The wind whistled over the wooden house hidden far away. The rubble of buildings, dead cars, and tanks from some months ago, before the war reached the stalemate, sat undisturbed nearby. A small platoon of figures marched through the abandoned landscape of the small town, overrun by grass, trees, and flowers; they did not care for them. The expressions of the 5 figure platoon were null, unemotional, and silent. Marked on each and every one of their right cheeks was a vertical line, burned into their faces, as they proudly marched forward with the word “Ace” written on their helmets, depicting the British army "Ace" division of synthetic soldiers (depicted by a QR code on their helmet). Each one was tattooed with a number, from 4 to 8, on their clavicle at the base of their necks, and held, of course, a military rifle in their hands.
In the faint distance, coming from inside said wooden house the platoon marched towards, the cry of children began growing louder. The sixth figure, a child-like feminine one wearing a white dress, no shoes, and was decorated with a long deep orange hair, stopped on the tracks, halting the escort alongside her.
She gasped softly. “We are near” she smiled to herself. ”Just what I need.”
The emotionless soldiers picked up their pace, reaching the torn down two story house at the end of the town avenue. It was decorated with a welcoming cross of wooden planks on its doors and black trash bags covering the front windows. The redheaded girl stepped in, feet naked on the porch, and felt the door. The sound of the cracking wood from the soft touch of her hand, moving the door slightly inwards and making it sort of 'knock', caused what sounded like a woman to gasp… followed by the cocking of a gun and the desperate sound of running upstairs.
She sighed and turned to her troops. “I need the child untouched, unharmed.”
Before even finishing her sentence, the soldiers surrounded her and kicked the door open while she still faced behind looking up at the grey sky. She was connected to them; she could feel their presence running through her expansive 'mind'.Even so, she kept the decency of speaking out to them as equals… as friends.
“Get the fuck away from my house you tin can freaks!” A male voice inside shouted before unloading his gun on the soldiers.
A bullet flew into one of the synthetics's chest, tilting its posture for a second. The tall figure looked at its wound, a bullet hole punctured just left of its number, 6… It didn't bleed, it didn't hurt, it didn't do anything. Instead, it turned to face the man again, who started shaking and pulling the trigger again and again as he gasped in exasperation, running out of bullets, before the machine released a burst of 4 rounds with its rifle, demolishing his body from his chest to his nose.
His body fell and hit the floor, signaling the girl to step into the house. She saw the dead body of the man lying on the floor, blood flowing out of his back, covering the floor in a black-redish goo, unexpressive, unmoving. As she turned to the soldier she noticed the bullet hole on its synthetic flesh. With her right hand she touched around the wound, caressing it with a soft smile.
“Always looking out for me, eh? Thank you, Six.”
She wrapped her arms around his torso and hugged him for a second. The soldier did not move, in fact, it didn't react at all, nor did it look down on her small figure hugging it. It felt her, it knew the name for it, it understood it had meaning, yet… there was no response forsuch an action.
As she let go she turned to the stairs, hearing the cries of the children. “They are above, I'll go first… alone,” she whispered.
She went up the stairs, one step at the time, breathing deeply and almost forgetting to blink as she stared dead ahead to the door just at the end of the staircase. As she opened it, outside light filled the blacked out room, revealing a woman with two young children in her hands. As the redhead girl looked upwards, she was awe-struck by childish drawings of animals, cars, and rockets circling around the entire room. The woman cried and hopelessly backed into the wall sobbing in fear.
“Please!” The woman begged. “Don't do anything to them! Take me instead!”
The girl chuckled. “It is not my intention to do such a thing..."
As she entered and playfully moved around to the source of the light, she found a portable gasoline-powered generator with a small white lightbulb and decorative drawings as the case. As she leaned down in front of it, she noticed the children stopped crying, and turned to face the woman with a confused expression.
“Does the light calm them down?” She asked, tilting her head.
The mother, still sobbing, closed her eyes and nodded in her direction. The girl smiled and disconnected the lightbulb, leaving the room in total darkness. The babies cried out louder than before as the girl rose up and stood behind the only light source coming into the room.
“I appreciate someone who willingly disobeys their basic survival instincts in order to satisfy the primal need of a child’s security.” She placed her hands behind her back, lightbulb in hand. “Thank you. I wish I could learn more about you… as much as I'll learn from them.”
As she finished those words the soldiers stormed in from behind her and surrounded the mother, forcefully taking the children from her arms. She desperately begged them to stop before being silenced with the unlocking of the safety of one of the rifles, pointing it at her head. Two of the figures handed the children to the redhead girl, who took them in her arms, looking down at them, and placing the lightbulb in one of their tiny hands. With further inspection she made a discovery.
“Twins! A Boy and a Girl!” She shouted with excitement, a beaming smile growing on her face. “What are their names?”
“Fuck You!” The woman growled, rising from the bed. “I know who you are, you monster! You are that thing that started all of this.”
The girl's expression went blank.I didn't start this war,” she claimed, glancing down at the children. “But I'm going to end it on my terms.”
“DON'T YOU DARE LAY ONE OF YOUR FINGERS ON MY KIDS!” The mother roared!
The girl didn't answer. Instead she smiled sweetly at the woman and turned away with the now calm children in her hands. After placing one foot on the first step down, she simply said,“Your services are no longer required, thank you for your collaboration.” and rushed down the stairs with the children in her arms. The complaints and struggles of the mother were heard in vain, being pushed back into the bed by the soldiers at each attempt.
As the girl left the house she took a good look at the babies. She calculated them to be about a year old, healthy and softer than anything she had touched before. With a final scream, an audible 'bang' silenced the woman for good, scarring off any birds nearby of the house. The children opened their eyes wide and gazed into her ever-observing caramel ones as she gave them a smile in return, caressing their tiny heads delicately.
“Hello, Adam,” she grinned, tickling the boy with her nose. “Hi! Eve…” she said and kissed the little girl’s forehead. “My name is…
Zero.”
YOU ARE READING
The Blackout War
FantascienzaFor 10 years an event known as The Blackout War has obligated humanity to get rid of all forms of electricity in an attempt to even out their chances against the ruthless androids led by the mysterious entity known as Zero... Follow three stories o...
