A•N•D•R•O•P•H•O•B•I•A

Odd Salutation

 I woke up, after feeling a cold droplet hit my nose. I found myself, not in a forest this time, but in what seemed to be a cave. I placed a hand to support my head, as I raised it from the hard rock wall. I groaned at the stiffness, rubbing my neck ruefully. I looked around the cave, finding it very dark. "How did I get here?" I asked myself. I stood up and quickly gasped upon doing so. My eyes instinctively went to my left leg, which was, the last time I checked, broken. "Oh wow." I exclaimed, looking at my clean, and surprisingly, bandaged ankle. "How did that happen?" I suddenly remembered what happened earlier. My foot got caught in a rock, and I got stuck. Before I could recollect any more of that, a shoot of blinding light caught my eye, causing me to look straight ahead. There was a bright, white hole, at the other end of the cave. Seeing there was no other option, I gently walked towards it. I reached a hand out and it met with another wall of rock. Now as I got a good look at the hole, the light was daylight. I looked at it longer, making sure it was big enough. When it was, I crouched down, and made my way out.

 I hissed quietly as the sunlight hit me. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the light, so I placed a hand to block it out for a while. When a minute passed, I put my hand down, and I could finally see things clearly. I was still in a forest, much to my dismay, but at least here, was better than back at that.... I trailed off suddenly. "Here.." I said to myself. "How did I get here?' I asked myself. I jerked after hearing rapid footsteps behind me. I whipped around, fearing that the creature I had encountered was still nearby. I looked back to the cave, and was surprised to find that the hole I had come out of was gone. There was a large slab of rock blocking the opening of the cave, and now it seemed to have been moved. I looked back in front of me, and gave a small cry as I found the same creature from before, right in front of me. I quickly fell on my back, and backed away as my initial reaction. The robot-creature looked at me skeptically, as if what I did was weird. "Stay away from me!" I said hurriedly. Of course, like before, it crawled towards me. Only this time, it stopped a few good feet away. It didn't  move, it just stayed where it was, staring at me like it did before.

 I looked at it warily, unsure of what it might do. Suddenly it reached out for me. Like before, I began to panic. But as its' hand got closer, was only then, that I noticed that it was holding a small, bulky bag. It held it out towards to me, and seeing that I wasn't going to take it, placed it on the ground. When it let go of the bag, the contents inside rolled out, which, to my surprise, were peaches. For a moment, I had no idea, what to make of the situation. It gave me food? I stared down at the fruits, then to the robot-creature. I was hesitant, but due to my own hunger, I took a peach and bit into it. It was so fresh and sweet, that I quickly took another bite. From the corner of my eye, I noticed that the robot-creature was still looking at me. Reluctantly, I faced it, but because I still coudn't stand, the metal covering its' body, I kept my eyes on the peach in my hands. "Th-thank you.. For giving me food.." I said uncertainly. I wasn't sure if it was going to reply, but all robots in our present era all speak, which was odd, because this one, didn't. I looked up to it slightly. Its' head was cocked to the side again, and the expression on its' face was of confusion.

 "Uhm.. Thank you.." I said, now pointing to it. "For the food.." I added, holding the peach out to it. "You can try any kind of speech, but he still won't understand you." A voice suddenly said. The robot-creature in front of me, whipped his head around, and suddenly backed away from me. From behind the trees surrounding us, out came, 4 figures. "W-who's there?" I asked shakily. Remembering that I was still outside the walls of our Sector, and that I wasn't safe, evoked the fear back in my mind. "You do not need to be afraid. We will not harm you." The voice said kindly. I gulped quietly, as the new-comers came out from their hiding. They were all wearing hooded cloaks, and that struck a quick flashback in my mind. Dominique and I were attacked by the intruders. And those intruders were wearing the same cloaks. "Get away!" I yelled, quickly standing up from my place, and dropping the peach. "There is no need to recoil. We will not lay a finger on you. I swear." The one in the middle said. I looked at them indecisively. Without a moment's hesitation, I ran to my right, and ran until I was out of their sight.  

 Now that my leg was all better (and I still don't know how that happened), I ran at full speed, not stopping for a moment. It was them! They were the intruders who attacked us! It was all their fault! The robot-creature, out of nowhere, jumped down from the trees, and landed right in front of me. Just the sight of it stopped me. "Thank you, Pyxl." I glanced over my shoulder, and the robot-creature's commrades, came right behind me. "Now, please. Just calm down." I gave a weak scoff. As if that's possible. "I am going to come closer, so please do not run off like you did just now. The forest is very dangerous.." Their somewhat leader said, walking towards me. "As if you're not dangerous.." I said with bated breath. "We're not." The leader said firmly. "Yes, you are! You attacked and ravaged our Sector! One of you even attacked me and my sister.." I said, my voice dying away. They were all quiet for a while, momentarily stunning me. It proved to be bad timing, though, because, the robot behind me, grabbed my arms. "If you would just kindly come with us, please." Their leader said kindly.

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 "Let me go! Let me go!" I repeated, beating at my somewhat cage. When their leader had said: "kindly come with us", the robot-creature, whom it had called Pyxl, released tentacle-like, metal from its' back, and used it to carry me in. When I was put in it, I realized that it must've also been the same container they put me in, when they took me away from Area 16. Now we were walking, to only God-knows-where. "Let me go! I demand you to let me go!" I tried ordering this robot, named Pyxl. It didn't obey me, which only made me more furious. I banged my cage with my balled fists, ignoring the fact that it was metal. I beated against it so hard, that my flesh broke, and blood began to stream down the side of the metal lining. We stopped, and I was suddenly released from the cage. I gasped for air, as if I hadn't breathed for years. My "captors" huddled around me, observing my actions. Their leader, bent down in front of me. "Let me see your hands." He said.

 Yeah, right. Like I would let a complete stranger touch me. It reached hand out and quickly grabbed both of my wrists. As I looked down at his hands, my eyes widened in horror, as I realized that they were metal hands, just like his companion's. Out of fear, I was petrified, and I just let him, or it, do what it wished. It/he, raised my hands to its'/his face. From under the cloak it/he, was wearing, thick metal tubes potruded out, and made their way to my hands, causing me to tremble horribly. "Do not be afraid.. Look." It/he said. I obediently looekd to my hands, because there was nothing else I could do. To my surprise, the metal tubes released, small red lasers, that magically, closed up my wounds. "There. Good as new, just like your foot." It/he said. I suddenly looked up to it/he with an inquiring look. "You did that?" I asked. It/he nodded. I was so confused, I placed a hand to my head.

 "This must be all very hard to absorb, since you've experience quite an incident, as you have said." It/he said soothingly. "Clancy." One of them, seemingly a female, said to their leader. "I'll tell you everything later. Right now we need to get to shelter." It/he said. Clancy turned to his commrades. "Let's go back to the lab." Clancy ordered. Pyxl, the one whom Clancy had ordered to carry me, gently came to my side. I moved away from him, folding my hands together. "We will be walking a long way. You might get tired." Clancy implied. "Oh no. I can..I can walk on my own. I won't fall behind. I promise." I said anxiously. "You will not run?" Clancy asked. I considered that statement. I could run, but even if I did, they'd eventually catch up to me. And because I was all alone out here, with no one, following these people is better, than walking blind. "I won't." I said sincerely. Clancy nodded his head. "Let's go, then."

TO BE CONTINUED