When The World Burned

Chapter 10

All Benjamin felt was pain as he woke up a literal week later.

"Awake, eh? Awake," A male voice croaked as he opened dark blue eyes to see a man leaning over him. "Almost done, almost done." Rough hands were working with tools around his legs at mid-thigh length as the stranger chuckled and kept chanting words repeatedly.

Why did his legs hurt? His right arm? Groaning, he turned his head to see that his right arm was replaced by a metal one from the middle of his upper arm and down. Blinking in confusion, he tried pushing up to see his legs, only for a hand to shove him back down roughly. With his eyes he followed the olive-skinned hand up to a familiar face – her face. She smiled down at him with those green cat eyes of hers and pat his chest gently.

"The mechanic is almost done, honey." She chuckled. "While you wait, I will tell you a little about myself and my silly sister, Nela. First off, my name is Nera and hers is Nela. I know, the twin irony is not lost on me." Lifting her hand, she waved it dismissively and sighed. "Anyway, she is literally a mutant now. Pointed ears, sharp teeth, and even claws. It is repulsive, but she is my sister and I need her to come home. There is also the issue of that demon chasing her around. I'm positive he just wants to fuck her senseless."

When the doctor did something that caused a jolt of pain to shoot up his arm, Benjamin hissed in pain and jerked slightly. "What the hell is going on?!" He shouted and shot up to see his legs were no longer there. They had been replaced by metal ones that resembled something from an old robot movie he watched once. "What the...the...why?!" Touching his legs that were bare but for the boxers he was wearing, the man wanted to scream and cry all at once.

"Everything has a price, Benjamin." Nera answered as she settled both hands on her hips. "My boys need food and my mechanic here can easily replace metal limbs."

"But my legs..." He looked at the metal arm as its fingers curled and twitched. It felt wrong, wrong, wrong!

She smiled again and waved to the frog man. "Continue," She ordered and gazed at the thirty-six-year-old again. "Like I said, metal is easily replaced in a world with so few people. You'll be fine because they are connected to your nerves." Tapping where the metal connected to his skin, she raised her dark eyebrows. "You'll be fine, honey. You have a big job ahead of you, after all."

Suddenly glaring at the dark-haired woman, Benjamin seethed. "Why should I help you after what you've done?!"

Her face fell with a frown. "Excuse me?" Hand suddenly pulling one of her swords from its sheath, she shoved him down to the table and pressed the sword against his neck, blade almost slicing skin. "I could have killed you, sir. I could have just let them at you in that hallway, eat you alive like they have done to so many out there in this fucked up wasteland, but I didn't. I could kill you right now, but I am not going to. I'm letting you live, and you will find my sister, Nela. After you find that whore for me and drag her back, I will contemplate taking you to that vault to find your little sister. Are we clear?"

He was silent, but the look in his dark eyes was enough of an answer. The sword stayed pressed to his neck as the mechanic finished working on those new metal legs. Benjamin wanted to beg for time to go backwards, to stop himself from letting Rue convince him it was time to leave their small bunker, but if he did that there would be no hope of finding her now. If he ran home and refused to find this twin that had become a mutant, he would never get to see Rue again.

He had to save Rue.

When the sword lifted, he was able to sit up. Nera grabbed onto his chin, which was shaved now, and looked him square in the eyes. Smiling to him, she leaned forward and pressed her soft lips to his for a long moment. Letting her hand slide down to his neck and shoulder, pulling him toward her as she continued to kiss him like a lover. It elicited emotions and feelings he had not felt in so long that he could not fight back, could not stop her. For sixteen long years he had raised a sister that was not even blood related, loved a girl as if she were his own child simply because the world had ended.

Pressing his metal hand to her shoulder, Benjamin shoved Nera away with a gasp. "Don't touch me!" He roared, looking at the wooden table he sat upon. "Just stay the fuck away! Stay away!"

She giggled. "Fine, but you best get going by nightfall or I'll let the boys get ahold of you." Turning her gaze to the mechanic where he was tossing tools, she sheathed her sword. "Take him to the jeep and escort him to the Scorched Lands."

"Will do, will do," The man chanted and grabbed a key at his waist. "Come on, boy. Show me you can walk with them new legs of yours."

Groaning in disdain, the brunette slid from the table, letting his bare metal feet press to the concrete floor of the room. It felt wrong and odd, pain shooting up through his thighs and hips, stabbing into his spine as he put his full weight down upon the new legs. Letting out a cry of pain, he fell to the floor and banged his left hand down. "How am I going to walk if pain is all I feel?!" He inquired through gritted teeth.

"You'll get used to it." Nera chided and stepped around the table. Grabbing his hair roughly, she stabbed a needle into his neck and injected him with something. "Give this a few seconds and you'll be fine as freshly bloomed flowers. You have a week's worth of it waiting in the jeep. Now, get up!"

Taking in a deep breath, Benjamin rose to his feet and was shocked at the lack of pain. There was some stinging, but no white-hot pain shooting up toward his spine. "Okay..." He muttered. "Lead the way?"

Nodding, the mechanic stepped out a door, Benjamin following on his new metal legs.

~

At the jeep, Benjamin found his clothes and slipped into them, including his boots. Both his bag and Rue's were there along with all the weapons he had taken earlier. In the bag were boxes of bullets, gas mask filters, and the medicine Nera had informed him of. Water bottles and a few cans of food were included, as well.

His gas mask was waiting in the passenger seat. Grabbing it as he climbed into the jeep, he slipped it over his face as the mechanic sat in the driver's seat. "You got a long road ahead of you, boy." The man stated gruffly as he started the engine and honked the horn to tell the cannibals that the oversized door needed to be opened. It creaked loudly as it slowly climbed toward the ceiling of the large room.

Sighing, Benjamin fastened the seatbelt and searched through his bag to find his old goggles. Pulling them out as the jeep rolled from the building, he closed the bag and set it on his lap with Rue's bad. With the clothes on, he felt far more comfortable than without pants hiding his new legs. It felt strange not actually feeling the boots around his feet, though. He had no choice in putting up with it at this point since these nut jobs had already stolen his legs and an arm.

Putting on his goggles, he watched the dead landscape race by as the mechanic took him closer and closer to the blackened part of the world. He honestly did not want to do this, but he had to for Rue's sake. She would be at the end of this, at the end of everything. The moment he got her back, he was heading straight to their bunker and they would not leave again.

Ever.

Would she forgive him for locking her away again? How would the world go on if there were no heirs to take it on? He could never find it in himself to touch Rue that way. She was too much his sister and too close to being an actual daughter, but if push came to shove, he would find a way. He would go out and find a husband for her, but never one of these beastly cannibals. Getting away from them would be priority one after reaching Rue.

The darkened landscape came upon them in less than an hour and the mechanic stopped the jeep at the edge of it. "This is your stop, kid." He croaked as he put the jeep into park and looked over at him with blinking tired eyes. "You enjoy those legs and find me if they get messed up. Arm too."

Nodding, Benjamin unbuckled and opened the door. Practically hopping out of the jeep, he pulled his bag over his head and let the strap settle on his left shoulder. Tying Rue's back around his waist, he thanked God he was left-handed. Learning to write again would be a huge pain in the ass, especially since he wanted to continue teaching his sister things. She was brilliant minded and could draw like a pro, but her writing was questionable.

Closing the jeep door after taking all his weapons, he watched as it drove back toward the dilapidated city where the cannibals resided. Turning to what Nera called the Scorched Lands, he sighed heavily and took his first steps into a sun destroyed world.