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THE TRACKER STRUGGLED through the doorway, driving the metal impaled in its body even deeper. Another bio-form, more formidable than the first it encountered, moved to intercept it.
The Tracker tore free of the doorframe, ignoring the stabbing sensation in its chest, prepared to eliminate this latest obstacle to the Quest. Its new assailant raised his weapon high, aiming with cunning intent at its neck.
The impact of the bio-form’s weapon on its internal framework was immense, driving the Tracker back a step. It registered the spray of its escaping life fluids, but ignored the distraction.
The Tracker reached for its assailant—there were many methods of termination available—but instead found itself inexplicably upended, landing with great force in the alley behind the building.
The heat around its scanning eye intensified. It observed its life fluids spreading in a dark puddle on the ground beneath it, absorbed by the porous earth.
Fear returned with a vengeance. Fear was all it had left. The Quest was within reach. The Implant . . . there. The female bio-form.
It stretched one arm toward its prey, seeking only the bearer of the Implant. It struggled to rise, fixated on its target. This unit would succeed.
A heavy, dark object obscured its view. Another bio-form had launched an attack, driving the Tracker’s head and shoulders into the ground. It tried to push itself upright, but the damage it sustained hampered its efforts, slowed its progress.
Irrelevant. The Givers were not to be denied.
Something clicked in its internal processor. The Givers were relaying new data. Acquire. Analyze. Enact.
No. Inaccurate. This was not data. This was not strategy. This was . . . something else.
A second click sounded, echoing over and over within its processors. A new sub-routine was activated. And then fear was truly all it had left. Stark, mindless, irrational, illogical, overpowering fear.
It opened its mouth, but no sound escaped. The heat surrounding its scanning eye flared to white-hot intensity, eclipsing all else.
Then there was nothing.