Machine Wars Chapters 3&4 The War and On the Run

[VWXYZ]

The War

 

A month later and there were posters all over the Wirral all with the same picture. A picture of Tom smiling in the sun. Each had the word heading the page: MISSING. Nobody had seen him for a month. It was turning into winter and it was getting stupidly cold at night, let alone during the day. The nights were extremely dark and Tom’s family were worried. His friends were worried. Was he dead? Was he kidnapped? Nobody had seen him or spoken to him. Nobody had any answers.

 

Another two months and nothing. On the morning of the 12th December it began. The war. Strange Machines and medieval style warriors infiltrated top cities around the world. People were killed and the cities destroyed. Armies were destroyed and some were obliterated and others did the obliteration.

The people of the Wirral thought they were safe. However, the Machines rolled into every street on Christmas morning. Infantry soldiers broke into every house and made sure that there was no Resistance. If any body escaped, they were shot on sight. If any did manage to escape then the artillery and cavalry outside would kill them.

 

Tom’s dad had heard them coming and then ran to find his rifle ammunition in the garage. He then loaded up his rifle and made a barricade, using his furniture in the front room.

He waited two hours and then it happened. The Machines came. The front door was blasted off its hinges and smashed through a wall into the kitchen. Tom’s dad tightened the grip on the gun and prepared to fire at the first Machine that walked in. Through the smoke a hand reached out and suddenly the gun was wrenched out of his hand.

“Penalty for attempted Resistance. Immediate death,” said the mechanical voice. “You will stand and prepare to be executed.”

Tom’s dad stood with his hands above his head. The Machine walked into the room. It pressed the rifle that it stole against his head and then fired. Tom’s dad fell to the floor with a single clean bullet hole in the head.

The Cyber Raider checked the rest of the house and found nothing.

 

Cam had gone on the run as soon as he saw the Barrel Dragon stationed in the street with its counter part, Blowback Dragon. He had picked up his duel disk, his deck and fled over the back fence, making sure that no Machine saw him. They were everywhere. The main road behind his house was filled with Machines. There was no way that he could escape using the main road. He took his phone out of his pocket and rang two numbers.

Half hour later, and the three boys, Cam, Iain and Byrneout, met in a wood. The Machines wouldn’t look there. Each of them had their duel disks on their left arms, ready for action. If these Machines from the game were real then there was a possibility that their monsters were also real.

In the woods they made a small den, which was hidden. They stayed there during the day and only one of them went out at night to face the Machines and to get food. They were usually gone for a few hours at a time due to the danger involved.

They stayed in the woods for three months. Then they heard that any countries that had remained whole, had gathered their armies against these Machines. Apart from the initial takeover the warriors had not been seen since. The Machines it appeared had won.

The war raged. Armies came close to the woods in which the three boys were hiding and they never even thought to look or use the woods as a shelter. One night, all three boys snuck out to see what was going on. The Machines’ heavy artillery was still around as well as infantry. It was dark and the lights didn’t come on any more. At least this gave the boys something to hide behind. They managed to sneak behind the Human army’s lines and remained hidden even though they were on the same side. If they were in hiding then they would stay in hiding.

The soldiers were talking about an assault. It seemed that they were moving out. They didn’t hear exactly were the assault was happening but they did know that it was happening at a giant city. The soldiers were moving out the following day but there was going to be an air strike during the early hours to destroy these Machines. Unfortunately the air strike would kill any survivors from the initial invasion. At this the boys turned and disappeared into the darkness.

 

The boys walked down a deserted street. It seemed that this entire street had mounted a Resistance and as a result they were all killed. Cars had been over turned by the bigger Machines and blown up by artillery fire. The boys could almost see the battle taking place around them. Ordinary people like those slaughtered in hundreds within minutes. The Humans didn’t stand a chance.

Halfway down the street, they saw Tom’s house. The door was blown off. If the street was empty, then there should be nothing inside the house. They went in quietly. In the front room, they saw sprawled legs appearing behind a sofa. It was dark but natural light filled the room. They sidled around the overturned sofa and saw the body. It was Tom’s dad. There was a bullet hole in the centre of his head. His eyes were still wide open with shock, as the bullet had entered his cerebral cavity.

From above they heard a clunk and some mechanical chatter of two Machines arguing over something.

“sheet!” Cam cried out quietly. Each of them activated their duel disks, each emitting a small bleep. They picked up five cards, as though starting a duel and looked at their monsters.

Cam summoned Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, a monster with 1800 attack point. Byrneout summoned Obnoxious Celtic Guard (1400) and Iain summoned Masked Dragon (1400).

They went upstairs, their monsters leading the way. It did seem that the monsters were very real. At the top they turned left and made their way into the main bedroom. In there, there were two dog-like Machines, a Mecha-Dog Marron and a Wroughtweiler fighting over a piece of meat. Kycoo immediately jumped into action destroying the Mecha-Dog and as a double team effort the Masked Dragon and Obnoxious Celtic Guard turned the Wroughtweiler into scrap.

“Let’s hope that doesn’t attract anything bigger,” Cam said calmly. The other two nodded. They went up to Tom’s bedroom. They closed the blinds, which would stop light pouring out but not stop it completely and then turned on a light. There they found Tom’s deck. It was full of removal cards and the XYZ cards. Powerful Machines of which they had not yet seen in the battlefield. Cam picked up the deck, checked through it and then through Tom’s other cards, made a few adjustments but kept the originals. He then pocketed the deck as a good luck symbol that his friend was still alive.

They took what food remained and then left the house, not to turn back ever.

 

The war still raged across the planet and soon it became apparent. Mankind was to be enslaved by the Machines. The thing was though, nobody had seen who was controlling the Machines. It had been six months since it started and the war ended. Whilst walking through a large town, TVs flickered on with a blank image. Cam, Iain and Byrneout stopped. Television hadn’t been on since the war. They wondered what was going to come on the screen. Something comical to lift their moods or a message?

A red-orange light revealed itself. The light came closer and then a face emerged in half-light. The face startled the three. It was half Machine, half skin.

“I am the Cyborg King. The war is over and my Machines are supreme. I warn you Humans now that any Resistance will be dealt with the penalty of death. There are some people I would like to see. If you see any of these people then please talk to the nearest Machine. I also warn you that any electronic contact is closely monitored by me. By that I mean, that any phone calls, emails, instant messages or text messages are read by me the second they are sent or written. If it is illegal the information contained within the contact format will be deleted and the recipient will not read it. The sender will be executed. You have been warned. This is the Cyborg King and my word is final.”

The image disappeared and the three boys, after seeing their images broadcast across the world, then they realised it was time to go into deep hiding. They also had a purpose now. They had to make their way to the Cyborg King. They didn’t care as long as they got there. The King would hold the answers.

 

On the Run

 

1 year passed and the boys hadn’t yet been captured. They have had some run ins with the Machines but they always won. It was three boys against an army. The odds were against the boys.

They travelled around the country but they had no idea where they were meant to be headed. They travelled each part of the UK and did not find the Cybernetic City. Instead they summoned a Yomi Ship on the south coast and sailed across the English Channel to France.

The Machines were in France and it seemed that the Cyborg King controlled everything just like he said. If anything to the boys, it seemed harder to hide in France as it much more open than Britain, where there were alleys and houses to hide behind. France seemed to be more like a holiday park. It was completely open. They couldn’t find many places to hide but every night they managed to break into a house without setting off the alarm. They didn’t risk turning on any lights if it gave away their position. They didn’t want a confrontation where they were facing an army of Machines.

Their hair had grown much longer and it was hard to see at times. They’d been in France for three weeks and then they found a barber. They cut their hair though not expertly. After that they broke into a clothing store and stole some clothes and changed what they had on.

Moving between settlements was difficult and they could only do it by travelling at night. If they travelled on the road during the day, the Machines would impound them immediately. They decided to head to Paris after two months. They then began travelling on the motorways, which were deserted. They even dared to travel along the motorways during the day. Whilst in France they hardly saw anybody. They did see a French girl outside her house. She took one glance at the boys and disappeared into the house. They had seen her and they then began to worry about whether they had the Machine army to worry about. Their time in northern France was peaceful. They kept to their idea of unwanted combat and it worked to maximum satisfaction. Their travelling was still sporadic. The only thing they had to guide them was the signs, which pointed the way to Paris.

When they entered the third month, they reached Paris.

Paris was nothing. The top of the Eiffel Tower had fallen off. That could be seen from the outskirts of the city. All the houses were boarded up, and there seemed to be nobody. There were no cars, not even parked up on the street. The place seemed deserted. If there was anybody about they were very good at hiding.

It took another few days of travelling through Paris to reach the centre. They were right in seeing that the Eiffel Tower had lost its point. Notre Dame’s windows had been smashed. The Seine was a horrible colour. The boats that went up and down for the pleasure of the tourists were now in dry dock, or in the middle of the road. There were large cracks and holes in the buildings and in the road. Something large had come through. The Resistance had got hold of some weapons and then taken to hiding in buildings lining the roads. By the looks of one building a nuclear shell had hit it, as all that remained was an outer shell.

Further on in the city they found an old battleground. There were bodies everywhere and Machines riddled with bullets, lay motionless on the ground. It was in a square. It looked like there were plenty of cafes in the square. Each of them, still armed with their decks, explored the square and looked in the cafes. They chose one together and then looked in the freezer. They cooked while it was still light, so as not to draw attention to themselves. At about nine o’clock in the evening, they settled down on watch duty in one of the furthest tables from the front. It got dark.

It had only been an hour and then they saw torch beams flash in front of the shop they were in. They weren’t Machines either but Human. There were two of them, both speaking English, which was an advantage to the boys.

“I heard the three of them are around here somewhere. That’s what Felipe said at lunch,” one voice said. It had an American accent but it sounded friendly and young.

“Felipe’s right Lance. Keep a lookout for them; they might be mankind’s only hope for this war. Look in the cafes. There’s a possibility they have taken refuge in one of them.” The second voice was a woman’s. She also sounded young and friendly, except that she was English.

The two people stepped in front of the shop. The man, Lance, was tall. He had long black hair, which stood up in a fashionable way. He wore a long trench coat, which was black. They couldn’t see what his face was like. The girl was shorter than Lance by about six inches. She had long, light brown hair, which fell down to her waist. She wore a skirt and a sleeveless top. The thing that surprised Cam, Iain and Byrneout was that attached to their left arms were duel disks. They were duellists, which meant they were friendly. Or they should be.

The two split up. The girl walked off in to the distance in front of the shop; Lance on the other hand turned and shone his torch into the cafe. The boys had already moved behind the counter. Lance stepped into the café and activated his duel disk. Cam peered out around the side and could see the reflection of the duel disk lights in the mirror on the wall on the left side of the shop. The light also showed Lance’s face. He was handsome, but at the moment, wore a face of concentration. He passed the counter and then moved into the kitchen.

The boys moved off from the counter and out into the street. They didn’t know where the girl was by now but they had a faint idea. They all moved to the right of the square, hunched over and then moved into an alleyway.

 

In the kitchen, a hologram flashed up on Lance’s duel disk. It showed Machine activation.

“Mikala!” He whispered into his duel disk. “Machine activation. You picking it up? I’m going to investigate. Cover my back.”

“I’m reading it Lance. Message received and understood.”

Lance left the kitchen and then out into the street.

 

The boys huddled in the alley. They were facing out into the square and weren’t aware of the Machine activating behind them. It was only as Lance burst into the alley along with a Cyber Dragon behind him, that they realised that they might be in some kind of trouble. They turned and saw a Steel Ogre Grotto #2 raise up and prepare itself to smash them into a wall.

“MOVE!” Lance yelled at the boys. They didn’t telling twice. They ducked as the Machine took a swipe at them. Its fist smashed into the wall on their left. They ran towards Lance and the Cyber Dragon emitted a powerful, bright beam and it powered into the Steel Ogre Grotto, thus disintegrating the Machine.

The boys activated their duel disks and drew cards. Lance approached them and then spoke into his duel disk.

“Mikala I have them.”

“I see you Lance”

Lance didn’t say anything to the boys apart from looking at them with some sort of concern and puzzlement. He waited for Mikala. Mikala appeared at his side.

“Right you three,” he said in a new tone. It was fresher and friendlier. “We’ve been looking for you ever since we got wind you were in Paris. I have to say you’ve hidden well for the last year. But down to some serious stuff. All hell is going to break loose in the next five minutes. This square is going to be swarming with Machines. We need to move away from here right now. I can’t promise that there won’t be any combat but I’m sure your decks are good enough to withstand the might of a Machine unit. They’ll have mobilised by now. So we move. Now.”

They moved off. Though they didn’t know who they were but the boys had no choice but to follow them. It was only Cam who had any guts this point to ask questions,

“Just one question. Who exactly are you?”

“Lance. Lance Steele. This is Mikala. She doesn’t appear to have a surname, but damn glad I know her. That’s all.”

“So who exactly are you then?” Cam proceeded.

“We work in the Resistance. An undercover group of militants, duellists, teachers, and just about any kind of profession you can think of. There are also some interesting people who’d like to meet you and some people I think you’d like to meet. But first we need to get back to the hide out.”

At that point a large foot, slammed down in front of the group and they fell to the floor under the shockwave. Looking up they saw a Searchlightman climb around the corner of the building. Other Machines made their way into the exit out of the square. The Searchlightman swung down for a punch. Suddenly a monster swung into to defend them. Elemental Hero Clayman jumped in the way with his arms crossed. The five mortals at this point stood up and ran back into the square.

“Clayman!” Byrneout shouted, and Clayman ran to his side.

Lance’s Cyber Dragon was still alive. An Oni-Tank T-34 rumbled into the square followed by an Overdrive, with its turret firing toward the group. Clayman again stood in the way and let the bullets ripple through him. He was still standing though. Cyber Dragon then let out its bright attack and destroyed the Overdrive. The Searchlightman shined its lights at the group bathing them in light. They were pinned down in a sea of light. Cam played a card, Dark Magic Curtain, which allowed him to summon a Dark Magician from the deck. Dark Magician appeared from behind a curtain and then rose into the air and attacked Searchlightman. The large Machine crumpled under the attack. Three shells of nuclear material flew through the air at Dark Magician and he disappeared behind a bright mushroom-shaped cloud. When the cloud cleared a new monster had taken his place. The Dark Magician of Chaos. Using his sceptre, he held the nuclear shells and then returned them to the three-barrelled Barrel Dragon, which had just stomped into the square.

Cyber Dragon disappeared and a three-headed Cyber Dragon emerged. Cyber End Dragon. It destroyed another monster, which had just walked into the square, which was Gadget Soldier. It was disintegrated instantly.

A large dragon made its way into the square except that this was Iain’s monster, Armed Dragon Lv 10. There was an Ancient Gear Golem and Iain’s dragon made straight for its rival. Just in time Iain managed to activate Covering Fire, making his dragon stronger. Iain’s monster grappled with its foe. Iain’s managed to lift its rival and throw it into a building. A Cyberdark Horn wrapped itself around the Armed Dragon and the large Machine struggled to get the dragon off its torso. Dark Magician of Chaos then lent a hand by blowing holes into the mechanical dragon.

“We need to leave right now!” Lance yelled. “Find an exit and take it! Just run! They’re after you three!”

All five of them ran in the same direction and it was blocked. Their monsters were fighting and it kept the Machines away from them. They ran to a different exit and that was also blocked. Cam had an idea and he hope that it worked.

He knew what he was about to do was cheating but it was necessary. He looked through the cards that he had taken from Tom’s house, over a year ago when all of this madness started. They had already faced this Machine, but this time it would be on their side. He slapped the card on the duel disk. Screeching tyres were heard from a distance. Machine gun bullets blazed. And suddenly from the rooftops, an Overdrive screeched from the top and skidded to a halt in front of the group. Its door flung open. They climbed in and the door shut, and then skidded off, blasting the Oni-Tank that stood in the way.

There were Machines everywhere all coming to get the boys. They all had interlinking devices, which meant they could transfer information to each other with out having to talk or any other kind of communication. Overdrive skidded everywhere just to avoid the gun fire and artillery fire that rained down upon them. Lance hacked into the cars data bank and then programmed it to take them to a train station. The car did a 180° turn and then sped off down a main road. It still skidded to avoid larger and more powerful Machines. The journey was bumpy and the passengers were moving around banging into the armoured walls of the car. Still it was better than being in the streets.

Lance managed to get the comms to work on his duel disk and he started speaking into it. Nobody could hear what it was he was saying but he was talking hurriedly. Nobody could blame him for talking like he was in the current situation.

Overdrive managed to skid around a corner and then didn’t turn again as the car picked up incredible speed suddenly. Looking at the speed dial, the car was in excess of 100mph and it was still going ever faster. They felt the car smash through something that seemed to be made of glass. Cam managed to look out of the slots that served as a sort of windscreen. He could see an open room. Overdrive skidded into the space and the door flung open. They fell out and a large bulkhead door sealed shut.

A new face looked down at them. He was aged, and wore glasses. He looked at the three new faces and smiled slightly. He beckoned for them to follow. The boys looked a little bit nervous, and Lance encouraged them on. They entered a lift.

It was a grate, and made of iron. It was rusting but despite the rust the lift was in surprisingly good condition. The trip down took a minute and when they left the lift they were in what looked like a large housing dormitory.

The new face led them to newer section. It was like an office. It was modern despite the rest of the base. It had white walls and strip lighting built into the walls around the top and base of the floor. In the centre was a chrome, silver frame desk. Atop the desk was a silver flat screen monitor. Behind the desk was plasma HD TV that was about forty inches. It was playing the different security systems from all over the city. Maybe this was how the Resistance knew about Cam, Iain and Byrneout.

The new face drew up three more chairs in addition to the one behind the desk. The chairs were the same as the desk: silver, chrome and frame designs. The three boys sat in the chairs with Byrneout in the middle, Cam on the left and Iain on the right. Lance stood behind them with his hands in his trouser pockets.

The man sat in the chair on the far side of the desk. He interlocked his fingers and peered at the boys over them.

“I suppose you have figured out who we are?” the man asked. He had a French accent but still he spoke with perfect English. They nodded. “I am Jean,” he added.

“We are the Resistance to the Cyborg King and the other kingdoms, although as you can see the main threat comes from the Machines. We have heard of your journey around the UK and we have admired the courage you have shown. Now I wonder what Lance has told you.”

The boys explained in turn about what they understood about the Resistance. Except that what they knew was very little compared to the real deal about the Resistance.

“The Resistance is made up of all sorts of people. Teachers, IT technicians, gamers. Think of any profession and you will find at least one person from each profession. I was a manager in a robotics firm. I have some background knowledge on how these Machines work. They are at least made on this planet, which makes it easier to understand. We need someone or a group of people to go to the Cybernetic City. Now the city is heavily defended. Around the outside of the city, the King has made laser-plasma towers, which can shoot in any direction and kill most Humans in one shot. They are deadly accurate and completely automated.”

Now if the towers don’t kill you, you will still have to worry about the amount of Machines that will be guarding the streets. Humans live there but only in servitude to the King. The Resistance is a world wide thing so don’t think its just us down here. There’s one in every country. That’s how we know about you travelling around the UK. They contacted us.

“Sorry, excuse me for interrupting, but how can you communicate about trying to overthrow the King and talk about his most wanted people?” Cam asked contradictorily.

“Ah, now you’ve seen into our secret weapon. It’s the duel disks. We made them after the King took over. They can communicate with any other person in the Resistance and the King will never know. The only way somebody can hack in to listen is by actually being right next to the person broadcasting. The duel disks also have area scanners to track Machine movement. Of course we have a larger version of the scanners right here in the base. They are useful in the field and all of the people in the Resistance have been taught to play the game and then use the duel disks. Any way, you’re going to be needing upgrades for those ones.”

The TV screen changed. It now showed a satellite photograph of a city. It was nothing short of huge. Was that the city they had been searching for? The Cybernetic City?

Jean got up and he gestured to the boys.

“You will follow Lance and he’s going to show you around here. You are staying here for a bit. You are safe and we have more than enough supplies to supplement you three too. I do ask not to wander off outside the base without somebody with you.”

[WhinstonKnight]

Another good couple of chapters. Still setting the scene, but a very good scene!!

 

Instead of going to another dimension overrun with machines, you have brought an army to Earth. I like how you do not detail their every movement everyday, and have spanned it over a matter of years. It adds to the apocalyptic feel.

 

Really looking forward to finding out how they make it to the city and get past the towers! Keep writing, you're doing really well and making a story where the focus is on what's going on in the world as much as Duel Monsters itself!