Act 7: Past

"Let me down, we have to go back!" Screamed Spes, still crying on his shoulder and knocking with her fists on his back. "Zero... he is still down there!"
"It is too late Spes. He blew himself up to save us... It is too late." He repeated.
Still grabbing onto her, Silus started running through the sidestreets of the city, the rain pouring from the dark clouds above them. He had no destination in mind, all he wanted was to get as far as possible from the place of the explosion and the death of his friend. Only when the first light of the morning sun shone through the cracks of dark clouds he stopped running.
Around him stood giant skyscrapers and private homes worn down by weather and war. A jungle of concrete and steel.
He walked into the closest ruin and laid the girl down on a dust-covered bed and sat down on the floor right next to it.
"Where are we?" She asked the moment she finally woke up.
"Where we are?" Silus repeated. "This is what remained of the war between humans and mechanoids. Here lived families with their kids, pregnant women, unborn babies and hard-working men. All destroyed in a couple of years." In his hands, he toyed with the small purple box of cigarettes.
She sat up, raising a thick cloud of dust and looked at the old paintings decorating the crumbling walls. Some of them had fallen to the ground, their canvas torn into pieces by glass shards or other rubble. But the pictures weren't the only thing that caught her eye. Everything piece of human science with the purpose of entertainment seemed to have her full attention and curiosity.
"And they are all dead now?" Spes asked.
"Yes, not a single person was spared. The mechanoids killed all of them. Without mercy." Silus looked her in the eyes and even though she knew he couldn't express feelings, she felt a deep sadness coming from them. "And now Zero is also gone, just like all the others. One by one, everyone leaves me alone in this hell of a world."
"I... I won't leave you alone." Spes stood up and wrapped her arms around him. "I didn't know who I am or what I am doing here. I didn't even know what I was. But you, Silus, you gave me a name and a place to stay. Never would I even think about leaving you behind. You saved me."
"You know, since the end of the war I...," he lifted the girl back on the bed, "I was completely empty. My creator didn't give me any purpose, no reason to be here on this planet and yet I had always something to do. You gave me something to do, you gave me a new purpose. I didn't save you, you saved me."
She giggled and her dirt-covered cheeks blushed in a faint red.
"So, what are we going to do next?" Spes asked.
"Human or not, I promised Zero to protect you and I will keep my word. We will escape far away from any place with mechanoids or their influence and settle down there. That is the only way I can ensure your safety."
"And how long are we going to hide there?" In her voice was a trace of anger. "How long are we going to run?" She repeated.
"Forever."
"I don't wanna!" Spes stomped on the ground. "There must be something else we can do?"
"If there was something we would've already done it in the war. Or yesterday before Zero had to blow himself up to save us."
"War this, war that, it's all in the past now!" She screamed but quickly calmed down as Silus showed her to tune it down. "The war has ended and Zero...," tears came back into the corners of her eyes, "he is also gone now. There must be something else we can do, other than running and hiding!"
"You really don't sound like a human child at all."Silus opened the lid of the cigarette package. "A kid would have never said something like that." He looked inside and saw how only a single cigarette remained in the firm socket of the container.
"Wow! That is all you have to say?!"
"I don't know what else to do either, so don't let your frustration out on me, you hear!" Now it was Silus who raised his voice.
He grabbed his very last cigarette and the moment he pulled it out a silent ringing tune sounded from the box followed by a soft female voice.
"One saved message."