Walking farther, the group headed out of the camera facility—until suddenly, a swarm of mutated automatons surged toward them, terrifying the group beyond belief.
As they ran, Yoku pulled out his flintlock and began firing. His aim was sharp, hitting the automatons' cameras and disabling several of them. But there were hundreds—an overwhelming horde. Their clanking metal legs echoed behind them, though some had no legs at all, crawling and dragging themselves forward with a grotesque variety of limbs and modes of movement.
"Damn it! Where did they come from?" Yoku huffed, realizing his flintlock had run dry. He couldn't build anything without a working station—he was still human, after all. And humans were limited.
They ran farther until a massive chasm loomed before them, the abyss stretching deep into the earth, swallowing all sight. Nothing could be seen below but piles of garbage. Their eyes widened in panic—hundreds of automatons were still charging straight toward them.
Yoku's mind raced. Did they come from the city? How did they even get here? As the group was nearly surrounded, Fiver suddenly flung his whip toward the far side of the chasm, managing to latch onto a rope stretched across the divide.
From behind them, his mechanical bird squawked and spoke with a strange clarity:"Hold my hand."
Without hesitation, they all grabbed his outstretched hand.
Screaming, they leapt into the chasm. Mino and Kineki closed their eyes in fear. Yoku, ever the fighter, braced his foot for the landing.
Damn it, I really hope we survive this...They propelled toward the other side as the automatons poured in behind them like a feral tide.
Scrambling to their feet, they ran toward the stairs—but Yoku's head slammed into someone mid-climb. It was Adam, already ascending, helping the others up the old escalator.
Yuruki's eyes lit up at the sight of him."Orange-haired boy! Nice to meet you again!" she beamed.
Mino and Kineki looked at her in confusion, as did Yuri."You know this girl?" one of them asked.
Wow... she's extremely gorgeous, Mino thought to himself. Yuri, meanwhile, simply thought she's cute—but a quiet anguish settled in his chest as he realized they looked uncannily alike.
Yoku sighed and grabbed their hands. "There's no time for greetings, damn it!" he snapped, pulling them up the stairs as the ground trembled.
They huffed and puffed, exhausted, as the automatons smashed through fences and rails behind them. The group fled toward another bridge.
Adam, glancing up, saw a desolated city on the other side—gigantic machines, their legs stretching hundreds of meters into the air, clanking hands now motionless, propping up what little remained. Buildings, bridges, everything had been ravaged, twisted into something no longer familiar.
His heart twitched with pain. Is there really something up there? he wondered. If the bottom of this place is already dead...
Still, they pressed on, racing through the facility, always upward—as if somewhere, at the peak, hope might be waiting. Soon, they found another escalator that led toward the railways and the very center of the city.
Fiver followed silently, weighed down by thoughts. He had no reason to hope. No reason to save these people. And yet... something tugged at him.
That woman... where is she now?
He remembered his life—a cycle of vengeance, of killing automatons for reasons that now felt hollow. He had saved others before. And they had all died.
Now, Mino, Kineki, Yuri, Yuruki, Adam, and Yoku were inside the escalator. He remained outside, unmoving, lost in something deeper than any of them could see.
Yoku growled, annoyed. "You know, Fiver—I'll really leave you behind if you keep with these damn antics! Get in now!"
Fiver just laid there. Calm.
"You know..." he said softly, then slammed his fist into the control panel. Sparks flew. The elevator jostled. He shoved the mechanism up, forcing it into motion. Electricity crackled."This is my stop," he said with a smile. His white eyes glowed faintly. His lips were burned—burned long ago by fire—and even now, he didn't know why.
The others stared, confused, unsure what he was going to do.
As the escalator reached the top, the group exited—but not before seeing Fiver grab his whip again. With all his might, he pulled the transport line. Metal shrieked. The cable snapped. The elevator crashed to the ground below.
"Run!" someone shouted.
The station collapsed around them. They fled again, rubble crashing down behind.
Yoku, frantic, looked down. Fiver had landed near a structured port—one not collapsing—but he was already surrounded. Automatons encircled him by the thousands. He was trying to escape, but it was too late.
They sat on the ground, breathless, the atmosphere heavy with sorrow.
Adam stared down at the scene below, remembering something—a memory buried beneath dust and time. Fiver. Reaching for them on the collapsing railway station.
Oh... so that's what it was.
"Don't worry," Adam said softly. "He's gonna be fine."
-_- maybe... thinking inwardly to himself.
Yoku exhaled slowly. "I barely know him... and yet... why do I feel this kind of emptiness, just from leaving him behind?"
Yuruki was lost in thought, torn. She had only just met the man—yet her heart, too, felt something heavy. She stayed silent.
The group fell into a long, strange stillness. There were no automatons chasing them now. No more noise. Just silence. A silence that gripped the soul.
Eventually, Yuruki, gathering what supplies she had, started a small fire using her water-proof lighter. She began to cook some dried meat. As the pot bubbled, strange gasses hissed up from the ground.
"You're all hungry, right? >-
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In the end, there was nothing we could do but eat. This was the cycle, after all—
Wake up. Work. Sleep. Enjoy. Repeat.Again and again. Until someone dies. Then we mourn.Then we return—like nothing ever happened.
This was life. And I hated it.
In the end...
We needed to adapt, after all.