Terra Firma

Masters of assassination

    Lying in a crevice of the junk pile, Luna dragged herself under a makeshift overhang. She pulled the jagged metal sheet a little further over her body and held her breath, hugging the tank close to her chest. Whatever had made that noise had either left or was doing the exact same thing she was — waiting to see if their end was also near.

    It would be hard for an animal to survive this far into London; the chemicals and fog made it near impossible for her even to trek through. If it was a crumbling building, Luna would have sworn it would make more noise. That left only one terrifying option: Humans.

    It had been so long, Luna wasn't even sure there were any other humans left. Thinking about the things she had to do to survive this far, she knew one thing — if it was a human, or worse, humans, then they would have to be at the very least every bit as cunning and tough as she was. And if they were more so...

    She needed to get out of here, and fast. Biting her lip, Luna tried to figure out how exactly she could sneak a trolly full of oxygen tanks past whoever was creeping around out there.

    There was no other way. She was going to have to confront them.

    Luna took a deep breath, closing her eyes and tightening her grip on the air canister. Maybe she could use it as a weapon if she managed to swing it around a bit. She couldn't do much more damage to a skull than to smash an oxygen tank into it. It would have to do.

    She lifted herself up, creeping slowly around the pile until she stood facing the intersection. At first, all she saw was dust and smog, twirling dainty circles in the street. Then, she saw him.

    Well, it.

    Luna cursed softly, squeezing herself back behind the shelter of the crumbled brick. It was a droid. There was no way — no way — she could make it past one of them and survive. She had seen what the droids could do firsthand, and that was something she never wanted to repeat. Her foot slipped, loosing a few broken bits to clatter down into the street, and Luna felt her heart stop.

    She was in for it, now.

    Seconds ticked by. Her heart slowly began to pump faintly in her chest again. Maybe she was just seeing things. She had been in the nastiness of the city for a while now, maybe it was messing with her brain.

    Stop being such a pollo, Luna, she chastised herself. With a big pinch on her arm, she drew herself up again, marching to the street side of the pile.

    It was staring right at her.

    Eyes bluer than blue, and hair darker than night, you almost couldn't tell that it wasn't human. The only way she knew was by watching it blink — from the sides in, and not up and down.

    She gulped. Now what would she do? Luna clutched the tank close to her chest, eyes darting left and right trying to plot her escape.

    The droid held up a hand, pointing at her. His face was smooth, emotionless, though he tipped his head to the side like he was asking her a question. It made Luna's skin crawl.

    "Leave me alone," she whispered, every cell in her body tingling with fear. Why wasn't it coming to get her already? Why hadn't it moved?

    She bit her lip, her mind sliding into what could be the most important question of all: Were there more?

    He drew his arm back to point at her again, more insistently this time. Now his eyebrows bent at a comical angle; it reminded Luna of the funny faces that Stan used to make. Her heart wrung for a completely different reason, but she knew this was the last time to start getting sentimental. It was, quite literally now, a life or death situation.

    "What do you want?" She could barely whisper the words, her lips trembling so much it was like she was speaking underwater.

    The drone frowned even deeper, letting his arm fall down to his lap. He was sitting on the side of a large concrete slab, his legs crossed over one another. But still, he didn't move from where he sat.

    Luna raised an eyebrow, peering around the street again. It didn't seem like there was anyone else there, but... the droids were masters of assassination.

    "Leave me alone." Luna lifted her chin, staring down at the droid as if to dare him to move. He never did. She scrambled slowly down the last few feet of rubble until her feet touched the sooty ground. He just stared at her, every time he blinked it made her stomach flip. It was like staring at a lizard.

    She moved towards where the trolley was, eyes never leaving the droid where he sat. He just watched her, frown on his face, as she carefully lifted her tank into it. Leaning on the handle with one elbow, Luna stared back at him, trying to figure out what was going on. He should have jumped her by now. Humans had no chance against them.

    Time was running out. She needed to get back to the buggy now, or she wasn't going to make it. With one last confused glance at the droid, Luna started the journey back to the edge of the city.

    Something crashed behind her again and she jumped a foot in the air. Whirling on her heels, Luna shrieked, suddenly face-to-face with the blue-eyed droid. He held up a hand, slowly pushing on her shoulder, eyes never leaving hers.

    Luna tried to back up but couldn't; the trolley was in the way. The droid had lifted his other arm to block her in — there was no escaping him now. She had been foolish.

    "I just want to go home," she whispered, eyes wide in shock. Her pulse raced so fast that she heard her heart beating. Poor Lucky, rescued only to be abandoned again. She wished she could close her eyes, waiting for the droid to deal his final, and only, blow.

    Of all the ways she had imagined this day going wrong, this was not one of them.

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A/N

Thank you for reading and voting. We would your comments on what you think so far? What do you think of Luna? and the droid?

Thanks again from @caybaileyand me xx