Robot Wars: Thrown Into the Fray

by Nicholas Haring

  “Can you tell me what you’re going to inject me with; it’s not a red syringe, is it?” Brookes asked as she lifted up her shirt sleeve.

  “Hmm… no, it’s not red, but it’s probably best if you didn’t know what it is,” Cross said as she pricked Brookes and injected her with whatever it was. “You may feel nauseous and experience mild hallucinations for next few hours.”

  “Great. So I probably can’t go meet Lieutenant Harlan for drinks tonight?” Brookes asked as she rubbed the injection area that was starting to swell a little.

  “I wouldn’t recommend it, though, I doubt you’ll be able to walk in the next cou-” Brookes passed out while Cross was talking.

  *****

  Brookes opened her eyes. She was lying face up on her cot. She carefully studied the top of the olive-colored canvas tent. She thought about how odd it was that her unit would have such an old-fashioned-style tent. She imagined for a second that she had actually woken up in some Korean War field hospital. She imagined a wise crack doctor making sarcastic jokes and pulling cute pranks on the other doctors and staff. She then shook her head when she realized how terrible that would be.

  Brookes sat up and saw Cross sitting on the cot across from her, watching her.

  “Ugh… what happened?” Brookes asked as she squinted her eyes and rubbed her forehead; the blood rushing back was giving her a massive headache.

  “It seems you had an adverse reaction to the antibiotics. Here take this. It should help with your headache,” Cross said, and then reached into her bag and grabbed out a small, white plastic bottle. “Here you go.”

  “Thanks, what is it?” Brookes asked as she took two white capsules and put them in her mouth.

  “Acetaminophen,” Cross said.

  “Okay, well, at least I know what they are, now,” Brookes said, and then swallowed the pills as she tried to stand up.

  “I think you should lie down for a bit longer,” Cross said. Brookes then fell back on to her cot when she could no longer maintain her wobbly posture.

  “Dammit, that’s the last time I walk through rancid, stagnant water again,” Brookes said, chuckling slightly.

  “I hope so too. I’m out of that particular antibiotic,” Cross said as she looked through her bag with a subtle look of worry on her face. “Hmm… will you excuse me? I’ll be right back. Stay where you are.”

  Cross quickly stood up and left the tent with her medical bag. Brookes rolled back and curled up on her cot.

  “Terrific,” Brookes sighed to herself. She then looked around the tent and saw that she was the only one there. As she lay there, she swore she could feel the Earth spinning on its axis.

  She could hear the hustle and bustle of the camp as everyone prepared for tomorrow, and, ever so faintly, an electric hum, as though she were close to a faulty transformer or sub-station.

  “That must be the robots,” Brookes muttered to herself. She had heard stories about the eerie noise at the Academy, but she had never heard it herself, until now. She thought about how the robots never had to deal with headaches or diseases. They were just getting closer, and every moment Brookes lay there they were just getting closer and closer. The thought began to terrify her; she imagined them in the town, in the camp -- outside her tent! The tent flap opened and a large, dark, foreboding figure came in. Brookes lay there silently, frozen with terror.

  “Have you seen Cross?” the dark figure asked.

  Brookes - her eyes wide - stared at the figure coming closer with fear, then it came into the light; it was Kazir.

  “Are you okay, Lieutenant?” Kazir asked.

  Brookes blinked her eyes and shook her head to snap out of it.

  “Yeah, I’m fine, Kazir,” Brookes said though she didn’t feel so; the earth was spinning even faster now.

  “Have you seen Cross?” Kazir asked again.

  “Oh yeah, sorry, she left just a little while ago with her medical bag; said she would be right back,” Brookes said.

  “Okay,” Kazir said, and then turned to leave the tent.

  “Kazir?” Brookes said.

  Kazir stopped and turned back around.

  “Yes?” Kazir asked.

  “Do you think you can stay here until she gets back?” Brookes asked; she was feeling like she was going to pass out again.

  Kazir glanced at the tent exit and then back to Brookes.

  Sure, I’ll stay,” Kazir said as he came back and sat down on his cot next to Brookes.

  “Thanks, Kazir,” Brookes said as she smiled; the Earth was really picking up speed now.

  “No problem. You said she would be coming back here, so I‘ll wait here,” Kazir said with a smile.

  “Hey, what gives, Kazir? I thought you always referred to yourself in the third person,” Brookes said confused.

  “Heh… oops, I forgot I was doing that. Sorry, about that. I was fucking with you, Lieutenant,” Kazir said with a smirk.

  “Oh, I thought it was pretty obvious,” Brookes said, though she really just assumed he talked that way.

  “You don’t look too good, Lieutenant,” Kazir said with a concerned tone.

  “I’m fine. Kazir, can you tell me a little about yourself?” Brookes asked.

  “Not much to tell, Lieutenant,” Kazir said.

  “Come on, Kazir, a man like you must have some interesting stories. Please?” Brookes light-heartily pleaded.

  Kazir was silent for a moment as he rubbed his large, harden, dark hands.

  “You want to know what I did before, correct?” Kazir asked, and then Brookes nodded. “I used to work security for The Nine Knives, they were an oil smuggling cartel based out of North Africa. I did a lot of things back then that I’m not proud of and never want to talk about. But, I will tell you about my last day with them though, until Cross gets back, okay?”

  “Really?”

  “Sure.”

  “Thanks,” Brookes said as she began to feel herself slip in and out of consciousness.

  “It was seven years ago. My last job, it also happened to be my first infiltration job. I had never dealt with that side of the business before; I usually worked transport security. My boss sent me along to keep an eye on a man named Abdul - one of our runners. He was suspicious that Abdul was ripping us off by siphoning off oil into his own personal stash. I was supposed to take him out if I found evidence he was doing that. We were headed to an abandoned oil rig out near the island of Madeira; normally, we would pull the oil from HRUO territory, but not this time …” Kazir continued as Brookes blacked out.

  The sun was blazing high overhead as Brookes raised her hand to shield her eyes. She felt like she was rocking back and forth; she sat up quickly, and looked around. She was in a small motorboat in the middle of the ocean; no sign of land around. In front of her was a towering, derelict oil platform; the waves crashing on the barnacle encrusted supports. The derrick seemed to be home to a colony of seabirds, judging by the numbers flying above. She quickly looked behind her and saw a small oil tanker half a kilometer or so away. It barely looked sea worthy from what she could tell.

  “Are you sure about this one, Abdul? It looks like it has nothing here,” a voice said.

  Brookes was surprised when she realized she was in a boat with three other men. They didn’t seem to notice that she was there in the boat with them, so she remained silent.

  “What would you know, Rabah? You’re just a kid. I can’t believe the Boss sent me out here with two rookies,” said the scrawny, rough-looking, middle-aged man.

  “Go easy on him, Abdul, and also, I’m no rookie,” A man that looked like a younger Kazir said.

  “To me you are,” Abdul said, and then turned to look at the young teen. “Rabah, take this grappling hook and get it hooked onto the walkway up there.” Abdul shoved the hook and rope into his face.

  “Okay,” a nervous Rabah said as he took the grappling hook.

  “Hurry up, go!” Abdul ordered.

  Rabah went to the top of the
bow and almost lost his balance from the boat rocking back and forth.

  “Heh-heh… watch out, boy, there are sharks in those waters!” Abdul chuckled loudly as Rabah steadied himself.

  Rabah then started his throwing motion as he began to swing the hook.

  “Try to get it on the edge of the walkway, not the railing!” Kazir yelled as Rabah threw the hook, which sailed skyward, until it hit the bottom of the rusted walkway, making a pronounced ding sound. The hook then fell straight down and plopped into the water.

  “Hold on to the rope, you idiot! Don’t lose the hook!” Abdul yelled frantically as he and Rabah scrambled to grab the rope. Abdul snagged it at the last possible second before it disappeared into the sea.

  “Sit down, boy; I should’ve done this myself!” Abdul yelled as he threw Rabah back down into the boat. Kazir tried to pick him up, but he pushed him away.

  “Are you okay, Rabah?” Kazir asked as Rabah scrambled away and sat down.

  “He’s fine,” Abdul said as he began his throwing motion.

  “I’m fine,” Rabah said as Abdul threw the hook and snagged it on the walkway.

  “It’s secure. Okay, Rabah my boy, you’re first, let’s go!” Abdul ordered as he tugged on the rope.

  Rabah went up to the rope, tugged it a few times, and then started climbing.

  “That’s it, look at that little monkey go,” Abdul said, watching Rabah climb up the thirty-feet.

  Rabah hoisted himself up onto the walkway which began to sway slightly with his weight.

  “It seems safe enough,” Rabah said.

  “Kick down the ladder!” Abdul yelled up. “Sharik, grab the pack, it has our equipment. As soon as we find the oil in this thing; we’ll signal the ship to come in and we’ll offload it, got it?” Abdul turned back and looked up at Rabah who was trying to dislodge the collapsible ladder.

  “Stupid rusted …” Rabah said; he gave it a forceful kick which finally dislodged it. The ladder slid down and then ground to a halt three-fourths of the way down.

  “I think it’s stuck,” Kazir said with a smirk.

  “No shit. Hoist me up, Sharik,” Abdul said, and then extended out his arms.

  Kazir grabbed a hold of Abdul at his waist and lifted him up to the first rung of the ladder, Abdul grabbing it with both hands. Abdul climbed up, getting both of his feet onto the ladder, when suddenly his weight caused the ladder to fall the rest of the way, catching him by surprise.

  “Shit!” Abdul exclaimed as Kazir and Rabah laughed. “Shut-up!”

  Abdul made his way to the top and Kazir waited until he was on the walkway before he tried the corroded ladder for himself.

  “Hurry up, Sharik; we don’t have much time before the patrols come by!” Abdul yelled down.

  “I’m coming, Abdul!” Kazir shouted back.

  Kazir made his way to the top of the walkway and the three headed to the entrance of the oil platform. Brookes got up and decided to follow the three before they got too far.

  She then realized she was having a really lucid dream, but it was an intriguing one, so she decided to run with it as she started up the ladder, slowly. She wasn’t too sure if they could see her or not, so she decided to hang back as much as possible.

  Brookes pulled herself up on to the walkway. The three had already made their way inside. She hurried to the door; the walkway feeling and sounding like it could give way at any second.

  Brookes opened the rusted metal door and peered inside the darkness. She wished at that moment that she had a flashlight with her. She went in and closed the door behind her and stood there for a few moments, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness.

  All manner of unknown noises and creaks emanated from every direction as Brookes stood there with her back up against the door. Finally, she could make out some faint lights from the end of the hallway. Slowly, she made her way toward it, feeling the walls to her sides with her hands. The walls felt moist and slimy. She figured it probably wasn’t a good idea to think too much about what she was touching.

  “I hope Cross doesn’t try to give me another shot for this,” Brookes said to herself.

  The hallway ended at a T-junction. Brookes could barely make out an arrow-shaped sign that pointed to the right. It looked like it read “Escadas” with something vaguely looking like stairs underneath it.

  “I guess I’ll go right then,” Brookes muttered to herself.

  Brookes made her way down the hall, until she bumped into something metal; she figured it was the door to the stairwell. She felt around for the door handle and opened it. There was a little bit of light in the stairwell, thanks to a small broken window near the ceiling. Brookes made her way up to the top and exited the door which brought her outside; the sunlight temporarily blinding her until her eyes could readjust.

  “Ha-ha! What did I tell you? Those bastards left their oil here!” Abdul said.

  Brookes looked up and to her right, to the three large oil storage tanks where Abdul, Kazir, and Rabah were standing. Brookes scurried and hid behind some barrels and watched the three.

  “Why would they leave all of this oil here?” Rabah asked.

  “Who cares, all that matters is that it’s here! Okay, Sharik, signal the tanker!” Abdul ordered as he rubbed his hands.

  Kazir turned on the walkie-talkie which made a loud high pitched noise, startling Kazir and causing him to drop it.

  “You clumsy fool, pick it up!” Abdul yelled. “Rabah, find the outtake valves, they should be around the back.”

  Rabah quickly ran around to the back of the tanks as Kazir picked up the walkie-talkie and tried to use it again.

  “Hello …” Kazir said as another loud pitched noise came from it.

  “You broke it!” Abdul said.

  “No, I didn’t! I just turned it on,” Kazir said as Abdul snatched it out of his hands.

  Brookes then heard a faint sound of rotors in the distance, echoing throughout the oil platform. The seabirds nesting at the top of the derrick became agitated and began to fly away as the echoing became more distinct.

  “Do you hear that?” Kazir asked as Abdul shushed him.

  “Helicopters,” Abdul said as the sound got louder and louder.

  A black helicopter flew overhead and then another and another.

  “You are trespassing on a Unified Nations Military Command restricted zone! Do not move! You are all under arrest!” A loud speaker from one of the helicopters announced as another helicopter buzzed by.

  “That bastard set us up!” Abdul angrily yelled as the helicopter’s message repeated.

  “What the hell?” Kazir said.

  “You… you’re in on this, aren’t you? Aren’t you?” Abdul yelled over the sound of the helicopters. Abdul then pulled out a small revolver from the pocket of his jean shorts and pointed it at Kazir. “Well, you’re not going to leave here alive, backstabber!”

  Abdul cocked the pistol.

  “What’s going on?” Rabah asked as he came running around from behind the oil tanks. Abdul turned and shot Rabah in the chest as Kazir tackled him. Rabah gasped, staggered for a few feet, and then fell off the side of the platform into the ocean.

  “You son of a bitch, you shot Rabah!” Kazir yelled as he tried to wrestle the gun from Abdul’s hands.

  “Traitor, backstabber!” Abdul yelled as he and Kazir wrestled and exchanged blows.

  “Stop immediately and drop your weapons!” a hovering helicopter announced as it fired warning shots near Abdul and Kazir. The two stopped as soldiers began to rope in. The soldiers came in guns drawn and arrested the two; Abdul spitting blood in Kazir’s face before the soldiers got the two separated.

  “See you in hell, Sharik Kazir!” Abdul yelled as two soldiers dragged him away.

  Everything began to fade to white as Brookes looked at Kazir. He was staring off in the direction of where Rabah fell off. The whiteness soon turned to a blurry olive green. Brookes began to realize she was probably right back in the tent
. Kazir was still sitting next to her.

  “So did your boss sell you out?” Brookes asked, still not sure if she was dreaming or not.

  “Ha! No, Abdul was a careless moron. It just so happened his luck ran out,” Kazir scoffed.

  “So what happened to him?” Brookes asked.

  “I don’t know, but if I ever see him again I’ll …” Kazir said, stopping himself before he finished.

  “Kill him?” Brookes asked.

  “I don’t know,” Kazir said as he shook his head and crossed his arms.

  The tent flap opened just then, and in walked Cross.

  “I’m back and I have bad news, Lieutenant,” Cross said.

  “What’s that?” Brookes asked with a deep feeling of foreboding setting in.

  “I gave you the wrong antibiotic, sorry,” Cross said as she pulled out another syringe from her medical bag.

  “What? Ugh!” Brookes said as she fell back on the cot.

  At least the Earth’s spin seems to be slowing down somewhat, Brookes thought.

  Chapter 21

  “Has anyone seen Thompson?” Lander asked as he entered his platoon’s tent.

  “No, I haven’t, I think Porter knows though,” Ellerby said.

  “Okay, thanks,” Lander said as he walked up to Porter who was lying on her cot, reading and listening to music. Lander tapped her on the foot and she peered up from her book and took out her ear buds.

  “What’s up, Sarge?” Porter asked.

  “Have you seen Thompson?” Lander asked.

  “Yeah, he said he was going to the range to practice, why?” Porter said.

  “I just need to talk with him, thanks,” Lander said as Porter put her ear buds back in and went back to her book.

  Lander started for the exit when Ellerby hopped up from his cot.

  “Can I come, Sarge?” Ellerby asked enthusiastically.

  “Ehh… I’d rather you stay here, Ellerby,” Lander said as the disappointed Ellerby sat back down and Lander walked out of the tent.

  Lander could hear rifle fire coming from the range that the squad had set up earlier. Lander could see Thompson in one of the makeshift stalls with his rifle, firing at targets down range. The lighting wasn’t very good so Lander wasn’t even sure if Thompson could see what he was aiming at.