TOSOTR STORIES 3- Virgo Team

"See anything?" A hooded Salvager asks, turning to his teammate. The drone shook his head but said nothing.

"No... Nothing. Its clear." He finally replied. It was past midnight and visibility was terrible, but the clearing ahead was empty as far as SYG0-1 could tell. The only oddity was a large hill in the middle of the clearing. Quickly the 10-man team assembled their tents and went inside, leaving SYG0 and Orii awake on watch duty. Orii was a skinny grey haired girl who always wore a scarf over her face. She whistled as she walked about the perimeter of the clearing, twirling her handgun. "This place is fuckin strange. Its so quiet."

"Yeah... I noticed that." SYG0-1 nodded. "Its suspicious. Either someone already cleared the Golems out of this area recently, or..."

"... or something really big SCARED them out." Orii finished his sentence. "Either way, it don't matter to me." She leaned on the strange hill in the clearing's center, taking note of the string of beads hung between two small saplings on the far end. "Someone definitely was here before us, that much is clear." She gave a little chuckle and started prodding at the string.

SYG0-1 stepped closer and took note of the strange shapes of the two 'saplings'. They were... completely symmetrical, that much was obvious. "Orii, stop fucking with the string already. What if the owner comes back?"

Orii rolled her eyes in reply. "Really? What could they need these stupid beads for? Probably worthless leftover junk." She gave the 'hill' a kick, only to hear a dull metallic THUNK in response. "Wait... What the fuck?"

Suddenly two glowing red gashes opened below the 'saplings' as the ground shook with a low growl. In a flash an arm whipped out, its long claws slashing Orii in the chest. The girl gave a choked gurgle and slowly turned to SYG0 before collapsing.

"ORII!" SYG0-1 ran over and checked her pulse as the hill started to rise beside them. Orii had two long gashes across her chest and throat, and was dead upon hitting the ground. "EVERYBODY GET UP! SALVAGER DOWN!"

Quickly the rest of the team spilled out of their tents in various states of dress, frantically whipping out their guns and aiming at the 'hill' which they now knew was a Golem. Only... was it? Turning on their flashlights, the team saw the beast was wearing clothing and armor. It looked to be over 14 feet tall, and stood upon massive digitigrade feet clad in fitted leather boots with armor plating strapped on top. The glowing gashes seemed to be the beast's eyes.

SYG0-1 ran to the others, shouting "GUYS! RUN! ITS A GOLEM-"

A loud, booming voice quickly interrupted him. "Hhhh.... Flesh... blood... bone.... beating organs... human." The beast spoke, stretching her limbs as she examined the team.

The team leader, Adrius, addressed the monster. "A talking Golem? That's not something you see every day."

The Golem gave a little chuckle. Though her face was masked in the darkness, Adrius could see the glint of her razor sharp fangs. "Hahaheheheh... Oh we talk all the time. Your feeble minds simply cannot understand-"

One of the team members suddenly fired a shot, which glanced off the monster's chestplate. The beast let out an earthshaking roar in fury.

Adrius whipped around to see their medic trembling in fear, her shaky hands wrapped tightly around her gun. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Adrius, upon looking back, barely leapt out of the way as the monster took a swing at him. The team frantically dashed out of the clearing, all running in different directions. SYG0-1 called out to them. "NO! GUYS! STICK TOGETHER!"

The medic, still frozen in fear, was crushed under the beast's boot with a sickening thud. Adrius grabbed a second gun from one of the other members and started blasting the beast with both sidearms, trying to slow her down. Adrius's eyes widened as he saw the beast whip out a massive scythe-like blade and take a swing. His last thought was how a Golem could be intelligent enough to use weapons, before his body collapsed to the ground in two pieces.

The beast pulled a handle on her weapon and the blade flipped around with a CLANK, revealing the barrel of some sort of flamethrower. With another click she sent a torrent of fire belching towards the fleeing Salvagers, instantly scorching the teammate running next to SYG0. Since SYG0 was an AI he could easily shrug off the flames, but he felt nothing but terror as he saw his friend collapse in a pile of scorched remains.

Another screech rang out and two teammates were tackled by another Golem that was hiding in a bush. Having forgotten their guns and a lot of their armor, they were quickly shredded by the murderous beast.

The Monster closed in on the remaining four members with each thundering step, her long legs allowing her to easily close the distance. SYG0-1 signaled to the grey wolf on his left, indicating they should hide. The duo ducked behind two trees as the Monster got closer. The other two teammates got the idea and hid in a bush nearby.

A loud hiss rang out as the beast sniffed the air, already realizing they stopped running. "Hhh... I hear you... breathing... not very smart, are you?" SYG0-1 stood perfectly still as the Golem crept closer, then walked right past him. SY knew she was heading for the bush. With a roar she slammed her blade down upon the bush, flattening both it and the Salvagers inside. Satisfied with the 'squelch' of the bush as she removed the blade, the Golem stood back up and looked around. "And then there were... two." With a lighting-fast swing she flung the blade back, impaling the enormous tool into the wolf's chest. SYG0-1 immediately took off running back to the camp in a frantic attempt to grab a radio. The sound of the Golem's booming laugh shook him to the core.

"Gotta... run... faster... fuck!" A tree root quickly sent SYG0 tumbling into a bush. Gathering his thoughts he started to get up, only to realize his foot was caught in a hole next to the bush. "NO!" He tried to frantically yank his foot free, only to slowly stop as the footsteps grew closer and closer. Finally giving up, SYG0-1 rolled onto his back and turned on his flashlight. At least he would now be able to look his killer in the face. He did so, staring up at that murderous face, that cavernous maw and the wide grin upon it. The last words SY heard was the beast's taunting voice saying "lights out."

And then there was nothing...