Ian had never ever gone inside of the capital. He rarely broke any of his things, and even if he did; he would either repair it himself or replace it by ordering online. Truthfully speaking, getting to the capital for a phone he could easily replace was a waste of time. Though, for a reason he couldn't figure out, he felt a need to go outside for once. After all, it did help with obtaining spatial awareness. He thought of himself as rather thirsty for social interaction; even if he'd rather not interact with anyone, since everybody he met at that point seemed utterly unpredictable.
Regardless of whether he was contemplating his current choices, he had to get through this. If he didn't, his phone would not get fixed, as well as the fact that a raging mob would find out he betrayed them and go after his head. So, he carried on.
Entering through the door led to a hallway, which led to another door; and that door led to a world completely distinct from the outside world. Unlike the scorching, lifeless desert outside, this world was cold, metallic and shiny. Every surface Ian saw and walked on was reflective. The light reflecting off these surfaces nearly blinded him. The capital's buildings were immaculate in structure. There were very few mistakes in design and construction, but they were also homogeneous and hard to distinguish from one another. Tall, cuboidal buildings was the theme, with long stretches of smooth road, with oblique and alien looking cars parked all around, though no car was ever spotted moving on the road. In fact, none of these buildings seemed to have noticeable doors, so it seemed that no one got in or out.
The city's faultlessness was its biggest fault as Ian had to trudge through a desolate city for an excruciatingly long walk until he got to his designated store. Even if he went as fast as his boots allowed him to, he could not ignore the emptiness slowly weighing him down. Such vast yet linear stretches of area unnerved him to an immense degree. Nobody was around to talk to, or to look out for. It felt odd for someone like Ian to be even worrying about that after such a long life of introverted-ness, and notable isolation in the cave.
Perhaps his interaction with the gang before, no matter how uneasy he felt with them, was something that made him look forward to further talk with people, no matter how deranged they were. Before, entering this city was an escape from an insane battle, but now it felt like being here was its own torture. What was meant to be the easiest aspect of the trip was now the most horrid part.
At some point, his boots were overheating, so he slowed down. A garden was nearby so he decided to rest there for a while. Despite how metallically desolate everything looked, apparently these robots still cared for vegetation. Next to each building, there was an area reserved for specific types of plants. Where Ian sat was just the most basic garden, a grass garden.
While lying down, he wondered if there were still any people living here, if they were as isolated as him. He saw some drones up in the distance flying away, and he further wondered if the people here even know how to move, as everything seemed to be automated. What if everything shut down all of a sudden, would most survive?
As these thoughts raced Ian's mind, a few more drones fled past him, though closer than expected. He got up to a sitting position to find these drones caretaking the garden, planting seeds, watering the ground, and adding fertilizer. Ian would've never thought such care would be put into a garden, let alone a simple grass garden.
Then, realization hit him deep in the chest. This was not a simple grass garden. Lifting his hand up, he saw tiny plantlets and grass stuck to it. Before he could get up to run once more, one of the drones came back, inches away from his face. All Ian could do was hope it merely detected motion and stand as still as possible. A blue light emerged from its lens to scan the area. Thirty painfully suspenseful seconds. Then, the blue light went away and after a brief few seconds, it glowed red with an increasingly loud alarm. Soon, many drones arose, none of them seeming friendly. Ian could never catch a break in this world.
So once again, he was running furiously while dodging multiple lasers at once from drones who were slowly gaining on him. At the very least, they made him run all the way to the center of the capital, where the wretched phone store was inconsiderably placed, in a short time span. Finally, he could be done with this, assuming nothing else came to ruin his day further.
208Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwU2tpvoxPt
