The synthetic voice of Decapitator-097 echoed across the square, a death sentence delivered in a monotone.
"DIRECTIVE: "GLITCHING ABERRATION AND HER SQUAD "INFERIUS ", TO BE EXTERMINATED."
The first energy pulse seared past Netoshka's head. The fight was immediate and desperate. Inferius Squad—Netoshka, Taran, Zopi, Ron, Alev, Surgien, and the others—was a bastion of fading strength against a silent, endless tide.
"Conserve ammo! use it for Headshots and joints!" Taran barked, his rifle fire precise but doing little to slow the advancing wall of androids.
Zopi's sniper rifle cracked from a second-story window.
"They're everywhere! I'm counting sixty, seventy, to even a hundred contacts! They're cutting off the main roads!"
Ron slammed his shield into a Decapitator, the impact numbing his arm.
"They're not trying to kill us! They're herding us! Pushing us toward the east side of town, but j thjnk they plan on covering us all in a trap, surrounding us to annihilate us in one sweep!"
Netoshka saw it too. The patterns of their advance were tactical, constricting. They were being corralled. Her glitching was a last resort, each micro-shift sending stabbing pains behind her eyes. She phased through an energy blast, reappeared, and put a bullet through the optic sensor of a unit about to strike Alev.
Alev responded with a focused jet of flame, carving a temporary path through two androids.
"I can't keep this up! I'm running on empty on fuel!"
Their comms buzzed. Lucretia's voice was a lifeline.
"Netoshka, Grimshire is a write-off. The Decapitator swarm is a systemic threat. Your new mission is survival. Genrihk's team is en route to a Turbine Station to prep the 'Bloodhawk'. Your coordinates are uploaded. Get there. That is an order."
The map on Netoshka's wrist showed a route east, through the desert. But between them and the open sands was a gauntlet of androids.
"New objective!" Netoshka yelled, her voice raw. "We break east! We do not stop! Ron, Alev, punch a hole! Everyone else, move! We are leaving this hellhole!"
The squad became a spear, driving toward the eastern outskirts. It was a brutal, fighting retreat. They used shattered vehicles and collapsed walls as cover, firing, moving, and never looking back. The Decapitators did not run; they marched, an inexorable force reclaiming their territory.
Bursting out of the town's edge, they were met with the vast, open expanse of the desert. The sight was both freeing and terrifying. There was no cover, but the Decapitator swarm was momentarily behind them.
"Ron, what's the quickest route to that Turbine," Netoshka ordered, gulping in the dry air.
Ron checked his scanner.
"There's an old mining tunnel system that cuts through the mountain ridge. It's a shortcut. Cuts miles off the journey. The entrance is about a klick north of here."
"Lead the way," Netoshka said. The run through the town had been hell. The run across the desert would be a furnace. The tunnels were their best, desperate hope.