Bugz - Path of survival

Chapter 1 - Lights out

"You little bugs!" A loud and angry voice rang out as two boys dashed around the orphanage's common room, giggling as they evaded the caregiver's grasp.
"How are you out again? Do I have to separate you two?" the caregiver scolded, hands on hips, glaring at them with feigned anger.
The older boy stopped abruptly. "No, Ms. Lewis! I promise we'll stay in our room this time! Promise!"
"You promised the same thing last time, Rustyn. Now go back to your room!"
The two boys were ushered back into their room, the door shut and locked behind them. The younger boy started laughing.
Rustyn sighed, his face serious but with a glimmer of mischief in his eyes. "You think this is funny, Ollie? We can't keep getting into trouble!"
Ollie’s grin widened. "Maybe we wouldn’t get caught if you didn’t stop so suddenly!"
Rustyn looked him dead in the eyes, but couldn't hold back either. They burst into laughter together.
The light suddenly shut off.
"Bedtime already?" Ollie exclaimed. "The sun is still setting!"
"Yeah, weird... Maybe tomorrow is a special day..."
Ollie climbed to the top bunk and grabbed his fingerboard, performing tricks with the little natural light that remained. Rustyn trained his punches against a bunch of pillows on the bed below.
"You should train your left swing like I told you, Ollie. Doing skateboard tricks won't get you anywhere," Rustyn teased, peeking at the top bunk, while standing on top of his bed.
"Shut up!" Ollie said, realizing Rustyn's good intentions. "I'll do it tomorrow..."
Rustyn laughed it off, being reminded of the day he met Ollie. "Do you remember the day you arrived here? You were a mess!" Rustyn laughed, pausing for a moment. "We all were..."
Ollie replied, "Yeah, who wants to go to an orphanage?! Especially when they take you away from your parents unwillingly..."
A moment of silence perturbed Ollie, who hated opening up. He started trying to change the subject but was interrupted.
"I never met my parents. All I remember are these walls, these lights, this old creaky floor, this window, with this view, with this city, with only a varied sky... When I first arrived, I was alone, so I used to watch the sunset hide behind that building... Every day was the same for so long, until you arrived."
Ollie didn't know how to comfort Rustyn but was apprehensive to see him smile.
"You're the most energetic, chaotic mess this orphanage has!" Rustyn said, smiling with an endearing but taunting look.
"Shut up!" This time punching Rustyn on the shoulder.
"See how I got you to train your left swing after all?" Rustyn teased.
They both laughed and fell asleep.
The next morning, Rustyn woke up to the sun hitting his face. Quickly getting out of the bunk bed and frenetically scrambling for the clock.
"Wake up! Wake up, Ollie! We're late for breakfast! It's 9 a.m.!" Rustyn exclaimed, shaking the bunk bed.
Ollie mumbled, "Hmm? Wha-... What? I didn't even hear the alarm!" He jumped down from the bunk bed and began changing clothes, only to realize he had slept in his day clothes. "Are you ready? Let's go!"
They sprinted to the door and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. They pushed against it in vain.
"They didn't unlock us? Guess that saves us from trouble," Rustyn said, smiling with relief.
"I think we have bigger problems, Rustyn," Ollie said, glancing out the window, ignoring the distant smoke. "It's almost noon!"
"How? The clock says 9!" Rustyn exclaimed.
"It says 9 p.m.! It must have stopped when the lights went out, which means it wasn't by choice. It was a power outage!"
Rustyn's face darkened, turning around to flick the switch of a lamp, which didn't light up. "Shoot! So what do we do?"
Ollie replied, "We do what we do best!" and they smirked at each other.
Rustyn grabbed a picture frame and broke off its metal wire support. Ollie bent the wire and unscrewed an air vent just enough for Rustyn to force it open. Rustyn then picked Ollie up so he could reach the vent. Some footsteps later, the sound of metal crashing led Rustyn to believe that Ollie was on the other side, and after a few seconds, he opened the door from the outside. In excitement, they high-fived in the corridor, and the echo of their high-five reminded them that a place once bustling with activity was now strangely empty.
They scanned the room, finding nothing out of the ordinary. The lack of evidence made the disappearance all the more sinister, so they pressed on. Turning a corner in the corridor carefully, they spotted a broken table beside some shattered chairs.
"It seems someone was trying to block the entrance," Ollie whispered.
"Yeah, but whatever tried to break in had no difficulty whatsoever. We should probably arm ourselves," Rustyn answered.
Rustyn ripped out a large wooden plank for himself and handed two chair legs to Ollie. It wasn't deadly, but it was the best they had.
A loud explosion reverberated in the distance.
"Holy fuck! What was that?!" Ollie exclaimed, his voice filled with alarm.
"Whatever is happening to us is happening to others. We have to be cautious... even with our language," Rustyn replied playfully, even with his voice tense with concern.
Ollie cautiously opened the door to the canteen, peering out and spotting movement on the opposite side of the room.
"Shi-oot! Rustyn! We're definitely not alone in here. I don't know what the hell that was, but it wasn't human!" Ollie whispered urgently.
"What do we do then?!" Rustyn asked anxiously. "Is it a zombie!?"
Their conversation was cut short by repeated clanking noises, echoing their earlier steps.
"Quick, hide!" Ollie urged.
"I hate hide and seek!" Rustyn whimpered as he scrambled to find a spot large enough to conceal himself.
They hid on opposite sides of the room: Rustyn crouched behind a ravaged round table, and Ollie squeezed into a nearby locker. They exchanged silent glances filled with apprehension.
Soon after, the metallic figure emerged from the shadows, revealing itself. It was a robot with a box-shaped body, no larger than a pillow, moved by four flimsy robotic legs, a red eye in front and an attachment above.
Rustyn gasped softly, but quickly stifled his breath. The robot, sensitive to sound, homed in on Rustyn's inadvertent noise and began to approach him methodically, forcing Ollie to think fast.
Thankfully, Ollie was quick-witted. He opened and shut the locker door swiftly, drawing the robot's attention away from Rustyn momentarily. The machine slowly turned towards the locker, its scanning eye probing the general area. The locker was tight, so Ollie had no other choice but to hold his breath now. However, the small gaps in the locker allowed the scan to detect Ollie's eyes.
The robot began to power up what appeared to be a laser gun, but before it could fully engage, Rustyn seized the opportunity. With a swift swing of his wooden plank, he shattered the weapon in a single blow, and the frail robot fell to the ground. Now, they both knew what had to come next—they had to run.
Unlike hide and seek, running was their forte. Countless times they had dashed through the orphanage, evading foes. This was no different.
As they sprinted across the canteen entrance, they came face to face with the robot Ollie had caught a glimpse of before, this one armed with a small machine gun.
Rustyn dropped his plank and swiftly grabbed a nearby table, angling it to shield them from the gunfire. Ollie kicked a chair at the robot, causing it to lose balance on one leg. Seizing the opportunity, Rustyn hurled the table towards the door, creating an obstacle that would slow down any other alerted robots in the orphanage. Meanwhile, Ollie leapt onto the machine gun bot, driving his makeshift weapons—two chair legs—into its metal frame.
Impressed by Ollie's combat, Rustyn spared a brief moment of admiration before they both bolted towards the kitchen.
There, they encountered the first casualties: the kitchen staff lay lifeless. They were unfamiliar faces, as the staff rotated frequently, making it easier for Rustyn and Ollie to digest their horror.
Rustyn groaned as he pushed the fridge over the kitchen door, buying them a little more time. It seemed they had reached a dead end.
"I've never escaped from here before..." Rustyn muttered, his voice tinged with uncertainty. "How do we get out?"
"I'm not sure, but we have to act fast. I doubt tiny robots like these would overtake the whole orphanage so easily, there's gotta be some bigger ones incoming," Ollie stated urgently.
"Why is this happening?! How did we not hear anything while sleeping?" Rustyn exclaimed fearfully.
"We'll have to figure it out as we go!" Ollie responded, rummaging through the kitchen supplies.
An alarm blared from the other side of the door, reminding the teens to hurry.
"We're running out of time, Ollie!"
"I know, don't rush me!"
A loud, metallic thumping, deeper and faster than before, approached the blocked door, growing louder with each passing moment.
"Wait, I remember hiding here once a long time ago! There's a walk-in freezer over here!" Rustyn exclaimed while unlocking the door handle. "This... is... so heavy. It's like a vault! Surely they won't be able to break into this."
"I have an idea, just trust me," said Ollie excitedly.
Rustyn then fully opened the freezer, which was now at room temperature due to the power outage, and Ollie told him to go inside. Rustyn complained but made an effort to trust his best friend. Ollie then struggled to pass him a large, heavy frying pan, used to cook meals on a large scale, which Rustyn picked up with ease. Then, Ollie spilled vegetable oil in front of the blocked door and armed himself with a broom. Finally, he just stood in front of the open walk-in fridge, waiting for the metal horde to break in.
They waited anxiously until chaos began. A large robot, similar to a mech suit with two large blades, busted right through the barricade and sprinted towards Ollie. As it hit the oil, it slipped, metal screeching against the floor. Ollie felt the rush of wind as it missed him by inches, his heart pounding in his chest, leaving the large beast running unbalanced towards the fridge Rustyn was in.
"Now!" shouted Ollie.
Rustyn swung the heavy frying pan, completely knocking out the largest threat. With that out of the way, Ollie used the broomstick to poke the recon robot’s eyes, preventing any shots from being fired. Rustyn then locked the large robot inside the fridge and bolted out towards the recently barricaded door. He swung the frying pan, temporarily knocking down the rest of the horde, which only got to shoot a few stray shots.
They ran out of the building as soon as possible, avoiding any more encounters. When outside, they were faced with all the desteuction and chaos, with people running everywhere, explosions and robots roaming everywhere. They ran to an alley of an abandoned property, which was full of shrubs and high grass.
They were now safe. Rustyn layed on the grass, and Ollie started excitedly telling Rustyn about the dodge he made with the large mech bot, and how it only got him scratched on his left arm. His smile quickly faded when he saw Rustyn's wound. He had been shot in the stomach by the small robot's stray bullets.
"I'm good, man... What's important is that we are safe now," Rustyn said softly, stumbling his way up.
"Don't move! It can get worse..." Ollie reprimanded. "I'll go look for help. You stay here, and lay low!"
Before leaving, Ollie ripped both sleeves from his shirt using a shard of glass from a broken window nearby, then tied them around Rustyn's wound."
"Remember what we learned from that tv show? Apply pressure, and stay awake!" Ollie reminded worriedly.
Rustyn obliged, and so Ollie left, looking for help.
Ollie carefully approached the main road, looking around for any danger. There were five robots to his left, patrolling the street, and another bunch ravaging some buildings nearby.
The patrol was quickly approaching, so Ollie quickly hid under a car, holding his breath. The heavy thumps surrounded him, seemingly getting closer and closer. He remained silent, barely holding his breath anymore; fortunately, the robots seemed to be moving past him. Relieved, Ollie silently exhaled, still being cautious just in case. However, the violent movement stopped, leaving only beeps and clicks. Ollie was confused. Now that they were farther, was when they heard him? Even though he was quiet the whole time... Fortunately, a loud explosion occurred in the distance, giving Ollie a chance to change positions, just before the robots wrecked the car he was under.
Clearing their suspicion, the metallic march kept moving forward, leaving Ollie to himself. He took a moment to think. How would Ollie treat Rustyn's wound and where would he find the materials to do so? The bullet hit Rustyn on the stomach... but didn't seem to pierce any organ, as it was more on the side, it also didn't go through the other side, so the bullet was inside his body. Ollie knew how to treat a bullet wound, as his family's gang activities were the reason he got taken away. He knew alcohol would be a good idea to disinfect the wound, and since the bullet didn't hit any organ, it could be removed easier. So... alcohol, tweezers and ideally bandages. Any medical supply buildings would have been rummaged by now, so Ollie had to be creative. He saw a beauty salon sign in the distance and knew that if there were tweezers anywhere, it would be there so he ran there. Hiding behind cover any time he heard anything and noting the buildings he passed by, Ollie got to the salon safely, and it was locked, which was a promising sign that it hadn't been looted. He had a few ways of breaking in: He could shatter the window, picklock the door, or try to find a back door. However, each had it's downsides. The window approach would be loud and quick, getting the job done but alerting nearby robots, the picklock would be quiet and seemless, but it would take time, leaving Ollie exposed in the open for some time, and the back door was a gamble, there could be no back door, which could lead Ollie to more trouble. Ollie hid behind a car, wondering which approach would be best. But his face suddenly lit up in excitement as he saw a fire extinguisher. Ollie picked up the fire extinguisher, pressed it open, placed it by the window and quickly hid behind the nearby car. Suddenly, a flying drone bashed it's body against the window, shattering it instantly and sending the fire extinguisher flying, which soon ran out of fuel. Ollie smiled in satisfaction, with the successful plan confirming his theory. Other robots in the vicinity heard the noise and assessed the situation, but figured it was only the robot having technical issues. So, only a few minutes later, the area was clear, and the building was open.
Ollie peaked inside. The salon looked normal, with the fallen drone being the only abnormality, so he went in. He then analyzed the mechanical corpse, looking for any clues. He was right! The robot was from the carbon project! He knew little about this project, regretting not paying attention to the news beforehand, but from what he caught on, it was a project lead by some major tech company in hopes of dealing with climate change. That's why the drone rushed to stop the extinguisher's carbon emissions!
If he knew anything about mechanical technology he would scavenge the drone for any useful materials, but he didn't, so he started looking for anything useful in the salon. Ollie's worries for Rustyn were growing stronger by the minute, he was alone, in the dark, bleeding, and he wasn't there for him. He used this motivation to be faster, opening every drawer and cabinet. He found the tweezers, unusually long tweezers in fact, after looking some more, he also found some small bandaids and ethyl alcohol! But the bottle was empty.
Fortunately, Ollie already had a plan, and he knew he had passed through a bar earlier, which this time around, was open. So, after putting what he had found in his pockets, he jogged back from where he came from, and entered the bar. The bar was turned around, with no table intact. He looked everywhere with no luck, until he searched under the counter, where he found a single bottle of whiskey. With the bottle in hand, Ollie tirelessly ran back for Rustyn, hoping everything would be alright. As he got there, he searched around the tall grass, shouting in a whispered voice.
"Rustyn! Rustyn! I got everything to get you better! Where are you? Rustyn!"
The wind howled through the grass, and all the chaos seemed to have stopped. Even with his heart beating faster and stronger, Ollie, as always, took a deep breath to think and strategize. "Maybe he took shelter somewhere nearby... Maybe he was cold... oh I shouldn't have left him here! How stupid of me! I wouldn't even be able to treat him, I'm no doctor! Why did I leave him!"
"Rustyn!", he now shouted.
The wind once again howled, empty of any human response. Machines clanking and marching towards him silenced his worries for a moment, and a feeling of egocentric survival took over him, telling him to run. The machines cut the grass so viciously it seemed they had forgotten their principle in search for one single boy. Ollie, needing to be as fast as possible, threw the whiskey bottle towards a flaming car, prompting it to explode. The dried grass combined with the strong wind acted as the perfect pair for destruction, and without sparing a moment, Ollie jumped inside a broken window, scraping his knee, with a wall of flames preventing the machines from chasing him.
With the city's power supply down, only the burning alley lit up his path. Stumbling across furniture with tears in his eyes, he ran and ran, not knowing where he was headed. He reached a rooftop, where he came to a sudden stop, right before falling.
Ollie just fell to his knees and started sobbing. It all had happened so fast, the disappearance of everyone, Rustyn being shot, surviving by himself and then losing his only friend! Ollie had changed realities once when being taken away to the orphanage and he couldn't take it away. The emotional processing of all this lead Ollie into a spiral of thoughts and thinking about everyone he loved and how he couldn't do anything about anything at all! There was nothing to do now! He was alone, at night, with murderous robots roaming the streets. No food, no shelter, no water and alone... once again.