Lost But Not Forgotten (NaNoWriMo 2013)

3.

Mmmmm... Savory... The beautiful taste melts in my mouth like heaven. It's been so long since we've had something like chicken, I think four or so months since our last meaty meal.

Food is quite hard to come by during the war, the robots seems to be pretty good at hiding their storage of food; we either have to hunt, grow or fish for our food which means a diet of mostly veg and wild wold or deer. Luckily, Greg and Dan, our hunters, found a stray chicken running loose not too far from here, must have escaped a robot farm of some sort.

"I can't wait for our annual camping trip next week!" Bethany's voice interrupts my train of thought as I quickly fetch an answer from my mind.

"Yeah, me too. Hopefully the weather won't be too bad... We don't want a repeat of last year!" I say while trying to hold back the giggles. We have a camping trip every winter, only the young ones go and that includes anyone under 18. Though we do have supervisors come to make sure we're safe. Last year, we had decided to go ice skating on a frozen lake we had found during our trek- bad idea. It usually isn't so frosty that the lakes freeze but that particular year had been pretty bitter, probably does pesky robots experimenting with our atmosphere or something... Anyway, the moment I stepped onto the rigid ice, I slipped and fell flat on my face braking my nose, it was really painful but I have to admit, it was funny and I completely make a spectacle of myself. Talk about embarrassing...

Does are the moments where I can forget everything and be happy. I try to lead a normal life as possible but it's getting harder and harder everyday. Every second that passes could lead to a disaster that could kill everyone I care about or we could have a mole in the village, robots are good spies and can be made to look human, I always keep an eye on every new refugee; robots have certain characteristics that would be very hard to miss, minus the super human strength and speed, they can be pretty good at acting human.

I haven't seen a robotic human since... Since god knows when. We aren't allowed out of the boundaries of out town unless you are hunting, it's for safety and we will take any chance we can get.

You're probably wondering why the robots really want to kill humans, you see, robots need to feed- on human blood to survive. They didn't always need to, in the year 2016, the first bot with its own mind was built by Dr. Jon Schnieder, oh how I wish I could just kill him. They then started manufacturing robot after robot after robot until nearly every household in the country of America had a bot cooking and cleaning for them. I was only 2 when my family got Julia, our first robot. She was designed to look like a human female and was programmed to cook, clean and babysit; she was such a dear back then and I loved her to death as if she was my own mother. It was a easy comfortable life, we were living in California.

Those earlier robots didn't need blood, just electricity. I wish it could have just stayed at that. But then in 2024 they created the super bots, they were more intelligent than ten humans put together and that was when they started murdering countless people to feast on their blood, at first it was just a regular snack for them but as the bot population increased, they slowly evolved over time to actually need it in their system. They grew out of humans control, it started in a rural town somewhere in England, the robot had gone rogue and stabbed the whole family to death. More and more bots started to thirst for us and that was when we fled to hide in Alaska in 2025. We soon lost contact with the outside world and found my Uncle Jared, who was living with a few of my cousins. We quickly set up this town as more refugees arrived to seek shelter.

We assume that we are the last ones alive but I think there is a chance that there might be more places like here all over the world, others think that's impossible but I can dream can't I?

"April! Wake up! Wake up!" Large hands shake my body and I struggle to awaken.

"Wahh?! Is something happening?!" I sit up and look towards my brother, beads of sweat run down my face as I impatiently wait for an answer.

"Let it go April... Nothing is going to happen, you're just over reacting, I was just waking you up for desert, the guys managed to somehow make ice cream, don't ask me how though, I don't think you wanna know."

"Oh. Well stop waking me up like that, your scaring me! Remember what happened this morning?"

"Sorryyyy" he says cockily while sticking his tongue out at me. I do the same back to him and turn away to talk to Cassidy, my cousin and best friend, she is kind of the only girl around here who understands me even if she is only 15.

"Chill April" she says in her thick southern accent, she and my aunt had escaped from the south just in time, if they had stayed a day longer, they'd probably be dead by now.

"Whatever Cassidy" I smile at her and give her a hug before getting back to my food "Imma just gonna finish my chicken off before eating this mysteriously poop Coloured ice cream".

I take a bite into my chicken but something doesn't feel right. My throat feels all chunky. I can't breathe, oh great, I'm choking.

I find myself gagging, clawing at my neck and staring into Jesse's frightened expression before unconsciousness engulfs me in darkness...