Man or Machine

The smell of blood and charred metal seeped throughout the battlefield, its acidic tang rivaled only by the screams of dying men. Their cries, guttural howls of determination filled the air as I crashed into the ground. The impact punctuated by a quiet pop as my ribs snapped, the whimper leaking out my lips drowned by the steady shattering of more bones as I tumbled across the pink sands of the beach. The previously white dunes forever changed, soaked in the blood of the fallen. As I lay helpless on the ground, my teeth stained with my own blood I finally let out a sob. The tears falling for my eyes spurred on by pure agony as I barely held onto consciousness. 

Don't black out, STAY awake, STAY awake. The thought resounded through my head as I stared at the dark night sky. The tranquil night blanket of darkness shattered as stealth ships were blasted out of its embrace. The remnants of their pure white hulls flickering into reality as the rhythmic booms of rail gun fire tore through their defenses, raining deadly showers of debris throughout the battlefield. The charred remains of their pilots plummeting along with them. It was a massacre. Shit, SHIT. Unable to bear the sight I turned my head to the side, the action slow as I gasped in pain, my vision momentarily fading to black before I snapped back to reality. 

My eyes momentarily trapped in a blurred collage of ripples and spots, slowly faded into focus settling into the eyes of the dead man next to me. His eyes, previously a warm brown, were cold and lifeless. His face set in a grim snarl of determination, was indomitable even in death as his vibrant chocolate skin seemed pale like a listless imitation of a masterpiece. Dad.Fuck. Tears poured out of my eyes mixing with blood as they trailed down my face. The tears flowing faster as I did my best to trace every line of his face in my mind, every wrinkle, every scar. Eventually stopping on the cauliflower ears he bragged were the greatest proof of his military career. The tears came even harder accompanied by quiet sobs as I stared into the eyes of the man who shaped my world. The man whose body was crushed to a pulp, everything below his neck barely more than a red paste splattered onto the sand. Another warrior destined to fade beneath the beach.

Thoom! A metallic leg slammed into the head of my father squashing all that was left of him beneath its massive weight as a hand grabbed my head. The cool metal fingers giving way to a callused human palm as I was lifted off the ground, my body hanging limp as I dangled in his grasp coming face to face with a mechanical monstrosity. His face was a patchwork of humanity and machinery, unceremoniously blended together to form a walking nightmare. His eyes were replaced with bionic replicas, their pupils red as they pushed out of his sockets, twisting like the lens of a camera as they zoomed in on my face. His face smugly settling into a savage smile as he finally recognized me, The mix of skin and metal stretching out as his eyes glimmered with madness.

"The young OKORO walks on the sand, THe YoUng OkoRO shall never walk through our land" He sang. His voice a mongrel of sound, The deep rumble of a grown man mixed in with the high pitched whine of machinery. Tears still streaming from my face he looked into my eyes "YoUR DaDDy is DEad aNd GOne, YOur FaMILy Will HAve to MOurn." BOOM! A laser struck the armor on his back not even causing the robotic madman to stumble as he kept his eyes firmly on me. "ByE ByE". His right hand shifted, the palm dissolving into a slot its diameters matching the shape of a blade as his former hand slid down his wrists flowing like liquid metal flowing around his arm as a blade of pure energy formed. The heat radiating against my skin, its intensity cooking me like a slice of bacon. Then with a demented smile he swung, slicing clean through my legs, severing them right above the knee, the heat of the blade cauterizing the wound as it formed. A screamed ripped it's way out of my lungs, the sound a desperate cry of pain and anger matched in intensity by a female cry, resounding manicaly from behind the mechanical titan, The rounds of laser fire intensifying as it sunk into his back absorbed by a layer of smoke released from the creature swallowing the frantic barrage. His eyes never left mine, the smile still on his face as he tossed me back into the sand like an old toy, a cherry giggle spilling from his lips as he practically skipped away towards the source of the laser fire. Her cries of anger rapidly morphing into fear. NO, NO not Sop not my sister. The tears pouring from my eyes as I lay helplessly on the ground, the sound of her screams accompanying me into the darkness.

Hump! I shot out of bed gasping my body covered in a layer of sweat as I panted frantically, my heart thundering against my chest. I sat up in my bed, pressing my hand against the scars crisscrossing their way across my upper torso as I attempted to calm down. It was a dream, It was just a dream thank fucking god. With a deep breath I let my hands brush through my hair. My fingers threading through the tangle of dreads that fell unceremoniously from my head as I kicked my sheets off my body. The lights flickered on automatically, programmed to wake up with me at the dimmest setting, slowly growing brighter as my heart rate returned to a more steady pace. Illuminating the black metal that made up my legs, the sleek material devouring the light as lines of green run across its length causing my heart to stutter to a halt. Right, it was real and I'm not that boy anymore. I haven't been for a long time. With a sign I lay back in bed throwing the sheets over the black monstrosities as I stared at the ceiling trying to focus on anything but my own thoughts as the patterns above me swirled, the various spirals combining into different shapes as they intersected and bounced off each other. A never ending dance of shapes and geometry as they played across the light blue ceiling tile. The colors preset to change with my thoughts. It was going to be a long day and I already needed a drink.