To the City of Metal

Hana looked up at the sky. The sun was already setting, turning the many gray clouds along the horizon orange. She pursed her lips. She hadn't walked as much as she thought she had during this day. She was tempted to continue for a few hours, but those clouds in the distance looked quite menacing, and if it was another acid rain she would rather not have to deal with it with a torch in hand.

She nimbly climbed down the pile of rusted rubbish on which she had climbed to join the dirt path again. She was currently passing through what many called the Rusted Canyon, as a path had been dug up amidst high piles of rusted metal and rubbles. The walls weren't that high, but it was better to walk on the path rather than risking sinking in the dump.

Hana readjusted her heavy bag and gun over her shoulders. Her backpack was becoming lighter and lighter, as her food rations were disappearing far quicker than she had anticipated. Every day she prayed the following one could be the last on her journey.

About half a mile further down the trail, she saw in the distance a very old building, miraculously still standing. Most of its higher levels were completely crumbled, and Hana even doubted the stairs were still in one piece, but the ground floor was only missing a wall, and would do nicely to protect her against the rain. She walked inside. Even with the many holes still there she couldn't see much, now that the sun had fallen over the rusty hill. She quickly found her flint and stone attached to her belt, and the piece of broken wooden furniture on the ground. Sparks caught quickly on it, and she pocked her tools again as the fire began to burn along the piece. Now that she had light, Hana could clearly see that this place had been used as a temporary shelter before. There were marks of soot on the floor and the ceiling, a few cans of food at been left to rot a long time ago, and a single shotgun shell rested on the ground. This didn't bother the young woman much.

She decided to take a seat in the corner, her back against the broken down stairs. She pushed her plank of burning wood over the sooted spot, and quickly gathered a few other pieces on the ground to add to the pile. It wasn't much but it was mostly for visibility, and would become useless once she fell asleep. Once she was seated, she opened her bag and rummaged through it. Between food and ammo she didn't carry much. A blanket, which she took out of her bag straight away, an old sturdy umbrella, in case of an acid rain, another knife, just in case she lost hers, and a canteen of water, which was almost empty now. She would have to replenish it the next day. In the larger pocket was the essentials, those things she couldn't lose. Inside the smaller one were the memories, those things she would fight to the death over. It was a pocket she almost never opened, and tonight didn't feel like a night to do so.

She closed her bag once again after finding a old cereal bar, her last one. She looked longly into the flames as she mindlessly ate her dinner. She had walked for two months already, yet there wasn't any sign that her objective was getting any closer. Rumors were beginning to die down, and she was afraid she had taken a wrong turn somewhere. She couldn't take that chance. She had to be sure she was going the right way. Wandering aimlessly was not an option.

Her ears twitched at the sound of small pieces of rubble rolling behind her. In less than a second she was up, her weapon in hand, glaring at the top of the stairs. There, she only saw the shape of a green skeleton shining brightly in the night.

"If I were you I would come into the light, now."

Hana's weapon was the heaviest thing she carried, but she would never leave it behind for something more practical, or more of her size for that matter. It was a long and bulky automatic weapon, half the size of Hana herself. The blue paint along the weapon had faded a long time ago, but it was still as sharp and balanced as the moment it was built. Only the rocket launcher wasn't useful anymore, but because Hana had never had the chance to find the right type of rocket.

At the sight of the weapon the strange skeleton didn't recoil. It stood still for a few seconds, before a voice echoed around the building:

"I'm warning you, chica, I'm not going down without a fight."

It was the voice of a woman with a strange accent, Hana realized.

"Show yourself." she ordered.

Finally the skeleton obeyed, and walked closer to the gap in the stairs. Its green color began to fade as it came closer to the light of the fire, until there was only a woman standing in the light, one hand on her stomach and the other holding a knife, resting against the wall for support. Hana was almost tempted to lower her weapon, seeing as the woman was in no shape to fight, but she had learned to never underestimate her opponents. The woman was visibly wounded and weak, but it was her appearance that intrigued Hana. Her hair were shaved all around her head, and the long hair on top fell on one side. In the light of the fire she could only guess the skull painted, or perhaps tattooed, on the woman's face. She had strange purple eyes – probably a side effect of the radiation – and was dressed in black, with a sleeveless shirt obviously too small for her, and black pants stopping before her ankle, leaving only enough skin to show another part of the intricate glowing tattoo. She was wounded at the belly, her hand still holding the wound, and had dried blood at the corner of her mouth, suggesting she had probably taking a serious beating.

"Alright, I've shown myself. What now?" the woman asked almost jokingly.

"What do you want?"

"Well I thought we all wanted the same thing here. Survive. So I'll start with your food, your water, and probably your weapon, because that is one good piece of machinery!"

Hana's grip tightened on the gun, and her aim became more assured. But the other woman didn't seem threatened either. She, too, was detailing Hana. The girl was obviously a teenager, or just coming out of it. She was obviously Asian, too, with long dark brown hair and slanting eyes. She was smaller than her, and looked weaker, too, but she wouldn't tempt it. Her frame was mostly hidden under a very old looking jacket, too big for her in every possible way. In the relative brightness she saw how broken down it was, with holes and burn marks everywhere. The blue on the sleeves was fading, and what she assumed used to be white on the torso was now dark gray. She wore a dirty shirt underneath, and camouflage patterned pants.

"What is a little girl like you doing on her own in such a desolated place?" she asked.

Hana gritted her teeth.

"I'm not a little girl! You better leave before I prove it to you."

"Oh, I like the way this is going." the woman said while wiggling her eyebrows. This seemed to pass way above Hana's head, as she only barked:

"Leave, now."

"I would, gladly, chica, but I can't."

"That's not my problem. Unless you have twenty starving children hidden on the floor above us, you have no excuses."

"You are cruel, conejita. I like you."

Hana was all out of patience. She pointed her gun directly at the other woman's head and shouted:

"Get out, now, it's my last warning."

The woman didn't even seem to take her seriously, but she began to walk down either way.

"Are you sure? Because right now I'm at the end of my rope, chica. You could help out a friend, and I'll help you whene..."

The woman never had time to finish. She tripped over her weak legs while trying to cross the gape in the stairs and keep eye contact with Hana, and fell pitifully on the ground. Hana sighed. She didn't lower her gun either, waited to see if the woman would move again or not. When it became obvious she had passed out from the shock Hana swung the gun over her shoulder and approached the other woman. She pushed her on her back with the point of her shoe, and when the woman rolled in the dust like she was a bundle of fabric Hana knew she was out cold. She took both of her arms, and dragged her closer to her fire, right across where she had been seating before this disturbance. She left her there, but picked up her blanket to place it on the woman's unconscious form. In the process she noticed the wound the woman had been gripping. It was only a scratch, which led Hana to believe that it was mostly internal damage that had weakened her.

Hana's gaze fell on the other woman's face, peacefully sleeping, and she noticed how her skin looked like molten bronze under the fire's light. She then sat back in her corner, but kept her gun in her hands. She tightened her jacket around her. Night had completely fallen around them, and the air became quickly colder. She almost considered taking her blanket back, but she would feel terrible if someone died of hypothermia because of her selfishness. The end of the world was not a good place to be selfish.

Sombra finally woke up when thunder rang outside, to accompany the acid rain currently digging its way through the building. She jumped in surprise and sat up, than grunted in pain, and clutched her stomach. She looked around. She seemed quite confused at first, but when she noticed Hana staring at her from across the fire she seemed to quickly piece everything together.

"Ah, conejita, I knew you were not a monster."

Hana seemed lost in her thoughts for a few seconds, before she placed the gun beside her and declared:

"I won't ask you to leave until the rain is over, so you should get some sleep."

During the time the woman was sleeping Hana had it all figure it out. This woman was a gang-member, which explained the strange glowing tattoos, and the wounds as well. She had probably taken a beating when she had attacked another gang, or something of the sort.

"That is so nice of you." the woman joked.

Hana pursed her lips and let her attention fall back to her weapon. She knew now she wouldn't be able to sleep all night, as she would probably keep an eye on the woman. She didn't trust her one bit.

Sombra grunted as she sat up, and crawled back until she was leaning against one of the few remaining pillars, still close enough from the fire for Hana to see her. She placed the cover back over her legs and crossed her arms.

"So tell me, what is a girl like you doing in a place like this."

"It's none of your business." Hana replied almost venomously.

"Ah. Everything is my business, princessa, that's my job."

Hana looked at her longly, before smirking.

"Then you must be pretty bad at what you do to end up being beat up like that."

The other woman grimaced, although Hana wasn't sure whether it was her wounds hurting her or her comment wounding her.

"That was a wild card in my full-proof plan. I'm don't usually end up in such a poor condition."

"A wild card?"

"Yeah. Never trust people who wear spurs, if you want my advice."

Hana crossed her arms, her gaze falling every so often to the fire. It was already dying down and she was tempted to get up and fetch more wood, but the sound of the falling rain just a few feet away was so soothing she didn't really want to move.

"You still haven't answered me, conejita. I hope you're not here to join a gang?"

Hana snored.

"Says the obvious gang member."

Sombra shook her head.

"Yeah, no, I'm not a gang member anymore. I would say my membership expired the moment an asshole punched me."

She rubbed her right cheek as if it was still sore form the punch she'd receive a few hours ago.

"I'm just passing." was all Hana had decided to inform the former gang member about. Of course, Sombra was not known for her incurious mind.

"Passing to where? There isn't much in there. You came from the forest right? So you're going east. There's nothing east. More dead trees, another crumbled ruins. A lot of gangs, too. Other than that, there isn't much."

Hana already knew all of that, but she also knew her destination lied beyond, even further east.

"But I get you. Anywhere is better than this hellhole..." Sombra declared.

Hana's gaze looked back at the woman. Their eyes met over the flames, before they both looked away, to the downpour falling in the night outside. The acid gnawing at the metal and the concrete above their head made a strange sound as it fell, as if someone had thrown water over a fire-pit.

"Name's Sombra, by the way." she declared as her gaze fell back to the younger woman.

Hana hesitated longly, before she finally decided to reply:

"I'm Hana."

Sombra smirked:

"Happy to finally put a name on your face."

A sudden gust of wind pushed a large part of the ashes along with it. Sombra shivered, her naked arm slightly glowing in the relative darkness. The fire trembled, and Hana finally decided to pick up more wood to feed it. She stood up, and swung her gun above her shoulder. Sombra watched her do, as the young woman quickly picked up as many pieces of wood as she could find in the rubbles, before putting them in the fire-pit. They cracked suddenly as fire began to consume them.

"I've never seen a jacket like this one." Sombra commented when Hana sat down once again, her weapon beside her. "It's not from another gang, is it? Cause if it is you'll be in trouble."

Hana clutched the jacket a bit closer to her.

"It's not."

Silence fell around them once again, as thunder came crashing close, making the entire building tremble. Neither of the two women shuddered. They waited for the falling dust to settled, and silently prayed that the building would remain standing, at least until the end of the night.

"You still haven't told me where you're going?" Sombra finally declared.

"Why would I?"

"Don't know. But I own you one. If I can help you get there, I will."

Hana shook her head.

"You don't own me anything."

"Sure I do. You could have thrown me under that rain, or shoot me, but you didn't. And you're pretty well armed. I wouldn't mind having that gun by my side for a while."

Hana sighed. Of course Sombra had the mentality of a parasite. She was reluctant to confess her plan, afraid Sombra would suddenly told her the City was indeed the other way around. Worst, maybe she would tell her it was close. Somehow that thought alone scared Hana even more. The wilderness she knew by heart. She had grown up there, knew every unpredictabilities and variables there was to know about this place. But the City she knew nothing about, just rumors. Moreover, Sombra seemed like a rather clever person. Hadn't it been for the falling rubbles she could have slid her throat in an instant. After pursing her lips, she finally confessed:

"I'm going to the City of Metal."

Sombra laughed so hard it evolved into a painful caught. Hana glared angrily at her.

"The city of Metal?! And I thought you were a smart kid!"

"Shut up!"

"The City of Metal doesn't exist! It's a myth!"

"No it's not!"

Hana was visibly more than angry, but Sombra didn't even seem to care.

"If you knew how often we captured idiots trying to get to the City of Metal. 'A paradise away from everything, where society exists again'. It's all bullshit!"

Hana stood up furiously, her gun falling behind her.

"Maybe you like living on your own in the dirt like a worm, but I hate it! This place is fucked and there's nothing I wouldn't do to find a better one! I..."

Her voice broke before she could continue, and perhaps speak too much. She sat back down, cradling the gun as if it was a plush. Sombra watched her do silently, and it seemed every dot connected quickly in her brain.

"Ay, we all lost too much to this world, but somehow it's never enough."

She finally decided that it would be better to sleep now, and leave the younger girl with her thoughts. She laid back down on the cold concrete, the blanket tight around her. On the other side of the fire, Hana watched her do as she brushed away angry tears.

Morning came faster than either of them expected. Sombra slept through the rest of the night without waking up once. Hana stayed awake all night, staring at the fire until it died down. When the first rays of sun hit through the many holes of the building, Hana's gaze fell on the still sleeping Sombra. Under the rays of the sun her skin still looked like it was made of pure metal. Almost all traces of her tattoos disappeared, leaving only bronze skin underneath. After a while, her lids began to move, and the muscles of her face lost all of their peacefulness. Still, she only stirred and stayed on her back for a couple of minutes. Hana watched her do silently.

Sombra's eyes finally opened, and it was as if she hadn't been asleep for the past few hours. She instantly sat up, barely bothered by the sunlight. She stretched, and winced. The pain in her belly was better, but only by a degree on a scale of one to ten.

"Good morning conejita! I hope you slept well."

Hana only grunted in response. She was used to sleepless nights by now, but it did nothing to help her grumpiness.

"You should go before your old gang-members decide to come looking for you again."

Sombra hummed. She folded the blanket carefully, and handed it to Hana. The burning fire between them was gone, and they could finally see each other face to face again.

"Change of plan, princessa. I'm going to the City of Metal with you."

"What?!"

"Oh you heard me right. You and me, on the road together until we find this City of Metal."

Sombra stood up, dusted her outfit quickly, and walked up to Hana, only to held out a hand for the younger girl to take. Hana looked confused and quite taken aback by the other woman's declaration. Was a night of sleep enough to change someone's mind? Their gazes met and Sombra seemed to instantly understand what was preoccupying Hana.

"Listen, chica. Like I said I'm at the end of my rope, here. I got nowhere to go, my allies betrayed me and I betrayed my allies. I'm on my own. So are you. So come on, let's find this City of Metal together. Can't be worst than this hellhole."

Hana considered longly the other woman. Sure, she wasn't very trustworthy, she'd just proven it herself, but she had the feeling if she refused Sombra would follow her anyway. She sighed, and took Sombra's hand, who lifted her up on her feet.

"Alright, let's do this. But know that I still don't trust you at all."

Hana dusted herself and picked up her backpack and gun, both of which she slung over her shoulders. Sombra smirked.

"As you should."

A/N: Hi guys! This is my final story before I take my break. It's suppose to be a one-shot because I don't have the time to write and post more, but if you want me to continue I will do it gladly. Just leave a review, tell me to continue, and when I come back home I'll work on it! Have a good month of July!