Episode 8

She looked around for anyone, anything she could attach the voice to so that she could deny what she did not want to admit: that the voice was only in her head.

'Maybe I'm losing my mind. Maybe dying and coming back was too much for it to handle and now it's breaking.'

It was a terrifying thought to her. She made her way back to her pallet where she sat, wrapping her arms around her knees. If she wasn't going to sleep before, she really wasn't going to sleep now. She was afraid she would fall asleep and have another horrid dream where she would hear that calm haunting voice.

She had been sitting there with her mind miles away when she suddenly realized that her upper left canine tooth was loose and she had been wiggling it with her tongue without even thinking. Which then led to her realizing just how sore her mouth was there. She could taste the metallic nature of her blood in her mouth. She instinctively rubbed her gums.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" she suddenly heard Andriw ask her.

"Not sleepy," she answered.

"You're lying. I can sense that your body is quite tired."

She said nothing in response.

"Suit yourself. I cannot make you sleep, only suggest that you should," it stated before it redirected its attention back to its left arm, which it was taking extra care to secure the flesh to the metal skeleton.

"Why don't you just take the rest of that off," Scarlet then asked Andriw.

"Because it is a part of me. I am supposed to have it," Andriw answered casually.

"Yeah, but, you realize that's why people are so, I don't know how to say it. They're repulsed by it. It's disturbing to see. It would be easier for you if you just got rid of the rest of your fleshy parts and went full machine."

"Perhaps, but let me ask you this. Would you shave off all your hair if it would help people accept you? Or would you do what you wanted to do with it regardless of what others think?"

"I suppose I would do the latter. But that's not exactly the same thing," Scarlet answered.

"To me, they are. Getting accepted by humans isn't that important to me. Keeping what I can of my old skin is. It's a part of me; it's how I'm supposed to look, and if it weren't for humans, I would still have it all."

"Fair enough."

She laid down, turning away from Andriw. She couldn't watch it sew its skin to itself, for it made her feel queasy. She would drift off, only to wake up shortly after. She did this over and over all night. Dawn came quickly and she felt she hadn't had any real rest. It made her move slowly and part of her wanted to put off starting the climb as long as she could, though, she knew that the sooner they embarked, the sooner they would be done with it.

Andriw was the first to start scaling, followed by Moshu Shi. Scarlet took up the caboose. There was no ladder, no stairs, only remnants of these things. She was thankful that Andriw was there to try out the path first. He'd be the most likely to survive if something gave away. Then again, she wondered if being last was the best, given that having Andriw and Moshu Shi go first could possibly weaken the structures they were using to climb.

'Don't look down; just don't look down,' she kept repeating to herself. 'Just keep climbing one step at a time.'

The climb didn't appear to bother Moshu Shi as much as it did Scarlet.

'If I didn't know any better. I'd say that he's done this before,' she thought.