avatarJonathon Sawyer

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you’d take them away, but a warzone just doesn’t seem like a fair deal!</p><p id="adbc">Cliché reaches his hand out to the kids. “Get to the chopper!” he yells as another screaming volley of bombs goes off by the tree line. Robot parts are flung everywhere.</p><p id="ad0e">Cliché leads the children into a futuristic flying vehicle — hopefully nothing like the one you just saw blazing through the sky in its fiery death throes!</p><p id="fd16">“There, the kids are safe,” you say to Buck as the ‘chopper’ takes off vertically and screams off at blinding speed. “What about us? Surely there’s another portal…”</p><p id="e750">You are cut short by a massive antlered robot walker running by, laser cannons blasting. A mass of robots in the distance are firing back with their own laser rifles. Their aim — or lack of — remind you of a certain series of science-fiction movies…</p><figure id="50e6"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*OM9pc6WuMj0S58XN1wNY-Q.jpeg"><figcaption>Image generated by Author using NightCafé AI</figcaption></figure><p id="1e91">“No time, bub,” Buck replies, pointing to the sky. A swarm of ghostly jellyfish-like robots is swarming the trenches just up ahead.</p><p id="bccd">You gaze in horror as one of the ghostly robots flies through another robot soldier on the ground. As it exits, the soldier raises its laser pistol to its

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head and pulls the trigger. All around the trenches up ahead, you see this process repeated: a ghostly jellyfish swoops down into a robot, then the robot goes berserk and shoots itself in the head.</p><p id="244a">“What the hell is going on here?” you ask. Buck just shrugs, lighting another cigarette.</p><p id="2c9a">The giant robot walker has traced an arc around the battlefield and is heading back toward your position, wielding a glowing, fiery-hot arm and firing its cannon. A few robots still remain, taking lazy pot-shots at it with their laser rifles.</p><p id="86a9">If you have any chance, you need to escape further into the woods.</p><p id="2d87">Or, you begin to plot with a smile that causes Buck’s cigarette to drop from his mouth in worry, you can go big or go home!</p><h2 id="4f46">Do you and Buck:</h2><ol><li>Make a bee-line for the trees. (Click here)</li><li>Rush the deer-man walker, and gain entry (Click here)</li></ol><p id="5b7f"><i>Please consider following my Medium account and <a href="https://medium.com/subscribe/@Sawyer.Jon"><b>subscribing</b></a> to my email list to stay up-to-date. I also encourage <b>comments</b> as I want to hear what you think! <b>Help me! You’re my only hope!</b></i></p><p id="7bc4"><i>I also have a Ko-fi account set up <a href="https://ko-fi.com/wrethdf">here</a>. Buy my affections for a Twonie!</i></p></article></body>

STORY ARC 7: BEYOND THE ETERNAL FOREST

Machines In The Ghost

A chapter of a ‘Choose your own Adventure’ story.

Photo by Jeremy Bezanger on Unsplash

This is a collaborative series; you might want to start the story at the beginning, here. Want to go back one chapter? Click here. And please check out this article to find out how you can contribute to this and other ‘choose your own’ stories in this publication!

“Houston, we have a problem,” Cliché yells as the flaming wreckage of some robotic aircraft streaks through the sky.

“I can see that,” you answer loudly. Explosions rock the forest near your position. “We need to get the kids somewhere safe!” You promised them you’d take them away, but a warzone just doesn’t seem like a fair deal!

Cliché reaches his hand out to the kids. “Get to the chopper!” he yells as another screaming volley of bombs goes off by the tree line. Robot parts are flung everywhere.

Cliché leads the children into a futuristic flying vehicle — hopefully nothing like the one you just saw blazing through the sky in its fiery death throes!

“There, the kids are safe,” you say to Buck as the ‘chopper’ takes off vertically and screams off at blinding speed. “What about us? Surely there’s another portal…”

You are cut short by a massive antlered robot walker running by, laser cannons blasting. A mass of robots in the distance are firing back with their own laser rifles. Their aim — or lack of — remind you of a certain series of science-fiction movies…

Image generated by Author using NightCafé AI

“No time, bub,” Buck replies, pointing to the sky. A swarm of ghostly jellyfish-like robots is swarming the trenches just up ahead.

You gaze in horror as one of the ghostly robots flies through another robot soldier on the ground. As it exits, the soldier raises its laser pistol to its head and pulls the trigger. All around the trenches up ahead, you see this process repeated: a ghostly jellyfish swoops down into a robot, then the robot goes berserk and shoots itself in the head.

“What the hell is going on here?” you ask. Buck just shrugs, lighting another cigarette.

The giant robot walker has traced an arc around the battlefield and is heading back toward your position, wielding a glowing, fiery-hot arm and firing its cannon. A few robots still remain, taking lazy pot-shots at it with their laser rifles.

If you have any chance, you need to escape further into the woods.

Or, you begin to plot with a smile that causes Buck’s cigarette to drop from his mouth in worry, you can go big or go home!

Do you and Buck:

  1. Make a bee-line for the trees. (Click here)
  2. Rush the deer-man walker, and gain entry (Click here)

Please consider following my Medium account and subscribing to my email list to stay up-to-date. I also encourage comments as I want to hear what you think! Help me! You’re my only hope!

I also have a Ko-fi account set up here. Buy my affections for a Twonie!

Fiction
Fantasy
Science Fiction
Choose Your Own Adventure
Cliches
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