Zork mainly, and all the games like it... DnD, and the roguelike games

Oh yeah, no wonder, I saw that from somewhere before.

Oh no.

Chaoswolf, post chapter 3 on monday or tuesday when season finale is aired.

i was going to post it Sunday... so its there when people jump on after season final...

What a hellscape. It is truly amazing how well the human mind can resist the call of its senses. It was more than five minutes before I saw and felt the patches of glass underfoot. I stopped at the sound of it breaking and, for what seemed the first time, took in my surroundings. This area we left, when we entered the bunker, used to be a sandy, grassy, plain. Now it was just flat brown and broken crystal. What little vegetation there was before was now ash, and floating upon the winds. Rolling hills had been compressed into nothingness, and what sand there was become sharp glass. Particles from the nuke floated only high in the air now, choking off most of the starlight and moonlight. Hellscape. I wish we knew more about what we are up against.

Kyle on the other hand, seemed confidant considering everything that had happened. Armageddon, Skynet, murder, Skynet, robots, Skynet. Nothing makes sense anymore. “How the hell can you be so confidant?” I asked Kyle. “I mean, look around. There is nothing left of what we knew. And Wyatt is dead, and he was the only one of us who knew what the hell was going on!”

“We are alive aren't we?” He responded. “ This could be the best off we could be in quite a long time.” He paused and gave me a genuine smile. “Besides, now we have hope.”

I gave him an incredulous stare. “Hope? What hope?”

“That we aren't alone. There are other people still alive, we just have to find them. Skynet is also not invulnerable, didn't we just take out one of its machines?”

“So many people are dead though, and Wyatt died because of that thing.” I countered grimly.

“So? Since when have long odds ever stopped the Reese brothers? Hey! Look at that!” He said pointing in the distance. “ I think that was the place Wyatt was talking about!” I squinted through the darkness and spotted the boxish outline a bit farther away. Whatever it was it was still standing, and that was good enough for me.

We hurried the rest of the way to the structure, and started circling around its perimeter looking for an entrance. Eventually we found a large hole that connected to main part of the building. Strange, looks like someone blasted their way in. I shifted my shotgun to a more ready position, Perhaps another T-70? “I'm not liking this Kyle, but we need those wheels. I'll go in first, you follow a moment later, OK?” He gave me a quick nod, and I pulled out a flashlight, as I headed into the darkness. I heard Kyle set in about five paces behind me, and we began to make our way deeper into the facility.

It looked like this was another area setup by Wyatt's people for survivors. Instead of looking like a military outpost however, it looked more like a storage bunker. “Kyle. Over here. I found them.” There were two Humvees, just like the ones at the destroyed convoy, in seeming perfect condition.

“Drop it. Both of you.” Shit. “Now!” Demanded the rough voice again.

“OK, OK!” I lowered my shotgun to the ground along with my flashlight, making sure that it was pointed in the direction I believed the voice was coming from. It illumined a man about 5' 9”, and in his mid twenties. He was wielding a P90, and was menacingly waving it at me. The light reflected off of a pair of dog tags around his neck as he asked, “Who the hell are you two?”

“I'm Kyle.” Kyle said as he stepped up behind me unarmed. “This is my brother, Derek. You resistance?”

Resistance, what the hell? Apparently the man also had no idea what Kyle was talking about either. “No. Marine core. You guys are heavily armed for civilians...” He said implying that we were more than we appeared.

“We found a bunker about a half miles south of here. It was well stocked. We rode out the attacks in it then took what we needed. We found information saying that there was a possible fortified place a short while north, maybe with some vehicles.” I responded quickly.

“From the bunker, eh? There was a mention, in what I could find here, that there was a fallout shelter about a mile south of here. I tried to make my way down to it but got cut off and forced back here.” He responded grimly. “The name's Mackenzie, you guys can call me Mac. Didn't think that there was anyone left around after the attacks, was just about to try for the bunker again when you guys barged in.” He visibly relaxed, he appeared to reach the conclusion that we weren't his enemies. I bent slightly as if to pick up my gun, and his instantly swung in line with me. “No, no, no. Just because I have relaxed a bit and told you guys my name doesn't mean I trust ya.”

I stood back up strait. Thought so. “Bunker's no longer an option. Main entrance collapsed just after we got out. Must have taken damage in the blasts.” I lied. Then to quickly change the subject I said, “When you said that you got 'cut off' from the bunker, did you get attacked?”

“Yes,” He nodded. “and by something I haven't ever seen the likes of before. Some type of machine.” A T-70?! “Bastard chased my all the way back here and blew that hole in the wall that you so conveniently entered just a moment ago.” He registered our shock and asked, “Want to see it? Perhaps you guys know what it is.” Did this guy take out a T-70 by himself? If so he's better than he looks. We nodded our agreement and he ushered us at gun point to a different area. A large tarp covered, from what I could tell, a pile of debris. “Bastard was hard to kill too.” He said as he ripped the tarp off to reveal a metallic form.

“Thats not a T-70.” I heard Kyle say from behind me, and indeed it wasn't. The thing had no sense of human resemblance, but seemed more like a miniature jet and helicopter combination. The thing was in bad shape to say the least. One of its “wings” had been blown off, but the other was relatively intact. A large turbine engine was attached to its tip, and it seemed like it could be rotated freely, as if to control directional facing.

“A T-what?” Mac asked confused.

“T-70.” I responded to for Kyle. “Robot about eight feet tall that Skynet uses for scouting and light attacks.”

“Skynet? But what would a military drone be doing in Nevada? “

“Trying to kill us not an hour ago. Blew the sucker apart, but lost one of our friends to it.” Kyle stated flatly. “Skynet seized control of everything, once it deemed humanity to be a threat. It was responsible for the nukes. It's responsible for the death of our friend. And I'm guessing it was in control of this thing when it attacked you.”

“Always knew that thing was a bad idea.” Mac said. He seemed to fully believe our story, and promptly kicked the machine in front of us. A pang of recognition crossed his face and he said, “I'm sorry. The death of your friend is on my hands. This damned thing!” He said kicking it again. “Must have figured out were I was headed. Skynet must have sent this T-70 thing to the bunker thinking that I had made it. Sorry.”

“You could never have known that we were there, or that you trying to reach us would cause us to be attacked.” I responded. “I wonder what the hell this thing is though.”

“All I know is that it's a flyer, a fast one at that, and is heavily armed and armored. Took two full clips into it to down it, got a lucky shot into one of its engines. Thing popped a missile, before it went down, and made that hole. What about your T-70? How tough are they?”

“Small arms have almost no effect.” Responded Kyle. “It took several explosives, and it was still still coming on. It's got a weak spot though. Fifteen rounds of an M-16 centered on or around the head disables it. It explodes about five minuets latter.”

“So that's how...” Mac started, then trailed off into silence.

“Yeah.” I said answering the unspoke question. “He knew it was going to happen and got us out of there before it exploded.”

“Well then! Go get your guns and load up into the first Humvee.” Kyle and I gave him a strange look at his change in attitude. “What?” He said, looking at our expressions. “It's not like I was going to hold you guys hostage forever. I also owe this friend of yours. So where were you guys going to head? Thats why your here right, for the jeep?”

I gave him a blank stare, and then was cheered by our turn in luck. “We were going to head west. We heard from our friend that there was a staging point for counter-Skynet operations there.”

“A good idea! I never could resist a good fight anyways. Put what you guys have got in the back of the Humvee, I already have it loaded with most of the food and water I could find here. I'm just got one last thing to grab, and I'll meet you at the truck.” With that he turned and walked through an open door a little farther away.

“Is it me or did he just do a 180 in personality?” I asked Kyle. “Not sure that I exactly trust him, but if he is Marine core then I'm not all that worried.”

“Ah who cares?” Kyle answered back. “I'm not one to question our luck. Just look at it this way. He's military, well armed, and is going to come with us. It's aways good to have another set of eyes around.”

Light began to gradually filter through the blast hole. Sunrise. I was half expecting that it would never come, and we would be locked in a forever night. We picked up our discarded shotguns and supplies, and made our way to the lead Humvee. It seemed in fine condition, but like the others we saw before, this one had no mounted weapon. We threw the med packs and MRE's in the back with the piles of others, and I headed for the drivers seat. “I'm driving.” I turned about to see Mac approaching with his weapon, and a large medicine bottle. “Not that I don't trust you guys. It's just that I would prefer to drive. That way you guys can be on lookout, and take down anything that gets too close.”

We gave him another set of funny looks. Could do the same thing with me driving. He sighed, “What? Still don't trust me?” He pulled the clip out of his P90, and handed it to me. “There, I'm unarmed. If you don't like were I'm driving you can shoot me. Now, do you mind?” I stepped away from the front door and got into the back. Kyle got into the passenger seat with the CB and his shotgun.

“What is that?” Kyle said looking at the large medicine bottle in Mac's hands.

Mac opened it up to reveal large white horse pills. He took one out and swallowed it. “Potassium iodide. Here, both of you should take one.” He handed a pill to each of us. Kyle swallowed it immediately, but I was slightly reserved. “You really should take it.” He said. “It will reduce the effects of the leftover radiation.” I shrugged, and then swallowed it. It tasted like chalk as it slid down my throat.

“Alright then, lets get moving.” Mac said as he reached down and pressed a button. The large doors in front of us began to slowly open. Mac started up the engine, and drove out once there was enough space. The doors opening faced the sun directly as it rose into the horizon. We were bathed in the morning light as Mac floored it onto the dirt road. Kyle asked him what the rush was and he said, “Don't want to be around when and if another one of those air buggers shows up again, besides we're going to be needed to fight Skynet as soon as possible I think.”

Never would I have thought that the sky could be so clear. There wasn't a single cloud in the air at all, they had all been blow away and apart by the explosions. The sun rose easily through the crisp blue sky and it brightened our moods. However if you dropped your gaze to below the horizon line you were met with a bleak scene. An endless flat brown and gray mess wafted over everything. No vegetation, no animals, hell you could barely make out the road.

“You asked if I was resistance back there. Who are these resistance?” Mac asked Kyle. I was curious about this too, because I had never heard anything about the 'resistance' when Wyatt was around. “They some type of para-military group?”

“Not really.” Kyle answered. “Our friend that we encountered in the bunker was one of them.” Wyatt? "He was sent here to expand on the old bunker in preparation for Skynet's attack. They for saw that Skynet would attack humanity and so they were preparing. I guess that what remains of humanity could be called resistance now, because we are now all Skynet's enemies.”

“Did this friend of yours know why Skynet decided to attack?” Mac asked after digesting the information.

“Yeah. Skynet attacked because its job was protection of the world. It realized that humanity was the real main threat, and started infiltrating every silo and sub command and control. It attacked once CRS tried to pull the plug on it. According to Wyatt, our friend, Skynet became self-aware, paranoid, and angry once we tried to kill it. So it launched the nuclear campaign against every human.”

“Sounds like Wyatt was deeply involved in CRS to know that much.” Mac said questioningly

“Never got a chance to find out.” I said for Kyle. “We got attacked by that damned T-70 before I got around to questioning him further. He took a piece of shrapnel in his side, and basically ordered us out of the bunker before the thing exploded. The explosion caved in the entrance, and buried Wyatt.” I paused for a moment. There was a strange sound in the air. “Anyone else hearing jet engines?”

Mac stopped the Humvee, and turned off the engine. Three distinct jet engines could be heard, and they were getting louder. “Anyone see them?” He asked. We started looking out the windows and saw nothing. I got the brilliant idea of sanding up through the gunners position, and started looking around. The sounds were coming from behind us and then I spotted them. Three low flying machines, each very similar to the one Mac destroyed. They leveled out behind us, and I spotted the lead machine deploying is missiles. I barely had time to duck back inside of the vehicle as the miniature missile screamed over head.

“Go! Go! Go!” I screamed. Mac turned over the engine and floored the gas pedal. The Humvee shot forward just in time as another missile screamed into its previous position. The vehicles rear end lifted from the ground from the force of the explosion, only to slam back down. “Three! Three fliers!”
I screamed as I grabbed my shotgun. Another missile exploded to the right side of the Humvee, spinning us out of control.

A moment latter all three flew overhead, and separated. One when up the others left and right. Mac regained control of the Humvee and sent it flying down the road. “They are going to hit us from three sides!” Mac yelled. “I'm pretty sure I could dodge the side ones, but you got to take out the third one!”

I popped out through the gunners hole, and started looking around for targets. The engine noises started gaining in strength, and I spotted the one coming from the left. A forward mounted machine gun spun up on it and spat a hail of bullets at us. Most of them impacted the armor plating of the Humvee, but some of them were sent my direction. I was lucky, I got hit by a single glancing shot on my right shoulder causing me to wince in pain. Before I could recover it flew by over head. Turning to follow it I fired a hasty shot after it. The bird shot sparked off of its amour, causing nothing more than minor dents.

Luckily for me its path was close enough to its brother for me to spot it coming in. Slug next. I had kept the order of my rounds the same since the bunker, and I new that a HE round was up next. As I was taking aim the thing loosed another one of the small missiles. Mac spotted it and turned sharply to the right. The move caught me by surprise and my ribs slammed into the edge of the opening. I cried out as I felt the injured ribs crack once again. The force of the move caused me to accidentally tighten down on the trigger and send the HE round flying harmlessly into the dirt to explode.

Macs driving reflexes were great enough that the missile flew by about a foot away, but left the Humvee wide open for the third attack. The last flier came in low and fast. I took aim and fired a hasty shot, trying to damage and divert it before it got a missile off into our exposed flank. I had no idea how lucky I was going to get. Most of the bird shot sparked harmlessly off of its amour, but one lucky pellet slammed home into its exposed missiles. It detonated in a quick fireball, setting off a chain reaction on the other missiles. Four more rapid explosions racked its frame, and it fell skidding to the ground destroyed.

A small cheer emanated from inside the Humvee, as Mac straitened out the vehicle. He floored it again, and I started searching for the remaining two air drones. I was looking back along our trail expecting them to come up from behind. The loud engine noises told me other wise. I spun around to see, in front of the Humvee, both aircraft streaking at us. I took quick aim and fired off the HE round. The slug streaked in, and stuck the right hand craft in a wing join. It exploded and sent the drone cartwheeling off to the side destroyed.

The last remain drone continued its path, ignoring the fate of its kin. It peeled off as it launched another missile dead at us. Mac turned hard left in an attempt to dodge, and I braced myself for the impact. Mac's driving skills managed to save us from a direct hit, for the missile impacted the armored rear quarter of the Humvee. The force of the explosion caused the rear windows to shatter, and we spun a complete circuit before stopping. Before I could reorient myself I lost track of the drone as it slipped into another wide bank for another attack.

Somehow the Humvee was still in working condition, and Mac eased it back onto the road. He didn't full throttle it but, coasted the vehicle down the road. The jet noise increased again, and I looked franticly about for the drone. This time it came from the right side, and its machine gun was already spinning up before I even spotted it. It spat metal slugs that impacted the amour, and tore through the shattered windows. I cried out as if felt at least on bullet rip through my leg and exit the other side.

I couldn't manged to keep myself standing, the pain from the ribs, and the leg was just too overwhelming. I crumpled and fell back down inside of the Humvee. “You alright?” I heard Mac yell as the drone roared overhead. Gota take out that bastard drone. I threw my body against the left hand door and leveled my shotgun on its damaged window frame. I took aim and pulled down on the trigger, and I got a nice sounding click for my efforts. A rapid burst of bullets followed the drone however, and slammed into its vulnerable rear.

Seeming to loose control, it dove into the ground, and exploded. “Gotcha!” Mac yelled as he slowed the Humvee to a stop. He turned to look at the both of us and asked, “Everyone alright?” He himself wasn't in that great of condition. One of his arms had apparently been sliced open by a piece of shrapnel, and had a few glass cuts on his face.

“I' m not injured, a bit shaken but unharmed.” Kyle responded. He turned back to look at me and gave me a worried look.

“I have been blasted by a nuke, attacked by a killer robot, and bombarded by some crazy ass air things. I'll live, but I have been better.” I managed to say before the pain caused me to pass out.

Chapter 4 thread.
Link here.