We are called « the survivors »

III

The man woke up. He was tired and had been hit by a poison bullet thrown by a robot and didn't have any experience in medicine. Soon, the poison would spread from his leg to his heart and it would be the end. He was ready for this, but not now. He had survived nearly two months alone, feeding on rats and other little animals that had managed to live. He had enough, enough of fighting against things that weren't human but created by them. He was running away from them, aware of what they could do to him and what they had already done. Robots wanted to control their creators, to dominate them and do some experiments on them. He thought about his family, his tribe, his village. He had been kidnapped by the robots during a battle and had seen what they were capable of. He had seen a living man being turned into a robot using his brain and organs to make electricity out of it. That was certainly what would have been waiting for him if he had stayed there.
But he had managed, thanks to his technological knowledge, to create an ultrasound to distract the robots that were keeping him in his cell and to escape. He had even created illusions strong enough to reach robots and had used them on a girl. A girl, he didn't know where she had came from but he had saved her life, taken the bullet in his leg so that she be safe and thrown the illusion on the robot. He knew that she had also been affected by the illusion as this system touched everyone in a defined perimeter.
But enough thoughts, now, he had to move, to get back to his village, and tell his compagnons all the atrocities he had seen there. He stood up, walked three steps and fell. The poison was catching him. He had heard of cures for the poison:further in the forest, there were plants and flowers. Karou, the village's healer had told him that. He had to hurry up before it was too late. He began to move, struggling not to fall, telling himself that he had to make it to the forest. For his little girl that he wanted to see grow up, for his wife that he loved more than anything, for his brother, his mother, his sister and his father. He looked around him, he had done it. He saw the giant green trees from top to bottom, he breathed the humid and fresh air of the forest moss and felt the twigs cracking under his feet as he walked. He smiled, relieved. But that wasn't it, he had to find the plant that could take the poison away. He knew how it looked, it was a very small orange flower with thorns on the stem. He quickly spotted one under a large flat tree and crawled with difficulty to get it, always with his hand on his wound. But as soon as he reached the flower, a compact green fog arrived from the forest. He suffocated through the fog,
finding it hard to breathe, coughing every second. But even though he was panicking, he thought, once again about his family and found the courage to pick the flower up. He just had the time to chew it and apply it on his wound before fainting head in the mud.
~
"Hi J! I am good now thanks. I came to ask you something..." Said Anna timidly. "Oh yeah....and what is that?" Asked J still concentrated on his invention. "Could we have weapons and backpacks please?"
J looked away from his creation and looked at Anna, serious.
"Oh I smell the bad plan coming.... what is that for?"
"We need to see if there is another person down there, a person who might have given me the illusion."
J frowned:
"How could you know that it was a human being who put the illusion?"
"We know what robots are capable of. And it is not of these kind of illusions, not that strong. The robots can't have increased their capacities like that, without any big source of electricity." Anna explain confident.
"Well... I don't know... Is Ailana okay with this?"
Anna bit her lips. She knew he would asked something like that.
"Yeah....yeah of course she's okay." She sputtered, lying.
J smiled then walked towards the back door, where all the weapons were stored. He took three guns, bombs and backpacks with anti scanner blankets. He gave them to Anna saying:
"I know Ailana she will never be okay with another searching group especially after what happened to Azoïc. But, well, I trust you. Make the right decisions and bring all survivors back."
Anna smiled and thanked J. She took all that he gave her and started climbing down the ladder. Then she remembered that she needed the door to be opened:
"Oh and could you please open the door tonight, when you hear me on the radio ?" "No problem don't worry. And be careful to my equipment !"
She laughed and turned back. She knew he would be okay with that, they had started knowing each other working together, eight months earlier. But now, she had to find Emma and Ryan as they had planned to leave at night and had to be ready by then. She looked in the bedrooms but didn't find Emma or Ryan. She went down to the basement and found Emma and Shanna preparing provisions for the searching mission. Surprised to see Shanna there, she whispered proudly in Emma's ear:

"I got the weapons"
"Nice job! We nearly finished packing the provisions"
"We?! How come she is coming with us?"
"Anna, we need to be a sensible number. We can't leave at three, not against robots. It is not just a refuelling mission like we normally do. It is going to last very long and it will be dangerous. "
"Emma, I have finished the first aid kit." Announced Brendan.
"He is coming too?!" Anna sighed, stunned.
Ryan arrived in the room, out of breath.
"We need to go. Now. Ailana is blocking the doors tonight, apparently there is a battle coming up."
"If there is a battle, we need to be there for them, we mustn't leave them alone." Anna retorded.
"No, we need to leave now. Ailana is busy with the warriors, giving them orders. She won't notice us leaving."
All the team agreed and started gathering all their equipment in their bags. They headed to the door, ready to bring back new survivors. Anna asked J through the radio to open the door and it opened. They quickly headed out, feeling the fresh air on their faces, smelling the harsh perfume of dirt and pollution. They looked at each other, smiling, they were out.