CHAPTER ONE
    Ugh. I groaned internally as I woke up. My head was pounding, and broken images were swirling around behind my eyelids. I had no idea where I was, or how I had gotten here. I refused to open my eyes and find out, or give any other sign that consciousness had found its way back to me again. Not knowing exactly where and when I was a dangerous business for me. Very dangerous.
    You see, the last thing I remember before the blackness hit, is that I was running…
    My legs were on fire. They burned like nothing I had ever felt before as they pumped against the forest floor. They plunged me deeper and deeper into the thick trees. It kind of reminded me of a scene form Snow White I felt like the trees were reaching out to grab me and hold me there till I was caught. Ha. With my luck they probably were. I pulled in another shallow gasping breath as I turned and ran to the left. I had to get out of here!
    The sirens were steadily growing louder. I felt as if they were blasting away in my ears. The world was no longer a safe place for people like me; it hadn’t been for a long time now. So I lived a life on the run, rather than be killed.     
    As I ran, out of nowhere, a sharp pain struck me in the back of the head blinding me. Then the blackness hit pulling me down….
    So here I was now, lying pathetically, who knows where? The only things I could do to find out--that wouldn’t show signs of life-were feel and listen. The low melodic hum and cackle of flames was close by. The heat seemed closest to my right side. It felt like I was lying on cold dirt. My arms were bound to my sides with a sticky, plasticy material, most likely duct tape. My legs were strung together in the same manner.
    This all seemed very odd. If the no-longer-human-drones, bent on “making the world a better place” by making us all the same, had captured me, I wouldn’t be outside. I knew exactly where I would be if it was them who had me.
     I would be strapped to an operating table. Receiving my first “upgrades”. Being turned from someone to something. The first thing they would do is put the chip in my brain, this chip--they say--will help me control my new upgrades, help me think faster, or in laymen’s terms…help me stop thinking for myself. At all.
The realization that I was outside, brought on a wave of premature hope. Hope that the reason I was outside was that I had been captured by people like me. Real people. I tried to smother that hope as quickly as I could. The fact that I was outside didn’t necessarily mean the best. It could just mean that reserves had captured me. The reserves had the chip, but they hadn’t yet been fully changed to machine. The reserves were still technically human just controlled, and humans had to sleep, ergo they had to make camp in the process of bringing me in to the life snatchers.
    So now, I was faced with a 50/50 chance. My life possibly could have come to and end, where my heart and feelings ceased to exist, and are replaced by something more efficient, machinery. On the other hand, I could have been captured by humans who thought I was the latest and greatest, cybernetic-organism advancement and addition, to the evil robot family (In a world that was being over-run by machines had started taking over that was always a possibility). In which case, I was also dead. On one hand, there was death, on the other, more death.
Great!
    I chose option C, this involved living. That was the important part. The least likely, but still, being a sunshiny ray of life and goodness, it was still my favorite! Whose wouldn’t it be? How exactly I was supposed to achieve this though was beyond me.     
    Suddenly a sound that had escaped me before rudely interrupted my ponderings. The sound of soft breathing landed gently against my ears. I was instantly on edge. The breathing was extremely close. Close enough that I could feel it like feathers on my face. It was a sensation that had me torn between blinding hope and the blackest of despair and fear.
    A rough hand was placed on my forehead. I guessed checking for body heat, a feature usually absent in clunking metal machines. The hand of my inspector (lets call him Steve shall we?) pulled away quickly with a soft gasp that was quickly muffled with a slight cough. Obviously the warmth, “Steve’s” hand had felt was not expected. All together, a good sign knowing that any reserves, or spawn-of-the-devil in waiting would have known I was human.
    I didn’t realize “Steve” was leaving my side until I heard his breath slowly distancing, his feet didn’t make any kind of sound against the dirt as he left. I decided it was time to look upon my captor(s) and surroundings. I cracked open one of my eyelids with a deliberate slowness that would put snails to shame. My searching eye first revealed to me that it was still dark or at least maybe dark again. It also noted that I was still in the woods. That could be a good thing; a girl like me was not beyond hiding behind or up a tree.
    My seeking green orb finally rested upon “Steve” who was in fact a guy. He looked to be about my age, which was either 16 or 17. I had lost count. I quickly closed my eye as his head of shaggy black hair turned in my direction.
     I heard a shuffle of clothes, and again the breathing got closer. A sharp pain jolted into my side as it was kicked by an unforgiving boot. “Get up! You worthless piece of machinery. I know you aren’t broken. I saw you looking around” a rough furious voice commanded. “I want some answers.”
    Oh, Crap! This would not go well. I pinched my face together then slowly, cautiously, opened my right eye to stare up at my captor. A fierce scowl distorted his features into an awful mask of pure loathing. His black eyes held the strangest tint of blue as they bored into mine. I let a sort of grimace/grin cross my face as I opened my other eye.
    “Hi, Um…about------ OWWW!” I screeched. He had kicked me again. “Would ya stop that? I’m trying to answer you but you’re making it kinda hard with all the kicking and glaring. Jeeze!” I huffed.
    I watched as he took a step back form me and crossed his arms. His face gave nothing away but I could tell he was surprised by how human my words sounded. If he hadn’t at least subconsciously realized I must not be a robo-brain, he wouldn’t have stepped back. He would still take a lot of convincing though.
    “Thanks! Like I was about to say though Steve--” he cut me off.
“Who’s Steve?” He snarled.
“Uhh…” oops “Well uh what’s your name?” I asked.
“None of your business.” was his retort.
I let out a long sigh. This was going to take a while. “Well, then for the time being I bestow upon you the name Steve. Use it well my young friend,” I said holding back a chuckle. He just continued to glare, not amused. Tough crowd. “Anyways… Steve, my name,” telling him this was a great leap of faith “is Sam.” I snuck another peek at him and still his strange eyes told me nothing.
    I shifted my gaze to the nearby fire. “I really hope you know the risk I’m taking telling you that.” I said. “I’m pretty convinced though that you are still human,” I sucked in a deep breath “and I really, really need you to believe the truth about me, I still am too!” The words rushed from my mouth, and I braced myself for a kick form the boot that I was surprised to find, did not come.




CHAPTER TWO
    “Ok well the whole not kicking me thing is definite progress!” I said the uncomfortable silence was killing me. His midnight blue eyes for once showed something, I couldn’t tell if it was surprise or anger, though it was probably anger. That seemed to be a common theme with him. He walked over to me and I noticed that his feet still didn’t make a sound as they brushed against the dry ground.
    “Ok,” He said, “what gave you the idea that I’m still human?” I rolled my eyes as I brought them up to meet his. “Well for starters, if you weren’t human you probably wouldn’t have called me a, what was it, a ‘worthless piece of machinery.’”
    “Hmm. Well don’t think I’ve bought into your little act I still don’t trust you.” Ugh Men! He turned away; he seemed to be done speaking for the moment. Again, he walked away and sat on the opposite side of the fire from me. I took this opportunity to let my curiosity get the better of me.
    As I looked around, I noticed that there was a beat up old backpack lying against a log. That made sense; he probably needed a place to carry his food. In this running business, there was no place to stay and rest. You were constantly on the move. I however didn’t have a bag like this. I either hunted and gathered while on the move or ate the food as soon as I stole it.
    He didn’t seem to notice my searching; either that or he didn’t care so I let my eyes keep exploring. This place looked familiar, but so did most forests. They were a monotonous pattern that just kept going, tree, tree, tree, tree, bush, tree, and tree. There was nothing else to see really, and the darkness in the sky didn’t seem to be lightening any. I wondered what time it was. I guess now was as good a time as any to start talking.
    “So…” I started, “Any idea what time and day it happens to be?” At first, I didn’t think he had heard me because he didn’t show any acknowledgement of my presence. “You’ve only been out for a few hours, so it’s around midnight.” He said. “We’ll be moving before daylight so you might as well sleep.” I nodded and laid my head back down on the ground and closed my eyes. I wondered how exactly he was planning to do this. He probably wouldn’t want to untie me so he would have to either carry me or find another way of dragging me along. This would be interesting.



    I woke up to the sound of sirens. I opened my eyes and though it was not yet morning, the sky was getting lighter. “Get up we have to leave!” the voice that was starting to get familiar instructed me. “Um, I don’t know if you’ve noticed Steve but that might be a bit of a problem seeing as how you have so kindly clothed me in duct tape.” I pointed out. I looked over at him to see him bent over his backpack, shoving something wrapped in cloth into it. He raised his head as he shoved, then slung the bag over his shoulders and came over to me pulling a rope from his pocket.
    As he bent down beside me, he looked at me long and hard then said, “I hope you can run fast while attached to one end of this rope. ’Cause don’t think for one second I’m going to let you run off to your masters.” He then preceded none too gently, to rip the duct tape off my arms. “Ouch! You don’t have to RIP it off like that.” I whispered harshly under my breath. I didn’t necessarily intend for him to hear that but hey, it wouldn’t hurt him if he did right? Obviously, he had heard it though because he looked up from his job of unsheathing me form the duct tape with a smirk playing on his lips. Hmm, a show of emotion or at least a sense of humor. You know the kind of humor that psychopaths have where they think inflicting pain is funny. Ok, so it didn’t hurt that bad but did he have to tear out all the little hairs?
When he was done removing the restraints, from my upper body he wrapped the rope around my waist and started to form a complicated knot. When it looked like he was finished with that, He then attached the other end of the thick rope to his wrist. I was being put on a leash like a dog. How lovely!
    He finally took the last of the tape off my legs then hauled me to my feet. This whole process had only taken a few minutes, but a few minutes were a lot of time to lose. Just then, I noticed that he must have been awake a long time. I looked around his little camp and noticed that at first glance it didn’t appear that anyone had stopped in this little spot at all. Several types of scattered leaves covered the place where the fire had been very inconspicuously. Nothing else looked like people had touched it either.
There wasn’t time to sit and admire his work though it was time to move. He began walking very swiftly in the opposite direction of the sirens dragging me along. Then he started to run.


CHAPTER THREE

    “Hey! Stop that!” Steve growled as I chuckled to myself. He had obviously thought that he would be able to run faster than I would. He was obviously wrong. This was quite fun. I paused and let him get back in the lead of our little parade. “So, do you admit that this whole leash thing might not be working out so well?” I asked. In answer, he just gave me a sour look. He was such a sweetheart!
    The sirens had faded a few hours ago and we were walking along the edge of a high rock wall with several cracks in its face. I had no idea what time it was but the sun was somewhere near the dead center so I guessed it was fairly close to noon. It had been a long nearly silent trip and I decided that I was going to break it. I wanted a few answers of my own.
    “So,” I began, I seemed to be starting my sentences that way a lot lately, “do you think you could tell me your name so I can stop calling you Steve?” I asked. After a long while, he glanced behind himself at me. His eyes were suspicious but to my surprise, they seemed to soften a little when they dropped to my chaffed wrists. He looked back up to my eyes and sighed. “Well I guess telling you my name couldn’t hurt. It’s Luke.” Hmm, nice name. “Thank you.” I said. After that, I decided I would let him be for a while. He had actually answered me civilly, which must have been a huge strain on him. He deserved a bit of a break, just a small break though.
    I rushed forward because I was tired of walking; I wanted to run, and to pull on his end of the rope again. He didn’t seem to like it much. The rope pulled tight around my hand so I spun around and wrapped it around my waist so that it wouldn’t try to pull me around the other direction. Now it wouldn’t be too much of a bother to try to run forwards. As I turned, I saw his expression it was annoyed but had the tiniest hint of amusement I thought. That was new!
    I took off and the rope bit at my stomach. Trying to slice me in half. This time he hadn’t even tried to keep up. He had planted his feet and wasn’t moving. Now I understood the amusement. It hurt but I didn’t want to let him know that so I bit my lip and then turned back around. “Awww come on Luke,” I said, “We’ve been walking for too long I want to run! Please!” Walking for any extended period always bothered me. I didn’t like to think I was giving anything a chance to catch up with me. His look of annoyance and mocking amusement had not changed. “Well Sam, you can go ahead and run but I don’t think you will get that far because I am stopping here and I don’t plan on untying you.”
    “Oh,” I said, “well I guess you have a point there. Why are we stopping here though?” I asked. There wasn’t much of a clearing here in the woods so I wondered why he had picked this particular spot. What was so special about it? He didn’t answer me with words just turned and walked through a Luke sized crevice in the wall while dragging me along.
    
    
    
    I followed him through the entrance of the crack in the rock wall, a cave if you will, and at once noticed how much cooler it was in here. It was also much darker than the glaring light of the sun; it took a bit for my eyes to adjust. Therefore, it did not surprise me when I snagged my clothes on the rock from lack of sight. I noticed it had torn a small hole in my sleeve. Oh well. It wasn’t as if it was in pristine condition anyway. I stretched my arms out to feel for the walls until I regained my sight to avoid another injury to my clothing.
    It didn’t take long before the walls started to spread apart a bit giving us a little bit of breathing room. Even though I was able to see a bit better at this point it didn’t stop me from running right into Luke who for some reason had stopped. Admiring the nonexistent scenery, I guess. “What’s the hold up skipper?” I asked as he stepped away with haste. He probably still wasn’t completely convinced of my humanity and therefore probably wary of the contact. “I thought this looked like a good place to stop,” he answered. I looked around and surveyed the small area he had discovered. It looked ok it was roughly the shape of a diamond with two rounded sides. The crack continued further into the rock but it was too small for either of us to squeeze through.
    He dragged me a bit further into the little room and took off his backpack setting it on the floor and kneeling down to dig through it. I went ahead and sat down. He pulled out the cloth wrapped thing from his bag, I seen him put it away earlier, and some matches. “Hey, you got anything else in that carpet bag Mary Poppins?” I asked. Because if he had matches he was bound to have some other good stuff in there too! “You have ropes, duct tape, matches, where do you get this stuff?” I hoped he would tell me, I have been rubbing sticks together for far too long.
    “You really don’t think I would tell you something like that do you?” well it was worth a try I guess…
He began unwrapping the cloth wrapped thing, which I quickly recognized as an average sized hunting knife. “So are we going to go hunt us up some grub Daniel Boone?” I asked. He chuckled under his breath, clearly trying to hide it, and looked up at me. “We are not hunting, I am. And I thought I was Mary Poppins?” he said an amused question in his tone. “Well when the shoe fits, wear it…and there are plenty of shoes in the closet. Trust me I can keep them coming. Wait a second what do you mean, “We aren’t”? Does this mean you are going to untie me?”
    “No, it means I will detach you from myself.” he said. Oh. That plan didn’t sound as appealing as I what I thought he had planned. He untied the rope from around his wrist and carried it over to me.
“Can you put your legs through your arms so that your hands are behind you?” he asked.
    I stood up and he stood up with me, “I’m not a contortionist you know, but I guess I can try.” It wasn’t that hard of a thing to do really, I was flexible enough for that anyway. “You know I should get some points toward the “to trust or not to trust” tally for cooperating. I could have said no.”
    He bent down and pulled rope tightly down with him to wrap it around the bottom half of my legs, careful not to leave any slack on the rope. “I’ll take it under consideration,” he said. Well that was something; he seemed to be softening a little.









CHAPTER FOUR

Luke

    I stepped out of the cave still wondering what I was going to do about Sam. “What happens if I have to pee?” I heard her holler after me. I chuckled to myself; I had to admit she made things more interesting. I was certain that she was still human but that did not change the fact that she shouldn’t be trusted. She could be a spy, a reserve; controlled humans were more expendable than the fully mechanized cyborgs. After all, if the strange letters I had been following proved to be true a spy would have a lot to gain.
    Sam had complicated things; before capturing her I was headed to the third place the letters had, lead me. I had to leave her somewhere for a while before I could continue. I wasn’t trusting these letters blindly though, I’m not stupid, I was always prepared. The letters kept getting more and more convincing though. I had told Del that I was going to hunt, and I would on the way back, but right now. I had other things to do that were more important.
    Before I got too far out in the open I looked both ways as if I was about to cross the street. There were no signs of being watched, so far. I pulled the crumpled piece of paper out the pocket of my jeans. Then, doing my imitation of 007, I slunk along the rock wall ready to continue my mission.     
    It took several hours to track down the food house, but I recognized it as soon as I saw it. It would have been invisible to someone who wasn’t looking for it. Near the base of a tree was a small root that stuck up out of the ground. It was almost the perfect size to be a handle.
    I looked around, checking one more time for followers, then went over and lifted the hatch to the underground storage area.


    Inside it smelled moldy and damp. I reached above my head and pulled the string that hung down. Light flooded the small room and I smiled. The shelves along the wall where stocked with food. One wall contained things that would go bad soon like bread and vegetables. One of the walls overflowed with things that wouldn’t go bad for years: crackers, granola bars, and even some candy. The third was entirely devoted to water bottles, and along the forth sat a table empty except for several notebooks and a hand written note.
    This is the last food house for several miles. If you are on your way to the refugee camp, you are only a few days away. There is still however some obstacles you will have to over come before you are allowed access to the refugee camp, purely precautionary. Stock up. All we ask in return is that you do not leave the entrance open. This is essential to the continuation of the food houses. We cannot afford to be discovered. Please take all you can carry. The notebooks contain directions to more food houses or the next step on the way to the refugee camp if you wish to join us.
    Remember: If you must fight, fight for freedom for it is our right. Fight for love, it is a gift no one can take from you. Most of all fight to stay HUMAN. Staying human is the only way of staying alive.
    The last words of the letter still echoed in my mind. That was exactly what I planned to do. I picked up one of the note books labeled with the words REFUGEE CAMP. Several pages had already been torn out and I added another to that count as I tore out the top page and tucked it in my pocket with the other notes.
    I turned and filled my backpack with several small things that would last, plenty of water, and one small loaf of bread. I stuffed a few other useful, but non-essential things in my pockets before I turned to leave.
    I planned to spend the rest of the day determining whether Sam could be trusted or not. If I thought she was trustworthy, I would take her with me to the Refugee Camp. If she proved not to be, I would have to get rid of her in one way or another.
    My plans changed as soon as I opened the hatch.



    Two scouts, large spider-like machines, scuttled and searched about 20 feet away. One of them was on the ground and the other had climbed halfway up a near by tree. That scout stopped in its assent and turned swiftly to look in my direction.
    They had no doubt heard my breathing and heartbeat. Both scouts where probably calculating the best and most efficient ways to terminate me. This would be based on my size and the countless other readings they were taking.
    While they were doing this, I was making calculations of my own on how best to kill them. It was a simple thing to see, but not so easy to do. It might be a little easier for me though that it was for other humans. I had a bit of an advantage.
    I pulled myself out of the ground with my right arm, and quickly steadied my feet and spun behind the nearest tree. I needed to give myself time to organize my head. This wasn’t like fighting people. You had to make your strikes more precise with machines.
    Scouts are roughly the size of large dogs, and their equivalent of a brain is on its underside, close to the center of its spider-like body. Scouts would be easy to deal with, but still, I had to be careful.
I took a deep breath taking in not just air, but also everything about my surroundings: the feel of the crisp fall air, the clicking of machinery. I focused on the sound trying to figure out exactly where the robots were. I could still hear their clicking but by now both scouts were on the ground, both alerted to my presence luckily it didn’t sound like either of them had gotten any closer.
    There wasn’t much more I could do with my eyes closed, so with one long inhale of breath I opened my eyes and turned so I was clinging to the tree. Looking around the large trunk I saw that the scouts had started making their way toward me. I only had one chance to get rid of these things. I had to completely disable them before they had a chance to discover the food house. I slipped off my backpack and searched inside for anything that might possibly be useful. I had a hunting knife, matches, nothing especially useful, and my rope was back in the cave with Sam. I grasped the knife in my right hand, it would have to do. I quickly spun out from behind the tree and I did not see the scouts anywhere. This was to be expected but still not a great sign.
    Just then I felt heavy metal hit my back and I landed on the hard ground with a thud. I didn’t have to stop and think, I knew instinctively that I could easily take out half of the scouting party with one swift movement. Twisting over suddenly, I thrust my knife in the general direction of the scout’s computing unit. The blade made contact and sent blue electrical sparks flying. I turned the knife in a circle trying to mess up the computing units insides as much as possible, them using the knife as a lever I yanked out as many wires as I could manage. The hunk of metal fell on top of me and I slithered out from under its weight as fast as I could
    I had taken care of one of the scouts but I still had to find the other one.