Chapter 3
Rusty's dune buggy rumbled into the camp where his gang, The Talons, were temporarily staying. They stopped by a bus that was blocking a path that went between two piles of trash. A two guards stood by the bus, watching the scratch built dune buggy rattle its way towards the two. "Rusty?!" called out one of the guards. "Captain's been out looking for you and your crew! Where the hell is the shipment?!"
"The hell do you think happened?" Rusty called back. The guard's shocked expression turned to disappointment, he knew what had happened. "You'll be the first person she'll want to see when she gets back." said the guard. "She's gonna be pissed with you." "Well what the hell was I supposed to do?!" Rusty snapped. "Get killed while watching Bullhide take all our shit for the second time?!" The guard didn't respond as the other guard hopped into the bus, which acted as a gate, and slowly backed it up to allow Rusty into the campsite. After entering, the guard drove the bus back up to where it was, blocking the entrance. The camp was surrounded by piles of garbage and the gangs' vehicles. Raggedy old tens being held up by sticks were scattered in small numbers around the campsite, with one barrack standing at the back. Rusty parked right next to his tent. While getting out, Slayer looked all around him. There weren't many humans in this gang. Each of them were sitting cold in their tents, their dune buggies and dirt bikes, old and falling apart, sat in the dirt. Some were in a small line of people getting rationed soup out of large silver canisters. Each day they were given less to eat.
"Small gang you got here." muttered Slayer. "Many have been going missing lately." replied Rusty. "They're probably dead, so we write them off as such." His solemn tone made Slayer feel uneasy. Rusty slowly drove up next to his tent and both him and Slayer dismounted the rickety vehicle. The tent was just a couple of old rags sewn together and held up by heavy steel bars. "Make yourself at home, I guess." Rusty told Slayer. "I'm going to get some food." He laid his weapons on his cot and walked towards where the rationed soup was being given out with a mess kit in his hands. Slayer couldn't help but look around the camp. Some members had eye patches, bandages and gauze pads over their heads and joints. Even one man had his legs amputated and replaced with prosthetics. A militia, slowly dying from failure after failure. While other gangs grow in strength, The Talons grow weak.
Rusty soon returned a few minutes later and began eating the rationed soup that he had received. It only filled about three-eighths of his mess kit's bowl. Taking the small spoon with his robotic arm, he began sipping on the warm soup. "Surprised you guys are still alive," said Slayer. "So am I." replied Rusty.
As Rusty finished his small serving, a tall, Cajun man who looked as if he came straight from the bayou approached the tent. "Still alive Russell?" replied the man. "Last time I checked I was, Dynamo." replied Rusty. Dynamo leaned on the steel pole holding up the front of his tent. "The guards told me what happened out there." explained Dynamo. "Captain and some others just began a search party for your group an hour ago. She's gonna want an answer to why the shipment isn't here."
"Well, what the fuck does she want from me?" replied Rusty angrily. "Every day, Bullhide's army gets stronger and we get weaker! Yet she does nothing to improve us, nor does she listen to ideas anybody brings up!" "I know, I know." replied Dynamo. "Who knows when we'll find anymore essentials. We're gonna have to start conserving what we got." Dynamo glanced at the Wall-E. "Found another Wall-E, eh?" he said. "He saved my ass when I was heading back!" explained Rusty. "You should've seen him go, man!" "Impressive." Dynamo replied as he glanced at the Wall-E. "Got a name for yourself?" "Slayer" the Wall-E responded
"Does the rust bucket live up to that name?" asked Dynamo jokingly. Both him and Rusty chuckled, Slayer just glared at him, not at all amused by the joke. "Ah, don't worry about him, he's an asshole." Rusty told Slayer. "Jokes aside, I'm gonna have to radio that search squad that you've returned," said Dynamo. "No rush," said Rusty. "Believe me, I won't." replied Dynamo as he walked off to a radio van across the camp. As Dynamo walked away, Rusty remembered something. He began opening up a steel box that was underneath his cot. "What are you doing?" asked Slayer.
"I just remembered, I wanted to try something, if you don't mind." said Rusty as he pulled out a computer, which was hooked up to a solar-powered generator. He pulled out a USB connection cable. "Don't take this the wrong way...do you have any ports?" asked Rusty. "The fuck are you gonna do?" asked Slayer. "What you did back there, is something I've never seen a single Wall-E do." replied Rusty. "I didn't even know your kind was capable of fighting like that, along with this sheer amount of ingenuity! I'm intrigued by your programming!" "Alright" said Slayer. He opened the compartment where his motherboard was, took one end of the USB cable and connected it to one end of the motherboard. Rusty booted up the computer and wired Slayer to the system. Rusty began browsing through Slayer's files and even looked at his lines of programming. While browsing, he stumbled upon something.
"Huh...your programming is a bit...off," said Rusty. "What do you mean by 'off?'" asked Slayer. "There is an abnormality in your programming here that I haven't seen in other Wall-Es I've come across." replied Rusty as he pointed to the screen showing Slayer's lines of code. "This must be my brother's doing." "Ok, what does this have to do with your brother?" asked Slayer.
"My brother and I were interested in computers and robotics since we were kids. We studied that stuff too up until after high school. Almost immediately after that, Buy N' Large ended up recruiting him to program robots for them and had been forced to stay with them for years. You Wall-Es were one of the many robots he's worked on." said Rusty. "How can you tell this is his doing?" wondered Slayer. "He likes to tinker with programming." explained Rusty. "Some of the first updated Wall-Es he managed to change up behind Buy N' Large's back develop a personality that is likes collecting trinkets and has a fascination for musicals, of all things." Slayer chuckled. "Yeah, I worked with one that was like that." he replied. "Anyways, my brother always wanted to program a robot to retaliate against Buy N' Large, though. He and I never liked them, but they were gonna kill him if he refused to work with them. Looks like he finally succeeded." continued Rusty. "What are the fucking odds that we'd run into each other, am I right?" Slayer nodded.
"Ahem" came a tough feminine voice. Rusty looked towards the entrance of his tent. There stood Captain. Born and raised by a homeless family and was never given a name. An ex-delinquent survivalist who stole to survive when civilization still existed. "Mind telling me where our shipments are?" she demanded. "Where the fucking hell do you think?!" replied Rusty. Dynamo approached from behind Captain. "I'm sorry, she arrived just as I made it to the radio truck." he told Rusty. Rusty took no notice of what he had said and continued talking to Captain. "We were gonna end up losing it anyways to Bullhide's Marauders anyways!" replied Rusty to Captain. "What difference does it make anyways?!"
Captain looked over Rusty's shoulder, and noticed Slayer hooked up to the computer. "What the hell is THAT doing here?!" she asked. "You brought back a Buy N' Large robot instead of food and petrol?!" "That robot saved my ass out there from some of Bullhide's guys, I kinda owe him some kind of gratitude at least!" "Showing mercy is what gets you killed, may I remind you!" snapped Captain. "Besides, you have no clue if those STRI-KRs modified him to be a tracker of some kind!"
"Trust me, Buy N' Large is a bit dumber than you think." replied Slayer. Captain turned and started back to her tent with her fingers rubbing her eyes in annoyance. Rusty scrambled up and followed along with Dynamo. Slayer disconnected himself from the computer and followed behind. "This is great, just great." Captain said under her breath. "We're not going to survive another month because of this! Those were the only supplies that we could scavenge in the entire area!"
"We'd probably be better off if we had weaponry that is much more powerful than what we got!" Dynamo said. "That's exactly what was on those trucks!" snapped Captain. "Oh yeah, more 'high-grade' weaponry that can't even penetrate any cars, let alone STRI-KRs!" shouted Rusty. The three continued to argue about the lack of efficient weaponry, food and fit comrades. Slayer listened to every word they said. It didn't take long for him to come up with a plan.
"You guys seriously amaze me." Slayer interrupted. Captain, Dynamo and Rusty turned around to face him. "Your lackluster weaponry and inability to win a battle using ingenuity is going to get your gang wiped out of existence! And instead of figuring out how to solve this problem you argue and try the same methods you have before!" "Well smart-ass, you have any bright ideas?!" Captain asked angrily and rhetorically.
"There are more than plenty of Wall-Es out in the cities, and we are easy to reprogram." Slayer answered. "With the technology you have, you could simply copy my programming to the other Wall-E's and have hundreds of clones. Then you'll have plenty of troops to take on the rivals who've been snatching up all your supplies."
"Those STRI-KRs have their eyes almost glued to you, how are you gonna gather up all those robots without getting your ass handed to them?" asked Dynamo. "Usually at sunset, us Wall-Es are herded to our transport trucks. By that time, many of the STRI-KRs guarding us leave and resume their other directives, so there won't be many STRI-KRs to deal with. It'll make the job much easier." "Trust a robot built by a totalitarian corporatocracy?" replied Captain. "Whatever next?!"
"You have no other choice," said Slayer. "You want to live another day? You talk to me." Captain looked to the ground, then to her camp, and finally back to Slayer. Her reluctance resonated, and Slayer knew it. "Fine," she replied. "We might as well risk everything at this point." "How do you plan on transporting them?" Rusty asked Slayer. "Got something that can carry at least 100 Wall-Es?" asked Slayer. "All of our trucks were destroyed in the ambush" replied Captain. "Not all of them" interrupted Dynamo. "I still have my truck. Might be able to haul twice as much as you want." "Show me" requested Slayer. Dynamo began walking towards his barrack with Slayer and Rusty following behind. Captain watches as the three walk off to the other side of the camp. She shook her head in disbelief and walked off to her quarters.
Dynamo opened the door to his barrack. There, stood an extremely old truck, covered in rust and cobwebs, with four wheels at the front, and two sets of duallys in the back. "Just gotta repair the gearbox and it's all yours." replied Dynamo. "You'll probably got a few days out of it until it kills itself again." "That'll do." replied Slayer. He then turned to Rusty. "Hey Rusty, can I ask you a favor?" "Sure, I still owe you for saving me from those marauders," said Rusty. "You got a belt sander?" asked Slayer. Rusty looked at him, confused. "I think so, why?" he asked. Slayer pointed to the BNL logos that were on his wheels and on his back. "Would you mind getting this shit off?" "With pleasure" replied Rusty. "You want me to repaint you too, so that we can distinguish which Wall-E is you?" "Sure, why not?" replied Slayer.
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It had been two days since Slayer had made his escape. The Wall-Es at Sector G8 were still following their directive as if nothing ever happened. Less STRI-KRs were watching over them, but several of the Wall-Es that had personalities kept to themselves still did not dare make any wrong moves. Wall-E 1467 was speaking with a colleague as he gathered trash to be compressed in his chest cavity, where no STRI-KRs were around. "So you think they got 1596 yet?" asked one Wall-E. "I have no idea" replied 1467. "They probably did and didn't bother putting his body on a steak like the others from the past. I warned him not to go." "How about that hoarder?" asked another Wall-E. "I haven't seen him in a while." "More than likely he snuck back to the truck messing around with his trinkets." replied the first Wall-E. "Such a weirdo." Their conversation was soon interrupted by growls of diesel motors in the distance.
The Wall-Es looked down the dirt and garbage covered six-lane street, where five large trucks drove in. They bore a resemblance to the Wall-E transport trucks, only these were painted all white with a black stripe wrapped around the top of their sides. The words "STRI-KR" and "Special Terrorist, Rebel, and Insurgent Killing Robot" took the place of "Wall-E" and "Waste Allocation Load-Lifter Earth-Class." The trucks stopped, and out of the back came more
STRI-KRs. General Hammer climbed out of the cab of the leading STRI-KR ground transport. The commanding STRI-KR of the sector approached the general.
"General Hammer, this is quite an unexpected visit-" said the STRI-KR. "At ease, soldier." replied Hammer. "We're here to do some cleanup of our own, by order of Buy N' Large." The STRI-KR looked at Hammer. "Everything is just fine here, sir. We do not need anymore troops. Yes we may have misplaced one Wall-E, but it has caused no problems so far."
"That is not why we are here," said Hammer. "This is none of your concern. Your squad is relieved of duty here. Report back to base for reassignment." "Sir, I thought-" Hammer swerved violently around to face the commanding STRI-KR. "You THOUGHT?" he shouted. "You were not programmed to THINK, you son of a bitch! You are programmed to do as you are told!" He pointed to two STRI-KRs. "Both of you, take this piece of shit encased in metal to the repair ward and run diagnostics on him immediately!"
The two STRI-KRs did as they were told and took the commanding STRI-KR away. "Outdated pieces of shit" Hammer muttered under his breath. "Wish my superiors update you all soon." He turned back towards the trucks. "Release the Heavies'' he ordered. The back doors of one of the trucks slowly opened up, and out came STRI-KRs that the Wall-Es had never seen before. These were the STRI-KR Heavy-Classes. They were all black, with green eyes, and two miniguns on each arm where their hands would normally be. As they hovered out, the camera bots had their lenses glued to the Wall-Es. A couple of Wall-Es looked around at these new robots with confusion, while the rest simply soldiered on with their work as if nothing was wrong. 1467 was very put off by the Heavies.
"We got new guards or something?" asked one Wall-E. "Probably because of 1596 and that other twerp." said another. "No...this seems different," replied 1467. Other normal STRI-KRs passed by the Wall-Es until they spread out and took their positions. The STRI-KR HCs turned to the Wall-Es. The Wall-Es wanted to know what was happening, but were still told to resume their work as usual and to not lock eyes with any of the STRI-KRs. Camera bots hovered above them and were set to start snapping photographs. General Hammer stood behind the STRI-KR HCs. "Fire" he ordered. Plasma pulse shots piercing their way into steel suddenly broke through the sounds of garbage being compacted into cubes. 1467 and some of the other Wall-Es stopped what they were doing and turned their heads towards where the noise was coming from. Other Wall-Es close by screamed in terror, then were quickly silenced by the continuing noise of plasma pulses. "No...oh please God no!" 1467 said.
