Chapter 4:

Night had fallen just as the large sandstorm had settled dramatically. The convoy had decided to set up camp a little while after. Everyone was almost certain that they had lost the STRI-KRs in the storm. Finally they were out of Illinois and were getting closer to what used to be Milwakee, Wisconsin. Slayer and Darrin were back in the cab of the truck, with the map still laid out on the table and two lights shining down onto it.

"So right here is where we are currently located." Darrin pointed out with a pen. "We'll move northwest past Appleton and go straight for that small corner of Michigan to reach the huge bridge over Lake Superior." "Is that bridge even intact?" Slayer asked. "And if so, will it even be able to hold up the vehicles, given its age?" "There's nothing wrong with it, it's the inhabitants nearby we have to worry about." Darrin replied. "Some strange marauders tried to ambush us while getting across, but they were nothing compared to who we ran into in Wisconsin." "Who's there?" Slayer asked with concern. "Barbarians." Darrin answered. "A bunch of misanthropic, man-eating killers. Nothing more, nothing less. They're the reason why the rest of my group didn't make it. I'm pretty sure you'll all manage, I mean you've already over-proven yourselves!" Slayer was slightly put off by the dangerous lands they were going to enter, along with the fear of STRI-KRs appearing at any moment no matter where they were. He looked out at the window of the truck, watching Bone and the rest of the army staying close to a campfire while eating rations. "This whole journey is more dangerous than I was expecting." Slayer noted. "I just hope we have enough of an advantage." Darrin nodded in agreement. "You better get something to eat and plenty of rest, professor." Slayer said. "We leave at the break of dawn." Darrin got up from the table as Slayer looked back at the map. He stepped out of the truck and made his way to the campfire for some food.

As the hours passed, the group was sound asleep including Slayer. Darrin had volunteered for night watch that night, as Slayer had not enough solar energy left to stay guard. Darrin quietly and slowly circled the campsite, keeping an eye on his surroundings. He kept a laser pistol close at hand in case any dangers arose. No clouds were in the sky that night, allowing the moon, stars, and reflections from thousands of busted satellites, peacefully light up the night sky, helping Darrin to see a bit more in the dark. He circled to the back of Gatecrasher's trailer, facing the remnants of an old town. As he looked at the remains, he could see a faint light blue glow inside one of the buildings.

Fearing it could be a STRI-KR, he pulled out his laser pistol and slowly approached the area to investigate. His fist clenched the handle of the pistol tight and his finger was not too far from the trigger. As he grew closer, the blue lights suddenly vanished. Curiosity struck him as Darrin continued down the small city streets, glancing inside the buildings for any dangers. This distracted him from staying within range of the campsite. The avenue he was walking down was so quiet that all he could hear was his own heartbeat, the light breeze rushing through the nooks and crannies of the buildings and piles of trash, and debris slowly crushing underneath his old boots. The cold sweat from his palms covered the handle of the pistol and his finger now rested on the trigger as he continued looking around for whatever was making that blue glow. Several minutes passed, and Darrin was even more lost in this urban jungle.

He then heard some faint noises coming from his right. He looked over and saw a small squad of STRI-KRs scanning the area. This caused his heart to skip a beat, and in a panic, start to run the opposite direction instead of firing his gun. The STRI-KRs heard the trash underneath his feet crumble and crinkle, and turned to see him running away. "There's one! After him!" one STRI-KR exclaimed. The small squad started to chase after him until he was cornered in an alley. A STRI-KR was ready to shoot him down, until another put its hand on its turret, pushing it out of Darrin's direction. "Wait!" it yelled as it inspected Darrin's clothing. The STRI-KR had noticed a Buy N' Large plant logo on the pocket of Darrin's torn lab coat. "It's an official from Buy N' Large!" it exclaimed. The STRI-KRs loosened up and slowly approached the shaken up professor. "Are you ok, sir?" asked one of the STRI-KRs. Darrin quickly aimed the pistol at the STRI-KRs, with his arm shaking uncontrollably. The STRI-KRs stopped moving towards him. One STRI-KR looked at another and slightly nodded its head. The other STRI-KR quickly shot a single blue circular beam out of its turret, knocking Darrin to the ground unconscious. "He'll be ok," said the STRI-KR. "Contact Alpha, we'll have to run a background check on him." As they picked his body up and carried him away, two light blue eyes appeared in a dark window of an old corner store on the opposite side of the street, watching the STRI-KRs leave with the unconscious professor.

The sun broke from the eastern horizon, burning off the cold night breeze. Rays of orange and yellow light shone through the rubble and derelict buildings nearby the camp. Slayer's low battery beep suddenly came on, waking him from his slumber. Though he felt very weak, he was still able to climb up top of Gatecrasher's trailer to soak up the sun with his fold out solar panels. After around ten minutes, Slayer was fully charged. He looked around him as he was preparing to climb down the trailer, and noticed Darrin was not present. "Maybe he switched with someone else and ended up falling asleep," he thought. Slayer began looking around as everyone else was starting to wake up. Bone woke up after sleeping in the driver's seat of the truck, and heard Slayer rushing around in the trailer. "Slayer, what's going on?" Bone asked. "Have you seen the professor?" Slayer asked worryingly. "No, I was asleep all night." replied Bone. Slayer rushed back out of the truck, Bone soon followed. "Professor!" Slayer called out. "Professor!" "He couldn't have gone far," said one of the drivers. "The map is still in the truck!" Bone added. Slayer then looked down to see a faint boot print, pointing over at the remains of the same small city Darrin went through last night. Slayer grabbed his laser rifle. "Lieutenant, get the vehicles ready, I'm going to go look for him real quick!" "What if you can't find him?" asked Bone. "We'll have to leave him behind then, we can't burn too much sunlight!" Slayer quickly replied as he dashed into the streets of the small town.

Slayer combed the town as fast as he could, growing more concerned as he searched. He ended up coming across the alleyway Darrin was cornered into, and found his laser pistol lying on the ground. He looked around the alley, thinking Darrin climbed up something and dropped his gun, but there was nothing around that would allow the professor to do such a thing. A tin can and some other trash fell to the ground, causing Slayer to turn around violently, gripping his rifle tight. Through a bit of the rubble on the outside of the pile, he could see an extremely faint blue light. "Who's there?!" Slayer shouted as he aimed his rifle towards the glow. "Show yourself or I'll blast you to hell!" "Don't shoot, don't shoot!" a feminine robotic voice called from behind the rubble. Slowly out from behind the rubble, a white robot floated out from behind the trash with her hands up.

The robot had a round head, a very curvy torso and legs, even though they never touched the ground. Her joints were all controlled by free-floating magnets, much like the STRI-KRs' arms, heads and fingers. Her white titanium alloy body shone in the sunlight along with the light blue glow from her eyes. Slayer looked at the robot in both bewilderment and astonishment, yet still held his rifle in her direction. Their eyes were locked onto each other's. "I'm unarmed," the robot claimed, with her hands still raised in the air. "What the hell kind of STRI-KR is this?!" Slayer thought to himself. The robot quivered, thinking it was about to be sent to the pearly gates. "M-my name is Valkyrie," the robot stuttered. Slayer held his ground and kept his gun aimed at her head. "Have you seen anybody in a lab coat around here?' he asked. "Yes," she responded. "He got knocked out by the STRI-KRs and was taken away. I wanted to help him but I have no methods of defending myself."

"Did you see where they took him?!" "I didn't," Valkyrie confessed. "I didn't want to risk being spotted by the STRI-KRs, I don't know what they'll do to me if they find me!" The two kept staring at each other, waiting for the other to make any move. "Now I answered your questions, you can answer mine," she said. "What happened to the USA?" Slayer winced. "What do you mean what happened?" he asked. "The last time I remember it was 2089 and I had finished a few publicity shoots," Valkyrie explained. "I woke up in a storage container and find America has turned into a garbage wasteland. What the hell happened?!"

Slayer realized what was going on and slowly lowered his rifle. "Buy N' Large forced people on space ships and sent them off. The humans here were to be exterminated." Slayer explained as he slowly approached her. "What is your name?" Valkyrie asked. "Slayer," he replied." Valkyrie slowly lowered her arms. "What year is it?" she asked. "2110," Slayer replied. "Humanity has been fighting for five years to stay alive so far, I only joined in a year ago." "Joined?" she asked. "So you're with the humans?" "Yes," Slayer replied. The two shared a rather awkward silence afterwards, not knowing what to say to each other. Slayer could tell she wouldn't survive on her own, especially without any weapons to defend herself with. He was surprised she had made it this far. His compassion was normally geared towards humanity, as there were no allied robots he had ever encountered, but he could tell she needed to be helped and felt it to be wrong of him to leave her alone in the wastelands. "It's dangerous to be out here alone, especially without any way to defend yourself," Slayer told her. "Come with me if you want to live." "Thank you," she said. "That's…very considerate of you." She was surprised of the hospitality this robot was giving her.

Bone and the rest of the team turn to face the town to see Slayer returning, but quickly grabbed their guns when they saw Valkyrie. "What the hell is that doing here?!" Bone asked. "At ease, she's clean!" Slayer assured. "Is that the- it is!" exclaimed a navigator. "That's Project: Valkyrie, sir! I remember seeing her in so much propaganda and several parades. She was built with only one purpose." What was that?" asked Slayer. "To make the feminists happy," Bone replied as he rolled his eyes. "Why is she here anyways?!" "She was lost and I decided to let her come along with us," Slayer explained. Bone and some of the others still didn't like what Slayer had brought back. "Are you a hundred-percent sure she's not armed?" one of the gunners asked. "I told you, she's fine!" Slayer replied. "Alright but what about Darrin?" Bone inquired. "Valkyrie told me Darrin got captured by the STRI-KRs. For what reason I'm not sure," Slayer explained. "Why didn't she save him then?!" Bone argued.

"She doesn't have any weapons, she would've been killed!" Slayer argued back. "Anyways, it's too late to save Darrin now! We still have his map and it's all we need! We've wasted enough time! She's coming with us no matter what you think, lieutenant! Now everyone start up your cars and let's get our asses in gear!" Everyone got into their cars while Slayer and Valkyrie entered Gatecrasher. Bone sat at the driver seat and started up the truck, uneasy as everyone else was about Valkyrie. But, if Slayer said she was safe, then they should be alright. While Valkyrie felt uncomfortable with the humans acting the way they were towards her, she knew that this was the best protection she could get. Slayer's morals already began leaving an impression on her, making her feel things she hadn't felt in years. "Thank the maker for that robot!" she thought to herself as she sat down in Gatecrasher's trailer. "Feisty, takes charge… and he's kinda cute." She couldn't have been more lucky. The vehicles roared to life as Gatecrasher led the way past the city limits and continued through what was once the state of Wisconsin.