Ch. 5: First Scouting Mission

Vines clawed up concrete walls, and the wind carried an eerie whistle through hollow streets. This was the dead world, the killing ground of machines.

Conrad stood at the forefront of the formation, his expression firm and unreadable. Behind him, dozens of soldiers adjusted their gear, checked their weapons, and whispered last-minute instructions.

Leo stood among them, helmet in hand, eyes wide with a strange mix of excitement and unease. This was his first real mission—his first step outside the protected perimeter.

“Carolin,” he said, nudging closer to her, “what exactly do we do out there?”

Carolin, equipped in full gear, responded without turning. “Standard procedure. We sweep the surrounding ruins for active machines, eliminate threats, and scavenge parts from the downed ones. Components, power cells, memory cores—anything we can use back at base.”

She looked over her shoulder at him. “Sometimes we find supplies too. Abandoned caches. Rarely, survivors. The real goal, though,” she said, glancing at the towering cityscape in the distance, “is to carve a path to the city center.”

Leo nodded slowly, taking it all in. The danger. The objective. The grim hope. He was about to speak again when a familiar voice called out.

“Leo!”

He turned. Keitz, Derwin, and Shelvi jogged over, clad in full gear, rifles slung over their backs and grins on their faces.

“You guys too?” Leo asked, surprised.

“Guess we’re all in the same batch,” Keitz replied. “Wouldn’t want to miss your first mission.”

Carolin, standing a few steps away, narrowed her eyes and said in a flat tone, “Looks like you’ve made friends.”

Leo smiled awkwardly. “Yeah. They’re from training.”

Before the reunion could continue, Conrad’s voice rang out loud and clear from ahead.

“Everyone, remember—this is beyond the wall of safety. There’s no security net out here. This is live territory. We can be ambushed at any time. Stay alert and follow orders.”

Suddenly, the tone in Conrad’s voice changed—sharp and urgent. “Movement up ahead! They're here! Everyone, prepare for engagement!”

Like clockwork, the veterans sprung into action. With honed precision, they zipped up the sides of buildings using their propulsion gear, anchoring themselves in windows and ledges, rifles primed, eyes scanning the street below.

Carolin pivoted to face the newer recruits. “Form a ring around me—outward facing. Eyes sharp. Weapons up.”

Leo, Keitz, Shelvi, Derwin, and three other rookies quickly formed the perimeter. Each one took a direction, rifles raised, breath held. They stood on cracked asphalt, surrounded by collapsed cars and rusted lampposts—every shadow a possible threat.

Carolin paced the center, monitoring them all.

“The machines will spot you first,” she said. “They always go for the unseasoned. Don’t fire unless I give the order. The veterans will snipe them once they reveal themselves.”

Suddenly, a deep, metallic thud echoed through the street.

Another. And another.

From around a corner, the first robot appeared—its humanoid frame taller than a man, its limbs jointed like an insect’s, glowing red optics locked on the new recruits.

More followed. Five, then ten, spilling from the alleyways like a swarm.

The recruits tensed. Leo’s finger hovered over the trigger, sweat collecting at his temple. The robot took one step forward—and then its head exploded in a burst of sparks and shrapnel.

Snipers on the buildings had fired.

Then another robot collapsed. And another.

But for every one destroyed, more emerged from the darkness. The veterans continued firing from above, maintaining precision. Yet it became clear—the machines weren’t slowing down.

Carolin’s voice rang sharp. “Hold formation!”

Leo’s heart pounded in his chest. He could feel the earth trembling under the weight of approaching machines. The war had truly begun.

This was no simulation.

This was survival.

It began like a wave—swift, unrelenting, and impossible to stop.

From every broken alley and collapsed tunnel, the robots swarmed the scouting unit. The air was filled with the screech of rusted limbs scraping across steel, punctuated by the thunder of rifles and the sharp, rhythmic hiss of propulsion gear activating as veterans darted to higher vantage points.

Veterans fired with mechanical precision from the broken windows and ledges of ruined towers, raining death from above. On the cracked street below, the new recruits held formation around Carolin. Their hands trembled but stayed firm on their triggers, their eyes darting through dust and smoke, locking on to any sign of movement.

Leo fired his rifle, the recoil jarring his shoulder, but he didn’t stop. Each round tore through robot plating, sparks and metal splinters flying into the air. Grenades were tossed, explosions lighting up the streets in waves of chaos. Derwin shouted warnings, Shelvi reloaded frantically, and Keitz pulled another rookie out of the path of an oncoming robot just in time.

The tide seemed endless.

Though the soldiers outnumbered the robots at first, soon it was clear—the machines weren’t just attacking, they were testing. Pushing.

Then it happened.

Leo raised his rifle at a damaged robot crawling across the debris, one leg twisted and sparking. Its red optics dimmed and flickered. Then, to his shock, it lifted its arms and pressed its hands together.

“Please... don’t... kill... me...” it said in a garbled, metallic voice. “I... surrender…”

Leo froze, finger off the trigger.

He stared at it, confused. Could it really be pleading? Could it actually be… conscious?

Carolin, standing beside him, saw his hesitation.

Without a word, she raised her pistol and fired.

The robot’s head exploded in a puff of shrapnel.

Leo stared at the still-smoking remains, disbelief washing over his face. “It was begging…”

Carolin turned to him with an unreadable, cold expression. “Never hesitate. They’re machines. Not people. They don’t feel pain. They mimic.”

Leo was about to argue—but Conrad stepped in, placing a hand on his shoulder. “She once made the same mistake,” the commander said, voice quiet beneath the distant gunfire. “She spared one. Just like that. And it costed her father's life. Carolin survived because her father jumped in front of the shot meant for her.”

Leo said nothing. He only nodded slowly, the weight of the war settling deeper on his shoulders.

To be continued…