The morning after 3 and 4 forced her to play in the rain all 0 kept hearing were complaints. It felt like everyone was complaining. The Twins didn't help much with their splashing but she couldn't help but splash them back sometimes.
When 0 designed the Twins she designed them to never be alone, always be together, she never imagined them to be so childlike. She underestimated their childishness and their closeness sometimes. They always seemed to read each other's thoughts and sometimes they even read hers.
The sun painted the horizon in lots of different colors. Each sunrise and each sunset was different.
Finally she stopped 4 before he could splash in another puddle. "Can you pull up a map for me?" Something was off with 4. He acted more tired than he should have. "It won't be long, I promise."
4 wasn't reluctant in pulling up the map on the ground. With the tip of her knife she drew patterns in the dirt from where they left to where they should have been. "Oh dear…" she tried to say it to the Twins but 9 and 7 seemed to hear too. 4 blinked away the map.
"What is it?" 7's voice sounded either angry or annoyed, 0 was afraid to find out which.
"Um…this is where I thought we were. But," with the tip of her knife she made a straight line toward Haven. "We're about 5 miles off. Maybe 10."
She could hear 7's uncontrolled breathing but she tried her whole being to control it with little success.
"I'm sorry, guys. We'll have to move directly east tomorrow."
"How do we know you aren't wrong about the location of Haven?" 7 asked harshly. 0 opened her mouth to answer but 7 was on her next question already, "How do we know you won't get us lost in this place forever? We were just fine among the rubble until you showed up!"
0 rubbed the stitches on her arm and started to cower, trying to use 3 and 4 as shields but at the same time she tried to protect them from 7's rage. "I'm sorry, 7, really. But I promise that I know the location of Haven. We just have to make a straight shot through."
7 didn't listen. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted you! I knew you would get us lost! Now there's nowhere left for us to go!"
0 flinched back at the comment. Now there was no protecting the Twins because they stepped in front of her, their arms folded, as if to deflect the words back at her. It surprised 0. This was not the role she thought of the Twins having. Define us and teach us, she remembered whispering so long ago. It felt like a million years have passed since she designed them.
She watched 7's face morph suddenly. It was as if the demon had lost control of her and allowed her to see what she was doing and what the Twins were doing. Without an explanation that 0 could hear of 7 walked into the forest of sprouts.
After a while 3 and 4 turned to 0. She didn't want to look up at them but the took her head in his hands and lifted it up so she could see them. They were concerned.
"I'm so sorry…" she whispered. It was all she could think to say to them.
The Twins wrapped their arms around her and allowed her to bury her face in their shoulders. If she could cry she would've.
After several hours she finally pulled away from them. 7 still hadn't come back. She didn't mind at all. The moon was full and white and bleached the sky around it. The stars twinkled, some brighter than others.
3 and 4 pointed up at the sky.
"That's the moon and those are the stars." She told them. "If you look closely you can see pictures in the sky. See? Orion's belt and there is the big dipper." The Twins were fascinated with the lights they've probably never seen before she came along. "They say that the moon and sun have spirits." Their curiosity peaked and she started to tell stories that she read about in books. Each time she looked over at 9 the more tense he became.
When her stories were done she walked over and poked 9's shoulder, startling him from his thoughts. "You seem tense." She told him the obvious.
"Why wouldn't I be?" He snapped. "7 hasn't come back and it's getting late!"
"Don't worry, 9. She'll be fine. She can defend herself."
"How would you know that? This is your fault! If you hadn't gotten us lost-"
"I didn't get anyone lost. I know exactly where we are!"
9 continued as if she hadn't just interrupted him, "-then we wouldn't be in this mess!"
0 narrowed her eyes at him. 9 was different than 7. He wasn't scary and she knew that even if she did make him annoyed or upset he couldn't stay too mad at her for long if he was anything like the Scientist.
She could feel the tension behind her from the Twins. They were ready to protect her again without hesitation.
Quietly, 0 grabbed the sword 7 made for her and she walked off in the direction 7 headed in. The Twins tried to follow her but she stopped them. "No stay here. I'll be back before sunrise, okay? I promise." She pat the Twins heads and walked off into the forest.
The moon lit up the ground in a pale light. Everything that moved made her jump a little. The sounds weren't new to her but she was afraid still, afraid that this time if a bird didn't attack her but something else did she would die and leave the four behind with nowhere to go.
She stopped at the sound of a rattle and looked around for eyes. There were none yet there was a rattling of a snake's tail near her. Where did it come from? She tried to back away but each direction she backed away toward was where the sound was coming from.
Finally when she turned around she came face to face with the beast whose body wrapped around her and squeezed. It's tail stopped rattling. 0 realized it was a snake and if she didn't do something soon she would die. She stabbed it over and over again. It finally released her and she attempted to run away. Something snagged her leg and she looked back to see the snake's blood-lust eyes. The stitches were coming away. She had to do something.
0 quickly stabbed one of it's eyes and it let go long enough for her to hide behind a rock.
How do you kill a snake again? She racked her head for the answer. A snake's body was different than any other animal. It's whole body was a neck but she couldn't just stab it wherever and hope it would die!
It wrapped it's body around her in a sneak attack and lifted her toward it's head. She stabbed it again but this time it refused to let go. Finally she stabbed it's eye and when it let go the head rolled away from it's body.
7's white body seemed to glow against the light of the moon. When she lifted her helmet 0 could see she was smiling in a relieved way.
0 limped over and hugged her. "Thank you!" She yelled. Her body started to shake with the thought of what could have happened if 7 hadn't appeared.
"What happened?" 7 didn't push her away but she did hold 0 out at arms length. "Why couldn't you beat this one?"
0 didn't want to tell her the truth. Out of a habit she did as a human she rubbed the bottom of her eyes. "It wasn't a bird." She whispered.
"So?" 7 didn't understand.
"I can't fight, 7. I've never been able to. I beat that bird because I did it a thousand times before! I've never gone up against a snake! I didn't even know where it would die easily!" 0 sighed. "You guys put your trust in me to protect you and I can't even do that."
7 didn't sound angry when she spoke, "Don't worry, you have me here to defend you. You don't need to know how to fight with me around."
This made 0 a little bit more at ease. To defend us…She used to whisper to the shell of 1.
"As long as you can at least protect the Twins. They adore you and I never want to see them get hurt." She added quickly
0 nodded. "I will only if you don't tell anyone about this."
7 laughed and wrapped her arm around her and led her back to the camp. "I promise."
The sun started to come up and paint the eastern horizon all sorts of colors. As they approached the camp 0 could hear 9 talk to the Twins. They were coming up behind him.
"If they're hurt or worse…I may have just gotten all of us killed." He looked down at his hands and sighed solemnly. "What if they're dead?" He asked the Twins.
0 wanted to laugh. "Dead? What do you mean, dead?"
9 snapped his head up at the sound of her voice. "Nothing can kill me, old man!"
7 just laughed quietly.