Steel Horizon

Chapter One

 They were chasing me for two days, and it was about to be over.

The forest closed in tighter around me, the frozen branches slapped my arms and legs, throwing snow into my eyes and momentarily blinding me. Still, I ran. The cold air stung my lungs and my legs burned.

I stopped under the shade of a large pine, snow crunching a final time under my boots. My chest heaved but I tried hard to hear any sound of my pursuers. Snow fluttered down from the ink black sky, muting everything but my struggle for air.

There were footsteps to the left and I turned, searching the dark. I hadn't lost them. Nobody could outrun them for long, certainly not me, and that's when I realized I shouldn't have stopped. No matter how tired I was, I should have kept going until my lungs burst from the inside.

I darted out from under the tree and it was already too late. Months of running, and it all came down to this.

A net spun out of the trees and I went flying into to the snow. I struggled against it, trying to get free before they came. I pushed against the wire net but it only dug tighter around me, clinging to my clothes and not giving me an inch.

Even though I knew it, I still tried. I had to try. Fear pushed itself inside me. It ran through my veins, pulsing in time with my heartbeat. Please, not this, anything but this. I imagined this moment too many times, but I never believed it would actually come.

Boots crunched the snow behind me and sent my heart racing faster. I struggled wildly against the metal netting again—like if I escaped, I could still outrun them. I'd never been this close to being caught. I did everything I could not to be noticed, and it had paid off.

Until now.

Light pierced the black of night around me, one by one lighting up the forest. The light was followed by the sound of metal gears and mechanisms, one of their metal legs clicking softly with every other step. It sent me shivering to my core, and not from the snow. It was the sound that haunted my dreams.

They walked into the clearing with their heads held high and their backs straight, like arrogant kings with expressionless faces. The dark night clung to them and it was my nightmare coming alive. They were calm and controlled because they knew they had won—the chase was over.

Some of the Scrappers could pull off being human—hiding the fact they were cyborgs by covering their machine parts, and then there were some who didn't care, wanting to know we were being chased—the ones who hunted us.

The wires bit into my skin as I fought more. The fear wouldn't allow my body to become still, not even for a second. If I wasn't fighting, it meant I was giving up. Something I could never do.

"Stop struggling," one of them said, his voice bored. One of the Scrappers crouched and studied me as I stilled under the net. I could barely breathe it was so tight.

He looked at his partner and asked, "Does she have any companions?" My eyes darted to the taller one standing us. Her metal eye twitched and scanned the forest once, and then again, just to be sure. Straight blond hair covered half of her eye, but it still shone blue from underneath.

"No, she is alone." Her monotonous voice was loud in the quiet night. "Check her. Make sure she has not been damaged."

I flinched as he ran his metal hand over my body, touching me through the thin netting, checking to see if I was still whole. I wanted to pull my head away as his metal fingers reached my neck, touching my skin. The coldness of them sent my body shivering again. Every nerve within me screamed.

"She is intact. No major injuries to account for. Just minor bruising on the right leg." He pulled his hand away, wiping whatever dirt and grime I had on my skin against his jacket.

The other nodded once. "Drug her."

My heart hammered as the male crouched and brought his hand closer to my neck. One of his metal fingers clicked softly and disappeared, folding down into itself, fitting perfectly into somewhere I couldn't see. It was replaced with a long silver needle. I squeezed my eyes shut but it didn't stop it from piercing the soft skin of my neck.