Chapter 7
Rev came around after fainting. She found herself lying under covers. Her core sunk when she realized she wasn't in her sleeping bag. She quickly remembered where she'd ended up after the night before. Her situation hadn't been a bad dream. The hooded face staring at her on the floor nearby didn't make things better.
"Oh, good! You're up! Again."
The Zombiebot-whisperer appeared ecstatic to see her awake. Her excited gaze followed Rev as she raised herself. She didn't feel nearly as terrible as before. Surprisingly, the Zombiebot-whisperer had been honest: the symptoms from the hypnosis wore off after some time. Rev rubbed her optics to help them adjust.
The whisperer sat up, too. "I tried to make ya comfortable! Don't worry, I just washed those blankets. You're not gonna get a rust rash or anything."
Rev still didn't trust her in the slightest. The minute she saw the whisperer relaxedly seated in front of her, she felt her expression harden. Her cold disposition didn't have any effect, however. In fact, the Zombiebot-whisperer's face just lit up more. Rev fought away the indignation boiling in her chest upon seeing the she-robot's pleasure.
"My, my!" she breathed. "The pretty little half-Morbot's got a temper!"
"Let me go!" Rev shouted.
The Zombiebot-whisperer shrugged. "Actually, I might," she said.
Rev paused. "What? You will?"
"Yeah!" the whisperer exclaimed.
Rev was still confused. "Why?"
The Zombiebot-whisperer's optics narrowed. "So I can catch you again!" she eagerly hissed.
Rev tiredly hung her head. She knew that demanding her freedom was a lost cause. With a forlorn sigh, she sat up all the way and placed her back to the wall. The Zombiebot-whisperer resumed her twisted stare of satisfaction. Somehow, that agitated Rev more than anything. This bot got a kick out of seeing her prisoner unhappy. She liked toying with her.
Rev tried to stay collected. Glitch and the other Droids had to know she was missing by now. They would come to her rescue sooner or later. For the time being, Rev entertained her captor. She figured it wouldn't hurt to try learning more.
"How long was I out for just then?" she inquired.
"Two hours," the Zombiebot-whisperer answered. "Well, two and a half, to be exact."
"So what's your plan?" Rev demanded. "You said you had a boss. You're gonna, like, take me to 'em, aren't you?"
"Mm-hm." The Zombiebot-whisperer responded through a calm smile.
"So what's the holdup?" Rev asked.
"Nothin', really!" said the whisperer. "I'm just waitin' for the right moment."
"What do you mean?"
"It's a surprise!" The Zombiebot-whisperer winked.
Rev briefly went silent. She wasn't sure why, but the whisperer's answers didn't sit well with her. There was more to her than what Rev saw on the surface. There was a method to her madness. She operated in the shadows with a purpose. With many purposes. She had a plan, but she wasn't going to let Rev hear every detail, obviously. The Zombiebot-whisperer was a lot smarter than that. Instead, she kept her revelations vague, even cryptic. She was only straightforward when she wanted to be.
"What do you know about the guardians?"
The question made the Zombiebot-whisperer freeze a little. Rev studied her reaction. But there wasn't much to gather in the split second it took her to return to her normal self. "Eh, not much," she admitted. "I just know my boss'll pay extra for one. In my line of work, they're a bonus. A jackpot. And I struck big." She finished the last line with a smirk.
"How much are we worth?" Rev asked her.
"The most I've seen one go up for is 70 million washers," she revealed. "Gold ones, to be exact. It's a lucrative business."
Rev's optics grew a bit larger.
"I mean, but it all depends," the Zombiebot-whisperer went on. "Given Iron Star's current economy and whatnot. Depends on the type of guardian, too. The last model was heavily sought after. It was deactivated, though, and damaged. They always are. The bidder grabbed it up anyway. He thought it'd make a nice centerpiece in his summer house. Some bidders want them however they can get them."
"'Bidders'? Plural?"
The Zombiebot-whisperer laughed. "Duh! There's a black market for guardians. My boss goes to auctions all the time. He's always wanted a perfectly working guardian Droid. He'll damn near give his right arm for one." She looked at Rev, beaming. "I'm gonna surprise 'em with you. I can only imagine how much he'll want you for!"
The Zombiebot-whisperer gave Rev a quick once-over. She examined her body with an occasional grab of an arm or leg.
"Yep," she murmured. "You seem to be in mint condition. Pristine and shiny, just like he wants."
Rev snatched her limbs away and scooted further into the corner.
The Zombiebot-whisperer smiled and sat back. "I'm not gonna kill ya, sweetheart," she assured her. "I just collect goods!"
"What about your bidders?" Rev challenged. "What do they do with guardians once they get them?"
"Pssh, beats me!" the Zombiebot-whisperer replied, shrugging. "Who knows what my boss does with the ones he's bought. And those don't even work."
Rev shuddered. "Ew!"
"I know," the whisperer sighed. "But he pays good money for 'em, so, hey. That's his business."
She scanned Rev with a sly mug. Rev became severely uncomfortable, knowing what she did now. She was about to become part of some half-Morbot trafficking ring. The thought of having a price on her head—of being sold off to someone—made her wires twist into knots. She couldn't even believe there were other guardian Droids like her and Glitch strewn across the planet's surface. The fact that they were dug up for an illegal trade was unsettling. And now, it was going to happen to her. She started to panic. The Zombiebot-whisperer likely saw Rev's fear, but she gave no indication that she did, or cared.
"Either way," she snickered, "you're gonna make a sweet little addition to his collection, I'm sure. And I'm gonna be stinkin' rich!"
"I don't wanna be sold," Rev nervously mumbled.
"Aww, I know," the Zombiebot-whisperer cooed. "But it comes with the territory, honey, I can't help that."
Rev was going to protest when she received static. Another transmission came through her antenna.
"Rev? Are you out there? If you're getting this, let us know where you're at! We're comin' to get you, ok? Just sit tight!"
Glitch! Rev cried his name in her head. The sound of his voice gave her more faith.
"Who's talking to you?"
Rev jerked up her head. Her core almost jumped into her throat. How did she know?
"You heard me, halfy." The whisperer's voice grew firm. "Who was that?"
Rev quickly shook her head. "No one!" she lied.
"It's the other one, isn't it?" the whisperer tested, smiling. "The guy guardian."
Rev didn't answer.
"He's a handsome devil, if I do say so myself!" the Zombiebot-whisperer commented. "I would've chosen him, but my boss tends to pay more for female guardians. Go figure. I should've snagged ya both anyway. I'd sell him to someone else. But that wouldn't have played out as nicely."
The Zombiebot-whisperer was continuing the vagueness game. Rev quietly stared at her, puzzled. If only she could figure out what the whisperer meant. But she didn't have much more time to decipher her words. The Zombiebot-whisperer reached into a pocket inside her cloak and pulled out her whistle. She held it up.
"Uh-uh-uh! You don't want another song," she cautioned. "Do you?"
Rev's fear climbed a little.
"I can do more than make something go where I want. I can make you do other things. Or I can put you back to sleep. Permanently."
Rev refused to tell her anything. She turned away to avoid the stern blue flare from the Zombiebot-whisperer's feminine optics.
"Call him back," she ordered. "Now."
"No!" Rev objected.
The Zombiebot-whisperer closed in on her. Rev leaped out of the way just in time. She scrambled for the hideout's exit, the hole leading up to the surface. The whisperer grabbed her ankle and dragged her back. Rev turned herself over to see her. She moved the whistle up to her mouth. Rev kicked it out of her hand before she could complete the first note.
Her instrument fell on the floor nearby. Rev saw conflicting emotions come over her hooded eyes. She wanted her weapon, but her captive was trying to escape. She eventually dove for the whistle, possibly with the hopes of reaching it in time to neutralize her victim. Rev jumped on her from behind, restraining her. The whisperer got up and backed into the wall. The impact nearly knocked the breath from Rev's pipes. Her grip on the Zombiebot-whisperer loosened and she hit the floor. Before she knew it, she felt a knee planted on her chest. The Zombiebot-whisperer flashed her a wily grin. Rev stifled a wheeze as air began leaving her body.
"I thought you weren't gonna hurt me!" she croaked.
"I said I wouldn't kill you," the whisperer iterated. "Big difference. I don't mind scuffing you up a bit if it sets you straight. It might bring down your value a couple washers, but I can afford that."
There was a ceramic bowl in the corner by the bedding. Rev managed to reach it. She smashed it over the Zombiebot-whisperer's head. The blow disoriented her long enough for Rev to push her off and make another break for the exit. The sudden strong grip around her waist surprised her. She didn't expect the whisperer to recover so quickly. She pulled Rev away from the hole again. Rev brought her elbow down on her back. The Zombiebot-whisperer turned her loose with a yelp. Rev shoved her into the wall.
The whistle was still sitting where it landed. Rev went for it, but the whisperer caught her again. She landed a hook across Rev's face. It sent her to the ground, but she persevered. She managed a kick from both tires to the whisperer's stomach while she was down, driving her into the wall on the other side of the space.
Rev made one final attempt at escaping. She made a beeline for the hole and jumped up to climb in. Her body was halfway inside when she felt a pair of metal fingers take hold of her legs. They viciously yanked her back down. Rev crashed to the floor with dizzying force. She struggled to look up at the Zombiebot-whisperer through the spinning. She had retrieved the whistle; it was already up to her lip.
"Ugh…no…" Rev tried to take it, but the whisperer clearly had the upper hand. She pinned Rev's left arm to the floor. Rev didn't let up. She went at the whisper's face with the other. She wasn't able to get the whistle, but she managed to grab her hood. She snatched it off her head—and froze.
The Zombiebot-whisperer's features…
"You…" Rev searched for words. "You…"
"Sweet dreams, girl."
The whisperer started a song. Rev's audio picked up the melody. Fighting was pointless. She began drifting off before she could even try. The shocking discovery was the last thing her mind held on to.
The Zombiebot-whisperer resembled Glitch.
...
"Rev! Rev, where are you? Rev!"
Glitch called her name for what must have been the hundredth time. The hours-long search was getting nowhere. They had been looking for Rev from the moment Glitch brought her disappearance to Colonel Alloy's attention. After scouring the area up and down, nothing turned up. Glitch struggled to ignore his worry. They had no way of knowing how far she'd gone, or when she'd even left camp.
Alloy brought his half of the group to meet with Glitch's another 15 minutes into the search. "We're not getting anywhere on our own," he said. "I'll call in backup from the main camp onshore. It won't hurt to have extra eyes. It'll help us cover more ground."
"That's far too dangerous," Feeble argued. "They'll run into trouble of their own. They don't know what's out here."
"Well, in case you haven't noticed, sir," Alloy retorted, "we barely even know what's out here."
"I do," Feeble snapped. "I've trekked these lands before any one of yer wee tin soldiers was even thought of. When I was out there in them waters, ye was probably still in trainin' wheels yeself, helmet-face!"
Colonel Alloy opened his mouth to make a fiery comeback, but Glitch stopped him. The Colonel conceded with a weary sigh. Backup from the shore might have been helpful. But as insulting as Feeble tended to be, he was never wrong. The island would be ready to eat their backup alive before they even made it inland. Worse still, the Zombiebot-whisperer could easily snuff them out if they were truly a threat.
Alloy eventually agreed, albeit reluctantly. "Fine, then," he muttered.
A beeping sound made Glitch turn to Dr. Axon. Something was going off on his weather device. Concern brimmed in his eyes. He glanced up at the others. "Uh-oh," he mumbled.
"What's up, science dude?" Helix asked.
Axon flipped his screen around to show them the readings. "A heavy storm is approaching," he said.
"How far out is it?" Colonel Alloy asked.
"It is still an hour and a half away," Dr. Axon replied. "But I am afraid we will have to shorten our search. We can resume once the rain passes."
Glitch tensed. Rev was still out there. Wherever she was, he could only hope she would be safe from the storm.
...
The Zombiebot-whisperer sat across from Rev with a cold compress to her left temple. Every so often, she glanced over at her captive. Rev could only scowl at her in silence. She looked down at the ropes around her. The whisperer tied her up while she was out. She tried wiggling free, but it was no use.
"That bowl was expensive."
Rev glared up at the whisperer. "Yeah?" she challenged. "Felt good when it got knocked over your dome, didn't it?"
She expected her comeback to leave the Zombiebot-whisperer at least a little aggravated, but it didn't. Another one of her cunning smirks appeared, instead.
"It's okay!" The whisperer shrugged. "It's replaceable."
Rev irritably turned away.
"You pack a punch, girl!" the Zombiebot-whisperer complimented. "And you can take one, too. I've had catches way bigger than you, and they all had glass jaws."
"Why do you look like Glitch?"
Rev's firm question made the Zombiebot-whisperer pause. She took the cold compress away from her temple and stared at the floor. Rev studied her response. She stayed that way for several moments, as if she were having a hard time finding an answer. But Rev knew she was fully aware of how much she resembled the foot soldier. She was the same exact model of miner. There were only a few differences. Thick metal tufts of hair cascaded down the side of her head, styled to keep them from obscuring her headlight and face. She was also a pale shade of purple. But she definitely had his eyes—the same set of blue discs. Rev wished she could get a view of the back of her head. That would've confirmed everything.
She didn't acknowledge Rev's inquiry. Instead, she placed her cold compress back up to her cranium. Her gaze remained on the floor. She struggled to fully face Rev now.
"So how long you and the handsome devil had the hots for each other?" she asked suddenly, changing the subject.
"Wait, what?" Rev gawked at her. She knew about her and Glitch. How?
The Zombiebot-whisperer chuckled. "My boss has tabs over all the islands 'round here, sweetie!" she revealed. "I'm his eyes and ears on this one. I was watchin' you guys from the time you came in on the shore. I saw your little make-out sesh behind that carrier." She whistled. "Steamy!"
Rev rolled her eyes.
"He's a great kisser," the Zombiebot-whisperer teased.
"He's my boyfriend," Rev defensively noted.
"And I'm his sister," the whisperer stated.
Rev stifled a gasp. Was she being serious? It was hard to tell with her. But it wasn't far-fetched, judging from her appearance. It made sense for the same models of guardian to be related. Rev sighed. Thank goodness she was a different model from Glitch. That would have been immensely awkward.
"So you're a guardian, too," Rev spoke up.
The Zombiebot-whisperer looked at her but didn't say anything. She possibly knew what Rev was thinking from her outraged optics.
"How could you?" Rev criticized. "You're a half-Morbot yourself. And yet you're okay with working for someone who treats them like collector's items!How are you fine with that? How could you sell out your own kind?"
The Zombiebot-whisperer smiled. "Simple!" she said. "A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do in these parts. You don't work, you don't eat. I might be a halfy myself, but I'm a hustler first. And I'm a damn good one."
Rev softly shook her head at her in disbelief. Her nonchalance was appalling. Rev tried to understand the whisperer's mindset, but she couldn't place herself in her shoes for even a second. She didn't even want to know how someone could do what the whisperer did without a qualm.
"Does your boss know?" Rev demanded. "Does he know his own employee is a fully functioning guardian? You're not scared he might find out and buy you, too?"
The Zombiebot-whisperer briefly looked away.
"You're 'pristine and shiny'," Rev jeered. "'Just like he wants'. Sound familiar?"
The whisperer kept quiet. Rev figured her words had gotten to her for once. She watched her go back to caring for the spot on her head where she was clocked with the bowl. Rev winced. She really did get her good with that hit. She still couldn't get over how much the whisperer looked like Glitch. Rev assumed she was being sarcastic when she mentioned being his sister. But what if she wasn't? The longer Rev gave it thought, the more it added up. She analyzed her beyond her appearance. While she evidently answered to someone higher up, she struck Rev as a rebellious type. She liked to joke around, too. Yet as Rev curiously watched her every move while tied up in front of her, she wondered if her exterior was a shield to protect her—a shell to hide something deeper. Perhaps the dark-purple cloak she wore served as a coverup of sorts, aside from concealing her identity in her profession.
"You're actually related to him," Rev spoke up. "Aren't you? Like, you weren't kidding when you told me that?"
The Zombiebot-whisperer shook her head.
"Maybe that's why you left him alone," Rev quietly theorized. "That's why you only took me instead. You weren't comfortable with selling out your own blood."
Another moment passed before the Zombiebot-whisperer put down the cold compress. She reached into her cloak and pulled out the whistle again. Rev got a bit of anxiety. Surely, she wasn't getting ready to knock her out a third time.
To her relief, the whisperer didn't have that in mind. She pulled out a handkerchief with the whistle. She composed a whistle from her own metal lip while cleaning it. Rev examined the instrument. It looked like glass, with little decorative touches like the handmade glass some of the Ridgebolt vendors sold. The colors caught Rev's eye. They changed every so often. She stared at the material in shock before lifting her head to look at the Zombiebot-whisperer.
"Morbite," she breathed.
"Hm?" The Zombiebot-whisperer paused mid-clean to peer up at her.
"Your whistle," Rev said. "It's made of Morbite!"
The whisperer nodded. "That's right." She looked down at it. "Sometimes, the decomms have Morbite on them. Same goes for the ones my boss has. When he found out it was magical, he came up with ways to profit off the stuff. He had an island local who knew about the Morbite make this for me. It comes in handy, I gotta say!"
As much as the Morbite whistle piqued Rev's interest, it wasn't her main concern. Her gaze grew firm again as she focused on the Zombiebot-whisperer from her tight restraints. "Look, I'm done holding a conversation with you," she asserted. "Why did you save my group just to capture one of us? What do you plan on doing with the rest of them?"
Faint sounds made them both glance toward the hideout's exit. There were voices above ground. A flicker of Rev's hope returned, but the scheming mug on the Zombiebot-whisperer's face threatened to damper that optimism. Regardless, she wasn't going to give up.
"HELP! HELP ME, I'M DOWN HERE! HELP—!"
The Zombiebot-whisperer slapped her hand over Rev's mouth. Her optics were still alight with satisfaction. "Looks like your buddies are here!" she enthused. "But it's not good for you, though, sadly." She gave a fake frown and made little crying noises.
Rev stared at her once her mouth was free. "Huh? What do you mean?"
Unsurprisingly, the Zombiebot-whisperer didn't elaborate. She went into a satchel she had in her possession and pulled out a cloth. Rev tried to keep screaming for help before her mouth got covered up, but it didn't work. The cloth was tied around the bottom of her face to prevent her from talking. The Zombiebot-whisperer gave her a wink before she threw her hood on. "I told you!" she said. "I was waiting for the right moment!"
...
Glitch and the others kept calling Rev's name. They combed the environment as they moved along the path, hoping to find some sort of clue to her whereabouts. The jungle had darkened exponentially since they began their search. Everyone in the group was wary. A severe storm was on its way. They would need to stop and find shelter. But Glitch didn't want to quit. He wasn't sure how, but he had a feeling they were closer to finding Rev with every path they took. The distant boom of thunder, however, made him realize they didn't have much more time.
"The storm is still on its way," Dr. Axon said. "We only have another 20 minutes at best. We must find a place out of the rain immediately."
Glitch hesitated.
"The scientist be right, me lad," Feeble told him. "We should find shelter until the storm passes. Then we rescue yer Sally."
They heard rustling. The group looked around. Glitch spotted a silhouette moving through the inorganic shrubbery. The figure was swift, difficult to track. Regardless, Glitch had an inkling of what—or who—it could have been.
The rustling moved to the canopy. Before Glitch or anyone else could pinpoint the source, sharp objects rained down from overhead. The Droids moved to avoid them. One bot wasn't so fortunate. The two projectiles plunged into an arm and leg. They belonged to Helix. He stumbled to the ground with a scream that sounded more petrified than pained. Glitch and Dr. Axon managed to pull him to safety.
"Not cool, brah…," Helix wailed.
Glitch and Axon studied the weapons. They were similar to kunai. Feeble went over the blades with his subpar vision.
"I ain't seen these since me pirating days," he reflected. "But it wasn't the pirates who carried 'em."
The figure revealed itself farther up the path. The Droids were able to easily make the assailant out. It was them again: the Zombiebot-whisperer. The group met them along the path at midpoint.
"Who are you?" Colonel Alloy asked.
"I'd tell ya," the whisperer said, "but then I'd have to kill ya!" They finished their quip with a chuckle.
Alloy blinked. "You're a lady," he observed.
"Ugh, seriously?" the whisperer groaned. "That's what you're hung up on? Record it for later if it's so interesting."
"What do you want with us?" Glitch demanded.
"Well, in case it hasn't clicked in your brainpans," the Zombiebot-whisperer answered, "I already got what I wanted!"
Glitch and Alloy exchanged a glance.
"You're missing a party member, right?" the whisperer asked.
Glitch's optics widened. "You took Rev?"
The Zombiebot-whisperer fired a sound from their whistle. The noise was different from the previous one. It was a staccato, short and swift. Once the whisperer finished, there was more rustling nearby. A robotic panther emerged from the brush. It was clearly under the influence of the whistle. But that wasn't what Glitch cared about. The panther had Rev in its jaws. It brought her up to the Zombiebot-whisperer and placed her at her feet. She scratched the panther under the chin. "Good boy!" she cooed.
Rev's nervous eyes met Glitch's. She was bound from top to bottom with her mouth covered. Glitch, Alloy, and the other soldiers drew their weapons and trained them on the whisperer.
"If you don't wanna get lit up, you'll hand 'er over," Glitch growled.
"Ehh, lemme think." The Zombiebot-whisperer pretended to decide. "Nope! Sorry!" She shrugged.
"You wanna do this the hard way, then." Colonel Alloy got ready to pull the trigger on his semiautomatic.
"The easy way's boring."
The whisperer gave another blow from her whistle. Like the moments leading up to the Zombiebot horde, there was rustling all over. Once again, the jungle sprung to life.
"This ain't good," Alloy mumbled.
Glitch picked up the sound of scuttling. They were like thousands of light needle pricks. A mass of large, mechanized spiders swarmed the area. Glitch's pulse sped up a little. No wonder that web was so big, he thought.
The spiders advanced. Glitch and Alloy's teams regrouped on the path.
"See?" the Zombiebot-whisperer exclaimed. "Isn't the hard way a lot more fun?"
Her spiders didn't waste time with their prey. They divided into two groups. One half of the swarm lunged at the party, while the other came together to build something in the middle of the path. They worked incredibly fast. Glitch knew what they were making. The web would be meant to trap them. His eyes fell on the Zombiebot-whisperer. She mounted the panther's back. Rev was back in its jaws. The whisperer was about to escape with her captive while the Droids were occupied. Glitch wasn't going to let that happen.
Alloy was in the middle of warding off a set of spiders with his troops when he noticed Glitch running in the opposite direction of the fight. He was heading for the web.
"Glitch?" he called. "Glitch!"
Before the spiders completed the web, he jumped to the other side. The final strands to the sticky net were finished. The Zombiebot-whisperer had already taken off on the panther with Rev onboard. Glitch cursed under his breath and looked back. He was completely closed off from the others now. Feeble maneuvered out of the way of a spider and went up to the web to meet him. Glitch started to put his hand up to the web, until he remembered it would stick.
"I thought I could reach her in time…," he began.
"Ye still have a chance," Feeble encouraged.
"What about you guys?" Glitch asked.
"We'll be all right!" Feeble assured him. "Go get yer Sally!"
Glitch fell within a spider's field of vision, the same one Feeble had outmaneuvered. It leaped over the web in pursuit. Glitch jumped back to avoid its mandibles. It gave chase again. He didn't have time to retaliate, so he braced himself.
The whisperer made a clean getaway. She sported a triumphant laugh as she rode away on the hypnotized panther with her catch. Rev grunted in protest through the cloth over her mouth.
Just when she thought she was in the clear, she heard something coming up from behind. The Zombiebot-whisperer glanced over her shoulder. There was a mech spider after her. Or it seemed to be, rather. Glitch was riding on top of it. It clearly didn't want him on, and only appeared to be running in an attempt to get him off. Glitch used it to his advantage. He did his best to pilot the arachnid in the right direction. Rev's face lit up when she saw him in pursuit. The spider was a lot quicker than he expected. He found himself gaining on the panther.
But the whisperer didn't let him near so easily. She launched another set of blades from a crossbow. Glitch successfully steered the spider clear of them. He aimed his SPEW to fire back, until a thought stopped him. He didn't want to risk hitting Rev, nor did he want to waste ammunition. The only solution was to beat the Zombiebot-whisperer at her own game. He wasn't a fan of Cat and Mouse, but he didn't have a choice.
His thoughts were cut short by a change in terrain. The Zombiebot-whisperer leaped over a fallen trunk of metal on her panther. Glitch jumped over the obstacle while the spider went under. The path ahead was dense and narrow. Each bend and curve was less predictable than the last. The pursuit led them through a thick reed patch. Glitch fought against the tall currents of sharp, metal wisps. He could barely see a foot in front of him. The only thing that told him he was still going the right way were the muffled cries he heard not too far ahead. He followed Rev's frightened voice through the marsh. Even after they made it out of the reeds, thicker patches of undergrowth greeted them.
A sharp object came straight for Glitch's head. He didn't see the whisperer's blade coming through the thicket. It grazed his right cheek. He gnashed his jaw to withhold an agonized grunt. His profile lightly bled. To his luck, the cut wasn't very deep. If the blade landed a better hit, he would've had his face ripped open.
Glitch thought the worst of the rough terrain passed. Another minute into the chase and he learned he was wrong. Once they left the undergrowth, the environment changed again. He had to chase the whisperer through a cave. To his relief, the exit wasn't too far. There was enough daylight coming through to allow a clear path. A few animals dwelled in the partial dark. Dodging them was easy for the Zombiebot-whisperer, even on a running panther. Glitch briefly steered his spider onto the wall to bypass the creatures.
They reached the end of the cave. Glitch's optics had to readjust to the light. There seemed to be more of it. That was when he caught sight of their new surroundings. They were running along a cliffside. They'd gone above the jungle at some point. Glitch moved away from the cliff's edge to avoid the sharp drop into a ravine. He saw the next mass of land on the other side of the gap. The Zombiebot-whisperer made a quick turn. She piloted her panther to make the leap. Her landing was perfect on the other side.
Glitch's spider scuttled toward the edge. It was technically still under mind control. He wasn't sure how to get it to jump across.
He wasn't able to. The spider went straight for the end of the cliff. Glitch was forced to dismount at the last second. The poor spider fell in the ravine. When Glitch looked up, the Zombiebot-whisperer was waiting for him on the other side. He gave a disbelieved laugh. She was so confident he wouldn't make it, she wanted to see if he would by some miracle.
"You gonna sit there all day, hotshot?" she taunted. "Or are you actually gonna try to get your woman back?"
Glitch spotted a trunk on her side of the gap. His hope went up. It was positioned just right. He fired at it with his Ripper. The saw blade tore through the metal. Glitch moved out of the way as it fell back timber-style. He had a path to get across. Just as he anticipated, the Zombiebot-whisperer had already whisked off by the time he did. She climbed to an even higher level. Glitch gave chase.
He stopped at a pocket in the rock face that opened up. Glitch analyzed the space, confused. Even though he saw her come here, she was nowhere to be seen.
The loud rushing made it hard to think. Glitch looked to his left. A curtain of water cascaded down the rock face from a level overhead. Smells of earth and vapor claimed Glitch's olfactory sensors. This was his first time seeing a waterfall of this size on the planet's surface.
"Enjoying the view?"
A voice made him turn around. He hardly had a chance to see the Zombiebot-whisperer standing behind him. She had a gun to his head. Glitch dodged her point blank shot with milliseconds to spare. A bombardment of bullets followed his movements. Glitch felt them at his heels before rolling behind a divide in the rock face opening. He pressed himself against the makeshift wall and waited for the shots to stop. Once they did, he began firing back from his SPEW. The Zombiebot-whisperer evaded the gunfire, then returned the favor with more of her own. Glitch stayed down on the other side of his barrier, or what remained, at least. The whisperer's high-calibered bullets tore through the rock like nothing. Glitch might as well have taken cover behind a window. If he wasn't careful, the shootout wouldn't end as well as he would've liked. He took a few deep breaths before poking around the divide to shoot again.
"Not so fast!"
Glitch held his fire. The Zombiebot-whisperer had Rev between them. She thrashed and fought in her restraints. The ropes wouldn't budge any time soon.
"Goodness!" the whisperer gasped. "You almost shot the wrong robot! You might wanna watch where you aim next time."
Glitch ignored her sarcasm. "Let 'er go," he growled.
"Yeah, no, I'm good," the Zombiebot-whisperer declined. "Thanks for the suggestion, though. That's mighty kind of you."
She placed her gun up to Rev's temple. An audible sound of fear came through the cloth around her mouth.
"You're bluffing," Glitch deduced. "You don't really wanna kill her. You wouldn't have gone to all this trouble just to do that."
The Zombiebot-whisperer gave a careless shrug. "I mean, hey! If I can't have 'er…"
"She's valuable to you," Glitch insisted. "Why is that?"
"Guess!" the whisperer granted.
"Mark." Glitch pointed to the back of his head. "Is that it?"
"Well done!" the whisperer praised. "You've got smarts behind those muscles and guns of yours. Also, you were right. I'm not gonna kill 'er."
She turned the gun on Glitch. He didn't react quickly enough. Her shot hit his right shoulder. The flash of pain subdued him.
"Believe it or not, I'm not gonna kill you, either," the Zombiebot-whisperer said. "You're pretty valuable, too. That was a warning shot. To let you know to stay out of my way."
She still had Rev in front of her. Just as she let her weapon down, she experienced the force of a head butt. Rev's blow made her stagger. Rev used her body weight to shove the whisperer forward. Glitch was ready for her to come his way. He wrestled her gun away, then grabbed, tackled, and pinned her onto her back. The Zombiebot-whisperer stared up at him, puzzled. She must have thought she'd landed a clean shot on him. Her optics fell on the plate of armor along his right shoulder. There was a spidering crack where the bullet didn't quite make it through, leaving Glitch unscathed.
He yanked the Zombiebot-whisperer's hood back. His oil went colder than ice when he saw her face. She smiled up at him, challengingly, as she witnessed pure shock collect in his eyes.
"Makes for a good plot twist, doesn't it?" she quipped.
Glitch was too speechless to answer.
"She knew, too." The whisperer motioned her head toward Rev nearby.
"I don't understand," Glitch uttered.
"I'll talk if you let me go," the Zombiebot-whisperer promised. "Pretty-please?"
"Yeah, right." Glitch smirked as he held up her whistle. "That's why I got this."
The whisperer's eyes widened.
Glitch lifted her to her feet and forced her over to the waterfall. He held the whistle up to it with one hand while keeping the whisperer back with the other.
"Ya don't talk, ya lose this," he bargained. "Pick one. And make it quick."
"Argh, alright, fine!" the Zombiebot-whisperer huffed.
"Oh, and one more thing," Glitch added. "You free her, too."
This was where the Zombiebot-whisperer struggled to decide. Her gaze shifted between Rev, Glitch, and her whistle. When she didn't give him a choice, he moved the instrument closer to the waterfall. Even still, she wouldn't cave.
Glitch shrugged. "Suit yourself!" He let the whistle go.