Suspended In Time

Disclaimer: Would I be here if I owned anything? I mean honestly think about it.

Flashbacks () B for begin and E for end


The smoke was black and thick over the freshly ruined city, the nauseating fumes of burnt debris, ignited fuel lines and human flesh melding together. The smell was a typical one, an odor the people of the world had grown accustomed to over the last sixteen years; it didn't even seem to bother them and certainly not her, the young woman strolling through the carnage.

Alana had come into town on a salvaging mission, anything electronic: batteries, light bulbs, wiring, radios you name it. The puke green wagon she pulled behind her making rough clanking noises against the rubble, if the androids were here, they'd find her before she'd see them. A fact that elicited zero fear, death was an inevitability of life, now more than ever, it was just something the younger generation accepted. The person you shared a meal with this morning could be dead by the afternoon.

'Clank'

'Clank'

'Thud'

"Oh great," she let out an exasperated sigh; the wagon wheel had caught on a body. If she believed in God, she suspected that this would be the very thing that might keep her out of paradise. Not that she was going around running over dead bodies but occasionally the wheels would get caught on one and it was how she'd pull and tug the corpse every which way to free her wagon, that'd earn eternal damnation.

This scenario had unfortunately occurred enough times to where she was comfortable doing it; comfortable being not dry heaving before, during or immediately after. Successfully freeing her wagon she pushed on again, man this town was a wreck. What town was this again? Leveled city after leveled city starts looking the same and if you didn't have your bearings you'd just as soon be in Pepper City thinking you were in Parsley Town—towns nearly 30 miles apart from each other.

'Crunch'

A dusty covered rectangle uttered the sound when it yielded under the weight of Alana's right foot. Removing her leg the imprint her foot left revealed two letters-- Y T. It looked to be an old street sign; maybe this would tell her where she was. Awkwardly dusting it off with her foot the battered sign became clear enough to read the words NICKY TOWN.

Staring at the emblazoned yellow lettering, sent a chill up her spine and triggered a memory she wasn't trying to recall.

(B)

The sun shone exceptionally bright that day in Nicky Town; however it did nothing to uplift the abysmal mood of the young girl sulking in the corner of the cozy rooftop cafe known as Karen's Kitchen. She always loved coming here they had the best cinnamon sugar cookies, the hot chocolate was so creamy and the nice shop lady always piled the whipped cream extra tall just for her.

But the girl remained downcast amongst the delightful setting because she was there alone and not sharing a giant cookie with her big sister, like she should've been. That big dummy, it seemed every time they were supposed be spending time together she'd use it as an excuse to hook up somewhere with her boyfriend, which the older sibling had done yet again.

It had all started well enough, they went to see the new DreamWorks film the little girl had been dying to see and after that they ventured over to the music store, her sister's album collection in desperate need of an update. So while she happily bounded through the store selecting CD's she thought her sister might like, her sister's boyfriend Junpei stealthily entered the store and approached Alexia hands already snug around her waist pulling her into him settling his chin in the crook of her shoulder.

The delighted feminine squeal of her sister made her stomach turn, she always made that noise when he was around and it was the signal that everything else in the world was dead to her but him. Alexia had made a habit of getting wrapped up in the person she was currently dating, the younger sister would bet her entire collection of Card Captor Sakura that you could stab Alexia in the back with a rusty blade and she'd never notice a thing as long as she was with her flavor of the month.

Understandably frustrated the girl had made a scene and stormed off with all the pride a seven year old could muster. Not an unfamiliar development by any means, it was more of a well rehearsed play; she'd hide in the bathroom crying till her sister came to collect her, softly calling Lana in a motherly tone that felt odd coming from her; apologizing and wiping away dry tears. Only this time Alana hadn't run to the bathroom, she left the store entirely.

"Stupid Alexia," she whispered in a shuddering breath, probably hadn't even realized she was gone yet.

Some big sister she had.

(E)

Then she was just standing there, vacant expression amidst ground zero, the memory gone as quick as it came. Alana rubbed her fingertips soothingly against her temple dissolving the invisible ache. Strange she rarely thought about her sister anymore, or any of the rest of her family. Not her mom or her dad, her brother Alex, Alexia's twin, the memories were all too heart wrenching.

Admittedly her recollection didn't profile the most endearing aspect of her and her big sis's relationship; that was them at their worst. But oh how she would take back those days and cherish them all. There was a time when she and Alexia had gotten along famously but then the fateful day of puberty arrived and her big sis discovered the wonders of boys and what you could do with them. From that point on it was decidedly a mystery how the two of them would treat each other, one day they'd be at each others throats and the next they'd be best friends.

She scoffed at her irrelevant musings, picking up some wire coil she spotted out of the corner of her eye.

Her family was dead and she'd been living on her own for quite some time now, since she was thirteen actually. Alana's elder siblings had disappeared even before then, her father had taken the family for a hunting trip, it had been the last day she'd seen those two. Alexia and she had gotten along particularly well, she should've taken it for the omen that it was.

On that day Alana remebered the laughter, the smiles and then the crying and the vibrant red orange of the wildfire that swallowed up her brother and sister. Assuming they had escaped the blazing fire, the subsequent rescue party yielded no results. Those two were gone and she out-and-out refused to cling on to any stubborn hope, had there been even a one percent chance.

Her parents had less than that.

They had none at all.

She and her parents had survived the first year of attacks together, her mom and dad were intelligent people, and they figured right off how the cyborgs were attracted to the bigger cities. The young woman could scarcely recall happy times in the smaller town of East City; West was so much better, where all her childhood friends had lived. Who would all be dead within the week, or that was the stinging retort her parents heaved back at her, when she mercilessly whined to return. Alana, being young was ignorant of what the appearance of the androids truly meant, it seemed everyone was, except her parents.

Their next move was going to be into the mountain regions, a heavily forested area, the androids were sure to ignore completely, they owned a summer cottage that just finished being built. For whatever reasons, they sent her ahead alone, said they had loose ends to tie up and would join her soon--they never did.

Alana awoke that night in a cold sweat, tears streaming down her face and she knew, deep in her heart she knew. Hands blindly feeling for the portable radio, she was forced to forever carry with her, she clicked it on.

The androids had attacked East City that night.

Nope, everyone was dead.

She was the sole survivor of the Kashima clan.

And it seemed her meager fate to do just that--survive; till body gave out, till she was murdered like so many others or till someone saved them all from this horrible existence. But that would never happen, if anything, she thought, stripping usable parts from an auto she chanced upon, she'd be the androids next victim and she'd never see it coming.


-High above the remnants of Nicky Town-

"Hey, Eighteen! Watch this," the male android yelled thrusting out his palm preparing to unleash an energy burst.

"Who are you trying to impress? That's an easy shot," she snorted disinterestedly these were the same parlor tricks, they desperately needed to spice up their activities.

"Well how bout I do it without looking?" he tried, he couldn't enjoy anything if she was bent on sucking the fun out of it for him.

"Still lame Seventeen," she insisted shooting him down. "Hey I know," Eighteen snapped her fingers in a moment of inspiration. "Turn off your sensors, think you could still hit her then?"

"Positive," he boasted shutting off his sensors and closing his eyes, going so far as to point himself 180 degrees in the opposite direction, just to show off.

Eighteen rolled her eyes and blew a stray strand of hair out her face "Oh just shut up and put your CPU where your mouth is, I'm getting impatient."

An that was all the goading Seventeen needed as the burst of energy went hurtling down towards poor unsuspecting Alana.


Authors Note: Okay first chapter is rewritten; the others will get her eventually and if anyone is reading this for the first time please forgive subsequent unrevised chapters. Stick with me!