Beyond Survival: Chapter 10

The Ravager ran past the bullets, dodging and ducking with that maniac grin on his face as he tore apart the various forces of humanity, forcing them into a corner.

Alice Bennet watched with horror as the monster tore through her men, pulling limbs from bodies and leaving behind a screaming mass of bodies while basking in the carnage.

“Colonel! What do we do!?”

“Run! Set the Bots to-“

Before Alice could complete her words, the young Private that she was supposed to look after for the day had his ripped from his body by the monster.

“Fred!! You bastard-“

The rest of the young squad tried to fight back, to avenge their fallen leader and friend, but they too met the same end as the monstrous being tore apart their bodies as if they were made of paper.

Alice did not stand back and do nothing, because that was not the kind of woman she was.

She tired. She tried very hard to protect the young privates that should not have seen this kind of carnage on their first, real, deployment, yet all her efforts led to was her right arm being torn from her by the monster with her head being its next target.

Fortunately for her, a nearby logistics Android rammed the Ravager at full speed and took it away from her, following its programming to protect human life at all costs.

The other human military took advantage of this momentary lull to drag Alice away from the battlefield as machines of all types dogpiled the Ravager, giving the humans the time needed to escape the chamber and activate its self-destruction sequence.

All the while, Alice watched helplessly as the torn corpses of her squad were left behind like trash, littering the ground carelessly.

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With a gasp of terror, Alice Bennet woke up from her nightmare, soaking in sweat as her body shook from the scare.

For a moment, Alice hoped that the nightmare was just that, a nightmare. Yet, reality is rarely so kind, as the sense of cold steel and slight phantom pains brought her back to reality, prompting her to stare at the prosthetic right hand that now took the place of the real arm that was torn away by the Ravager.

If it was in the old days, she would not have been given something as crude as a mechanical prosthetic. Instead, she would have undergone a transplant surgery with a lab-grown replacement arm.

Unfortunately, her people did not have that kind of resources to spare nowadays so she had to make do with outdated Prosthetic technology.

‘Then again, I should count my lucky stars that I am a Colonel, hence prioritized to get a prosthetic in the first place. There are many out there who would do anything to have even a mechanical prosthetic like mine.’

With a shake of her head, she got rid of those thoughts and got up from her bend, and walked out of the room, heading straight for the bathroom.

The absence of any noise in the apartment told her that the people she shared her room with were already gone, probably to fulfill their duties, unlike her, who was pulled from active duty until she got used to the prosthetic and was asked to help with basic tasks until then.

Once she was done with her morning routine and was presentable, wearing military dress without the Exo-Rig, she walked out of the apartment, walking into the absolute chaos that is the small town that sprang up around the research base on this unnamed planet.

Civilians moved about, either in a state of depression, or with purpose as they moved to various recruitment booths that sprang up according to the orders of the three generals, looking to bolster the forces of both the military forces, the scientific units, and the engineering teams for the sake of speeding up their operations and bring stability to this chaotic collection of their people.

As she watched all this, Alice could not help but despise the civilians even more than she had come to in the past few days since they left behind Earth for good.

It was these good-for-nothing people who were putting a lot of stress on the generals with their incessant demands and uselessness while the others worked themselves to exhaustion to keep their race alive.

The mass suicides, the depression, the demands, and the unruliness of the general populace, combined with these rebellious civilians, was causing a massive strain on the generals who were already pushing themselves past their limits.

Logically, Alice knew that all of this would subside with time and that these people were only reacting in this way due to their uncontrollable emotions. But she too is a human, and she too was influenced by her recent experiences, causing her to develop hatred for these civilians.

Fortunately for her, they were all assigned mandatory psychiatric therapy every day, even the civilians, to mitigate these issues, even if only a little bit.

Soon, Alice walked into the biggest building at the center of this small town that is still being expanded by the Engineering corps and their brand new logistics Androids that are now being printed out thanks to the data brought over by the last scientific team before the full evacuation.

Alice had once questioned the need to take the majority of data on the Internet with them to the other side, but now, her question has been answered with the way that data is being put to use.

Once again, proving why the three generals had been able to push back the extinction of humanity for more than two decades.

As Alice walked into the building, she spotted the various military personnel moving about hastily, carrying various stuff and data chips to various logistics stations while the others moved into and out of the meeting rooms with their squads.

She even spotted the famed Alpha Squad, one of the best squads in service and veterans of both WW3 and The Corruption conflict, walking out of the building with a group of engineering corps members who were carrying drilling rig components with them.

Soon, she was spotted by the Private manning the reception. The young Private’s IAS instantly pinged her with the Authorization ID of Alice and her rank, causing the Private to give her a salute, one that Alice returned somewhat crookedly with her prosthetic.

“Colonel Bennet! I was informed that you will arrive for your new assignment, Ma’am. I’ve taken the liberty of preparing the data packet beforehand for you.”

“Thank you, Private. Send to over.”

“Acknowledged.”

With a ping, Alice’s IAS showed her new assignment on her retina, showing that she was not assigned to the Barracks nearby and was to train the new recruits pooled from the civilian population.

Alice wanted to curse her luck for getting such an assignment since her talents could be used somewhere more productive.

However, the image from her nightmare flashed through her mind, making her reconsider.

It is true that her talents could be used somewhere else, however, if she could use her experience to better prepare these poor saps that are going to be thrown into the thick of things and help them survive, more than the last squad that she was in charge of did, then she would take it.

With her mind made up, Alice nodded to the Private and headed out.

It would not do to dilly-dally right now, especially when her race is now stranded in an unknown world with unknown threats.