On the outskirts

What, or who, stood before him was a lady. A quick scan revealed that this lady was an elf. Her pointed ears were enough proof of that. Her slender frame didn't make her look so intimidating, meanwhile her eyes looked at the robot in awe and shock. Her green patched shirt was tucked into her long brown pants, both of which looked like they had seen better days also didn't help her look any more menacing. But none of this stopped the robot from staying on guard. Soon her aqua green eyes went from shock to excitement and relief.

"Oh, so there you are!" Her voice sounded almost angelic. "I wasn't expecting to find one of you. Especially in such excellent and working condition! Usually it's only ever false alarms or robots that are on the last few charges of life. But these things aren't as reliable as they used to be." She held up a contraption. It was quite bulky and on the main screen was a map and lots of info scrawled all over on each of the sides. Then, in the middle, was a blip. The robot could only assume that it was them.

For the first time since it had awoken the robot spoke. "Why would you follow me all the way out here? Is there something you need from me? " It's voice box was a little rusty so it's voice came out a little, wrong. And it showed as the lady flinched when it spoke.

"Well, we try to find robots like you. There aren't many of you left as you would think. But because of that, robots like you are very valuable. This particular group I'm apart of want to collect as many of you as we can so you don't end up in the wrong hands again."

"Again?" The lady flinched again. Its voice box was still adjusting after not been used for quite some time.

"That's a long story which I'll tell you later. But for now, we need to get you out of here. I'm not sure when the patrols will come out here next."

The robot wasn't sure if it should trust this elf or not, but it didn't seem to be with whoever was controlling it. Or, at least she wasn't aware, or acknowledge, them. So, for now, the robot decided it was going to follow along. It needed all the help it could get for now. They went down the last couple of flight of stairs before finally making it to the entrance. The elf hushed the robot over while pointing to a tipped over couch and crouched behind it.

"Stay here, I'm going to scope out the area." She gracefully sneaked over to the entrance, not making a single sound as she went.

For a moment it was as if she blended into the environment and disappeared completely. But if it wasn't for the fact that it had been keeping an eye on her, while also having a keen sense of sight, the robot might have believed no one was there. Once everything seemed to be clear the elf waved the robot over. After checking one last time, they both left the place.

Thankfully whatever patrols the elf was talking about seemed to be preoccupied elsewhere. But that didn't mean that there wasn't something else out there that could come after them. So they tried their best to move quickly ,and quietly, as they could. But the robot couldn't quite do much of either. The elf kept glancing back at it, each time getting more worried.

When they had come out of the building the robot noted that they were surrounded by trees. If the elf had been by herself she could've easily climbed a tree and hid there if she came across anything hostile. But obviously the robot didn't have the ability, or agility, to do that. She also wasn't strong enough to carry it nor help defend it. The elf hoped that this wouldn't become an issue.

As they continued on they reached what looked to be several houses of what once used to be a very small village. With the condition of them though, it seemed as though the room the robot had woken up in wasn't the only thing that had been targeted.

"We estimate that this place was impacted the same time as all the other places." The elf mentioned, noticing the robot being intrigued by the place.

"Other places?" The robot croaked out.

"Oh, I should've expected your memory to not be intact." As she said that she walked into one of the buildings that was still partially standing. Her eyes lit up as she looked in one of the rooms. "Come in here for a moment. I believe I may have found something that could help with your joints."

The robot moved his noisy butt over to the building the elf had entered. On one of the many standing shelves, among a few other nicks and knacks, were several bottles of grease. The elf looked around on the ground, as if scanning it for something. Then, her eyes locked onto something. Within a moment she had approached an item and picked it up. It was a small grease pump.

"Ok, this should do it. Do you mind standing still for a moment while I apply this." The robot did as it was told as the elf began applying the grease to its legs. "At least you will no longer be waking up the entire forest now!"

She was very gentle and caring towards the robot, which surprised it. For a moment it wondered why. Asking this question to itself brought back a brief memory of its past. That, for whatever reason, not very many creatures on this planet liked robots. As she was applying grease to the robots chest something seemed to come to the elf's mind.

"I appear to have forgotten to introduce myself. My name is Meredith." She looked up at the robot, giving it a warm smile. "Do you remember the name that you were given?"

"I do not remember my name nor do I know if one was ever given to me."

"Well on your chest here there is a small inscription which reads: SKY21034983. So I guess I'll call you Sky. If that is ok with you?"

"That is acceptable." The robot gave an approving nod and Meredith smiled merrily, returning a nod in response.

It took several minutes for Meredith to finishing greasing the rest of Sky. But eventually she finished up, setting down the grease gun and wiping her hands on her already dirty clothes.

"Ok I think we're ready to head back out again. Could I get you to move your joints just to make sure I got them greased up properly?" Sky did as the elf said. All of joints moved much more smoothly and, better yet, they no longer made any sound.

But as they turned to make their way out, they found something to be in their way. There, in the door way, floated a small ball of light. It glowed a golden yellow, yet the light didn't reflect on any surface. While it was floating there the noises of bells protruded from it, almost like it was trying to say something. The elf appeared to be able to understand what this small creature was saying. Whatever it was, it made her look beyond terrified.

"We need to get out of here. Now!" Meredith grabbed Sky's hand and ran through the door, nearly knocking the poor fairy out the way.

Before Sky could ask what was going on it could hear footsteps far of in the distance. But they were quickly getting closer. Trees were blurring past them as they tried to keep ahead of whoever was coming their way. The fairy had caught up to them and was saying something else to Meredith. She nodded her head and the fairy flew back from where they came from.

Next thing Sky knew it was suddenly being dragged to the left. Meredith seemed a lot stronger then she looked as it felt like she almost took off its arm after the sharp turn of hers. At this point Sky had almost forgotten that it shouldn't be trusting the elf right now but it felt like it didn't really have a choice right now but to continue following her, wherever she was taking them.

They ran a few more feet before they came to a sudden halt, causing Sky nearly trip over. It turned back around, about to ask what was going on, but Meredith put her finger to her lips. Sky kept its mouth shut, knowing it was better to keep quiet for now.

Sky watched Meredith as she frantically walked around the area before coming to a halt. She stomped a couple of times and, to Sky's surprise, it sounded not like that of dirt but metal. A few seconds later the brush and dirt fell away as a hatch opened up. Meredith looked down before quickly jumping down. A few seconds passed before she popped her back up again.

"Quickly get in here before I come out there and drag your metal butt in her." Meredith said forceful, yet quietly.

The footsteps could be heard again, this time much more heavier and louder. Sky didn't have a choice so it jumped in after Meredith. The moment Sky got in Meredith quickly closed the hatch behind it. There was an unexpected, unsettling noise that followed after. It sounded almost like somebody was trying to bury the door under dirt, essentially trapping the both of them down there.

"I know you might have a lot of questions about what is going on, but I request you save them for later. At least until we lose the patrol." Sky nodded in response but realised that it was pitch black down here, so it was pointless.

Sky tried to remain quiet as best it could. The closer the footsteps got, the more the ground shook. By the sounds of it there must've been at least a dozen of them. They marched on until they were nearly on top of where they hid. As they stopped one of them started yelling orders, presumably this was the leader of the squad.

"Their trails end here! Spread out and search! They must be found or it'll be your heads on the chopping block next if we return back empty handed!"

With that the heavy footsteps could be heard going out in different directions. Although, by the sounds of it, one of the remained. This was going to cause a bit of an issue for the two that were currently hiding. But thankfully for them they had help on the outside.

It seemed like it was the fairy out there as a familiar sounding bell could be heard before the guard starting yelling. Whatever the fairy was doing it was distracting the guard. Or at least getting on his nerves with all the noise he was making. Thankfully none of the other guards seemed to take notice of all the commotion that was currently going on.

As the fairy continued to annoy him, it became enough that he got angry enough to start chasing her. As she lead him away from the area, Meredith made sure to listen until she was confident enough that they were far enough away for them to make a run for it. She slowly opened the hatch, enough to peek out of. Once she was certain the nobody else was around she open the hatch fully and climbed out. She did another quick survey of the area before peeking back over the hole.

"Quick, we need to get going. I don't know how much time we have left before someone comes back here. Especially with how much noise that other guard is now making throughout the forest." She offered her hand to Sky and pulled the robot out.

With that they took their chance made their way stealthily out of there. It made it a little bit easier to avoid the patrol guards as they were now separated. It was luck that Sky was now much quieter with her movements as if that patrol had arrived sooner, they would've been done for. But they still had to be sure not to be spotted by any of them as there was a chance that they could alert the other guards.

They kept running, not taking a single break before they reached wherever Meredith was taking them. This time being more careful and Meredith made sure this time to hide their tracks as they went. After many days and nights of traversing and hiding through the forest, the trees began to clear. Within that clearing Sky could make out the outskirts of a camp.