Murder Drones: Born from ashes

Chapter 14 : Meet Dracula!

The rocky planet began to show itself from under the white slush, as the black sheet was pushed to the other side, the Sun now stared through the brown sky. The weather had become warmer, and the children emerged from the van to enjoy the luxuries of light.

This new squad consisted of Willard, Wally, Joey, and Kyle.

Willard was the leader in the absence of their radar unit. He was the oldest of the group and was the only one to follow protocol to a T. He wore his armband on his right arm, and kept his battle helmet strapped along his chin.

Wally was the youngest, designated as a shield unit above all else. He scribbled markers across his face and jacket during training and was forced to wear it as a form of humiliation.

Joey was the friendliest. Joey was the speaker of the group despite his standing to Willard.

Kyle was the shotgunner. He was seen as dead weight in bootcamp, but his violent outbursts which would have been a detriment in society was perfect for wartime. As such, they let him keep a teddy bear strapped around his back to keep him from going into a blind rage.

The boys felt a sense of genuine discovery, sliding into the puddles, laughing, splashing each other in pure glee. The ones old enough to have loyalty implanted in their minds, took the chance to dry their uniforms and clean their equipment. Ruger ran a few diagnostics on the van, while Eyes and Stacy studied their map. Uzi sat in the dark, watching the boys have their fun. She was terrified of going into the light. She didn't want her squadmates to see her, for a reason she couldn't logically justify. N naturally couldn't stay in the Sun, not without instantly combusting. He was tempted, she could see it in his eyes, to run out there and join them.

Stacy thumbed a small photo in her pocket. It was a piece of old polaroid with a fading image of her, her sister, and their father. Their mother died upon delivering them.

"Ruger, do you have plans for when the war ends?"

"I don't know. Maybe keep running organs?"

"I want to be an archaeologist. I could do the digging, maybe I could get some help with the searching."

"That's a pretty informal way of asking for help."

"Yeah, the three of us, the raiders of the lost world and the saviors of the future."

"Who's the third one?"

"My kid sister, V-"

"Hey Kyle" crackled a small tape player. The soft voice swooned up the men.

"Hey Kyle~!" said Wally in a mockingly falsetto voice. The other troopers began to laugh along with Wally. One of the boys grabbed the tape recorded from the drone and began to fiddle with the small machine.

"Hey! Give that back!" Kyle screamed with a hellish stare. The laughter stopped before returning, almost suffocating the organ runners.

"I'll do it when you stop playing it!"

"Hey, leave him alone!" Joey shouted. Wally placed his hand on his friend's back.

"Listen, I understand you guys are friends, but we have to focus," He said in a serious comical tone, "We need to focus on killing the murder drones. I mean, you can..." He seemed to alter his sentence realizing he was in the presence of women, "Work first, play later, right?" He finished his sentence with a stupid grin. Joey grunted. V9V2, V2 would have been disgusted by this behavior, but Stacy smiled.

As the Sun began to set, shadows began to reach from the ruins. The boys soon lost their laughter, their smiles, and their jokes, returning to their callous personas.