Ava and Aphrodite: The First Human in 8000 Years (Featured)

Chapter 68: Return of the Scientist

The Major zoomed across the wasteland of Europa on the heavy duty motorcycle she stole from the cabin of Ava's ship.

The Evos she met all those months ago, they weren't too far, at the speed she was going she'd be able to reach them in an hour or so.

For some reason, after walking outside of the ship following her discussion with the group, her concern for the Evos swelled up, and she'd developed an urgent desire to make sure they were still safe. She had trouble maintaining lucidity when she was taken over by the virus, so she really had no idea what the state of Europa was now.

It was definitely worse. The Evo's had all but cannibalised each other, developed their own tribes and fed on the weaker ones until only powerful units were left.

The Major wondered how many Evo's she'd slaughtered in the past few months, it was funny, back when she was working in the military she'd destroy Evos without an ounce of regret, but now... for some reason, it was collapsing onto her, she was starting to actually feel regret, and guilt.

What happened to her?

Either way she needed to see how the Evos in the nearby village were doing, whether they'd managed to survive all that time.

***

The Major arrived a little late, she was forced to take out a few swarms of infected Evos on the way. It didn't feel good, but she'd put them out of their misery.

The ruins of the city had been trodden down on even more than before, the sun was beaten down and it was pretty easy to see the devastation that had been left in the wake of whatever had gone through.

And she saw them, all of the Evos that she'd talked to when she first arrived on Europa, the helpful and kind ones that didn't mean any harm. They were ragged, torn, and shuffling around like rabid beasts.

All of them.

Some of them were tearing apart the corpses of their fellow family members, others were bashing their heads against the wall, perhaps in an attempt to commit suicide to escape the madness that had consumed them.

She saw some of the little ones, they were already dead, their wreckage scattered across the debris.

The Major clenched her fist. She wondered when in the few months she was away this had happened, how the virus managed to reach them. Not that it mattered, it was too late anyway.

One of the taller Evos emerged from the piles of scrap near her, it roared like a rabid beast and lunged towards her. That one had a name, she recognised it because of the pink patterns painted on her face. The moment the Evo was within distance the Major blankly pulled out her lance and pierced its body, while she stood in place without moving. With her one arm she lifted it into the air and smashed it to the ground.

The Evo exploded into pieces, with only its core remaining.

The other Evos noticed her and perked up. Some of them hissed, some of them growled, they all made noises that were unnatural, distorted. And then they went on the attack.

The Major sighed. She was hoping it wouldn't be the case, but as expected, she'd have to put them down.

As they started to scramble towards her, Evos of all shapes and sizes, shouldn't couldn't help but feel a sense of wistfulness as she drew out her lance.

She recognised them all, even the little one, the little one she'd originally made friends with, he was among them as they tried their best to grab on to her and do as much damage as possible.

The Major didn't want to beat them savagely, but even for a trained and elegant fighter like herself, it was hard not to make a mess as she was forced to block and parry with her weapon, every retaliation attack she made threw the Evos back and killed them instantly.

And so she fought and fought and fought, over the course of ten or so minutes she put down everyone one of the once-peaceful Evos with as little disrespect and savagery as possible.

When she was finished, not one trace of life was left, nothing but dead bodies. She was careful not to destroy them too much, but they were all dead, just as she'd wished to be back when she was infected.

No.

There was still one.

One Evo signal was lingering.

The Major looked around, she could see it, hiding in the corner of an alley not too far from where she stood, an Evo that looked quite similar to Gobot but painted red. It was trembling with fear. Not infected, this one.

"Hey. Don't run, I won't attack you if you're not infected." she said calmly, but loudly.

The Evo didn't listen, it instantly dashed into the alleyway, clearly fearing for its life. Of course that meant nothing to the Major who ran at full speed in his direction, zoomed into the alley, and jumped over him. She landed facing him and blocking his way.

"Don't make things complicated little one." said the Major, a stern look on her face,

"You're the one! The one who's been slaughtering all of my fellow Evos!" said the red Gobot-type Evo. The Major had heard of a red Gobot unit before, she'd read about it in one of Ava's reports. What was his name again?

"Wait. Are you, are you Shwartzcher?"

"Ah you've heard of me. Well I suppose you would have, I'm quite famous aren't I?" he nodded, although due to his short and stout stature it looked more like he was bowing, "And you're who they called The Major, aren't you?"

"...Yes, I suppose most Evos know of me don't they?"

"They're all terrified of you." a slight pause, "as am I."

"I'm not corrupted anymore. You've no reason to be scared of me."

"Even before you were corrupted, you were known of. You're responsible for the deaths of millions of Evos, after all."

Of course. She was the leader of the military, and she'd fought herself in many battles. She'd destroyed countless Evos without mercy in the past. Although she never considered them "deaths". To her, Evos weren't... alive anyway. They were just enemies that needed to be destroyed.

"That said," Schwartzcher continued, "when you were corrupted you killed millions single handedly too. I believe the entire southern continent is barren thanks to you. To be honest I don't know whether to hate you or thank you for that."

"It's not like you don't have hundreds of factories creating new Evos every day anyway. You can just recreate them. Your sheer numbers are what caused problems for us."

"Yes well. You might be able to recreate bodies. But you can't recreate a soul." a soul? What was a soul?

Schwatzcher looked over at the corpses of the Evos The Major had killed,

"In the end it all depends," he continued, "whether you think they deserved to die or not. Maybe they were dead the moment the virus took over them."

"It's better to be dead than to be brainwashed into being something you're not. You'd understand if you knew what it was like." The Major frowned, "What are you doing here anyway? You weren't here when I came a few months ago."

"I come every couple of days to collect their cores. If they're still intact anyway. See?" he pointed to the end of the alley. A little truck sat there with a handful of black orbs on the back. "Conducting research on to whether it's possible to bring them back. After all that's where an Evo's soul lies. In its core."

Bring them back? It was possible to bring Evos back to life?

"I see." said the Major, "then I'll help you."

"What?"

"I said I'll help you. I'll help salvage the cores of the Evos I killed here." she too looked over the piles of scrap she'd created, "After that though. You're coming with me."

Author's not: OMG I THOUGHT I PUBLISHED THIS. Turns out it was sitting in drafts this whole time... Sorry guys. I already have the next few chapters written, but I'll space them out daily until I get back on schedule. Sorry for missing the last few updates!