Chapter 1: The Wastelands

[lordtovel]

The war had been over for five years, and yet a fairly large portion of the continent (mostly the north and west sectors) had been turned into a wasteland. Damaged and shattered skeletons, automatons, and various devices could be found over every hill. One could almost feel the death in the air.
Jason motioned for his traveling companions to halt as he slowly and carefully looked over the trenches they decided to travel through for safety reasons. nothing, this time. They continued on their way.

[tony]

I continued to follow Jason, hobbling closely behind him. "How far till we reach our destination," I asked as quietly as i could, listening for movement outside the trenches. "It has almost been two hours."

[lordtovel]

"Expect it to take days," responded Jason. He sensed one of them nearby. He was unsure of whether he wanted to potentially put the rest of the people with him at risk by fighting it, or whether it would be best to avoid it entirely.
"Clockwork Mutation nearby."

[tony]

I suddenly stopped in my tracks. Clockwork Mutations were nasty things. Many varied in sizes and shape, but even the small ones were dangerous enough to kill a person. I felt my hands gripping tightly around my cane, ready to draw out the hidden blade inside it. I didn't know how close this thing was, or if there were any more of them. Perhaps Jason could sense the location? "Can you sense if there are any others nearby," I whispered, looking down the long narrow trench, and looking back behind us. "And how close this thing is?"

[lordtovel]

"Just one. Don't bother with the sword unless its made of something special; your still attacking a metallic creature."
Jason clenched his metal prosthetic suddenly, it seemed to move of its own volition momentarily. He ignored it as his prosthetic made a fist. A blade slid out slowly and quietly from a space located on the top of the hand of prosthetic. It was not like a normal weapon, nothing about the prosthetic looked unnatural, but it simply felt mentally unnatural to all who looked at it. The blade in particular inspired mental unrest.
Clinking could be heard now...

[tony]

I eased up on my grip. Jason had a point. If I did use my cane sword, the only thing I would possibly be able to do is deflect and divert any blows it would throw out. If this thing was made entirely of metal as Jason said, then all my blade would do is clank hard against the hard metallic surface, as if parrying against another person's sword. I took a quick glance at the rest of our group. Three other men were with us, two of them holding what appeared to be steam powered rifles, and the last one, a very young man looking to be at least sixteen, held a steam pistol. Each of the men were still, quiet, and grew paler as the clicks got louder. I couldn't do much, so instead of standing there stupidly, I've motioned the men to spread out a bit and to get down.

[lordtovel]

The clanking stopped suddenly and there was a sound of something hitting the ground hard simultaneous to a bird screeching very briefly, its call cut short.
Jason moved suddenly, and leaped out of the trenches rushing at the Clockwork Mutation. His blade made contact cutting deep into the creature. Oil leaked from the creature as though it were blood. but it shoved him off. This creature was a spider clockwork at one time but had an arm appendage that was clearly not originally a part of its design.

[tony]

I beckoned my comrades to follow, continuing to move foward through the trenches while Jason fought against the clockwork.

[lordtovel]

Jason thrust his blade into the monsters arm, forcing it aside as he used a forward kick to push it away and dislodge his blade. While the thing was off balance he landed a powerful slashing motion across the things body. The thing reached out to grab him but, Jason cut off its hand and delivered a spinning slice to that made the creature suddenly stagger and collapse.
Jason himself staggered back to his comrades now moving location. Hopping down into the trenches, he almost immediately doubled over and threw up a mixture of blood and oil.

[tony]

"Easy mate," I said, walking towards him and knelt down a bit to where our faces were level. "Don't strain yourself too hard."
I looked upon the dark mixture of liquids upon the ground, and a sicking sensation tensed inside my own stomach. "I rather not puke myself..."

[lordtovel]

"I am fine. lets keep moving. I don't need any scavengers finding us."