“What? No way… you said I could leave if I helped you,” she protested, tugging her arm again, furious with him and even more furious with herself for believing in him.
“I’ve decided to keep you with me. I’ll need help later,” he said, in a blatant tone as he scanned the area. They needed to get further away from the colony, but they would need to find shelter too, and as soon as possible. It was still snowing.
“You can’t do that,” she protested again, trying to free herself, feeling tempted to kick his wound, so he would be forced to free her. But for some strange reason, she wasn’t able to do it. And not because she was afraid of his retaliation, she wasn’t. She just couldn’t.
“You wouldn’t last a day out here, woman,” he snarled at her. “We need each other, and for now, we’ll stick together.”
“Says who? I grew up in these mountains, I know what I’m up against.”
“You have no idea. I’m sure we aren’t the only ones that escaped the colony. There will be a lot of Taucets wandering around, escaping from the humans and their army of cyborgs,” he pointed out. “I’m sure they would love to find you wandering around these parts.”
She frowned and realized he was right, and that was one more reason for her to get out of there. Hurt the way he was, he would only slow her down.
“I can travel faster alone. You’re hurt…”
His laugh interrupted her. “I want to see you keep my pace,” he challenged her, as he started walking, never letting go of her hand.
“Oh, please…” she mocked him, but after a few minutes walking through the woods, she realized why cyborgs were acclaimed as warriors. He had to be in pain and yet, he walked as if he was the healthiest man on Earth.
After a couple of hours walking nonstop, she had to admit she was no match for him. She was tired, freezing and starving. She hated the idea of admitting he was right but, she wasn’t fool enough to strain herself to the limit. There would be no gain in that.
“Alright, alright, you made your point. Can we stop for a few minutes? I can’t go on,” she confessed.
He immediately stopped and turned to look at her. “We should go on, my sensors indicate there’s some sort of cave not far from here. We can rest there.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m totally human, you know? And I can’t take another step. Allow me a few minutes to catch my breath.”
He frowned at her words but didn’t say a thing. Instead, he released her and watched her fall seated on a rock she had removed the snow from.
“Did you bring any food with you?” he asked, doing the same and sitting against a tree trunk in front of her.
“No, I had no idea where they stored the food, and I wasn’t going to waste my time looking. I was surrounded by soldiers and aliens,” she replied, scowling.
“Why didn’t you allow the soldiers to help you?” he asked, curious. The logical thing would have been for her to look for the soldiers for help.
“Because I don’t trust them with my life. I’m sure the army used my whole town as a decoy to find the Taucets’ colony. They didn’t care a thing about the lives that could be lost or the degradations we would be exposed to,” she ranted.
Rafaroy looked at the woman in front of him. He had known she was different from the start, but he hadn't expected her to suspect the truth about the attack on her small town. “Why do you say that?”
“A friend of mine disappeared in the woods near our town, and the soldiers did nothing to find her,” she explained, rubbing her forehead, trying to appease her headache. “They knew her disappearance meant the Taucets were in the area, but instead of bringing reinforcements, they sent the small contingent of soldiers assigned to our town, to another village, leaving us unprotected,” she continued scornfully. “A couple of days later, we were attacked and taken prisoners.”
“Yes… I’m afraid you’re right about that,” he admitted. “We had been warned about the impending attack, but they decided your town would serve the greater good on the war against the Taucets.”
“I knew it,” she pounded her knees with her fists, clearly furious. “Why don’t they expose their asses for the greater good?” she ranted. “All of the town’s children were left behind, even the babies. Entire families were separated, some surely for good and they think this is acceptable?”
He shrugged. “You’ll have to ask those questions to your own kind. We’re not asked our opinions; our job is to follow their orders.” There was so much disdain in his tone, she looked at him, with a frown.
“Why are you here? Why didn’t you stay with your friends?” she finally asked, in a low tone, starting to guess the answer.
“Well, you could call me a deserter… I call myself a freed cyborg,” he replied, scowling, looking at her. The more he looked at her, the more attracted he felt for her. He had never felt this way about human females. Sure, he had been with women before. The army made sure they had ‘fun’ as they called it, with the local prostitutes of whatever town they were staying in. But he had never felt the way he felt about her.
Despite the pain, the cold and the hellish situation they were in, her single presence was enough to arouse him. He relished in her scent, and all he could think of was in having her underneath him.
“You’re escaping.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes, I’m escaping. We all live waiting for the moment to escape the yoke of the humans. We’re treated as simple war machines and denied all our rights as humans.”
“You’re stronger than humans,” she pointed out, intrigued.
“Yes, but we’re conditioned and programmed from the moment we’re born. We’re genetically altered while still embryos, by injecting nanocybots into the cells that are capable of transforming bone into metal, with the help of some special supplements added to our diet,” he explained. “In two years, there is no bone inside us, and our bodies grow up faster and stronger than those of humans.”
“I had no idea,” she muttered, astonished. “I guess I’ve never stopped to think much about the cyborgs. I had never seen one before,” she admitted.
“Their propaganda is planned exactly for that. They spread some false information about us, just enough to satisfy the common citizen’s curiosity. That way, they prevent them from asking uncomfortable questions.”
“You’re right.” She remembered some of the information videos she had seen on the cyborgs. They were presented as war machines, created to protect the humankind from its enemies. They never mentioned they were part human and that they should be considered humans as well. Improved humans, but still humans.
“This is why the world is such a mess. A small group of people decided for the rest of the population. They even tell them what to think and what to feel,” she stated, in a stern tone.
“And it won’t get better,” he assured her, standing up. “It’s time to go on. We need to get to a safe place before the night falls.”
She nodded and jumped to her feet. She was still tired, but after that small rest, she was sure she could walk for a while longer.
The cave he found for them wasn’t very big, or deep, but it would protect them from the storm that had started a few minutes after they had resumed their way.
The minute they entered the cave, she took off her drenched exterior jumpsuit, thanking all gods they were made of a waterproof fabric.
“Damn, it’s so cold,” she grumbled.
“I’ll get some wood to start a fire,” he announced, turning to leave the cave.
“Where the hell do you think you’ll find dry wood for a fire? There’s a storm outside, in case you haven’t noticed,” she pointed out.
“I’ll be able to light it, even if it wet, don’t worry. I’ll try to find us something to eat as well.”
Shrugging, she looked for a place to sit down. She was exhausted. “Good luck with that.”
Smiling, he turned around and left the cave, but not before warning her. “Don’t try to escape. I would find you in a blink of an eye.”
She snorted but didn’t say a thing. By now, she knew he wasn’t exaggerating. Besides, she was too tired to try something like that.
Rafaroy left the cave sure the woman wasn’t going anywhere. She looked too tired. After all, they had walked, for the most part over the snow, that didn’t surprise him at all.
He found the wood he needed from a few trees near the cave. Thinking about how cold she should be, he took it back to the cave, lighting it with one of his weapons. He made sure to put the fire where smoke wouldn’t suffocate them and still warmed the cave.
“Since you know these woods, what kind of animal should I go hunt for?” he asked her, once the fire was burning.
“Rabbits, if you’re able to get them out of their holes. There should be a lot of them around here,” she informed him without even opening her eyes.
He nodded. “Very well. Don’t fall asleep, you need to eat.”
“I will if you’re able to hunt,” she assured him, with a scowl.
He chuckled and left the cave.
A couple of years ago his eyes had ended up injured in battle. Since cyborgs had to fight until death, he wasn’t allowed to retire. Instead, the genetic engineers replaced his eyes with some they had been experimenting with. They looked organic, but they were mostly cybernetic. It had taken him a while to get used to them. Now, he was able to see much more than he did before, especially when it came to seeing in the dark and using the infrared vision all cyborgs had incorporated to their own eyes.
Therefore, it wasn’t hard for him to find the rabbit holes and force a couple of them out.
In less than half an hour, he was back in the cave with the animals, ready to put on the fire.
She was still in the same place he had left her, with her eyes closed. But he was able to tell she wasn’t asleep.
“I hope you’re hungry enough. I got a couple of rabbits for us,” he informed her, putting the animals on the fire.
“Good for you,” she mumbled, still with her eyes closed.
He shook his head amused.
“Where were you heading when you tripped over me?” he asked, taking a seat in front of the fire, not far from where she was.
His back still hurt like hell, but he could tell his nanocybots were working as fast as they could to restore the skin and close the wound.
“Away from the colony. I have no idea where we are, and all I wanted was to get as far as possible from the colony,” she explained, sighing and finally opening her eyes.
He moved the meat he had on sticks over the fire, to cook them evenly.
“We’re far enough,” he stated. “Anyway, I doubt anyone would come after us,”
“After me, no one would. After you? I’m not so sure. The army can’t be very pleased with you. You’ve deserted on them, and that affects not only their pride but also their inventories. You’ve escaped with one of their best weapons,” she replied, straightening her body to a sitting position and looking at him.
“Weapon? This weapon doesn’t have anything special…” he protested, patting the huge weapon he had next to him.
“I wasn’t talking about that. I was talking about yourself. You’re one of their best weapons, and now they’ve lost you,” she corrected him.
He let out a dry smile. “I guess you have a point there. And as far as I’m concerned, I’ll make sure they keep losing all of their weapons until there isn’t a single cyborg under the orders of a human,” he retorted, with so much hate and scorn oozing from his words, a chill of apprehension rushed down her spine.
“Perhaps one day they will understand they have more to gain having you on their side, as equals than as unwilling prisoners,” she stated, hopeful.
“That will never happen. They are too afraid of our superiority,” he explained, scowling.
“The creature surpassed the creator,” she concluded, with a sad smile.
“Exactly and they don’t seem able to accept that.” He took the meat out of the fire and tasted it. “This is ready.” He handed her one of the rabbits and grabbed the other one for himself.
Though she was starving, Elena took her time to eat the small beast. The cook in her dreaded the lack of seasoning, but despite that, she had to admit it wasn’t that bad. Even so, she wasn’t able to finish it. She wasn’t used to eating that much meat.
She handed the rest to him. He looked like he could use a lot more food. “Here, I can’t take another bite.”
“Are you sure? You hadn't eaten in all day.”
“Yes, I’m sure. I’m satisfied, believe me. All I want now is to have some sleep,” she assured him, making a better pillow with her bundle and lying on the hard, rocky floor of the cave.
“Would you mind checking my wound before you fall asleep?” he asked her, in a soft tone.
She tilted her head to look at him. “I don’t have clean bandages. Are you sure it’s a good idea to touch it? I might restart the bleeding,” she said, frowning.
“I’ll be fine, but I really need you to remove the bandages replace them,” he insisted. “There’s a small stream not far from here where I could wash the bandages.”
“Alright.” She jumped to her feet and walked to where he was sitting down, kneeling behind him. “You really should see a doctor, you know that, don’t you?” she asked, trying not to sound as worried as she felt. The man was a complete stranger, she shouldn’t be worried about him.