Universe: 07Movie

Raiting: K+

Word Prompt: Not close enough.

It was no secret to anyone in the rag tag group of new sparks that Broadband and Dew-bot had something against Maggie. Nor that the something they had against her was simply the fact that she was the only human member of the family.

Broadband had even been so bold as to suggest (Discreetly at first, then more openly) that now that they had located all of their fellow New sparks, the humans usefulness had passed, and they ought to consider leaving her behind.

His suggestion had been met with shock, outrage, and in the case of Baseline and Shift, even near violence. Maggie was as set adrift as any of them. Unable to return home, or even to the general comforts of human society lest the sector catch up and make her disappear. She'd chosen to forsake everything she knew to help the New sparks find each other. So even though she was made of flesh and blood instead of metal and wire, she was every bit as much a part of the family as any of them.

At one point Shift had asked her while they were alone why Broadbands bigotry never seemed to make her as furious as it did the rest of them. Maggie had sighed.

"It's not that it doesn't hurt me. It really does. But I figure… Well Broadband is the only one of us whose mind is constantly connected to the internet. He doesn't really live in the real world. The net is useful if you need to find something out fast, but it's not the best thing to base your opinion of the human race on. It can be dirty and deceptive and hateful. So frankly, I'm not surprised he has a thing against humans."

Shift had countered this argument by pointing out, "I have never seen you act dirty, deceptive or hateful. And okay I admit, I'm no fan of the sector, but just because they have done horrible things… I mean, I still don't apply their barbarism to the whole human race."

Maggie had shrugged. What could she do that she hadn't done already? Broadbands opinion was fixed. And because he considered Broadband to be the most intelligent of the group, Dew-bots opinion was too.

Yes it was no secret that Broadband and Dew-bot had something against their only human member. But no one had ever thought they would go so far…

Maggie opened her eyes again. It was a chore even to do that now. She was freezing cold and damp through to the bone. How long had it been since she'd first woken up here? It could have been minutes or hours. She was fairly sure it had not been a full day yet, though what little she could see through the roughly circular mouth of the dirt pit was dark. It must have been night by now.

She couldn't place the blame squarely on herself this time, as was her custom whenever anything went wrong.

The odd caravan had pulled off the road and found a secluded place in the woods to set up camp.

She should have been at least a little suspicious when Dew-bot volunteered to help her find and carry that nights firewood (The newsparks did not need the warmth or light that fire provided, but Maggie did, and every time they stayed outdoors for the night someone would help her collect wood).

But no, she'd been optimistic. Broadband had not been nearly as vocal about his dislike for the girl lately. Maybe he was calming down. Maybe without his constant disapproval Dew-bot would be more open to her.

It had rained recently, and all of the wood they found was wet. Dew-bot kept suggesting they check further and further from the camp. Even for Maggie, a girl bordering on the criminally naïve, his behavior was setting of warning bells. But she'd squashed the feeling, deeming it paranoia. Now was a fantastic opportunity to build some sort of bridge with him.

She tried to start conversations, made small jokes, and got his usual stony silence in return. Eventually, she stopped trying.

By the time the light began to wane, they had gone a considerable distance from the camp and found not a branch of suitable wood. The two had stopped by a fallen tree, which overhung a sink hole that had already sunk.

Maggie groaned. Bruno would offer, as he always did, to let her sleep in his cab. And although that option was preferable to freezing to death on the wet forest floor, she hated having to sleep in him. It made her feel all kinds of wrong.

Resigning herself to the inevitable, Maggie had turned to her partner to suggest heading back. But she never got the chance, because something hard and metal smacked into her head, and she had gone unconscious before she'd even hit the ground...

There was something crawling in her hair. Maggie made no move to get rid of it. She'd tried moving before. It had been a big mistake. She didn't know if her arm was broken, but frankly she was so num from the cold. Who could tell?

Obviously Dew-bot had thought her dead and left her there. And really, it was some sort of crewel flook that she wasn't. At one point, while drifting in and out of consciousness, she'd thought she'd heard Bruno calling for her. She'd tried to call back, but she was weak and her voice was hoarse. Real or hallucination, he hadn't heard.

Another thing that simultaneously lifted and dashed her spirits, was that she could hear traffic. Somewhere, just close enough to hear the echo of a cars passage, was a road. A road with people who were living that normal human life that she had given up not so long ago.

People who were blissfully unaware of the young girl who's life was slipping away, while she lay in a wet, cold, dirty hole.

Family or strangers, any one who could help. They were so very close. But not close enough…