Last Hope

He lifted the big shield from the ground and holding it upright, hid behind it. Anticipating the incoming beam, he pressed his shoulder against the shield. Even before he could get a strong foothold, he was battered with the wild force of the incoming macrophotonic beam. His body jerked, and his legs skid a few feet on the dry dusty ground. But fortunately enough for him, his feet found a hold on a protruding rock and now he was leaning against the shield for the next shot.Streams of sweat rolled down his face as he waited with panting breaths. Seconds ticked… nothing happened…The eerie music of the dry wind echoed inside his ears. Gathering courage, he peeped from behind the shield at his opponent. The silver ball with eight legs and two long arms never looked like a machine built for war. At the end of the right arm was a gun that blasts macrophotonic beams, powerful enough to burn you to ashes in a matter of seconds. The other arm had a shield which it had dropped by now and was fixing the gun on the right arm.

He saw his chance! The octopod was now bare, defenseless. The only thing he had to do was to reach his laser gun. Maybe the octopod’s gun has jammed… Or seeing that the human has lost his gun, it was taking the chance and preparing for the best shot. In either case, this was his only chance. Mankind’s last hope! If he pulls it through, he would be the greatest superhero of all times

Retreating back to the safety of his shield, he glanced over his right shoulder. His eyes locked at his laser gun lying about 10 feet away. The charge indicator LEDs were all green. Ready to fire! The only chance! He took a deep breath, pushed the shield away and sprang towards his right. He had to leap a full stretch to reach his gun. Grabbing the gun, he landed heavily on his back doing a full somersault. He didn’t move. Suddenly, there was a strange and surprisingly peaceful silence. His hand locked tightly on the gun, he lay there surrounded by a cloud of dust. As the dust settled, he could see the red sky. The Red sky! The blue sky that used to cover the planet did not exist anymore. As he gazed at the sky, his vision started to blur at the edges. As if waves were rippling from the edges of his eyes.

Through the ripples, he saw a silver ball coming into his field of vision from the left. Lying there, he saw bright blue lights and blinking LEDs under the silver ball. It reminded him of the spaceships and robots in unreal science fiction and fantasy movies. As he stared into the light, he realized that it was the core of the octopod. The heart. The power center. He lifted his gun with trembling hands. As he pointed the gun at the core, he saw the muzzle of the octopod’s gun pointed at his face. He stared at the edge of the huge macrophotonic gun and pulled the trigger of his laser gun. And... Blackout!