One of the last remaining soldiers expertly rolled away from Dave’s fists, aiming down his ironsights to take down the mighty man-machine hybrid. Dave adjusted his step - the man cowered as a foot-shaped shadow blocked out all light and sent him to the afterlife.

  Johnson checked his remaining ammo - he was almost down to his combat knife. “I’ve seen combat in the worst shitholes this planet has to offer,” he muttered. “But you…”

  He let loose a barrage at Dave’s right shoulder. It was concentrated enough that he could see an armor panel flap loose to expose bare wires.

  He surveyed the warzone and saw nothing but bits and pieces of his teammates. It was like a Bosch-esque jigsaw puzzle out there.

  “You three,” he called, spying Kayleigh’s hair behind a tank. “Are you planning on helping out or not?”

  “The VDU!” they called back in unison. By the screwed-up expression on Johnson’s face, he was clear he had no idea what they meant.

  He studied the Dave-bot carefully as it stomped bloody puddles in the remains of his men. When he was convinced he was going to get away with it, he made a dash to join the trio.

  “It’s easily distracted, and not too clever.” Johnson said. “We can beat this thing.”

  “The only problem is not getting hit.” Caleb said. “‘Cause you ain’t getting up afterwards.”

  Johnson shook his head. “I’m not listening to negativity right now, kid. I’m guessing from the way you three are looking at me that we’re facing down the butchered remains of your friends.”

  They nodded.

  “Now I know it looks like him, but unless he was type to indiscriminate butchery, there is nothing recognizably… uh-” Johnson scratched his head.

  “-Dave” Caleb offered.

  “Thanks. There is nothing recognisably Dave in there. That man is dead, and Belker is using his likeness because he knows it’ll make you hesitate when the push comes to shove. When it’s time to shove, I really need y’all to shove. Johnson turned to Kayleigh. “Now, what did you say about VDUs?”

  “Uh, I’m not sure. That thing on its back. The metal box?”

  Goddamnit Kayleigh, Caleb thought. Now’s the time you need your survivor.

  “I’m not risking my life on a hunch, kids. And we’re running out of firepower, so I’m going to need you to be a lot more certain.”

  “She’s right.” Oliver bluffed. He tried to remember the exact details. “Uh, Belker uses the brains for processing. But that thing still needs an input.”

  Johnson nodded. “And the VDU is where it receives its orders.”

  “Exactly.”

  Johnson seemed to buy it. He chewed on his cheek. “If you get a chance, can you disable it?”

  All eyes were on Kayleigh. She nodded. “I think so.”

  Johnson scratched his mustache.

  “I mean yes.”

  “Alright,” Johnson pulled out the empty magazine and dropped his assault rifle to the floor. He unsheathed his sidearm and beckoned them all to him. “I’m going to need that ammo back.”

  Everyone unloaded their guns and handed Johnson handfuls of bullets. He loaded them all into his handgun magazine and returned it to the gun with a satisfying click.

  “What’s the plan?” Caleb had half an eye on the Davebot, who seemed to be actively scanning the area with a fine green laser grid emanating from his undamaged shoulder.. “He’s going to realise we’re here soon.”

  Johnson huddled the crew even closer. “On the count of three, I’m going to make one hell of a noise. When he spots me, take the long way around and get to his back. I’ll try and get him to crouch, hopefully that’ll give you the opportunity to leap on and take that thing down. How does that sound?”

  Kayleigh equipped her decoder.

  “And you boys just look pretty down here. Mom and Dad will be right back.”

  Johnson winked and threw them all a dazzling grin, then sprinted 100 metres away and started firing into the air.

  “Hey! You! Roboflop!”

  The targeting lasers found Johnson before his eyes did, and Davebot lurched to face him. It balled its great fists and swung them downwards. Johnson leapt out of the way and fired 3 shots into Davebot’s hands, which had hit the floor with such force that they made a crater in the concrete. The shots made the thing falter, and Johnson leapt onto the hands and started firing away. Davebot stopped, its mechanisms whirring with effort as it struggled to account for Johnson’s weight.

  “Now, goddamnit!”

  Kayleigh snapped back to reality and bolted behind the Davebot. Johnson had managed to get the VDU in perfect distance. She put the decoder between her teeth and leapt onto Davebot’s back. Curled around the VDU, she grabbed the decoder and turned it on.

  The Davebot felt the parasite latch onto his back, and tried to swat it off with its one free hand. Still, it wasn’t quite articulated enough to scratch the itch. Kayleigh hung on for dear life.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  [CALIBRATING… CALIBRATING…]

  The decoder struggled to establish a connection…

  [CALIBRATED]

  Got it!

  Now what?

  [NEW CONNECTION]

  [AMEND CONNECTION]

  [END CONNECTION]

  Kayleigh jabbed [END CONNECTION] with zero hesitation and the Davebot immediately went limp. She leapt from the juggernaut as it fell to the ground face-first.

  Silence.

  The deep baritone of Johnson’s laughter filled the air. “Whoo-boy, that thing nearly squashed me into a pancake.”

  Kayleigh exhaled. She sat cross-legged on the ground.

  “Woah,” Oliver said. “You actually did it.”

  Caleb barrelled into her with a massive hug. “Thank fuck for that,” he said. “It’s over.”

  “Over?” Johnson shouted. “It’s barely started, boy. We’ve still gotta get out of this place before it blows. Unless of course y’all forgot about that?”

  The sudden reappearance of Dave had thrown them for six. They had practically forgotten.

  “Move, soldiers.” Johnson signalled.

  “One second,” Kayleigh said. She was busy typing something into the decoder.

  The servos on Dave’s arms and legs whirred back into life. Slowly, he picked himself back up.

  Dave’s head blinked, his original blue eye colour restored.

  “Hey guys,” he said in his new robotic tone. “Did I die?”

  “Welcome back, big guy.” Kayleigh draped her arm over his shoulder, then quickly retracted it. He was so cold.

  Caleb could barely see through the tears. “You’re still in there?” He hadn’t much liked the guy when he was alive, but nobody deserved that fate.

  “Yep.” Dave twisted his wrists and flexed his fingers. “I mean, I think so. I can’t feel much of anything.” He blinked a couple times - his eyelids made an audible SHLEPP as they stuck and unstuck themselves together. “But I can see everything.”

  He twisted around to get the full lay of the land. “And something that-a-way is going to explode.”

  “Yeah, we were worried about that.” Caleb said.

  “Welcome back,” Johnson held out his hand. “Or should I say, nice to meet you.”

  Dave grabbed Johnson’s entire arm trying to shake his hand. “Are you the rescue party?”

  “What’s left of it…” Johnson surveyed the thick spread of human meat paste that covered the floor around them.

  “Jesus Christ,” Dave tried to scratch his head, but couldn’t quite get there. “I don’t want to meet whatever did that.” He thought for a second. “The momma octopus, I assume?”

  Everyone exchanged a knowing glance. “Let’s go,” Caleb urged.

  “Dave continued to stare through the wall. “We haven’t got long…”

  Studying the staircase, he thought for a few moments. Caleb thought he could hear his brain working. “But I can see a way out. Step onto my shoulders. I can carry you the way.”

  “Oh, that’s not necessary.” Johnson started to make his way to the staircase.

  “Sir, I strongly suggest you let me carry you. You won’t be able to keep up otherwise. And you definitely won’t survive the fall.”

  The fall?

  Dave swept Caleb and Kayleigh in one arm and placed them on his right shoulder. He did the same to Oliver and Johnson on his right.

  “All ready?” he asked, keeping their legs secured under his massive steel arms. “Have I got the tension right? I don’t want you to fall out and I definitely don’t want to crush your legs.”

  “All good,” Caleb threw Dave a thumbs-up and a smile that he thought probably looked more like a grimace.

  “Then let’s get the hell out of here.”

  The walls around the melted bay door exploded outwards in a haze of silvery fog just as Dave set off a full-speed. Each rung of the stairwell warped and snapped underfoot, but Dave was sprinting too fast to fall. He reached the top of the stairs and bouldered through the tiny door like a wild bull.

  Caleb was moving so fast, he struggled to breathe. The air whipped around him like a knife, pulling the skin on his face back like a painful facelift.

  Scrapers poured out of the endless unmarked rooms, falling under Dave’s immense robotic feet like pastry under a rolling pin.

  “I guess these assholes got the self-destruct memo too!” he quipped as mulch glazed his face. Caleb turned back, trying not to get any in his mouth. Behind him, the silvery fog was on their tail.

  Caleb felt Dave’s arms tighten over his legs. He tapped him on the side. “Woah, be careful buddy.” Dave could have crushed him like a bug in his old body. In this body, he was even more terrifying. The iron stench of ruined soldiers reminded him that his human body was oh so fragile.

  “Sorry, Caleb.” Dave said. “But this next bit is going to be rough. Like I said, I don’t wanna lose ya.”

  Dave raised his elbow up, and broke through an unmarked door. In front was a tall glass staircase, like something you’d find in a San Francisco software company.

  The village of Ravensbrook lay below them. It seemed like a sleepy hamlet, the kind of place usually covered in snow and pride of place at your grandmother’s Christmas display. Soft warm lights shone from the windows of fine timber-framed homes.

  A black stave church stood proud of place at the epicenter of the scene. Horses munched from troughs in nearby fields.

  Beats the hell out of the concrete hell Squish Burger was at…

  And just as Caleb got a chance to fully take in the breadth of the village, Dave was in flight. He leapt from the staircase, springing impossibly into the air. He cannonballed through the glass, just as the green fog enveloped the building utterly.

  The silvery fog blew Dave off-course, throwing him forward. The trio fell, but Dave had them tight. Pain exploded through Caleb’s knees from the sudden change in momentum.

  Then came the helicopter. Dave hit the windscreen elbows-first, his arms still holding the crew. The pilot screamed in terror as the copter started to descend in a death spin. Still, they were now moving slower than a free-fall, so Dave gripped tightly with his talons.

  The copter bundled into something black and leathery on the descent. The creature squawked in pain as the out-of-control rotors shredded its wings.

  “See!” Johnson screamed. He seemed totally in his element in the complete and utter chaos. “Guess you thought I was lying about the vamps!”

  Dave jumped from the copter just as the ground came into view, propelling it to the floor. It exploded on impact, a fiery ball of metal and vampyr.

  Dave hit the ground hard. When the dust settled, Caleb realized he was in a crater.

  The facility overhead exploded into another fireball of silvery dust, firing it like a party popper over the picturesque village.

  Dave arced over the battered squad like a tent, aiming to protect them from the stalactites of glass and steel that rained down over them.

  Caleb kept his eyes tightly shut and tried not to completely crash out.

  You’re still alive. You’re still alive. You’re still alive.

  He peered out to see the citizens of the village peering out at Belker’s destroyed facility with pitchforks at the ready.

  You’re still alive.

  But it’s far from over.