The year is 7043, and Itex has destroyed everything. Whole continents have sunk into the sea, the sun is blocked out by acidic clouds, and the only animals left are radioactive and starving. Max is a familyless lone wolf, fighting for survival on the outskirts of a civilization barely clinging onto life. When five kids step into her territory, she has to make the choice to save them, or let them be torn apart by purposeless Drones?
Can Lisa convince her to join them in their crusade to destroy itex, and let the earth rebuild herself?
Chapter 1:
Her lungs were on fire, eyes watering in the storm of sand, the muscles in her legs straining to keep her moving forward. Her hair whips into her face, and she brushes it away with shaking, frightened fingers.
"Nudge, come here!" She screams over the wind, slowing down with an extended to take Nudges, hauling the girl up next to her. Behind them, the looming shape of Itex, a castle of shadow in the sand, alarms blaring beyond the chain link fence. To her right Gazzy carries a limping Iggy on his back and Fang is far ahead of them, knife in hand, beaconing them forward.
When Fang burst into her room, she'd wordlessly followed him out of the cube and down silent, blinding white hallways to find the others. It wasn't long until they heard the clicking and steel tapping of the Security Automatons, and the five kids that Fang had broken out got the hell out of there, Iggy crashing through a dead bolted door like a freight train. Lisa wondered if his shoulder hurt.
Nudge whimpers on the end of Lisas arm, and she tugs the girl closer. Nudge is frail, lacking muscle mass, and this running must be a new hell for her.
"Come here!" Lissa shouts, crouching to carry the smaller girl on piggyback, alarmed at how light she is. Squinting, she can hardly see the figure of Fang against the sand. She doesn't know where they're going, but she'd rather die following Fang through a sandstorm than in the white cube, solving and endless stream of mind numbing puzzles.
Nudge whimpers, her bony fingers digging into Lisa's shoulders. They slow down as soon as the sound of alarms is lost behind the wind, and the wind stills it's hurling of sand. The group of five gravitates together, the only sound their labored breathing missing together in the silence of the desert. Lisa would marvel at the beauty of the rolling hills of dimpled sand, but the heat and pain of just moving is ruining the sights.
"Fang." Gazzy asks, and Fang turns his head to the side in acknowledgement.
"Where are we going?" He asks, and Nudge leans and shifts her weight back, and Lisa lets her down to walk. Fang's jaw tenses and Lisa doesn't miss the tightness in his face.
"Dunno." He grumbles, and Lisa reaches out to lay her hand on his arm. He looks at her, alarmed, but doesn't move to brush her hand away.
"You did your best, you couldn't have saved all of them." She says softly, and his features soften, but only slightly. He moves away and her hand falls back to her side. He doesn't respond, just looks at her with a vaguely confused expression. They keep moving until the burning hot sun sinks into the sand in the distance. How many subjects had he wanted to break out before the security automatons caught on? She couldn't bring herself to ask.
"Why is it dark now?" Gazzy asks, and Nudge fills him in on how day and night work. Fang stops walking when it starts getting too dark, he dumps his backpack on the ground and begins passing around a flask of water. They all take sips, and Fang packs it away again. They all curl up in the sand, everything quiet until Iggy's breath grows choppy and he starts to shake, hands curled to his chest. Lisa crawls over to him, and holds his head in her lap, cooing softly, until he can move enough to wrap shaking arms around her waist. She rubs his scalp and feels sick to her stomach looking at the winding burn scars on his arms. She knows he's crippled with fear.
In the desert, the night's are cool and all of them lie down on the sand and sleep until the heat of the sun wakes them up again. Nudge explains to Gazzy why the sun is hot as they shake the sand out of their clothes, and Gazzy crouches to let Iggy climb back onto his back. Fang passes out the water and Lisa takes a swallow, the warm water tasting better than anything she's ever had before. They continue walking, Nudge holding her hand and Fang looking over his shoulder to see in they're being pursued.
"They couldn't have followed us through that sandstorm." Nudge reassures him, and he only nods in response and keeps walking.
"Look!" Fang bursts to life, one finger extended, and he leaps forward in long, excited steps.
"What is it?" Gazzy asks, running after Fang with Iggy still on his back. Lissa and Nudge hurry their pace, but in the distance, a shadow of a town emerges. Lisa lets out a squeal and bounds forward with them, dragging Nudge behind her. The group runs towards the silent buildings, but as they draw closer, the signs of decay become obvious. Whole buildings have been reduced to crumbling ruins, and the closer they get, the more frightening the place looks. The closer they get, the more looming it becomes. Buildings with calcified vines clings to brick and in cracks between granite buildings.
"Hello!" Gazzy calls out, and Fangs head snaps to the side. They're on the outskirts of the abandoned city, and to the side, what looks like the figure of a man.
"Hey! Do you live here!" Gazzy calls out again, and it turns to the noise of his voice, it's wheel skidding furiously in the sand. Lisa's stomach drops, that's no man, the arms too long, the shaking jerk of an arm.
"Gazzy, that's not a man." Nudge warns, and the Automaton pulls itself over the sand with it's scissored arm. Moving towards them.
"Run!" Fang pulls Nudge in the opposite direction, pulling her up onto his back in one fluid movement. Lisa looks over her shoulder to see if Gazzy and Iggy are still following, and the Automation lets out a string of clicks and shreiks the farther they move into the ruins of the city.
Over head, eyes watch them run, evaluating. Should she let them die?