The Girl in the Container

Zephyr raised his hands in a placating gesture, doing his best to indicate he meant no harm.

"Hey there," Zephyr said, carefully stepping out of the container. "Did you need help with that?"

The squatter just stood there like she was in a trance, her short auburn hair shuffling gently in the breeze. She was wearing an open oversized coat that covered most of her body in thick brown fabric.

However, the most striking thing about her were her amber-gold eyes. They were big, giving her an innocent look; but beneath that was a certain sharpness and wariness that told him she had already seen more than her fair share of the world's harshness.

"Hold on, I'm not here to cause any trouble," Zephyr said, stopping about ten feet short of her. "I just saw the open container and wanted to check it out."

The girl eyed him suspiciously, her grip tightening on the bike's frame. "W-what do you want?" she demanded. Her voice was hoarse, as though it had been a while since she had last used it.

"I could ask the same of you. It's not safe to be out here, especially for a kid. You could get seriously hurt."

"I… appreciate the concern, but I can take care of myself." She hesitated for a second before suddenly lifting her left arm. The sleeve of her coat slipped down to reveal a metallic limb that glinted in the afternoon light. With a whir and a soft mechanical hum, she over exaggeratedly balled her hand into a fist.

Zephyr couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at the display amidst his concern. Bionics weren't rare per se, but they weren't exactly something you saw every day either—especially not something as extensive as that.

Her figure shifted a little more, and he could suddenly make out a prosthetic right leg and a bit of support at the top of her spine too. It was probably the most he had ever seen on any single person that wasn't a veteran.

He took a breath, trying to find the best way to approach this.

"Look, given what you have set up here, I don't doubt that you can take care of yourself. However, I'll reiterate that it's not safe to be here. You're going to get hurt once they start shuffling out these containers."

Her shoulders tensed when she saw he wasn't backing off.

"I told you, I'm fine. Besides, they won't move this one."

"…What makes you say that?"

"I've been here all week, and while they move other stuff around, they've always left this stack and the container alone. Now, just go ahead and leave me be. I can see that look; you probably think I'm just some freak."

"…" Zephyr just sighed and shook his head. "I have no idea where that last part came from, but listen, kid. You need to find a new place."

"And why should I?" she asked, glaring at him.

"Because they reorganize everything in the scrapyard on a weekly basis, and I guarantee they're not going to leave anything untouched. If you stay here, you and your entire setup are probably going to get crushed. In fact, you're lucky they haven't already gotten to it today."

She fell silent for a moment, and her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized him. Finally, she relented, deflating a little.

"You seem pretty familiar with the way things work around here. What's your deal?"

"I'm just a local. I run a business that upcycles old stuff like the stuff here into something useful again. I ship a decent amount of it off island but sell just as much of it here."

"Upcycling… is that like recycling, but fancier?" she asked, one hand on her hip.

"Something like that." He shrugged. "I take something old and make it better, or I use it as material for something new."

"Huh." The girl's eyes darted back to the bike, and then up to the container. "Wait, you just said 'I'. Are you telling me you do it all yourself? Like, you're not a part of a big company?"

"Hah, big company? I don't think my place would even count as a small business, honestly." He offered a small chuckle. "I'm the owner, operator, janitor, and everything in-between."

"Is that why you're out here on the weekend?"

"Just about. I'm trying to find some stuff I can use. It's easier for me to look for what I want when no one else is around, you know?"

"I guess." She glanced around, taking in the sprawling landscape of the scrapyard. "Well, thanks for letting me know. But you can just let me be now. Goodbye."

"Wait, hold on a sec." Zephyr reached out, unwilling to just let her continue on as if nothing happened. "Since I've shared a bit about myself, how about you introduce yourself?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, you. Who else would I be talking to?"

"Why?"

"I'm curious."

"About what? I don't even know you. Just ignore me like everyone else does."

"I'm not going to just ignore you, and I'm not trying to pry. I just want to know the name of the kid who's been brave enough to squat in one of these containers."

The kid just looked at him curiously, before her lips suddenly formed a tight line.

"…You're just trying to make conversation so I'm distracted, aren't you? You called the authorities!"

Zephyr raised an eyebrow at the accusation. "If I wanted to call the authorities, I would've done it already and left. No, I'm more concerned about you. I can at least give you a lift into the city to one of the organizations that help people in your situation."

"No, not a chance." The girl shook her head and backed away, dragging the old electric bike with her. "I'm going to make a new life for myself here on The Bygone. No handouts, no strings attached, especially not from some random guy like you. I'll pack up my stuff and get out of here like you asked, but I'll do it on my own terms."

"Alright, alright, I was just trying to be nice. You don't have to bite my head off." Zephyr held up his hands placatingly again. "Listen, kid, I get it. You want to be independent, and that's great. But there's a difference between being independent and being stubborn. If you need help, there's no shame in accepting it. That's what those organizations are for."

"I already said I'm not going to any orgs! Also, stop calling me 'kid'. I'm fifteen, and my name is Audra. A-U-D-R-A."

He smiled at her sass. "Okay then. It's nice to meet you, Audra. I'm Zephyr Lee, although most people just call me Zeph."

She just stared at him for a couple of moments before shaking her head.

"…You're annoying, Zeph, but at least you seem honest."

"Thanks, I think. Anyway, I'll drop the topic of getting you to the city, but I'd really appreciate it if you at least let me help you take your stuff somewhere else. It can't stay there, and even if you're generally capable, I don't think you'd be able to move everything in that container by yourself."

Audra hesitated at the offer, and her gaze flickered between him and the container. "No thanks. Why do you think I got this bike? "

She motioned to the hunk of junk that sat beside her which—while in surprisingly good condition despite its age—was definitely meant purely for recreational riding.

"Audra, there's no way you can fit everything you have in that container on there."

She hmphed defiantly. "I can and I will. I'll just take it slow."

Zephyr frowned. This wasn't how he planned to spend his weekend, but the thought of leaving the kid—Audra, he mentally corrected himself—to her fate in the middle of a scrapyard just didn't sit right with him.

He looked up at the sky. The sun was already starting to dip towards the horizon, painting the clouds with a warm, orange glow. It was going to get dark soon, and the temperature would start to drop even more than it already had.

"Alright, look. How about this: I'll just help you pack your stuff onto that bike. That sound good?"

She hesitated for a moment before letting out a resigned sigh. "Fine, whatever." She turned and started making her way back to the container. "But no more questions, and no calling the authorities. Deal?"

"Deal."

***

It didn't take long until Audra finally realized that, no, she wasn't going to be able to fit everything on her bike. In fact, they had barely made any progress after half an hour, and Zephyr could already tell that her patience was running thin.

He watched as she tried to secure boxes and bags on the frame of her bike again, only for them to fall off moments later.

"Damn it!" she cursed under her breath. "This shouldn't be this hard."

"It was a good attempt. However, I think trying to lug the stove around was where it fell apart," Zephyr noted, pointing at the appliance that had compressed the back tire into the ground. "It's not exactly meant to be portable."

Audra glared at him, her amber eyes narrowing into slits. "Fine, I admit it—there's no way I can get this all to work. But what am I supposed to do now? I need this stuff to live."

"That last part is a bit debatable. Anyway, how did you even get this stuff out here in the first place?"

"…" Audra suddenly clammed up at the question, and she looked away from Zeph, and her gaze fixing on something in the distance.

You had to be kidding.

"Audra… were these things already in the container to begin with?"

"…Maybe."

Zephyr exhaled, rubbing his temples. "I can't believe I didn't think about that earlier. You do realize that while most of this junk is very cheap, it's not free, right? Did you at least pay for any of this, or did you think that because the stuff didn't leave the scrapyard you could just help yourself to it?"

"…"

"Audra?"

"…Sorry," she mumbled, looking at the ground.

Zephyr shook his head at the revelation. "Alright, in that case, can you just gather whatever your original stuff was and perhaps a couple of other things that you really need? I can help you move those to wherever you're going to set up next."

She looked dejected, but when Zeph mentioned taking some things from the scrapyard, it quickly turned to confusion.

"Wait. You'd be fine with me taking some of the scrapyard's stuff too?"

"Since I'll be paying for it, yeah, I am. You already used it. It wouldn't be fair to just pretend like nothing happened."

A look of guilt crossed her face, and she wrapped her arms around herself, looking even smaller than she already was.

"Zeph, you don't have to do that."

"No, I do. I'm going to assume that you don't have money, and if I don't pay for whatever you grabbed or messed with, it'll be stealing."

"But—"

"No buts." Zephyr's voice took on a firm but gentle tone. "Look, I can tell you've been through a lot, so I don't mind helping out a little bit. Just try not to take too much. Anyway, I'm gonna head over to the office and sort things out with Minerva while you get what you need together. In the meantime, you can load your things in my truck."

"…" Audra hesitated for a moment before finally relenting. "Fine," she grumbled, turning to pick up one of the bags she had been trying to strap onto the bike earlier. "Where's your truck anyway?"

"Just a few rows down from here," Zephyr said, pointing in the general direction of the vehicle. "It's a two-seater, blue and black. You can't miss it. Ah, and you'll probably need this to open the back."

He tossed her his key fob, which she clumsily caught with her bionic hand.

"Just press the black button. I'll meet you at the truck. Oh, and don't forget to close the container doors on the way out."

"W-wait, what?!" Audra asked, her eyes wide as she stared at the key in her hand.

However, Zephyr had already turned and started walking away.