Our Mutual Destruction

Chapter 1

Adlyn's POV

"AAAAGGGHHHHHH!!"

"NO! DON'T TAKE HER! NOT MY BABY! PLEASE! I'LL DO ANYTHING!"

Adlyn turned over and pulled her coat over her head to block out the noise. Every morning was like this. Every day's soundtrack was screams and shouts and pleading mothers. Every night was bombings and robotic voices searching the rubble for survivors.

It was only a matter of time before they found her.

So it was time to move.

She didn't have much, just her jacket, the clothes on her back, her knives and her gun. The gun the Lost Men had given her. Their pleas for justice still rang in her ears. Their mutilated bodies still haunted her dreams at night. And yet she couldn't find the motivation. She couldn't find the drive to help those people. And she couldn't explain why.

"Building detected. Engage in Search and Rescue protocol."

Adlyn scoffed. Rescue. Yeah right. If turning a human being into a living experiment was a rescue, then pigs could fly. Although, at least you were kept alive. At least you were useful to them, instead of fighting for your life. At least you were safe. But it was a high price. And not one that Adlyn was willing to pay.

She scrambled to her feet, slung her gun over her shoulder, checked her knives, and crept out into the light. The sight that met her eyes wasn't new, but it still shook her every time she saw it. It was hard to wrap your head around the fact that a person was dead when their eyes were wide open and they were still breathing. But it didn't change the fact that they were.

Adlyn sighed. At least the dreams had stopped. She didn't know when they would be back. Only that they would return. And that night would be a bleak one indeed.

So she ran. Away from the androids and their "helpful" invasion, away from the pain and suffering and endless heartbreak, into the deepest, darkest recesses of her mind. And shut off. She was a walking corpse. She was a spirit. She was nothing, and she was no one. And then she stood up and walked into the wasteland that was once known as home.

*beginning of flashback*

"Hi, sweetie! Omigosh, you look great! Happy sweet sixteen, my darling girl."

"Hi, Aunt Bea. Wow, I love your dress."

"Only the best for my favorite niece!"

"Aunt Bea, I'm your only niece."

"Even better!"

"Aunt Bea!!"

"Sorry, sorry. OH! Here's your present. I hope you-"

"I'm sure I'll love it... OMIGOSH!! How did you know??!! I love this!! Aunt Bea, you shouldn't ha-- "

BOOM.

*end of flashback*

It was dark, it was grey. There was nothing left. Nothing to live for. Only justice drove her. It would drive her until the very end. Or would it? She didn't know. The month that was missing from her memory ate at her relentlessly. Why was it even missing? What happened during that time? And WHY, WHY, WHY, couldn't she remember? Stupid, stupid, stupid, she chided herself. How would she ever find her family and destroy Zayne if she kept thinking like this?

Destroying Zayne. A job so large, and yet so insignificantly small. No amount of pain and destruction could make up for all that Zayne screwed up. No, not screwed up. No word in any language could describe the mess that Zayne had made of Earth.

And he would be brought to justice. No matter the cost.

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That's Chapter 1. Tell me what you think, and make me smile by clicking that star!