This chapter takes place the next morning. On with the chapter!

Chapter 5: A New Ally

I woke up the next morning to the ringing of my alarm clock. I actually have one of the old clocks with the bells on top instead of a digital one.

I turned off the alarm and tried to get up, only to remember that I only had one leg. But I didn't remember that until the part where I tried to stand up and fell. Luckily, Rupert released himself and caught me before I hit the ground. He helped me back to the bed, got my wheelchair ready, and helped me into it.

"Thanks." I said before releasing the brakes and having Rupert push me to the dinner table. Pauleen had to cook now since I couldn't walk or even stand. Luckily, she's almost as good as me at it, or at least with breakfast foods, anyways.

After our breakfast of sausage, eggs, toast and bacon, we decided to go talk to Joe and see what he thought about the situation, though he probably already knew. We needed his advice, though. He knew the park better than anyone, so if there was any safe place, he would most likely know about it.

But we barely even left the house before running into trouble.

"Gah!" Is the noise I heard as something struck Todd in the left shoulder and knocked him down. There was a small explosion behind him that left a hole in the wall of my house and sprayed small metal shards everywhere. He stood up, but he had a hole completely through his shoulder and his arm was already covered in blood. I looked around, but I didn't see anyone. I didn't hear a gunshot, so either a sniper had shot him from quite a distance or they had a silencer. Most likely both.

I saw Pauleen collapse and heard her scream in pain as another explosion nearly blew her left leg off. The sight of this made me feel a bit nauseous.

Then I actually heard a gunshot and saw someone fall out of a tree in the distance. I heard the sound of a bolt-action gun releasing a shell casing behind me. I turned to see who was there and saw a girl that was probably around my age with a powerful-looking sniper rifle in her hands.

This girl was extremely skinny. She had black hair and creepy blood-red eyes. She was wearing a black skirt, red skinny jeans, black boots, and a black long-sleeved shirt. But she had cut off the right sleeve, exposing her right arm.

But there was something strange about her arm... It was silver instead of the tan color of her skin. It took me a moment to realize that her arm was a prosthetic. But it wasn't an average prosthetic. It was a robotic one. She had either created it or modified a pre-existing one. The normal ones have a seperate battery pack, but this one didn't. Not to mention it was clearly able to move faster than a normal robotic prosthetic. An average one would have been damaged by the recoil of a gun like that, meaning its durability was enhanced, as well.

"Are you alright?!" She shouted.

"I'm fine, but I don't know about Pauleen. I replied. "Todd could use a bit of help, too..."

"I'll be okay..." Todd said, clearly trying to act tougher than he was.

"Todd, you have a hole through your shoulder and blood soaking your arm and shirt." The girl said. "You're not okay. Here, let me bandage that up for now." She took a few strips of cloth and a few gauze pads out of her bag, then tied the cloth around his arm to hold the gauze on. "That should help for now."

"Who are you anyways?" I asked. "And why do you have a gun?"

"My name is Selena." she replied as she walked over to Pauleen and started tying a tourniquet to her leg. "I stole this gun from another shooter and came to help. I'm a huge fan of the Caliosteo Patrol Team and I really wanted to help out."

"Well I'm glad you did or we would probably all be dead by now." I said. "So thanks."

"Glad I could help!" She said. "Why don't you guys stay at my place? I have a high-tech security system and my house doubles as a mini-hospital and robotics lab!"

"So I'm guessing you made your right arm yourself?" I asked. She nodded.

"I noticed your leg is missing, so I can make a replacement for that, too!" She said.

"Well, if you can keep us safe and fix my leg, I'll go with you!" I said a bit excitedly.

"Great!" She exclaimed. "Let's go!" She picked up the now-unconscious Pauleen and carried her. Todd followed her and Rupert helped me do the same by pushing my wheelchair. Argis and Kira ran outside and followed us.

"What took you two so long?" I asked.

"We didn't know what was going on until we looked out the window and saw the new girl here." Kira said.

"Well her name is Selena and she offered us a new place to stay for now. She's also going to replace my leg!" I explained.

"Good." Argis said. "Let's go."

That was convenient... I thought as we headed to Selena's house. Almost too convenient...

The next chapter will begin upon their arrival at Selena's house. And in case you didn't know this from reading the original AAtC, Selena is not my character. She belongs to a guest under the name WinterGirl. Keep reading and reviwing!