"The Others"
Chapter 4 "Time for Action"
"H-how many others are there?" 9 asked 72 as they walked towards a towering building. She laughed a little as 72 listened to his pestering questions. "When were you made? Why is your number 72? Where were you born-" he went on and on, letting all his questions out.
72 walked up to a corner of the building. She found a cloth flap with ink spilled all over it like one of the old paintings 9 found in the Library. Lifting the flap up, it revealed the internal structure behind the walls. "All questions will be answered, in due time, we must get to my home first," she told 9.
Walking inside, with 9 close behind, there was a serious of ladders leading up to an opening in the roof. 9 could see a metal shard sticking out with a rope attached to it. "Come on," 72 beckoned while climbing up, "I'll explain more once we're inside."
They climbed up the ladders, crossing the old wooden beams that barley held the walls together. Eventually they slowly made their way up to the rope extending off the metal shard.
"Why are we waiting? What is so special about this place above?" 9 asked impatiently. 72 rolled her optics, leaping to the rope. She quickly climbed it and pulled herself up onto the metal, "Hurry up! 24 could've done this in his sleep!"
9 tried to follow 72's path exactly the way she did it yet failed immensely. She watched him trying to climb up the jagged path she made. He reminded her of 17 who taught her how to be acrobatic. She observed his clinging to a wooden beam. The poor stitch trying to inch his way across to other jagged metals leading up to the top as best he could.
"You need any help?" 72 asked 9 playfully, leaning over the edge looking down at him. He shook his head in shame, "I-I got this!" It took him another step. Unfortunately, the beam collapsed right out underneath him. 9 barley grabbed part of the beam that still remained with 72 springing to her feet. She grabbed a strand of rope and tied it to a jagged piece of metal around her waist. With a leap of faith, she jumped off towards 9.
72 managed to snatch him up as he was yanked up to the top. They tumbled down a slope, 72 still clinging to 9 close as they rolled down the rubble. The rope around 72's waist snapped off the strand, making her cowl fall away along with her glaive.
She fell through the cracks of the metal wall and collided with something inside. 9 was the first to get to his feet, he unslung his lightstaff from his back and activated it, then he rushed inside. The interior was almost completely hollow, 9 saw the silhouettes of what looked to be crates of cargo and weapons.
"72? 72?!" he called out in the darkness as he searched for 72, "What is this place?!" Then, he saw a figure emerging from the shadows. He held his lightstaff out to them, revealing a stitchpunk with white hair on one side of her head.
"72?"
72 smiled, "Now's the time for questions."
"How many are there, of the others?" 9 asked 72 as they climbed old cargo crates inside the old plane. "Last time I saw my family, there was 14 of us. But I haven't seen any of them since our home went up in blazes during an attack on my home, I've been alone out here searching for them," 72 explained. "I sought them out, scouring the entire wasteland for them, searched every safehouse we built," she explained as they walked along crates to a lit area.
"Wait, you built safehouses in the city?" 9 asked. 72 laughed to herself, "Back home, my big brother in charge decided that there needed to be places for us whenever things go wrong. So, he took the liberty of heading out into this place and started building safehouses in places where we'd only find them," she explained to 9.
"How come we haven't found any of them?" 9 asked her as she helped him up then leaped to another crate. 72 looked down at 9, who was standing before the crate looking at her, she leaped off the create to a clump of cargo wires. She clung to the wires then slowly crossed them until she reached the wall of a dimly lit area. She leaped off the wire, grabbed something as she fell and pulled it down to the ground.
She gestured for 9 to come over, he shined the lightstaff in her direction and followed the crates leading up to 72. He hopped down to 72 to see what she wanted to show him. "What is it?" he asked her while trying to get a good look at the object on the wall. "It's a map of the entire city, the small dots of ink are the safehouses…well, except for the ones with blotches. Those were overrun or destroyed by things from the Sewers," she explained.
"Why are you showing me this? 9 questioned her as he looked over the map. 72 gestured for him to follow. She walked to one small rundown shack illuminated by candles. She opened up the small box next to the shack and pulled out a match. She scrapped it against her foot, the flames flickered to life in the darkness around them.
"In here," she told 9 and pushed the curtain aside, revealing a small carton box with a piece of paper with ink written on the top. 72 led him over to the carton, "Because I can't let this happen to the others, to my family." 9 now was able to read the ink, he understood why she wanted him to see this:
"17, to Rally Us…
August 26th, 2009 – December 9th, 2009
Cause of Death: Unknown
7th born with a soul, first to die with a soul"
9 slowly opened the coffin, revealing a horrific sight. He saw the broken and torn remains of 17. Dead, like 5, 1, 8, 2, and 6. "W-what h-happened to him?" 9 stuttered as the sight overtook him. "I don't know. At first, I thought it was one of the Hound-Beats that got him, but they could never do anything like this," 72 told him.
"I need your help finding my family, I can't let them die out there. Not like my brother, this can't happen to any of them," she explained and put the carton back over her brother. "Will you help me?" she asked him. 9 smiled at her, "I will do whatever I can to help you find your family. Where should we start?"
72 smiled then they walked back over to the map. "We need to find my family, you've already seen one of them, 13. We're going down into the Sewers to search for her, but we cannot do this on our own. If any of the Hound-Beasts follow us then we'll be slaughtered almost instantly," 72 explained as they got back to the map.
"There are others besides myself, about three more. But, only one of us is a capable fighter like myself," 9 told her. 72 laughed. "Seeing how I had to save you from that Hound, they should be as you say they are," she told him and started packing things up from nearby caches.
"So, where are these others of yours that you talk soooo highly of?" 72 asked when she finished packing things up. 9 turned his lightstaff back on and lit up the map. "There! The Library! That's where we live!" 9 exclaimed and showed 72 the location. "That old Library? I remember that place from before the war! The Rebels used it as an intelligence center before they were driven underground!" 72 told him and started heading over to the exit.
"What are you waiting for? An invitation? Come on, let's go!" she told him then they took off from the downed cargo plane and into the perilous streets below.
…
7 paced back and forth in her room with the twins. "He's been gone too long! He's never out there this long!" she told the twins worryingly, "What if he's hurt or got lost?"
"7, he's fine! With the storm outside, you would have even gotten lost in it. You're never this concerned or worried normally," 4 flashed. "Yes, yes, I'm sure everything's fine. But you're clearly not. We haven't seen you act this way before. Are you okay? Is something wrong?" 3 flashed.
"No, no, I'm fine!" 7 lied to the twins, clearly masking something. "I-it's just that there's not many of us even left so we have to look out for each other!" she quickly stuttered an explanation. The twins looked at each other, flashed a few messages back and forth, then confronted 7. "Yes, that may be true, but you're especially concerned in 9's safety," they explained to her.
"I'm fine. Now either give me good news or leave me be!" 7 told them flustered and went back to pacing. The twins exchanged worried looks and nodded in agreement. They scurried off back to their reading, leaving 7 alone in the room. "He's fine, he's okay, stop worrying about him! Think about something else! Just don't think about him and you'll be fine. Stay focused!" she told herself and sat on her bed.
She looked over at the Talisman sitting there along with a few of their other mementos they searched for after…the machine's demise:
5's crossbow, 8's helmet, 1's coin, 6's key, and a piece of 2's string.
"He never lets himself forget them. He blames himself for everything that happened. The longer he's gone, the more worried I am at the possibility that he- "7's thoughts were cut off by the twins rushing back into the room and tugging on her arm.
"7! 7! You NEED to see this! Now!" 4 begged desperately. "Come on! Come on! Hurry!" 3 pleaded. "Alright! Alright! Show me!" she told them then they dragged her all the way out to the main study. They hid behind a pile of books, 7 noticed the twins were shocked beyond belief. "What? What is it?" 7 whispered.
The twins slowly rose of from their cover, 7 following along, and they saw a giant beast crawling about the place. They shot back behind cover. It was like a mix of a Cat-Beast with the Winged-Beast but with a design of a hound.
Hound-Beast.
"What is that thing?!" 7 asked the twins. They both shook their heads. "We don't know! We've never seen it before!" 4 told her. "Look! Look what's in its mouth!" 3 interjected. 7 peered back over their cover and looked at the beast's mouth. She saw a large sword that looked like a more modified version of 8's own version. But among them was a small ragdoll body…on the back was a number that she could barely make out. But she saw one number.
"9"
7, filled with fear and rage, snatched up a knife from on top of the books and charged the beast. Its head shot straight at her, it grunted and charged at her. The beast slashed at her with its claws, but she rolled past them. She started climbing the legs when it thrashed around its leg. She was thrown off and crashed into a pile of books.
She shot back up and launched her knife into the beast's eye, it fell back and roared in agony. The beast tried to claw out the knife, it only added more to the damage. It clawed out its own eye, when it looked back to its prey it noticed that they were gone.
They looked around angrily and started pacing around. "Hey! Scrap metal!" 7 shouted. The beast looked over at the voice when an arrow pierced its other eye. The beast thrashed around angrily, 7 came rushing towards the beast with her spear and slashed its neck off.
The head crashed into the ground, 7 quickly pried open its jaws revealing a body rolling out. 7 flipped the body over, revealing…not 9. Half his face was patched up with leather, mainly his right optic. His body was scarred and battered, the blade fell to his side. 7, consumed with fear and anxiety, flipped the Stitchpunk onto his back revealing the real number.
19.