Pyrrha had discovered so many things in the last few days. Her blade sliced the air as another grim collapsed in front of her. The blade flew to her hand with a loud slap. She grabbed a tuft of fur from the top of the grim's skull.
Schlk
The first thing she discovered was unfortunately that she worked better alone.
Pyrrha wiped her blade one more time to free the gore. She grunted as the face mask came off with a loud squelch. Pyrrha looked around for a moment to see if there were more before she turned to walk back to the ruins of Beacon. The once proud school was a shadow of its former self. The grim attack started five days ago and with it Vale fell within the night.
The second thing she discovered shortly after the first night was she was the sole survivor.
Pyrrha looked up to what remained of the CCT. Tower's communication static was her only friend whenever she opened a communication channel. The sky was too thick with grim early on. Most of the evacuation ships were used to evacuate the people. The few straggler ships that were late to escape Vale were torn apart in mid air by the grim. Eventually, the huntsmen dwindled down to just her.
The huntsmen knew what it meant when the final ship crashed. They had set up their defenses in hopes of a rescue ship. If only they could outlast the waves of grim.
But the grim never stopped coming.
The screech of another grim howled at her from several buildings down. Pyrrha knew she needed to reach her sanctuary to rest. Actual sleep, not the half lidded rest she had done off and on to rest her mind. She lifted the mask from her hip and sighed before she pulled out her blade and sliced it. Soon it turned to smoke as well. She could always get another.
Pyrrha thought of leaving Vale by foot. But was there a place where she could go? How would she get out of here? The forest surrounding Vale were thick with grim. Her only hope was sending out a message.
Pyrrha ignored the whispers, You should have pulled back. Something is wrong. She should have stopped days ago. Help should have come days ago.
Someone should have come to look at Vale by now.
Schlk.
Another mask. She sighed at the unconscious action. It was habit now. She threw it away and started to move to the shadow of the colosseum that floated above the city. The flying grim had cleared out for the most part. It allowed her to freely move the sky lift to the colosseum. The gigantic platform was used to transport hundreds of people at a time to the tournament. For all the good it did to help evacuate the victims.
Pyrrha flinched as she felt a sharp pain in her eye. It really had been too long since she rested. She new it was some time before the previous night.
Pyrrha rested a steadying hand against the wall as she walked to the stadium seating. She hissed in pain and leaned against the concrete wall. It took her a moment to look past the migraine. When it passed, Pyrrha swallowed before she walked out to the seating. She just needed to get across.
The air was cleaner now, thank goodness. She did not have to smell anything unnatural. Pyrrha exhaled as she locked her gaze on the opposite door at the base of the stadium. It was the entrance where the competitors walked through before the attack. She just needed to get inside and she can finally go to sleep.
The clack of Pyrrha's boots rung in her ears as she walked down the stairs. Not even a week ago, this place roared with cheers. The silence rung in her ears louder than the cheers ever could. One after another with her eyes locked either to the steps below or the door beyond. She bit her lip as her own curiosity got the better of her and she glanced at the chair she passed. It was an adult, a person only identifiable by the remaining arm and legs sat in days old decay. The head missing and its chest ripped open.
Pyrrha exhaled as she instantly looked to the seat next to it. The only thing that laid there was a childs jacket.
"I'm sorry." Pyrrha sniffed slightly and kept walking. She didn't want to get trapped in here. Trapped looking at those who didn't make it out of the stadium.
Pyrrha quickly found a cot in the infirmary to sleep. She made sure the doors were barricaded and covered before she pulled herself into a ball and wrapped her blanks over her body in the dark room. It was cold this high in the air at night and she felt her body shiver.
Just as Pyrrha drifted off, she realized why she didn't sleep last night. The dreams… She tried to resist the drowsiness that overcame her but it was already too late.
-Wasn't an accident…
Faintly, she could even hear Ruby say, "Leave her alone!"
Pyrrha inhaled sharply and looked around. Sunlight filtered through a hall window. Pyrrha sighed and rubbed her eyes. She hated that dream. She hated thinking about that day that started it all. That woman's voice. It meant everything that happened was planned… Everything I did was just part of someone else's plan.
Pyrrha looked at the hall doors that led to the way out. She felt the sudden exhaustion again. Through the colosseum. Pyrrha thought with a heartache filled groan. She was not sure if she would ever get used to walking through that place.
Pyrrha's headache returned just before she pushed open the doors to the colosseum. Without truly meaning to, she surveyed the whole area. Black marks of blood and the remains of people scattered across the seating. Pyrrha covered her mouth for a moment before she looked at the center platform. The headache returned as she felt like she was forgetting something important.
Pyrrha realized too late that she had walked up onto the platform. Weapons scattered about with cords of thin wire. Several swords laid strewn about. Pyrrha pulled out her blade and looked around. The floor was different. Something was moved since she saw it last.
"Hello!" Pyrrha called to the air. There was no reply. Pyrrha looked around and tried to remember. What was different?
The weapons, the wires. Pyrrha turned around. In the corner of her eye she thought, The body.. Pyrrha stared at what should have been the girl turned robot. She was missing. Pyrrha tried to remember her name. If she was around, or if someone tried to find the robot girl… What was her name?
Pyrrha started to run out the colosseum stairs and into the lobby. What was her name? Pyrrha jumped out of the doorway and ran towards the docks. Several minutes passed where Pyrrha scoured the docks for any sign of life or movement. Had someone come by while she was on the ground?
Pyrrha sighed and rubbed her head. Being out here by herself was getting to her. "Time to get some food." She sighed at her own voice. She had not truly said any words in the last few days. She had to remind herself to actually speak out loud. It helped her stay focused.
-o-
Schlk
Another mask broke free of a grim. Pyrrha dusted off the mask and sighed aloud. "Just another for the pile." She threaded a cord through one of its eye sockets and let it rest with the others on her hip.
The streets were finally beginning to be cleared of grim. With the panic of emotions of the attack gone, they did not have anything else to feed on. "Maybe that means I can finally spend some time trying to send out a signal." She added hopefully.
Pyrrha looked at the sky. It was nearly midday when she made it to the lift. She paused long enough to remember she still had the masks. She unlooped the string and cut through them before she turned on the lift. It would have been a bad idea to bring them up to the stadium.
In the stadium, Pyrrha sighed as she held herself in her arms and walked down the stadium stairs.
Carrion birds arrived.
Pyrrha repressed a slight sob as they ate the remains of the people around her. "It's a good sign right?" It meant the grim were clearing.
She looked away as several birds fought over a corpse nearby.
"Right?"
-o-
WARNING SAFETY BARRIERS FAILING….
"Ruby, I-"
"Me too…"
Pyrrha woke up with a gasp.
When she walked out to the stadium, the sky was overcast. It would rain today. Pyrrha sighed and walked past the birds. It was better thinking of birds rather than…
Pyrrha did not have the energy to do anything else as she mindlessly activated the lift terminal. It was colder outside with the clouds. When the clouds broke, the rain did no favors for Pyrrha. Her teeth chattered as she killed a stray grim. They had definitely started to clear. Only two masks today.
Pyrrha sighed as she activated the lift. The rain pretty much ended her day while she searched the city. Inside the the stadium steps even the birds thought the rain was too annoying to fight with and had left. "Or they were done feasting."
Pyrrha shuddered at the thought as she walked across the stadium floor. She looked at the scratch marks on the grounds where she fought just before the attack. Pyrrha gave a forlorn look. It had been a good fight. Before everything..
She shook off those thoughts. There was no point now. She scratched her head as she walked past the swords that laid on the ground.
You forgot to eat.
"Ah, you're right." Pyrrha thought and pulled the masks from her hip and sliced them with her sword. The masks burst into smoke. Pyrrha's eyes widened and she nearly cried out. The motion was practiced and automatic. The smoke circled and were absorbed by the blade.
The green and silver lit blade shuddered before it dimmed. Pyrrha stared at her sword. "What did I just?"
You ate like you normally do. Emergency field protocol suggests this is the best form of nourishment for prolonged grim encounters.
"Who are you?" Pyrrha breathed in near gasps. The sword clattered to the floor. She hugged herself as the voice boomed,
Scenario data is corrupted- End scenario for lone survivor. Reinstancing suggested outcomes on known data.
Pyrrha screamed as she stood on the stadium floor. The crowd roared as she slammed her boot against the ground and the cord ribboned around her. She looked up in time to see another Pyrrha look at her with scared green eyes.
Pyrrha saw the distorted reflection of her self in the other Pyrrha's shield. "Penny. That's my name."
The world slowed as the scared Pyrrha closed her arms around herself. The sudden influx of electromagnetic currents and path of her own weapons suggested that fatal damage was imminent. A moment later, Pyrrha recognized a wave of grim approaching the Vale border several miles away. Pyrrha watched on, as her scared clone commanded the swords to fly back at her.
Pyrrha understood what she was, what this place was. Pyrrha's body changed abruptly. The memories of the last week eased into the data collected files.
Corrupted data purged. Resume scenario testing.
Penny alerted aloud, "Submit scenario suggestions protocol for likely outcomes based on incoming source of grim invasion."
Error- unable to relay observational data to Atlas Hub.
Suggestion: Atlas Hub has been compromised.
Penny felt her own cords wrap around her body. Penny knew this was the last iteration. thirty seven scenario attempts and she still had not found a way to alert her superiors. The wires cut through the initial sensory layer and ripped through her body. Her head seemed to float in the air for a moment and her eyes focused on her 'Friend Ruby' who stood in the stadiums with a horrified cry.
No scenario found to relay observed information.
Penny's head rolled on the ground as the scenario closed. Her mind thought of her family. Of her creator and her master, then of her new friends.
All scenarios point to catastrophic failure of defensive operations.
Penny felt her eyes dim. If she could, she wanted to cry out to her friends.
Total loss of life projected for those not within three miles of emergency services. Projected grim activity will flow to nearby settlements with no focus on Vale.
Estimated loss: eighteen thousand Valian civilians.
"But you will be alright, right Ruby?"
Scenario's remain inconclusive, Lone survivor Pyrrha Nikos.
The energy core has shut down several systems, not even the constant static remained as Penny gave a despaired,
"Right?"
A/N: Just a little horror challenge me and a few other people in discord took. Horror is hard to write, I think this came off more like a twilight zone episode though, so I'll call that close enough.