The alley stenched less than usual— probably due to nobody else really being here— although the ever-present foliage of moss and vines continued to hamper my way deeper.

I check my back every minute or so, but still as if waiting for someone. I should be glad to know that I’ve lost them in my tracks… yet I felt anything but relief.

“Hello?! Is There Anyone Here?” A voice boomed from the intersection I was just about to cross. It was frail and rigid. “H-huh?” I immediately frenzied beside a garbage bin when their silhouette stretched across the alley beside mine. 

Shortly after, a suited old man holding an umbrella walked forward and didn’t bother to look down my direction whatsoever. Stranger still, his walk had a sense of droidness; each step was succinct and mindless.  

They only mimicked the actions of walking; well tried I suppose, because they weren’t doing a good job. 

They walked down the alley without turning back

Until he stops and slowly pans his head towards mine despite me being concealed in the dark. 

“Ah, Miss! Good Morning I Almost Didn’t See You.” He greets at the wrong time while stopping and emphasizing every single word of his speech. 

“Huh?” My eyes shot up as the man turned the complete opposite of his otherwise undisturbed path and walked over to me, still with those weird jerky steps.  

“Would You Mind To Chat?” He asks while tilting his head in a cartoonishly exaggerated manner. 

I stood frozen solid, eyes wide while he— they stood lifeless before me, without 

He has that same figure’s face… or to be precise, the lack thereof— just a cloud of these pixelated polygons that obscured any tangible part of a face.    

While reaching out his hand for mine, it moved as stiff as a stick while the figure exuded an off-putting enthusiasm shroud around himself.

“No, I’m good,” I answer before shoving them aside and accidentally knocking down on a puddle while I run off without turning back.    

“What the hell— That wasn’t human, no it couldn’t be,” I mutter to myself while recollecting the scenes from the nightmare I had before waking up. 

It was too unnatural to be a person, yet natural enough to pass off as one… well at a distance I suppose. 

While pacing my feet, running as far as I could to avoid confronting whoever that was again, a hand would pull me from the dark. 

The familiar school long sleeves I’ve been desperately after for as long as I’ve woken. He completely stops me in my tracks and pulls me closer as he clicks on his visor to blind me with its red warmth.  

“Ah!” I recoil while reflexing my hand over my eyes to block the ray, while he continues his stare. 

“I expected you here.” He remarks, tightening his already iron-clad grasp on my wrist. I groan, expressing my growing discomfort the longer it goes on.  

Although, I ignored that in the meantime for more pressing matters, especially now that I’ve found him. My main concern was here with me, all that was left was to escape and find another settlement because this was not the one.  

“Firewall? I don’t know where we are, but we have to leave— huh?” I argue while he’d grow sterner like a boa, unconvinced and unreasonable. 

“Tsk, we have a misunderstanding to mend, and you’re going whether you want to or not.” He scolds with that same cold and unfeeling voice he always had. 

I could sense a frown under his mask, but I couldn’t have possibly expected him yanking me back the way I came, and presumably back to my captors…

He couldn’t have trusted them THAT easily could he? There just had to be no other way.

“Wait, you don’t mean— HEY!” I demand in protest, while he goes completely silent, refraining from even muttering the smallest sound as we approach the “old man”, who’s still sitting on the puddle he’d stumble on as I escaped.

While keeping me restrained with one hand, he lifts the man back on his feet and offers their umbrella for them.  

“Sorry about that, we’ll be on our way now.” He states, before nodding his head. 

“Thank You!” They reply, emphasizing each word as per typical before taking the umbrella for themselves and continuing their droning down the alley. 

“As for you…” He remarks while gleaming his visor at me “Don’t worry you’re not in trouble, we’ll just have to talk things over.” 

I dismissed any sort of resistance soon after he clasped my wrist— completely accepting the futility of it— He could snap me in half if I’d try and resist, but I doubt he’d have the guts to do something as drastic. 

It wasn’t long before we’d left the alley and made our way back to the streets, the moonlight perked through the clouds for us to piece a way forward. 

For once, the feelings of powerlessness manifested through my empty dull expression, as if a minor inconvenience. I didn’t know what to think, or what to feel, I didn’t have the right to act out.

Watching him lose his temper around me felt like an icicle pierced through my chest, freezing everything to a standstill.   

Normally, I’d be annoyed, but the more I pondered, it was virtually pointless. If I fight, what will I gain? 

I’ve already lost my will, so I might as well let the currents take me deep into the ocean floor— never to see the light of day again— this was death, no?

A pitiful amiable death, where I get to wander forever, without self or desire. It is a facade of charity, only to be exploited and thrown away like it used to be.  

First my bouts of success and now my lingering independence… In as little as a day, I’ve seen both slip away, diminishing more and more as time went. 

What logic is in fighting a battle I couldn’t win? I’ve already tried that, but that only proved me something I’ll never be.

Myself. 

It dawned on me at last. Someone will always loom over my back wherever I am, making me do their bidding. 

He saved me, but who was with him now?  

A puppet. That’s what… Yet he persists, acting sympathetic despite understanding nothing about my situation or these feelings. 

“Oy,’ you alright? You’ve been dozing out again” he concerns, flashing my eyes with his visor as he turns his head back.  

I froze in place, making him halt also, looking defeated I mutter. “It’s just… I don’t even know anymore, why insist on helping me?” I demand while looking sternly at the ground. His grasp maintains a tight grip on my wrist.

“To each their own beliefs,” He chuckles before quieting down “All I want is for everyone to be safe and sound.” He answers before letting my wrist go.  

My eyes gaze into his visor, a sigh signals my relief. “You want to chase after your past right?” He asks, catching me off-guard. 

“If it’s even possible… I don’t think I can do it.” 

If I can’t stand up for it, then I don’t have the right to believe in it. Because success was never supposed to be easy, so to keep my consistency going I’ve sworn to myself that I must at all costs withhold it, even if it means trampling on others or putting myself in harm’s way.

That’s what it means to believe in something, by putting your all into it… but why didn’t that work against the sentinel? I almost died with complete belief that I’ll win, that I can manage my own like how I used to handle it back when I still worked, went to school, and had a functioning life outside of whatever distraction I currently found myself in. 

Yet… I didn’t win, I couldn’t prove myself— that’s what bothered me most.

It was like I’ve been returned back to zero, without any assurance if my old life still existed, but even if I was still there, then It wouldn’t change the fact that I was being left behind by my cruel world. 

“No belief goes unchallenged, not even from yourself. You know what you want.” He remarks, shaking his head while eyeing both ways of the street, contemplating.  

“But If I’m holding you back from achieving your goals, then don’t worry about leaving me.” He states with a benign tone, “But staying is a choice too.” He adds from out of nowhere, seemingly adding  

My eyes widened, remembering his terms back when we first met,

It’s only been yesterday but a lot has changed between us… even I’d felt it too. 

“Huh? But you said I’m on my own?” I emphasized, that even if it acted against my interest— I just didn’t want to look more of a wimp than I already am. 

But he’d only chuckle, seemingly unshifted by my “concerns” as he stares me down, casting a red light in front of me. 

“Well, let me make a minor revision, now that our deal is finished you can either leave or stay.” He says, leaving me with the choice to either flee or stay… that wasn't really a choice in retrospect, I either live or die, how easier could that choice be?  

“I… need to leave, but I— I can’t… Firewall, I’ve already tried.” “You’re right! I— couldn’t even take a sentinel on my own, how would I possibly survive on my own like you?” I rant, letting my admissions of envy slip… once.    

I never wanted this, Units and Eden, sentinels and protocols, this “storm”. None of this should’ve happened, and I especially wouldn’t want to become another person’s puppet. If only I’d been a little more cautious that night, I wouldn’t be ensnared in this mess.  

He picks up on my words and sighs, “We have different toolsets and you just haven’t understood yours well enough.” he answers, further validating my absolute inexperience. 

My shoulder slouches, defeated, knowing that I have no choice. I’ve managed to remain composed and hold my tears back, but just thinking about what my future entails… my success… my escape… is my delusion my reality now?  

“You’re staying then.” he sighs with a relaxed tilt of his head, making me raise my head just to see the metallic chin of his helm.  

“I have no other choice, this is my only means of survival,” I answered through the grit of my teeth as I began to accept my reality.  

My gaze lands on his bobbing head. 

He chuckles “Heh, I’m glad for you. I’ll help you whenever I can, you can stake my life on it.” He swears before reaching his arm for me with the other closed firm on his chest, catching me surprised.  

“Firewall…” I mutter, completely stunned in awe… I tried to say thank you… but only managed to say his name in return. 

For the second time, he’s sworn to help me without needing to understand nor anything in return— his words were unconditional— 

While I process this action of kindness, he gives me a dumbfounded look, oblivious to his own generosity.  

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get going.” 

He might not understand… but to give credit where it’s due, he knows the right words to ease my chest… 

9:58 PM, I tinkered with my auth and discovered a built-in clock in it while we crossed the abandoned overgrown streets, yet no cars were present or any vehicles for that matter. 

If it had a battery, it was most likely absent— taken somewhere?— but where would that be?

Although the persistent feeling of being watched never went away, from those “things” watching us from inside the buildings, not that I could prove it with my eyes, but it just felt the most reasonable hypothesis.  

Staring both ways down the streets only showed the vantablack shade sandwiched between the high-rise concrete buildings stretching without a limit.

The only sounds present were the howling of the nighttime winds and the ever-ubiquitous rainfall gently tapping on the bygone concrete buildings, while the smell of overgrown plants and trash persisted in the nearby vicinity. 

Wherever I am now, was not home, if I could even call anywhere remotely “home” in this rotted carcass of a world.

Though, would the surviving few be easy to get along with like Firewall, or be worse than the catastrophes that onslaught this world themselves?

Out of curiosity, I ask  “Firewall, have you met these people yet?“ He walked ahead of me, like he usually did, prompting him to answer with a brief delay.  

“I’ve met some and they’re quite welcome about taking us in.” He answers with his visor flashing my eyes with light as his head turned back at me.   

After motioning my hands to block out the rays, a question came to mind. “I see, then what happened before we got here?” I ask, recalling how I’ve been knocked out. “Two siblings thought they could rob us as part of their scouting run, but after I explained our situation, the younger one agreed because he could somehow see your crippling HP status.” He explains, as we pass the final street and to the supposed camp of these “caretakers” that helped us. 

“Then he’d convince the older one, who knocked you out, to take us here for treatment” He adds, further complicating my actions, and how wrong I’ve been for resisting them, for harming them despite what they’ve done for me. 

But, I wasn’t born yesterday, and perhaps this group isn’t as “charitable” as he paints them, after all, they still planned to rob us of supplies we didn’t have… 

If I wasn’t near-dead there then what could’ve given them?  

 “Then, what’s the price?” I asked with caution, they must have something up their sleeves, something far more valuable than any material possession…   

“Let’s find out.” He answers and our conversation ends there.

In the sightable distance, a looming smoke trail ascended into the stale starless night, while the presence of a camp under it seemed abundantly clear as we approached.

I couldn’t count the number of people, but there were a couple, emanating the same familiar colors we had.