Episode 7

The sun was still hidden behind the world as she followed her new companion out of the motel. Stepping over a body of unknown livelihood, she made her way out to the edge of the street. They would walk in silence for some time before the sun would creep over the horizon behind her.

The light didn't do Junker's Brim any favors; the darkness concealed much. Dead naked bodies lined the street in sporadic piles, having been pilfered of all their possessions. She watched as a scruffy man pulled a fresh prostitute's body from one of the piles, dragging it down an ally. The sight of it and the knowledge of what he was going to do with it filled her with disgust and she choked down her vomit reflex. Suddenly, she jumped out into the street to avoid a whole pale's worth of human waste from landing right on her. The pungent substance did, however, splash up onto her shoes and pants. She quickly shot a dirty look up at the second-story window from which it came. She was met with a hateful, half-toothless smile of a woman.

She hated Junker's Brim. It was disgusting, rife with disease, and smelled worse than a scavenger feeding ground. The only slightly admirable thing about the place was that absolutely nothing went to waste, not even the piles of dead bodies, which were now being gathered to be used as hog feed. It was a reminder of the level of depravity humanity was capable of, and it was offensive to anyone not used to it.

She watched some kids playing in the street. She felt bad for them. They had no idea that there was anything better than what they had, and most would not even survive to be teenagers, let alone adults. Those who would survive would not have pleasant lives. They would be doomed to play out the same exact roles their parents played, a truly vicious cycle.

'No one chooses to live in Junker's Brim,' she reminded herself.

'The people here simply have nowhere else to go. Most chose this over death. I wonder if most of them wish they had chosen differently.'

Junker's Brim was the remnants of a long-decaying city ever in the shadow of the vaulted Lygredd. Mighty columns held the grander city high into the air, separating it from the world below. It wasn't hard to get to Junker's Brim, but it was near impossible to leave it once you were there.

The people of Lygredd didn't care if one ran away to Junker's Brim; they just didn't want anyone coming back from there. And while one could try to go somewhere else to live other than Junker's Brim, they would first have to make it through the Scavenger Lands only to find endless desert waste on the other side.

'Just how did I end up all the way down here anyway?'

"Alright, we've got to get one more thing before we try to leave this hell hole," Moshu Shi finally said.

"Eyeballs that see in the dark?" she smirked.

Moshu Shi looked over his shoulder at her. "Not quite, but close enough."

He then proceeded over to a group of men that seemed to be beating on something. Upon a closer look, she could see that it was an old android. Its mechanical voice pleading for them to stop. Without a word, the black-headed man pulled out a gun and shot one of the men.

"Hands off my droid… unless you're ready to die." His voice was the sternest she'd ever heard it. The group of men began to slowly back away. "Go on, before I shoot you for the hell of it… I'm sure no one's going to miss you."

They shrugged it off like he wasn't worth it and went on but not before warning him to watch his back.

"You alright, Andriw?" he then asked the android.

It picked itself up from the ground. Over half of its synthetic fleshy exterior had already been lost over a matter of years, leaving only the flesh on its left forearm, some wrapped over its left shoulder from its back to its chest, and a patch on its face that reached up to its scalp. She could tell by the remaining flesh that it had originally been made to look like a man. It quickly picked up a tattered robe from the ground and threw it on.

"I am fine, thank you. I thought you were never going to come," Andriw replied.

"You should know by now that I always come back," Moshu Shi said as he slapped the android on the shoulder.

"Indeed. Who is your new friend?" the droid then asked as he looked over at Scarlet.

"Someone who also needs to get to Lygredd's Belly."

"I see. Shall we be off then? It's a long trip."

"Yeah, let's," Moshu Shi agreed.

It wasn't much longer before they began to stray from the beaten path, climbing over piles of rubble. The walk was arduous and there was next to no conversation, leaving Scarlet's mind to wander. She wondered how this rubble once looked back when the city was in its heyday before Lygredd was built. She imagined it was much like an older version of the lofted city.

When she had exhausted that subject in her mind, she drifted to thinking about her dream, a thing she had been trying to avoid thinking about all day. She couldn't shake the feeling that she had heard that voice before, but where? It just barely whispered, but she could swear it was a woman's voice.

'Maybe it's all just in my head. It's not like I've had the most normal of days of late. I'm probably just reading too much into it.'

She followed the android and black-headed man up to one of the massive columns. This was going to be their point of entry. She looked up at it in dread.

'I'm not going to like this at all.'

The wind howled along the column, causing the whole thing to sway slightly. She knew from her school years that it was supposed to do that, to keep from buckling, but that didn't make her like the fact that it was going to be doing that the whole time they would be climbing it.

"We should make camp here, and start climbing in the morning," Andriw suggested.

"I agree," came Moshu Shi's voice.

She tossed down her pack and began making a place for her to sleep on. Moshu Shi was doing the same as Andriw made up a fire, after which he would also make the food for the humans to eat.

"Don't you need to charge?" Scarlet then asked it.

"I used to have to, but Moshu Shi upgraded my power cell. Now I can run forever," it answered in its mechanical voice.

"Yes, me and Andriw go way back," Moshu Shi added.

After dinner, Scarlet found herself standing staring up at the pillar they were to climb. She knew she needed her sleep but didn't think she would get a wink. Suddenly, from nowhere came a voice.

"Be careful, Scarlet. It's a long way up. Don't fall."

She froze in place. It was the voice from her dream, crisp and cool.