//Runaway//

"Did you hear?"

"Hear about what?"

"The Delivery Man of course."

"Who's the Delivery Man?"

---

All across the world, after the death of humanity and the rise of machines, all living things disappeared. People, humans, animals, all things alive descended into the darkness.

They hid in secret bunkers under the earth's crust. They hid in monolithic structures secluded from the world and each other. Each settlement sat hundreds of sects apart from each other, secluded and segregated by the machines that roamed the earth.

But with the sadness of being alone, there was one man. A man who traveled between the settlements. Who traveled across the roads of old trash and scrap. Through mountainous ranges and river beds. Past the deathly howls of the forgotten world, looking for something, looking for anything, for a world anew, for a world that was long gone. He traveled with a package on his back, connecting the world one step at a time.

He went by the name Yyiir, but everyone else knew him by his other name...

The Delivery Man.

---

Yyiir stood on the precipice of a mountain. Its glowing rocks and shinning sights perpetually pulsating across the glistening tree line below. He looked out at the pitch-black clouded skies, as the sun shined a bright white through parted blinds. He pulled out a small reflective blanket and laid it out flat on the rocky mountains cliff. He sat down and reached into one of his deep pockets, pulling out a small pair of old mechanical binoculars.

He looked out into the distance, along the flat plains and tree-lined rivers that extended for miles and miles. He looked past destroyed ruins and collapsed cities, to a single structure far off, its shinning smooth metal frame reflecting back at him.

"Five-hundred sects north. Settlement 1R on the horizon. Estimated time is about..." He turned away and looked at the long road down the mountain, "five hours..."

He then looked back through the old mechanical binoculars. He stared off at the massive reflective metal megastructure sitting in the middle of a rocky mountainous range. He looked at its surrounding cracked stoned fields. Nothing for miles around. Abandoned and alone.

"This is bad..."

He put away his old mechanical binoculars and pulled out a small black box with a rectangular screen that displayed five glowing numbers.

[6, 7, 6, 1]

Yyiir turned around and looked out over the other side of the mountain.

"They're communicating on the interwaves... It's impossible to track. Shit... They could be anywhere..."

He looked back at the screen. The numbers changed.

[5, 6, 5, 9]

"It changed... That either means they're moving in groups or... They're after..." He turned back to the metal megastructure in the far-off distance, "they're after the settlement."

---

Meanwhile, inside Settlement 1R. The news about the Delivery Man's arrival started the spread.

From floor to floor. From shop to shop. From room to bed, to husband to wife, from friend to friend. Hundreds and hundreds of people started to hear his name spread. And they started to get excited.

The idea of a new face. Of someone traveling outside their home, outside the confines of this metal cell. To them, he was like a hero. A fighter for humanity, who gave them hope for the future.

But he was too late.

They came.

Robotic Androids. Tall looming creatures, filled with gears and wires and electronic boards. There were three of them. Each one cloaked mysteriously in the shadows.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

The siren alarmed across the settlement.

All the civilians started heading toward the bunkers before death and blood erupted in the long winding hallways and staircases.

Six limbs. Six eyes. Small robotic bodies. They crawled through the ventilation of the structure. They invaded through the pipes, through the filtration systems. They entered homes, they entered the shops. They crawled into the kitchens, into living quarters, into the bathrooms. The hundreds of struggling and running humans we're caught off guard by these small spider-like robots.

Yyiir looked down at his screen.

[6, 6, 1, 1]

"The numbers changed again...? They sent out the signal..."

All at once, the machines attacked Settlement R1. In an instant, across the hallways and walkways, from person to person. Without any way to fight back. Mothers, fathers, children, guards, soldiers. They were all wiped out. Murdered in flocks without any way to fight back.

The spider-bots would crawl across the ceiling, dropping one after the other onto unsuspecting victims heads. Then in an instant, they would.

Slink!

A small corkscrewed blade would shoot out from the bottom piercing right through their skulls.

---

On the other end of the settlement, near the entrance of the megastructure.

Three blonde-haired brothers in full metal armor and carrying heavy laser rifles stood staring down at the massacre.

"Shit! What happened here?"

"Mik, I thought you said this place had alive inhabitants. They're all dead!"

"But that's what it said on the thingy. And... We just got here. And... This..."

"I know... It looks bad."

The three fully plated brothers in makeshift metal armor squatted down to the ten dead security guards.

Pik the middle brother looked at the recent wounds of the dead men, "boys... These are recent kills."

Mik looked down at his communicator.

"And no one's picking up. Shit! Jin, what do we do next? This place is-"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The metal megastructure exploded across three locations all at once.

The three brothers stood up worried and confused by the continuous shaking and rattling of the walls and foundation.

"What was that? Are the attackers still here?" asked Mik scared.

Jik tapped him on the shoulder, "it's fine. Bots are easy to kill. So for now, we'll just stock up on supplies and ready ourselves to head out to the next settlement. Lay low. We don't want to attain any attention while we scavenge for supplies."

Pik stood still, his face looking down at the dead bodies.

"But Jik... I agree with the scavenging, but what about after that? The next settlement is over three thousand sects away. We don't have time to scurry about."

"It's the only thing we can do, Pik. All the other settlements were destroyed by those god damn Bots. So all we can do is run. And run."

---

The three brothers walked through the spiraling hallways.

Dead people covered the looming dark walkways. Blood spilling over the floors as dangling gas lanterns swung back and forth.

Tap-tap-tap!

A spider-bot crawled across the wall.

"What's that!" pointed Mik.

Jin aimed his laser rifle and fired off three shots.

He hit the small robotic spider crawling across the wall. It flipped over, destroyed through its small mechanical frame. Legs and eyes everywhere. Shards and scrap scattered across the bloodied floor.

"Nice shot," said Pik as he walked up to the dead mechanical spider.

He picked it up by one of its legs, shaking its internals to see what it was made out of.

Mik walked past disgusted, "stop getting aroused by electronic shit, Pik. We've got to find the kitchen."

Pik tossed the dead spider-bot into his backpack and looked out into the distance.

A figure in white stood in the shadows.

Jik and Mik instantly held up their laser rifles.

It looked at the three brothers. Red eyes. Bleeding electric light.

It said in a robotic voice, "so these humans have weapons."

The figure in white stepped forward. Its red beating eyes. A bald head, gears, and internal wiring exposed at the top. Its body was covered in a pitch white cloak, with its chin and mouth covered by a turtle neck collar.

It stepped forward.

Mechanical spiders started crawling out from the bottom of the white cloak.

"What are you?!" asked Pik intrigued as the spider-bots started crawling toward them.

"Humans... I hate humans..."

Jik and Mik shot out five lasers respectively. The white humanoid Android disappeared into the darkness. The lasers followed through the darkness.

Jik quickly turned around and grabbed Pik, "we're getting out of here!"

Mik followed, "yes please, this place freaks me out!"

Pik smirked, "what was that thing? It was... Amazing..""

"Shut up, Pik," scoffed Jik as he turned corner after corner, dodging past mechanical spiders and dead bodies.

"Yeah Pik!"

Pik turned angry as his heavy feet carried him down the dark hallway, "shut up, Mik. Stop following Jik's shit. And get a hobby."

"I do have a hobby. I like to fish."

"You know there are no more fish."

"Well... I like the experience."

"Ohhh... Shut up-"

Jik quickly stopped grabbed his two younger brothers by their metal colors. He looked at them in the eyes as the spider-bots followed.

"Both of you! It's good you two are having this conversation, but it's not the right time. We are running! Don't stop!"

Pik laughed, "hahahaha! It's fine Jik. Stop being a fussy leader dick. It always works out in the end for us. What is this? The fourth Settlement we've found destroyed. One day we'll find it."

"One day..."

They continued their escape as the spider-bots followed right behind.

---

Meanwhile outside.

Yyiir looked off toward the horizon. The megastructure erupting in smoke and death. He watched as it slowly fell. The foundation crumbling after hundreds and hundreds of explosions and attacks. He watched as humans tried to flee the scene. He watched as four Androids in white stood surrounding the area. He watched as they trapped all the runaways. He watched as more spider-bots approached the scene.

Except these spider-bots were different. They were taller. More murderous with longer legs and wider fangs. The twenty surviving trapped humans fell to their knees.

They started to pray.

But this prayer wasn't toward a god or a being of a higher power. It was toward the man who only a day ago, was destined to come and give them gifts. The man they thought was to be their hero. The man in all black, who carried a metal box across the world. They all prayed he would save them. That he would save humanity.

They prayed that he would come.

But he watched. He watched as they were all slaughtered. Killed one by one. Turned into paste, sliced, mauled, murdered. He watched as the three tall Androids commanded their spider-like robots.

He turned around his face a simple plain nothingness. He was lost in his own world.

"I shouldn't meddle with things out of my control."

Yyiir walked past and ignored the crying screams from the half-destroyed Settlement R1.