Monotone | ✔️

Chapter Twenty Six

I waited morosely as the robots slowly departed, ambling after Chris with a seemingly haughty, confident air. I daren't not look for too long. If they saw me everything would be over. After a while, I deemed the area safe and began to move closer to Robyn, dreading the news I would bestow upon her injured heart. Would she break, as she did after Jay's death? Would she lash out and consequently hurt me, endanger the mission? Chris's gratuitous actions would be unsettling information; I could still not believe it myself. To do something so bold and brazen, to be able to sacrifice yourself for others was something I knew I would never be able to perform, unless it was needed. Unless the opportunity presented itself and I welcomed it without thinking, without contemplating where I would go afterwards.

Briefly, I checked the wound. The bandages that had been wrapped around her leg was now saturated in blood. With sickening dread, I realised I would need to change it. I'd never had much experiences with medical emergencies, but it seemed I would have to perform this procedure nonetheless. I would do it before I told her about Chris, just in case after she found out she wouldn't let me heal it. Robyn was so rash and unpredictable there was no way of knowing how she would react, but that was one of the many possibilities.

Rummaging around in our dwindling supplies, I located more bandages. Then, I slowly removed the old ones. It was difficult - the wound was sticky with blood, I had to pull with more pressure than I would've liked.

It was during my apprehensive attempt Robyn awoke, stirred by the pain that was probably searing through her leg. As she brusquely swore, my progress faltered, rapidly hissing at her to be quiet. She obliged, though pain was evident in her dark green eyes.

With haste, I took the bandage off, discarding the red fabric with disgust and fear. I thought Chris had said the bleeding had stopped?

"Be a bit gentler." Robyn spat at me, sweat adorning her forehead.

"Sorry. I've never done this before."

"I can tell."

Ignoring the jibe - it was true, after all - I hesitantly lifted her leg up to secure the new bandage, making sure it was tight. For a moment, more blood gushed into the fabric, but the flow thankfully wasn't too substantial. She wouldn't be able to move for a while, even I could determine that much.

Robyn inclined her head in a nod as I finished, reclining in a recumbent manner on the floor. "What happened after I got shot?" She croaked.

I opened my mouth to reply, but I was cut off by a question that chilled my heart. "Where's Chris?"

"Look, Robyn--"

"He's dead, isn't he?" She whispered.

"No! Let me explain!" I paused and observed her. Robyn's face seemed to be crumpling like paper, her stature eroded by this ominous development. Looking away with a sigh, I continued, my hands wringing together in a fretful manner. "There were too many robots. As soon as we shot them down, more came. It was like hitting a wall with a feather; impossible. It looked like we were all going to die. You had already been shot, Chris said your condition was stable but you were unconscious, we were running out of ammo, we came close to being peppered with bullets countless times... So, Chris diverted them. He ran down that street," I pointed, "and he said to give him two days in order to return. He said... He said if he's not back by then we need to give up, and you need to tell me the information on the mission." My voice trailed off toward the end, my tone a mere whisper, hollowed by grief and denial.

"No!" Robyn shouted. She tried to rise to her feet but undoubtedly failed, falling back onto the floor with a pained yelp. "That's not true!" I didn't bother trying to make her quieten down, for I knew it would have no effect on the crestfallen, grieving girl. And that's all she was: the stolen youth, snatched from normality by the tyranny of this world, taken away by the fault of our foes. It was wrong, so wrong.

I felt guilt gouge out my insides. I could've made more of an effort to stop him from leaving. I could've gone in his place, I could've shot more robots, defended Robyn so she wouldn't have gotten injured, I could've done a better job at keeping watch... Then none of this would've happened. Then this situation wouldn't have jumped out. We wouldn't be crouched here, surrounded by blood, haunted by these leering thoughts.

"I'm sorry, Robyn." I murmured. "But Chris is strong, smart. He'll survive. It won't take two days to shake off some dumb robots. He loves you. He has motivation to survive." Helplessly, I tried desperately to console her, reaching to pull her into a hug.

"Shut up!" Was her only reply, my attempts at an embrace shoved away coldly. Tears streamed down her face; she'd lost something she couldn't replace. "This can't be true, this can't be true... He - he..." I was unsure whether her speech dilapidated because she was too sad to carry on, or because she couldn't find any justification to her claims. I think it was a mixture of both.

It was odd, how different her reaction to this was. When Jay died... she went absolutely berserk. Screams had tore from her mouth like streaks of lightning, she had murdered three people when his death had been an accident... Now, she had crumbled and cried, not that angry, merely sullen and dejected. Why? Had she lost the will to fight for redemption? Had she lost the will to seek vengeance and fight? "You have to stay strong, Robyn. For Chris..."

"Tempest!"

I jerked upward, heaving my gun up. Could that be Chris? Could he be back already? Peering across the street, I searched for the source of the noise. Robyn's sobs ceased momentarily; I could almost feel the hope blossoming in her chest. It flowered in mine, too. All this dismay and disaster was over, our Leader and friend and lover had returned. I glanced briefly at Robyn before standing up. "Chris!"

"What?" The reply rendered me confused. Then, a faint rattling emitted, and a collection of heads appeared from bins. It was Stephen, the man I had met on the search for the canoe.

{I hope you enjoy! Can you spot my cheeky Coldplay reference in there? I saw them at Wembley Yesterday, they were amazing!}