Title: 9 - Wanderers

Rating: K

Genre: Adventure/Drama

Summary: A one shot, 9 POV, the remainders of the stitch punk group are wanderers in the wastelands. They wander to find hope of restoring peace, they wander to learn new things, they wander to find themselves.

Disclaimer: All characters are copyright to Shane Acker, I'm just borrowing them.

Author's Note: This is just a short story, I thought I just write this out of boredom. It's mostly 9 reflecting on the events of the movie and what might the future hold for his friends.

We had been wandering for days across what remained of civilization, we were in what was once probably farm land. There were fields that had been charred by the fires of war, the remaining trees were black and withered, the only buildings had collapsed in from possible projectiles.

Along the quiet, lonely road, we crossed a few vehicles that were abandoned or broken down on their way out of town. There was one vehicle that had a body in the driver's seat, but feeling the strange chill, we kept going to avoid closer encounter.

There was something that caught the attention of 3 and 4, the curious twins of what remained of our wandering group. They were flashing their eyes as they examined the bones of an unfortunate creature that perished in the times of war.

7, a proud warrior and defender of the wanderers, decided to take a look for herself. I quickly followed her and had a look for myself.

Looking at the bones, it had to be a small animal, near the same size as me. I could make out the skull, the ribs, tail and feet. Glancing at 7, I quickly had an idea, I decided to pick up the animal skull. Rotating the skull in my hands and making my own examination. After I had done my examination of the skull, I handed it to 7, a replacement for the one she dropped during the battle against the BRAIN. She looked at it for a moment and tried it on. I admit that it wasn't as great as the skullmet she had before, but it was still suitable for her position as warrior.

We kept on wandering after finding 7 a new skullmet, keeping an eye out for other creations of the Machine that were still active. I kept the Talisman tucked away under my zipper, keeping the sequence in mind for deactivating the active machines.

I began to wander if those we lost would've survived if I had listened to 6's claims a lot sooner, about the Talisman and where to find the right answers to defeat the machine. Of course, I knew that we would not have lost most of our group if I had listened to 2 when he told me not to put the Talisman in the socket of the BRAIN. That stupid act that cost the lives of those we knew had been haunting me since.

The day was waning, it would be nightfall soon. We quickly took shelter in what was probably a tool shed, which remained standing after the war. I noticed that the tools, undisturbed and organized on their shelves, could be of some use to us. Climbing up onto the shelves, I wandered what I could do with the tools, what I could make.

Below, 3 and 4 watched curiously while 7 stood at the door as a sentry. I wandered if there was anything out there to fear, but I tried not to worry.

Finding a battery, a small light bulb, and a metal rod, I quickly assembled a new light staff. A perfect replacement for the one that I used to distract the Seamstress.

The twins did their own wandering in the tool shed, looking for useful items among the shelves. They soon discovered a lantern that was as tall as they were. As soon as they catalogued it, they lit it up, adding light and warmth to the dark shed.

We sat in a square formation on the floor, none of us spoke to each other. Perhaps each of us was wandering over where to go next and what to do next.

I thought about 1, 2, 5, 6, and 8, wandering how things would be like if they had also survived. What I knew about 1, he would just want us to hide away forever because he thought that the world was full of danger and evil when there could be hope just waiting for us. 2 and 5 would probably be discuss new ideas to be tried and possible solutions to the current problems. 6 would still express his thoughts and dreams of a better future through his artistic skills. Being an unintelligent lug, 8 would just keep guarding and following 1's orders.

There are plenty of possibilities I wander about, but I should mostly be wandering what would be best for us, the survivors, the wanderers.

Perhaps that is what we are, wanderers, searching through the remains of civilization to find answers, a possible future, and ourselves.

Fin.