We are called « the survivors »

VI

It was dawn when they woke up. The sun waking up had left a red and orange sky above their head. The survivors felt the warmth of the sun on their body and smiled. In the base, their was only one window that had to be closed most of the times to prevent the robots from seeing it. It was one of the first time since the invasion that they had seen the sun and had almost forgot the sensation of it on their skin. The joy of this awakening had almost made them forget about the horrors that had happened the night before. Shanna's face turned angry. She felt a deep rage in her mixed up with the sadness of losing someone she loved. She stood up and ran into the forest. She had to see his body, to at least bury him. He had died in hero after all. "Shanna come back! Where are you going?" Anna yelled.
She didn't answered and continued running, head down. When she arrived into the forest, she stopped, looked around, then down. At first, she couldn't see anything but after some cautious steps, she saw it. His body. She was far from it but near enough. His face was all red, covered with white blisters. Shanna took a hand at his mouth. The smell of corpse was repulsive. She turned around, disgusted and crying. Anna and Emma were behind her, paralysed. After some minutes, Emma said, sadly: "We have to bury him."
The teens got some shovels out. The started digging, silently, thinking about the horrors that this represented. Sixteen years old! That was the age where you are supposed to be a student, pass exams, go out with friends and have a girlfriend. Not
die in the forest because of some radiation wave. After digging, Emma and Shanna lifted the body and put it in the hole. The silence was so loud and heavy that Anna said with a breaking voice:
"Brendan, rest in peace, you have always been a great friend to us all."
They all came and, shovel in hand started, one by one reaselling the tomb. Then, Shanna moved away further in the forest and picked up some flowers. She gently put the flowers down on the tomb in a B shape.
"I have to go check on the man." Announced Emma. "Don't stay out there too long, you know what could happen."
She turned back to the campside outside the forest. Ryan was up, preparing a fire for the breakfast. She could see with his face that he wasn't feeling well.
"We have buried him..." she said slowly, helping Ryan with the fire.
"I'll go and say goodbye"
Ryan had said it without emotion. Emma knew it, he was empty inside. For him, it was his fault, he was the leader, he was the one that had decided to go out on an expedition. Without him, none of this would have happened:
"You know it is not your fault right?"
"Of course it is my fault. Ailana was right." Ryan said angrily.
He had this rage inside him that he couldn't control, the rage of being a bad leader, the rage of, after just one day out of the base, already have a body to bury.
"No it is not Ryan. We all knew what a risk that was and yet, we all chose to follow you. It's nobody's fault! We couldn't have saved him, the fog was catching him. You would have died trying to save him."
Ryan looked away and started walking towards the forest. He had to say goodbye. Emma entered the man's tent. He was still there, lying down, motionless. She kneeled and took his pulse. He was breathing. Just in case, she tied the man's hands and his feet with some rope. She searched him, taking every weapon he had on him, which consisted of knives and daggers. His clothes were filled with blood especially his leg's. She torn the clothes so as to see what had been bleeding this much. The man had been shot in the leg by the robots. At her surprise, the wound wasn't infected and had nearly cicatrised. She leaved the injury to search his muddy bag. In it, she found a scan insulating blanket, some clothes and a cylindrical thing. She didn't know what it was. On the sides, she spotted a squared button. Hesitating, she pressed the button but quickly shut it down when high-pitched sound resonated in her ears. Her head started to hurt and she felt dizzy. It was a machine capable of creating illusions. That was it, it was him who had illusioned Anna! She knew it as it was the only illusion machine capable to make people feel dizzy after two seconds of sound. She went out of the tent handing the illusion machine. When she saw that Anna and Emma were back from the forest, she shouted:

"Anna I've found it. Inside is the man who illusioned you with this machine."
They smiled. Back at the base, they could interrogate him and finally have answers on their questions. They ate breakfast quickly and packed the tents up. They had to go back before Ailana turns crazy. Ryan had got back. He looked better, peaceful as if his goodbyes had helped him. He took his backpack and led the way. They were going back home.