The Last Human

Ch. 8

As day turned to night and day again, we were all very tired. I slowly got up and walked to the front and looked through our small window into the drivers area where Jeremiah was. "How much further?" "You see those mountains ahead of us?" I looked ahead and nodded. "That's how much further." I sighed out loud. "That's going to be at least another day's driving." He nodded silently. After several minutes of silence I piped up again. "Aren't you tired?" "Yeah." "Shouldn't you sleep?" "Yeah." "Why don't you then?" "I'm the only one capable of driving." His voice was monotonous and just boring. I layed down again and looked up at 6. He had a potato sack covering his face which I thought was funny. Earlier today I knew I found a marker somewhere. I found it again and began drawing funny faces of the potato sack. "Hey mom look at this!" She looked up at me and laughed. "Nice artwork honey." I smiled and continued doodling on the potato sack.
  Several hours pass by before 6 actually starts waking up. Almost immediately mother tries grabbing me and pulling me back but I stop her. I move the sack so that a funny face is showing. "A potatoe sack... How original." I start snickering. "What's so funny?" The chains didn't do much as he broke them daily but he carefully took off the sack and looked at it. I could tell he was smiling a bit. "This is some sucky drawings." Nevermind. "No need to be rude! I think they are quite nice." "The proportions are all wrong. Look." "They aren't supposed to be drawn to scale you butt monkey." "How does a monkey's butt get into this?" As we went back and forth, everyone else couldn't help but snicker and giggle. It was like this till at least nighttime.
     After two days of driving, we made it to the mountains. We got out the truck and stretched our bodies well those of us who could. "How are we gonna climb that," the little boy said. "We don't," Jeremiah replied. "We go through it." Jeremiah pointed upwards and a good 300 feet away was a thin opening in the rocks. "That's still climbing," said the boy. We all giggled.
     We used the rope system to climb to mountain so as no one falls. Me and 6 were the last ones in line so if our 'prisoner' does anything, I kill him. Once we made it to the opening, it was a 300 ft drop back down to the path. "The stairs must have fallen..." That didn't stop Jeremiah though. "I think I can be of some help," my mother said. She transformed and Jeremiah was slowly taken to ground by her. Me and 6 took the big guy both while mother took the son and her mother. Once all on the ground, Jeremiah huddled us together. "From now on we walk. It's been years since this area was used so who knows what lurks here after dark. Our best bet is sticking as close to each other as possible and to never stray away." We all nodded.
   As nightfall came, the temperature dropped. It was nearly impossible to see so mother stayed in her board form and turned her lights on so we could see. Growls and howls echoed through the canyon. There were other routes which was supposed to confuse anyone who would follow other than an actual guide. "Is this why they call you The Transporter?" I was walking next to Jeremiah while 6 covered the back. "Yes. Many years ago this used to be an attraction. An old civilization once lived here y'know." "Really?" "Oh yeah. Before even electricity was even thought of. They carved all of these pathways by hand to confuse the outside world. "So they didn't want to be found?" "Correct. They believed the outside world would change their ways and customs." I was amazed by this. "Then how do we know about this place?" "Well over the years the people died out and the place was forgotten but when someone rediscovered it, people turned it into an attraction. I used to be a guide that took people to the site." "Wow. Life must have been so cool then." "Much different than now."
A loud growl stopped our conversation as everyone froze. I squinted my eyes in attempt to see but it was to no avail. I pushed Jeremiah back just in time as robotic K9 sprung out of the shadows. It immediately went for my neck but blocked the air attack. "They surrounded us," I heard 6 yell. He was right. A pack of old K9s. Three more came from my direction while 4 were with 6. Jeremiah pulled out his pistol and shot one of the dogs in the optic. I pressed my collar and went on the offensive. A new attribute to to the suit were twin katana's I didn't know I had. "I need a gun!" I was in mid air about to kick one of the wolves when I saw 6 was having a real hard time. I threw him a knife and landed my kick on the sick bastard. Jeremiah watched as me and 6 maneuvered through the K9s effortlessly and smoothly. I finished by piercing the hound's metal skull with my sword as 6 ripped his last one to shreds. "Pent up anger much," the large cyborg said in reference to 6's almost barbaric way of dealing with the threat. "Be glad it was you I took it out on big guy." The man gulped. "We should almost be there," Jeremiah said. "How much longer," the mother said as she hugged her scared son. "Maybe a few more hours. Let's keep going."
     As we continued walking, the path became wider but fog was setting in. "No one move," Jeremiah said in annoyance. "I was hoping to get by this part while there was no fog but oh well." He began taking the rope out of his bag. "Rope system everyone. If someone gets lost in this part, you are done for." "And you know the way to go right?" My mother looked at Jeremiah skeptically. "Like the back of my hand dear."
     Me and 6 were the only ones not tied. If something attacked, we needed to not be tied up. We used the heat sensory in our helmets so we could see the group. Every few minutes we would do roll call so we knew that no one was lost. We kept moving till we heard a scream. Everyone then screamed really loud. I was caught off guard completely. I grabbed onto the last one in line which was the mother. "Damn mother smittum didum! Get us up," Jeremiah was yelling like no one's business. "The bridge is out!" I was losing my grip on the mother. "6!" 6 came up from behind me and started pulling the people up slowly. Once everyone was up and alright. I layed down and calmed down. "You did good catching them that quickly." "Why didn't you?" "I'm making sure you don't die, not them." "Well I'm making sure they don't die. Besides we need Jeremiah." 6 shrugged. "Hey the fog is clearing!" We looked around and yes it was clearing. My helmate retracted as I took a breath of fresh air. We looked ahead at the fallen bridge. It wasn't much but a mere jump away. I was rather annoyed by it actually. Everyone almost died from a gap that wasn't even 4 feet wide. Everyone jumped across it and continued on. It wasn't long till we came across what we had be searching by for. Carved into the mountain itself was a giant building. Intricate patterns and pictures were etched into the walls and it looked almost unreal. "This isn't the place." "It isn't?" Jeremiah nodded. We followed him inside till we were at what seemed to be the end. On the floor was a piece of floor that must have fallen in but it was there for a reason. "In here guys." It was a tight crawling space but we made it. On the other end was light. We followed through till we were in open land. "Congrats guys, you just made it through a mountain." In front of us was lots of trees and grass. It was new to everyone. "About a mile from here there is a secret passage that leads to the base. C'mon." The scenery in front of us was just beautiful. I felt renewed almost. Enough to where we all jogged. We got to a large well that was nicely hidden and Jeremiah had us climb down it. A good 20 ft drop but that was nothing. Once inside the well, we saw the path. It wasn't earthy like we thought but a legit metal tunnel. We ran down the tunnel towards a giant door. "I hope this door still works." Jeremiah pressed some bottoms and a hologram of a woman appeared. "What a surpise to see you old friend. I thought we'd lost you." Jeremiah laughed "oh you know how it is Liana." I felt 6 go rigid and looked at him. "What's wrong," I asked softly. He said nothing. The doors opened as we were greeted by guards. Tears came to my eyes as I saw humans walking  casually from behind them. The two guards took us through the base to the center room where everyone was. Everyone crowded around . On the other side were three people. The cyborg woman we were just talking too, a human , and an android. The woman had long black hair that was tied into a messy braid, an orange biotic arm and leg, and a dirty face. The human was an elderly Hispanic male while the android was a fairly out of date medic. None the less, the looked bad ass. "It has been years since we have had guests. We would like to talk to you individually and then we shall decide if you are welcome."