Holy guacamole, it has been awhile everybody. First and foremost, I want to apologize for taking so long to get this out to you. It has been a crazy couple of months. Also I wanted to say thank you all so much. As of right now this story is at 22 favorites and 41 followers. That is freaking insane and I thank you all for giving this story a chance. So this chapter is a bit shorter than the last one but it helps get the ball rolling a bit more and Waylon learns a bit more about his guest. I hope you all enjoy.

Waylon's foot tapped rapidly against the floor as he leaned forward in his seat. His fingers laced together in a vice-like grip and his gaze focused at the individual chained to a support beam. The form did not move at all and if one looked close enough, they would notice that the shoulders did not rise and fall to show that they were breathing.

The woma-No. That was incorrect. The thing chained up like an animal had caused him no small amount of distress. What he had thought was another human like him, albeit female, was instead some sort of machine. But it looked so real. It had hair and skin and blood(?) and sounded like the real thing but it wasn't.

"What in the terminator, binary domain bullshit is this?" Waylon sat up in his chair and groaned, exasperated and tired all together. He ran a hand down his face as he tried to get a better idea of his situation. To be completely honest, he was feeling pretty lost at the moment. He hadn't slept more than a few hours since the night prior and instead was preparing his home and himself for when his houseguest finally woke up.

Robots and androids weren't foreign concepts to him. Alot of pop culture was centered around how robots or androids could be in society. Unfortunately, alot of those scenarios almost always ended with humanity being enslaved, going extinct, or who knows what. To have one in front of him right now, a real live android. He was both excited and terrified, mostly terrified. What if the android was hostile? What if humans were wiped out by androids? He needed to be cautious in handling this situation.

Hence, the android chained up tighter than a nuke base to a pole in the middle of the building he was currently calling home. It wasn't anything special, really. Just an empty warehouse that was more intact than most other buildings nearby. He couldn't begin to guess what it was used for since most of the machinery was to rusted and broken down to make heads or tails of anything. Hell, the place looked downright ancient sometimes. Waylon had opted to take one of the little siderooms as his place of rest since there was very little sunlight that actually reached into the room. Covering up the rest of the windows in the room and clearing up any debris made it into an actual liveable space.

Still, if she...it went berserk in here he would need to find a new home. Preferably, somewhere outside of the city away from all the excitement. But hopefully his new toys would put to rest the need to do so. Waylon hefted the rifle into his lap and gave it a once over. It was pretty plain to look at if he was honest. He expected something more futuristic or cool looking but no such luck. This rifle wouldn't look out of place in his time because of how normal it looked. The only noticable thing about it that was different was how heavy it was. The weapon was no bigger that a typical carbine but felt like he was holding an heavy machinegun.

As for how he got his hands on this weapon? After securing his 'guest', Waylon backtracked to where the battle took place and scavenged what he could off of the dead androids. Weapons, clothing that wasn't completely destroyed, ammo though the amount he actually got was nowhere near enough for the group size that was there. Must have ran through most of their ammo before he happened upon them. Still, it was better than nothing. Beggars can't be choosers, right?

And now he waited. It was only matter of time before the android woke up and he could finally get some answers. What the hell was it? Where exactly was he? What happened to the rest of humanity? The android didn't stir but Waylon didn't mind. He was patient and he had all the time in the world.

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours, hours into days. Four whole days had passed and the android hadn't moved an inch. Truthfully he didn't think he would have to wait this long and it was starting to make him tense. With the exception of going out for water and to check his traps for food Waylon hadn't done anything except watch the android. Maybe it was dead or deactivated or something.

Waylon checked his watch again. 01:43 a.m.

"This shit is getting old." He groaned tiredly. His eyes were getting heavier by the second any he knew he'd be asleep before he knew it. Cradling his rifle, Waylon allowed himself to lie down and try to get comfortable. "Please don't murder me in my sleep."

The Next Morning

When he first woke up in this madhouse, Waylon gave up on the idea of waking up to a pretty girl staring down at him smiling. Given that there were no girls around it would be pretty difficult for something like that to happen now. Quite frankly, if it were to happen now it would be likely he would be torn between jumping for joy and pissing his pants in fear. Well, lucky for him, he got to experience such a scenario now. The only downside being that the girl currently staring down at him wasn't a real girl and the expression on its face was murderous.

The grogginess he felt was sweeped away immediately as the android yanked him up from the ground and hoisted into the air with one hand. In retrospect, thinking that a couple of chains could hold and android was pretty stupid and Waylon could only choke a out a sigh at his stupidity.

"Why did you have me chained up?" The android snarled. Earlier he had hypothesized that the android may be stronger than him atleast but the fact that he, a grown adult male, was lifted from laying down to above the android's head with one hand was more than a little terrifying. If the warm and wet feeling going down his leg was any indication, his body was in agreement on just how terrifying a situation this was.

Waylon struggled in the angry android's grip trying to pry the hand open but only served to make it angrier and snarl. "You're not human. Wasn't sure if you'll kill me when you woke up."

The android looked at him incredulously and her grip slackened a bit making it easier to breath. "No shit I'm not human, you idiot. There are no humans left on earth. Haven't been for thousands of years."

The words hit Waylon like a freighter. His hands dropped to his sides and he stopped struggling against the android. "Humanity...is gone?"

Truthfully, he had feeling that was the case but he had hoped that maybe, just maybe, there were some hiding out somewhere in a bunker or something. But hearing it from someone else, someone that has been living her a lot longer than he has. Waylon could feel himself being lowered to his feet and the hand around his through release him but he still collapsed to his knees.

"H-Hey? Are you okay?" The android asked. It actually sounded concerned.

"How long?" His voice was low and meek.

"Uh, um, I think it's been around 10,000 years or-Holy Shit!"

He couldn't help it but the news was too much. So much that it literally made him throw up. His 'companion' looked equal parts horrified and disgusted which wasn't all that surprising since it probably never seen anything like that before. Wiping his mouth, Waylon let out a mirthless chuckle. "10,000 years. Jesus." He didn't know what he was feeling. Sadness? Hopelessness? Numb? He was quite literally the last human on Earth if the android was telling the truth. What happens now though? Does keep living on his own and move away from this place. Does he risk telling this android the truth about himself. Waylon looked at the rifle nearby. Does he...?

The android sidestepped the mess he left and kneeled down next to him. "How do you not know what happened?"

Waylon shook his head, brought out of his little internal meltdown. "I..." Should he risk telling it that he's human? The android looked almost exactly like a human excluding the inside. Why would it make itself look like that if it wasn't made by humans. Or maybe it was purposely made that way to trick humans back when they were still around. Damn paranoia. "I...I only woke up recently. I must have been deactivated all this time."

It was awful lie and Waylon wouldn't be surprised if it called him out on it. "What's the last thing you remember?" It asked.

Waylon shrugged. "Well the sun wasn't always out, for starters. There weren't any of those ugly-ass robots roaming around either. It was..." Thinking about what used to be actually brought a tear to his eyes. His family and friends, all gone now. Things like sports, movies, and flavorful food, gone. "It was home. People everywhere doing their thing."

"I'm sorry." A hand rested on his shoulder. Waylon lazily looked towards it and then it's owner. It's 'skin' was light brown just like his. Still looked youthful like it was about his age, if not a few years older. Curly, shoulder length hair that looked extremely lifelike. The only flaw was it's eyes. They didn't look completely fake but it was something he couldn't quite put his finger on. A little to glossy, the color a little too faded. If he didn't know that it was human, he would have found it very attractive. Even the hand looked and felt like the real thing.

Waylon nodded. "I'm sorry for chaining you up like that." The hand left his shoulder and helped him to his feet.

"Well, you did save my life so I guess I can let it slide." The android...No, she said with a smile and a wink. She held out her hand before him. "Let's try this again: I'm Praia."

Waylon looked at the hand for a moment but accepted it gingerly. He was both unnerved and amazed that it felt just like an actual human hand. "Waylon."

An awkward silence passed between the two as neither knew what to say. Mainly because he was trying to figure out how to deal with his current situation and Praia gazing around at his hovel.

"So, i guess you live here then?" She asked, looking around the place.

"It ain't pretty but it does it's job." He shrugged. He noticed her staring at something on the floor. Following her gaze he saw that it was the ririfle he salvaged. Waylon could feel himself tensing up, ready to defend from an attack but forced himself to calm down. "I'm sorry about your friends. When I went back they were all..." His voice trailed off.

"It's fine, We all knew the risks when we went out." Her tone of voice made it clear it was the opposite of fine. "I just..." He was amazed at how her voice cracked but immediately chastised himself for looking at things clinically. Still the fact that she was displaying a wide range of emotions was incredible.

He didn't really know how to comfort an android. Was it the same as comforting another human? Did she want to be left alone. "Fuck it." He muttered to himself.

Carefully and slowly, he reached over to her and pulled her into a somewhat awkward hug. Apparently, that was the right thing to do as Praia wrapped her arms him and began balling her eyes out into his chest. Waylon felt a pull at his heart and frowned. This android just lost all of her friends, almost dies, and wakes up to find herself chained by some yahoo who saved her. And she was actually destroyed by this. A machine was in his arms crying and he wasn't sure what was right, wrong, true, or false anymore. Slowly raising his hand he, began massaging her scalp and running his other hand up and down her back.

"It's okay, just let it all out." He wasn't sure how long the stood there holding each other like that but it was worth it if it helped Praia.

"I'm sorry. I'm okay now." Praia spoke between sniffles. "Thank you." She raised her head from his chest to look at him and Waylon could still see some tears breaking through. He was the one to break off the hug but kept his hands on her shoulders.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Praia. I can't even imagine how you must be feeling."

Praia let out a humorless laugh. "You're kidding, right? You're the one who woke up to find 10,000 years passed you by."

Waylon frowned. "I'll manage. Somehow."

Praia frowned at him disapprovingly but said nothing. "Hey, listen. You don't have to stay here by yourself." Waylon raised an eyebrow at her. "There is a whole community of more like us. It's a few days travel from here."

Waylon let go of Praia and took a couple of steps back. "That's, ummm, real nice of you."

Praia shook her head. "You saved me. The least I can do is offer you place where you'll be safer."

"I really appreciate that, Praia. I do but I'm not sure if that's best." A safe place would be amazing honestly. But he still didn't know enough about these androids to make a educated decision on telling he human. "My, uh, I have different needs than you all I'm. What with me being a way earlier model than you all."

"Waylon, please." Praia grabbed on to his arm and stared at him, determination fixed in to her face. "The machines have been making a push into this area for months and will soon take it over. Just..." She released his arm and sighed. "...Just come take a look at the place and if you don't like it we'll find somewhere else for you."

Waylon rested his hands on his hips and paced around as he considered the pros and cons.

"Please."

Waylon pinched his nose and sighed. "God damn it. Alright, fine. I'll come check this settlement you have."

Air rushed from his lungs as Praia wrapped him into a bone crushing hug. "Thank you, Waylon. You won't regret this."

"I really hope so.

We should be getting to the resistance camp next chapter as well some other surprises. Tell me what you think will happen or what you like about the story so far. Toodles.