death of hope

Chapter 83 "Flying Windfall" (83) Ending

The 12 tallow candles in front of the cross were burning peacefully without any reaction. The fire outside was reflected into the church through the stained glass windows. Everything was so peaceful, and I felt lonely, disappointed and lonely.

Anna was also naughty when she was a child. One day, she pouted and complained to the priest,
"The Virgin Mary didn't respond to me. I made a wish to her and wanted a new doll. Until now, I am still playing with patched antique dolls. My friends are laughing at me. Is the Virgin Mary right? Do you not care about wishes?"

The childish words were innocent, the priest did not blame her for her childish nonsense, but patted her head and said patiently:
"Lovely child, the way God works is extremely mysterious, beyond the comprehension of mere mortals. If the Virgin Mary didn't help you get a new doll, it may be because you were not good enough when you were at home."

After hearing this, Anna was not naughty for half a year, and she even helped her mother with housework and shopping. Not long after, Brother Albert gave her a Snow Queen doll. Although it was found in a second-hand market, she still liked it very much.

A noise interrupted Anna's memory, through the window she could see——

Cyber ​​samurai 'Cold Steel' limped into town, apparently after her.

(He came here...that means...Roy has already...)
Anna covered her mouth, not daring to think any more.

Cyber ​​Warrior released several miniature drones and activated the thermal imaging device to search for living creatures in the town. Due to the interference of the fire, Anna who was hiding in the chapel was not found for the time being.

There was the sound of flapping wings in the sky, and the "boning insect" flew staggeringly, fell from the sky, and smashed the drone into pieces.

This mutated monster has been severely wounded by a samurai sword,

The exoskeleton was full of scars, a pair of praying mantis-like sickle blades had been chopped off by the roots, sticky liquid flowed from the wound on the torso, and the internal organs and intestines were protruding from the hole in the stomach.

The head can no longer see the original human form at all, and the remaining human obsessions in the brain still dominate the completely mutated body, and the insect-like mouthparts repeat a vague sentence:
"Stop...samurai, I will never let you...find...her..."

The cyber samurai leaned on a knife and was also seriously injured:
"You have already lost, give up."

The boning beetle no longer speaks human speech, and rubs its wings to make a cricket-like sound.

"I have to stalk you...I don't have time to entangle with you monster. I have to go...to complete the mission of the Patriarch."

The drone reported the scanning information, and Cold Steel had also noticed the peeping eyes in the church, and limped over.

The deboning insect wanted to fly up to catch up, but it fell heavily due to its injured wings. Like a clumsy caterpillar, it struggled to crawl behind the warrior,

It watched with compound eyes and saw the samurai walking faster and faster, spitting acidic mucus from his mouth, and hitting Cold Steel's legs.

The cyber warrior fell to the ground with a crash, and his mechanical legs, which had been severely damaged, could no longer stand. He issued an order to the last drone:

"Go after that woman in church and keep her shut forever."

Afterwards, Cold Steel sat up with his arms propped up, drew out a large-caliber revolver, and shot continuously at the wriggling 'Eviscer'. After the bullets ran out, he began to throw darts, and then drew out a samurai sword for melee combat.

Cyber ​​warriors and mutated monsters began a final desperate fight.

Inside the church, Anna heard the sound of glass breaking,
The drone shattered stained glass into the hallowed hall, and she stumbled toward a wooden cubicle.

When she was a child, her father told her that this is a confessional room, and that if she has done something wrong and has a psychological burden, she can come here to confide in the priest.

Anna hid in the confession room and gently closed the door. The layout inside was still the same as before.When she was a child, whenever she stole food, she would take advantage of the weekend to go to confession, which made the priest laugh.

Anna knew that she would die, and she wanted to make the last confession.

Bleeding knees on the frayed cushions, hands folded, whispering tremblingly:

"Father, are you there? Please listen to my prayer and forgive me for my mistakes."

To her shock, there was the sound of heavy breathing on the other side of the grid window, and a pair of weak and tired eyes were watching her.

"Father Mike...is that you..."

"Little Anna, why are you here?"

"It's hard to say..."

The priest appeared to be seriously injured, and his breathing became weaker and weaker.dying:
"Why didn't you come with your parents and brother? You came alone? Where's your little boyfriend Roy? I haven't seen him for a long time."

"They all..." Anna sighed, "They're gone..."

Father Mike was silent for a few seconds: "This town is dead, and I'm going too."

"The killer is outside, let's go on the road together."

"My pious child, as a shepherd, I no longer have the strength to protect the flock. When I preached, I said that you must learn to protect yourself. Even a rabbit can fight an eagle, let alone a human."

"what do you mean……"

"Turn your surrendered palms into fists to protect yourself... It's okay to kill when necessary."

This obviously runs counter to the priest's usual way of exhorting people to be good, and Anna was very shocked:
"You said that killing can't solve all problems."

"At least someone who can solve the problem that created it."

Anna glanced at the shotgun beside her, trembling all over:

"I'm sorry...I'm too weak...I'm not as brave as Miss Susan...I can't..."

"Fight, my pious boy, fight until the Archangel Michael descends into the world and washes away all the evils in the world with the Holy Sword of Fire..."

As he spoke, the priest lost his voice, fell limp, and died.

The infrared scanner onboard the drone detected the heat in the confessional, and the small-caliber coaxial machine guns began to fire wildly.

"Da da da..." There was a loud gunshot.

Anna was shot in the shoulder. She crawled down to avoid it, and was shot again in the thigh. She endured the pain and did not scream. From the hole in the confession room, she vaguely saw the drone hovering outside.

The priest's exhortation echoed in her ears, recalling the clip where her father and brother taught her how to play with guns,
Anna picked up the old double-barreled shotgun, pulled the hammer, put her fingers on the two triggers, aimed roughly, and then pulled it down.

"boom!"

Two 12-gauge hunting shells were fired at the same time, and hundreds of small steel balls flew out of the muzzle at a very high muzzle velocity, spreading into a wide barrage.

The camera, motor, rotor, and receiver of the drone were all damaged, falling and smashing with smoke.

A man crawled out of the sieved confessional, Anna, covered in blood, stood up leaning on a gun,
The two bullets in the shot were ultra-small caliber UAV airborne ammunition, and neither hit the vital point, so there was no fear of life.

She limped, limped, opened the gun chamber, and two bullet casings emitting green smoke fell to the ground, making a crisp sound.

He took out two new refills from his pocket, walked to the door like this, and pushed it open.

The scene outside was particularly tragic. The mutated monster and the cyber warrior were defeated and severely injured, but the warrior finally won.

The monster's heart was pierced by a samurai sword, and it was completely motionless. The samurai's limbs were shattered, lying next to the monster's corpse like a tattered toy robot.

Anna didn't say a word, and fired a double volley from a distance, "Boom!"

Several shotgun pellets hit Cold Steel's head, one of which happened to destroy the AI ​​main control chip, and the cyber warrior's brain recovered.

Throwing away the hot shell casings, Anna took out the bullets from her pocket, trembling, and continued to reload.

Matsushita Gennosuke turned his head and saw the murderous woman approaching,
The damaged brain had hallucinations, and he actually regarded her as his high school sweetheart. He finally remembered the name that lingered in his heart and made him dream:
"Miss Mariko... have you come to see me?"

"You're crazy, I'm not who you say you are."

Matsushita Gennosuke didn't seem to hear what she said, with a stiff smile on his semi-mechanical face:

"Miss Mariko, let's go to the park after school, okay?"

"poor guy."

The hard-hearted cyber warrior 'Cold Steel' actually started to cry, his mechanical eyeballs couldn't shed tears, but his sadness was beyond words:
"I'm sorry... my father forced me, look at me... what evil I have done! I don't want Bushido, I just want Miss Mariko..."

Anna froze for a few seconds, the muzzle of the gun was close to her head, and she still pulled the trigger.

Genosuke Matsushita's head exploded, mechanical parts and slimy brain tissue splattered everywhere.

(I'm not killing him, I'm helping this poor man out,) she comforted herself in this way.

Anna knelt down among the flesh and blood on the ground, looking at the corpse of the mutated monster beside her, she refused to believe that it was Roy.

She has lost everything, her family and lover are gone, her tears have been cried dry, the world is vast, where is her shelter?
Stretching out a bloody hand, he took out two immigration spaceship tickets from his pocket, with beautiful galaxy paintings printed on them, as well as ticket information:
York City Starport, the home planet of Terra——Alpha Centauri Starport, second-class economy class, double cabin A103.

In the blank space on the back of the ticket, there is a line of small characters written in a ballpoint pen:
"To the brightest beauty in the galaxy, my fiancée, Miss Adele de Nisson Anastasia,
Towards a new world of hope,

love you forever

— Roy HP Steinberg. "

Anna smiled,

stand up,
Tear up the two tickets and throw them out.

silently watching,

Shredded paper fell like snowflakes.

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"Flying Windfall" -full text-
(End of this chapter)