A Winter Wasteland (Robotics and Necrotics Book 2) Read online

  With that, he just closed his eyes. While reclining against a brick wall.

  He truly was a strange man, but he was obviously leaving the bed in the corner of the room for Aisling. The couch that Saythe was laying on wasn't big enough for the both of them.

  She glanced to the bed, softening somewhat as she rolled her eyes. He was too kind for his own good. A small part of her mind was kind of glad he was leaving, as he didn't deserve to be stuck in a hellhole like this. She got up after a second, put one more log of wood on the fire to keep everyone warm during the night, and then curled up on the bed in the corner of the room. She sighed, lightly hugging his jacket to her chest.

  She wasn't used to sleeping alone, as usually she had Saythe in her arms. But she'd be fine.

  With that, she closed her eyes, and let her consciousness slip away.

  City Life

  "Up and at 'em. It's morning."

  It was, in fact, morning. Morning as all hell. It was probably five AM, considering the sun was barely reaching above the treetops. Who the hell knows why Erile woke up that early, but he did, and now he was dragging Saythe and Aisling awake with him.

  Saythe, of course, resisted. "It's not even light outside, go away."

  Erile chuckled, but continued to pester him until he was up.

  "There, fine, now go away." Someone was grumpy about waking up early.

  Aisling groaned, sitting up as she sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Come on. Get your coat and boots on. We're leaving." She kept her voice down as to not wake the others, standing up and stretching her stiff muscles. She supposed one perk of the apocalypse was that she was always in good shape, considering the amount of walking she did every day. The malnutrition kind of countered that, though.

  Aisling grumbled to herself, putting her shoes and jacket on as she bundled herself up. She grabbed her bag and heaved it up onto her shoulders. She grabbed Saythe's, lightly dragging it over to the door as she waited for the other two to get ready.

  She noted Saythe's grouchiness. "You want me to carry this for you for the first little bit?" She raised an eyebrow and gestured towards his bag.

  Saythe, always the little independent child trying to help his mother, shook his head. "No, it's okay. I can carry it by myself." He heaved it over his shoulder, and even though he teetered on his feet for a few moments, he managed to remain standing.

  "And here we go." Erile said, throwing open the front door. The sun shone down beautifully upon the snow, casting rainbows in every direction the light reflected off the miniature crystals. Erile sighed, obviously content, before taking his gun out of his bag. No need to have to rummage around looking for it in the case of an emergency.

  They made their way out to the forest, in the direction that Aisling dictated with her compass. They would be able to cover a lot of ground that day, considering they'd rested well and were getting out early.

  Perhaps they could make it to her parents in just a few days.

  Aisling hummed, trudging along through the snow. "We're gonna start heading Southeast now." She glanced back at everyone, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Which means we might come across ruins. In that case, you know what to do." She glanced to Saythe. She had hammered in the rules of going into abandoned towns and buildings, and as such, Saythe knew them by heart.

  Erile didn't.

  "Here's what you do." Aisling shifted her pack. "So listen. Because it could cost you your life. Make as little noise as possible. That means no talking unless absolutely necessary." She shifted. "Also, no gunshots. That's like getting a megaphone and shouting 'I'm here!' to all of the Aurans in the area. Stay off the ground as much as possible. That means traveling along the rooftops as far as you can. Also, take what you can get, and avoid people at all costs. If there are people in an abandoned town, they've survived there for a reason." She narrowed her eyes. "And that means they're dangerous. They will kill you for your supplies without a second thought. So if you see someone, you shoot them before they shoot you."

  Erile nodded resolutely at her rules, but flinched at that last one. He didn't know if he'd be able to shoot a person without them doing something wrong, because that just wasn't who he was. But if it was to protect himself, as well as Saythe and Aisling… He supposed he'd have to learn.

  "The snow will be thinner there. Which means that more Aurans will be around. They usually don't like the snow." Saythe told him, and even though Erile already knew this, he thanked him. Saythe grinned.

  "We should still avoid towns as much as possible. I'd rather deal with a herd of angry Aurans than a crowd of people." Erile said, obviously uncomfortable with the situation.

  "Sometimes it's unavoidable." Aisling shook her head. "Sometimes you just stumble upon these things, and it's faster to go through them than around them. It's a waste of food, time, and energy." She sighed, glancing back at them as she continued trudging through the thick snow. "And sometimes it's worth it. Because you find supplies. And you always need more supplies." She sighed.

  They walked for a while longer, before coming up at the crest of a large hill.

  "… Fuck." Aisling sighed as she looked out over the landscape.

  A town.

  That's where all the Aurans had come from. Lovely.

  The First Bite

  Hours passed.

  The town was rather large, probably a population of over thirty-thousand before the Auranis hit. Yet they didn't find much; they eventually settled down in a house on the edge of the town, but only after scavenging for a majority of the day. They hadn't covered as much ground as Erile had hoped, but they couldn't go on in the dark. That would be suicidal.

  "We should be safe here." Erile said, locking the door after inspecting the house. The windows were boarded up and it looked secure, and he had dragged a couple of bodies from the upstairs bedroom.

  They had taken the easy way out. Together.

  "Until morning, at least."

  "Alright." Aisling nodded, glancing around the place somewhat nervously. "Let's go upstairs. We need a room with a window. That way we're not trapped in here if a horde or several Aurans sweep through." She sighed, glancing around and moving towards the staircase. They hadn't found much that day, as most of the towns had been pillaged. Or the food that wasn't taken was long past its expiry date.

  She walked upstairs, picked the cleanest room with a window and locking door, and walked into it. "In here."

  She set her bag down and sighed. "There's a balcony, too. And no Auran will be able to get up to that, so it'll be nice if we need to skirt up onto the roof for whatever reason." She looked back at them. "Alright. Let's set up for the night, then."

  Eventually, everything was prepared for the night. They left their bags in the room and went back downstairs, carrying three packs of ramen with them. It was the last of the soup, but they felt like that day warranted another treat.

  “I’ll get the fire started.” Erile said, taking a few logs from the stack beside the fireplace and setting them carefully inside of it. He then pointed his helo-gun at them and turned the dial down, the veins beginning to glow a light green.

  Saythe looked on in awe as lightning sparked forth from the gun, but remained controlled and fixated upon the logs.

  They had a roaring fire going in seconds.

  Aisling found a pan in the kitchen and scrubbed it thoroughly with a rag before she poured a bottle of water into it. She flipped the small grate over onto the fire and laid the pan on top of it, sitting back against the wall while waiting for it to boil.

  None of them talked much. They were eager to eat, sleep, and to keep moving. Aisling and Saythe wanted to get to their grandparents, and Erile, well…

  He knew he needed to leave soon.

  The water boiled eventually, and Aisling put the three blocks of noodles into it. She prodded at them with a fork until they were loose, then poured the seasoning into the pan.

  “We don’t have any bowls.” She said, passing Saythe and Erile a fork
. “So share evenly. Saythe, you can have some of mine if you want.”

  Erile made sure he only ate a very small portion and then backed off, letting Aisling and her son have the rest. Once they were finished, she put the pan back on the fire, just in case they wanted breakfast in the morning.

  “I’m tired.” Saythe muttered, rubbing at his eyes and mumbling. Aisling smiled and lifted him up, glancing to Erile as they walked up the stairs. It had been a long day of scavenging for little reward, and they were all exhausted.

  Finally they were back in the room, and everyone began to get ready to go to sleep.

  "We need to get farther tomorrow." Erile said. None of them were in a big hurry but him, because he didn't want to stay too long past when his device was recharged.

  "We'll get up early again. Don't worry, I'll wake you two." With that, he curled up on the floor. There was, again, a bed and a couch, but he left those to the people who needed them much more than he did.

  And he was asleep in moments.

  "Alright." Aisling nodded, sitting down on the edge of the couch with a sigh. She'd leave the actual bed for Saythe, as he needed it more than she did. "Get some rest, kiddo. It'll be a long day tomorrow, and you'll feel better if you've gotten a good night’s sleep." She smiled at him and carefully reclined back onto the couch. "Good night, I love you." She told him that a lot, but it was true. He was her entire world.

  And with that, she drifted off to sleep.

  Saythe, however… He didn't go to sleep.

  He laid on the bed for a good thirty minutes, long after both Aisling and Erile were fast asleep. Then, he did something he'd promised his mom he would never do; he got up and snuck down the stairs. He knew they were low on supplies, and he knew there were places he would fit better than Erile or his mom. So he would go and get supplies, and then when he brought them back, Erile and Aisling would be super proud of him.

  That was the plan.

  That was until Saythe opened the front door without a second thought and stepped outside.

  … Promptly walking into an Auran.

  Saythe was too stunned to speak. The thing turned around to face him, and its hideous, malformed face would be the cause for many of his nightmares for the rest of his life.

  Then, it came after him; he screamed as he was pinned to the floor, the flailing body of the Auran snapping at him, trying with all its power to bite him.

  This is it. This is how I die.

  Aisling jolted awake when he screamed, sitting bolt upright as she looked towards where he was. When she saw that her son was gone, she panicked.

  Within seconds, she was out of bed. The door to the bedroom was slammed open so hard that it dented the drywall with the doorknob, and she practically leapt down the stairs as she whipped around frantically. "SAYTHE!" She shrieked, furrowing her brows as she looked around frantically for her son. No no no- this could not be happening.

  Then she caught sight of her son. With an Auran on top of him. No.

  She came at the ugly creature like a freight train, and with one strong arm grabbed it by the back of its shirt and heaved it off her son. She pinned it to the wall by its throat, and then realized with shocking horror that she had forgotten to bring a weapon. Fuck fuck fuck-

  "ERILE!" She shouted, gritting her teeth as she tried to keep the awful thing's jaws away from her and its filthy hands off of her body. She grit her teeth, leaning her head away from it. "FUCK!"

  Erile had heard Saythe's scream, and with the addition of Aisling's, well…

  He got downstairs quickly.

  He took note of the situation and sprinted towards Aisling, but not before… Not before…

  No. No no no no no.

  He tore the Auran off of her after seeing the bite mark on her arm, and pressed his own arm against the thing's throat. Malice flowed through his bloodstream, and as he tried to press the thing's throat inward…

  It bit his arm, tearing out a chunk of the flesh.

  "Fuck!" He shrieked, throwing the thing to the ground. He stomped on its head, the satisfying crunch of the skeleton not relieving him until there was brain matter soaking his shoe. He immediately flew up the stairs to his bag, pulled out a long-bladed knife and a pair of handcuffs, and made his way over to Aisling.

  "Look, this'll hurt like a bitch, but we have no time to argue."

  He cuffed her to the metal bars of the railing, and then, well…

  He pinned her bitten arm against the wall.

  "No no no no-" Aisling panicked when he pinned her and begin tying a strip of cloth tightly around her bicep. It was a tourniquet. He had been bitten too- she needed to help him, she was already done for. He couldn't- He had to-

  "Get off of me!!"

  She began sobbing. It couldn’t end like this. She couldn’t leave Saythe alone.

  "STOP!" Aisling shook her head with wide eyes, trying to convey to him that she didn’t want this. She didn’t want her last few hours alive to be spent in agonizing pain. She was going to turn; she just wanted to die in peace. She wanted to be able to hug her son.

  And then Erile pressed the blade of his knife against her arm, a good two inches above the bite. He figured the virus had traveled about that far in the time they’d wasted.

  He took a deep breath, flinching at what he was about to do.

  The squish of flesh. The crunch of bone. The soft thud as her arm hit the carpet.

  The most haunting, blood-curdling scream that any of them had ever heard let loose from her throat as the blade cut her arm clean off. The pain was overwhelming, and black spots clouded her vision as she kicked her legs out and into Erile. She didn't even mean to kick him, it was just reflex. To get whoever was hurting her off and away from herself. She gasped in each breath, and after a moment she looked to her arm with wide eyes and a pale face.

  Blood. Blood everywhere. And her arm was on the floor.

  It made her want to vomit. And for a moment she lurched forwards and dry-heaved as panic overrode her system.

  Bitten. Arm. Saythe. Erile. Thoughts raced through her head at a mile a minute.

  For a moment, it looked like she was about to scream again. At this rate, she'd attract every Auran in the town.

  Erile cursed, running to the fire that was still burning. Luckily, they had left their ramen pan on the firetop stove the night before, and it was incredibly hot. He picked it up by the handle, and by this point Saythe was bawling profusely. He didn't move, however; he knew to stay put amidst all this chaos.

  "This is going to hurt even worse, but bear with me. I promise it'll be okay. I'll take care of Saythe. It'll be okay."

  And with that, well…

  He pressed the scorching underside of the pan to the stump where her arm used to be.

  The scream that came from Aisling was horrifying. And then everything went black, and she slipped into the blissful release that was unconsciousness.

  New Wounds Become Old

  When morning came, and the sun kissed the treetops, it had been five hours and forty-five minutes.

  Six hours was the maximum waiting period to see if a person was going to turn. Everyone had learned that from Z-radio, and it had spread like wildfire. So she still had two hours to go. Aisling's face was pale, and she leaned against the wall with her stump of an arm clean and bandaged up. She was… In rough shape. And there was no doubt her voice was gone from all of her screaming. But… She was alive. And had a chance at not turning. That was all that mattered.

  So when she stirred somewhat and furrowed her brows, it was a welcome sight.

  Erile hadn't slept.

  He had sent Saythe to sleep a few hours previous, after consoling him and telling him that his mother would be alright. Truthfully… He didn't know. He thought he had heard about a few cases in which the severing of a limb had worked, but he couldn't be sure where he had read them or if they were reliable. When she woke up, however, he was glad to see that she didn't look too worse for wear.

  "Take some
water." He said, tilting her head back and allowing the cool liquid to run down her throat. "And don't try to talk, or you'll screw up your throat even more." He turned away from her, revealing…

  His own bite. His own bite that was festering and infected and turning black by the second.

  Her eyes slowly opened, and she drank the water back in a haze as her head spun. She felt awful. What on earth had happened to her?

  When he turned, she sobered up immediately. A bite…

  She lunged forwards somewhat, and was alarmed when her arm simply clanged uselessly against the handcuffs. "Fuck-" Her voice was raspy, and her eyes went wide with panic. "You- bite- fuck-" She studied him with horror. "You need- you need to cut it off- you're going to turn you're going to die you-" She was in a panicked frenzy, and her chest rose up and down with sharp breathes as she started to hyperventilate.

  The poor woman was a mess.

  The panic within her would stimulate her cardiovascular system. If she was going to turn, it would reveal it to him quicker. So as much as he hated to do it to her… He couldn't tell her quite yet.

  "I'll be fine. You need to rest. That thing is cauterized, but if you break that scab, I'll have to do it again. And trust me, you do not want me to do it again. The pan is already heating up."

  And, like promised, the pan was on the fire.

  "Saythe is asleep. He was a pain to put to bed, too. He's really worried. But you'll live. I'm nearly positive you'll live."

  He hoped he was right.

  She didn't even listen to a word he said, pulling desperately with her good arm to try and free herself. "Erile- please-" Tears filled her eyes, and she let out a choked sob. He couldn't turn. She was an idiot, she caused this. He was going to die and it was all her fault.

  "Let me help you, please." She sobbed, tears pouring down her cheeks. "You're going to die- you- you'll turn. I don't want you to die. I don't want to lose you too." She choked up, coughing as her dry throat refused to let her sob anymore. She coughed and hacked, hunching over as she bit the inside of her lip. She was quiet for a moment or two, before her shoulders began to shake with silent sobs.