A giant mech was sitting under a tree State Of Survival. The two Raiders next to it made sure the big fellow wasn’t moving before bashing away at it with guns.
“What the heck is this?”
“Movie prop, maybe?”
The bearded leader smacked his stooge hard. “Are you stupid? This is exactly what we saw outside the base last night that blew a bunch of Infected away! It’s a genuine battle-mech State Of Survival!”
“Then why is it not moving? Is it broken State Of Survival?”
The bearded man’s eyes glowed with glee. “Who cares? Let’s haul it back with us!”
A soft, delicate voice suddenly popped up. “Hello?”
The Raiders raised their guns in alarm only to see a little girl, who couldn’t be more than ten, come out behind the tree.
“Hello?” The girl greeted them. “Excuse me, but do you know if there’s any gas station near here? Where did this kid come from?” The bearded man waved his hand impatiently. “Get out of our way and get lost.”
“Well, would you like to know who pilots this mech?” Rather than showing fear, the girl boldly approached. “I’ll tell you if you give me fuel.”
The bearded man glared and ignored her. Soon enough, a big truck arrived on the scene for a mob to load the mech and take it to their base.
Nobody wondered why the girl was there, kept sticking around and wouldn’t leave.
The Raiders weren’t interested in a useless child.
All they cared about was the powerful mech.
Unfortunately, even after checking it out through the night, no one in the base could figure out how to turn it on.
Loud booms woke everyone up the next morning.
“Boss, the mech ran away!”
The bearded man sprung and dashed out of the tent with a gun in hand, just catching the first daylight glistening off the imposing mech.
“Go after it now!” The bearded man shouted. He dived into the truck but couldn’t get it started... It was out of gas.
He slapped the steering wheel. “Who did this?!”
In the distance, the mech’s cockpit opened, and out peeked the familiar figure of the girl from yesterday!
“Hey, Beard Man, you don’t mind me borrowing some fuel, do you?”
“You?!”
As Beard Man took aim with his gun, a lackey stumbled up to him. “Boss, a bunch of Infected are coming this way!”
His voice was drowned out by the screams and shrieks of his fellows being tackled by Infected not far away.
“Oh... Do you need a hand?” The girl asked.
The Raiders were too busy dealing with the Infected to again pay any attention to her.
“Sigh. Why don’t I help you out, and we’ll call it even for the gas.” The girl then shouted, “Out of my way, here comes Max!”
A devastating volley bombarded the area as the Raiders scrambled for cover.
The bearded man sprinted into the woods and sprawled on the ground.
He covered his ears as shells rained down and exploded. But it was over quickly and all returned to quiet.
The prone Beard Man looked up not even knowing what had just happened.
He gazed toward the mech.
He couldn’t see the girl anymore. In the morning light, the mech waved its blaster as if to wave goodbye.
He didn’t know the girl’s name then, but it got around town fast enough - it was Angelica.
#stateofsurvival #angelical #hero