Where the Androids Went Afterwards

[Shiro]

A previously flourishing port city in the Southern territories and near Hercule City, until the androids were told to get a map, that is. Now it's a barren waste filled with crumpled buildings and dead, mangled bodies.

[Shiro]

"What...?" Shiro stood not far from the edge of the city's ruins, staring at the destruction. "What happened here? Earthquake, tsunami, hurricane? All three at once, maybe?" He dismissed all three when he found the first corpse.

[Shiro]

It could have been human, cow, dog, or all three, he didn't know. All that was left was a limbless, headless pile of tenderized meat that looked half cooked. As in, the bottom half. "I think I'm gonna be sick..."

[Shiro]

Amazingly enough, Shiro managed to find an intact trash can to be sick in. He hovered over it for several minutes, saying his last farewells to the fish he'd had earlier. Well, I'm not having seafood for a while. He thought, trying to distract himself with the joke. Didn't work.

[Shiro]

Trembling slightly, Shiro left the ally he'd been in and went back on the street. It was hard not to notice the dozens of corpses that lined it. All of them brutally disfigured and some...

...was that one breathing?

[Shiro]

Shiro, not knowing what came over him, ran to the pile of flesh and knelt down beside it. Yeah, still breathing, and bleeding, and for some stupid reason resisting death. Shiro turned away, not that the person could tell. It lacked eyes, and a lower jaw bone. And everything below its chest.

[Shiro]

Shiro considered ending the poor thing's life. He was disgusted, and somewhat relieved, to find that he couldn't do it. Near dead or not, this was still a person, and he was not gonna turn into a murderer just because

Just because you want to end his pain?

[Shiro]

Shiro groaned, which seemed to startle the figure. It's arm started twitching and it groaned back. Shiro tried, but couldn't make out what it was saying, or trying to say anyway. You can't exactly talk with half your face gone.

[Shiro]

Finally, Shiro reached over and grabbed a chunk of concrete that had fallen nearby. He rolled up his sleeve, not wanting to stain his shirt anymore than it was, and swung down. The twitching stopped. The groans faded.

[Shiro]

Shiro quickly found out that there was at least one building that still had running water and electricy. He stood in the mostly intact bathroom, scrubbing his hand and arm, and his clothes, trying to remove the blood before it set in. He stayed in there for over an hour.

[Shiro]

Shiro finally left the bathroom and looked around. Fortunately, that seemed to be the only nearly alive person in the city. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any fully alive, or even mostly alive, people left.

[Shiro]

He stumbled off, still feeling nauseous, headed towards the edge of the city. He'd have to find another city to get answers. Maybe. Assuming they knew what happened.

[Shiro]

He passed a Wal-mart as he walked and stopped, then turned and went in. A few minutes later, he came out, a map in one hand, and a compass in the other. He didn't need to get lost again.