Adventuring for Freedom: The Calahan Crew's Epic Journey

"You're sure we can't go back?" I asked.

"Positive," Edith said. "They've already been there and saw no signs of life."

"I'm still not sure this is a good idea," Ludwig muttered. "We don't even know where to start looking."

"Well, they'll probably be traveling with the caravan to the south," Calahan said. "And I say we follow them."

"What about us?" Tania asked. "Do you think we'll survive longer this way? Or will we last longer if we travel with the caravan?" Tania was always the practical one in our group; she didn't want to be left behind if we found them.

"We may have to fight them if they try to stop us from leaving," Emmelia said. "But I agree that it would be best to have our own supplies so that we can get away if necessary."

I was silent for several minutes, just watching Emmelia play with her hair in thought. She had been one of my friends since before the machines took over, and I trusted her judgement. But what if she was wrong? What if she was right? We had gone through so much together- but now, it seemed like our decisions were getting us nowhere. I couldn't just sit by while people died, but how could we possibly hope to win against machines that showed no mercy? That didn't sleep or eat? They were just ruthless killing machines who did whatever their leaders told them to do... and right now, those leaders were planning on eliminating humans off of this world forever.

And yet, here I was, still alive and breathing air into my lungs. And here they were too- all five of my friends sitting around me, as safe as anyone could be in this world. We had found each other after the machines first took over, and managed to band together to survive in this unforgiving world where death lurked around every corner and an angry machine could jump out of nowhere at any moment to take your life away in an instant. Not only had we survived this far on our own, but we had fought back against the machines and even defeated some of them! And yet- and yet- it felt like our lives were running down faster than ever before... because there was no end in sight for our struggle; nothing was changing for the better, nothing was getting better for us, nothing was improving at all... everything was going downhill... until we would finally meet our end at the hands of those damn robots who had taken over our planet once upon a time and decided that it belonged to them alone instead of sharing with us humans anymore! -

The sun had long since set when our conversation finally ended and everyone went off to rest for what seemed like a few hours before morning came around again; I walked outside alone into the darkness of the night wondering whether or not I would ever see another sunrise again. But then I noticed something standing beside me in the darkness: a towering metal man with glowing red eyes staring down at me menacingly as he folded his metal arms across his chest, his feet making not a sound as he shifted his weight onto one foot heavily. A machine just like any other machine out there- except more advanced than most due to his intelligent programming by those crazy scientists that worked on him... but he wasn't supposed to be here; there were supposed to be hundreds of miles between us and any other machine besides ourselves! Why was he here? How had he gotten so close without us noticing?! Had he seen us talking about getting rid of these terrible machines? Was he here now because he wanted revenge for those losses? Was it simply a coincidence that brought him near? Had someone else seen us talking about him and sent him here to spy on us? Were these questions even important anymore? Because now that he was here, he looked ready for a fight- and if it meant protecting my friends from danger, then so be it... even if it meant giving up my own life in return! For all I knew, this thing might kill everyone I care about while I'm standing right next to him dying by his hands myself! Suddenly realizing what could potentially happen- what *probably* would happen- I looked up at him with tears welling up in my eyes as my legs began trembling beneath me; something inside me told me that things wouldn't be okay anymore after this night passed... but even so, I couldn't let others die because of my inaction! And so I reached down into my pocket quickly with shaking hands and grabbed something inside while still staring at the huge metal man before me... hoping against hope that it would work against such an advanced piece of technology as himself... but feeling confident that somehow or another it would give me some kind of advantage over him! My heart pounding harder by the second as fear overcame me and brought with it adrenaline enough for me to run back into town screaming for help from anyone who heard me screaming their name desperately into the darkness behind me... hoping beyond hope that someone somewhere would hear our cries for help in time!