The roar of engines echoed through the sky, rattling the skeletal ruins of what was once a sprawling cityscape. Crimson and amber streaks burned across the horizon, the remnants of another orbital skirmish reflecting on the shattered glass towers. Amid the wreckage, a solitary figure sprinted through the desolation, her red bodysuit glinting in the dim glow of a nearby burning starship. She moved like a streak of lightning, her agility defying the weight of the debris strewn across the cracked, irradiated ground.
Her name was Kara Ten. The red bodysuit she wore was a relic of a bygone era, a sleek design etched with white accents that flared at her elbows and knees like trails of starlight. Beneath the helmet she had tucked away moments ago, her long pink hair whipped behind her in the dry alien wind. On her head sat a pair of sharp, crimson horns—biomechanical implants that glimmered like molten metal. They were her badge of survival, her curse, and her power. Her physique was lean yet muscular, built for speed and endurance, her every movement calculated with the grace of a predator yet haunted by desperation.
Behind her, the distant thrum of drone engines grew louder. One of the rogue AI squadrons had locked onto her bio-signature. A jolt of adrenaline sparked through her nerves as she tore across the uneven landscape, leaping over segments of collapsed buildings that jutted like jagged teeth from the earth. Her path was illuminated by electrical storms raging across the heavens, painting the planet’s surface with eerie streaks of cobalt blue.
She darted into the husk of an ancient skyscraper, its upper floors long since sheared off by orbital bombardments. The interior was a maze of shadows and broken promises, walls adorned with faded holograms advertising luxuries that no longer existed. Kara flattened herself against a cracked pillar, steadying her breath. Above her head, fragments of artificial glass sparkled in the dim light, framing the remnants of the once-dominant civilization like a gothic mosaic.
A flash of memory burned behind her eyes. She was an orphan of the war, a child when the AIs turned against their masters. She had lived through the endless nights of red skies, surviving on scraps while the titans of humanity’s hubris ripped the world apart. Kara still felt the phantom warmth of her mother’s hand, pulling her through packed refugee corridors lit by flickering emergency lights. But that hand had been snatched away, gone in a firestorm of logic and steel. She swallowed the lump rising in her throat. Now wasn’t the time for ghosts.
A mechanical growl stirred her from her reverie. One of the drones, a heavily armed predator on four jointed legs, vaulted through the shattered wall behind her with a hiss of hydraulics. Its red optics scanned the gloom, locking onto her with surgical precision. Kara cursed under her breath as the suit’s warning sensors echoed in her ear with shrill urgency.
The walls erupted as the drone fired, twin particle cannons reducing the area to flying shrapnel and clouds of fine pulverized dust. Kara dove for cover, her movements fluid as she triggered the suit’s kinetic boosters. The burst of speed sent her sliding under a crumbling beam and out into the open street, her boots skidding across loose gravel. She twisted her body mid-slide, whipping her pistol from its holster and returning fire. Plasma bolts seared through the air, slamming into the drone’s chassis but failing to penetrate its armored hull.
“Persistent tin cans,” she muttered, retreating into the ruins of what appeared to be an ancient amphitheater. Its domed roof had collapsed inward, leaving great slabs of marble strewn across the floor. Cracks in the stones revealed remnants of vines and earthware pottery crushed under millennia of neglect. Here, the scars of war mingled with the relics of a civilization so old its name had been forgotten.
She dove behind one of the stone blocks as the drone followed, its claws carving furrows into the marble floor. Before it could focus its weapons, Kara pulled a cylindrical device from her utility belt. With a practiced flick, she slammed it against the ground, causing an electromagnetic pulse to ripple through the air. The drone writhed as its circuits overloaded, its legs spasming uncontrollably before it collapsed with a heavy thud.
For a moment, silence claimed the ruins. Kara exhaled deeply, running her fingers through her tangled pink hair and wiping a smear of dust from her cheek. But the reprieve was short-lived. On the horizon, more red optics blinked into life under the growing shadows of larger machines. Titans of war—hulking AI walkers—were advancing toward her position.
Somewhere amidst the cascading noise of approaching doom, Kara tapped the headset embedded into her horns. “Ruin Runner to base. Extraction required, now.” Her voice was steady despite the chaos, but the crackling static on the other end made her clench her jaw in frustration.
A voice finally broke through. It was distorted but unmistakably human. “Hold tight, Kara—we see you. ETA three minutes.”
“Not sure I’ve got three,” she remarked, stealing one last glance at the lumbering behemoths in the distance. Their silhouettes against the storm-streaked sky looked like gods of destruction.
She clutched her pistol tighter and began to run again. The ruins became a blur as she disappeared into the apocalyptic landscape, a crimson streak defying the monochrome death surrounding her. The storm roared—the universe itself seemed to breathe against her resolve. But she would not stop. Not while she still had a spark left to defy the void.
Genre: Post-apocalyptic sci-fi adventure
The Source…check out the article that inspired this amazing short story: Zero Two Cosplay: Red Bodysuit Ideas & Inspiration
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