That One Worker Drone

Chapter Two: The Outside

It was go time, and he was ready to get out of this place. Kane emerged from the crate and was relieved to see Dan and the others go. He walked out of the storage area and saw an empty hall. He made his way upstairs and navigated until he was directly above the main door. He looked down, searching for a ventilation grate that he soon found. He heard snippets of conversation from the rooms below him. The colony never really rested, as all of the drones could go for a long time without sleeping. Hopping in, he moved the state back over him and used his copier to gain a copy of the door key. He studied the room from above and noted the location of the scanner. Soon, all the WDF left to sleep, and Kane jumped down. He hesitated for a second, wondering if he did want to go outside and never come back, a doubt that was answered with a resounding yes, considering the situation he was in. Kane slammed his copied card on the scanner, and the door opened instantly. Immediately, the toxic cold of Copper 9 assaulted Kane. He exited the bunker, to which it immediately shut, sealing the fate of Kane. Or so he thought, as he looked at his surroundings. The immediate path might as well have been made out of corpses, as they are strewn everywhere, completely drained. Snow rained down everywhere, with an ominous sound as buildings all over the world collapsed due to not being maintained at all. Kane decided to explore some nearby buildings before he headed to the spire. A spire made completely out of corpses, according to tales passed down by older drones. As he approached the buildings, he recognized overly decorative signs and knew that this was once a retail area. Kane entered through the door and looked around. The area appeared to be a pawn shop, with most of the items being destroyed by the freezing temperatures. As he was looking through the items, he did not notice a yellow X reflecting off of a metal counter. Immediately after, a shelf collapsed, sending a ton of metallic pots onto a shocked Kane. He remarked that that was one way to speed up his death, and that "I should probably look for something to blow up in case I cannot find the spire, and that will give me a quick death-" Kane would have said more but a ceiling tile fell on him, loosened by the shelf. He immediately left the shop and went to check out a different store, annoyed by being won against by a bunch of pots and a ceiling tile.

Murder Drone POV

"Did that worker drone just ASK TO DIE!?" I asked nobody, confusion evident on my yellow visor. I knew that all Workers did not want to die, but this was intriguing. I needed to know more about the motives of this drone, and I followed him. He entered a different shop after a ceiling panel and a shelf fell on him, eliciting a silent chuckle from me when I heard a voice call out to me.

"L! See any workers out here?" a familiar voice asked. I looked back and saw A, who landed beside me with his wings exposed. My curiosity got the better of me, and I lied, saying that there was nobody around. A soon took off, and I resumed following this drone, who had just exited the store, holding a box of planks. He grabbed a nearby hammer and started sealing the windows. As he did so, I saw a nameplate labelled 'KANE' on him. I assumed that the name of this guy was Kane, and I crept closer to check out his now sealed building. He went inside, and I went to the planks to find a gap, which I did. Looking in, shutting off my lights to not attract attention, 'Kane' was making a makeshift bed using metal sheets and counters. He soon pulled a sheet of metal over him, and powered down, after remarking that this was similar to his living situation at the colony. I carefully entered the area, not making a sound, and sat down in a nearby chair. Waiting was often a boring process, but I needed to know more about this worker drone.

A POV

L had been taking forever to get back to the spire. It isn't like she was lost, as she found her way back from farther distances. Either way, I was also waiting on G, who was also hunting. Climbing in the pod, I removed a floor panel, and took our a filled corpse as reserves, and sliced it into 3 parts. I placed the body on the table, and sat down, drinking my share of the corpse. Soon, I heard G arrive, and went out to greet him.

"Hey G! Do you know where L is? She was last in an area where a storm was expected."

"No, she went in a separate direction than me. Either way, she will be alright, as she has survived worse before."

After G had his partition of the body, he started devising ways to get into a nearby bunker, which I soon joined. Both of us went to sleep after getting nowhere and hoped that L was alright.