"Ahh! Why did you break down!? Did that damn old man not fix you last time!?" Lilly yelled as she kicked the side of the loader that had broken down in the middle of the ruined city. "This sucks! What am I supposed to do now? Just walking back will take me until tomorrow, and that is if I do not get seen by a scavenger."
As she said this, not far off, a loud crashing sound was heard, a puff of debris shot up into the air. Lilly's face paled as she quickly ran towards an adjacent building. The loader would need to be sacrificed if the destruction of the building was caused by a scavenger. She ducked behind a broken wall and pulled an object out of her backpack and extended it out, and bent it before looking through it to see up over the broken part of the wall. This was a flexible telescope she created that could adjust the view distance to see far or near. It was one of her first creations as she needed something that she could use to see around corners while searching for parts to make sure she did not run into any scavengers.
Scavengers were robots that did just as their name suggested. They roamed the lands and scavenged parts to bring back to the bases they were sent out from. They collected the parts so that they could be reused to build new A.I. strengthening the A.I. forces even more. These parts would go from the base in large loads to factories where the new A.I.s were being built. The thing about scavengers was that they were not just simple drones with a single task. They were heavily equipped and would kill any human on sight.
Lilly had almost died by running into them, and with lots of luck, she was able to escape. Although one time, she did get shot in the leg. She had always tried to be very careful when heading out and always kept her ears open for scavengers. But it seemed today luck was not with her. The loader broke down and a building collapsed out of nowhere. She could only pray nothing noticed her.
Now, many would say, why does she not run away? But for those who went out to collect parts, if they were asked such a question, they would ask: "Why are you asking such stupid questions?" And that is because scavengers did not have heat sensors but movement sensors. They were a lower form of A.I. and only had a few commands, low intelligence, and low-grade parts. So as long as she did not move and was not in its line of sight, she would not be targeted.
While Lilly was hiding, trying her best not to move, Eve was walking down the same street feeling gloomy after being covered in dust. "Eve, does the dirt bother you that much? It's not like you can even feel it."
"Aiu, it is the fact that I am covered in dirt and dust from the stupid building that couldn't even stand up to a rock hitting it! I feel like I just bathed in dirt. Although I can't feel anything..." Eve complained. She looked up the road to see something sitting in the middle of the road, and her eyes lit up. "Aiu, a truck!"
"Eve, be careful. If there is a truck, then wouldn't that mean there are humans around?" Aiu reminded. She did not want Eve to suddenly forget she was a target of human hatred.
"Ah! Yeah, now that you mention it and as for said human..." Eve scanned the buildings and spotted two heat sources. "Hmmm? I see one small human hiding behind a concrete wall and coming right towards it through the same building from the back, looks to be an A.I. of some kind."
Right as she said this, she saw the 'small human', which turned out to be a young woman, suddenly run out of the building running with all her might as the sound of gunfire was heard, and impact sounds as bullets riddled the concrete she was just hiding behind. The A.I. was also in hot pursuit as it gave chase after the woman flying through the air.
The A.I. looked like a metal orb with arms. The hands were a pincher style construction, and it had two machine guns that came out of two ports on the left and right of the large eye on the front of it. But what was odd was the large trailer that had a bunch of metal parts on it, hovering in the air behind it following after it.
"Eve, are you going to let her die? She seems to have run into a dead-end..." Aiu asked. She wondered just what path Eve would take at this time.
"I will save! If my guess is correct, that girl might be from X-Cyber City, and if that is the case, that means if I save her, she will owe me a life debt and may be able to sneak me in. So I guess I will go be the hero who saves a beauty today!" Eve said with an imaginary smile as she took off running.
Inside the building looking at the concrete wall in front of her, Lilly's face went pale. "Shit! Why!?"
She turned around to see the scavenger staring right at her, its weapon ports open, and heard a single word in a robotic voice: "Terminate..."
"Wait!" A voice came from behind the A.I.
Lilly saw a figure suddenly jump in between herself and the scavenger. She stared at the dirt-covered figure standing there staring down the scavenger, causing her mind to go blank. She was in utter disbelief! First, she was relieved, but second, she was stunned by what the figure was saying!
"Can you leave her alone?" Eve asked the scavenger.
"Protocol states all humans must be terminated." The scavenger replied.
"Ah… Yeah, you see, if you kill her, it puts me in a bind, you know? So how about just letting this human off for now and go about your normal protocol?" Eve asked nicely.
"Checking protocol… Identified traitor. Terminate..." The Scavenger suddenly trained its weapons onto Eve, causing her to purse her imaginary lips.
"I did ask nicely, you know!"