Rose~

I sit in the dark, the only light a faint candle flickering. The noise of me sharpening my blade echoes throughout the abandoned house, but I sharpen it quietly, not wanting to wake Maddie.  It’s still dark out, the eerie and dull orange street lights illuminating anything that moves. 

I hear Maddie stir to my left, but I keep on sharpening the blade.  

“Where are we?” she grunts sleepily.  

“Windsor,” I reply quietly, looking out from the window seat. “The outskirts of it at least.” My voice comes out in more of a whisper. I don’t like talking.

But I’m right. We’re not into the abandoned city where an entire faction of people are surviving. We’re on the outside at the bigger town, where everything is abandoned. Maddie and I are lucky we found this house. It’s old and falling apart, but it’s two stories and has a window seat that we use as a look out post. It’s been helpful so far. 

But I notice something off. 

The sun is starting to rise, and I assume it must be around six in the morning by now. But I would hear distant machine clacking from the city. Instead, I hear silence. 

Dead silence.  

Maddie is still waking up when I look closer towards the border of the town. The faded lamps reveal the outline of people. A large group of people. And they’re headed towards the abandoned marketplace, which is in the town square. 

“Maddie,” I whisper. 

She looks towards me and I look towards the window as she moves to look outside. Her eyes widen at her observation, and I look outside with her. They are getting closer. 

“It’s the London Unit,” she whispers. 

“What?” I ask. 

“The London Unit,” she repeats. “You can tell, they wear their symbol on their jackets proudly.” 

I suddenly understand. There was a unit like that in Japan, and they banded with the southern side of Korea while China and the north of Korea banded together. I heard about it from one of my contacts. It’s turning into a war zone there. 

“But why do they want Windsor?” she asks, more to herself. 

“These are fraught times,” I whisper. “They’ll take any resources they can get.”

We quickly but quietly move down stairs. I take out my bow and arrows while she takes out her gun. We look out the foggy window on the door and see their members spread out, searching places. They’re eventually going to come here. 

“We need to leave,” Maddie says. I nod in agreement. 

Just curious, how are all of our characters going to meet?

Also, she calls the robot that used to be her friend Robbie. Btw, he wasn't really a robot but more of AI in her head. When the corruption happened he was able to leave her head partly to take control of a robot soldier.

* * *

Irene crouched against the broken wall, breathing heavily. She heard the telltale creak of metal about 5 feet behind the wall, slowly becoming louder. At least it was slower; Thank god this baseball bat did any damage.

Why the heck did she fall for that dumb trap? She thought she would be able to help these people. She should have just stuck to her plan.

As she continued cursing at herself, something like a light switch turned on her brain, tuning to a familiar channel. Robbie. Heya Irene! I'm surprised you aren't dead yet. How's Fulham doing for ya? You visited that ancient stadium there yet? It's pretty cool. Irene did her complete best to ignore everything he was saying. Hey, could you do me a favor and just give up? You won't be able to destroy them all. Come on, Irene, die already, please. Do it for me!... Or, actually, better idea, since you're a complete selfish coward, join us! Irene inwardly groaned. She tried to filter out his voice, but it droned out everything. It was like a bug she could hear but couldn't swat, and instead of buzzing it made a sound like nails on chalkboard.

Aw, I didn't think you hated the sound of my voice that much. Irene could her the metal machine stop. She readied her baseball bat. I mean, you had to deal with it for so long I thought at least you got used to it! Irene heard the whistle of wind above his voice, sounding empty and silent.

Hey, did you know that 2 out of 5 people ages 18 to 30 die from-- BAM. Irene swung the Basebat, the clang of metal resonanting in her ears. Something sizzled and beeped, like a broken toaster in water. Irene swung again, and this time something clattered to the floor.  She assumed it was its arm.

She felt the air in front of her push forward, and she instinctively ducked. Too slow. Her forehead jutted backward as the robot hit her. Ears ringing, she fell down onto her back. Her forehead throbbed, and she held a palm against it.

Hey, since you seem to be almost dead, are you enjoying the view I have? Irene held the baseball bat in front of her like a shield, just as the robot slammed an arm down. The poor wooden thing broke into two pieces.

The fire, the screams you can't hear. Buildings crashing down. Death nearly everywhere. This sort of chaos you can only find in the cities long forgotten. The cities no one cares about. Irene held on of the shards of the baseball bat and rammed it into the machine with all her might. She heard it step back, then rear back forward for another punch. Irene desperately covered this with  an arm. A pain like fire zipped through it, and she cried out in pain as she realized it was broken. 

It's such a feeling of amazement being out here. It's truly real, more real than I could imagine. Irene, in one swift and frantic action, pulled out her gun and shot at where she hoped was the robot.

Like a fire that's been put out, a sound cuts into the air. The loud thump of metal revealed to Irene that it was dead.  

You killed it. Wow. I don't believe it. Irene looked around, dropping her broken baseball bat to the ground. She's exhausted. The family, if they existed or were just conjurered up by Robbie, had to wait. In fact, she might just need the help of those idiotic London units. 

She stumbled into a broken building and slide down the wall. Then, with a sigh, she went to sleep.

* * *

Btw, Fulham is an area in west London. I'm assuming not all of London is safe from the robots.