Almost in response to her thoughts, a loud explosion rattled the world around her. Her sanctuary shook heavily, but the cubbyhole she had tucked herself into did not budge. That was a small favor at least.
So not only where there creatures out to do horrible things to herself, not only was she in some wasteland, and not only did she not have a way to defend herself, but this place she was trapped in had explosions--or maybe even earthquakes--too.
This just keeps getting better and better, she thought dourly to herself. She didn't want to jinx herself, though, by trying to question how much worse it could be at this point. It could get worse, and if she tempted fate too much, it would happen sooner rather than later.
There was silence for several long moments after the initial explosion, with no other sound and no further aftershocks. Maybe it wasn't an earthquake then, she thought with a little bit of hope. So now all she had to hope was that it wasn't an explosion that was likely to repeat itself. If that was the case, then her hideout might not be the safest place for her to stay; the noise, whatever it had been, sounded like it had been no more than ten meters from where she was at... and probably a lot closer than that.
Curiosity finally overcame her terror, and she crawled slowly out of her small crevice and pushed herself to her feet.
Closer than ten meters had been correct. Five would have been a better estimate, because that was how close to her the... machine was. She wasn't too sure what else to call it. It wasn't like anything she had ever seen before. If she had to compare it to anything, she would almost have to say it looked like an egg... if an egg ever got as massive or as yellow as this thing mostly was.
A single word in English was spray painted along the side of the... machine. She could only see part of it, with part of the first letter hidden by a huge rock. The word was definitely "HOPE!" though. That much she was certain of, even given the general banged up condition the entire machine was in.
There were several protrusions--she would almost dare to call them rockets--from the side, each with the number 01 on it. She wasn't going to guess at a purpose, but there were two of them and room for another two
A glass dome covered what she presumed to be the top of it--or it had until recently. It looked like it had shattered when it hit the ground. That had to have been her explosion, she decided. It made sense, as much as anything else here did. Below the remains of the dome, there was what looked like a pilot's seat.
So there might be another person around here. If she was very, very lucky, it might even be someone normal... or at least like her. Not like that creature thing she had seen not that far from here.
Resolutely, she pushed the image of that thing out of her mind. If she thought about it too much, she would just end up right back in that little crevice of hers again, and she wasn't ready to give up like that just yet. She had had a fright, yes, but she was not ready or willing to give up hope, as the side of the machine so eloquently stated.
With a deep breath, she skirted her way around the machine to the side with the broken dome. The pavement had shattered hard when it landed, and between the broken stones and the glass from the dome, the street was a bit of a mess.
Half beneath the remains of the dome and machine and half on the open ground, there was a young man. She didn't think he was much older than she was: in his late teens to early twenties. He was pretty impressively built: not bulky but definitely muscular. He was wearing a denim vest and a black tank top beneath it. The machine covered whatever he was wearing beyond that. He did have a bit of a light tan, and under other circumstances, she might have found herself gushing about how much she liked his long lavender-colored hair.
Well, she wasn't about to check his teeth, to see if they were like hers or the creature's had been, but he seemed pretty normal to her. For now, that was good enough for her.
If nothing else, this was answering some of her unspoken questions about how long she had been unconscious before waking to this strange place, if the stranger beneath her was indication. He didn't wake or even stir in the slightest when she shook his shoulder or called out to him as loudly as she dared. Just on an off chance, she grabbed two handfuls of his vest and tried to slide him out from under the machine.
As she had suspected, though, there was no budging him. She had her thoughts on the matter: a lot of it probably had to do with the machine on top of him, but she was pretty sure it was just that he was too solid for her to move.
I can't leave him here, she thought to herself with a frown, glancing around nervously. She had only seen the one creature and it some distance away, but that didn't mean that there weren't others out there, maybe even a lot of them. He was out in the open, and as long as he was unconscious, he was defenseless.
As much as she wanted to be back in the safety of her overhang and crevice, she could not and would not leave him here. She did not have it in her to do it. Instead she scouted briefly around until she found a metal rod, bright blue and yellow and probably off the machine. It was not a fantastic improvised weapon, but if it came down to it, it was better than having none.
With that in hand, she settled down next to the purple-haired young man to wait for him to wake up. And in the meanwhile, she would keep watch. Hopefully, he would prove worth it.
20 August 2012
I've pretty well decided to post a chapter every other day, except next weekend when I'll be out of town.
Hope you guys are enjoying so far. I've been enjoying writing this one. I have this weird love of writing post-apocalyptic fics, and while this one doesn't strictly fit the bill, I think it's close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades.
So SM and DBZ have been brought in. Hang on with the Gundam Wing. It'll arrive in Chapter Fifteen.
See you on the 22nd in the next chapter!
Apollymi