The Hope Of Humanity (Discontinued)

Chapter 4: Mechanical Daughter

I groaned and opened my eyes, squinting at the dim light that filtered through a window on my right.

I shoot up. The last thing I remember... We were in the wasteland... My arm... My arm!

I look down at it in horror, but it looked clean and back to hand mode. I pale a bit as I remember the blood, but shake the thoughts away. The important thing right now is figuring out where I am, and if I am in danger.

I hop out of the bed and then stare down at my clothes, alarmed. They definitely were not the clothes I wore in the vault. I was hoping and praying with every fiber that I wasn't the only girl left and that a guy hadn't changed me.

My worries fled as the door opened and a small girl walked in.

She squealed and dropped the bowl she was carrying when she saw me up. It shattered on the floor, water and pottery scattering everywhere.

The girl couldn't have been older than seven. Her dark hair framed her dirty face and bright brown eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I scared you." I bend over, and start picking up the broken pieces. "Here, I'll get this. I don't want you to cut yourself."

I gathered the pieces I could grab and then looked back at the girl, who hadn't moved an inch since she saw me. She had whitened considerably, and her eyes were as wide as a doughnut.

I didn't know how to react to her fear. I didn't know what was scaring her so much. I glance down to see if she had cut her foot, but gasp at my findings.

In the water I saw it. My eye. It was uncovered. My bangs were pulled back with the rest of my hair, revealing the glowing blue metal and glass where tissue used to be.

This time it was me to drop the pieces. I feel one of the larger ones cut my hand, but I hardly notice. Inside my eye, there was a shape. Almost like a spaceship in front of a planet, or at least that was what it reminded me of. Some science fiction sign that I recognized from a movie or something, and it was engraved in my eye.

What happened to me? Why am I like this? Who did this to me, and why? For science? Revenge? Hope? Any reason wasn't enough for me. My life was ruined, and so was my body.

I clutch my head with both hands. I feel the touch of warm blood on my right, and cool metal on my left.

A girl made of metal and flesh. How fitting for the daughter of the Mechanical Duo. The two serial killers that wiped out fifty people with machines. Is it karma? A bad dream?

I hear someone screaming. A sound so terrible and heartbreaking I'm sure it shook the foundations of the world. Sobs teamed with the tortured sound and made it all the more horrible. It sounded like death was claiming one of the innocent.

Except I wasn't innocent. Not anymore.

"Hey, kid! Stop! You're going to hurt yourself!"

My arms are pinned to my back and my face pulled up to meet the eyes of Shorty the Assassin.

"Hey, look at me. Everything is all right. You're safe."

I shake my head, dimly aware of more people besides him in the room. Two people holding my arms. Two people pointing guns at me from the hall. Short in front of me. One behind me for whatever unknown reason.

Terror took hold of my heart, my soul. I shake my head more violently. I start hyperventalating.

"No! Its not okay! I became what I feared most! My parents, when the world was lush and green, they used metal, machines like my arm and my eye to kill over fifty innocent people, including children. Now I'm just like them. Their daughter turning into one of their mechanical killing machines. It's not okay! It's not okay! Now the world is brown and hot, everything I knew is gone, and all that I have to remember my past is mechanical parts that make me a killing machine! This is exactly what I never wanted to happen! My biggest fear, to become a killer, to abandon my humanity and kill just for my own good, and all because some idiots decided to destroy my world for no reason! They pushed my car off a bridge! I was getting milk for my brother... Issac loved milk..."

My normal eye waters. "The only one who loved me is gone now, and I was turned into my biggest fear. Maybe this is the apocalypse. I'm a good person. I couldn't of dreamt this up..."

A single tear drops, mingling with the blood, water, and shattered pottery on the ground. I look up and see Shorty's face is white. His eyes are wide with confusion, fear, guilt, and what seems like curiosity.

He let's go of my face, and he stands up, taking a step back. "Your biggest fear is becoming a killer, like your parents, and your brother was named Issac."

It seems like something in his head clicks. "Take her to the dungeon. Cell #27, I believe."

My mouth opens in disbelief. I had envisioned a lot of things happening, but I didn't think he would state a couple facts out of what I said and then randomly throw me into jail.

I didn't fight. I simply didn't have it in me. I didn't care at this point. All I had was a couple metal parts and scattered memories of my old life in California. Not much to live for. No family, no purpose. Besides, I doubt anyone has kept their humanity in this apocalypse. If they did they'd have to be insane, stubborn, or a really good person. I remember my brother fit those three pretty well.

I smile sadly, and another tear leaks down my cheek. I feel several drops of blood also fall, from my face where my hand rested and where it is now.

I squeeze my eyes shut and shake my head slightly. I do know what to think anymore. Should I just keel walking and end up in a cell for the rest of my life? Or could I take these three blokes behind me on? I wasn't sure how to make my arm into a gun again, but I knew I didn't want to try. I can't abandon my humanity, no matter what. My brother and I promised each other that.

"Did you poison me again? Your lies won't work on me. I know AJ isn't really here! Stop tricking me!"

My eyes shoot open and I turn to the cell on my left.

His clothes were torn and bloody, he had a growing beard, looked a few years older, and his face was covered in dust and soot, but it was most definitely him.

"Issac?"

I wrestle my way out of the guards arms and race to the bars. "Issac! Its me! It really is me, and it really is you!"

His eyes widen. "AJ... But, your arm and your eye..."

Tears streamed down the left side of my face. "Issac you're alive. We're not alone. You didn't die--" a sudden sob takes hold of me, and I press my face against the bars. Issac walks up to me and touches my face.

"You haven't aged a day, but you're different."

"I always told you I'd always stay beautiful..."

A/N:
Awe, such a cute reunion between brother and sister. Now you may be thinking,

Alicia, when is the action and/or romance going to start?

Well, my answer to that is wait. Patience is key to finding the power behind the book.