Chapter 24

The robots were huge, nearly fifteen feet tall. They had two legs that ended in stumps. They looked like metal elephant legs; their bodies were long and straight and only widened as they reached the shoulders. They had two arms, one of which ended in a kind of clamp that looked like a hand. The other one had a barrel at the end from the elbow down. They also had a motor or something on their backs with steam coming out of it. It made them look like they were wearing backpacks. Their heads had no mouth or nose. They only had one huge eye on them that gave a bright blue glow. Their head and body were bronze in colour while the arms and legs were made of steel. Also they had their barrel hands pointed right at them.

"Achilles, are you sure these guards are on our side?" Maximus asked, a bit worried. Achilles nodded and said, "My friend said they would be and I trust him with my life. And sure enough they passed through without much trouble. But when the jeeps came the giant robots blocked their paths and Maximus heard Captain Sharp shout into the radio "Don't shoot the automatons you idiots, unless you want to be responsible for starting a war between our countries," and the jeeps stopped behind the robots. But this still didn't stop them from shooting. For a second Maximus thought that they were going to make it. But that's when he noticed something.

"Guys we have a problem. The gates are completely blocked. And I mean boarded up," Maximus said. The others came to see what he was talking about. Not only were the gates closed but large wooden planks were also nailed onto it. It looked like it hadn't been opened in a while. "What do we do now?" Hedger asked.

"Well we can't just stop now they're still shooting at us," Rex added. Achilles closed his eyes for a second to think; when he opened them again he said, "We hammer through."

"What, are you crazy?" Maximus shouted.

"It's our best option," Achilles said.

Maximus still wasn't sure of this. But he was still a soldier inside and he knew that sometimes following orders was the best course of action. So he floored the accelerator and drove straight into the gate, praying that they survived.

They crashed through the gate. Maximus first thought that the truck wouldn't go through but it did, and they went on spinning out of control into the city. The truck slammed onto the tarred road and knocked over a lamppost. The truck came to a stop by itself without Maximus doing anything. And he was pretty sure that it probably wouldn't start again even if he tried. Smoke was coming from the engine and it filled the driving seat. He expected the engine to blow up, but right then at that moment he did not care. However, nothing happened and when the smoke cleared he looked behind to see if everyone had survived. Everyone seemed to be alive, but all of them were on the floor breathing heavily. Achilles had sat up leaning against the wall panting. Hedger was still lying flat on the wall, laughing like a mad man at the fact that they were still alive. Rex was untangling himself from their bags which he had fallen into and Daedalus had curled up into a ball with his arms around his legs, still in his corner. The scene at the gate had changed too. The two robots had completely blocked the gate now and they couldn't hear any shooting anymore, it seemed the soldiers had given up and left for now.

Finally Achilles said "Is everyone all right?"

Everyone mumbled 'yes' without any real energy. Maximus thought it was all over now. But when he looked outside he saw something that made him think that the trouble had just started. Two more of the giant metal robots like the ones guarding the gate were pointing their guns at them. And in their middle there stood a man. He was a big man probably seven feet tall. His skin was also extremely tanned, almost like he had been sunbathing for a year. He had copper-coloured hair and beard, and looked a bit messy. He was wearing large boots with camouflage trousers. He was wearing a simple white T-shirt, which was covered in grease stains on top of which he was wearing a bronze chest plate complete with shoulder guards. Maximus also noticed that he had a wrist band with a yellow summoning crystal on his left arm. Then he took out something from his back pocket. It was a walkie-talkie and the man started speaking into it.

Achilles' own walkie-talkie lit up again. The man's voice came from it and said "If you're in this steaming truck in front of me please do respond buddy. Otherwise we're gonna light it up like a firecracker, over …"

Achilles grabbed the walkie-talkie fast and said "Don't shoot, it's us."

A smile appeared on the man standing outside and on his signal the robots lowered their guns. Then the man came to the back of the truck and ripped the back doors open. He literally ripped out the doors with his bare hands and threw them to the side. Then he put his grinning face inside and said, "Well what are you waiting for, come give me a hug."