Chapter 654: Baby

Grey adjusted the young man over his shoulder and kept moving, though his pace had slowed enough that the loss of strength was starting to piss him off all over again. Whatever had happened when he crossed that crack had taken most of what he had gotten used to relying on, but if those floating patrol units could recognize him on sight, Grey doubted they would have much trouble connecting him to his grandfather, and if they knew his family, they probably knew his friends too.

In the end, he decided he had to go because of that.

The young man groaned against his shoulder and muttered, "We’re so fucked," before twisting enough to look down at Grey. "Aren’t those powers real? I watched you fly and shit, so what, was all that special effects? Fly us out of here."

Grey rolled his eyes and shifted him higher. "For a guy with broken ribs, you sure can talk a lot."

"Fuck you."

Grey laughed. "Never heard of you before, though. How far did you run from your house? We basically know everybody around here."

The young man scoffed as though Grey had insulted him. "I’m a senior at your high school, asshole, I just didn’t go to class much. Had better shit to do."

That made Grey pause mentally even if his feet kept moving, since there basically shouldn’t be anyone their age left on Earth anymore, not after the selection dragged so much of the population away. The people left behind were either too old, too young, or outside whatever range the Genesis Games had been interested in, which meant this guy had to be younger than Grey first assumed, and senior checked out even if Grey still found it weird he’d never heard of him.

Their community was small enough that gossip traveled faster than the internet, and Sabrina somehow knew what everyone within fifty kilometers had done before they did it. But it wasn’t impossible to not know much about someone.

Grey’s thoughts broke when a familiar stretch of fencing appeared between the trees ahead, and for half a second his chest tightened before he noticed three patrol units floating near the road leading toward the farm.

"Fuck."

Red scanners swept over the fence posts, ditches, and surrounding fields while the machines moved in slow patterns around the property. One might have been avoidable, but if these damned things were already scattered everywhere, running forever wasn’t much of a plan.

Grey’s expression darkened as he tightened his grip on the baseball bat. "Fuck this. Get the fuck off my farm."

The young man barely had time to ask what he meant before Grey crossed the remaining distance at a run and dumped him into a pile of hay beside the fence. Grey vaulted over it immediately afterward, charged toward the nearest patrol unit, and swung before its scanner could finish locking onto him.

"Citizen Grey Temolt, you are currently—"

BANG.

The bat crushed into the side of its head hard enough to send it spinning through the dirt, and the other two moved before the first had even landed. Grey ducked beneath one arm, stepped inside the second unit’s reach, then cracked the bat upward through its torso hard enough that the metal folded around the wood.

This one reacted faster than the machine by the road had, shifting its internal plating before the strike fully landed, but Grey had already expected that after what he saw earlier. "Yeah, yeah, learn faster," he muttered as he tore the bat free.

A red light flashed over Grey’s chest while the damaged machine straightened. "Violent resistance confirmed. Threat assessment escalating."

"Oh no, whatever will I do."

The unit lunged, its movements sharper now, and Grey barely slipped past a hand that would have caught his throat. He brought the bat around from the opposite side, only for the machine to block properly this time, metal hardening along its forearm before impact.

Grey’s grin widened.

"Getting smarter."

The third one came from behind, forcing Grey to drop low and roll through the grass while an arm swept over his head. He came back up and swung at its knee, but the joint stiffened before impact and only buckled slightly, proving exactly what he’d already noticed.

They adapted quickly. Though, that would have been more impressive if Grey hadn’t spent the last several months fighting things that could tear mountains apart.

He changed rhythm completely, letting the bat slip from one hand before catching it farther down with the other and shortening the swing halfway through. The machine adjusted too late and took the hit directly across its sensor, then Grey followed with a kick to the chest and sent it skidding through the dirt.

The remaining two closed in together while Grey breathed harder than he wanted to admit, sweat already running down the side of his face. "This is so fucking embarassing," he said, tightening both hands around the bat. "Don’t let the hoes see me now, I’d never live it down."

One rushed high while the other came low, so Grey stepped between them and swung through the opening. The first machine’s arm folded inward from the impact and smashed into the second one’s head, then Grey drove the bat straight through the seam in its chest before either could recover.

He twisted hard, ripped something free, then immediately reversed the motion and smashed the power source into the third unit’s face. Both machines collapsed almost together, their bodies hitting the dirt while thin metallic threads immediately began crawling over the damage.

Grey stood there breathing heavily, staring down at them while trying not to think about how much effort that had taken. He barely had time to wonder how long before they repaired themselves when the sound of an engine rolled across the field behind him.

Grey turned.

An old tractor came rumbling toward him far faster than any tractor had business moving, Benn at the wheel while James and Duke clung to either side. Lilac was squeezed onto the back holding what looked like a shovel, while Sabrina stood on the side step carrying a garden rake like she intended to go to war with it. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

Grey stared at them.

They had really come to fight robots with farm tools.

Then Sabrina saw him.

The rake slipped from her hands, her eyes widening as she jumped down from the tractor before it had even fully stopped, rolling and tumbling forward before she managed to get up and sprint toward Grey.

His grin spread automatically as she crossed the distance, her expression caught somewhere between relief, disbelief, and something he couldn’t quite read.

"Sabrina, baby, my favorite princess—!"

Her right leg whipped forward before Grey could finish.

His eyes widened just as her shin drove straight between his legs, and every thought in his head disappeared at once.