Champion of the Bots ✔️

Chapter 1 ~ RENA

"I couldn't remember much; but the glow, the blood, the wretchedness of its eyes still haunt me in my sleep. The monster-machine marched its way to me, its metal feet sticky with the blood of innocent lives. I was a goner—nowhere out, nowhere to run."

She paused for a microsecond to carry momentum, her thin eyebrows raised on one side. "The Bot started humming, its tune of death shrilling in the air, as it curved its blade arm towards my heart and—"

"What happened?" A five-year-old girl shrieked while clenching the soft rug of the common room with her little fingers. Her pale skin wrinkled around her wide green eyes that twinkled with apprehension.

"Questions later, please, Nina," Rena answered, a feather of muscle beneath her chin flexing as she cleared her throat again and tried to regain her story-telling mood.

"So, as I was saying," she quickly continued before she lost all the other kids' attention. "The Bot swiped down at me, scraping the tip of my knee," she said, rolling her jeans to reveal the long scar on her kneecap. "It swiped again with its other arm, determined not to miss my pulsing heart this time. But it did.

"A blazing light appeared as if the sky split open and allowed a figure to descend on moving stairs. The man flew down and, with a magic sword, he cut the Bot into three parts, scooped me into his arm, and gave me a home. Who is he?"

"Sid Dobey!" The children cheered in unison, stubby fingers punching the air.

"That's right! He is my hero, your hero, and the world's hero. Rumors spread everywhere of his mysterious vehicle he gave refuge to everyone. People nicknamed it the Savior, exaggerating that it was as long as the Mississippi River and could fit over a million people. Survivors held onto the hope that the Savior would land and come find them. It kept everyone living in this forsaken world."

A tiny hand lifted in the air eagerly.

Rena sighed and said, "Yes, Nina?"

The petite girl straightened her back as she asked, "How come the Savior is so fancy? Where do we get all the food?"

Rena blinked. "That...is a very good question. Well..."

"We have friends on the land below," a male voice answered for her.

"Sid Dobey!" The children cheered again.

The man smiled, basking in the admiration of the toddlers, and continued, "We have friends below that help smuggle food from Eden, mostly leftovers that they couldn't finish, and give it to us once every two months, which is about now."

Sid kneeled down to face Nina. "As for the Savior, I built it before the Day of the Grey came. My family was wealthy, and they allowed me to tinker with some of their unwanted items, such as this carpet and that curtain and these tables." He gestured around them. "And when I heard that an apocalypse was happening...well, I did have a big plane to rescue as many people as I can."

The children nodded eagerly, staring at Sid as if he was a superhero.

"And here we are today," Rena said, trying to achieve those appraising looks from her audience again. Her tanned arm swooped around the Common room. "Eleven years have passed since then. We now house 216 people from all across Gehenna—the dark abyss outside of Eden. Or, I should say, above Eden."

For her final flourish ending, she pulled on a thick yellow string behind her; and the faded curtains revealed the perfect bluish-purple sky as the Savior glided by.

"I am a survivor, and I am not alone," she smiled, her lips curved crookedly. "People call us the Nomads, the Wanderers, the Homeless; but I like to call us the Groundbreakers—the ones to sew this tattered world back together, the ones to blaze the road back home, the ones to rescue people from the hell down below."