ORPHEUS - A.I.

Chapter Eleven: Fool's Errand

"Wake Up ... Please Wake up!"

Megan heard voices echoing inside her head- she thought she was dreaming. She opened her eyes slowly and saw a blurry image of the girl shaking her, trying to wake her up. Megan opened her eyes and sat on the ground.

"Oh thank god you're ok...", said the girl with a sigh of relief.

"Ah! are you all right?", asked Megan.

"Yes.. thanks to you...you saved my life..", replied the girl.

Megan looked at the burning cabin. She felt lucky to be alive. She then looked for the bags- they were lying on the ground with dust and rubble all over them. She quickly dusted off the dirt from one of them and pulled the chain and opened it up. To her surprise there was nothing but blocks of stone inside. She then opened up the other bags with the same result- blocks of stone and dirt in each of them. She was shocked.

Now she was sure that Orpheus never meant for her to succeed and the tasks were actually punishments and not penance.

For if she had chosen to run off with the bags, it would have been useless for they were filled with dirt and staying there to help the girl would have definitely ended both of their lives. She realised that Orpheus actually wanted them dead and they were sent on a suicide mission.

Suddenly the drones began to approach them from the distance.

"Run!", cried Megan.

Both of them started to run in the opposite direction with the drones following them aggressively. Megan grabbed the girl's arm and ran furiously. She tore through the long grass and ran almost a kilometre from the blast site. After a few minutes she slowed down and turned around- the drones were still following them almost 500 metres away. She saw a small stream up ahead and a thick forest in the other side of it.

"There!", she said pointing towards the forest.

Both of them splashed through the water and crossed the stream. They entered the thick foliage and hid themselves under the bushes. Almost a minute later the drones arrived at the stream and unable to find them, they turned around and flew away.

Megan was exhausted and breathing hard.

"Are they gone?", asked the girl trying to catch her breath.

"I think so...", replied Megan.

"Oh god! Orpheus's gonna kill Tim and Andre... I've failed my task...", said Megan.

"What? Who's Orpheus?", asked the girl.

Megan looked at her and sat down. She was out of one trouble but have gotten herself into another more disastrous one...

Back at the tree, Andre was trying to keep Tim awake but it seemed that it was getting harder and harder for Tim. Andre buried his head in his chest in frustration and began to pray. If only he could free himself- he let out a scream in utter helplessness and kicked his feet in the dirt.

Suddenly from the side of his eyes he saw something flying from the left of him and hitting the drone in front of him. It was an arrow that pierced through the hull of the drone and fried its circuits. The thing was thrown a few feet to the side and made a strange bizxing sound as it completely shut down . Then he heard two more similar sounds behind him. Someone had shot down the drones.

Andre looked around and saw the carpet of grass moving on his left,then a human figure began to stand up. It was a girl, completely camouflaged in the grasslands. She took off her camouflage dress and walked towards him. Andre stared at her, he had never seen a more beautiful woman in his life- curly hair, brown skinned and dark eyes. She looked like an sss warrior to him. The girl approached him and said-

"You ok?"

Andre simply stared at her. For a moment, he his troubles began to fade away...

"You've failed your objective and disobeyed my commands...", read the text.

It was from Orpheus. Megan was reading it on her phone.

"The price for disobedience is elimination...but I will give you another chance - your own task is still incomplete...Await further instructions..."

Megan read the text and threw the phone on the ground in anger. She felt like screaming her heart out. The girl looked at her wondering who she was and what was her story. They hadn't been properly introduced yet, they never had the chance- she had an interesting story of her own...

"How far is this mountain?", Hex thought.

He kept thinking about Andre. If Orpheus decided to eliminate him then he could never forgive himself. But If Orpheus thought that Hex was dead then maybe it would spare Andre's life for the moment. Anyways, he had no choice then to walk towards the mountain, or atleast find a way out of this place and get help- turning back wasn't an option, for he wasn't ready to face the forest once again, maybe there's some food supplies on top of that mountain.

The man walking ahead of him turned around and looked at him and continued walking again. Five minutes later Hex saw a tree up ahead , he quickly walked towards its shade and sat down underneath it. The man and his dog sat down too. He took out another flask from his satchel and drank some water from it, he then poured some on the ground for the dog.

"Can I...", said Hex reaching out for the flask. The man handed him the flask reluctantly.

Hex drank some water and saved the rest. He then took a deep breath , the cool shade of the tree relaxed him, but now he felt hungry.

"You got something to eat?", asked Hex.

The man ignored him and sat there peacefully looking towards the mountain , chewing a blade of grass.

"He's truly mental ...", Hex thought, " but why did he save my life?"

Hex looked at his leg, the piece of cloth was beginning to loosen up. That was really some kind of weird plant that cut his leg. Three more hours to go, he had no idea what had happened to the rest of the guys.

"Well then, let's keep moving...", said Hex to the man. But he simply ignored his words and continued staring at the open field.

"Hey! Hello... we need to move, the dtones might find me...", said Hex waving his hands in front of the man- but the man simply didn't respond. Instead he kept looking at the fields and staring at the direction of the mountain calmly chewing the grass like cattle.

"Ok then, you stay, I'll leave...", said Hex.

Suddenly the man stood up and raised his hand to his forehead trying hard to look at something in the distance. The dog started barking and wagging its tail.

"What? What is it?", asked Hex.

"Aaah...", groaned the man and pointed towards the sky up ahead.

Hex's jaw dropped in horror. He saw five black drones flying towards them with their guns pointed at them. These drones looked more vicious than the previous ones. They were flying at an incredible speed. Hex completely froze - he didn't know whether to run or hide. The drones paused a few feet ahead of them and hovered above them for a moment- then Orpheus's voice echoed from the drones-

"You've violated the rules of the game by seeking the help of an unknown element - this was your journey alone and you were supposed to repent for your sins - the price for disobedience is elimination... "

Hex looked at the man, he was surprisingly calm and stood quietly staring at the drones. The dog was barking furiously.

"Listen, I'm sorry ... please, I was hurt.." , said Hex.

"In any case you disobeyed- you will be eliminated , prepare-"

Hex thought he saw something flying from behind and hitting one of the drones. One of them in the middle, simply fell down on the ground. Hex noticed an arrow sticking out of it. Soon a volley of arrows came flying out of nowhere and began dropping down the drones one after the other like flies. Hex couldn't understand what was going on. Then he saw six men in camouflaged dresses coming out from the bushes with some sort of crossbows in their hands. One of them walked towards Hex and said-

"Lose your phone!"

Hex quickly took out his phone and smashed it on the ground.

"What on earth just happened? Who are these people?", thought Hex.

The strange man began to laugh hysterically at the sight of the broken drones. He walked towards them and kicked them with his feet, making sure they were dead.

"You realise that you were gonna die even if you had finished your task?", said one of the men.

"Wait! Who are you?", asked Hex.

"That's not important, come with us if you wanna live...", replied the man.

Hex followed them as they walked through the tall grasses and wild bushes with their crossbows at the ready looking out for more drones.

"C'mon Nikolai ... they're done...", said one of them asking the mad man who was poking the drones with a stick. He dropped the stick and followed them along with his dog.