stone wall, over a ditch and began climbing the fence that separated me from a road ahead, and beyond that, the church grounds.

That’s when I heard it.

That blood-curdling, mechanical roar I’ve grown so intimately familiar with as of late. For a moment, it boggled my mind how such a machine, let alone a whole group, could have snuck up on me. But there they were, coming out of the woodwork.

The Hunters were onto me, and they were tearing through the forests just beside the church with crimson, glowing eyes. Before I knew it, strange red projectiles whizzed past me, burrowing into the trees, rocks and foliage and then detonating, sending shards of rock and debris everywhere with deafening effect. I instinctively crouched back from the fence, and jumped back into the muddy ditch. It proved the right decision, as the next projectile stuck into the fence, transforming it to a cloud of splinters in seconds.

“This is it,” I thought to myself. “This is how I die. It’s been put off for long enough, there’s no winning against these things.”

My self-pity was interrupted by an enormously loud bang, following a sickly green fireball and the mess of charred, torn metallic body crumbling into the ditch beside me. I recoiled back, trying to make sense of what happened around me. Soon, another of the Hunter machines was blown clean in half just on the road, it letting out a protesting, mechanical whine as it went. My eyes darted towards the church, where I could see a large muzzle flash, following a projectile smashing straight into a nearby parked car, that went up in an enormous fireball that engulfed two more of the machines. The sound left my ears ringing, and before I could gather myself enough to see what was going on, there she was.

Like some sort of action hero, clad in green overalls, wearing combat boots and what looked to be a bulletproof vest. In her hands, an AG4 Assault Rifle. She opened fire over me, at distant targets I could not see, methodically and almost calculating in each burst unleashed. She yelled something, and I tried to make out what it was. I couldn’t due to all the racket, but at a brief pause she stretched her hand towards me, and our eyes met. I took her hand, and now I heard her speak.

“Get out of that ditch if you want to live!”

She helped me onto my feet, and before I could say anything she stared at me with two fierce blue eyes through some kind of aviator helmet, and yelled “Run to the churchtower! Get the Grenade rifle and help hold them off!”

Tracers and red projectiles whizzed past me as I ran, bursting into the air with flashes that lit up the dark night. I could her her shooting behind me, now covering behind one of the downed machines’ bodies. There wasn’t any time to think, just act. I ducked inside the church, headed up a stairwell, past the organ, and up another set of stairs to the tower.

The sounds of the gunfire outside grew louder, along with… Thumping sounds, that made the ground shake. What I saw from the tower confirmed my suspicions. Not only was another pack of Hunters on the approach, but also this… Tank, of a war machine. I watched the woman blow away another Hunter machine, as I went to pick up the large, tubular weapon.

I tried to remember my military service all those years ago, what we were taught. All Swedes do their military service when they come of age. So we’d be ready for war. And here I stood wondering which end to point at the enemy. I had fired A grenade rifle before, but that was at a stationary target. Not one that was moving, and shooting back. But I steeled myself, shouldered the weapon, and aimed down the sights.

The hideous Tank in the crosshairs. Aiming a bit above the heavy armoring of it’s ‘head’, I fired, hoping to hit something critical. The backblast of the weapon sent the churchbell chiming loudly, as the projectile launched itself straight at the oncoming enemy. The Tank stopped dead in it’s tracks, as if momentarily confused by what was happening, before looking up again with renewed hatred in it’s red eye. A shower of large caliber projectiles hammered the church tower, and I dropped down to the wooden floor. A nearby box held more grenade rounds, so I reloaded and prepared to fire again.

Once the barrage of bullets was over, I popped up again. The woman with the rifle was nowhere to be seen, but the Machines seemed defeated, other than well… The largest of them all. I aimed at the same spot as before, and fired. The church bell chimed loudly again, and the grenade hit it’s mark. The Tank’s ‘head’ seemed to erupt in a shower of sparks and flames and it stopped again.

“Hit it again, keep it up!” said a voice from behind me, the woman from before. “I’ll load the next, keep it aimed.”

She loaded the next round into the launcher, and patted me on the back. “Clear behind!”

I remembered this part.

“Shot coming!”, I yelled as adrenaline built up inside me. I knew at any time that the Tank could unload on us and it’d all be over. So, I took aim and fired. The large war machine roared loudly in protest now, as more green fire spouted out, and thick armour platings came loose from it’s chassis.

The woman loaded another round.

“Clear behind!”

“Shot coming!”

As the grenade round went into the Tank’s now exposed innards, it could bear the punishment no longer. The lumbering hulk let out an exhausted, inhumane moan as it erupted into a gigantic green-tinted fireball that lit up the entire area, sending off a black plume of smoke into the air as it collapsed.

It was over. As the dust settled, I set down the grenade launcher and collapsed onto the wooden floor.

“Hey… We did good. You did good. What’s your name?” she said to me, as she set the launcher aside.

“Karl Björkman,” I responded. I looked at her as she removed the flight helmet. “What about you?”

“Corporal Helena Jacobsson, airforce.”

[Zesiir]

I slowly rose to my feet, looking myself over for a bit before addressing her again. My ears were still ringing after firing the launcher, and from the backblast impacting the church bell. We started to head down the stairs. The church had seen better days, more notably now with fresh bullet holes and scorch marks all over it. I noticed several sleeping bags gathered around the organ, and some pilfered cans of food along with backpacks spread about.

Helena put down her rifle next to the wooden railing that overlooked the main hall of the church, and produced a water bottle from a nearby backpack to drink from. I looked at her attire again, and was reminded of what she said.

“Swedish Airforce? You’re a pilot?”

She gathered her assault rifle again, unhooked the magazine and began to reload it with spare bullets from a jacket pocket.

“Vråken pilot, yeah. I was shot down yesterday. I ejected, landed in a forest west of here. Was only minutes before they got beads on me. I broke into an armory, got myself some gear. Been on the move ever since.”

Seemed like a plausible story. I questioned her again.

“Do you have any news from the mainland?”

She shook her head. “No. I was stationed at Överby when this thing began. I’d just arrived to reinforce the airforce units there, a week before.”

I sat down on a chair next to the organ, and was immediately reminded of how tired I was… It had been a harrowing afternoon, and I tried my best to gather what I knew so far.

“So, what is all this? A Soviet invasion? Foreign land grab? Aliens?”

She looked me over. “You tell me, are you from Östertörn?”

I nodded. “Yeah… For the last five years or so. I’m… A writer.”

She loaded the fresh magazine into the assault rifle and cocked it. “…a writer? Like, books?”

I nodded again. I felt hesitant towards naming the work I had done for the army on Östertörn. It had been one of the reasons I moved here in the first place. That, and trying to mend a faltering relationship. The writing was just a side project.

“Yes, books. My first book, actually. I was about to release it when… This thing, happened.”

The female Vråken pilot seemed only moderately interested. “Yeah? What’s it about?”

“Human nature, in a way” I responded. That was the truth, though I’d been inspired by the work I had done for the army. Twisted it around a bit, so not to spill any secrets.

She seemed even less interested now, as she began packing her backpack with some supplies scattered across the balcony while casually responding. “Uh-huh…”

“So what about those orders,” I asked finally. “What do you know about this whole mess?”

She finally removed her flight helmet, and looked it over. She was a brunette, with short cut hair, probably to fit inside the helmet. It had suffered a large crack across the side, unhinging the attached visor. She tossed it aside.

“Two days ago, roughly, the entire island of Östertörn and the surrounding archipelago suffered a total communications blackout. There was no way to get through, not even by shortwave radio.”

I tried to remember. The last few days had been hazy. It was first now that I could gather my thoughts properly. I’d been in some sort of accident, I’d seen those frightening Hunter machines, and… I couldn’t tell what had actually been reality, or dreams. All I knew for sure was, at one point I’d been driving to work and the next I woke up in that dark underground bunker.

My thinking was interrupted by her sharp voice.

“You good? You zoned out for a bit.”

I nodded. “Yeah… Go on. It’s been a rough couple of days.”

I grabbed a nearby bottle of Bubbly Raspberries and took a few sips. I realised how thirsty I was, and ended up chugging half the bottle. I burped. She didn’t seem to mind much.

“From what could be gathered, Östertörn was completely cut-off. My squadron has had a few birds in the air to do aerial recon, and yesterday we managed to get in contact with the Swedish Navy. They had sent a cruiser to investigate, the HMS Visborg. They were to establish contact with Torsberga Artillery Fortress and work out a way to clear the blackout. And that’s where it all went to hell.”

She gave me a grim look. I got chills. “What happened?”

“Without warning, Torsberga suddenly opened fire with their main guns. Before HMS Visborg could establish any form of defensive posture, the guns ripped right through her. The ship was destroyed… I don’t think anyone survived.”

“Jesus Christ…” I began. I wasn’t sure what else to say. Seemed an oddly appropriate reaction, considering where I was.

“We ordered Torsberga to immediately cease hostilities and if that failed, perform strategic strikes to disable the main defenses of the base. But no response came. Instead, they locked onto us with ground to air missiles. We managed to scatter, but I lost contact with the rest of the squadron just before I ejected…”

She paused for a moment.

“I don’t think they made it.”

“I’m sorry,” I began. She interrupted me.

“The plan for now, is getting to the mainland. I’m going north, to the Östertörn Bridge. If it’s cut off, I’ll grab a boat. You’re welcome to tag along, we’ll do better as a team.”

“What about the airfield, Överby?”

She shook her head.

“Forget it. It’s a strategic target, they’ll be all over that area. Best to follow the side roads and work our way north.”

“No… Not yet. I need to find my wife first,” I began. “And my kids. They could be in danger.”

She looked at me. “Where are they now, do you know?”

“They’re staying with my wife’s grandparents in Östervik.”

“The city’s evacuated, I don’t think they’ll still be there. Standard evacuation protocol is to get the civilian population off the island. They’re probably already on the mainland, waiting for you.”

I hesitated. It was the only lead I got, to search for them in Linda’s grandparents’ house in the Östervik suburbs. Lillå, I think it was. It would be a dangerous route, and it would lead us farther from the mainland. And I did have faith in the swedish military to get things done.

“Okay,” I began. “We head for the bridge first thing tomorrow.”

[Zesiir]

I hardly slept that night. Every few hours, I’d wake at the slightest sound. The old wooden beams of the church tower, an owl hooting in the distance, hard rain against the windows, and strange mechanical sounds on the midnight breeze. At one point I woke, finding Helena looking at me. We didn’t exchange any words. Did I talk in my sleep? What did I say?

We set out at first light. The air outside was raw, cold and wet. The sun had yet to creep above the distant treetops, before we got onto a pair of old bikes with some packed gear, weapons and spare clothes. We figured, if we stuck to the main roads we could hope to outrun the Hunter Machines, and gain good distance. Östertörn is a big island, but with the right conditions one could easily cross it in less than a single day, provided you had the appropriate vehicle. As we passed one of the bridges leading to the town of Östervik, my stomach turned. Thick plumes of black smoke could be seen on the horizon. I had half a mind just going there on my own, but was quickly reminded of it’s futility when we were set upon by strange, four-legged Machines armed with machineguns, coming across the bridge. Their aim didn’t seem that great, nor was their speed, so we could out-pedal them without too much effort. Before too long, they lost interest.

As we rode on into the early morning, we passed farms, and small villages. We saw upturned tanks, burning cars, and bodies laying face-down in the mud. And the closer we got to the main road leading to the Östertörn Bridge, the more of it we saw. I had lived on the island for a good few years now. It’s the kind of place that’s big enough for you to have some breathing room, but at the same time most people know eachother in each community. Seeing these people dead made me sick, and made me wonder if anyone I’d gotten to know in the region had met a similar fate. I tried not to dwell on it. Not healthy.

As we passed the sideroad leading to a second bridge, we came across a small industrial facility. It seemed mostly abandoned, though the lights were still on. We stopped for a quick breather, and a rather meager breakfast consisting of canned Pytt-i-Panna and orange soda. Helena checked out a small guard booth while I kept a lookout. She came out with a map.

“There’s a readiness hangar near here,” she said. “Hangar 182 Hässlehed, just up the road.”

With this new information, we continued on. It had started to rain slightly as we made it onto the main road again, but it wasn’t long before we came upon the location she had mentioned. It was a large concrete opening, built into the cliffside, with two massive hangar doors slid open, revealing an intact parked Vråken jet fighter.

We parked our bikes inside, and took a closer look at the plane.

“She’s a beauty, alright” I commented. “Don’t suppose it’s flight worthy?”

Helena clambered up on the plane, and opened the canopy. She sat herself in the cockpit and flicked some switches, checking it’s systems.

“No… She’s got minimal power, but bingo on fuel. We could probably get her off the ground on the fumes, then crash spectacularly.”

“Damn.”

Airplane hangars like these were part of Swedish military strategies during the Cold War. Many such hangars littered the countryside, where regular country roads secretly acted as takeoff strips in case of war. Pilots living nearby would report to their assigned hangar, and be able to quickly scramble jet fighter squadrons without needing to worry about becoming targets, like an airfield would.

We were both interrupted by a loud, and all too familiar roar. They’d found us.

At least, one had. A bright-orange Hunter stood out on the runway, it’s middle eye glowing red.
It hadn’t readied it’s weapon yet, for some reason. Like it expected an organic target, but got confused when it saw another machine. That would prove to be a mistake on it’s part.

I ducked behind the nearby hangar door, and threw a glance at Helena who yelled at me.

“It’s in my crosshairs! Karl, cover your ears!”

Said and done, she opened fire. With the Vråken’s main cannon. A deafening, thunderous rumble echoed into the hangar, as the plane spat out a whole row of spent shell casings that went everywhere. As for the Hunter, it ceased to exist in just a few seconds. Smoldering, orange-painted scrap parts were all that remained on the pavement when I peeked out. Helena was already out of the plane.

“We’ve probably attracted a lot of attention. We need to get going.”

She was right. We got on the bikes and continued onwards. But I couldn’t help myself to smile.

It felt strangely ironic.

As we trampled through the cold, rainy morning I began thinking for myself. Try to remember what happened before I had awoken in that dark bunker. I’d moved to Östertörn for a final project with the swedish army. Programming, that was it. And doing some writing on the side. I remembered the deal I’d made, the papers I had signed. The wife and kids were here, too. That was the main reason why I came. I couldn’t for the heck of me remember what work I actually did. But I remember enjoying my time here.

Östertörn isn’t such a bad place.

We saw regular tourism, even for this time of year. Despite the significant military presence on the island, it was a popular travel destination. Himfjäll Ski Resort got many visitors, though I’d never been there myself. Many restaurants and café’s dotted the communities, businesses that had sprung up just at the end of the cold war. In fact, Sweden was starting to see an era of prosperous development… Until now.

I was quickly reminded of that, when we crested a particularily nasty slope, facing a sprawling military facility beside the road, part of it built into the mountain. A large coastal radar tower dominated the center of the complex, and the gated, barbed wire fences gave further indication that this wasn’t an area civilians were supposed to be anywhere near.

The area seemed eerily familiar, but I couldn’t place it. As we stopped, we hid the bikes in some bushes and snuck up for a better view. There was this ominous, droning sound lingering in the air, with odd noises resembling sonar, that bounced back and forth. Nothing good could come of that.

We hid behind a large rock, and Helena produced a pair of binoculars. She scanned the area for a good, long while. I mostly kept an eye on our surroundings. Those Hunter machines had a good habit of sneaking up on you.

“There’s activity at the facility” she said. “More of those four-legged things. And those flying units. They seem to be scanning their surroundings for something.”

I peered down at the complex, but I could barely make out anything of note.

“Any idea what’s making that weird noise?”

She looked through the binoculars a while longer. “No… There’s too much foliage. I couldn’t even see the flying things until one of them came out from behind a bush.”

I suddenly remembered the Infrared Scope I had in my pocket. I took it up, switched it on and looked through it towards where Helena was looking. Although it lacked a zoom it did provide a crisp image.
And there was something large down there.

“You have an IR scope?” she asked me, surprised.

I handed it to her.

“Yeah, don’t ask. Look down there, between those trees.”

“That’s a Tank Machine… No. Two Tanks. They seem to be on standby for something. Almost like they’re guarding the area.”

My enthusiasm got low. “Great. How are we going to get past them?”

Helena scanned slightly to the left. “…shit.” She picked up her binoculars again.

“What?”

“We’ve got Hunters on the main road. Eight of them. I haven’t seen this kind before. Black, with red wiring. Those weapons look deadly” she said bitterly.

“What do we do then? How do we reach the bridge?”

She handed the IR scope back.

“We’ll have to go around. It’s risky to trek through the woods… But we don’t have a choice. We leave the bikes, take what we can carry and continue north. Hagaboda isn’t far, we’ll make it if we keep quiet and tread carefully.”

It proved a tense walk. Probably the most tense I’d been in the woods, ever. Helena had given me a K-pist, fully loaded. I hadn’t fired one since I did my military service, but I kept it close. None of us exchanged any words, just listened to our surroundings. The slight drizzle of rain, the wind in the trees, the sound of our footsteps as we crossed blueberry plants and old twigs and branches. At the slightest sound not belonging to the ones one normally hears in a forest, we stopped, crouched down and scanned our surroundings. The IR scope came to be extremely useful when we managed to narrowly dodge a patrol of those running Machines patrolling just a hundred meters away. What came after, was… Terrifying. A huge, four-legged Machine, easily the size of a dumptruck. It lumbered after the Runners, at a slow but steady pace. Knocking down trees and trampling bushes where it went. The ground trembled as it stomped on after it’s escort. Soon, they were gone. We could still hear the mechanical movements of the large Machine echoing in the distance.

After making sure we were in the clear, we began moving again. Before long, we came out at the other side of the forest, facing a road and a church. The coast seemed clear, so Helena signalled for us to head for the building.

“That’s the Alby Church,” she said. “Right on the road to the bridge. We’re not far now.”

The area seemed empty of Machines. Active ones, at least. Several broken chassis of various Runners, and even two Hunters laid spread out surrounding the church. From what we could see, they had been shot at, repeatedly. And that was pretty much all we got time for, before a bullet whisked past me, hitting a lamppost. We ducked down behind a large rock. Soon, another followed. But no gunshots. At least… Not very audible ones.

“Cease firing, we’re not Machines!” Helena cried out towards the church. There was silence, for a moment. Followed by a man’s voice.

“…you sure?”

“We’re pretty damn sure!” I chimed in.

“Come out so I can see you,” said the voice from above.

“If you put away the weapon, we’ll come out” Helena replied sternly.

“Consider it done” the voice responded. We reluctantly stepped out from our cover. We could see an elderly man sitting atop the church roof, looking down at us. He had gray hair and a beard, and wore a common linen shirt, a thick jacket and matching pants, with a hunting cap on his head.

“Well, by God. It’s good to be wrong, sometimes…” he started, then looked up. “Oh no.”

Helena looked back quickly, but couldn’t see anything. “What, what do you see?”

“You two better get in quickly… I’ll come down and unbar the back door. Hurry!”

We ran up to the church, where we found a door. Soon, footsteps could be heard on the other side, and the sounds of unhinging some kind of blockade for the door. We could also distinctly make out the all-too familiar, mechanized roar of Hunter Machines from behind.

As soon as the door was swung open, we ducked inside and helped the old man bar the door again. He shook our hands quickly, then grabbed a hunting rifle with an attached silencer from a nearby table and gestured us for us to follow him.

“I’m Father Tomas. This is my home. It’s good to see you both. But further introductions can come later. Right now, we fight!”

[NJR87]

Nice! This is an exciting story. Keep up the good work.
I’m just gonna go ahead and throw a like on all of your chapters.

This is what I would love to see more of in here, and I hope the people on the forum can take their time to appreciate this kind of content, among all the bug reports and feature requests. It takes a litte extra love (and time) to do this.
I posted my own story in here as well, but no one seemed to notice it. Had hoped it wasn’t that bad.

[Zesiir]

I think yours is alright The more community content, the better.

Depending on how long it gets, I might make a novel out of mine, with Avalanche’s approval.

[helldiver]

Hello Xezr, a very good story i appreciate.

[Zesiir]

For a moment, I’d lost my senses. I could not hear, smell, or feel the sensation of anything. It felt like a waking nightmare, like the world around me moved in slow motion, with a sick ringing noise deafening my ears. Before I knew it, I was being dragged along the floor. I raised my head to see Helena. Father Thomas was ahead of her, firing his hunting rifle with precision way too accurate for some old reverend.

A Tick came leaping at him from a corner, and he still had time to spin around and hit it in the air. He was like a machine himself. Helena yelled something, which I couldn’t make out. I was too busy looking ahead, towards the altar, as I was dragged down the aisle.

A huge, black and red body standing atop a railing, immovable with impossible balance as it unleashed red glowing projectiles around the room in a quick manner. Another joined it, through the back entrance from which we had came.

How could they find their way inside so quickly? Is there nowhere safe from the Hunters?

Something was forced over my face. Rubbery, tight. A mask. A gas mask. I could barely see out of it, my quick breaths fogged up the protective glass quickly. But Helena strapped it on, and secured it firmly. A quick double-take towards her and Father Thomas, and they had done the same. For now, the church started filling up with thick, viscous gas.

I grasped for my Kulspruta, still dangling from it’s sling around my neck, and opened fire on the red and black monstrosity by the altar. I probably missed every shot, but it was enough for it to refocus it’s continuous attacks. The thing didn’t care for taking hits; it was a Machine. But it was clever enough to prioritise threats. Fortunately, it was a poor shot.

I was bundled outside, and jammed inside a car. Father Thomas in the driver’s seat, Helena diving into the seat next to mine as she threw a grenade inside the church. A cloud of debris, smoke and fire erupted from within. As we drove out onto the road, four or five Hunters emerged from the entrance to the church, and started to give chase.

Helena tore her mask off, and then mine. Then, she slapped me across the face a couple times and I seemed to return to the normal world again, however fucked up it had become.

“Hey, you okay? Say something, Karl!”

I had to take a few breaths of clear air before I could muster a response.

“…that didn’t go so well, did it?”

I cast an eye on Father Thomas. He kept his eyes peeled on the road ahead, pressing all he could muster into the engine of the old Björk car to outrun the Hunters. Every so often, a red glowing projectile would whizz past us.

“They hit us hard. Some kind of mobile artillery, it bombarded the church from afar. Maybe a Tank Machine, I couldn’t tell. But one of the blasts knocked you clear off your feet” Helena told me, looking me over like some obsessive doctor.

“But you look alright.”

“Where are we going” I started.

“Away from here” Father Thomas answered. “To a safe place.”

We soon outran the Hunters’ flechettes, and were alone on some dark country road in the middle of nowhere. My whole body ached, but I was alive. We, were alive.

“I’ve never seen them so organized” Father Thomas continued. “It’s getting worse.”

“What do you know,” Helena asked him. “What can you tell us?”

The old man kept a wary eye on the road, but seemed to slow down somewhat.

“Not a whole lot… I’ve seen the Machines patrol together, and I’ve seen them fight. But not in these numbers. And these red and black ones, they’re new. Whatever this is, I think they’re getting more aggressive.”

“You’ve seen them fight the military?” Helena questioned him.

“Yes. Brief, sporadic fighting erupted all over the island just a few days ago. The military mobilized quickly, it was impressive. They ordered a full evacuation of all major population centers on the island. From what I heard, war was coming. Someone thought the Machines were Soviet creations. Rumours ran wild. I held mass at the time, my congregation was worried when trucks arrived to collect them.”

“I didn’t hear any of this,” Helena interrupted him. “I’m an airforce pilot, they would’ve told-”

“I don’t think they knew for sure,” he said.

I looked between them both, unsure what to say as they continued talking.

“I watched the trucks drive down this road… But the Östertörn Bridge is the other way.”

“Were they taken to the bunkers? In case of aerial attack, civilians are to be protected” Helena replied, as if on point.

“I followed them,” he continued. “At a distance, the trucks took some strange routes, until they disappeared into the mountains. I heard tell of a military installation somewhere around here, a command bunker. But I wasn’t aware it was a civilian rescue zone.”

“It isn’t,” she answered. “Hermelinen is an airforce command central for the region. They’re staffed mainly with military personnel and some aircraft, I don’t think they’d have that kind of capacity…”

I suddenly remembered, where I had woken up. The dark bunker. And… The dreams.

Before I could respond, the car pulled into a small, poorly maintained gravel road, leading into the forested mountains. I looked outside the windows, but it was already dark. Only the headlights of the car illuminated what was ahead of us.

“The trucks came here,” Father Thomas said. “They drove up this path.”

“I’ve no idea where we are…” Helena answered, grabbing her weapon and rolling down the side window.
“I can’t see any signs. There’s a military installation here?”

“That’s what I thought,” he answered her. “I have friends in the military here on the island, many of their families are with my church. They were all reasonable, friendly individuals. We learned to count on our hands the number of safe places that existed here in case of war. But none of them were in this region.”

The car stopped, and the headlights revealed a large, closed chainlink gate. The barbed-wire fence was too high to be climbed, and disappeared into the forest on either side. Helena warily stepped out of the car, letting the cold night air into the backseat. I shivered.

Father Thomas left the car’s lights on before choking the engine, grabbed his hunting rifle from the side seat and joined her.

“I came back here the following night, hoping to clear things with your people and join my congregation in safety. But there was no-one at the gate to greet me, no guards. And the trucks seemed to have departed since.”

I took hold of my weapon and stumbled out of the car to join the others.

“I ran into my first patrol of Machines soon after. These, four-legged dog-like ones” Father Thomas went on as he approached the gate. “I destroyed them, but I had to run. Even a silenced hunting rifle’s report travels far in these woods.”

I looked at him. “You know your way round that rifle…”

He placed the weapon in front of the car and looked at me sternly. “I wasn’t always a priest. There was a time, before all this, that I had another life. Lived somewhere else. Worked far away from home. Found God in the most hellish of places. Now do me a favour and grab the boltcutter from the trunk.”

The lock gave away easily to the cutting tool, as did the chains around the gate. They fell to the ground, and we made our way into a small clearing, with nothing but a large, green-coloured steel gate seemingly pressed into the mountain. A few shipping containers sat along a concrete wall, and various discarded crates. It was strange though, the gate had no visible handles or locks. As Father Thomas approached, a red laser-light shone out of some kind of emitter hidden above it, which seemed to scan him ominously. It made Helena raise her weapon defensively… But as a negative beeping sound followed and the light went out on it’s own, she seemed to relax a bit more. Father Thomas turned around.

“Well… Damn. I didn’t expect this.”

“It’s an identification scanner,” she answered. “We have them at most of the command bunkers. Basically, you carry a card with you. If you’ve got that, -or- the proper clearance, you’re allowed inside.”

“Don’t suppose we could ram the gate with the car?” I proposed.

“I doubt it. These gates are meant to protect against missile attacks” Helena answered bitterly. “I doubt even the Granatgevär would’ve—”

She was interrupted, by a familiar sound. It was ever so faint, way out in the distance of the dark night, but slowly approaching from afar. Stomping sounds.

“It’s too late,” Father Thomas said, following a sigh. “They’ve caught our scent.”

“How the hell is that possible?!” Helena proclaimed. “We had -lost- them. There is no way they could just find us again this quickly. I don’t doubt the reconaissance capabilities of these Machines, or their ability to reason faster than we do, but nothing could make them pick up the trail so fast.”

Father Thomas seemed to agree, and went back to the car. As we followed, he raised his hand.

“We can’t use the car, they’ll hear. I say, we take what we can carry and go north, through the woods. With some luck the terrain is too harsh for that Tank Machine, at the very least.”

Helena nodded. “Me and Karl will check those containers, maybe there’s something of use inside.”

As we approached the stacked shipping containers by the gate, the red laser light came on again.
It beeped in protest. Helena and I ignored it, and started to work on opening one of them.

“This one’s locked…” She began, feeling a heavy duty padlock in her hand.

“I’ll get the boltcutter again” I said, and went back towards the gate. The red light switched on again, but this time it suddenly shifted into a bright green, and a loud, clear beep followed.

“What the hell…?” Helena exclaimed, looking back.

The heavy bulkhead locks could be heard giving away and automated machinery began to slowly swing the doors open in front of us, revealing a dimly lit corridor.

Father Thomas came back, with a genuine look of surprise on his face.

The stomping grew closer. Now it was accompanied with strange howls, and the sound of mechanical engines humming. We could hear the sound of trees being felled, like some sort of prehistoric beast approached through the woods.

“We can discuss this later,” I added and headed inside. The others followed without hesitation, though I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had some explaining to do fairly soon.

[Simulacrum_Protogen]

Good job, its coming along well!

[ProCaptainAJ]

Yo, great story bro!
Hope to see more chapters soon. We need more stuff like this on the forums.

[LAPSUSmrk6]

Great story!!!

I’d watch a movie based around this game!

Good writing!

[Zesiir]

Wow, thanks guys. This was before I became a moderator, sadly I haven’t had the time to write more since then. Perhaps someday if I can find the energy

[LAPSUSmrk6]

@Zesiir

Perhaps someday if I can find the energy

Sometimes to write anything or finding time to write is as hard as droping what your currently already doing. Just gotta make time, which is difficult…but totally do able.

I think its easier to look at it as a matter of priority, if its not measuring up then its not important enough to compromise for.

Im talking about priority of free time amongst responsibilities, Im sure you have things you do on your free time, and maybe its not writing you wish you could do but something else. But you may find yourself doing something meaningless too fill in the gaps, thats when one should chase their dreams.

Call it a brief window of opportunity if you will…a reoccurring opportunity that we all seem to miss.

[Retro3391]

@Zesiir

Depending on how long it gets, I might make a novel out of mine, with Avalanche’s approval.

Pls make more! This is literally amazing! I couldn’t stop reading!