Stealing from the junklads

Looks like the plan's set then. I think to myself before heading out to gather flammable liquids. I could always use the ones in my robot but then I'm going to have to go and find more and obviously that's going to be more difficult when they're on high alert from people stealing their stuff so better to get it over with now and make things easier on myself.

So for the next few hours I sneak around the junkyard, staying close to my little home away from home gathering the materials I need for my little escapade. Obviously though I don't expect things to go to plan so worst comes to worst I decide to bring the bio-electric heated knife on the floor of my base with me as well.

Partially to light the flammable liquids and partially in case I get caught I might need to defend myself. For some reason the thought of failing is a little less scary now and a little more enticing but that's not good and I know it so I'm going to make sure I succeed.

Finally, after a few hours of gathering flammable liquids and running over the plan in my mind over and over I muster up the resolve and make my way to the weaponry storage area. I sneak across the pathways the junklad's made making sure to listen for footsteps as I go in case I run into any patrols.

Once I was fairly close to the facility I started hearing a pair of footsteps coming my way and instantly hid in the nearest junk pile. This time I didn't have to make a hole since there already was one so I watched out of the small hole I entered through as a pair of two junklad guards waltz around the corner and make their way to my position.

As they are walking they appear to be having a conversation which I can hear from where I'm hiding. "Hey the boss is just like that y'know. Always thinks of things that benefit him. We just get the stuff that trickles down after but that works for me." One of the guards is speaking in a flippant tone not even looking around only focusing on his footing.

"I know that's how organisations work. But I say what's trickling down isn't enough for the work we do. I mean we get these implants and all but I'm in it for the chicks, booze and good working hours. Not for some cybernetic implant that really hurts every time he has to upgrade it." replies the other guard. This one is also looking at his feet but he also stops doing so every now and again looking in front and around himself with a discerning gaze.

"He, you're just a wimp aren't ya'. I totally get it man. I mean they do hurt even for upgrades let alone when you first have them planted. But you see, I'm a man." replies the other guard in an arrogant tone sticking his chest out proudly before realising that he can't see past his chest at the floor if he does that and so just sticking to just keeping his tone proud in stead.

"What's bein' a man got to do with anything? Plus if I remember correctly, you had the loudest screams when getting the implant from our whole class you know? If anyone's a wimp, It's you." The other guard snarled with a scowl.

"O-o-oh ye-yeah. Well I think the biggest wimp is the guy who tripped on something and got his hand impaled on a broken sword the other day. That must've been embarrassing telling nurse lady about why you got such a gnarly wound on your hand." The guard replies with a bit of a stutter at first, clearly intimidated but then gains confidence as he speaks.

After listening to him the second guard gives him a look that says 'I know you're changing the subject I'm not an idiot' and the first hides from his judgemental gaze. Then the judgemental gaze turns mischievous as he says "Oh hey look there's a kid hiding in one of the junk piles".

As soon as he says this I freeze in place terrified. They found me? But how? I haven't been found before and it's not like these guys seem special. Maybe the guards here at the more important facilities are better trained. Or maybe this guy just has a good intuition.

As I'm thinking of ways to escape however the guard turns in a different direction and says "Where, I don't see any kid. Ya' sure you're not just hallucinati-" before he can finish his sentence however he suddenly tumbles in my direction. Confused I almost let out a squeak before holding the urge in and quieting my breathing according to my more feline instincts.

The man fell on the pile of junk I was hiding in and I heard a thud sound around me as his impact reverberated through the pile of junk I'm hiding in. The man yet out something between a grunt and a scream as he crashes into the pile.

Then I hear him screaming "What the hell man! What was that for? You could'a killed me?!" presumably at the other guard. Who lets out a quiet laugh in reply before saying

"Relax. I made sure there was nothing dangerous before hand. Worst you could get was a scratch. Now wouldn't that be a funny story to tell the nurse lady." then his voice changes and becomes high pitched and clearly mocking.

"Oh I'm so sorry to bother you nurse lady. I got hurt doing my job today." Then making his voice even higher pitched but still mocking.

"Oh dear me. What terrible accident could bring you to me" Once again changing his tone back he once again replies to himself.

"I-I uh, I fell over. Even though you warned everyone to watch where they're going I stupidly tripped on something and fell into a pile of junk" After finishing his little one man act he let out a huge laugh like he couldn't hold it back any more. Or at least this was what I heard from where I was. I couldn't actually see anything because the back of the guy who fell on my junk pile was blocking my view.

"Y-Yoouuu" The guy blocking my view however suddenly moved, screaming in rage. I could finally see again and what I saw was the other guard holding his stomach and laughing as the one who just got up was walking towards him looking rather annoyed.

They start scuffling for a little while and eventually left shouting at each other all the way as they walked out of my sight. I heard their footsteps recede for a little while but eventually even my ears couldn't hear them any more and I let out a sigh of relief.

I crawled out of my hiding spot grabbing the storage sack I was storing my flammable liquids in as I left and resumed my walk in the direction of the weaponry storage area. It wasn't exactly a pleasant walk after that either. A few more somewhat close calls with patrol guards and staying alert the whole time I was travelling was a little taxing on me but eventually I reached a place where I could see the area where weapons were stored.

The wall of junk was just as I saw in my hologram. It was around 10 feet or so tall and despite being made of any random junk they could scavenge from nearby junk piles it was actually a little sloped but without any bumps. This might have actually been on purpose as I remember reading somewhere that sloped walls can be better than straight ones in some cases.

In the middle of the front wall I was looking at was your typical entrance. An arch showed the way in and other than that gap the arch pointed out there actually wasn't any other space to enter. On either side of the arch was a guard looking utterly serious and stoic despite essentially being told to stand there all day.

That was all as expected however. The problem was the fact that they'd taken junk from the surroundings to build their little wall. Which meant there was quite a bit of open space around the wall. Normally junk is piled up and there are only little pathways for the junklads to walk down but in this case when I get to the end of the pathway I'm currently walking down it's just open space.

There are guards constantly walking around the wall too. Which means as soon as I exit this pathway I'll be spotted in no time. It's not like I have a strategy to make myself invisible either while I spread flammable liquids on their wall.

This is going to be more difficult than I thought. The question is how am I going to get to the wall to spread the flammable liquid. If there was just a small open space around it I could run from the pile of junk to the wall and douse it quickly before running back but that's no longer an option.

There's too much space between the junk piles and the wall meaning that running to the wall will take longer than the amount of time I have before the guards come back to check on the wall. If they discover me I'm screwed and obviously it's going to be near impossible to hide in an open space with absolutely nothing in it.

I take a closer look at the wall looking for anything that could be done faster than just dousing it in flammable liquids. The wall is just made of junk so perhaps it's not actually that sturdy? I start looking for weak points in the wall and spot a particular point of interest.

That'd do it I thought to myself. One part of the wall is made of a metal that looks incredibly fragile. In fact I know the metal and I'm aware that it has a low melting point. So I think this could work. I look at the bio-electric powered hot knife on my hip.

I can just melt part of the wall and sneak in. Then I can take my time melting the rest of the wall. I'll eventually break through that way. For a plan on the fly it's not so bad. Still got it's kinks to work out and it's still gonna be tight on time but it's better than being spotted dousing a wall in flammable substances. Speaking of I'll take them with me for an emergency escape plan just in case.

After deciding on my course of action I ready myself for the sprint of a lifetime. Getting into a runner's posture and making sure all the gear on me is ready to handle the sprint and still stay attached to my hip. I especially make sure that the knife is still attached to my hip with utmost security.

Once all final checks had been done I readied my resolve once more and watched for the guards timing my run so when next the guard comes around I can quickly melt part of the wall and climb through it. Eventually such a time came about and I immediately got to running.