The large caravan's glistening roof grew higher as we walked through the dunes. The desert was silent, save for An's footsteps followed by my creaking joints. She lead the way steadily, definitely trying to avoid eye contact I thought to myself. She was obviously dehydrated, but yet refused all my water cups, what's the damn point of having a matter generator if no one's interested. That's what being upset does to people, talk about being stubborn.
"Awful quiet in here innit"
"Shut up"
Sounds about right.I didn't like this, I have no guts to speak of but something is really not alright in all this, I mean, empty desert, upset people, that pretty immobile looking caravan that's supposed to be family, yet no signs of life? She said her group was really well hidden but that just calls for an exception if you ask me.
The caravan is really close now, ah, those are shells. And those are definitely holes.No smoke, no corpses, it has been a while, she hasn't seen this yet.I zoomed out my built-in scope.
"Hey uh, An, say, you sure you need to see them? I mean family and all pff... You know..."
"I thought I already made myself clear as to why I'm going there, nobody told you to follow me... Especially not me."
"Hey technically without me you'd be dead."
"And technically, it wouldn't have happened without you, AND I let you live in the first place."
I shook my head.Well whatever, she's gonna be in one hell of a mood after this one. She's starting to walk faster, I think she's starting to see it now.
She ran.
I stood there, looking at her run, her weapon drone waddling after. Ah, there goes, she got there, she's banging on doors, crying, calling for an answer. I'm always awful at family meetings. We're in this together, but I don't feel like she's gonna be very open to cooperation after this.
I walked over.
"An!"
"No no no no"
"An"
"This can't be... No!"
"An?"
She was lying on the sand at the caravan's busted doorstep, holding something against her chest. Looks like a bracelet.
I cleared my throat.
"You...". She said.
"This, all of this."
"Hey I don't work for-"
"IF ONLY YOU HADN'T SHOWED UP!"
"I mean technically they were hunting for you before I came in, this was just a matter of time. You know they don't give up."
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
"You know nothing of them, YOU KNOW NOTHING, ABOUT THEM."
I stood silent.
A slight breeze moved a window blind, creaking.
"Everything, everything, was planned, everything was alright, all the hiding places, all the raids, at the right time, but you then decided to barge in."
Her sentences cut by this irregular crying breath in, she stared at the sand go through her fingers. Through the bracelet.
She tucked it in it.
"It's all over now, my whole life."
"There's still things that can be done."
Wrong answer, she clutched her fist and punched the floor.
"Get me my sword."
The drone obediently hovered down and released her wheeled monstrosity, seriously anyone calling that a sword is out of their mind. She certainly looks out of hers right now.
"I don't care anymore, I'll die here."
I perplexedly looked at the blunt hunk of steel, wondering what in the world she could do to herself with that.
She got up, hooked up her helmet. I got it, oh no.
"But first I have one thing to do, for them."
Oh hell no, that thing does not feel good.
"An I didn't know them but this probably isn't what they'd want you to do."
"DON'T SPEAK FOR THEM, YOU HEARTLESS MACHINE."
Now that was just uncalled for. The "sword's" engine roared as she accelerated it in a swing, a cloud of sand soon engulfed us. Dodging the hits was surprisingly much easier than the first time, the sand hurt her mobility a lot, the crying probably didn't help, though, what do I know. The hits fell like rain, she was barely looking, she truly didn't care.
Should I knock her out? Feels like she needs this, I certainly don't though.
"Just GO AWAY."
Her body swung around, and the sword reciprocated, both pulling on each other in a strange ballet, her legs acting like pivots as the sword's momentum pulled and rolled. Any of those hits and I'm done here, it doesn't seem like she'd let me recover like last time.
She was audibly sobbing now. The cloud of disturbed sand around us slowly settled back. She let her weapon fling out of her grip. Dropped to her knees holding her face. I stared while her chopped breath hammered in the desert. The sobbing stopped and she fell to her side.
I stared for a little longer.
"An?"
No response. Passed out. I looked at the dead van, sure looks better than rocks to sleep on I suppose. I carried her to what I assume to be her room, it is a big caravan, must have been large enough for nothing short of a couple dozen people. I laid her down on old spring pillows. No weapons around, but some traces of food were still there, it wasn't as long ago as I thought. There were a couple of her pictures hung on the walls, a very dirty window was showing the darkening night sky. Next to her bed was a couch, I sat on it, watching the darkening night sky.
"Talk about a bad day."
I looked at her, her cheeks and eyes red. The dried tear trails glistened in her wrinkles. She truly did lose everything today. Well, save for her sword. But I don't think she's gonna really care about that. I walked over to the dining room and slept there. Me is probably the last thing she'd want to see upon waking up.
The night passed slowly.
I woke up as usual. Made a little cup of tea. Nobody would turn that down right? Heard some movement in her room and decided to talk, she was awake, and quite naked. Sitting on her bed, the sheets around her waist and lap, looking through the window. I placed the cup on a little table and sat on an assorted chair. I looked through the window too.
"They took me in when no one else did."
A small cloud of dead branches and leaves sped in the afar. The soft morning light shone through the dust particles in the room, everything felt so still.
"My parents died because of me. I was not supposed to be born. Not the way I am. My name is Anomaly."
She sighed.
"I was never good, never enough, my parents were crushed. One day, a government hitman came in and killed them for it, and I ran, that's it."
She looked down at her hands.
"They believed in other ideas too, but they hid that well. They couldn't hide me."
She turned to me, I looked at her blank face. Her eyes fixed like tombstones. Her light chest shone under the sun, save for a large birthmark. It was sort of pretty. Though it was covered in a variety of small and bigger scars, as if someone tried to just scratch it away.
"I tried everything I could to get rid of it. But it didn't work, and I just did worse, they, the power, where I lived, they do not like imperfections in people. So they get rid of poor genes. Funny isn't it, just like how we get rid of bad vegetables. For us it happened when I was twelve."
She turned back to the window. Her body was dotted with injection holes, what humans had to go through to be augmented. Makes one think. She looked somewhat beautiful though, in a grave and serious way, like an old cathedral marked by age and personality.
"I ran for as long as I could, when I dropped I ran again, and they, this caravan, these people, they found me, and they accepted me.
You know how it feels to be finally accepted? To no longer need to hide when changing? To no longer need to constantly deny invitations? To be able to show your body to someone? You would never know would you."
She gently shook her head.
"You'd never know. But now they're gone, my one, one sole, unique escape from all this, my one chance, to get revenge, to change things, is dead."
She took the now cold tea cup, clutched her hands around it as if it were still warm.
"I don't expect you to understand, I don't care what you think. I will finish my life here."
This sure sounded like time for some drastic measures here.
"I'm still here you know, can help a bunch.
I can't promise you to change everything but revenge we can still sure get, you're not dead yet are you, how about we slap some people, eh?"
No visible response.
"Besides, that's just my opinion but I don't think you look half bad."
She chuckled.
"Shut up."
ns 15.158.61.20da2
