Chapter 83 - 83

Words : 1232 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

They walked over to the door, which was also surrounded by a sandbag emplacement, though there was no chair, table, or ammo boxes, there were two skeletons, still dressed in military garb with helmets on. Even if Adam wanted to take the helmets and clothing, which he didn't, they were either rusted or worn away drastically, none of it was usable, but it did set the stage for what they were about to enter into. "Ready kid?" Salvatore asked as he double checked his gear while they stood outside the door. "Yeah, I'm ready." Adam took out his laser pistol, he preferred laser weapons in a pinch and against robots the weaponry might be at least a bit more powerful, couldn't hurt anyway. "I'll take point, you follow closely behind." Salvatore said as he leaned against the wall next to the door, opposite side to the hinges. "Open the door on 3." Adam nodded and then watched as Salvatore counted down from 3 opening the door for him at the end. Salvatore busted into the first room, rifle raised, ready to blast anyone and anything that stood in his way, but the room was a small simple lobby, there was nothing dangerous. Though it was clear there was once something dangerous. On the roof, right above the front desk was an outlet where something could be installed into the roof, it had a black metallic structure and wires hanging out of it, clearly whatever was up there was destroyed or torn out. But what proved it was dangerous was the bones on the ground. Lots of bones. Bodies created a nearly foot high wall of decayed skeletons, some in clothing, some not, all stacked at the entrance, like they were blown away. Presumably whatever was on the ceiling had felled them all. "What the hell…" Salvatore muttered as he carefully stepped over the dead bodies and ensured the room was clear for the moment. "Olivia had said that the building was attacked by a mob that failed but I didn't realize that this would be so… dramatic…" Adam said, apprehensive as he too stepped over the bodies. "Yeah well, quite the welcome party for us, really gives me hope about what else we will see." Salvatore said darkly. "Ha ha." Adam responded, mirthlessly. Against the back wall, behind the front desk, was a wall of what were once windows, now all destroyed and broken, which overlooked the brewery floor; there were also two doors to their left and right and an opening in the wall which led to a ramp towards the same place the windows looked onto. Adam walked over to the windows to look down at the brewery floor and then immediately ducked down. "Salvatore." He beckoned him over with a hushed tone. Salvatore came over and peeked out the window too before he calmly took a knee to also be below the sightlines of the window. Both men had seen the robot that was patrolling the floor, but it was unlike any robot Adam had ever seen. It was like if a trashcan had grown tube arms, it was on treads and could not walk, only roll around, it had laser emitters embedded between the prongs of its hands. But none of this was what freaked Adam out. On top of the robot, suspended in a green viscous looking liquid was very clearly a human brain. "What the fuck is that thing?!" Adam asked Salvatore, mildly freaked out. "What? You've never seen a Robobrain before?" He asked, surprised. "I thought you said you were in the military? They are often seen in military bases." "The fuck?" Adam said incredulously. "Yes, I was in the military but I don't remember anything like those during my deployment!" "Huh." Salvatore responded, bemused. "Must've happened after you got out." He shrugged. "Thats a fucking brain in a jar controlling a robot? How are you so casual about this?" Adam insisted. "Kid…." Salvatore turned to look Adam in the eyes. "I've been alive long enough to see things that would make your skin crawl, sights that would haunt your dreams, things so weird I can't describe them, a brain on a robot is the least weird thing I've seen this year alone." Adam stared at him for a moment and then sighed deeply bringing his anxiety level back down. "Okay, then how do we beat it?" Adam asked, calmer now. "Same as any other robot, fill it with enough holes it will go down." "What about if we aim for the brain? Will that take it down?" "No no, don't do that." Salvatore said, sticking a single finger up to stop him. "Why do you think they stuck the brain on the top in a glass jar? It's because they want you to notice it, they want you to focus fire on the easy target on top. But that brain is the most heavily armored part of the entire robot, it's a red herring. If you had enough firepower then yes, taking out the brain is the play but it's not worth trying in normal circumstances." Salvatore peaked over the window again and Adam did too. The robobrain was just patrolling the floor of the brewery, clearly, now that he was looking, turned into a makeshift barracks, but everything seemed stripped, even the bedsheets. "If you want to be tactical about it, aim for the tread links to immobilize it and then aim for the laser emitters to disable its weapon systems, after that it might as well be sitting in a junk heap it can't do much other than yell at ya." Adam nodded slowly and took in his words then he looked up at the ceiling of the brewery floor and saw exactly what he feared. Sentry turrets, 2 of them, both in the center of the room pointing opposite ways. "So we have to deal with a robobrain and 2 sentries?" Adam said mostly to himself as he slipped back down below the window line. "Looks like it." Salvatore confirmed. Adam sat there thinking for a moment and then peeked once more. After looking for a bit he found what he was looking for. In the back left corner, opposite the entrance they were at was a room which also had a big window looking onto the floor of the brewery, but Adam could see a computer on a desk, and wires connecting from the desk to the ceiling. It was not much to go on, but that was probably the central control console for the turret systems… if he could just get access to that computer… "What's on your mind kid?" Salvatore asked, sensing Adam's thoughts. "I see a computer in that room over there. If i could just get to it I could shut down those turrets, perhaps any others that might be here too…" "That's a hell of a leap of faith kid." "It's the best bet, unless you want to get into a standing fight like this." "Nope, not particularly." He grinned. "Good." Adam then reached into his bag and pulled out the EMP grenade and a pulse grenade. "Because I'm going to need you to cover me while I run." Adam grinned now too.

Chapter 83 - 83

Comments (0)