The Proteus Trilogy: Book One: Warrior

Chapter 12

So they don’t need to be specifically in order of their colors, but merely related.

Next, I go on  a purple one, then a blue one, another yellow one, a green one, and finally, a yellow one. Then I’m through the room. I walk out into the hallway and continue down it. I still haven’t found Bree.

I barely finish the thought, and I’m in a room which Bree is walking through, a blue backpack on her back, the way it’s supposed to be. She’s coming from the doorway across the room, and we see each other at the same time.

“What’s in the backpack?” I ask her. She shrugs.

“I tried opening it, but it’s sealed shut.”

“Alright. Let’s get out of here.” I say.

She looks like she’s been through a few things as well. I can see a couple dents in her armor, plus a scratch on her forehead. Besides the doors we came in, there are two more, one on each wall.

“Which way do we go?” She says, asking the obvious question.

“Left” I say, as she says “Right.”

“Mine or yours?” I say.

“Um, yours.” She says.

We head in that direction. As we enter the hallway, I tell her what happened with me, leaving out the part with the dragon. I finish my story, and she tells me hers, though I can tell that she leaves a few parts out, like me. When she entered the maze, it was just a straight hallway, no traps or anything. She came to a room with the backpack and a door, picked up the pack, and went through the door.

Since then, she’s fought giant spiders, swam though a pool full of sharks, had to eat a raw lizard, and avoided several traps.

All in all, it’s amazing that we’re both still alive. We arrive at the end of the hall, and look around. It’s a larger room than the others, and along the far wall are four giant metal things, vaguely humanoid in shape. The arms are long, almost reaching to the floor, and the legs are somewhat short. They have no head, and the body is large.

As we step into the room, we see that there are two more, one to each side of the door, though these ones are made for humans to control, from inside. What we have to do is obvious. I climb into the one on the left, and Bree gets in the one on the right. I reach my hands into holders made for them, and it powers to life.

As I move my right arm, it does the same, mimicking my movements. I experimentally move my left foot forward. The machine does the same. I see that Bree has done some similar tests as me. Then the other four machines power up.

They charge toward us, and I run at them. I hit the first one, and we roll to the ground. With difficulty, I get to my feet, and punch at one of the other ones, knocking it off balance. Bree is fighting one of her own.

The automaton rights itself and swings at me. I try to block, but I’m too slow, not factoring in the greater amount of time it takes my machine to move. It hits my machine in the chest, but there’s armor there protecting me, so I’m only knocked down, not crushed to death. I climb to my feet and face the two machines.

I decide the best defense is a good offence. I jab at the first one, and, when it backs off, grab the other one by the arm and twist it off. I use it as a club to beat it into back.

 The other one runs at me, and catch it behind the leg, and knock it to the floor.  Then I hit it repeatedly in the torso until it lies still. The other, now one-armed robot runs at me, and tackles me. It lands on top, and starts pummeling my iron chassis.

I try to push it off, but it’s already responding sluggishly. Then Bree is there, snapping the other arm off the machine, and destroying it with that.

I crawl out of the husk of the machine; and get to my feet somewhat unsteadily. I don’t feel like I’m injured, but when Bree climbs out of her machine and sees me, she gasps.

“Are you alright?” She says.

“Yeah, never better.” I say. Then I cough. It’s a wet, horrible sounding cough, and it hurts.

“Proteus, look.” She says, pointing at my chest. I look down, and see a long, thin piece of metal sticking out of my chest. “And you’ve got a cut on your face.”

As she says that, I feel my head. There’s a long cut that goes from my forehead to my temple. “Well, would you look at that.” I mutter. I touch the piece of metal and quickly release it as I feel a line of fire in my chest..

“We have to get that out and clean the wound.” Bree says.

“With what?” I say. “We don’t have any medical supplies. Keep it in; it’ll keep me from bleeding out. When we get out of the maze, I can get medical attention.”

I brace myself, and reach for the piece of metal. I bend it downward, so that it’s not sticking straight out of my chest. It hurts, but now I don’t have to worry so much about driving it deeper.

“Let’s move.” I say weakly. I stumble out the door at the end and into yet another hallway. I lean against the wall for support, and when Bree tries to help me, I push her away. “Just…let me deal with it.” I wheeze.

Bree takes point, daggers out. But there aren’t any traps. The hallway continues, straight as an arrow, and I can see the gate at the end.

“Almost there.” I mumble. I keep walking, but it doesn’t seem to be getting any closer. Then I trip and drop to one knee, coughing. I can’t stop, and blood starts coming out my mouth. Finally, the fit ends, and I raise myself to my feet. Bree is standing by anxiously.

“I’ll be okay.” I say, smiling at her. She shudders back, and I realize that my teeth are bloody.

“Sorry.” I mumble. I look at the gate. Only a few hundred feet. I walk towards it, and my walk turns into a run. I have to stop though, because my vision turns dark, and I’m not getting enough oxygen.

“Just go through,” I say to Bree. “I’ll catch up in a minute.” Then I collapse. I’m dimly aware of someone picking me up, and I hear her say, “You’re really heavy, you know that?”

“Sorry again. It’s the armor, not me.” I manage to murmur.

Then we’re out of the gate, and I hear several people yelling. I hear words like punctured lung, medical attention and he’ll probably die.

No I won’t. I think, just to spite them.

***

Thanks for reading! Vote if you think I deserved it, and leave a comment below with your thoughts, critiques, or anything else! Thanks again!