Avatar: The Guardian

Chapter 3: Red Eyes

Kiri screamed in terror as she desperately tried to pull her arm from the machine's grip, and the force of its hold was beginning to numb her fingers. But, for some reason, it didn't drag her into the mud; instead, it just stared at her with its piercing red eyes, making her even more panicked. Her heart raced as though she were back in her nightmare, bringing back the sounds of screaming and the heat of the flames all around her.

"Let her go, you motherfucker!" Spider shouted as he tried to fix the blockage on his rifle, but he was too agitated to clear it properly.

With one leg already ankle-deep in the mud, Kiri attempted to plant a foothold on the ground's edge with the other to give herself more leverage to pull herself free. "Let me go!" she shouted.

"Disarm yourself."

It took Spider and Kiri half a second too long to realize that the cold, metallic voice came from the machine addressing them. Spider's eyes met its red optics as if peering into his soul, and it pulled Kiri's arm up as if threatening to harm her more if he didn't comply with its demand.

Being unprepared for the machine to speak, Kiri and Spider froze briefly in shock.

"What the-" Spider muttered in surprise before tightening his grip on his weapon, knowing well that it was useless, but he could not allow the human pilot in command of whatever-the-hell-it-is be unaware of this. "Let my friend go first, you human swine!"

"I am not human." The machine said while turning to stare at Spider, which made him hesitate a bit. "Disarm yourself."

"Spider, just do it..." Kiri groaned out in pain.

Spider gritted his teeth hard before tossing his firearm into the mudpool. "Are you happy? Now let her go!"

The machine looked at the spot where the weapon had fallen and watched it sink beneath the surface before looking back to Kiri, whom it still held hostage.

"Please- just let me go," Kiri pleaded, practically in tears from the pain. "We did what you wanted."

"Identify yourselves," the machine intoned; its even speech was unnerving to Kiri, who was unaccustomed to such a lack of empathy.

"I am not telling you anything until you let my friend go!" Spider snarled.

"My name is Kiri," Kiri whimpered as she fought her way through the discomfort. She knew she shouldn't talk, but she had little choice at that point. "And this is Spider."

"Kiri, stop-" Spider shouted with alarm.

"Explain your purpose here," the machine interrupted him before he could finish.

"We found your crash site," Spider said hurriedly, distracted by the fact that it was a machine and not a human exchanging dialogue with them. "And we followed your tracks!" He finished before realizing what a stupid thing he just said.

"Why were you pursuing me?" the machine asked, looking straight at Spider.

"We just wanted to go on a beautiful sightseeing tour," Spider said flatly.

"Sarcasm detected," the machine did not seem amused by that comment. "Were you sent to terminate me?"

"We're not here to hurt you!" Kiri grunted frustratingly, pounding her fist against the metallic hand.

"Inadequate response," the machine said, looking at Kiri. "The human brought an M69-AR."

Spider bared his teeth defiantly. "I threw it away already," he snarled in frustration.

The situation seemed futile. "Are you going to kill us?" Kiri asked angrily.

There was a long pause that felt like an eternity. The surroundings seem to fade into silence. "Threat assessment is minimal," the machine responded to Kiri.