——“Annnnd done!” A cheerful voice called out from behind Kazer. He felt a soft push on his back as he stood up. His torso was wrapped in a thick, white cloth that was moistened with a clear disinfectant. His blue suit rested around his waist. Kazer examined his body, then turned and faced the girl behind him with a smile. She was about his height, with long brown hair that reached her waist. The tips of her hair had jade green highlights that matched her eyes. Her eyes smiled back at him as he averted his gaze. “You should really be more careful. I get Lloyd is rough with you, but you don’t need to push yourself to become something you are not. Some dreams aren’t meant to come true, you know.” She spun around Kazer and place a finger on his nose. “You understand, right?” She spoke to him in an overly friendly way.

Kazer’s face turned beet red as he quickly turned around in a panic and placed his suit back on. Without looking back, he spoke to her. “You can drop that lie. I know for a fact that the commander told you all the real reason I’m here, Annmarie.”

“Yeah, yeah… As part of the REDOS project.” Her tone changed to a more casual one. “But that doesn’t mean you have to actuality join us down on Earth.” She spoke with worry. “Just talk to the commander and have him remove you from the project.” Her voice then quickly sank low, “Maybe then we won’t get sent into that death planet all because of you and this damn project.”

“Huh?” Kazer turned to face Annmarie. Her expression was completely dark as her eyes stared uselessly at him and she gripped a small syringe in her hand. It was filled with a translucent green liquid that gently moved around the container in unison with her breathing. Kazer stepped back a little, stumbling on a chair. This snapped Annmarie back into her original state. She then forced a smile and spoke in a cheery tone once more.

“Maybe then you’ll be able to finally get some rest for your weary eyes!” She lied, “But if you can’t, just know that I will always be here to tend your wounds.” Her smile resonated with Kazer’s soul, relieving him of the fear he had just felt.

“Hehe…” Kazer scratched his head in embarrassment, completely forgetting what he saw. “Thank you for always helping me, despite how weak I am. But just know this: I will become as strong as you guys. No matter how harshly Lloyd treats me or how often my training causes me to feel pain so intense that I want to die; I will show those other Martians that even a small scrap at the bottom of the barrel can become something great-?!” Annmarie vanished from his sight with the only thing he could see is her hair trailing behind him. He then felt a soft touch on the right side of his neck with a pointed feeling on the left. As Kazer tried to turn around, a sharp pain impaled the left side of his neck, and his vision darkened. He fell motionless to the ground. As his consciousness was fading, two soft and gentle hands caressed his neck. A quiet voice echoed through the darkness of his mind.

“Just hurry up and permanently die. I don’t want to feel this way anymore.” Her hands slowly reached his neck. “I want to love HIM…but whenever I see you I have an uncontrollable desire of lust and rage. You understand right, Kazer? I HATE you, yet I love you…I just want you to die.” Then, without hesitation, she snapped his neck.——

As the light faded, the soft crackle of a flame fill his mind. Kazer slowly opened his eyes to face the icy stare of the moon above. Dazed from what happened, he panned around the around area.

“What the hell happened?” He asked out loud as he looked at the charred remains of a machine with organs sticking out of it. “HMMF!!” He turned around and puked after seeing the abhorred sight. He then suddenly got a blistering headache as he remembered the fight he just had. He faced the charred remains of the machine and pulled the blunt blade from its head. Chunks of brain matter stick to the blade and a pair of brown eyes roll across the ground. Although lifeless, Kazer felt as if the eyes cast judgment against him as the flickering flame reflected off of the pupils.

“Hey, you’re finally awake.” A familiar voice called out to him with a sarcastic, impatient tone. Kazer turned behind him and looked at the girl hanging on the large hanging rack. Although it was dark, he could see the faint reflection of the bonfire in her eyes. He silently walked over to her and pulled out his trusty metal rod that morphed into a circular saw. The girl looked at him in surprise as he cut her down. Kazer then carefully extracted the metal rod from her hands and placed it in the bonfire. After waiting a few minutes, he retrieved the metal rod and used it to cauterize the open hole in her hands. She let out a suppressed scream as her flesh sizzled melted over the wound. “HEY. A warning would have been nice.” She tried to hide the pain in her voice. “But anyway, why did you do that? And why are you so quiet…it bothers me.”

“Sorry…” Kazer was lost in thought, reflecting on the final moments of the recent memory that came back to him. He reached out and touched his neck. “What is lust?” He asked.

As Kazer touched his neck, the girl let out a worried sound as she glanced at his neck. “Hey? Did ja hit your head too hard?” Unaware of what is going through his head, the girl spoke to him playfully in an attempt to ease him. “Or maybe you are lost for words after seeing my pretty face-”

“Don’t kid yourself.” Kazer barked back in a bitter tone.

“Ouch…” The girl then changes her tone. “But back to the original question.”

Kazer looked at the girl with annoyance, “It was either that or we would have to remove your hands. At least this way you can still use your hands, somewhat.” He then reach out and grabbed her right hand. He slowly traced his finger around the hole, causing the girl to wince in pain. “But we will still have to cut it off,” he faced the hill that blocked the fog-covered city, “If we can make it to that city, we can give you bio-coded hands that should work as a placement.”

“Bio…coded?” She looked at him as if he was speaking an unfamiliar language. “I’m sorry, but what do you mean?”

“Ah…I forgot…”

“Forgot what!?”

“Nothing, it’s nothing. You’ll see when we get into the city.”

The girl pouted as Kazer walked over to the dead machine that was lying next to a human skewer. He pulled out his saw once more and cut its faceplates free from its hinges. As he turned off his saw after cutting the second plate, he heard a quiet sound of rustling clothes from behind. Thinking that the girl he had saved earlier what just moving around, he ignored it and morphed his saw into a small welder. He then connected the two faceplates and formed a metal mask. Once he was finished welding some smaller pieces to give it more personality and utility, a small, bloodstained, dirty cloth shirt landed on his head. Confused, he turned around and found the girl standing behind him dressed in the cloak that had once belonged to the fleshy machine that Kazer killed at the bonfire. In her right hand was 0990’s sharp blade embedded in the ground. The girl looked down at Kazer, who was crouched over his workplace.

“Used that as temporary straps to your mask.” She smiled at him. Kazer nodded in silence and tore the shirt into long strips and tried them on his metal mask. The girl leaned over him with curiosity and rested on his right, armless, shoulder. Kazer thought nothing of it and continued his work. “You know, you seem a lot better at this than you are at fighting.” Kazer stopped moving his left hand. “After all, you can do all of this with just one hand. I’m impressed.”

“Am I really that weak?” Kazer said softly, only reflecting on the part where he can not fight.

The girl picked up on his emotional state and tried to assure him. “Wait…let me rephrase that. What I meant was that you don’t seem suited for close quarters-combat.” She looked at him from head to toe. “I don’t seem to have the build to wield anything larger than a metal bat. But you have good endurance.” She nodded her head. Kazer glanced away at the bonfire. “Which is why I shall become your blade.”

“Huh!?” Kazer was caught off guard. He stared back at her. “But I just freed you. I held my end of the bargain and you held yours. There is no need for you to follow me.” Kazer’s eyes darted everywhere as he panicked a little. His face was red and small beads of sweat dripped down his face. The girl chuckled at his shyness. Kazer, now embarrassed, placed his newly forged mask on his face in an attempt to hide from her. The gray mask had spots of dried blood scattered on it. Two upside-down triangles with curved tops formed the eyes slots for the mask. The mouth and nose area was shaped as if it were a gas mask, however, it was missing filter cartages on both sides, giving it a strange look.

“Hehe…you’re adorable. But I’m doing this as thank you for freeing me from these Cleaners.”

“Cleaners?”

“Yeah, that’s what they call themselves, at least. I’m not sure as to how they got that name, but ever since the great war, they have called themselves that.” She walked over to the corpse of 2991. “They live to only kill us humans. From what we have gathered, they live off of the people they kill. They reuse their organs as their own in order to keep functioning.”

Kazer removed his mask and grabbed the cloak that the deceased Cleaner before him wore. As he removed it, the unpleasant smell of rotting organs flooded his nostrils and caused him to gag. The organs were brown and had maggots crawling inside them. He waved the cloak in the air back and forth, hoping to send any maggots that sat on the cloak flying away before putting it on. Kazer then looked back at the bonfire and noticed a pair of bloodstained pants laying on the ground. He glanced back at the girl, who gave him a playful smile as she pinched her cloak and raised it a little.

“What?” she teased him a little. “Curious as to what’s underneath?” She winked, “Well if we are in an intense battle or an EXTREMELY windy environment, maybe you can sneak a peek.”

“Sorry, but I’m not interested in a malnourished girl.” Kazer shot her offer down almost immediately.

“Ouch…you don’t hold back, now do you?” She hung her head in defeat as Kazer walked over to the bonfire with his hand on his tool belt. After recovering from her rejection, she grabbed her blade and pointed towards Kazer, who was now cooking a small cube of meat. “I haven't heard your name yet.”

“Neither have I heard yours.” Kazer kept his attention on his food.

“Wow, you’re an asshole. At least you look at me when I’m talking. But my name is Laetitia, it is nice you meet you!”

“My name is K-” He paused, “Cassius. It’s nice to meet you.” Laetitia tilted her head but said nothing but shrug. Kazer pulled his meat cube from the fire and ate it. He then turned and tossed a small dull-looking brick towards Laetitia. “Eat it. Maybe it will help you gain a few pounds.” Laetitia gave him a death stare as she ate the brick. Shocked by the taste, she wolfed down the whole thing.

“DO YOU HAVE MORE!?”

“Whoa there, I do, but how on Earth did you enjoy that? Those rations taste like shit.”

“What do you mean?” She ran up to Kazer and placed her hands on his shoulder, ignoring the pain in her hands. “That was the best thing I’ve had in my life that was not human flesh!”

Kazer raised a brow. “Human what now?”

Just before she opened her mouth, her face darken as he released his shoulders. “Sorry, but I still need to know something. You said that was a ‘ration’, correct?” Kazer nodded. “Why did you trust me enough to give that to me? You know I can easily betray you, right? Like when you are sleeping I can chop off your hand and just hide it. Or just loot everything you have on you right now. After all, you seem weak with precious gear that can guarantee anyone’s survival in this Hell-forged Eden.”

“Because I felt like it.” Kazer, without her knowing, gripped the gun that rested on his tool belt. “Is something the matter? I thought you said you wanted to travel with me.”

“I do…but.” She hesitated. “I guess I was right to say that we are the same.” She then slapped herself in the face and put on a smile that masked her pain. “Let’s travel, friend.” A small tear trickled down her cheek as she picked up her sword. “I’ll be the one who protects you since you risked your life to save this adorable girl.” The morning sun then poked its head over the horizon, illuminating Laetitia’s cherry red cheeks.

Being so close to her, Kazer noticed a few scars around her neck and arms. Despite her bouncing personality, Kazer smiled and stood up. He grabbed the blunt blade and placed it on his back. The cloak had a little spot where large weapons could be holstered. “Yes. Let’s go.”

“Wait!!!” Laetitia shouted, ruining the mood. “Why did you stop shooting during that fight?”

Kazer pulled out his pistol. “I don’t know-” An ominous red flashing light int erupted him. “Oh, that’s why…” Laetitia tilted her head. “My gun ran out of energy.” He inspected the gun and noticed that the safety was never toggled. “And that would be why.”

“Hmm?” Laetitia walked up behind him and rested her chin on his shoulder. “What would be why?”

“This pistol is a biolaser. Its bullets are free as it can just be anything you put in the magazine. The magazine gives everything inside it a temporary magnetic field, allowing whatever inside to be shot out of the rail-gun-like chamber at high velocities.”

“Rail-gun? Oh, you mean the large weapons that use electromagnets to shoot?”

“Wait, how do you know that but not bio-coding?” Kazer questioned.

“Because Rail-guns are common here on Eden.” She then points at his pistol. “Just not ones that small, or ones that can shoot rocks and sticks.”

“Interesting…” Kazer pulled out a black brick-like object and opened it. The inside was the perfect size for the pistol. He placed it inside and shoved it into this tool belt. “Anyway, while that is charging, I get to rely on you.” Kazer smiles at Laetitia and she smiles back.