Railgun

Their journey goes into the Ara sands; the sudden temperature change and empowering us give a sense of nostalgia for the event three months ago. The train tracks now being upheld by a tall stone bridge makes the path a bit rocky.

K4 turns around to look into the other carriage, catching sight of Hino. 'Ah, that dead expression; his eyes are widened, a sense of trauma within him.' Her analysis was quite in-depth for a war robot.

The train continues through the Ara sands, and until coming to a complete halt, K4 turned off the engine and entered the back carriage. "Hey, Hino, let's test out my new gun!" Her excitement stirred Hino up a bit, making him ignore the negative emotions earlier.

Looking up at K4, his eyes see that silver hair and dark green eyes show a light that he hasn't seen in a while, her expression riddled with confidence and excitement at getting the opportunity, "Yeah, sure."

Without much time, K4 runs over to him, grabbing his hand and leading him out of the train. The stone bridge interacts with them; they stare into the distance of the Ara sands, their hair flowing in the wind, brushing in the gusts of the open air.

"There is one about to jump." K4 starts to get into a firm stance, her left leg going behind her and her right leg in front. She squeezes her hands together, causing the trench coat to fold in. Her secure stance anticipates the arrival.

Hino turns around to her, backing off a bit each moment. "Are you sure you can reach something from up here?" His suggested scepticism was natural, but that doesn't deter K4 at all; she gets the faint signals of the worm about to come up.

She starts to charge up the railgun; her right arm starts to glow a bright white. It starts to unfold into the shape of a large barrel; the mechanism was intricate and well designed to somehow unfold so easily. The large barrel gets pointed at the area sands, and a subtle white glow emitting from the back suggests it's ready to fire.

"N-O-W!" Her voice burst out towards Hino. He turned around instantly to look at the Ara Sands. The sandworm was starting to emerge from its den as it soared into the sky, its erratic body springing with the remains of robots and humans, its head at the peak of the curve.

bang

The railgun shot a white beam of energy towards the worm. The warmth given off from the beam was immense, its thickness comparable to that of a large laser. It sped through the sky, hitting the head of the metallic worm; its signal started to fade slowly.

Hino saw another side; the worm's head was completely evaporated; it had vanished into the oblivion. There was a huge chunk of it missing, and his eyes widened and rejoiced at the spectacular achievement of the railgun.

He starts to wipe his head, noticing the sweat that is starting to drip from him; the railgun was that warm that it caused him, who was standing over a meter away, to just sweat uncontrollably. It was definitely a dangerous weapon; that much he acknowledged.

They both stare out into the Ara sands, the railgun folding back to its normal size, the white energy stopped with the loud thud of the metallic worm falling onto the sandy floor of the Ara sands. They watch as other worms approach them, seemingly at a rapid pace.

"We should start running, shouldn't we?" Hino suggests

K4 turns around towards him, brushing her hair out of the way. "No, wait." Her decision made no sense.

Hino trusted K4 with his life; they both stare out at the impending doom coming towards them. The gang of worms starts to dip in and out of the sands; they approach closer but suddenly make a larger dip into the sands; they stay underground for a solid ten seconds before leaping out.

Not next to them but next to their own kind, the dead metallic worm, which got evaporated, started to get a multiple descent of worms from the sky. They all have their mouths open, ready to feast; in the next moment, they surge down, consuming the dead worm.

The loud sounds of metal clashing and digging could be heard all the way back to the train; they were savage, ravaging beasts. If a worm considered dead stops emitting a signal, they think it's just free loot for their own assimilated bodies.

"Let's just go," the tired voice calls out to K4. Hino was sick of watching robots at this stage.

K4 started to walk back up the steps into the first carriage; she was greeted with all her equipment and started to turn on the engine once more. The train started to slightly rock. Noticing Hino still not in the train, she looks out the window.

"Hey, Hino, wake up already, and let's continue. It's still at least a two-week journey," she tempts him back into the train. He enters back in, taking his seat once more. The train's door closes, and the engine starts working once again. They continue for the stone bridge for the rest of the day. The vastness of the Ara sands alone is a two-day journey, especially at the slow speed of the train.

As the night falls upon them, they both get off the train with their supplies. There was no sign of Greeny in the area, just sands stretching in all directions. The night sky's light gave them a bit of confusion about which way to go, but they decided to camp out just right near the train.

They open the supply backpack; they had sticks in there and a lighter to begin a fire. Hino starts to put the sticks into a circle shape. K4, at this time, was working at a lesser output power due to the light not being as potent. With the sticks arranged into a circle, K4 gets out a lighter.

She extends her hand towards the sticks, but before lighting the fire, Hino taunts her.

"You don't even know how to start a fire, huh?" He took out a piece of paper from his pocket; he took the lighter out of K4's hands, lighting the paper on fire and then throwing it into the sticks.

The fire rages around and explodes a burst of warm air from it. The fire shines a light, making everything visible once again. K4 looks over at Hino.

"Are you ok? Why would you light the piece of paper first?" she clearly asked, confused.

He glances up at her. "The paper catches easily on fire, and the wood might not depending on the air's humidity. We shouldn't be wasting valuable lighter power due to the two weeks we still have to cover."

The fire burns while K4 gets out a piece of meat that Hino hunted earlier. With her hands, she chops a small bit off, enough to fill Hino but not enough to make him full. Their food supply would be limited, and wasting it would be a waste. That's why K4 decided to also not eat since, other than enjoyment, she had no use.

The meat seemed to be that of sheep; it was cleanly cut. Hino grabbed the meat out of K4's hand; he stuck a piece of wood through it and put it over the fire. It slowly began to look darker and darker, the blood being dried out and it becoming more eatable.

K4, noticing the meat slowly breaking off due to its weight on top being heavier, puts her hands under the meat into the fire. "I can't let this go to waste, can I?" she smiles towards Hino, who was already ready to fire up and take her hands out; the realisation of her metal being too strong for the fire hit.

"Sometimes you are too human; I forget that you are a robot." Hino brings out the truth; K4 has developed so much over the rewinds that she is becoming an unrecognisable robot that's rampant with emotions.

She looks over, giving a small smile. "And your dead nature makes you seem more robotic." She also points out his maturity; Hino really changed over the three months. Even in these calm moments, there wasn't a sign of his usually shiny black eyes or his erratic motion to suggest his happiness; he seemed a bit more empty.

The meat being cooked to an eatable point, Hino took a bite of it. The juicy, tender meat entered his mouth and started to fulfil his human needs. After a short minute of eating, it was already gone.

"Seems like that was good; let's get some rest now." K4 stands back up; she walks towards the metal carriage in the back and lies down on the seats. She looks up over the window at Hino, who still decided not to follow her.

'He will come soon; I should disconnect.'

With her mind space being entered again, she lets the night pass until feeling the sun hit her once more, meaning their journey to Shilo starts again.