It was strange to have a name. It felt different than what 636 had thought it would feel like. To go from being called by a number her whole life straight to being called Emryn. Once Zaiden knew what her real name was, he refused to call her 636. He even introduced her to everyone again as they were gathering supplies.
“Everyone!” Zaiden had yelled out, “Meet Emryn!” At which they all gave him some weird looks before shrugging it off. Most of them probably didn’t know she had only a number before. She had never introduced herself as 636 to them.
Currently, Alex was looking through bags of machines and gadgets, as well as other various items the group had gathered to take with them back to Abrax’s base. He was so busy examining the different items that he hadn’t seen Malcolm throw another bag at him.
“Catch!” he called out and the bag had hit Alex in the face, almost making him topple over and fall out of the chair he was in.
“Watch it!” Alex yelled towards Malcolm, but the man just shrugged, completely unbothered, and started rummaging through one of the bags Alex had already checked.
“If anything, you’re the one who should ‘watch it’, that bag almost killed you. It would greatly benefit you to learn to observe your surroundings,” Malcolm teased.
636 found the exchange odd. She would have never described him as… playful. Usually he would be glaring or scowling at her and she hardly ever saw him. She had to admit it was an improvement.
The two of them continued to argue until Simone got between them, pushing the two apart and telling them both to ‘keep their grimy hands to themselves’. Zaiden watched the whole exchange with a small smile on his face. 636 knew he had to care quite a lot about them if even their arguments could make him happy. The bonds all of them shared were something she had craved for. After years of being surrounded by people who only saw her as a weapon, 636 was so close to having people by her side. People who might actually care for her.
Zaiden left with the others to gather anything else they might deem usable but 636 sat out of the exploration. She didn't want to see anymore of the area if she didn’t have to. When they returned she got up from her seat and helped them with the bags.
“Load everything into the center of the room. Emryn will bring everything up and then she’ll come back for the rest of us. Sound good?” The group each gave Zaiden a round of agreements, even Malcolm. They all looked eager to leave the ruins of the labs and get home. Not wanting to spend another waking second underground with all the destruction. Not that 636 could blame them, she didn’t like being here either.
636 called upon her powers once everything was in the middle and the blue and gold light illuminated the bags. She lifted herself and the items up and brought them to the trucks and the rest of Abrax. The soldiers looked startled by her sudden appearance but she didn’t stick around to fully observe their reactions. 636 jumped back down into the chasm and Alex flinched when she landed right next to him.
She gave him an apologetic smile but he only looked embarrassed by his initial fear and reaction towards her. However, he was getting better at talking to 636. He cleared his throat and tried to play it off. “Hey, Emryn. How’s it going?” Alex said awkwardly and Simone hit his shoulder while rolling her eyes at him.
“Everyone ready?” Zaiden asked, to which the group nodded, a little reluctantly but it was enough for 636 to take everyone up. Alex yelped and Malcolm, being the short tempered person that he was, slapped his hand over Alex’s mouth until they landed next to the supplies 636 had previously brought up. The other soldiers watched in awe and 636 silently breathed out her relief. She didn’t want to scare them again.
“Let’s get everything loaded so we can go back home. I’m getting sick of this place,” Malcolm stated rather sourly. He spared a glace over his shoulder at the remains of what used to be a highly advanced laboratory before his eyes drifted to 636. He looked like he was trying to suppress a glare or a remark about how dangerous she was.
Instead of speaking up, Malcolm slung a bag over his shoulder and headed towards a wagon. The others sooned followed and soon enough everything was loaded up and they were back on the road. This time 636 opted to sit with Zaiden in the front of the truck. She didn’t know if she could survive a three-day trip sitting in the back with Malcolm and the lovey-dovey couple. She had nothing against Simone and Alex, but she had a feeling they would have been too preoccupied with each other to intervene in any arguments with Malcolm.
“Do I call you Commander Amin now?” She asked once they had been on the road for a while. Zaiden turned to her and she saw the corners of his lips threaten to rise.
“You don’t have to when it’s just us. You’ve been calling me by the first name already and it feels weird to switch.” He said and turned his attention back to the grass trails.
“Even if I’m your subordinate?” 636 asked, remembering what he had said when they first met.
Zaiden chuckled and his smile brightened their small area. “I’ll let you in on a secret,” he whispered, “no one in my inner circle calls me ‘Commander Amin’ when it’s just us. It seems more like a name reserved for my father.” At the mention of his dad, Zaiden’s face fell a little. It was so brief and small, anyone else would have missed it.
“You know you don’t have to join us,” Zaiden said after a few moments of silence. “I know we made a deal, but I don’t want you to feel like it’s something you have to do.”
636 tried to decipher the look on his face but it was hard when he wasn’t fully looking at her. “Do you want me to join Abrax?” She fidgeted with the hem of her pants at her sides and stared ahead. 636 had liked the idea of getting a chance to be like them. To have a place to actually want to return to. When Zaiden had asked her to join him and Abrax, she had already decided she would, even if the deal didn’t work out.
“I do want you to. It would be nice to have someone like you on our side.” When he answered, 636 made sure to listen for any possible lies, after she heard none she smiled.
“Then I’ll join Abrax,” she said, “I’ll help you and I’ll destroy Mallax.” 636 didn’t have any scores to settle with the rival group but she knew the best way to prove her worth to them was to kill their enemies. From what she’s gathered, Mallax was enemy number one.
He faced her once more and held out one hand, she took it firmly and Zaiden glanced at her before saying, “I look forward to working with you.”
With her. They would be working together. It wouldn't just be her on the frontlines. She had people backing her up now. She wasn’t alone. That thought was all it took for her stomach to flip with excitement. She wouldn’t be alone anymore.
The first night on their way to the base, they stayed in the abandoned city again. It hadn’t been as cold as last night and Zaiden hadn’t opted to sleep next to her. 636 felt a bit disappointed and slept rather restless without the extra warmth but she was happy to find Simone and Alex next to her when she woke up. They handed her food she didn’t know the name of and the three of them spent time talking to one another before they had to get on the road again. Well, Simone did all the talking, with a few comments from Alex and even less remarks from 636. She didn’t know why Zaiden had said Simone wasn’t much of a talker, she seemed like she had a thousand stories to tell.
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The next two days were long and they didn’t stop to rest again. They each took turns sleeping and switching off between drivers. When it came time for Zaiden to switch off, he had to wake 636 up. She had asked him earlier to do so because she knew the other driver would have been Malcolm and she didn’t want to risk being passed out next to him. She considered herself to be a light sleeper but it’s never bad to be extra cautious, especially with someone who seemed to hate her. He might kill her when no one was watching.
636 watched as Alex slowly fell asleep, his head resting on Simone’s shoulder, and then falling asleep not too long after. They looked oddly comfortable, resting in the trunk of a large metal machine with a roaring engine that 636 could have sworn had gotten louder. Every time she looked at them she was overwhelmed with envy. 636 could never get that close to someone. Part of her thought she didn’t deserve it. People didn’t look at her that way and they probably never would.
She looked at Zaiden, who sat not too far from her. He seemed busy with whatever paperwork was in his lap. She watched the pen move across the different pages, creating markings wherever Zaiden wanted them.
636 looked at the words but no matter how hard she tried, she could make out what they meant. How useful could she be if she couldn’t even read? Sure she could fight but so far there hasn’t been a need for her, not really. She helped them with the supplies from the lab but that had all been a ruse so she could find out what her name was.
Emryn McCannon.
It still felt foreign to her. After years of being called 636, it was strange to be anything else. She hated the number but at least it was familiar.
Wanting to distract herself, 636 pulled out her bag and went through the different items inside. The flower had wilted a little but had managed kept some of its color. 636 still thought it was beautiful. The acorn looked the same and she tied the thin stem of the blue flower around the center of the acorn. Then 636 pulled out the straw and grass bracelets, which were still in great condition. She pulled the straw one up her wrist and wrapped the other grass one around the acorn.
She didn’t know what she was doing but it was kind of fun to create something new. It didn’t necessarily look good but it felt good.
“What are those?” Zaiden whispered, pointing to the objects in her hands.
636 looked up from her strange creation to see Zaiden staring at her curiously, no longer busy with paperwork. “What do they look like?” she asked instead of answering.
Zaiden’s hazel eyes drifted from the items to 636’s stoic expression. He smiled to himself before speaking, “They look like random things you picked up but that’s just me. They seem to mean something else to you.”
She shrugged, “No. That's exactly what they are. Random things I picked up.” Maybe she was weird to grab anything off the ground and claim it as hers but she liked having her own things. Stuff that was truly hers. That was the only reason she chose to put the little bits of nature in her bag.
“Okay…” Zaiden mused, slightly chuckling, but didn’t bring it up again.
They sat in silence for a while and 636 was unable to sleep with the sounds around her. Zaiden was busy looking at a map and 636 was too tired to ask what he was looking for. She also didn’t care too much about the place she was headed, she was more worried about the people there. How they would view her and if they’d be afraid of what she could do.
“We’re almost there,” Zaiden voiced, staring out the back of the truck. 636 followed his line of sight but all she saw was the same things she’d been seeing the whole trip. Trees. Big and small. Some small enough that she partially wanted to hop out and put them in her pack. She saw dead grass, live grass, tall grass. Tons of grass and tons of trees. How Zaiden could tell the difference between their locations, she didn’t know. She could read people, not land.
636 closed her eyes, waiting for the engine to cut out so she could finally sleep. She listened to the mechanical humming closely, until what she heard she knew for a fact wasn’t coming from the truck. The hissing was quiet and faint but she recognized it from the cave weeks ago. It wasn’t a sound she could easily forget.
“Stop the car,” she insisted, turning to find Zaiden with a confused expression.
“We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Stop the car and let me out so I can kill it,” 636 said more firmly. Zaiden read her expression and knocked on the wall separating them from the driver.
“Stop the car and grab the Echoe Canon.” Malcolm didn’t even hesitate to obey his commander’s orders, in fact he slammed on the breaks.
636 jumped out of the truck and looked around for the creature. The abrupt stop had woken Alex and Simone up and they too were now out of the car. Looking tired but still alert. Simone held a double bladed ax that had a faint red color on the sharp ends. Where that weapon had previously been, 636 didn’t know but it relieved her a little to know her companions were prepared.
“Wolf-Spiders?” Alex inquired, holding up a small handgun. He watched their surroundings closely, more on guard than the others. 636 could hear his heart pounding loudly in his chest, nothing like Simone’s calm and even beats. He had managed to seem calm on the outside but he couldn’t hide his fear from 636. She didn’t say anything about it and instead opted to direct her attention back to the distant noises of movement.
The other trucks stopped briefly but Zaiden told them to keep moving and to alert the base that was just a little ways up the hill they were standing on. 636 turned to find a small city looking area surrounded by a large wall, heavily secured with what looked like a spiked moat surrounding it. The buildings behind the barrier were smaller than the ones in the abandoned city and had a strange material coating their exteriors. It wasn’t too far up the forested hill and she could see all the lights shining in the dark night. Before 636 could get a better look with her right eye, an obnoxiously loud screech rang out.
636 removed the chakram from her back and held it out. Her eyes glanced at the straw bracelet tightly secured around her wrist, just now taking notice of it. She had remembered to leave her bag in the truck but had forgotten she was still wearing the bracelet. Her heartbeat quickened at the thought of losing it but she knew she couldn’t focus on that right now. They had bigger problems to deal with.
The ground started to shake and Malcolm appeared at her side. He watched the ground expectantly holding up a large gun that had to rest on his shoulder in order for him to keep it up.
Soon the others gathered around until all five of them were back to back, waiting for the Wolf-Spiders to attack. The trucks they had ridden in were now long gone, hopefully on their way to get back up.
636 could feel the strong and intense vibrations beneath her feet but couldn’t see where they were coming from. The hissing was growing louder and the source was getting closer. She didn’t like the idea of waiting for it to make the first move but wasn’t left with very many options.
A large crack sounded from behind her and a black tar colored arm shot out of the ground, latching onto Alex’s leg. Simone moved quickly and swung an ax to sever the two. The red ends on the blades glowed slightly when she had moved to attack. The ax had somehow heated up to make the cut more efficient. 636 didn’t have much time to ponder the workings of the strange weapon because a few seconds later the thing’s whole body emerged and the group had to disperse to run out of its way.
The Wolf-Spider was huge and just as ugly as 636 remembered it to be. Its beady red eyes stared at her and she threw the chakram, aiming to sever its head but the creature moved quickly out of the way.
636 activated her ability to bring the chakram back to herself and then lifted the Wolf-Spider in the air, ready to crush it but another crack formed under her feet throwing her off balance and she lost her hold on the first Wolf-Spider. More and more of the creatures continued to crawl out of the ground and 636 tore apart any that came near her.
She looked to check on the others and was surprised to find them faced with a giant horde of the creatures. There were so many of them and 636 feared her companions would not make it out of here alive.
No matter how many she killed they kept coming out of the ground. It seemed as though they had entered a never ending fight for survival. It was five against an army.