9:
We walk the wastelands. We walk them for ages, hoping to start anew. 7, the twins and I have been searching for weeks, hoping to find signs of life or anyone else like us. After days and days and days, we've begun to lose hope of finding anybody.
It's winter. It's especially cold and seems like all hope is lost. 7 confronts me, making it very clear that she cannot take walking the wastelands aimlessly for any longer. She stops me.
"Where are we even going, 9?" she asks me. I see her eyes filled with questions.
"A better place." I respond calmly. "A place with others like us. It may take a while, but I'm sure we aren't the only ones out here. There's no way."
She just sighs as if we have no chance, and looks at me as if she's given up. We have been traveling for ages; I understand that part. But, I just don't feel we should give up. The creator wouldn't leave us alone in this world - he was a very good man. Perhaps he created more than just us, or maybe he even knew others who did what he did. I just don't believe it's possible that we're the only life left in the whole world.
"I just can't accept that we are alone. I will not believe such a thing." I say to her firmly. "We also need to find a place that's safe. I'd like to be able to live without worry about who is going to be next."
"I understand, 9..." she sighs. "But we've been looking for so long. There's nothing out here."
"You don't know that, and neither do I. We won't know unless we keep moving forward."
"You always say that." she furrows her brow, trying not to look at me like I'm unwell.
"7... what if just over the hill or just beyond our vision is what we've been looking for?" I say to her. "How would you feel if we missed it by just the tiniest bit?"
She groans, presumably saying that I make a point. She looks behind her, signaling 3 and 4 to move along with us. We walk for just a few minutes, tread up a hill, and to our surprise, looking into the distance, we see a field of lush grass, and a large, industrial building beyond that.
All four of us just fixate our eyes on it. Maybe, for once, this is the place we've truly been looking for.
7 just stares, seemingly defeated. She wears a shocked look on her face, as if the settlement in the distance is too good to be real. She looks at me, apologizes, and smiles a little.
"Can you believe it?" I say excitedly. "It looks so amazing!"
"I can't wait to have a look around." she states, agreeing with me.
"There are... there are so many possibilities now..." I utter. "W-what if we really do find others? Or what if we find humans?"
7 smiles at me, but explains that before we look for others, we must find our own place to settle. I agree, but still keep my hopes high. She lightly places her hand on my shoulder.
"We just have to find a home." she says softly. "I know you don't want us to be alone in the world. We... just have to settle in first."
I nod, and she continues.
"Once we find a home, we can spend as long as we please trying to find out."
On that note, we both smile, and begin to trek through the field. The twins follow us closely behind. The wind begins to pick up, but it is not scary anymore. It gives us reassurance, because for the first time since the battle with the machine, we have a place that we can call home.