Survivors

45

We sat in the living room of Mae's cave and went over how to ruin Kons' plans with the chips. We also had some dessert while discussing.

"When Mr. Kon comes back, he's going to want the rest of those control chips," Darius pointed out.

"We gotta destroy them," Brooklynn said.

"And anything related to them," I added, taking a bite out of my cookie. I looked over at Sunny, who was chewing on her fourth fish.

"Where do you think stuff like that's going to be?" Sammy asked.

"My best guess is Kash's office or computer," Darius guessed. "Okay, Brooklynn, Chris, and I will go to Kash's office and delete those files. Sammy, Yaz, and Ben will go to the workshop and destroy the chips."

Ben pumped his fist. "Destroying; count me in."

"Ah man, how come I'm not 'Team Smash and Dash'?" I asked.

"'Smash and Dash'?" Darius questioned.

"Yeah 'cause you smash the stuff and then get the hell out of there," I explained.

Sammy pointed a finger at me. "She does have a point."

"Why don't we have a little friendly competition," Yaz suggested, smirking.

"I'm listening," I said.

"Like a race?" Darius asked. "You're on."

"Yeah," I said. "'Team Hacking' vs 'Team Smash and Dash.'"

"Ooh, I love the sound of that," Sammy said. "I can't wait to blow the chips and workshop to smithereens."

"Or maybe we don't start a massive chemical fire inside the biome," Yaz said.

Both Ben and I whined in disappointment.

"Good call," Sammy agreed. "I don't know what I'd do without you. Camp fire on the cliffs outside?"

"We'll meet you there," Brooklynn said. "Or should I say beat you there."

"Losers roast the marshmallows," Ben said before we all split up.

Brooklynn, Darius, and I ran to the compound. Sunny followed us. When we entered the compound, we were quick to discover that the clanker-Xs were still around. Two were huddled in front of Kash's office.

"I'll distract them," Darius said. "You'll get to the computer." He turned to Brooklynn.

"I'll go with you," I said to Darius. He nodded.

"Wait, hang on," Brooklynn started. Darius and I didn't wait for her to finish as we stepped out into the open.

"Hey! Can't catch us!" Darius yelled.

The clankers turned to us and started to chase us.

Darius and I started to weave through the tunnels, dodging electric blasts from the clankers.

Sunny roared and latched her jaw around one of the clanker's arms. I nocked in an arrow and aimed. I let the bowstring go and the arrow sunk into the clanker's neck. It fell down. One down, one to go.

I turned and saw the clanker about to fire at Darius, who was cornered. I nocked in an arrow and fired.

The arrow collided with the electric orb and knocked it off course. The orb fired into the wall.

The clanker turned towards me. I had trouble trying to nock an arrow in. The clanker opened its mouth to fire at me.

Darius jumped and stabbed the clanker in the neck with the arrow I fired earlier. The clanker collapsed. Darius was heavily breathing as he stood up.