This is the fastest I've written a story. Things get exciting in this chapter.
0 woke in 6's arms.
She blearily opened one optical, then another, carefully blinking them before stretching slightly. She looked around for a moment, unsure of where she was, when she finally felt 6's chest rise and fall gently against her side, and saw his arms still wrapped around her. She slowly removed them, careful not to wake him or kick the sleeping 5 at her feet, and went to the lip of the can where 2 sat.
"Ah, hello," said 2, giving her a small wave. "Come to take over?"
With a small smile, 0 pointed to her audio sensors.
"Of course," 2 murmured. He held up six fingers and 0 shook her head, then he held up five and she shook her head again. "Well, someone needs to keep watch with you," he said, laughing.
0 thought for a moment, then held up her middle three fingers. Seeing 2's confused look, she amended it to six fingers.
"That's what I thought," said 2, standing. He patted her shoulder and hobbled to the back to wake up 6.
0 stared out at the muddy ground and still falling rain, seating herself on her knees. After a moment she felt several soft vibrations in the can reminiscent of footsteps—and when she turned, 6 was there. He waved and sat next to her, cross-legged. 0 averted her gaze.
'I'm sorry,' 0 signed after a moment. She looked at 6 and saw him looking at her in confusion. 'And I know you can't understand me,' she continued, looking away again, 'but I wanted to apologize anyways. For not being able to help and just…being useless. If I could fix myself, I would, but—' She was stopped by 6's hand on her arm.
"Fix?" 6 asked, repeating the sign she'd taught him earlier. 0 nodded. "Fix you?" 0 nodded again. 6 thought for a moment, then signed, as well as he could, "You don't…need fixing." He pointed at her, then gave her a thumbs-up. "You're good."
0 smiled again, looking back at her knees. 6 stared at her for a moment, studying her, when he saw the hand on her knee twitch. More out of curiosity than anything, he took it, fitting his pen-nib fingers between her copper ones. 0 fought her desire to beam with happiness, instead settling on leaning against 6, resting her head on his shoulder. 6 stared at her for a moment more. What was this he was feeling? This desire to protect her, to keep her safe from all the evils of the world. He wanted to hold her, to kiss her like he had last night, to never let go of her hand. He'd never felt this before.
Abruptly, 6 stood, pulling 0 up with him. "Come on," he said, exiting the can. He felt his shoulder jerk and saw 0 still in the can, a look of fear on her face. She shook her head violently.
"C'mon, it's okay, now," said 6, turning back and taking her other hand as well. 0 continued shaking her head as 6 pulled her, gently, out of the can…one step…then another…and then she was in the rain.
0 looked around in shock, whipping her head around to take in everything and look for any danger that might be here in the scary outside world. Another crack of thunder rumbled the ground and 0 yelped, throwing herself into 6's arms. 6 laughed and tripped backwards, bringing himself and 0 down into the mud. 0 sputtered and leapt back up, while 6 only laughed and sat up on his elbows.
Suddenly a light-colored creature dove out of the shadows and tackled 0, sending them both spinning to the ground. 0 screamed as the creature took a knife from its back and held it against 0's neck. "Who are you?" demanded the creature. "What do you want?"
0 only flailed, signing desperately, which didn't seem to endear this creature to her. The being pressed the knife closer to her neck. "Stop!" 6 screamed. "Who are you?"
"How did you reanimate him?" the thing demanded. "He was dead! Are you a machine? Some sort of demon?"
0 finally realized signing was useless and turned her head to the side, exposing her neck and hoping it wouldn't hurt too badly.
"Seven?"
The creature's killing blow was stayed for a moment by the word. She stood, planting the blade in the ground a centimeter from 0's neck and turned her head slightly to see 5 and 2 standing at the lip of the can, looking at her in disbelief. The sight of them caused her to roar and grab her knife, violently plunging it into 0's chest. However, it didn't get very far before 6 attacked her, knocking her helmet off and sending her to the ground.
"Why?" screamed 6, confused and upset that 7 would hurt his friend. "Seven! Why?" 7 raised her spear, but 6 snatched it and threw it aside, gripping her wrists and slamming them on the ground. "Why did you hurt Zero?"
"Five, get Zero," 2 instructed quickly. 5 nodded and went to bring 0 inside. "Six! Six, get off her!"
"No!"
"Six, get off!" 7 sputtered.
"You hurt Zero!"
"Truce! Truce!" 2 cried, coming between 6 and 7 and prying them apart. "Both of you stop!"
6 forced himself off 7 and stood, going to 7's spear and snapping it in half over his knee. "Six!" 7 gasped as she stood. "Why did you do that?"
"You. Hurt. Zero," said 6 dangerously before realizing what he'd said. "Zero," he repeated, spinning around and looking for her. "Zero!"
"Five has her, inside," 2 said gently, poking 6 towards the can. 6 took off inside. 2 watched him for a moment, then turned to 7, smiling slightly. "It's good to see you, my dear."
"I-I didn't—" 7 stammered, collecting the pieces of her spear. "Who is that? How are you alive?"
"Why did you attack her?" 2 asked calmly.
"It looked like she was attacking Six," said 7, still sounding confused. "She pushed him down. She was standing over him—I thought she'd hurt him. And then I thought, you all are—were—dead: maybe she reanimated you. Like the seamstress."
"Ah," said 2, understanding coming to his face. "I can see why you'd think that."
"How are you alive?" 7 repeated firmly. "I saw you die. I saw your soul…."
"Really?" said 2, sounding captivated. "Fascinating. What happened?"
"Nine and the twins and I made a circle with your names on posts," said 7, remembering. "Then Nine pressed the combination on the source and it opened. You all came out…but you weren't you, you were translucent, and green. And you said goodbye—and then you went into the sky. And it started to rain." She stared at 2. "We had a funeral for you. We mourned for all of you. How are you alive?"
"It is my theory," said 2, touching 7's shoulder and leading her towards the can, "that those were in fact the essences of our souls that had been taken, but not destroyed. Trapped, as it were. When you released us, we went into the clouds and, in the form of rain, found our old bodies. I'm afraid I can't remember it, though."
"So who's she?" asked 7, stopping just outside the can. She wasn't quite ready to see 6 again.
"Her name is Zero," said 2. "She's the first. The oldest of us all."
"Why hasn't she spoken to us before?" 7 demanded, crossing her arms. "Why hasn't she spoken at all?"
"She's deaf," said 2 gently. "She doesn't know how to speak. She's never heard anyone else speak."
He watched as 7's face fell. "I beat up a deaf girl," 7 said, sounding horrified with herself.
"She's followed us since the beginning," 2 continued. "The only ones who knew she existed were One and Six. One thought she was useless, and Six isn't…all there."
"I beat up a deaf girl," 7 repeated, sitting just outside the can.
"She doesn't think she's worth much, either," sighed 2. "The unfortunate fact is that when you're exposed to such negativity at such a young age, you become negative, yourself."
"I beat up a deaf girl," 7 whispered.
"Two, can you help me?" 5 yelled from inside the can. 2 rubbed 7's shoulder encouragingly and went into the can. After a moment, 6 emerged, clutching his hands together. He caught sight of 7 and glared at her, then went off into the destruction.
7 rose gracefully from the ground and followed him. "What're you looking for?" she asked.
"Needle and thread," 6 grumbled, lifting a sheet of metal to look beneath it. "Don't need help."
"I want to help," said 7, climbing up a dilapidated car's wheel to search inside. After a moment, she poked her head back out. "I'm sorry, Six."
6 only glared harder. "You hurt Zero," he spat, continuing to look.
"I thought she was hurting you," 7 said, going back into the car. "I didn't know she was a friend."
6 only glared at her some more, going off to search elsewhere. 7 sighed, then caught sight of a purse on the floor of the car. She dove in, pushing aside gum, a pair of earrings, and finally—aha!—a sewing kit. "Six!" she yelled. "Six, I found some!"
"Help!" she heard 6 yell. At his cry, she grabbed two needles and ran towards his voice.
He wasn't being attacked by anything much, just a spiderbot. 7 made quick work of it, taking its eyes out with her needles before flipping it over and jamming one in a crack in its stomach. Not difficult, not frightening, but she couldn't help but wonder: how many more of them were out there?
She retrieved her needles and held her hand out to 6. 6 stared at it mistrustfully, but took it and got up. "Thank you," he grumbled.
"I'm sorry," 7 repeated, squeezing 6's hand before letting it go.
"Why did you hurt Zero?" 6 asked, more upset than angry.
"I thought she was hurting you," 7 tried to explain, leading him over to the car and climbing into it.
"You protect the twins," 6 tried to explain. "I protect Zero. You hurt her!"
"I don't understand, Six," said 7, handing a spool of white thread and a tiny orange pair of scissors down to him. As an afterthought, she grabbed the thimble and the small bag of buttons, too.
"You left," 6 said accusingly. "It was me…and One…and Eight…and no Zero and you left!"
"Five and Two were there, too," 7 said, jumping down.
"Always busy, busy," 6 said, pushing the scissors up his arm so they rested on his shoulder with his arm through one of the thumbholes. "One and Eight…and me."
"I'm sorry," 7 repeated, more guilt piling on. So this is why he was so mad. Besides almost killing his friend, she'd abandoned him because she hadn't thought to take him with her.
"It's not okay," he murmured. 6 settled the spool of thread under his arm and began walking back to the can.