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“Those are my brothers,” my rescuer murmured. “You’re fine.”
“Fucking Christ,” a man of similar dress and stature muttered as he approached us from the shadows of the trees. “You saved a Sloth?”
This large man, too, had a weapon. Multiple, in fact. The main ones being a rifle— or something akin to it— and an overly large knife. I think they were called machetes.
A third guy appeared from the wilderness. God help me, he was carrying dead bunnies by their feet. “Why bring this trouble on us? They’re going to come after her,” he complained.
“No, they won’t,” assured my rescuer. “They’ll send the Ai. But they never stay long. If we can hide her from the androids long enough, they will abandon her.”
“Hide? More like defend,” the third guy grumbled.
My rescuer grasped me by my upper arms and helped me onto my feet. He then turned off the flame to the lamp, casting us back into utter darkness. He took the lamp from me and handed it to his heavily armed brother.
“Garrett, take this.”
“Yep.”
My rescuer’s strong, rough fingers gripped my hand firmly, and he resumed pulling me along, albeit a little slower than our initial pace.
Avoid. Abandon. They. They. They. Strange how those words buzzed in my brain.
The three brothers seemed to know where we were going. Though my eyes were adjusting to the dark, I might as well have been blind. I could not make out anything of use. The world around me was nothing but shadows blurred by fear.
“Careful,” the rabbit killer suddenly said. “Watch your step.”
I looked to where he pointed and saw the outline of a fallen branch sticking out from a bush. I nodded my gratitude. Wake up. Wake up. This is a dream.
The men spoke quietly to each other about things I didn’t understand. I tuned them out, replaying the last few hours of my day. I was having a hard time coming to terms with what I had seen.
After a few minutes more of traveling, the heavily armed one grumbled to his companions. “Does she not speak?”
Garrett. He had been called Garrett.
“She’s in shock,” my rescuer replied. “Her android attacked her.”
“Jeez, it’s not like it would have actually harmed her,” the bunny murderer stated, waving a flippant hand. “The domesticated human must be healthy and happy before reaching the dinner table. They don’t want to ruin the meat.”
The ship cannot leave unless all domesticated human livestock are accounted for, processed, and loaded into cargo.
Freaking out, I pulled back, slowing my rescuer to a stop. I tried to jerk away from him.
“Whoa, that got her attention,” Garrett snorted in amusement.
The bunny murderer chuckled. “Yeah, it did.”
I wanted to run. I wanted to go back. I wanted my heroic rescuer to let me the fuck go so I could go warn the citizens. Was what happened to me with my android happening to them as well? What did the bunny killer mean? Why was I being referred to as a domesticated human yet again?
I whimpered and sobbed and kicked and twisted to be free, but to no avail. When my rescuer tried to get a better hold, I bit him. Hard.
The slap across my face was shocking enough to produce stars, but he did not let me fall from the force. He simply righted me, grabbed me by the shoulders, then turned me toward him.
I cupped my cheek and ducked my head to hide behind my hair.
One of the brothers put on the lantern.
“Look at me,” my rescuer-turned-captor demanded.
I stared at our feet and ignored him.
