By David C. Daoust
Margo had lost her perch almost immediately upon seeing the dark swarm of battle drones on the horizon. She was so startled at the sight, her hand slipped from the ledge of the jail house and off she went, plunging to the concrete below. It was a good thing she was indestructible, she’d be dead if she was a human girl, though she imagined she would be much more cautious if that be true.
Margo always felt movies set in a post-apocalyptic setting were a cop out. Who the hell wants to see what happens after the world is destroyed? These movies were always the same, a huge depressing desert of a world where dirty people, scrape by, fighting for water, or energy, or well whatever. It was not until she watched the surrounding environment, that she weighed the cost of creating such an event as an apocalypse. Truly, Margo felt, in a sudden flash of insight, it was probably just cheaper to shoot in the desert, with the event itself a juicy bit of back story. So maybe not so much a cop-out, as just a bit of thrifty genius…
This however, this battle zone she found herself immersed in, was no post-apocalyptic anything. This was the event, and she was on the front lines of the end. Margo didn’t know what to do beyond sit back and watch as the apocalypse struck. She kept finding new places to watch from, though it seemed every time she got comfortable somewhere, some damn Battle Drone would come and tear down the building she’d found to witness the wave of destruction.
It was all pretty exciting, really, as the roving drones brought the world down around her. Margo had to process the danger for the humans- they could be killed in this mess. It was with this sudden flash of insight that she abandoned watching the surrounding chaos, and started to try and find people in distress.
She knew the majority of the people were all at the barracks ship, protesting against the Otomo Corps’ actions, all brought to light by her new friend, Dakota. She figured that’s where she should head- to the town center. Maybe try to catch up with Colin, she hoped he’d made it out of the jail house, as she’d already watched it come crashing down. Her face blanched at the realization of her own thoughtlessness for the safety of those around her.
Margo made short work of the distance between her and the town center. She even managed to help a few people on the way. Though truly, she only had the proportionate strength of a little girl, her ‘indestructibleness’ wasn’t terribly helpful for anyone but herself. She helped a few people find their way to a main road though, that inevitably led to the town gates, which was safe to assume, would be safe from the town-destroying battle drones.
Margo did a double take as she spotted Colin in the distance, sharing the load with an older woman, as they assisted what appeared to be an injured man through the chaos. The sudden rounds of automatic rifle fire, heralded the appearance of more Battle Drones as they crashed through the surrounding town center, continued to crush anything still standing, least of which, the two ton of brick and mortar that came crashing down around Margo, just as Colin caught her eye.
