Automata

CHAPTER 8 - The Duo + 1

AuthN: Sorry for the small delay between this chapter and the previous one. I had to complete a few college assignments with strict deadlines so I haven't been able to write for the past few days. Anyway, please enjoy!

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Annette shined her flashlight onto the dark figure. It was a little girl who looked to be around 9 years old. Her hair was quite messy and grown out to her waist. Most of her clothing was tattered: She wore a beige dress with a few holes at the bottom, and her shoes looked to be made from the same fabric used for trash bags. Her shoes were kept up by thin ropes tied around her ankles, and her asymmetrical socks seemed to be originally white, but turned tannish-brown due to the environment.

Annette quickly adverted the flashlight away from the little girl's eyes.

"Who... who are you??" the small girl asked.

Another human? Annette thought to herself

"My name is Annette. I'm currently on a journey to find someone.", she replied slowly. The little girl hopped up. "Oh! I'm Isabel!" she beamed. "Hey Isabel! Where are your parents?" Annette asked. Isabel looked down. "Uhm.. not sure... I haven't seen them in a very long while..". Isabel had a look on her face that implied she didn't want to stay on this topic. "BUT! A kind lady usually checks up on me from time to time! She hasn't come back recently though... maybe she's off battling those evil--"

"Hold on, a kind lady? What did she look like?" Annette questioned.

Isabel lit up and began counting on her fingers. "Oh, she was so pretty! She had pigtails, she was nice, tall, and--"

"Do you remember her name??" Annette asked, her voice growing in volume with each word.

Isabel put her hand on her chin and thought for a moment. "Um... Cassidy? Casey? Cat-- oh cats are cute! Hmm.. oh her name was obviously--". "Courtney?!", Annette exclaimed. Isabel let out an annoyed sigh. "I was gonna say that!".

Annette suddenly pulled Isabel into a tight hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she shouted. Isabel had a perplexed look on her face but decided to play along. "You're welcome?" Isabel replied, freeing herself from the tight hug.

Annette looked towards the house's entrance and then back at Isabel. "There aren't more of you are there?" Annette asked. Isabel shook her head. "Okay. Would you like to go with me to find Courtney? If you do, I'll give you 70% of the food in my satchel-". "Deal! Anything's better than being stuck here with nothing to do!".

Isabel hurriedly followed behind Annette as they stepped outside once again. Once they were on what was left of the front porch, Annette heard shuffling sounds coming from her bag. She turned around and saw Isabel downing the entire bottle of water and chewing on a watermelon slice bigger than her hand.

How long was this child left alone? Annette wondered as she walked further into the sunburned sand. Annette heard approaching footsteps and looked behind her. 9s appeared from behind one of the houses. He looked like he'd just gotten out of an intense battle. His hair was quite sandy and disheveled, and he had small splotches of black goo on his pale face.

"Sorry for my sudden disappearance, Ann. Hope you didn't get too worried about me. I just had to do something." he explained while cleaning his face, hair, and clothing with a cloth. Annette smiled and waved to 9s as he walked over to them. "I was starting to think you left or something! Damn, what did you get into?".

Isabel's eyes widened as the Android approached them. 9s looked down at Isabel.

"Oh hey. Who are you?" he asked, tilting his head and kneeling to Isabel's level.