Chapter Text
In a distance a large boom can be heard. Another one falls today. What was once a mighty imposing skyscraper has been overtaken by nature and then once they have finished their work of erosion, it's been reduced to rubble like so many before it. The streets, the stores, the vehicles, they have all fallen to the relentless invasion of time. In this concrete jungle which was once bustling with human life and voices, now remains only silence.
From a distance a faint squeaking sound can be heard. A humanoid steam powered machine with a hearth in the middle of it’s chest. On his head rested a dusty ol’ bowler hat. His rusty joints creak and whine from overuse as they make their way across the landscape.
“That's another one huh? Must be like the 4th one this month. I wish those things would at least have something more in them than concrete and metal. We have too much of that around anyway… useless things.” GW thinks and sighs (or more accurately lets out steam) as he walks toward his little cabin at the edge of town. It wasn’t much but it was all he ever needed. He was always more of a small house on a hill type of guy. Even when there were others, he preferred to have his peace of quiet away from the bustle of the others, be it humans or machines like himself. It’s also easy to defend if something went wrong.
He doesn’t really venture into the city too often; only when the supplies get low. Scared that he may be ensnared by whoever or whatever gives him that chilling feeling every time he goes there? Possibly. But it’s mostly because he doesn’t want to strain his old joint more than necessary. The trip also totally disrupts his daily routine that he has meticulously perfected over the many years that he’s been living here.
He looks at his beat up pocket watch, the last present he has even received.
7 o’clock, an hour till sunset, on schedule, just as he likes it. Today he has quite the haul, a big bag of coal and a model of arm that finally fit with his body. Now he may finally stop randomly dropping things from time to time. Next time he might be able to make it to the gas station to check for motor oil, his incisive creaking has been driving him insane. He’s still in deep thought when he arrives at his cabin. “Ah, home sweet home, ain’t nothing like it, is there?” he smiles as he walks to push the door open.
But before he can actually perform the action, he stops. Something’s wrong.
The door has already been opened and there is something moving behind the door. They tried to conceal their movements but GW has sharp ears, it’s one of the few functions that has never malfunctioned on him before. A surge of nervousness and fear goes through the bowler hatted machine and he holds still. “What kind of creature could be behind his door? It’s intelligent by the looks of it, it thought of hiding as soon as it heard me approaching, so maybe a creature that’s used to ambushing it’s prey? Don’t tell me one of the things from the city was able to make it all the way up here? No, if it was them I would be struggling out of its mouth by now and at least half of my cabin would have been torn off.” He silently contemplates what his next actions should be. He takes out his pocket watch, half an hour until sundown. Good, he has enough time to defeat whatever has encroached on his home and maybe have a cup of herbal petroleum tea once he’s finished. Well, if he survives his encounter that is. He pulls out his trusty spear from his bag of coal and slowly plops the load onto the ground. He laments that he isn’t able to exchange his hand before the fight and hope his hand works for once in his goddamn life. He tightens the grip on the spear and puts his hand on the handle.
BOOM! He rushes through his door and looks around, urgency in his lenses.
He scans the room but he doesn't see anything. Maybe the home wrecker has already left?
No, he can feel a presence still lingering in his house. He grips his spear at the ready.
“I know you’re in here! Come out wherever you are!”
No response.
GW focuses as much as he can afford to and tries to identify the source of the breathing. Living this many years after the end has taught him many survival skills and that includes hunting down any enemies that are foolish enough to think of him as an easy target on account of the age of his machinery. This time will be no different. He hears the faint coming out from under his bed. He extends his spear towards it.
“Unless you want to get impaled this will be your last chance to come out. I know where you are!” The robot inches closer and closer with his spear at the ready towards the enemy.
Suddenly, a fluffy black head with two pointy ears appears from under the bed. Two big yellow eyes looking GW worryingly.
“Ok, you win mate. I was just looking around. No need for violence, big guy.”
The black creature came out from under the bed entirely. It was bigger than the machine man expected. Bigger than anything he thought could fit under his bed. Smaller than him of course but still surprisingly large. It had sharp shiny white teeth and some long claws that could do some serious damage if aimed right. The creature was dangerous.
“You. wrecked. my. home.” the robot says while emphasizing with a threatening pointing toward the black fluff.
“And I didn’t mean to, and I apologize for that. The only reason why I broke into your shabby little house is because it’s getting dark soon and this looked like a perfect godsend shelter so I thought I could come crash here for a while and be on my merry way before the owner returned.” He looks GW up and down. “But it seems I had no such luck.”
“Well, since you are done looking around and causing mayhem around MY house. You best be on your way, beast.”
The black creature looked offended and held it’s head high in response. “I’m no beast, Tincan. I’m a cat of a royal pedigree. I may be more free spirited and cool than what is expected of a royal but I’m royalty nonetheless.”
“Sounds like a bunch of scrap to me beast, you better go before this spear finds its way through your body.” GW’s optical devices looked at the outside through the open door for a second, it was visibly darker than before they started the struggle. There isn’t much time left until a complete sunset. He has to end this fast if he wants to have time to secure the door again.
“Woah, woah, let’s not make hasty decisions… it’s almost night, If you let me out now I will die for sure. The darkness will eat my cute little cat ass alive. Please, let me stay just for one night.” The cat started to rub on GW’s feet and looked up at him with big sad kitty eyes.
“Pretty please kind ol’ sir… I mean kind ol’ gentleman.”
GW looked at the black beast, his words about his certain doom if he’s left outside are certainly true. Plus if he refuses and the creature still stands its ground and fights him, it might result in tremendous losses that would make it not possible to barricade the door in time. The darkness would come for them both then.
After thinking it over like that in his head GW did a tiny nod. One that would be imperceivable if not for his slow neck squeaking.
“Fine but I have conditions.”
“Oh thank you so much, I will forever remember this grand gesture of kindness that you bestowed upon me!”
GW just rolled his lenses after hearing that.
“Ok, grab the nails and hammer that are in that toolbox under the sink. I’ll go get the planks from outside. No funny business or you’re out. You will hear the rest of the conditions later.”
“Aye, aye. Captain.” A slight smirk can be seen on the cat's face as he gets the tools.
They work together like a pair of people who share a common goal of not dying. The cat hangs over nails while GW hammers them in. They finish the work just in time. The wind of darkness roars and moans just as their hammer in the last nail.
They sigh almost in unison. Thus starts their long night together.