Chapter 20: The first fall

The mood was gloomy in what looked like a small improvised camp. Only Melissa's tremulous singing kept a glimmer of motivation in the eyes of two of the surviving clones. However, they seemed to be in despair, even by their usual emotional standards. Jeffe was the third and last surviving clone. However, he didn't seem to be completely there anymore. He seemed empty, broken. He didn't react to her call, rising only when instructions were clearly spoken, like a doll manipulated by a puppeteer.

The pause hadn't been long, yet Alice stood up first, looking at the two clones who were listening intently to Melissa's light singing. Then she stared at Smith, who in turn stood up, along with another android on standby, obviously part of Davis' squad. However, her gaze shifted when she looked at Jeffe, and she didn't even dare glance at Davis or Melissa, as she spoke in a hushed voice.

"The danger isn't over yet, there's a good chance we'll be followed by those demon sorts, break's over."

The whole group stared at Alice, not really listening, giving her only a scathing look instead. Melissa barely looked at her, not even stopping her short song. Yet the only one who hadn't looked at her calmly spoke up, trying to stand up, unsuccessfully due to his total lack of leg.

"Alice is right, the longer we stay here, the more we risk death. We didn't even see them the first time. Reactivated Paul, we're moving camp."

"You're taking her side after what she did!"

Smith shouted indignantly, brow furrowed as his face was contorted with disgust and hatred. Davis then replied, just as calmly.

"I'm not defending anyone, I'm just trying to-"

Alice interrupted Davis mid-sentence, smirking as she once again began to act out.

"Well, you survived, surprising."

Alice then laughed icily, her once ravishing, dazzling smile now terrifying. She then continued to speak, shrugging her shoulders carelessly.

"If you survived, that means you abandoned them too, left them behind. So don't question your superior's orders based on your feelings. If we let ourselves be ruled by our emotions, only death will await us. I sincerely believe this is why clones command the majority of these small squads destined to sacrifice themselves to learn more about the enemy."

"You bitch! You sacrificed them, and then you've done nothing but cry since we got here, and now you're being cute? You dare to think you're in a position to give us orders or even lessons?!"

Alice only smiled in response, though her thoughts were clear.

[Hate me, I'll be the one you hate, you'll unite against me, and so, rather than dying isolated and depressed, we'll survive. Anger is the only useful emotion on the battlefield].

"Smith, you'll be screaming your hatred back at camp."

Davis said, in Alice's place. Then he added.

"I in no way condone his actions, but now that we're here, we must return for our dead comrades."

Smith clicked his tongue at Davis's words, but listened to the orders, beginning to move forward with the other members of the group, including Jeffe, who was again beginning to carry Davis.

* * *

The short journey was heavy for everyone. Melissa, who was discreetly observing Alice, was the most aware of this. She regretted the harsh words she'd said to her, but couldn't bring herself to apologize, not out of pride, but out of fear that she'd misjudged Alice. Besides, she had realized that Alice was playing a role. That she was the one closest to being broken, yet she was terrified. Terrified that in reality she wasn't playing a role, that she'd always been like that deep down inside. Terrified that her first friend was an even more terrifying monster than what they were facing.

As for Davis, he seemed devastated. He blamed Alice, but more than anything, he blamed himself. He was angry at his own helplessness, at not having been able to do anything again in a situation where he should have been the one to sacrifice himself to save everyone. But above all, he resented having made Alice take on such a role. His resentment was mixed with pity and an inconceivably great sense of guilt that gnawed at him. He didn't even have the strength to worry about Jeffe, who didn't really seem to be there anymore. He honestly didn't have the strength to go on. Even if he had, he couldn't have. He was now the dead weight of this group, the one who couldn't even move forward, and he even wondered if he shouldn't simply disappear to lighten the group's burden, but he too was terrified. Death terrified him, he didn't want to be abandoned despite all his other thoughts. Everything was so confusing, he didn't even know what he was really thinking. Yet it was his responsibility to command.

* * *

When the camp finally came into view, a faint hope flared up in the survivors' chests. But this was immediately extinguished as they entered the camp. What had once looked like a ruin was now truly one. Android corpses littered every corner of the camp, buildings were destroyed, but not a single human corpse could be seen, a sign that the five silhouettes had passed this way. The group was not in fact their target, but merely a slight setback.

It was at this critical moment, when no one knew what to say, that Melissa spoke up, trying to speak as clearly as possible.

"All is not lost, it's only one side. If we return to the other camp from which Smith, Jeffe, Alice, and myself come, we will truly be saved. Besides, it's deeper in the front lines, so it can't possibly be destroyed!"

These words weren't especially strong, relevant, or even charismatically said. Yet, for these people who had lost all willpower, this sentence sounded like a glimmer of hope, the meaning that all was not lost. Only Alice collapsed to the floor, her eyes even emptier than Jeffe's. She said only one sentence before she had to leave. She said only one sentence before hitting the ground.

"Why did I do all this?"

A mournful laugh came from her lips as she lay staring at the sun, laughing even harder, having probably lost the last thread holding her sanity together. She felt like the worst kind of monster, that the sacrifices she had engendered had been in vain. It was then that Melissa became certain: it was only a role that allowed her to move forward, not her true self. She approached Alice, wanting to take her in her arms, but Smith prevented her, his gaze filled with hatred and resentment, striking Alice's face with a kick containing all her emotions.

"I told you to shut the fuck up! What right do you have to complain!"

Melissa moved accordingly, trying to stop Smith, but Jeffe intervened first. He knocked Davis to the ground as if he'd never existed in the first place, his gaze as blank as ever. He then went to pick up the foot that had struck Alice, and twisted it without the slightest hesitation, staring at Smith on the ground, who had a face containing an indescribable mix of emotion. Jeffe said nothing, crushing his foot into Smith's face again and again. Melissa's embrace of Jeffe in the hope of bringing him to his senses was useless. Davis screamed from behind, but Jeffe paid him no heed. The merciless onslaught of blows continued until Melissa knocked Jeffe to the ground with a single push, speaking to him in an authoritative voice.

"If we fight now, we're all going to die here. And if you put him on forced standby by hitting him so hard, he won't be able to fight again."

Despite what Melissa had done, Jeffe's eyes didn't change in the slightest. They were still empty. But he stood up, taking Davis on his shoulders as he watched, more helpless than ever.

"Thank you, Melissa! You're my goddess!"

Smith said when he saw Melissa approaching him. But contrary to his expectations, Mélissa struck Smith's already battered face with a kick containing all her power, tearing off what served as his skin, revealing all the metal parts that made up his face. She then moved on to Alice, still amorphous from Smith's blow. She took Alice by the hand, kneeling beside her, speaking in a soft voice.

"Why did you do that? Look around you, there are still six other people alive besides us, don't you think that's reason enough? It doesn't matter that the camp's gone, the important thing is that we're alive."

Alice looked around, then stared at Melissa, her eyes unable to release the slightest tear due to her lack of water, while the features of her face distorted in the same way as someone silently weeping. Alice was lost, didn't know what to say, didn't know what to do, didn't even know if she deserved Melissa's support. But it was when Melissa hugged her and lifted her up that she realized something that seemed logical to many humans. Having emotions was a strength, not a weakness. However, this realization was not accompanied by a miraculous burst of energy. She simply looked at Melissa with an exhausted gaze, before giving her a forced smile as she disengaged herself from her embrace to stand on her own, whispering a word discreetly as she began to move forward.

"Thank you."

Once she was far enough away from the group, she turned around, speaking in a voice that was firm, but far from the cold, authoritative one she'd used just a short while ago. Although her face was that of a resolute person, not one full of dreams and hope.

"What are you waiting for? Melissa's already given the orders, hasn't she? We're moving on to the camp we came from at the beginning."

The surviving clones nodded, following Alice as Melissa hurried to join her, closely followed by Davis who smiled slightly from the shoulders of the inexpressive Jeffe, secretly relieved that Alice had the strength to move forward again.

* * *

The journey was long, very long, nothing changing in the desert landscape except the position of the sun, and the increasing dehydration of the clones. Melissa alone embodied the group's last semblance of motivation, as she sang in a slightly more relaxed manner during the journey. Although the singing was discreet enough to allow anyone to hear the slightest noise, it was nonetheless spellbinding, as her fiery hair stood out in the sunlight streaming in her direction. This contrasted with Alice, at the rear of the group, whom no one wished to look at. The feeling of repeating the same journey in the same environment took hold of the whole group, but was broken soon enough by the sounds of a distant battle.

A number of first-generation Sentinels, resembling black, combat-cut mechanical robots with flattened heads, seemed to be fighting against a small group of immaculate white figures. However, their numbers were dwindling at a terrifying rate as a simple movement of the white silhouettes' hands shattered, crushed, burned or even froze the sentinels, giving the impression that an elemental barrage was being unleashed on these poor machines. What was most shocking, however, was that the sentinels were accompanied by imposing metallic titans, nearly three meters tall, competing directly with the arthropod colossus in terms of size. Some of these titans looked mechanical, or even similar to the sentinels, except for their totally different sizes. The most advanced, however, resembled a humanoid in white armor, interspersed with black lines, equipped with an imposing weapon, making android guns look like mere toys.

Although these titans, with their brilliantly colored optical sensors, made them look like destructive machines on the battlefield. They were just as helpless as the sentinels against these super-powered silhouettes, rarely seeming to suffer the slightest damage. The fact that they were not intact, and that a pure white liquid that was inseparable from their bodies oozed from their wounds, testified to the efforts these machines were making to face them. Although the red blood flowing from the various titans crushed like cans seemed to indicate that humans were fighting within them, sacrificing themselves by piloting them to halt the advance of their enemies.

The unbelievable scene made the whole group freeze, remaining uncovered behind these silhouettes. All were stunned, terrified of seeing the same scenario unfold before their eyes once again, and soon began to retreat precipitately, attracting the attention of a figure who swept the entire group away with a deadly shockwave. The androids, badly damaged by this simple attack, flew in the same direction. The only thing they could see before their forced wakefulness kicked in due to the critical damage they had received, was the dismembered bodies of the clones, and Jeffe, accompanying them in a shower of blood. The luckiest androids also felt parts of their bodies dissociate before seeing nothing more. However, the unluckiest saw death head-on, suffering the most horrible pain possible, while even screaming was impossible in their short, seemingly eternal propulsions.

The battlefield quickly fell silent. However, the unluckiest saw death from the front, suffering the most horrible pain possible, while even shouting was impossible in their short propulsions, yet seemed to last an eternity.