Chapter 1: The Boy

Beneath the recouping wasteland, inside an abandoned bunker, Salve sat star-struck. He had just heard an audio account of what life was like right after “Raining Hell”, the name Salve’s grandfather gave to the day the world ended. An account of a family slowly dying in the midst of a dead world.

“Must’ve sucked to be you dude” Salve laughed aloud, reeling from the haunting audio he heard.

Robert’s audio files to Salve are remnants of a history he was born too far from to know anything about. At this point, nobody keeps track of what the current year is, or even what day it is. It could be a century past 2064 or a few days, though it’s been long enough for the nuclear radiation to subside. People can now live aboveground, and plant food using seeds kept by people like Salve’s grandfather. Small settlements like the one Salve lived in are being built now, and showing great results.

Unfortunately, Salve currently isn’t living in any settlement. The one he was born in, Marley's Town, was wiped off the map by androids. Any potential settlement Salve has tried to find was devastated by them, leaving no living souls in the area. With supplies low, Salve’s now looking to previously used underground bunkers as candidates for his new home.

The bunker Salve has found himself in was located within the remnants of an old neighborhood destroyed by the “Raining Hell”. Thankfully it was easy to get into, unlike others. 

The bunker has 5 rooms: bedroom, storage, bathroom, a small kitchen, and one other extra room for general living. The rooms are small, with only enough space to perform their function. People could sit comfortably on the toilet without crunching their legs, the storage room had space enough for years worth of food, the bedroom was big enough for 2 cramped sets of bunk beds. The kitchen featured a circular dining table adjacent to a small cooking area. Like everything else in the bunker, it had what was necessary. The extra room was about as large as the bedrooms, and was likely used to allow family members alone time. The room was empty, serving as a pleasing contrast to the many other cramped rooms.

While exploring the bunker’s singular hallway, Salve found a plush panda. It was covered in dust and clearly abandoned.

“I’m guessing you’re all that’s left,” Salve said to the panda while cleaning it off.

“Wonder where they all went,” He continued, carefully placing the panda into his bag.

That panda was the first friendly he’d seen since Salve last saw his parents.

A while ago.

The bunker wasn’t extravagant, it was packed with the bare essentials. But for all intents and purposes, this was now Salve’s home.

He entered the sleeping quarters, exhausted from his long search across the wasteland. A massive weight left Salve’s body the moment he dropped his bags, soothing his tense body. Salve grabbed the panda out of his bag and dropped himself onto the bed closest to him, the pillow easing his mind into a relaxing stasis. His whole body lay limp on the soft mattress, in a euphoric trance.

For the first time in weeks, Salve relaxed. In the moments right before sleep, he finally realized just how tired he was. In bed, hugging his panda, he realized he wanted a friend. The sleeping quarters melted together in his vision, fading away.

I’m back home, treating the crops on our family farm. I’m not alone, Mom, Dad, Grandpa, and little Konner and DJ are there too. The heat is scorching, as per the usual this time of year. Luckily, the breeze’s cool embrace makes the outdoors bearable.

The work is kinda boring, especially considering how much of our time we spend doing it. Mom, Dad, and Grandpa’s bickering did spice things up a bit. So did whatever shenanigans Konner and DJ stumbled into, as well as the efforts we went through to get them out of said shenanigans unscathed.

It was bizarre in some places, and difficult in others; but it’s my home. Let me stay here forever, whatever deity is out there.

Screams suddenly pierce the air, they’re coming from our neighbors. I turn to find a wall of flames where our neighbor’s field and farmhouse used to be.

BANG! CLANK!

A metallic screech echoed throughout the bunker.

Salve rolled to the floor behind his bed for cover. It was right against the wall opposite the entrance, so squeezing behind it was a difficult task.

No… it couldn’t be!

BOOM!

It sounded like a wrecking ball dropping to the ground. Seconds later, a loud metallic crash could be heard. Whatever fell to the ground just broke down the bunker’s stairway door.

Is something coming for me?

As the being stepped through the hall, Salve realized what he was up against. A mechanic golem. He was nowhere near strong enough to warrant being angry at the androids for what they did or to try fighting back against them. Salve only felt fear in their presence. His only choice at this point is to keep hiding and hope for the best.

Salve poked his head out slightly above the mattress. He needed to see what was going on at a safe angle.

For minutes, all Salve heard was the repeated stomps of the android through the bunker. The booming steps were so powerful he could feel their vibrations through the ground. He could swear the steps were getting louder.

“1 humanoid lifeform found” A harsh, monotone voice said, the words echoing throughout the bunker.

Soon after, a humanoid robot appeared within the doorway. It’s bulky body, with relatively basic joints, was enhanced by its shiny metallic armor. The being had large eyes. They were empty. If eyes were the doorway to the soul, then this being clearly had none whatsoever.

bbbBBBBZZZTTT

The sound was a low charging hum, building as the machine accumulated more power. Salve knew what that meant.

“No time to think!” Salve yelled.

He swiftly leapt out from his cover, immediately rolled over his mattress, and slid under the robot; all before it shot a devastating beam of energy, which stabbed through Salve’s mattress. Salve exited the bedroom and sprinted through the cramped, gray hallway of the bunker. He was at the toppled door of the bunker’s stairway when Salve realized he completely forgot about his bags. Realizing this, he spun around and sprinted.

I have to go back and get it! It needs me!

The robot stomped out of the bedroom, it’s blasting arm pointed in Salve's direction..

Salve instantly dropped to the floor, narrowly missing a laser zooming his way.

“There’s no way I’ll be able to get my bags without fighting that golem. And there’s no way I could do that…” Salve mumbled aloud.

“Unless the storage room here has items I could use to fight this beast, maybe something electric to overcharge i- AAAAH!”

His train of thought was derailed by a red laser beam shot his way, this one larger than the previous. Salve pressed himself against the hallway wall. The heat of the ray as it passed inches behind Salve was intense. The artillery on that robot was supremely powerful.

Salve needed to go to the storage area, which was in the middle of the bunker’s hallway between the bedroom and stairway. At this point, it was only a few strides away for him. The big issue facing him was the golem staring right at him.

“No problem, I’ve got this,” Salve pumped himself up.

Salve took long strides down the hall, eyeing the robot as it fired another bolt of burning light. He rolled onto the ground as quickly as possible, but the beam skinned his left leg. It was barely a graze, but the beam burnt off all the skin on Salve’s left knee. He didn’t know what level of burn that was, all he knew was that the pain from it was overwhelming. Luckily adrenaline dulled the pain, giving him the strength to climb onto his feet and charge into the storage room.

“C’mon Robby, you guys left something useful for me, right?” he hoped aloud.

The storage room was about the same size as the extra room, except for the packed aisles of shelves containing personal belongings. Frantically searching through the shelves, he found spare clothes, empty water thermoses, family items, and many other relics from the past. But then, Salve found something he could use:A slim wooden rod with a shiny metallic prong at the end of it. At the other end of the rod was an outlet that looked like it could be plugged in.

I could overcharge the bot with electricity from this and give myself a window to escape.

However, a LOT of energy would be needed to take that thing down. Where would that be?

The idea then hit him:

“The generator, of course!”

The generator powering this bunker should have an outlet where the rod could get fully charged. It’d be a risky move though, blowing out the generator. Doing so could cause the collapse of Robert’s bunker. He could lose his panda.

Bbbbbzzzzzzzzz

The low hum of a beam charging sounds. Salve leapt away as a line of light more powerful than the rest violently broke through the storage room’s wall, eviscerating all storage shelves and supplies in its path. The beam didn’t even hit him, but the heat was overwhelming.

I’ve got no other options.

Salve knew exactly where to look for the generator. At the back of the storage room, he found a partly melted door which would’ve said “Generator Room”. Inside was an organized mess of large wires and a massive green box with a large caution sign.

“Yup, this has to be it” Salve confirmed.

CLANK! CLANK!

The titan was tearing through the supply closet, it’s beam revving up. Time was short, he had to act FAST! Salve yanked wire connected to the generator and shoved it into the port on his rod.

IT WORKS!

His “Lighting Stick” was vibrating as energy surged through it, the metallic prongs connected by a bridge of spiking electricity.

The robot kicked down the generator room’s wall, its laser ready to fire

In a feverish blur, Salve plunged the stick into the silver giant, sending it into a crazed frenzy.

ZZAAPPP

A red, pulsing beam of light shot through the bunker ceiling. As that happened, the ceiling cracked apart. Rubble of all sizes fell into the generator room, splitting wires and breaking the generator down. The sudden influx of power in the generator surged into the robot through Salve’s Lightning Stick. The golem trembled, its body unable to handle all the power.

It collapsed onto the ground, powered down. Salve fainted on top of the robot; the energy flowing through his body was excessive to say the least. At this point, all he could do was convulse on the ground as his consciousness faded.