Adrift

Sasia woke up to another beautiful day in the Lapse. The sky was red, the air smelled of burnt metal, and there were visible silhouettes of large black objects floating far in the distance.

Sasia immediately noticed a small metallic creature resembling a beetle crawling between her feet. She was startled when she saw it move, but she knew it was harmless. She bent down and stroked its back like someone would do for a pet. The beetle didn’t react like a pet would, however. It had no nerves to feel the stroke of her finger.

Standing up and glancing over her shoulder, Sasia was able to spot the storm far away. Sometimes she called it the Torn Horizon, but it didn’t have an official name. Nothing in the Lapse had an official name; it was all up to Sasia to create names for special things.

This morning wasn’t unlike the others. Almost by habit, Sasia gathered her simple possessions and started walking. The Torn Horizon was constantly approaching her, so she had to walk away from it. Like all days, she would have to walk at a good pace for most of the day to put space between her and the storm. That would give her enough time to sleep in a shelter she would find and survive another day in the Lapse.

Sasia’s possessions fit in a small bag made of tiny metal chain links. Most of the objects in the bag were simple tools or interesting objects she had found during her walks. She had a sturdy wrench, a screwdriver, a hammer, a crowbar, a protractor, and a few other things. Most things she carried were practically useless, but she carried them anyway to give herself more purpose.

There was no food in Sasia’s bag. There was no food in the Lapse. There was no need for food. She could hardly remember what it felt like to take a bite of freshly-baked bread all those years ago. Such memories were slowly leaving her overtime. Her body didn’t work like it used to. It didn’t work like it was supposed to. Nothing worked quite well in the Lapse. It was much different than the reality she came from.

Sasia stepped over a long metal pipe as she walked. Company names, informational statistics, and seemingly useless numbers were engraven all over the metallic surface. She didn’t stop to observe it further. Practically everything she ever saw was made of metal, with a few rare exceptions. Almost everything seemed to come from some sort of manufacturing company. There were nails, nuts, bolts, pipes, poles, wires, and metal panels everywhere she looked. She was constantly cautious about where she stepped; fearful of stepping on something sharp or harmful.

Life was very simple. Sasia didn’t get bored very often. There were always new things to see each day. Today, she found a large vault full of golden bars and coins. She observed the beauty of the golden display reflecting the red light in the sky, then she moved on. There was no use for gold here. She had made the mistake of carrying golden objects in the past. They just added needless weight to her bag.

Sasia also came across a pair of metal snakes twirling around each other on the flat surface of a large aluminum table. They disregarded her as she passed, so she was able to watch their elegant, playful performance. She remembered a time when she kept a small metal snake as a pet and named it Frog. It kept her company for a while, but the metal in its slender body would sometimes pinch her when it slithered on her skin and cause her to bleed, so she had to get rid of it. She was better off on her own.

The vibrant red colors in the sky kept getting lighter and brighter throughout the day until about noon, when it switched and started getting darker. Sasia continued to walk over huge metal boxes, around large iron buildings, and across thick titanium pipes. She did her best to keep the high ground during her journey. Being higher than the land around her gave her a better view of where she could go, and it kept her away from the lava pits. The lower areas of the Lapse tended to have large areas of hot liquid metal. The viscous liquid dripped from pipes, flowed in rivers, and pooled together in extremely hot lakes. The lakes could be very beautiful, but it was best to stay away from them.

Sasia walked through the metal skeleton of a skyscraper she found. She picked up a shiny wedding ring and replaced the one she was currently wearing for a new look. She climbed to the top of a radio tower and gazed at the strange black silhouettes floating hundreds of miles away, then she kept moving away from the Torn Horizon.

While crawling over a huge intermodal container, Sasia encountered something truly unique. It was a faint blue light coming from a split within the metal. The color blue was so rare to her that she had almost forgotten what it looked like. She put her chain bag down and bent down to get a closer look at the light. Could it be some sort of electricity? Maybe it was coming from something alive, like her.

Without the ability to reach her fingers through the crack and grab the blue light, Sasia acquired her crowbar and started prying the crack open wider. She used her body weight to force the crowbar down, ripping the metal apart. It didn’t do much, but it created just enough room for her to reach in and grab the blue light.

The glowing object startled her with its warmth as Sasia first touched it. She pulled her fingers away for a few seconds, then reached in again. It was hot, but not too hot to hold. With a slight tug, she freed the object from its place in the metal and held it up to her face for closer inspection.

Sasia identified the object as metal. It was metallic, just like almost everything else in the Lapse. The fact that it was just metal saddened her, but it was still very intriguing. Unlike all other metal in this place, the object she held had a steady blue glow. It was no bigger than her thumbnail, and it was shaped like a teardrop. Perhaps it was radioactive. Maybe it was infused with some sort of energy. Could it be magical? It didn’t seem harmful.

After a few solid minutes of curious observation, Sasia pocketed the object. She couldn’t spend too much time looking at it until she was far enough away from the Torn Horizon in a comfortable place to stay the night.

The day darkened as night approached. Sasia was starting to look for comfortable places to sleep. The area she was in was lower than usual, which meant it was hot. She would get better rest if she got out of the lowlands, so she continued to walk. She occasionally had to step over puddles of metal lava or go around red-hot pipes and boxes. She didn’t know why some of the metal was overheated and molten. The low areas of the Lapse were hot, but not hot enough to melt metal. It was just another unexplainable fact that she had to live with.

Sasia heard a clash of metal hitting metal behind her. She stopped walking and turned around to see what it was, but didn’t notice anything. There was a large tractor obscuring her view. Whatever had made the sound was probably behind it.

Nothing in the Lapse ever moved unless Sasia or a metal creature moved it. There was probably a crab or a bug behind the tractor that had somehow caused a large object to fall out of place. None of the metal creatures were bigger than Sasia’s head, and they were usually quite harmless, so she determined that there was nothing to worry about. She turned around and kept walking.

Less than a minute later, Sasia heard another sound coming from behind her, but it was much quieter; like something tapping against a large, hollow object. She glanced over her shoulder, but didn’t see anything. She started to get worried, but she kept walking. Perhaps some sort of small metal animal was following her. Could it be the serpentine pet she had abandoned so long ago?

While she walked, she paid attention to any sound that reached her ears. Before too long, she started to notice faint high-pitched clicks that occurred a couple times each second and came from behind her. She hastened her steps, but the sound didn’t go away. Whatever it was, it was really worrying her, and she couldn’t muster the courage to backtrack and find out what it was. Besides, whatever it was, it was obviously hiding from her while it followed. It was probably more terrified than she was. Regardless, Sasia kept looking over her shoulder and walking quickly.

Right before Sasia was able to leave the lowlands, the clicking sound stopped completely. It made her pause in place, even more disturbed with the silence. She turned around and surveyed the area carefully. Her heart was pounding and her hands were tightly clutching the metal bag which held her possessions.

There was a large pool of lava nearby, with the top of a metal statue sticking out. There was a wheelchair ramp, a fishing boat, and a bed frame near her. She guessed that whatever had been following her was hiding behind one of those objects. Or maybe it was even further back.

Sasia slowly put one foot in front of the other until she was able to peer behind the fishing boat. She didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. She looked behind the bed frame, but saw nothing but coins and wires. Nothing was hiding behind the wheelchair ramp either. She could keep walking and looking for the mysterious follower, but she decided not to. If it didn’t want to follow her anymore, she was okay with it. Hopefully it would leave her alone all night.

As soon as Sasia turned around and began walking away from the lowlands again, a massive figure burst from the pool of molten metal and crushed the bed frame with a steel hand the size of Sasia’s body.

The edges of Sasia’s vision darkened and she almost passed out immediately, but she remained awake. She stumbled back and shrieked, overcome with complete horror. The steel figure crawled out of the lava pit and turned its massive face to look right at Sasia.

The creature was humanoid, but just barely. Even while on all fours, it was at least twelve feet tall. It had a massive underbite with pointed steel teeth and molten metal that dripped from its mouth. Its eyes glowed with inner blue light. Its shoulders were excessively large, its joints were sharp and defined, its posture forced it to lean on its front knuckles like a gorilla, its fingers were tipped with razor-sharp claws, and the material it was made from was dark and tough. It looked like an apex predator from someone’s worst nightmare, and it was staring right at Sasia.

There was no more time to cower and scream. Sasia got to her feet and started sprinting. She left her bag on the floor, knowing that it would only weigh her down.

The mechanical beast didn’t pursue her at first. Sasia ran for several seconds before glancing over her shoulder to see the creature rummaging through the possessions in her chain link bag. Once it determined that there was nothing it wanted in the bag, it started chasing Sasia. This time, it wasn’t just following her. She could tell it was out for blood.

Taking advantage of the monster’s ridiculous size, Sasia darted through tight spaces, doorways, and anything that would be difficult for the creature to fit though. She didn’t look over her shoulder very often, but she could tell that it wasn’t extremely fast. It walked towards her like a gorilla would walk on all fours, tearing apart or smashing any obstacle in its path. Even though it was walking, it was faster than Sasia’s fastest sprint.

Sasia had a hard time deciding what to do. She had never seen anything like this in her life, even though she had been in the Lapse for several years. The largest metal creature she had ever encountered was a harmless spider crab.

A thick steel chain flew past Sasia and tore violently through a pile of barn shingles. She yelped and turned away from the chain, quickly looking back to see that the chain had come out of the creature’s arm like a built-in projectile. The monster sucked in the chain and wound it up for another try. Sasia mindfully avoided the next chain attack while she ran and focused all her attention on staying alive.

Inch by inch, the monster was catching up to Sasia. She couldn’t outrun it, and she was only getting more exhausted.

A black fire hydrant missed Sasia by less than a foot. It crashed through a large intermodal container and created a hole large enough for Sasia to fit through.

Strategizing as fast as her brain would allow, Sasia dove into the hole caused by the fire hydrant. She entered near-complete darkness and rose quickly to her feet again. A massive metal arm reached aggressively through the hole and grasped at the air, trying to grab Sasia, but she backed away from its reach.

Unable to grab Sasia, the arm retreated. The bright-blue eyes of the mechanical beast peered into the intermodal container and locked onto her. Sasia used the light from the blue glow to retreat further into the container. She scratched her leg on some barbed wire and almost tripped over a broken chair, but she made it to the back regardless.

The eyes disappeared, leaving Sasia without any substantial light. She pressed her hands against the wall and panted, unable to see herself surviving this horror.

Suddenly, the entire intermodal container shook. Two loud clangs of metal against metal echoed through the interior of Sasia’s new prison. She fell to her hands and knees and closed her eyes tightly. Her heart felt like it was beating a thousand times each second. Why did she trap herself like this? There was no way out.

The container started to lift off the ground as the monster picked it up with its breathtaking strength. A pile of wingnuts spilled onto Sasia and knocked her over. Her head collided with the wall and gave her a horrible headache and a bruise.

Sasia curled up into a ball and started crying. All she could do now was hope that the nightmare would end quickly.

The intermodal container tipped upwards, forcing Sasia and the rest of its interior to slide towards the entrance. She screamed and tried holding onto the floor to prevent herself from rolling. She slid into a mess of barbed wire and cut herself in several places.

Then, a heavy iron object hit Sasia in the head, and her consciousness left her.

Sasia woke up a long time later. She didn’t know how long it had been, she was just surprised to still be alive. Her entire body ached, especially her head. Her pants were stiff with dry blood, and there was a sharp pain in her left thigh.

It was still completely dark. Sasia couldn’t see anything at all. She was partially buried in hundreds of random tiny things. Her legs were tangled in barbed wire, so she didn’t squirm. She stayed still for a minute to see if she could hear the mechanical monster, but the only thing she could hear was a distant rumbling sound. She didn’t know what it could be, but it didn’t sound like the creature that had been chasing her.

Slowly, Sasia removed her legs from the sharp wires. They had caught on her clothes in so many places, but she was eventually able to free herself. She shoved what she guessed was a work desk away from her body and climbed out of the mess. She was still inside the intermodal container, but the whole thing was tilted at a forty-five degree angle.

Sasia tried to stand up, but as soon as she put pressure on her left leg, the sharp pain increased tenfold. She yelped and fell back down, clenching her teeth at the searing pain. With her hands shaking, Sasia reached down to feel at the side of her thigh, horrified to find a crooked nail jutting out from her flesh. She stayed still for several moments, panting, then she mustered up the courage to rip the nail out. She screamed as she did it, feeling a surge of pain even greater than the first. Her whole body tensed up as she fought the pain. Thankfully, it didn’t last very long. Her leg continued to bleed, but not too much. The nail didn’t go in too deep. If she somehow survived this whole situation, she would have a nasty scar for sure.

Sasia gave herself a few minutes to recover, then she tried standing up again. It was painful, but not as much as it had been. She balanced herself, then began digging through the pile of miscellaneous items to make her way towards the exit.

While she dug, the rumbling sound steadily grew louder and louder. She couldn’t imagine what it could be, but it worried her. She was afraid to exit the intermodal container, but she knew it was her only option. She couldn’t stay here forever.

She found the fire hydrant with her hands as she dug, and it reminded her of the terrifying chase she had experienced before jumping into here. The hydrant had been thrown by the creature and had crashed through the side of the intermodal container after barely missing Sasia. It was too heavy for her to move out of the way, but it thankfully wasn’t in the way of the exit.

Sasia squirmed and crawled and forced her body through the mess of miscellaneous objects to emerge through the hole in the intermodal container. She was relieved to finally see light again.

Directly outside of the hole was a wide, deep pit. Sasia mindfully avoided it and stood up beside it, taking a deep breath of fresh air.

The rumbling sound was still growing louder, and it was even more noticeable now that Sasia was free from the prison of metal and darkness. As soon as she noticed it again, the horrifying realization of what it was came to her. She slowly turned around and viewed the chaotic scene that approached from less than half a mile away. She had never seen the Torn Horizon so close.

Metal objects of all sizes got tossed into the air by the incredible storm as if they were made of styrofoam. They shook back and forth, smashing against each other with extreme speed. Each object she watched was eventually reduced to metallic ash and dispersed in the storm. There was no way she would survive if she got anywhere close to it.

Instinctively, Sasia started running, but she immediately lost balance and collapsed to the ground. The pain in her thigh was too much for a run. She could walk to avoid the storm, but she couldn’t go very fast, and she couldn’t walk forever. The Torn Horizon would eventually consume her. There was no escape.

A sound like resonating instruments called from within the pit beside Sasia. It wasn’t louder than the storm, but it was still loud enough for her to hear. She peered into the dark hole to find the mechanical monster trapped at the bottom. It stared up at her like a dog begging for food. The pit seemed to be the interior of some sort of large building, but Sasia couldn’t tell what it was exactly. Maybe a warehouse? It was obvious that the creature couldn’t escape on its own.

Sasia glanced at the storm that steadily approached her, then back at the creature. It held up its hand as if asking for help. Sasia didn’t know what to do. The only thing this monster wanted to do yesterday was kill her. Now it was asking her for help. The irony was honestly disgusting.

Without warning, the steel creature shot a large chain from its palm. Sasia yelped and ducked out of the way, but she didn’t need to. The chain flew out of the pit, bounced against several various objects, and fell back down into the darkness. The creature sucked it back into its arm.

“What am I supposed to do?” Sasia yelled down the pit. She didn’t expect to get a response, but she did anyway. The creature pointed at its arm and made a motion with its hand that symbolized someone tying a knot. She was honestly surprised to see that it understood English and was smart enough to make such gestures.

“You want me to tie the chain to something?” she asked.

The creature nodded its head. It was hard to see its body within the darkness, but its glowing blue eyes were easy to focus on.

“Why would I help you?” Sasia shouted, “You tried to kill me. You almost succeeded several times.”

The creature didn’t respond. Sasia already knew the answer to her question. The storm was growing closer and closer. Her only hope for survival relied on the assistance of this monster. If she freed it, it could potentially save her from the storm.

“It’s your fault that the storm is this close,” Sasia complained, “You trapped me in a giant box and knocked me out. I must’ve been unconscious for almost twenty hours!”

Again, the creature gave no response. It just stared at her like an impoverished child begging for warm clothes. It was pitiful. It was messing with her head. She knew what she had to do, but she hated the thought of saving such a monster. It would likely betray her when it reached the top of the pit and save itself.

“My leg is injured,” Sasia said, “I can’t run. If I help you out of there, will you save me from the storm?”

The creature nodded. She didn’t trust it, but she had no choice.

“Give me the chain,” she said.

The mechanical beast launched its chain up and out of the pit again. Sasia glanced at the approaching storm again, then began fastening the chain around a massive ERW pipe, making sure that the pipe was securely buried in the piles of metal and wouldn’t budge when pulled on. The time it took to tighten the chain properly was worrisome and uncomfortable, but she was going as fast as she could. Once she was finished, she stepped up to the edge of the pit again and waved at the beast.

“You can come up now!” Sasia yelled, “I can’t promise that it’s tight enough, but the storm is getting really close. You need to hurry.”

The monster planted its legs against the wall of the pit and started reeling in the chain. Instead of yanking the ERW pipe out of place, the creature started ascending. Which was good news, assuming it wouldn’t kill her when it got to the top.

Sasia limped backwards away from the beast when it cleared the edge of the pit. It clamped onto the ledge with its freehand and brought itself to freedom.

Sasia looked up at its head with terror and awe. It looked down at her…

And it didn’t kill her.

Sasia felt a sudden rush of wind blow over her. The air around her started to grow thick and pale, difficult to see through. She put her hands over her head and braced for whatever might hit her.

Suddenly, she was lifted up off the ground. Not by the storm, but by the creature. It started moving, trying its best to escape the storm. It couldn’t go faster than twenty miles per hour, but that was enough to outrun the storm.

Just when Sasia thought they would safely escape the Torn Horizon, the mechanical creature lost its footing and began to lift off the ground. Hundreds of random metal objects swirled around them. They couldn’t make any progress while they were floating, or so she thought.

A paperclip struck Sasia in the side of the forehead and sliced through her skin. She yelped and tried even harder to protect herself with her hands. She started to lose hope again. This was definitely the end.

A telephone pole hurled towards them in the wind. Sasia could barely see it through the thick, white atmosphere of the Torn Horizon, but the beast could apparently see just fine. It caught the pole right before it shattered Sasia’s ribs, then it used it as leverage, pushing off of the ground below with incredible force.

Sasia and the monster were propelled out of the storm, but they were moving at a dangerous speed. They were high up in the air, and Sasia didn’t think they would survive the landing at such a speed. Before they hit the ground, however, the beast hurled Sasia directly into the sky. Her heart almost stopped as her body was suddenly flung upwards, and she screamed at the top of her lungs.

She flailed her arms and legs, unable to control herself while she rose, then fell. Antough, instead of splatting against the metal surface below, she was gracefully caught by the giant mechanical beast. Even though it was made of steel, it was able to break her fall by lowering its hands as she fell into them.

Sasia’s heart was still beating at what felt like hundreds of times per second, but she knew she was safe now. The monster wouldn’t kill her now, after saving her life so many times in a row. They were successfully out of the Torn Horizon, and now they were outrunning it, traveling further into the lapse.

Sasia was finally able to relax as the mechanical creature carried her safely away from the destruction behind them. She couldn’t think of it as a beast or a monster anymore, it obviously didn’t want to kill her anymore.

The sky started to darken. The day was approaching night again. When the rumbling of the Torn Horizon wasn’t even noticeable, the giant metal creature slowed to a stop on top of a hill and set Sasia down gently. She stood up and looked into its bright blue eyes.

“Thank you,” she said, “You saved me several times back there, even though you’re the one that got us into that mess.”

The creature shrugged. It looked like it was supposed to be an apologetic gesture.

“Why were you trying to attack me earlier?” Sasia asked.

The creature waited a few moments to respond, then it reached up and tapped its left eye twice and then pointed at Sasia.

“Your eye?” Sasia asked, confused.

The creature reached forward and tapped gently on Sasia’s pocket. She looked down to see a faint blue light shining through the fabric. She had completely forgotten about the strange blue piece of metal she had found earlier that day, before she was attacked. She reached in and pulled it out, still mesmerized by its beauty. The color matched the creature’s eyes exactly.

“You wanted this?” Sasia asked.

The creature nodded, then shrugged apologetically again.

“I forgive you,” she said, “To be honest, I would’ve ran away even if you asked politely at first. Chasing me was probably your best option. I understand.”

The creature nodded once, accepting Sasia’s forgiveness. She looked at the blue teardrop in her hand one more time, then she held it out for the creature to take. It gracefully accepted the gift, holding it between two steel fingers like it was the most precious thing in the world.

And then, it swallowed it.

Sasia stepped back, confused. The creature’s eyes grew brighter for just one second, then its mouth began to grow with the same blue light, no longer dark and empty. Now that its mouth was more defined, Sasia could tell that it had a faint smile; just barely noticeable.

“Thank you,” the creature spoke with a deep, masculine voice, “I am truly sorry for putting your life in danger. It won’t happen again. My name is Valek.”