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Blistering heat from the sun rained down upon her chassis and the sand carried by dry wind scraped her paint. But she didn't mind, after all it was a very, very special day today.
"Mr. Bones, how are you liking your birthday?"
A nandroid equipped with solar panel chest flaps, had them exposed towards the sun to charge her battery. She wore a faded green and white striped swimsuit while she laid on a sun-faded pool recliner. A barely functioning sandblasted boombox to her right was playing some kind of electronic opera music. It's tones and beats sounded like someone beating drums with pans, as splashes of saxophone bled through. She took off her scratched sunglasses to look at a devilish handsome sun bleached skeleton in a lovingly patched together black suit sitting next to her. It’s bones were barely held together by loose string wrapped around its bones.
"My thoughts exactly, but you don't have to be so rough with your paraphrasing."
She gave the skeleton her best alluring smile while it's sewn jaw flapped in the wind. Standing up from the pool recliner, her solar panels rotated to track the sun as she got a towel to clean the sand from her body.
"Do you think UberMarket would have your favorite brand of lobster?" She asked, tilting her head.
The skeletons only reply was the whistle of wind going through it's eye sockets.
"Of course, I would butter it with garlic!"
She gave an off-tune laugh while dragging the snazzy looking skeleton away from the sand-filled pool, and into the shade of a once luxury penthouse.
"Now let me go get dressed, so we can go shopping. We can't be stuffed up in this penthouse forever."
She sat the skeleton on a torn red leather couch before making her way up the stairs to the master bedroom.
"Oh, and no peeking."
She winked at the bone dry corpse as it slowly fell over on its side, not wanting to disobey it's robotic mistress.
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Walking back downstairs, she had traded her swimsuit for a ripped red sequin dress.
"Well what do you think?"
The skeleton's shoulders rose up into the air from the wind, giving the impression it had gestured "whatever".
"Very fickle today, I see." She scoffed, storming off back into their bedroom.
She returned a few minutes later wearing a long fur coat covered in patches with a matching purse.
"How about now? I think it looks good."
The skeleton didn't respond and just stared at the ceiling.
"Glad you like it."
She walked down the sand covered stairs, pock marked with shattered glass. Picking up the skeleton, she sat it down in a wheelchair and kissed it on it's bone white cranium.
"Ooh? Thanks for the compliment, but it will not get you anywhere! Now let's get you down to Ubermarket, I am quite sure Miss Sherry should be there."
She pushed the wheelchair out of the penthouses front door and down the hall to waiting elevators. One sat in horrible disrepair, overflowing with sand. But lucky enough there was another elevator alongside it, waiting with it's doors wide open to accept guests. The inside was lined white marble with gilded handrails. She pressed the button for the lobby, and the elevator slowly chugged to shut it's doors and usher it's passengers downwards. Bright sunlight hit the dented up elevator glass, forcing her to cover her eyes so her photoreceptors could adjust.
"Looks beautiful out today, don't you think? Might take the long way around to enjoy such a fine evening. What do you think?"
She looked down at the hunched over skeleton, smiling the same dumb smile as if she didn't have a care in the world.
"Yeah, I have noticed you haven't been sleeping well."
She affectionately patted the skeleton's cranium, causing it lob from side to side.
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The elevator dinged, it's sliding doors screeched open in their sand clogged tracks while rust covered locking arms did their best to pry them open.
"Good morning, Mr. Wheeler." She waved to a skeleton sitting at the front desk with a tattered security uniform still clinging to it. Sand buried the lone guard up to it's chest cavity.
"Just taking Mr. Bones for a walk down to the store."
She stopped a few times to gingerly lower the wheelchair down a few flights of stairs towards a glass box at the entrance.
"How's the wife? Last I heard she was expecting"
But no answer came to her attempt at gossip.
"How many are there going to be?" She asked, tapping her fingertips together in anticipation for an answer that still never came.
"I see, must be one of those days… You're lucky to be a father at least, even if your wife isn't the nicest lady. See you when I get back."
And with a wave goodbye, she opened the glass door to the outside world.
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Walking down the street, large broken skyscrapers loomed overhead like steel gods judging her every step. She pushed the wheelchair along on a sandy sidewalk towards a bus stop with several shadows of what appeared to be men sitting on the bench at the bus stop etched into the concrete box.
"Seems the bus is running late again, might be quicker to just walk there."
After a short three minute walk, she spotted a large red and blue building looming in the distance. A neon sign on the roof slowly flashed it's last working bulbs, beckoning anyone who saw it to come towards it's waiting maw. Crossing the hot cracked asphalt towards the building, she walked through hundreds of rusting car hulks lining the parking lot; some of which showed battle damage with bullet holes scoring many of the vehicles. Skeletons wearing makeshift armor and bandanas were buried in the sand around said vehicles with empty bullet casings spewing out of the sand like hungry ants from their nest to devour the bone meal.
"Good morning, Miss Sherry."
She waves to a skeleton wearing a torn leopard-print onesie with it’s legs spread eagle as another skeleton was laying on top of it. Several smaller corpses near the sliding doors of the store were wearing what remained of children's clothing, stood guard in rusted folding chairs by a table full of now empty boxes. Now weathered and scrounged by pests the weathered cardboard boxes blew helplessly in the wind, or were buried in the sand.
"Sorry, not interested."
Passing by the corpses, she entered the store through it's broken sliding doors. Nearly pitch black with a few exceptions of lights that flickered on and off. Several of the loudspeakers still functioned as they played a grainy version of Phil Collins: 'Only You Know And I Know'. She walked down several of the aisles throwing any rotten food that she could find into her cart.
"Hmm... you have not been getting your proper vitamins lately, what flavor of yogurt do you want?"
She gazed down at the skeleton, whose skull just lulled over onto its chest.
"Tapioca? I thought you didn't like Tapioca. Ok..."
With a shrug, she grabbed four packs of Tapioca pudding which began to spew out mold covered brown slime onto her fingers when she squeezed the packaging.
"Huh, free samples?"
She smiled looking down at the skeleton before smearing the rotten slime over its remaining teeth.
"How does that taste? I rather have you choose on a logical basis."
She nodded as the skeleton slumped down into the wheelchair.
"You like it? Alright, I'll get a few more."
She threw whatever remained on the shelf into the cart before continuing on through the dark store.
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After getting what used to be various foodstuffs into her cart, she pulled up to the checkout aisles. While looking for an open aisle, she spots one with a still flashing green light.
"Good morning, Rudy."
She waves to a nandroid that was missing it’s outer skin. A tattered employee uniform stubbornly clung to the burnt metal skeleton of her fellow robot as it stood over a cash register. What remains of it’s once silk raven hair is now just a few strands still hanging onto its skull. Frozen in time, the robot appears to have ripped its eyes out, forever in a pose of starring ahead with empty eye sockets.
"How is your job going?"
She laughed at the joke told by the rusting hulk of a nandroid.
"Well, I and Mr. Bones have only come by to get some groceries. I planned to cook a nice dinner for his birthday."
Her laughter is the only thing that fills the silent store, as the loudspeakers breath their final song lyrics shortly before shutting off.
"How'd you know? Anyway, I'm sure I've held up the line long enough."
She deposits correct change plus tax, onto a growing pile of money left on the conveyor belt.
"Have a nice day, Rudy."
She waved to the remains of her fellow nandroid, before exiting the store. She looks upon the shattered remains of a once beautiful skyline, where in the center of the city a massive clock tower hung limply in the air, suspended by mere telephone wires. The clock tower still had some visible red markings on it, spelling out the single word ‘INGRAM’. She tried to read the clock hands, but they were bent downwards having become useless so long ago.
“Seems we have just enough time to get home.” She cheerfully chimed to the sack of bones.
Lugging the useless corpse and long spoiled groceries with her, she made the journey home as the sun begins to dip below the ruined city skyline.
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"Just hang tight and I'll get dinner started."
She pushed the skeleton in front of a fractured television. Walking back into the kitchen, she stokes the fire of an oven with dry rotted logs. After a lengthy process of getting the fire going, she closed the door to the iron cast stove. Throwing a dirty pot covered by endless caked on gunk and grime from years and years of neglect onto the now hot burner, she splashes in the moldy and rotten supplies into the pot and began to stir it around. The boombox outside started playing a jazzy rock song as she toiled away over the hot stove.
"Here you go, Mama Platcheestas famous paskget."
She set down the piping hot plate of rotten brown sludge in front of skeleton, she waited patiently by the bones in fine attire for a critique on her cooking. After waiting for several hours, the skeleton proceeded to fall over face first into the concoction after being blown over by a gust of wind.
"I knew you would love it!"
She gripped her hands tightly against her chest in victory, finally able to satisfy her long dead lovers never ending appetite.
"Make sure to finish it all, I have plenty for seconds," She notified the boney cadaver as she put the lid back on the bubbling rancid stew.
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She cleaned up the skeleton for the night before lovingly tucking it into bed. Checking her power status which flashed: 20%. She figured she would need to recharge early in the morning sun by tomorrow.
"Well, I had a fun day today, did you?"
She simulated a yawn towards the skeleton, before she herself climbed into the other side of the sand filled bed and pulled shredded sheets up to her shoulders.
"Yeah, I hope we can have more fun when we take that flight to Hawaii tomorrow."
She gave the skeleton a genuine smile before booping it's nose with her finger.
"Well, I better get some sleep so I can get you breakfast early in the morning. I know how cranky you can get."
She slowly closed her eyes as the battery status read back 18% now.
"Hmmm? Heh, yeah… I love you too."
She felt happy at the dead man's declaration of love, the only thing she cared more for than anything. But sadly the howl of the winds outside were the only reply she would get to her confession of love. After a few more seconds of listening to whatever her memories played for her next, she finally entered sleep mode with a silent sigh. Her continuing nightmare that she was blissfully unaware of would continue, trapped forever in the ruined urban jungle with only ghosts and the damned to keep her company. She would be safe for the time being in her remaining memories, until she awoke to her personal hell once more from the harbinger of light.