Awakening

by Hayden Pearton

  *

  Time passed, although how much exactly was anyone’s guess.

  Alza opened her eyes and felt a brief pang of pain, which faded the moment she concentrated on it. She looked down, and noticed that she had not suffered so much as a bruise, despite recent events. But she was not about to lose sleep on not having injuries, so instead she stood up and took in her surroundings.

  They were at the bottom of the elevator shaft, in an oblong space about fifty feet long and ten feet wide. They had landed beside the elevator car, narrowly avoiding being slammed into steel and falling onto damp concrete instead. Judging from his moans of pain, Kingston was nearby, although it was hard to tell given the pitch blackness of their surroundings.

  If she had been a normal girl, perhaps she would have sat there, calling out for help, or maybe searching desperately for her companions. But Alza was Alza, and there was no one like her.

  So, what she did first was walk around the area assessing it for potential threats or escape routes, of which she found none of the former and only one of the latter. Set in the far wall was a small service door, which had rusted shut from decades of run-off.

  From there, it became clear that she would need assistance if she wanted to leave, and only then did she seek out her ‘comrades’. Kingston and Maloch were found first, the old man still firmly attached to the re-mech’s back. Unlike Alza, they had not come away unscratched. Kingston bore a nasty wound to his head, and a scarlet trail had already formed from temple to cheek. Maloch, on the other hand, seemed to have borne most of the damage. His breastplate, already cracked from Alza’s attack, was now dented in several places, and exposed circuitry bled dozens of sparks into the cold floor.

  There was nothing Alza could do for them, except wait, so she decided to seek out Barsch in the meantime. Several seconds later she found him, pinned to one of the elevator cars by sheer force. The metal had buckled upon his impact, forming a metallic cradle which had left a long, deep gash down his right arm. He also bore injuries to his face, including a cut over his left eye which had mostly likely cost him part of his sight. Out of the four of them, he had suffered the most, and in his current condition, it was doubtful he would make it out of the city.

  Without really knowing what she was about to do, Alza approached the stricken teen, as the darkness was breached by a small violet light…