Justice by R.T. Adams (reading list .TXT) 📖

nature since I was young. We’ve needed to be social with humans in order to persist,” he said.

“What do you mean by that?” I said.

“I was the bodyguard of the prince, a high watchman,” he said, “That’s why I was so reluctant to accept her into this group.” He looked over to Alicia, then back to me.

“Was the prince,” I stopped.

“Yes, he was with me while raiding one of the bases after the kingdom fell to Justice,” he looked down, “I failed my objective, but I will get my revenge.”

“I see,” I said.

“Do keep in mind that I will kill you once our journey is over,” he turned to Alicia.

“Do as you please,” she said, “But as long as he demands I remain alive, I will not die.” She must be referring to me. I sighed and took a drink of my bottled water, then got in my car and started it, Alicia in the back and Randolph in the front. Quickly, the car made its way down the road, but suddenly, two Justice vehicles pulled out in front of us, placing us at a halt. Several soldiers quickly emerged from the vehicles. There were many more than I thought they’d send. However, knowing we have one of their generals, what’s to be expected.

I got out first, then Randolph and Alicia. I turned to Alicia who didn’t have a weapon. Randolph pulled out a smaller blade and handed it to her. I nodded and turned back to the soldiers, who began running towards us. Randolph, with his large blade, bashed through the soldiers, likely breaking many of their bones at a time. Alicia, with her speed, dodged easily and cut through their outfits, quickly eliminating them. I, on the other hand, simply sliced through their blades, then their body. We were flying through the enemies without an issue. However, suddenly, a man came out from behind the vehicles. He was different from the others. He didn’t wear one of their outfits. Instead, he wore a black, long coat which was highly decorated and gray pants. The undershirt was decorated with some intricate designs which had repeated. His eyes were narrow and seemingly neutral with a small smile on his face. All but five of the soldiers remained standing, surprisingly alive from our barrage.

“Alicia,” he said calmly and casually, “Why did you defect?” It was a simple question, and with it came a simple answer.

“This man defeated me in battle,” she said.

“For such a silly reason as that?” he said, “Justice, alone, would be much more than enough to defeat him. Hardly would it even take all of Justice to crush him. All they need is me.” He seemed cocky and arrogant, exactly the kind of person I disliked. I lifted my sword, ready to attack.

“Stop using your mouth and start using your weapon,” I said.

“My weapon?” he said, pausing for only a moment, then laughing.

“The hell’s so funny?” Randolph said.

“A weapon?” he repeated, “I need no weapon for an opposition such as yourself.” Suddenly, in seemingly speed faster than light, he appeared next to me, in front of Randolph. He had hardly any time to react. Suddenly, Randolph was sent flying, his weapon, too. His weapon planted in the ground behind him, while he lay on the ground in pain.

“What?” I turned, but he’d been gone again.

“You are much too slow,” he said. I turned again to see him in the location he was prior to attacking Randolph. Defeating the muscle was rather smart, as no one else here could beat his speed, not even Alicia.

“Be careful, he’s another general,” she said. If this is how the generals are, then I wonder how the high commander and emperor are like. I gripped my sword tighter, knowing that we were likely to lose, but I kept hope in my mind, even if the odds were strongly against us. I ran forward and swung my blade at him, but it were as though he read my moves and easily dodged it. Even to my surprise, Alicia suddenly appeared next to me and swung the blade she got horizontally, but he ducked and swept his leg underneath her, causing her to fall. She quickly stood back up, but he was already out of sword’s reach by that point. She then ran forward and stabbed forward but he dodged right, which I then quickly pulled out a small object from my pocket, pushed a small button on its side, and waited for the blade to quickly pop out. Once it came out, I threw it at him, but he dodged it by tilting his head. I felt as though I was being seen through, as though he already knew what we were going to do much ahead of the time we even thought about it. He quickly appeared at my side and struck the back of one of my knees, causing me to kneel. I stabbed my blade into the ground and looked up at him, both hands on my sword.

“It is about time I left,” he said, “I wouldn’t want to overstay my visit.” He then turned and began walking back to the cars. I quickly stood up and ran to him. To my surprise, he turned, but didn’t do anything. My blade simply penetrated through his back.

“What?” I said, stepping back and pulling my blade out of him. When I looked down, there was no blood. He fell over and, with a clank, landed on the ground. I knelt over and looked at the stab. I then tore apart his clothes and noticed a weld mark on his back. I felt his back, which felt cold and metallic. His face, however, looked realistic, not similar to a robot’s at all, not even his voice. So it was a robot we had been fighting all along?

“He was a robot all that time?” she said. We turned back to the car and Alicia got in. I went over to Randolph and tried helping him stand. He stood up, still pained enough to barely walk, but he had enough strength so that he wouldn’t collapse on me with me helping him walk. He laid down in the back seats while Alicia sat in the front. I began to drive, past the two vehicles, looking for the next city.

The road, long and winding, wasn’t exactly smooth. There were quite a few bumps, and so I made sure to go slower than usual. Looking around, I could only see a Justice base and a bunch of grass with a few scattered trees and rocks, with an entire river separating the land between us and the base. I continued to drive until a few buildings came into sight, then I found a place to park nearby. They were made of sand, and, for the most part, were still standing. It would seem that they had been attacked, or such, not too long ago. Alicia got out, then Randolph. I remained in the car for a moment, then opened my door and got out. I walked around the car over to them. For some unknown reason, these building caught my attention. I walked into one of the sand buildings and looked around. It was similar to a modern-day house, just made of sand and there were no electronics. The furniture was made of leather, wood and the likes, like a normal house. I looked around and noticed one thing missing: a bathroom. There was no bathroom inside the house. I walked out and looked around, then noticed a wood shack nearby. I walked over to it and opened the door. I looked in and saw that there had been a single pipe rising upwards, then a can on the end of it, a few holes in it aimed downwards. It was likely this was the shower. There had been a single switch on the pipe, likely to halt or start the shower. I closed the door and turned back to them. I looked around and noticed there hadn’t been anything in the place of a toilet, so I could only assume they used the ground, itself, as a toilet.

“What’re we doing here?” Randolph asked.

“It caught my attention,” I said.

“Why?” Alicia said.

“I’m not sure,” I continued to walked around, looking for anything. I turned to the building behind the car and walked over to it. It had  a wooden door, unlike the first sand building. I tried to open it, but it didn’t budge. I quickly kicked the door and it swung open, one of its hinges breaking off due to age. I stepped in and looked around. It was much darker, considering there were no windows and this building hadn’t partially collapsed. I pulled out my sword and began cutting holes into the walls, creating light to see. I looked around and found two drawers, one piled with papers, the other with nothing on it. I opened a few drawers of the one with papers, but continued to find more papers. I turned to the other one and opened the second drawer, finding a picture frame inside. I reached in and slowly lifted and turned it. The glass was dusty, so I swept my hand over it, uncovering it. Even in the place I was, it was too dark to see the people’s faces. I walked out of the building and looked at it, noticing precisely who it was. I knew exactly who they were, the four of them. One of them was a younger version of myself, sitting on the ground with a wide smile and a wooden sword without a shirt on. My mother stood behind me, my father next to her. My sister, older than myself, stood in front of my dad and to the left of me. It was surely an old memento, but I don’t ever recall being in such a poor state when I was young. Nor do I recall ever seeing this room. Now, my father and mother are dead, as well as my sister. My father and mother were murdered by Justice when they were still a minor group. My sister ended up dying in a car accident after she’d soon started driving. She ended up swerving off the road due to a group of demons which had suddenly appeared on the road during the day, which isn’t natural. I walked over to my car and placed the picture in my bag.

“What’s that?” Randolph asked.

“Nothing,” I said, “Pay no attention to it.” Considering I was in such a state during that time, as well as being completely oblivious about our condition, I felt as though I shouldn’t share it with them. I walked over and hopped into my car. Both of them got in, as well. I started the car back up and resumed driving. Once we got close enough, I could see a bridge, a long one as long as the river was wide.

Only a few other cars passed by as we continued to head towards the base. I made a turn onto the bridge, looking around only for a few seconds and not very often. The river shined a bright blue colour, shimmering like the stars at night. It isn’t every day that you see water as blue and beautiful as this. Often times, the water is a somewhat darker shade or a bit green. Soon, we reached the other end of the bridge, all covered in shrubbery and grass, with hardly any trees. There was a single wooden shack near the bridge and a set of stairs leading to the shore. We soon arrived at the base and, before we even entered it, we could hear the sound of blades colliding, as well as the sound of the alarms. It would appear that someone else has already infiltrated the base. I parked the car in front of the base and hopped out, the others following behind me. I ran through the front gate, as there was no reason