Leno's will (chapter 6)

Leno woke with a snap. His eyes opened so fast his world was all a blur. It took many moments before his vision came into focus. But by that time he could hear his rapid heartbeats and feel sweat trickling down his face. He breathed heavily as he tried to steady himself but to no avail. Quietly but surely he uttered a faint cry. He could hear himself. His flexed his fingers and he knew he was awake.

“Mika, Judi”. Leno uttered a hoarse cry. He could feel the dryness in his voice. His throat was parched.

“Mika, Judi”. He tried again. “Mika” he screamed with all his might but he was only just loud enough.  Leno heard the sound of rushing footsteps. He looked up at the ceiling and saw the dim lamps hanging below the earth-made roof. He was in the burrows. Judging by the softness below him he was on one of aunt Mara’s medical mattresses.

Mika and Judi rushed over to him in an instant. They both sat on either side of him. Judi placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as Mika called aunt Mara. Judging by the sound of her footsteps he knew she wasn’t far either. Why would she be? This was her medical area after all. Suddenly Leno snapped back to reality. The very reality that was sure to shatter soon or so he had been told. But for some reason he didn’t doubt the words of the stranger who had informed him so. Deep in his heart he knew what he was told was the truth. Somewhere in his head a voice kept shouting abuses at him for lying there. Why aren’t you telling them? Why are you lying there? Get up and tell everyone. Hurry!

“Hey Leno can you hear me” asked Mika. He lightly shook Leno’s shoulder but became worried with the lack of response. He looked over at aunt Mara. Leno didn’t see what she did or said but he knew Mika was reassured. He turned back towards him and smiled.

“It’s alright Leno. You took a pretty bad hit but there was no real damage done. You see after the party Tyson starting chucking some stones at the wall and you just happened to come into his shooting range. You were out cold with just one hit. I was so worried but aunt Mara says you are going to be just fine”

Leno took a brief moment to feel irritated about Tyson. That arrogant fool he thought. It’s because of him I am like this. Then Leno turned his attention back to Mika. His smile seemed false. There was something fake about his expression and his words seemed empty. He was not going to be just fine. No one was. The voice in his head grew louder and louder until it started screaming at him. His head throbbed. He clutched it with both his hand. Even then he did not realise how he had suddenly bolted up and did such a thing when only moments ago he was lying down without the faintest ounce of energy to even make a sound.

“No Mika, something is coming. It’s not going to be okay. The man told me so. Call everyone. Call aunt Mara, Ivan, Lisa, Sam, Coby, Woody, Joe…”

“What are you talking about?” interrupted Mika. He turned towards Judi but she was in a different world.

Judi was clutching her head with both her hands as if she was trying to block out some terrible noise. Leno did not see for he was doing the same thing. Suddenly the noise stopped. Something, some unknown force of nature spurred him to get up. As he did he put an arm around Mika and was about to grab Judi when she screamed at the top of her voice.

“Get down”. Judi pounced on Leno and Mika and pinned them to the ground. Before any of them had time to consider what had happened, a huge explosion shook the earth. It was felt as if huge invisible shockwaves were being sent out as everything shook continuously without pause. The earth rumbled as though it was going to split in two. But it didn’t. Instead the slave burrow collapsed into two. Leno watched in horror as the evening sky came into view. Sector twelve was once again fortunate. For the half of the burrow that had collapsed, it had stopped just short of their sector. A little bit more and they too would have been covered under earth.  

Aunt Mara rushed over and screamed at them. Leno couldn’t make out what she was trying to say. He didn’t care. He shouted even louder than her.

“Everyone, everyone, guys you have to go. We are all going to die. Run, run…” Leno panted heavily. He was out of breath. He felt weak and useless. He looked at their expressions and knew they did not understand. A pang of fear hit Leno. In his current state of health he could not utter any more words and he knew then that there was no way he could convey his sense of urgency onto them. Of course they were on edge because of what was happening but they needed to know what was really happening. What is happening he thought? Do I really know?

 Leno saw Mika’s mouth moving but the words that came from him were silent and empty like a ghost. His eyes focused on other things. Where there had been a burrow now stood a half collapsed heap of earth. He could see the shattered remains of the dead and the fearful figures of the living as they scattered away from the earth dome. One of the furnace towers had collapsed and molten liquid was pouring out from where the tower had collapsed. He saw a human roasting in it before momentarily disappearing into it like a drop of water being absorbed by the dry earth. All around fumes of smoke rose from the ground and to his horror and sorrow he saw bodies of humans still burning adding fuel to the greater disaster waiting to consume everyone-a field of fire had replaced what was the slave yard.  It was growing.

Leno looked around for the people he loved. Sector twelve had around two hundred people. As Leno scanned the vast distance dread began to creep up in his heart. It whispered the dreadful truth into his ears. And he heard that bitter truth for what it was. Sector twelve had around two hundred people! Two whole hundred! Already it was a sure fact that many of them were dead and many more were sure to follow. Leno snapped back to those closest to him. He met the lost expressions of Judi, Mika and aunt Mara. They were speechless and it was not just because of what was happening around them but also because of how he was acting. But within the recesses of those looks he saw trust. They trusted him and for now that was enough. He beckoned for them to follow him and he began to move through the litter of earth and the dead. He was making for the north gate. The one he was so familiar with since it was next to the slave yard.

“Leno wait, what’s going on Leno, is there something that you haven’t told us?” Mika shouted hopelessly behind him. Leno did not pay him much attention. Right now all that mattered was to get them out of here safely. Then he would come back for the others. There was no way he could get all of them out but the three that were with him definitely took priority over many others. It was hard to make such admittance but he had to accept it so that he could rescue them now. As he ran, a field of smoke in front of him cleared and Leno came to an abrupt halt. Leno thought he had known what fear was by that point but he was mistaken. He was about to understand the full scope of its power soon enough.

There stood the machines in clear formation. Four whole combat units made up of wardens. And in the middle of their formation stood the giant of a being like none Leno had ever imagined even in his worst nightmares. Although it retained the appearance of a familiar animal it was clearly made of metal and was most definitely a machine of class X.

One of a kind, one of a few, one sent directly by the robot king and one that signalled the long awaited terror that Leno had been warned about.