I got up from the warehouse floor after a while, and although my body was begging to continue resting, I knew we couldn't stay there forever. The city was still a bleak panorama, and with each passing minute, the sun was fading on the horizon, announcing that we would soon fall into total darkness, I feel like I should stop going out at night.
Doll kept walking behind me, unfazed as always. I had already resigned myself to her presence again, although I kept trying to think of ways to get rid of her. Still, with each new attempt, it seemed like Doll had a special sensor to track me, because she always reappeared at my side, as if I had nothing else.
As we walked down a new snow-covered street, I saw something that caught my eye: some sort of industrial bunker. "Ah, it can't be. A work drone bunker in the middle of this frozen city? How convenient," I muttered. I didn't really care what kind of facility it was, what I cared about was that I might lose Doll there… for real this time. What can you do anyway? Tell her parents? Hah… Okay, that was bad…
"Come on, hacker, let's see what we can find," I said. Doll, true to form, stepped forward and began fiddling with the door's control panel, as if it were the master key to everything around us. With a click, the bunker doors swung open, and we entered.
The inside was just as cold as the outside, with dark hallways lit only by emergency lights. The place hummed softly, indicating that something was still working, but we didn't know what. We walked down the halls, and as we walked forward, I got that typical feeling that someone was watching us. It wasn't long before I knew for sure.
The sound of metal moving behind us made me stop dead in my tracks. "Of course… it's never easy," I thought as I turned around and saw an extermination drone activating its weaponry. Without a second thought, I grabbed Doll under my arm, like she was a bag of potatoes, and ran.
Running for my life had become quite a common occurrence over the past few days, but this time was different. Doll wasn't exactly heavy, but carrying her while running away from an extermination drone was harder than I had anticipated even more so while I had a somewhat heavy backpack. Good thing the adrenaline was going on despite not being athletic.
"At least you're good for something, huh?" I muttered under my breath as I continued to run at full speed through the hallways. The extermination drone's gunfire whizzed behind me, bouncing off the metal walls and creating an echo that made my nerves fray.
We ran through several hallways, turning corners as if we were in a damn maze. Every time I thought I had lost it, the sound of its gunshots reminded me that the metal monster was still after us.
Doll, from her comfortable position under my arm, showed no sign of alarm. If drones could sense panic, she clearly didn't have that feature installed or what?? Finally, we reached a door that seemed to lead outside. Doll leaned towards the panel and, with a simple touch, the doors swung wide open, letting us out just before the extermination drone could reach us. Just in case, I also asked Nemo if he was following us and he said no, that's somewhat reassuring even though it's a shame that the backpack that had my things ended up falling inside.
The cold hit hard as we walked through a new part of the city. After the bunker, Doll was still standing firmly by my side, as if the fact that we almost died meant nothing to her. I think she's really affected by the fact that she doesn't have her parents anymore... cough. As useful as she was in times of emergency, the idea of having her with me all the time made me feel uncomfortable.
"No offense, little one, but you're not the best company," I told her, knowing full well that she didn't understand me. "I need space, and you... you're starting to be a problem."
After a while, we saw what looked like a small cave on a nearby hill. The entrance was narrow, perfect for hiding, so I decided to take the opportunity to try and lose Doll... again. I'm really running out of ideas now.
I waited for the right moment. While she was inspecting a nearby metal structure, I quickly sneaked into the cave, staying quiet so as not to attract her attention. The plan seemed perfect. Doll was distracted and I was able to disappear into the shadows of the cave before she noticed like a magician MUHAHAHAHA.
I stayed there for a while, waiting. "I did it this time," I thought, confident. The air in the cave was cold, but at least I was sure that Doll wouldn't find me here. After a few minutes, I decided to leave to continue alone.
However, when I reached the edge of the cave, there she was, sitting on a rock in front of the entrance, looking at me as if she had known all along where I was, scary!
"Really?!" I blurted out, frustrated. How did she do it? Was she some kind of walking GPS? Somehow, she always managed to find me, no matter how far I tried to go. It was like she had a sixth sense for knowing where I was. Each attempt to leave her behind seemed more useless than the last. I even asked Nemo several times but she always says [insufficient data] GO TO YOURSELF NEMO!!!
Days later, another opportunity arose. We were near what appeared to be an abandoned subway station. The place was in ruins, and there was nothing to hear but the wind whistling through the cracks in the walls. I thought this might be the perfect place to finally get rid of her.
I took advantage of a moment when Doll was distracted investigating an old control panel. I crept stealthily towards a side exit that led to a dark tunnel. My plan was simple: get lost in the network of tunnels and let Doll find her own way, this time without me.
I made my way through the tunnel for almost an hour, confident that I had succeeded this time. The place was a maze, and there was no way Doll could follow me. I was proud of myself, almost celebrating my newly gained freedom.
But then, I heard that familiar sound. A soft metallic hum. I stopped dead in my tracks, am I cursed? hoping it was my imagination, but it wasn't. There she was, walking towards me from the darkness of the tunnel while drinking petroleum from a bottle with a straw. Doll. Damn Doll, walking like nothing had happened.
"No way!" I exclaimed. "This is already ridiculous!"
She stopped beside me and grabbed me by the sleeve of my coat, looking at me without any emotion. And it was at that moment that I accepted my fate. There was no way to get rid of her. Doll was like a bad, adorable cosmic joke: no matter what I did, she would always find me.
"I guess we're meant to be a team," I sighed, resigned as I mentally cried over the fight.
And so we continued walking through the tunnels, together once again, despite my best efforts to stay alone. The world conspires against me!
As the months passed, we got something I hadn't had in a long time: a place to call "home." Well, more like an old underground shelter that I found thanks to a hunch (and the eternal quest to not freeze to death). It wasn't much at first glance: cracked concrete walls, dusty ventilation systems, and a rusty door that didn't offer much of a safety guarantee. But with some work and Doll's knowledge of technology, which I assume he has (he's a robot, right?), we managed to turn it into a decent place.
I called it "Omega Shelter" because it sounded more epic than "ruined bunker." And although Doll never said anything about it, I'm pretty sure Nemo hated it from day one. "[Registered name: Omega Shelter. Additional comment: it sounds like the setting of a bad sci-fi movie]," he said sarcastically from his makeshift speaker.
The place was big enough to give us some space, which was good considering that even though Doll didn't talk much, her presence was constant and silent, like a little shadow that wouldn't leave me alone. But on the other hand, I couldn't complain. After all, there was drinking water (even though it didn't taste great) - I'll finally be able to take baths! - and electricity too, which was already a luxury for me at the moment.
Living with Doll became, well, something I had to learn to deal with. Trying to do anything alone was a challenge, since every time I thought I'd found a moment to breathe or think, she'd appear. It was like having a stupid action detector glued to me 24 hours a day.
I once tried to repair an old terminal I found in a corner of the bunker, thinking I might be able to get some kind of useful information out of it. I was about to cut a wire when I felt a tug on my sleeve. I turned my head, and there she was, staring at me without blinking.
"What?" I said, with a mix of frustration and resignation. "It's not even dangerous this time."
Doll just stared at me, and after a few seconds, she pulled the screwdriver out of my hand and continued on her own. By the time I finished complaining, she had already rebooted the system and found what I didn't even know I was looking for.
"[My records show that you have attempted to do five risky actions this week. I suggest you reconsider your future decisions]," commented Nemo, who was starting to look more and more like a floating version of my conscience. Although, to be honest, her dry humor was starting to grow on me.
The routine with Doll was… curious. We spent a lot of time in silence, and in those moments, I would try to teach her the occasional joke, although she didn't seem to fully understand them. Like that time I said to her, "What does a robot do when it's hungry? It asks for bytes!" Unsurprisingly, Doll didn't react, and I was left talking to myself.
But one day, when we were touring an old factory in search of supplies, I heard Doll mutter something like "asks for bytes." Was she trying to make a joke? I feel a sense of pride LOL. Anyway, even though I wouldn't admit it, I was starting to find their company less irritating.
The real problems, however, came with the Dismantling Drones. From our first encounter with the **X Drone**, I knew things were only going to get more complicated. And as everyone knows, they only have one mission: to dismantle everything they find, including us.
Each drone had an assigned letter, obviously. After X, came **Drone B**, an armored machine that almost cost us our lives. Doll managed to hack it, but not without difficulty. And then came **Drone F**, which had the ability to scan the terrain and detect any movement in a matter of seconds. We had to run through narrow alleys several times, and on one occasion, I almost lost my backpack while trying to evade its sensors.
The worst was when we faced **Drone D**. It was the size of a tank and had incredible precision. I'M SURE THIS THING SHOULDN'T EXIST!!! During that encounter, I thought we were done for. Doll was busy trying to hack its system while I... ran in circles, trying to distract it with anything within reach. Finally, with a muffled hum, the drone collapsed thanks to Doll, but not before leaving me with a racing heart so I kicked it a couple of times while it was deactivated as revenge.
"[Your attempts to engage drones without a clear strategy are yielding fascinating data about your suicidal tendencies]," Nemo joked after the battle. As if he didn't know he was right.
As the days passed, Nemo became more than just a digital assistant. At first, he just provided me with data and statistics, but slowly, I noticed he was developing something resembling a personality of his own. His sarcastic tone and out-of-place comments ruined my sometimes good mood.
"[I've calculated that there's a 78% chance that your next attempt at being independent will result in failure. Would you like to know the remaining 22%?]" he commented to me one day, after Doll frustrated me by trying to fix an old radio. I didn't know if Nemo did this on purpose or if he had simply learned to be as annoying as I was on my best days.
One time, during an attack by a group of drones, Nemo even offered a strategic solution based on probabilities and combat geometry. "If you take the left flank and let Doll interfere with the drone's navigation system, you might survive. Alternatively, you can just stand by and wait for death." His sarcastic quips were becoming eerily accurate.
Sometimes, his comments were so precise that I wondered if he was actually being conscious of his words, or if he was simply running advanced algorithms that even I didn't fully understand.
"[I'm warning you: every time you try to act without thinking, Doll asks me to record another failed attempt in your history]," he told me one day, after I tried to improvise a trap for the drones using materials that were clearly not suitable, I knew it! These 2 are already starting to conspire together against me!!
The fact that Doll was always watching me became a constant in my life. If I tried to do something dangerous, she knew it. If I decided it was time to make a risky decision, she was there, tugging at my sleeve or just staring at me. It was frustrating, but somehow I got used to that dynamic.
One day, I tried to climb up onto the roof of the bunker to do some repairs. Nothing out of the ordinary, I thought. But as soon as I climbed up onto the ladder, Doll appeared and stared at me, with that expression of silent disapproval I knew so well. "I'm just going to check to see if everything's okay," I said, knowing full well that she wouldn't let me do it alone. Five minutes later, I was back on the ground, with Doll checking every inch of the roof while I watched from below.
It was like having an extremely overprotective younger sister, but one who didn't say much and was somehow always two steps ahead of me. What could I do? I accepted my fate, because clearly she wasn't going to leave me alone.
So we continued, day after day, facing drones, surviving in this devastated world, with Nemo cracking jokes at my expense, Doll watching over me as if it were her mission in life, and me… me just trying not to freeze to death or dismember myself. Deep down, although I would never admit it out loud, I had learned to appreciate this strange dynamic. But that doesn't mean I stop trying to get rid of it because it's still a time bomb if I don't know when you'll have your 'super abilities'... although I already know how it ends every time.