Flower heard the footsteps too late.
The crushing sounds of giant metal claws were hard to miss, but she was enthralled by what could have been a still-living plant and remained completely oblivious to the eight-foot-tall robot lumbering toward her. Finally, the machine's enormous jaws opened and a laser erupted from within. It missed, but not by enough to leave her pink dress unsinged. The smell filled her nose as she instinctively dove for cover, dropping her backpack on the charred ground.
From behind a huge rock, she observed her metallic predator with horror. Basically a huge pair of chattering teeth, the robot had two three-toed feet and a massive mouth balanced on them. As she had just discovered, it held a deadly laser, and she wasn't interested in finding out what it felt like when it hit her directly. Continuing to peek around the side of the boulder, Flower could tell that the machine had temporarily lost her. The jaws remained wide open as the mouth spun in circles attempting to regain a bead on her.
She held her breath and tried to quiet her pounding heart. It felt like the robot could hear it from ten meters away, but it eventually turned and shambled off even as blood continued to rush through her head. When it was finally far enough away, Flower let herself exhale. Way too close.
She turned her gaze to her backpack and backed away from it in horror.
The laser had lanced straight through it. Apparently, the robot had mistaken it as part of her and it had thrown off its center-of-mass calculations. But no amount of relief could pull Flower out of the pit of dread her heart had fallen into. Sure, the backpack had saved her life, but if the supplies inside were as ruined as they looked, it would end up being for nothing. She'd be dead in a day, two at most.
Flower fell to her knees, keeling over and resting her head on the burned bag. Her initial hunch had been correct; everything inside had been rendered unusable. She could count on one hand the number of times she had cried in her short adult life, and this couldn't have been more than number 4. But the tears came hard.
Sobbing her eyes out, Flower again didn't hear the approach of footsteps until they were feet away. Finally, she turned around slowly, accepting her fate. But it wasn't another Mecha-Mouth. A woman that couldn't have been too much older than Flower looked down at her and glared.
"Shut the fuck up. Do you want to get us both killed?"
Flower looked up at the intruder with equal fury. "I don't care! I'll be dead soon anyway!" She held her backpack up for the other girl to inspect. She grudgingly obliged, doing her best to pity Flower. When she couldn't take it anymore, the girl turned around slowly, revealing a huge, stuffed backpack to Flower.
"If you want to die, I have no problem leaving you here. But if you're interested in survival I can help."
"I don't know what your game is, but nobody's out to help anyone anymore."
"Look... What's your name?"
"It's Flower, not that I owe it to you."
"Okay, Flower. I'm Amy. Look, you can stay here. I don't want you to think I'm up to something. I just feel like I can help you and maybe you can pay me back someday. But we can discuss that later. Are you hungry?"
Flower bit her lip as the tears finally stopped. She nodded.
Amy reached behind her back and unzipped the pack. She pulled out a candy bar and held it out. Still biting her lip, Flower looked up suspiciously. "Stand up, Flower. This is for you."
"Nobody has candy anymore. How do I know this isn't poisoned?"
Amy laughed and lifted her shirt. Tucked against her tight stomach was a huge hunting knife. "If I wanted to kill you, I would already have knocked you out and taken you back to camp. I'd have the time of my life carving you up, allowing you to gasp your last breaths as I scrounge through your corpse to find out what's still edible. Shit, I'd probably get a little turned on while I did it."
Flower gasped, her gorgeous blue eyes wide. Amy laughed again. "I'm kidding! I'm not actually a psychopath! Just wanted to see if I could scare you a little. You know, let you know that what you should be worrying about isn't silly stuff like poisoned candy bars. We girls need to stick together. There's not many of us out here and I know that you don't trust me yet, but it doesn't seem like you have a choice. You don't have much time and your only hope of survival is with me. I promise I'm not some crazy murderer, but even if I were you don't have any other option."She paused, turning around to face the way she came. "Do you want this or not?"
Flower nodded and Amy tossed her the treat. She devoured it in two bites as they walked, smiling for the first time in months. Her backpack lay forgotten behind them as a reminder for survivors who weren't lucky enough to run into a generous caregiver like Amy.
It took nearly an hour for Amy to lead Flower through the series of traps surrounding her camp. Suddenly, she stopped, grabbing Flower's arm. "Hold on." Flower obeyed, standing silent. Amy lifted a weathered stick from the ground and stood it upright, holding it in both hands like a staff.
She lifted it slowly and slammed it hard onto the ground. Choking and coughing away the clouds of dust that shot up from the wasteland floor, Flower heard the click of a mechanical switch somewhere below them. She whirled around, searching for the danger, but Amy took her arm again and held her still. "Watch." She gestured toward a dusty boulder 15 meters in front of them. It began to slowly roll toward them and Flower prepared to run.
But Amy held her tight and the rock stopped before it crushed them. Everything was silent for a moment.
The click of another machine sounded and they fell.
It was barely a ten-foot drop, and the landing was soft. But Flower burst out in tears anyway. Amy sat up on the mattress they had landed on, significantly better off for having expected the fall. She pulled Flower up to a sitting position and placed an arm around her, delivering a quick half-hug before standing and jogging to a nearby locker. As she opened it, Flower blinked the tears away and looked around.
They had landed in some sort of giant cavern. Around the mattresses that had cushioned their fall, there was the huge metal locker that Amy was opening, a rack of various bladed weapons, and...wait, was that a refrigerator? How? A tunnel in the back of the room appeared to trail off into darkness. Amy returned from the locker holding a pair of gas masks and tossed one to Flower, who caught it, surprising herself with her agility.
