Assault Chapter

Part 2

Len fell asleep in my arms. He must have been exhausted trying to build me. I wasn't sure how many days it had been since I died, but Len must have spent most of them without sleep.

Once I was sure Len was asleep, I carefully picked him up and went to search for a bed. It seemed that I was a lot stronger now and... I kind of liked it. I didn't have to go far because there was a mass of blankets and what looked like a pillow at the far end of the room. I tried to put Len comfortably into the blankets, but he still looked restless and worried, even in sleep. What else could he be worrying about other than whether or not I'd wake up?

Quietly, I started looking around the room. It was full of tools and random robot parts, along with several heavy machines. I glanced at Len, wondering if I should wait until he woke up, but I was too restless. I wanted to see what was going on and why Len was the one building me in the robotics lab. Was it deserted for some reason?

I tiptoed out of the room and headed out into the hallway. The lab certainly looked deserted as I walked through, checking rooms at random. They were all empty with workstations that were left with half done projects. I wandered around aimlessly until I realized I was looking for something. I was looking to see if my real body was still here.

"Why on earth am I looking for that?" I muttered to myself. I didn't think I wanted to see if, but I kept looking anyway. Maybe I had to prove to myself that I was really dead.

A large door loomed at the end of the hall. I stared at it apprehensively and knew what I was going to find behind this door. My fingers refused to move for a moment and I was, irrationally, afraid.

"Afraid? Why should I be afraid of myself?" I asked angrily, but I knew I was afraid of it. And, although my life was already over, I knew that this was going to begin a life I wasn't sure I was ready to face. My fist clenched; I hated being afraid. I was stronger than this. Ignoring my instinct, I opened the door and there I was. I was floating in a vat with wires and tubes sticking out of me. Well, no... that wasn't me anymore. My eyes were drawn to the wound on my chest, the blood was still visible through the bandages.

I felt numb as I walked over to it and pressed my hand against the glass. For the first time I wondered if robots could cry. Suddenly, I couldn't stand the sight of it anymore. I turned around, leaning against the cool glass and slid down the side until I was sitting.

I needed to distract myself, to forget the dead body behind me. Closing my eyes, I began to access the information that was stored in me that wasn't my memories. I wanted to see if anything had been added.

The first thing I came across was how to repair myself. It would automatically be activated should anything happen to me. I moved on, not bothering to really look through that file. There were maps and a scan that showed me the only other person in the building was Len. It also seemed I had really good reflexes along with being stronger. Then I came to something odd. I was programmed to know how to use a gun. Actually, many types of guns and several military weapons as well. That didn't make any sense. Why would I need to know that?

I got up, frustrated with the lack of information, but I wasn't about to go wake up Len. He needed to sleep.

That's when I thought about looking outside.

Quickly, I spun around and found a window immediately. There was some kind of blanket haphazardly thrown across it, and it was a few feet above my head. But I could climb up to it. I used a box and two big machines to make it up to the window. Carefully, I peeked out the bottom of it. It was dark but I could still see it all so clearly and I couldn't believe how utterly changed it seemed.

It looked like a bomb or an earthquake had happened to the city I lived in. Abandoned cars were turned over and smashed, buildings had gaping holes and broken windows, and dead bodies were scattered around, carelessly forgotten. I gasped, unable to match the vision of the street I used to always walk down with Len to the destruction that replaced it. I didn't think it could get worse until I saw a group of four men round the corner, all carrying guns and searching for something among the rubble. Duplicates of the man that killed me.

"Rin."

I jumped and half fell down the machines, but landed lightly as my new systems kicked in. Len was walking towards me. I frowned slightly. He should have been sleeping.

"What happened?" I asked instead of telling him to go back to bed.

"You know the country, Lacov?" Len said after pausing, probably trying to decide what to say. I nodded. "Well, they've attacked us. Actually they're attacking most of the world. No one knows what's going on, they're just killing everyone. I know that there were evacuations and our army came in but we stood no chance. This is enemy territory now..."

Is that why I needed to know how to use a gun? To make sure I didn't die again? But I felt like there still was something Len knew about that that he wasn't telling me.

"What's the rest of the world trying to do about this?" I couldn't stop asking, not until I knew all the answer. And I couldn't stop staring at Len's eyes. The shadows seemed darker instead of disappearing with sleep.

"I don't know, we haven't been able to get any form of communication to work. Miku is out trying to get information and find anyone who's still alive," he said while trying to keep his eyes from traveling to my old body.

"What about our families? Our friends?"

"Probably dead."

That stopped my questions. I turned from Len and stared at the half covered window. After a moment, Len came up next to me and took my hand. I was happy to find that I still liked that. That I was still me. Though I probably couldn't blush about Len anymore.

"We're pretty much safe here. When the soldiers tried to bust in they broke some... well, I'm not exactly sure what it was, but a weird blue smoke filled the upper part of the lab and the soldiers thought it was poisonous. No thanks to Miku stumbling around and coughing before falling to the ground dead, I'm sure," Len smirked at me. Finally, a smile. I felt like maybe we could pull through this.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked as we turned around just in time to see Miku walk in the door carrying a duffel bag full of what seemed to be guns.

"That's what we're going to figure out," she said with a smile and a toss of her long blue hair.