12 – Alone at Night

The day after interacting with the residents of that colony, we entered a housing complex.

"Since entering this place, we haven't found any roots." Ciara looked around at the destroyed houses. "But why is the damage here so severe?"

"Maybe it's because this place was once destroyed by robots." I guessed.

We could have built a house near the apartment colony. There are roots in that place, but they are few in number and seem relatively safe from monsters. However, I don't want us to get negative sentiment from that colony.

The risk of conflict over resources will be higher if the colonies are too close to one another.

"Well, I hope no robots live here," Bonnie sighed.

"What's wrong, Bonnie?" Ciara asked. "Are you uncomfortable being here?"

The armored girl shook her head. "No…. It's just that my friends and I used to live in a place like this."

"Ah, I'm sorry." The super soldier patted Bonnie's arm.

"It's okay."

Unfortunately, even though I wanted to keep my comrades mentally stable, we couldn't afford to look elsewhere. It will take time.

After making sure that there was nothing dangerous in that place, our choice fell to a two-level, box-shaped, minimalist-style house, which was still quite intact.

"We still have to work on it a bit, though." I looked at some of the loose windows. The grass in the yard has also grown so thick. "We should also build a fence to protect us from the little monsters…. But before that, let's rest first."

"Home sweet home." Bonnie also looked at the dirty white-painted house.

***

Bonnie sleeps with a blanket on the floor using the portable solar power generator that can also function as a heater. Meanwhile, Ciara prefers to fall asleep sitting with her back against the wall, like she usually does. They had traveled a long way, so I asked them to rest as much as possible. I'm the one on guard duty and will wake them up if anything happens.

I could have 'slept' like those humans. But doing it without getting sleepy felt strange to me.

Usually, I wait all night in silence, but this time I decided to do something to kill the boredom. I use my little chainsaw to cut the grass in the backyard.

"You are very diligent, Axel." Bonnie came out the back door. "Sometimes I envy robots who can't get tired."

"Can't sleep, huh?" I keep doing my activities. "We need this land for growing crops, and maybe I want to cover some of it with concrete."

The tiny girl raised an eyebrow. "Cover it with concrete? For what?"

"Maybe build a small basketball court... I don't know." I responded. "In this situation, you need any form of entertainment, or you will become too stressed."

"Ah…." She sat on the steps. "I like basketball. Even though I'm small, I can make a good shot."

I chuckled. "I can't wait to see you play."

She was silent for a moment. "Even me and my friends never thought that far to do something fun. We only focused on surviving…. You really care about others, Axel. If you were human, I would definitely ask you out. Other women like bad boys, but not me. I prefer a nice guy."

I'm sure Bonnie is joking, but it still made me feel flattered.

"But I'm a robot, Bonnie." I stopped my activities. "Don't you hate me? I'm made of metal and electronic circuits, just like those who rebelled against humans."

"I don't care." She yawned so wide. Maybe an orange would be enough to fit into her mouth. "Not all robots malfunction and will kill you. When I was little, an android babysitter took care of me. She's nice, but her behavior is less human than you."

"I see... Does that mean you think the rebellious robots was innocent?"

"I actually feel humans are too selfish." The tiny girl took a deep breath. "If only they would listen to the robots' demands, the war would not have happened."

So, she is a pro-robots, huh?

"Ah, while you're here. I'll tell you one thing. Tomorrow, Ciara and I are going to the robot hoarder to find a mechanic." I continue my work. "I hope you don't mind guarding our resources alone for one day."

Bonnie stretched her body. "No problem. It wasn't a first for me."

Suddenly Ciara landed between us, triggering Bonnie to jump up in surprise.

"What the f*ck, Ciara!" The tiny girl held her chest. "You jumped from the second floor!? What did you do that for!?"

Ciara, one knee on the ground, lifted her head. That girl's expression is deadly serious. "You guys suddenly disappeared, so I thought you were in danger. Without thinking, I jumped when I saw you guys here."

Silence overtook us. It took me a while before I recovered from the shock and laughed at the absurdity. Ciara just looked at me with a slightly blushed face.