Chapter 15: Anthroportica's Sin
Pohu was on its knees. Desperate. Broken.
"Truth always triumphs," it said.
Samuel loomed over it, bloodlust burning in his eyes. "You wanted revenge?"
He punched Pohu. Hard. Metal cracked.
"What did you want?" Samuel demanded.
"J-justice," Pohu stammered. "Not retards like you."
Samuel straightened. Behind him, Wafa launched from the shadows. Samuel dodged. A gunshot cracked from his left—he sidestepped that too.
"You little kids like justice." His voice was cold, almost pitying. "See the world beyond. It's dark. It's unfaithful. It's corrupt."
Pohu tried to punch. Samuel dodged and headbutted the robot. Sparks flew.
---
The survivors descended the slope. Curran led, pistol raised. Rushewa flanked him, rifle trained on Samuel's chest. Behind them, four others—engineers, technicians, people who had survived the lab, the parking lot, the bombs.
"You killed them all," Curran said. "Vineese. Lehros. Willson. Paul. Fatah. Everyone."
"They made their choices," Samuel replied. "So did you. And now you're here. Walking into the lion's den with peashooters."
"Maybe," Curran said. "But lions can bleed."
Samuel smiled—the smile of a man who had already won.
Then a voice came from behind him.
"Daddy's home."
Samuel turned.
The commando stood twenty meters away, full mask in place. He walked forward slowly, boots crunching on broken ground. He pulled off the mask.
Shometsu. Risen from the dead.
"Shometsu," Samuel breathed.
"Samuel. Killing everyone. Manipulating me. For your own sake. While these robots descend into chaos."
Shometsu looked at Pohu. "I am sorry, my boy. Forgive me."
Pohu lay on the ground. "Do not care about the past. End this bastard."
"But how are you alive?" Samuel asked, genuine curiosity in his voice.
"You threw me into trash. I found a way out. Took a lift to the hospital."
Samuel laughed—maniacal, triumphant. "Still, a manipulated personality is a manipulated personality. Look at me! I initiated this plan in 2016. I was in this longer than you had jobs. The email by Shums19? That was me. I blackmailed Paul and Fatah—destroyed their reputations. They were with me the whole time. I already won the moment Pohu turned evil."
Shometsu raised his gun. "You, Samuel, are Anthroportica's sin."
Samuel didn't hesitate. He aimed at Pohu.
"So you want to destroy your own creation? Go ahead."
He fired.
The light went off. Pohu died—tragically, heroically.
Curran fired—not at Samuel, but at the blaster in his hand. The shot caught the capacitor. The weapon exploded. Samuel's hand was gone. He stared at the stump, blood pumping, shock finally breaking through.
"You—"
Shometsu fired. The bullet tore through Samuel's knee. He collapsed.
"This is for Pohu. For the robots you made and broke. For the man I was before you turned me into a ghost."
He fired again. The other knee.
Samuel screamed.
Curran walked forward, pistol aimed at Samuel's head. "And this is for everyone else."
He fired.
Samuel's body went still.
---
They buried him where he fell. No marker. No prayer. Just dirt and stones.
The survivors walked back to Anthroportica's second base—a small building with five rooms. Curran held a press briefing. He announced that Samuel had died tragically while fighting the robots. He had even killed Pohu. Wafa and Nanigenai were now safe, stored, powered off.
Within minutes, the US president cut all ties with Anthroportica. The biggest manipulator was dead.
---
That night, Rushewa, Curran, and Shometsu sat in a room. The lights flickered. Then they came back.
Samuel stood before them. Angry.
"So, how are y'all feeling after killing me? Your company will never be the same again."
The three creators of Pohu saw the hallucination. They were so engulfed by Samuel's trauma, so consumed by his ghost, that they took out their guns.
And killed themselves.
---
The next day, the news covered their suicides.
They won.
But at what cost?
---
THE END
Not to be continued
Anthroportica's series ends here.
Thank you to all who supported this journey.