If I were to tell you that all of humanity had been wiped from the face of the earth, all living human life, what would you do? Well, you wouldn't know what to do would you, placed on a planet, the last of your race alive there, all alone. It would be hard to take in at first, perhaps a could chuckles before realisation hit like a truck. It isn't exactly a nice feeling to know everyone you loved once is gone.

The grief and sadness that would overcome someone would probably cause you to cry, weep, fall over and clutch your stomach as you tried to balance yourself. Being alone is something that no one wants, even those who say they wish not to have it want it, it's a worse greed than anything in the world. Money, drugs, all did not come close to the highest greed of seeing others of the same race.

Though that idea of all humanity being wiped was one I did not wish for when I awoke. I wanted an idyllic plateau where I could have a family, have friends, eat around a campfire and laugh.

But instead of that green earth, I was greeted by a grey one.

No life other than animals that have evolved out of the forms I once knew, robots, machines, the only inhabitance of the grey world. I didn't even know if I could call it 'My' world either.

Humans, the dominant force that lived upon the planet for millions of years had vanished and instead there lay machines that either wanted you dead or worse. A world that was safe had turned savage and each day, each passing minute was a fight for survival.

Though killer machines and a world collapsed wouldn't stop me. Fuck anyone who thinks they could. I'd kill every single one of them ten times over, twenty if needed. I won't fall victim to this grey world.

The desert was vast and hot, as expected of one, and span miles on end. A thick dust cloud surrounded the vast area, blocking out vision as well as movement. It was hard to pass through it due to fast winds and the sand itself. A never-ending sandstorm that blocked a desert within itself. It was hard to tell, however, if this was a good thing or not. A constant sandstorm could either mean something was being kept in or kept out, and with either option, nothing was known.

The desert had very fine sand causing any step in it to cause you to almost slip and fall. It was extremely dry as well, slipping against each other with limited friction, falling down large sand dunes with a step or two.

Large sand-waterfalls fell off towers of stone, surrounding the south and east of the desert, spanning past the borders and through the sandstorms, reaching off to who knows where. It was a surprise that they were visibly still standing too. The attrition from the sand would have most likely ended their guard though they stood as tall as giants and as still as dead ones.

Rocks parted the sandy waves at times, jagging out like teeth and allowing a place for respite if the time called for it. Pipes, similar to the rocks, also jutted out at random intervals, their metal frames rusted and degraded, some parts even missing large chunks. Piles of sand were held within them too. Whatever went through them once upon a time wouldn't be making it past the barricade any time soon.

No wind fell through the desert, not a single breeze. Whatever was causing the storm was definitely not normal in any way at all. Everything was still and silent.

Quick footsteps were heard, echoing through the sandy plains as metallic movement followed after it. A large bipedal machine ran through the sandy surface, its arms and hands moving back and forth quickly as its tiny red eyes scanned around frantically.

The machine wore a tattered cloak, wrapped around its neck like a scarf as well as acting as clothing, covering part of its body. A wooden mask made of what seemed like driftwood found in the golden desert adorned like a mask with yellow markings upon it. The red eyes glowed from beneath its mask as it ran up a hill, slipping and falling onto its face before getting back up and running over the top.

A large hole was in the machines back, oil leaking out of it as sparks emanated from within.

"RUN, RUN" It's Robotic voice called out, echoing around the canyon as it continued to run, oil splashing out of it and falling onto the golden floor, staining it black.

A sudden bang and the machine fell onto the floor, a large hole appearing where the top portion of where it's head would be. Its body fell with a thunk and it tumbled down the hill, landing in a pool of its own fluid. The sands greedily ate up the oil, leaving not much to sit around as it pooled out the machine.

Sand falling was heard as a figure stood over the fallen machine, their shadow being cast over the machine as it lay in its blood.

The figure had a bandanna on their head, coloured brown from mud, a pair of goggles were placed over their eyes, a small crack in the left lens as dust-covered them. A similar bandanna to the one on their head, another one was placed over their mouth, less muddy than the other but still dirty.

Much like the machine below her, she had a piece of cloth around her neck, coloured grey, which acted as a sort of scarf, protecting their neck. Under the large piece of cloth was a jacket, the Greek letter A sewn into the jacket's shoulder and front. Attached to the jacket also was multiple holsters that held a large backpack as well as a wrapped item, looking like a large mummified log.

Padded trousers with metal knee guards coloured black adorned their legs and large boots, fitted with metal soles with rubber grips in between were attached to her feet.

Leather gloves were attached to her hands, having metal on the back of her hand as protection.

A buzzing noise was heard next to her as a metal object hovered beside her, rusted and barely functional.

It was a Pod, a tactical support unit. They were mostly used in militaries as a form of weapon but were also used in moving objects such as boxes of ammunition. The Pod's were named in models, going from 001 to 999. The ones closer to 1 were the original models and fell out of date. Those after 30 were newer and had much greater potential.

The pod next to the figure was an older model, looking in the earlier range of versions and looking as though it had survived through a blender.

Its frame was covered in rust and parts had metal clumsily attached to it. One portion of the Pod had wiring hanging out of it and looked as though it could be used more like a grenade than a support unit. The etching of a number could barely be seen under all the rust and mould on the robot, the numbers '02' being scratched in. Once upon a time, they would have been much more prevalent but time didn't seem to be on the Pod's side.

The figure stepped forward and knelt down, running their hand over the metal frame of the machine, their hand slipping inside the machine as they pulled out the machine's core.

Their other hand moved to their goggles as they pulled them off, blue eyes looking down.

"Well, what have we here?"

Chapter 1

The Stranger named Alpha

If you were to pass the waterfalls of sand and the giant cliffs, you'd find small ravines, tight and hard to get by. Sand fell down them too and a steady stream of sand flowed down like a river, ending up in the desert again. It was hard to tell where all the sand came from, but it was constant and one misstep and the current would take you away. The tight ravines acted as alleyways past the large stone towers, passing through to get to the bigger ravines that acted as sorts of roads, though the biggest spanned about two metres in width and were still hard to traverse. The rocky ground and sandiest of sand didn't make travel any easier.

The woman, Alpha, looked around through her dirty goggles and made an audible sniff, looking at an intersection of roads to choose from. Her hand tapped on her leg as she made a decision and chose right, dipping under a small rock that stuck out before stepping over another.

The Pod floated behind her silently, its small frame almost blending in with the dirty surroundings. It looked like it almost fit in perfectly. The machine had two small guns for hands, both the size of a pistol barrel and seemed to shoot semi-auto, having an unknown about of bullets inside of it. Though the barrels were smaller compared to most other semi-auto Pod's it still looked as though it would pack a punch like no other.

The two continued to traverse silently, ducking and waddling through the small opening until the leader of the group stopped. Slowly bending down, she placed her hand on the ground, humming in distaste. The ground had been moved, by what she didn't know but it had been moved and that meant something was around.

Reaching behind her back she quickly pulled the wrapped log off of her and quickly went to town tearing it apart. From it came a large golden gun. It was a repeater and seemed to be heavily customised. It had a golden colour to it though it seemed eroded and all the inscriptions that were once there had been sanded down. The grip had bandages wrapped around it and the stock held ammo, most likely used in the gun.

Pulling the handle down quickly she loaded a bullet into the chamber before making her way forward, her gun raised. She needed to be careful, just earlier she had a run-in with some machines that thought it would be good to hide in the sand and jump out at her, the same could be done in this tight space and if it did then she might lose her hearing for a while.

Turning to look down a side entrance as she pointed her gun up and down before turning forward again, eye down the sight and finger on the trigger, ready to unload a bullet at whatever she came into contact with. There weren't any footprints meaning that someone must have done it on purpose.

She stopped, leaning her back against a corner and peeking around it. Huddled in a group, five machines, all wearing masks and having weapons were gathered around a campfire. Did Machines need fire? Why would they? She didn't know, but she had learnt not to ask questions that weren't going to be answered.

"Pod" she spoke, continuing to eye the machines, "Notice any weak spots on these guys," she asked, the small machine peeking around the corner with her. "Negative. Most machine lifeforms have no weak spots" it spoke, a buzzing noise being heard, almost as if it was magnifying in on the machines. Alpha clicked her tongue, continuing to scan the area around her targets, "Well aren't you helpful".

She continued to watch for a few more seconds before turning the corner, gun raised and pointed at one of the machines heads. Pulling the trigger, the machines head exploded and a large splatter of oil hit the ground followed by its body. Quickly chambering another round with a quick flick of her wrists and a lever pull, she went for the second closest one and shot again, hitting directly in its chest and causing it to fall back, a hole where its core would once be.

The three remaining machines yelled battle cries before charging at her. "A-Android" "Kill. Kill" "Die. Die" the three androids all held different weapons but were of the same size. They were bipedal and were around five foot each, a foot and a bit shorter than her. One held a spear that looked flimsy and shakily put together, another held a simple sword and the other had a simple metal pipe.

Aiming at the one with the sword she let the bullet fly. It hit the machine, bouncing off and causing minimal damage. Cursing, Alpha rolled under the pipe wielding ones attack, rolling on the ground before quickly shooting again, hitting the spear wielders arm, causing it to break off. "S-s-scary Android" one repeated, the sword wielder slamming his sword down onto her head. She quickly brought her weapon up and kicked him away, grabbing his sword and using it to impale the pipe wielder in the head, causing him to fall back, the weapon still lodged inside.

Looking at the damage on her weapon she saw a little indent where it had been hit. No biggie, unless it causes a spring or mechanism to get stuck. Her eyes widened slightly as she leaned back, dodging a swipe by the spear machine and delivered a kick to its leg, causing it to stumble past her and fall on its face. She quickly reloaded her gun before firing at the machines head, causing it to explode, gore painting the ground.

"Stay away, stay away" the final machine was running away from her, slipping and sliding in the sand, headed the way she came from. "No you don't" picking up the flimsy spear she threw her arm back before throwing the spear, watching it lodge into the machine's chest and causing it to fall to the ground with a loud thump.

Alpha quickly loaded another bullet into her gun before scanning the area around her, seeing if she could spot any other machines that thought they'd get the jump on her. Seeing none she huffed and started to reload, placing four more bullets into it before starting to wrap it up again. The sand around here would be dangerous if it got into the gun's mechanisms, she didn't want anything to rust or stop working. After finishing covering her weapon she slung it over her back again and looked at her Pod which had decided to start examining the machine's masks.

"Any differences in those ones," she asked her robot companion. It stopped scanning, the blue beam that was cast over the machine disappearing as it turned to her, "Negative" the small pod stated, floating towards her."My scan indicated that all masked machine lifeforms share the same mask design. It is like you said, they all seem to be part of a collection – a clan or group as you put it". After the Pod explanation, she hummed, bending down to the machine with a sword in its head, pulling the blade out and examining it.

Short and sharp were the first thoughts that came to mind as she examined the short sword. Most machines had makeshift weapons that were more towards hitting rather than slicing but this looked as though it would be perfect to slice anything made of flesh or steel in two. This wasn't the weapon of a machine.

"Pod, this weapon belongs to one of those Androids you talked about before," she asked, her eyes cast down to the dead machines, "And those that I was assumed to be by these little bastards?". Her Pod floated forward and scanned the sword for a second before a small buzz was heard. "Affirmative, this weapon belongs to-" a loud spark and pop was heard before the floating box fell to the floor with a loud thumb, the exposed wire by the side of his head sparking violently.

Alpha immediately bent down and picked up the sparking pod carefully, cursing as she gave it one look over and let out a sigh, "Things never go my way," she mumbled.

Ancient relics were found often inside of the desert. Sometimes by those who looked and by mere chance. It was to home to old human settlements, artefacts and a whole plethora of other things. It was a gold mine waiting to be unlocked, its treasures and secrets locked away in its silky sands and behind bolder.

Seated in one of the many sunken buildings, Alpha sat with her back against a wall, tinkering at the broken Pod. A screwdriver was in one hand whilst a pair of skewers were in the other, her hands working as she put things back in place, tightened things and made sure the piece of shit wasn't going to break down again any time soon. As soon as she started to look through the Pod she found a ton of sand and its entire circuit boards were on the brink of death.

Placing the Pod upright on the ground, she turned it on to be greeted by a flashing light and the sound of something turning on. If she had no visual input she'd have mistaken it as an old computer starting up. The small Pod hovered up to her head height and she poked it, causing it to move back slightly. "Back with the living Pod?" she asked quietly, the machine turning to face her. "Negative, Pod's do not have any pulse, therefore-" "I was joking" Alpha sighed, poking the Pod again as she leaned back against the wall some more, wincing under her array of bandages.

Wasn't exactly the comfiest of walls to sleep on, she'd rather sleep on the desert floor, but this was in the shade and away from any danger so it was the best place to be as of current.

The room that Alpha had relocated them to was a bit further through the array of canyons and ravines that she had to traverse. It was past those towering giants of stone walls and she was now by their children, smaller stone walls that kept her in a football field-sized area where she found a few buildings, one of which she was currently resting in. The sword she had taken from the machine was now rested by her side, held by her side with some cloth tied clumsily. It wasn't the best and it was always nice having a backup weapon, though she'd need to find a scabbard for it so it wouldn't rust or chip.

She'd seen some signs of android and machine life around here, especially from the latter. A large barricade, from what she could tell was supposed to keep machines out, had been blown up and she'd found some supplies along the way too. Nothing much than some matches and a bit of scrap, some nuts and bolts some of which she used to fix up her robot partner. She didn't know if any friendly machines were around, those androids her Pod told her about.

She didn't know much about this evolved world, who or what made the robots and why they were here. All she knew was that anything that didn't have some form of living tissue was bad news, other than her Pod of course, and that Machines and Androids roamed the earth as the dominant creatures.

Humans were extinct and she was the last of them, she pulled her legs up to her chest, grabbing her goggles and placing them on top of her head. "Pod," she started, a long pause following, "Am I truly the last human left?". The Pod started at her with its one blinking light. "Unknown. There is a low probability that any other members of Project Phoenix survived" It informed, causing the female to let out an annoyed sigh.

"I didn't ask that. Could there be others?" the Pod stayed silent for a second before speaking again. "Unknown. Many other Projects, similar to Project Phoenix, were happening at the time. From my limited database, I have found 7 other similar projects. Would Commander Alpha wish-" "No" Alpha stood up and grabbed her bag and gun, slinging the former over her shoulder as she readied the other.

It was quiet and she didn't like that. Silence could mean anything and from what she could tell, silence wasn't something that came often. Machines were loud and most of the time made their presence known be it with fire, their robotic voices or with their deceleration to end your life.

"We should get moving, we don't know when we could get hit again" Alpha stated. Taking a step forward she immediately stopped, the sound of earth crumbling getting to her ears. With a loud screech one of the walls opened up and a large cylindrical machine stormed through the wall.

Alpha didn't have much time to act and tried to roll forward, her bag getting caught on the machine. With a loud tear, her bag had been ripped off her body and its contents skidded across the floor. The machine, just as quickly as it appeared disappeared in an instant.

"Pod! The hell was that?!" She asked, holding her gun up as the sound of earth rumbling was heard again. "The machine life form seems to be resemblant of a worm. Warning, several machine life forms approaching fast" Alpha immediately swung her gun around, trying to pinpoint where the machine might come from next.

A screech was heard from behind as one of the worm machines flung out of the ground, ready to bite down on her head. Ducking, Alpha held her gun upwards and shot the machine dead-on in its body causing it to shriek out in pain, dropping onto the floor and writhing in pain. Now that it was out of the ground she had an opportunity to have a look over it.

It was long and reached around three metres in length. It had a smooth body that shrunk in width the lower it went down, ending at a tip with a sharp edge for its tail. Small arms ran across a part of its body, acting like small legs with three flaps on each. Its head was a group of arms from the machines she saw in the desert earlier, sharpened just like the tail. In all of those sharp pincers was a small robots head, its eyes a bright, glowing red.

Squirming, the machine dug itself back into the ground, the rumbling getting louder as a brick fell down next to her. The entire building was collapsing on her. Placing one foot after the next forward, she started to run out of the building, evading bricks and the odd pillar. She kept on running before her foot hit the ground with a harsh amount of force. In one split second, the ground crumbled below her, the entire flooring around her collapsing.

All she could do was scream and yell in anger, rolling herself into a ball as she fell onto a large amount of sand and rock. Alpha cried out in pain, wincing as she looked down at her leg. A large piece of debris had landed on her, crushing her legs under them. It didn't hurt too bad, most likely just covering it rather than breaking anything, but in a position like this, she was open for attack. She needed to get out of here fast.

"Pod" she grunted, looking around. The small floating machine floated down to her level. "Don't worry about me and try and find my shit" she grunted to the small machine. In response it turned around and floated off, leaving her to look at the large rock on top of her. Sand had gotten trapped under it, cushioning it and most likely the reason her legs didn't look like a rolled-up tube of toothpaste.

She seemed to have fallen underground into some form of cavern. It was hard to see having no light other than the giant hole in the roof. She looked around, her gun in her hand as that same rumbling was heard again, the sound of those worms digging through the ground. The walls and ground were shifting as a worm jumped up at her.

Quickly looking down the sights she pulled the trigger, sending a bullet directly into the machine's mouth, causing it to splutter and fall to the ground at her feet. Quickly loading another bullet, she pointed her gun around, following one of the worms that were close before switching to the other. Why couldn't the machines just be scared off? It had worked many times before but these bastards didn't seem to give two shits at the sight of their comrade being blown to smitheries.

Another screech followed, this time from above. Pointing her gun upwards she cursed, she didn't have a good enough shot to get this fucker. Her hand clutched the stolen sword she had on her and she threw it with all her might at the machine. The blade got stuck in the side of it, causing its gravity to change and land next to her head. The machine writhed on the ground, continuing to screech. "Fucking die you bastard" she hissed, loading a round into its head.

Debrie was still covering her and moving her hips to throw that sword had caused it to move lower down. Her feet were now in danger of being crushed, the sand not helping in the matter as the rocks moved lower down.

Lowering her gun she panted, her grip faltering as her weapon fell to the ground as she bit her teeth together in anguish. Fuck! This was getting way too annoying, her feet and legs were going numb and she was losing this battle of stamina way too quickly, she shouldn't have sent her Pod off.

A screech brought her out of her thoughts as she reached for her gun, a crack being heard as a worm shot out from above her, hurdling down to chop her in two. A loud bang was heard as the entire worm flew into a wall, exploding on impact and causing the machine's parts to fly around, embedding into rocks and the sandy ground.

"I have returned" With a smoking barrel and medic bag in hand, the small Pod floated over to her and dropped some of her belongings the ground. A grin stretched across her lips as she grabbed the bag, immediately fumbling through it. "Thanks, Pod, you're a life savoir" she chuckled, "Literally".

She grabbed the edge of the large piece of cement and tried to push it off, only for it to slide slightly, her left side still trapped underneath. "Pod, can you help me here at all?" she growled, trying to push her feet out from under it. The small support unit stared at the large piece of rubble before pointing one of its barrels at the rock and shooting it. A loud crack and the piece of rubble split in two, allowing her to get out from under it. Alpha let out a sigh of relief, patting her legs down of any dust. Her knee protectors seemed to have done their job, large scratches going over them.

"Pod, where is the nearest exit? Can you tell?" she asked, looking at the rusted machine. "Negative. No immediate exit is near. Suggestion, Commander Alpha should search the area for a way out" Rolling her eyes at the Pod, she looked at him and motioned forward with her head. "Well, get shining you damn robot. I can't see five feet in front of me" The Pod moved froward, a buzz being heard before a click and a ray of light shone forward, brightening the cave up a bit.

Giving the Pod a pat on the head, Alpha picked up everything and started to traverse through the rocky caverns. She didn't exactly have a backpack any more so she used her large scarf as a means to carry everything, attaching it to her back so nothing would fall out. She also made sure the sword she found was attached to her side again. It was pretty handy, though she'd need the Pod to scan it after she got out of here, for all she knew the damn thing could have a tracker on it.

It was difficult to move around with a lack of sight to see far ahead of herself she had to tread carefully. She didn't want to faceplate onto some spiked rock or get ambushed by a group of machines. She had a limited amount of bullets and didn't want to waste them on an enemy she could just avoid.

She stopped at an intersection. It seemed like the maze of crevices up top and the caves down below were similar, both like an unsolvable labyrinth. "Pod, can you scan ahead?" shed asked it, receiving a reply almost instantly. "Negative. My scanners are not fit for long-range scanning. Proposal, Find Pod-02 better equipment for improved performance" Alpha groaned, looking back at her companion. "Stop whining so damn much. If I find anything for you I'd shove it in you anyway" she huffed, "just scan what you can so I have a rough idea of what's ahead".

The Pod Buzzed and a ping was heard as the two moved ahead. Another ping. They moved ahead again. Another Ping. "Are you going to continue to make those damn noises or am I going to have to shut you up" Alpha growled at her robotic comrade who simply pinged at her as a response. "You did that on purpose didn't you asshole" she growled, looking forward again. A brief pause followed. "Yes" "Dickwad"

The two continued to traverse until they made it into another large room, light pouring down from the surface. Large pieces of sandstone made ledges metres above the ground, some pointed up like spikes. A large area was cut off towards the end where a stream of sand fell down like a river. The sun came in through an opening in the ceiling but also by a small entrance near the top of the room, the way to it being a few ledges that she'd need to climb up from to get to.

"The worlds just trying to kick me in the ass isn't it Pod?" she chuckled. "Negative, the world does not have feet, therefore, cannot kick you in-" "It was a joke Pod" she chuckled, taking a few steps inside as her Pod turned off his flashlight.

A loud rumbling caused her to bring her weapon up immediately, the ground shaking as sand fell down from above her and shifted at her feet. This sounded bigger than those smaller worms from before. Loud banging was heard as large chunks of the ceiling collapsed, the way she just came in getting blocked as she held onto her weapon tightly. This wasn't good, this wasn't good at all, she could get crushed in here!

Pushing her feet forward, she started to run, dodging falling debris as she ran towards the exit, skidding to a stop as the sand started to part in front of her. In a loud bang, a large machine burst out of the ground, a screech following it.

A large worm machine pierced through the ground, its head looking down at her. It looked just the same as those worms from before except scaled ten times up. Its teeth were much sharper and were as long as swords and its eyes bore down into her own. Shit, she couldn't move. This bastard is fucking scary.

Terror of the Sands

Lannton

"So you're the boss of this place then?" she chuckled anxiously, pointing her gun up at the machine. Her hands were shaking way too much, her rifle juttering about as she stared up at it. She didn't know machines could be this big. The size of a human? Yeah, that was fine, but something as big as this?

The large machine let out an ear-piercing scream, louder than the smaller worms causing the female to cover her ears with her hands, dropping her gun. The machine ceased screeching before jumping into the air slightly before plunging down into the earth, its metal body disappearing under the shifting sands, kicking it up as it disappeared under it once more.

Alpha reached down, her hands still shaking as blood trickled from her ears, wincing slightly as she pointed her weapon upwards. That fucking hurt, hurt enough to push her out of her paralysis as well. Seeing no other option than to get the fuck out of there. Alpha started to run towards the opening at the ceiling, gun tightly held in hand as the rusted Pod followed behind her, floating ever pleasantly. She'd be stupid to try and fight something like that, especially when her legs were aching. Guess she was hurt from that fall, not to mention the heat and the constant walking was doing something to her too.

The large machine let out another screech as it started to push up against the sand at her feet, just a few metres behind her. It was like a shark, speeding through the sand with its fin in the air, instead of a fin in this instance it was its large gaping maw and spiked teeth. She barely dodged out of the way in time too, rolling and shooting at its frame only for her round to ricochet. Quickly striking down the lever she pointed again, aiming at its head as it submerged itself once more.

To say it was large, the machine was fast and could navigate through the sand quickly. She couldn't outrun the damn thing and shooting it wouldn't help at all. "Pod, will your rounds penetrate this fucker?!" she hissed, feeling the sand under her slowly start to collapse causing her to jump away. Seconds later and the machine bit at where she was standing before disappearing down under again.

"Unknown. The machine life-form seems to have a series of plate armour over itself, penetration with any kind of ammunition would be ineffective" The rusted Pod exclaimed, following after the running female. The machine didn't seem to enjoy her trying to escape again and surfaced, its teeth bared and ready to bite down upon her.

Spinning around she aimed down her guns site before shooting off another bullet, hitting it in its gaping maw. The machine seemed to get even more pissed off and sped up causing her to roll out of the way again as it hit itself against one of the ledges. Instead of breaking through the machine let out a screech as it flung its head backwards, some of its large teeth being dented. Where the machine had hit a large metal wall appeared, the sandstone that was around it breaking off in chunks to reveal it.

Alpha huffed, watching the machine retreat back into the ground again. It seemed like causing it to ram itself into whatever the hell was there worked. Guess that's what you'd expect when an immovable object gets hit by an unstoppable force."Analysis, the machine lifeform seems to be using some form of echolocation or movement sensor when it travels under the sand. Proposal, use sound or movement as a way to get the machine to ram into the steel object" Alpha hummed as a grin crept over her bandanna covered face. "Thanks, Pod. Guess you are useful for something" pushing herself forward.

She started in a full-on sprint, dodging past pillars of sand as the rumbling of the worm was heard behind her. It seemed as though it was going to continue following her. Seems it didn't learn from its last mistake. Her steel-clad boots sunk into the sand slightly and she almost felt like slipping a few times. It seemed as though Friction wasn't going to help her at all. As soon as she was touching the steel wall with her face as quickly dove to the side, watching as the machine rammed into it once more.

An audible clang was heard as the beast sprang out of the ground, large metal sheets falling off of it. Wiring and several parts of the machine were clear as day to her, now into the open air. Finally, a weak spot. She aimed down the barrel of her gun and started to fire, sending two bullets in quick succession at the machine causing it to howl out as fire started to spew out of the side of it.

It didn't seem to like it either, its head looking towards her as it let out another loud screech, louder than the last. Alpha cried out again, tightly gripping her gun in her hand. She wasn't going to drop the damn thing this time. Through the loud screams, she pointed her gun up and shot at the machine once more, its weak spot hissing loudly before a large explosion engulfed the top of it. The screeching ceased and the large worm fell onto the sand, its once red eyes seen from with its gaping mouth slowly faded away to black glassy circles.

Pod-02 hovered over to the machine, looking down at the large worm. "Don't do anything stupid you damn trash can" Alpha hissed before wincing, massaging her ears. That scream had done a number on her and she was pretty sure her eardrums had ruptured, or once had, from the worms screeches. She didn't exactly know how to treat it, or if she could, but decided to leave that to heal over time.

The Pod had been busy scanning over the large machine, a blue beam radiating out of its small headlight as it looked the large worm up and down before stopping with an abrupt ping. It moved to a lower part of the worm and repeated the process, ending in another ping. It looked back at her before floating in front, bobbing up and down. "Commander Alpha, my scanner indicates that the machine lifeform is indeed deceased-" "No shit" "However my scanner indicates that there is some kind of foreign object within. I advise looking inside. Much like many other machine lifeforms, this one has similar parts as those that you would have used thousands of years ago". Letting out an impressed hum, Alpha nodded her head before crouching down at the machine's belly.

Tapping her cheek in thought, the female wondered on how she was going to open the machine open. Her eyes glided down to her hip where she pulled out the stolen sword and let out a happy hum before stabbing into its gut, the blade sinking in with ease and tearing past the machines hard armour. She pulled the blade along with a loud scratching noise before pushing the blade down, parting either side of the machine to allow ease of access. "Pod, scan this thing for me would ya?" she didn't wait for a reply before throwing the weapon behind her. The Pod, like a mad dog, quickly followed after it, leaving the female to her own devices.

Thanks to her gloves she was able to dig through the machine without cutting herself as well as allowing more force to be put into each movement. Pushing the metal armour apart she got a good look inside the machine. Like all machines, this one had a core. It was larger than most and was drenched in oil, the substance leaked off of the ball of matter that simply glowed and shone in the limited light. A large box was next to it, most likely some kind of battery, which seemed to have a pipe coming out of it. She wasn't exactly an engineer but she was pretty sure batteries shouldn't have large tubes coming off of them.

Looking for some way inside, Alpha opted for the much more delicate approach and grabbed a nearby rock before smacking the object with it. Slamming it into the side and a few sparks later she was able to look inside. Luckily, the battery didn't ignite and blow up in her face and she was able to scavenge around inside. Taking a risk, she plunged her hand into the box, grunting as she fumbled around before wrapping her fingers around something. A few tugs later and she pulled out a box covered in oil that had a glowing red eye on every face. Dusting the oil off she started to examine it, humming with knitted eyebrows.

"I have analysed the sword. It seems to have been made of some kind of Titanium Alloy. The markings and colour of the blade resemble that of a standard-issue YoRHa Blade" her Pod explained prompting her to turn around. The blade had landed some distance away, its blade stuck into the ground. "The fuck is Yorha?"

Project Phoenix was hailed as the salvation that humans had hoped for. The best of the best were selected from all over the globe to be the next bastion of humanity that would revive the dying race known as humanity and bring it back from the dead. Humans were stubborn and wouldn't die. And if they were about to, they'd at least take whoever the fuck was trying to kill them and shove a blade so deep into their throat that they bled all over the damn earth.

Phoenix would reunite the sparks found through humanities time on earth and push them into a new age. Many other projects were being worked on at the time and Phoenix was the most promising. Having limited resources left, 25 different shelters were made as a way to keep the 25 different people who would reignite humanity safe and in limbo. They would be cryo freeze and kept away from any danger. Each shelter was named after a letter of the alphabet A-Y. The main scientist was annoyed at the odd number however time was at the essence and they didn't have time to change. Due to the rushed development of the project, many problems arose but in the end, the 25 individuals were locked away until their time was needed

"Attention!" the yell of a none too happy person slammed through the hall as a dozen soldiers slammed their feet into the ground. Backs were straight and heads held high as a pair of feet stomped into the ground, going up and down the line of soldiers. Twelve picked and standing in two lines, six on each. They stood equidistant apart and didn't smile or laugh, cold chiselled faces stared dead ahead.

The man walked up and down the rows of people, sneering at each and every one of them. "You want this individual then?" standing by the far side of the room, three individuals stood, watching the events happening in the room in front of them. A man in his late thirties hummed at the question, looking down at a piece of paper. "6 Tours and over god knows how many successful missions. This is the commander you want?" another man huffed, "She'd be better off fighting what's left of humanity! There isn't anything else other than the fact she can kill! We need doctors and scientists! People who know things!".

With a silent wave of his hand, the main doctor ignored his partner's angry cries. "No. I want them. They have what it takes and I don't care what anyone else says. They'll be part of Phoenix".

"I hope you numbskull know why the hell you're here!" the instructor yelled, "Griggs! Why the fuck are you twelve here?!" "No Idea sir!" a voice responded. One of the men, a tall man of black ethnicity, yelled out from the side of the line after his name was called, yelling at the top of his lungs in response. "Goddammit Griggs! Tao! You must know!" "No sir!" This time a female voice yelled. At the other end of the room a female with short hair tied in a bun. "All of you are fucking disappointments! Guess that's why your parents shipped you off to here!" the instructor stopped in front of one of the people in centre stage and huffed, staring down at her.

"What about you then you damn she monster," he grunted, staring down at the female, "Why the hell are we here". She didn't move a muscle before opening her mouth after a moment. "My guess is that we're here to get our hands dirty" she spoke, her icy cold voice caused the man to smirk. "Seems one of your fuckers knows what's happening" he laughed, "Guess that's why they call you boss don't they?".

With cold blue eyes and a sharky grin decorated with a scar, the female looked up at him, her cold white hair falling off her shoulders as she hummed. "Yes sir"

And done! Heya people! Thank you for reading all the way to the end! I hope I've interested you with this new and improved opening to this story!

I'd like to ask a few things of you so before you go and continue on with your day just stay a bit longer.

I've been writing as a hobby for about 6 years now, probably less but bigger numbers are always impressive, but I don't believe I've gotten any better. So, as a way to get better, I've written this. I want this story to show my development of writing. I want chapter one to be not so good and chapter twenty to be amazing. Of course, I won't improve without criticism. If you enjoyed this but have a few problems with how I've written it, please do say. I want as much criticism as I can on my writing as a way to improve. Though do make it somewhat constructive, there is only so much of a beating I can handle before dying.

Though I would once again thank you for reading this.

If you somewhat enjoyed it perhaps leave a follow or favourite, it will motivate me to write more and faster! Thanks and see you guys in the next chapter!