Unknown captors

Chandra was running through the dense wood late at night, almost out of breath but she had to keep on pushing. She felt like prey being hunted and the truth wasn’t far off. Having made it this far and not seeing a sign of them, she wondered if she could take a moment to look back, but reminded herself that if she was still followed, that single moment could be fatal. So she kept on going, lungs burning hot and branches cutting in her face, but taking that pain over the alternative, as that would be way worse. She was glad she cut her blond hair short when she did. How could they have found her? She kept going through the latest event in her head. She had taken all the precautions while she had her meal after scavenging her part of town. Where did it go wrong? Did “they” upgrade their search tech? They must have been, the bastards. Chandra’s thoughts shifted to the welfare of her compagnions. Kelly, Alicia and Mai each took a part of town to look for food, weapons and other useful items. How did they fare? Were they being chased now too? Or worse, already....? No, she couldn’t think like that. They were all hidden away, safe and sound. They must be. They were all that she had now. She shook her head. “Focus, Chandra, Focus!” she thought out loud. Then she heard a loud cracking noise from the foliage in front of her and she almost tripped over the tree roots below her out of surprisement. Heart beating in her throat, she thought “They couldn’t have already circled around when she saw a darkskinned woman with braids tied together in a tail run past. “Kelly!”, Chandra whispered, sighing thankfully.

Just as she drew breath to signal her friend, she almost got a heartattack as a giant metallic leg crashed through the treetops and landed just where Kelly had ran past a moment ago, then a metal claw came down through the treetops too and picked up the girl from the ground as if she was light as a feather. Chandra didn’t waste a moment and ducked between the treeroots as she heard her friend scream on the top of her lungs as if her life depended on it. The pitch of her screams rose even higher when another arm fitted with some kind of laser came down while Kelly hung midair and emitted a light after which her clothing fell off her as dust in the wind. “Nooooo!! Let me go! Please! Don’t do this to me!” Chandra heard Kelly cry, while the poor naked girl kicked and wiggled in the unyielding claw. Then as she got pulled out of the forest and out of sight, she heard Kelly yell in terror “NOOOOOO! DON’T TAKE ME! I DON’T WANT TO GO THER-CLANK” and the loud sound of a metal hatch cut off the sound of her friend’s screams.

Chandra’s heart beated as if it wanted to jump out of her chest while her breath sounded like a steam train on top speed. Her body was paralyzed. Her mind in the meanwhile was conflicted. On one hand she was going over all things she might have been able to do to help her friend. On the other hand, she knew that every option led to the same conclusion: that they both would’ve been caught. And if they get you, there was no escape. As Chandra leaned backwards against the foot of the tree, she reminished about the past. It didn’t used to be like this. The earth was just like it was before 2020. Everything was normal. Humans ruled the world. Then they came. Nobody knew if they came from outer space or that someone or something created them on this earth. Now they rule the world. And those that used to rule are now only used as fuel. Well, the women anyways. Most of the men were deemed not useful as they were killed on sight. Only those that were somehow worthwhile enough were captured alive. How we knew they were using humans as fuel one way or the other?

Because there was one singular instance a woman got away. She constantly repeated in shock “We are fuel for them! They leech of our body!” More the others couldn’t get out of her as “they” seemingly made their captives’ bodies so, that the victims needed a special substance only “they” could produce. If the captives didn’t get it on a regular base, their heart would stop working shortly after. Chandra’s body finally calmed down and she slowly got up. Seemed like the enemy waa gone. Slowly she made her way toward where she came from, so maybe she could join up with her other friends, providing they made it. She didn’t follow precisely the same route as she did coming here, but took a route that would circle around to where the others might be.

When she came across an open patch of land, she saw a walking metallic quadruped vehicle that took Kelly, making its way in the same direction she was going but at least 100 meters in front of her. Sensors were moving on the metal monster, looking for movement, heat, sound, etc. While she was focussed on the vehicle, unbeknownst to her she kicked against a glass bottle which reflected the moonlight shining down on the open patch. One of the sensors noticed the flash of light and the automated system in the vehicle dropped something through the canopy of the forest ahead. Chandra didn’t notice the dark pod dropping from the walker and made her way over the open patch, sure that she was still moving unnoticed.

Making her way into the next part of the forest, her alertness dwindled a bit, until she heard a sound reminiscent of twigs breaking, which made her instantly stop mid stride. For the next minute she kept as quiet and still as possible. Then, right behind her, she felt a presence. As she looked around, she saw a red light looking back at her. The light was mounted on something that looked like a big metal dog with huge claws. She had never heard nor seen anything like this. While she took off like a gazelle, again dodging trees, roots and branches, she figured that “they” invented new ways to track down the more elusive humans with smaller quadruped tracking hounds. But after her latest escape, her energy wasn’t as abundant as before and soon her speed waned and she stumbled a few times. Though the machine wasn’t as nimble as her, it had way more energy and soon caught up with Chandra. Fear kept on crawling up and before long she took a fall she couldn’t recover fast enough from.

The metal dog jumped on top of her, after it’s belly, chest and legs opened up mid air. Just as Chandra wanted to get up, the dog landed on her back and instantly the chest and belly of the dog embraced hers. Locking her body inside it. The next moment the dog rose up, letting her limbs dangle above the ground. The open legsplates of the dog then clamped around her arms and legs, effectively encapsulating her whole body, except her head, which hung just below the red light. Something akin a howl emancipated from the contraption and a reply came from the direction of the walker that took Kelly. Not a moment later the dog started running towards the walker, forcing Chandra to move with it. Leaving her arms and legs no way to try and escape the contraption as she helplessly ran to her doom.

When the dog halted, it opened up again, dropping her to the ground. Her limbs were sore all over the place, making a quick escape impossible. She tried to get to her knees, but when she slowly crawled up, a claw grabbed her by her waist. She looked up in defiance, when another arm with a laser lowered itself in front of her. It fired and then Chandra felt a cool breeze against her body as her clothes were all gone. Sensors on the underside of the machine pointed directly at her naked body, making her very conscious of her nudity. “Like the show, ass***es?” she shouted up to the machine, before she was pulled upwards to the main body and a hatch opened up above her. Her body started to tremble as her subconsciousness alerted it that her days as a free human was over forever, for how long that might still be. Even she started to wiggle and claw at the clamps around her middle, kicking helplessly in midair. Only she could get nothing out of her throat other than some weak curses as tears started to run down her cheeks. Then she disappeared in the quadruped and the hatch closed below her.