"HEY!"
The rock in my hand toppled to the ground with a clatter.
Cove and I flung our heads to the side, catching sight of the dark-haired male as he aimed a modified rifle at us. His finger twitched on the trigger. There was a BANG, followed by a flash of light. I closed my eyes instinctively, waiting for the bite of a bullet.
Cove cussed. My eyes inched open, expecting to see his face contorted in pain. Instead, annoyance crossed his face, and he shot a glare at the guy with a gun. A crashing sound followed another BANG as the guy took out the robot heading towards us.
There was a final crash Cove flung the robot he'd been holding to the ground with extreme prejudice. "Well, this is useless now," he said venomously.
"YOU GUYS OKAY?!" the mysterious man shouted, his hands raised to cup his mouth. The gun he'd been using swung against his back as he moved.
Cove took a deep breath, then bellowed back, "YEAH!"
The man gave an acknowledging wave, skidding down the rubble he'd used as a vantage point, his dark coat snapping in the wind as he walked in our direction. As we waited, I shot Cove a questioning look.
"EMP," Cove explained, nodding his head towards the approaching man. Irritation still shone in his stance.
It took me a few seconds to realize what he was talking about. When it hit, I felt my blood freeze. "He hit us with an EMP?!"
"Yup," Cove replied bitterly. His hand reached into his pocket, gripping his phone so hard I thought it might break.
In a panic, I pulled my own phone out of the backpack to verify his words. My own reflection stared back at me on the dark screen. I cursed. I attempted to power on the device, but nothing happened. Growing desperate, I held down a volume button and power, trying to boot into a diagnostic mode. Still, nothing.
My expensive phone was now a useless glass brick, and I tucked it back away with a sigh, feeling Cove's irritation.
The culprit's features slowly grew more defined as he approached, allowing me to make out no additional details on his clothes. His dark jeans, t-shirt, and trench coat were all a plain black, only slightly darker than his dark skin. He panted with exertion as he reached us, and he'd rolled his sleeves up over his elbows. His gun slammed back down into his back with each step.
He motioned toward the robot carcass we'd been forced to discard. "Looked like you guys were about to run into some trouble."
"We had it handled," Cove responded.
Hearing the poison in Cove's voice, the guy put his hands in the air non-threateningly. "Woah. I just wanted to help. Are you sure you're okay? That thing was on your back."
"We were going to try and hack it," I said through gritted teeth, crossing my arms. In a matter of seconds, this guy had utterly destroyed hours of work capturing the robot and our carefully connected maps of the sewers.
The level of anger running through my veins felt almost immeasurable and was only being restrained by a thread of thought I was carefully clinging to–there was no way he could have known.
Understanding, followed by guilt, crossed his face. His eyes flicked back and forth between Cove and me before landing on Cove. "I'm so sorry. Were you carrying it? That's some impressive strength. I didn't think there was anyone strong enough to carry those guys. If you're willing to wait, I might be able to make it up to you next week?" He offered hesitantly.
Neither Cove nor I responded for a minute. I wasn't sure about Cove, but I spent that minute attempting to restrain myself from saying something I'd probably regret. Or worse, throwing a punch and starting a fight I could win by the muscular look of the guy. He was almost half a head taller than me, and his shoulders were twice as broad. Physique-wise, he looked like a slightly larger version of Cove.
He stuck his hand out at Cove with an apologetic smile, "My name's Jack."
Puppet-like, Cove took his hand and shook it once, breaking the greeting as soon as he possibly could. Cove's next words were short. "Cove. And that's Hayden."
"Nice you meet you, Cove, Hayden."
"You too," Cove said in a way that clearly stated that he did not think so. I didn't bother responding. At this point, the only thing I wanted from this guy was a new phone.
Jack shifted, obviously picking up on the unsubtle hostility we were shooting his way, but he didn't move to leave. "Look, I feel really bad about it." His face shifted rapidly, burning through a series of emotions before he settled on interest. "Where are you from?"
"Around," Cove responded flatly. Jack's eyes flashed with intrigue and greed.
My patience ran out, and I flung my arm in the direction of the robot we'd worked so hard to capture. "Do you know how hard it was to catch that thing? And then carry it around?"I tacked on the last part for Cove's benefit.
He had the decency to look ashamed. "Again. I'm so sorry. I have to head home for now, but–look, I've got a car and a few extra beds. Maybe you'd be interested in heading back with me for now and attempting again later this week?"
Cove sighed. "We really aren't interested."
Jack flipped his wrist, checking the time on his watch, and grimaced. He cast a glance behind himself before turning back to us. "Think it over. I'll be back tomorrow to get your response."
He gave a jaunty little wave, said, "Meet you here tomorrow!" and jogged off.
The entire encounter was a little surreal. Had we really lost all that time?
"...maybe we should have taken him up on his offer of a bed," I said, watching his back as he climbed over a pile of rubble and vanished into the afternoon sun.
"Why bother when we could spend more time running around uselessly?"
I choked on a startled laugh and had to compose myself. "Who was that guy anyway?"
"Ah. He's Mattie's love interest. He was sent to check out the rumors of Mattie's village." Cove scowled. "I thought he didn't start investigating until summer, but I guess I remembered wrong."
I crossed my arms. "Or perhaps we've already changed things."
Cove shook his head in denial. "We just showed up yesterday. Their city is a few hours away; there's no way. I must have remembered wrong."
If he said so. I cast a glance at the lowering sun. "We don't have much longer in the day. Should we try to find somewhere to stay?"
"Nah. Those things were everywhere. We'll find another one soon."
We did not, and it felt like they'd decided to avoid us.
By sunset, Cove and I were utterly exhausted, dehydrated, dirty, hungry, and cranky. Our already bare conversations had completely dried up, and we were focused solely on our task.
Finally, I stopped and pushed words out of my dry and scratchy throat, "We're not going to find something tonight. We should find somewhere to sleep."
Cove nodded. "Woods or city?" He asked. His voice was equally scratchy.
By all rights, the city should have been more comfortable. We weren't likely to be attacked by wild animals, and we hadn't seen one of the machines in ages. It'd also be easier to find shelter and perhaps even bedding.
The wind whistled eerily through the abandoned streets, city shadows deepening and creeping in the evening light. The empty streets stretched forever around us, devoid of the city's ebb and noise flow. During the day, it felt like we were the explorers of ancient ruins.
At night, it was like a giant graveyard.
But I was too proud to go against the logical option. "Let's stay here in the city. It'll be easier to find shelter in case it rains."
Cove agreed with an uneasy glance around.