Armored chapter 2

As the massive metal doors spread open large gears and motorized noises could be heard. I was astounded by the thickness of the doors. At least a half a meter thick doors separated loudly and slowly to finally come to rest with a final loud thunder in the distance like sound. The motors seemed to still run though. I guess they wanted to be able to close the doors as quickly as they could.

Before us lay wasteland. Patches of yellow grass some long and some short were spread about in random fashion. In some places, the ground seemed recently torn up, while others seemed dug up in the past and slowly weathered with rain and time. This was an obvious and sporadic battlefield.

The sight was eerie and worrying, but not unexpected. At least two or three times a month anyone in the outer circle would hear a series of roaring blasts lasting anywhere from five minutes to sometimes hours in contrast to the usual few loud bangs a day that came from a single cannon shot or a mine being triggered. It was artillery or buried bombs. Usually a mixture of both.

They have heavy artillery emplacement all along the inside section of the outer wall. Reinforced bunkers and walls protected each grouping of artillery. They were basically small forts. They also buried large bombs here and there which they used on larger groups of core beasts.

I knew this because the rats were not allowed to go near these emplacements. There was a 100 meters kill zone around every employment. Anyone not sporting military or noble insignia would be killed without questions asked. But due to limited space inside the outer circle rats basically lived nearly right up to the kill zone. It wasn't unheard of for a young foolish child to accidentally wander into that zone while running and playing.

Usually, they would immediately realize their mistake by the sudden gasps and shouts of anyone around and dart out of the zone and back to safety. But sometimes people are assholes. Even though a six-year-old boy isn't likely to be a threat and only a few seconds of mercy was all that was needed for the young child to live, some asshole would decide he wanted to hunt rats from time to time. It's rare, but it has happened. A few months ago there was an "accident".

Most humans are just greedy. They will stab you in the back for your purse, but not just because they feel like it. Some are just pure evil, however. They enjoy causing others pain. They enjoy watching other people suffer. They don't need a reason. They don't need to profit. I've heard multiple accounts of the story that says rats heard several loud laughing voices that seemed gleeful coming from the artillery emplacement. Like it was a sport and their team just scored a point.

Multiple complaints would be filed. Nothing would happen. It would be called an accident and the fault would be heaped on the person killed. They entered the no man's land and that was why they were dead. Or at least that was what officials would say. Some people spread rumors that a few of the people killed were actually outside the zone. It was believable.

The haunting site of this churned wasteland sent shivers down every scavenger back. That was the difference between outside and inside. Inside was chaotic and disgusting. Outside was death. No sane man without a giant suit of mechanical armor and heavy weapons would ever step outside the walls.

Several mechanical clashing sounds could be heard. It was every knight chambering a round into his weapon. Even the noble chambered a round into what seemed like a massive armor piercing sniper rifle as well as a smaller gun that looked like a submachine gun. When I say smaller I mean in regard to his sniper. It was still too large and heavy for any non-armored man to use.

"What are you looking at you RATS? Do your damn job!" The same man who seemed to enjoy causing us to worry and piss ourselves suddenly yelled.

Every scavenger nearly jumped out of their skin and rushed forward. Disobedience was not tolerated. They made for damn sure we understood that when we signed up. Our lives were in the hands of these knights for the next two to four weeks. We had been "rented".

We all immediately left the safety of the corridor and spread out slightly. Scavengers trotted in a loose assortment, trying to not stand on the outer edge and trying not to bunch up. Most of all no one wanted to be first. Land mines were a worry. The path is supposed to be well remembered and plotted.... But sometimes mistakes were made. I felt bad for the veterans who basically had to step up in this situation. They had the experience. It only made sense.

Our group was supposed to be what they called "skirmishers". It was a joke. We were walking trap triggers and bait. Oh, and if we were where lucky we would carry stuff.

For nearly 400 meters the churned ground continued before sparse trees started to crop up. The trees had seen better days. Some were missing chunks and large sections of bark. Some were completely cut off from somewhere along its trunk.

The further we walked into the sparse trees the safer we felt from the buried mines and the more concerned and fearful we were of the surrounding forest. The trees thickened quickly and were less and less sparsely spread.

All of us rats had barely ever seen greenery. Now we were surrounded by it. It should have been wondrous. It wasn't. Fear of the Forrest was driven into us at a very young age. Nightmares and monsters lived in the forest.

But sadly enough treasure resided there too. And that's what we were after. Knights left the walls for one thing usually... Tech. If they were lucky they could even find an old world armor. Most of what was brought back were computer systems. Sometimes an old bank vault would be found. Sometimes some weaponry like missiles or special guns like lasers or particle cannons.

Our area wasn't well known for finding tech artifacts. Apparently, not many cities of old were around this area and if they were a lot of the ruins simply didn't survive the ages and destruction of the core beasts. Knights from our city usually only poked around for a bit randomly while killing low-level core beasts for their cores.

Every city had to collect cores. It was the power source for every armor. Or more accurately fuel. Cores could even be eaten to improve the strength of the body. Though you were taking your life into your own hands by consuming them. An unrefined core would in all likely hood kill the eater. It's said to be a very painful way to go. Only the middle class or higher people could possibly afford refined cores.

It was one of the reasons our city had such bottom shelf knights and military tech. No one shared tech between cities for free and we didn't have much to trade with. We were an out if the way and tech-deprived city.

I was surprised to see an old world mech in our group. Let alone one piloted by a noble. I realized something was special about this outing from that. I guessed maybe the noble had a map or some intel about a possible spot to find artifacts.

It made me worried. Nobles would not make a move themselves unless some truly juicy meat was in front of them. I smelled trouble. It was one of my few skills. I had a good instinct for avoiding trouble and reading a situation.

I wasn't truly a strong man. I was tall, but not much taller than average at 6 foot tall. Instead of making me imposing the extra height made me seem even a little bit more emaciated than most rats. Food was usually what a rat could scratch together and it wasn't much.

I wasn't a particularly good fighter, but I was adequate. I knew how to duck danger and did my best to understand the entirety of any situation I was in. That was my strong suit.

I was pale to an almost extreme like most rats and carried the look of a frail sick young man. My dark hair only seemed to draw into focus even more clearly my sickly look. Bathing was a privilege in the outer circle so my smudged and dirty face could not be clearly judged, but I would say I was somewhat handsome despite my sickly look.

Not that it mattered. Handsome, beautiful. You can't eat them. Women choose men for their ability to provide in the outer circle. Love and attraction were for the upper classes.

As we trotted along the column of armor followed in the wake of our group of rats. No longer sauntering or arrogant. I sensed the tension in the knights as well.

Several of the GOLIATH armors had large containers under one arm. They were full of provision. Everything we would need to survive over the next few weeks. Food and water, ammunition, and cores.

Everything seemed unreal. Our group of about 30 scavengers was like hound dogs before a hunting party.

Branches and weeds constantly jabbed at me and or caught on my clothes. The knights simply threw out a hand and broke entire thick branches off. We followed the shouted orders of the knights for nearly two hours while crossing through the thick forest.

The knights seemed to check in with the noble from time to time to make sure we were heading in the right direction. The noble seemed impatient. Rest wasn't allowed. Many of us had already begun to pant and sweat profusely. This was grueling work for rats.

At the end of the second hour, we had our first casualty. A guttural scream rose from the left side of our group and it seemed to be dragged away quickly.

A few knights shot in the direction of the moving bushes and scream with no concern for hitting the scavenger, but I doubt they hit anything. Whatever core beast type it was, it was fast. The man's screams were dragged out and echoed into the distance.

When it started me and my fellow rat scavengers darted towards the knights like scared children running to the shelter of their mother's skirt. We knew not to stand in their way or we might be slapped away with a few tons of sudden shoving force, or even a stray round, but safety resided within the umbrella of the knight's guns all the same.

The group waited for any more surprises for about 10 minutes before the knights simply sent us back out to scout and we resumed our trudge through the forest. It was almost like nothing happened at all. Nobody made any comments. Some men whimpered. But that was it.

I had no time to care. I focused every fiber of my being on studying the forest and trying to not get too far ahead of the group or too far back. It felt like a core beast would jump out and grab me at any second. I had the creeping suspicion we were all being watched.

Half a day seemed to pass in a blur and It seemed no one in the entire group except the almost silent noble knew where we were heading. How he knew where we are or where we were heading I have no idea. I was already completely lost.

The knowledge that should I be separated from this group I would be lost as well as completely alone chilled me to the core. I felt the urge to stand closer to the knights and their armor at the thought.

I couldn't though. Anyone who lagged too far behind and was seen to not be doing their job properly was told they wouldn't receive any rations for a day.

If one of us went a day or two without eating it would be a death sentence every bit as much as being dragged off by a core beast would be. The group wouldn't stop for anyone too weak to keep up.

As day turned to night I began to worry. It did not seem like our noble leader wanted to set up camp. He was too impatient and wanted to push on for a few more hours. Everyone knew it was multiple times more dangerous to travel the forest at night. Even the knights tried mentioning the dangers of the night, but the noble didn't seem to care.

When darkness set in we lost 2 more people before the noble decided to set up camp in a formation of large rocks that we found.

The first of the two men yelled in pain and terror before sprinting through the underbrush to the safety of the knights. The Knights fired and seemed to hit something as a howl filled with anger and pain was heard through the trees, but a core beast body was never found.

It was a shame the scavenger wasn't able to enjoy the safety of the knights for long. When the scavenger made it to the knights he was missing the front section of his right arm from the elbow down and had deep lacerations on his stomach. The knights and noble left him behind the group to bleed out. No aid was given. No food or water was left for the man. He begged to be brought along but he was ignored.

The second scavenger to die wasn't even a confirmed death. He simply disappeared. When the group found out one of our number was missing we all stopped and did a small sweep for the man. No signs of him being killed or dragged off were found.

With the loss of the third man, the noble finally conceded and we moved about 2 miles further from the area the man disappeared and set up camp at the rocks.

2 of the boxes carried by the GOLIATH armor were unpacked. One box contained food and water as well as some cores to top off the fuel level on the armors.

A small handful of jerky and a small bottle of water were thrown to each of us. We each ate quickly and greedily and drank all the water. It wasn't really quite enough, but most of us were smart enough to buy a little extra jerky or other dried food and bring it along with us to hold us over. Scavengers were notoriously underfed on missions.

The second container opened to reveal four sentry turrets. They were small independent computer-controlled machine guns mounted on tripods.

The tech was high-end stuff. I knew it must have been brought by the noble as this was beyond the capabilities of this low rent knight group. These knights were little more than bottom of the barrel Mercs. Only the most advanced cities could produce these sentry turrets.

I wondered why a noble capable of using a high-end old world armor and smart turrets was doing using such a shoddy group of merc knights.

I think he was in too much of a rush to find anyone better. This noble's impatience made me more and more worried as time went on.

Why was he so worried? If there is some artifact out there or some building with possible artifacts getting there a day or two later or sooner wouldn't matter. It would still be there.

That was of course if we were the only group of people looking for it. The possibility of other groups going after the same loot we were worried me. Knights frequently competed for and killed each other for the right to claim artifacts. Out in the forest, there were no rules at all. The dead told no tales.

I tried calming my thoughts after dinner as we all huddled together in the center of camp. We had no tents or sleeping bags. They would only cause trouble should we need to break camp fast. We slept on the cold forest floor after clearing the grass and weeds. Most of us brought along a single small blanket. It would have to be enough.

Several trees had been ripped up from inside the camp and thrown to the outer edge by the knights. It would make camp easier to watch and maybe slow down any core beasts long enough to be spotted and killed before damage to the group was done. Just behind those fallen trees a small portion of our scavenger group milled around keeping watch on the dark forest.

They were first watch. I was assigned to third watch. Third watch was second to last. I would have to walk up late into the night/early morning to take my shift. Third watch was the worst of them all. I would have my sleep interrupted, have to do my watch and then try to fall back asleep for a few short hours.

Further inside camp behind the scavengers four knights set up in a box formation around the center of camp to keep watch as well. Even the rocks we nestled against were watched as some core beasts could climb rocks like geckos. Or so I've been told.

The rest of the knights and scavenger settled in and tried to get some sleep. I envied the knights. They slept in their armor. It's seemed uncomfortable to sleep standing like that, but also seemed much safer than sleeping with my soft flesh exposed to the night air or any passing set of teeth.

In the distance howls and weird echoing squeaks and ungodly sounds bounced about. At times the noises seemed too close for comfort.

I didn't think I would be able to sleep, but my exhaustion overcame me within fifteen minutes. If I was to guess we cover at least 15 miles today. On foot through thick forest. It was a grueling and unforgiving pace and it had completely exhausted me.

After what seemed like 30 minutes but was actually much more of fretful sleep and nightmares of beasts with mouths full of gnashing incredibly sharp teeth, I was woken up by another scavenger and told my shift was to begin.

I pulled my sore and exhausted body off the ground and went to my post. When I arrived another scavenger joined me. Apparently, we were to stick together so if one of us was attacked the other could sound the alarm.

We stood together in the chilly night and peered into the night cautiously. My watch partner was an older man, maybe in his late 30s or early 40s. He was one of the veterans and I was relieved for the fact. He had a machete at his waist and a 6 gauge semi-automatic shotgun on his back that had an extended magazine. I envied him for his weapon but part of me knew it wouldn't do much against anything but the lowest level core beast.

He had short brown hair, gaunt cheeks and a nose like the beak of an eagle. He did seem to be better fed than most and calm. His demeanor caught my attention and I opened my mouth to speak the first words I had spoken since I joined this group at the corridor to the gates.

"Sir, my name's Caleb. Are you one of the veterans?"

It was only answered with a head nod.

"Are there any tricks or tips you can give me to help me survive?"

The man looked me up and down in appraisal and sighed. It seemed to me he thought he was wasting his time.

"The little things like where to sleep and little camp making tricks won't change much. You will learn them on your own or by watching others. Blade techniques and shooting lessons take too long to teach and I don't have the time or intention to teach you them on night watch. Not that I am all that skilled either."

He shook his head as he said it and run his finger through his hair. His eyes were locked on the forest as he continued.

"The only thing you can really rely on is your judgment and reflexes. Your instinct may save you as well. Those who do stupid things die. Those who get too far from the group die. Those who don't react quick enough or run fast enough die. We are not warriors. Don't be delusional. Run every time."

He breathed in with a rush and finally looked me straight in the eye.

"Don't make friends. Most of them are going to die. Don't get sentimental about them." He said this as he flicked his head over his shoulder at the center of camp. "Don't do any extra work or take on an extra burden not assigned by the knights. Don't try to outshine anyone or gain the attention of the knights or nobles. Its never works out for the better.

If you are carrying any non-essentials drop them now. Your blade, food, water and your blanket as well as your socks. That's all you need. I can tell this noble means to push us hard. Any extra weight is a death sentence. Watch your feet. An injury to one of your feet will have you being left behind. Your feet are your most important body part out here. Take care of them. Try your best to not let them get wet."

He paused and seemed to think for a bit.

"That's about it. As I said, you will pick up the little things on your own and I don't have the time or patience to teach you the big things. Good luck kid. Now stop asking questions and keep your eyes on the forest."

With that, we both stopped talking. We spent the rest of the night like that. Quiet and tense as we stared at the wall of black between the trees.

The camp was eerily quiet except for a few coughs from the sleeping scavengers, but the roars and odd calls of beasts in the distance continued.

When our shift was over I tried falling back asleep but the words of the veteran seemed to circle in my head. His words confirmed my thoughts and the rumors about the scavengers and I didn't like it.

Instead of sleeping I passed questions back and forth around my head. How far were we going? What were we looking for? How many of us would survive?

I thought about my mother as night slowly turned to dawn. She needed me. I had to find a way to get through this.