Ten years later...

Marion hated surfing through garbage. But it was a part of his regular morning chores so he had no choice.

"Not a single edible!" he grumbled under his breath, tossing away a rusty soda can with questionable murk and ants swarming inside. 

He wiped his oily, brown face against the worn-out gray jacket. Sweat trickled down his bony throat and disappeared into the already drenched, murky green polo.

Marion's jean-clad knees flattened against the rough concrete as he buried his arms deeper into the sea of waste. His nimble fingers were wiggling through broken devices, mostly discarded by roboxes—humanoid robots—when something beeped against his knuckles. 

With a hitched breath, Marion snapped his head up from the garbage drum and looked around. 

his cold gray eyes swiftly swept the narrow, dark alley. The glowing sun above could barely slide through the tall, tilted skyscrapers around him. His heart didn't stop drumming against his chest even when he saw no one. 

He looked down at the still beeping, glowing red square-shaped device buried beneath hundreds of insect-crawling wastes.

And a still intact cheese pack.

Marion's gray eyes gleamed brighter as he snatched both the good and the screeching device before making a dash.

While running, he was poking and prodding at the other buttonless object. 

Only a thumbprint-size red bulb was announcing its presence to the greedy world. 

Marion cursed under his breath and fumbled with it until he found its sound output. 

He slid the device and the cheese pack under his shirt and pressed them against his otherwise flat stomach. To muffle the sound further, Marion wrapped his thin jacket tight over his belly and pressed his arms over.

He was already at the edge of the dark alleyway. The dull ray of the sun was now glaring at the open, deserted highway ahead of him. 

Marion squinted his eyes at the light as he pressed his body against the cracked plaster of an old building. His device still vibrated against his stomach.

Marion gulped, clenching his arms tighter around his thin body before peeking out into the open.

Dusty air, wrecked cars, broken storefronts, and upturned lamp-posts greeted his vision. Last month's chaos was still fresh in his mind. 

If he strained enough, he could even hear the distant shots of endless gunfire, sick crackles of laser beams, and people's screams echoing back. All the while he was hiding in his makeshift bed of cart boxes under the sewerage line. 

Marion flinched at the noise of tire whirling and pulled his head back to rest against the wall. His heart drummed faster as several clicks of machinery screamed loud in the empty streets.

Bloody robox!

Marion glared down at his protruded stomach, still flashing and beeping. 

If those man-killing buggers somehow sniffed me out because of this… 

Marion did not get the chance to think before he noticed the noise of wheels where coming right toward him.

His heart missed a beat and Marion looked around in search of a quick cover.

But this barren alley had nothing but plain high walls for him. If he chose to run then the nearest end was almost two minutes distance with his human feet and broad daylight.

Nope. Not possible.

The clicks of those roboxes grew closer. Almost right behind Marion's building.

His faithless heart called upon whatever God he believed was out there for one last time. 

And ran.

He ran with all his might, counting his breath, feeling the fake sensation of laser piercing through his thin body.

Will it hurt badly?

Marion's breath didn't hitch when he heard those clicks paused and crackles of weapons tried to seize his wildly shivering body.

A hot rush of wind brushed through his body as Marion pushed his legs the hardest. For each breath, he awaited the prickling hot pain to burn his back.

Hot needles did prickle his sweaty back soon. Although, they didn't tear through his human existence yet. But it was just a matter of time.

Marion closed his eyes shut. His hands clasped the pack of that still intact cheese, which must have had its date expired. 

But who cared?

Certainly not a soon-to-be hungry dead. No.

Maybe death wouldn't be so bad…

Just when Marion was ready for his doom, just when he was close to his eternal freedom, a yelp caught in his throat the moment his footing slipped.

And he felt a sudden rush of gravity pulling him down into a deep, dark rabbit hole. 

Or a manhole, to be precise.

Marion screamed the loudest while falling. His eyes bulged out, sheer terror frozen in them. But not because he was waiting to meet the murky water with the wet concrete. No. It was those thousands of horizontal red rain that was flashing above the round, open manhole like fireworks. 

Damn! They could've fried me!

Marion groaned the moment he hit the ground and the smelly water splashed around him.

Breath escaped his lungs as a searing pain traveled through his body due to such a hard fall.

But he had to move. Fast.

The danger wasn't over yet. Those roboxes could come at any second.

With that thought in mind, Marion gritted his teeth and pushed his body to turn around despite the intense agony.

He spat out stray gulps of dirty liquid that washed over his body and used his remaining strength to sit up with a groan.

Wheels whirled over his head and were coming closer to the mouth of the manhole.

Marion took a glance at the open sky through that round opening before standing up. 

His legs spasmed making him almost fall down to the smelly water but Marion gritted his teeth and pushed his aching body to move forward.

Marion fast-limped toward the first intersection of this long tunnel. The left turn would lead to his home and the right side would take him to the location near Central Park in New York.

But leading those vulture roboxes to his home would mean running to the corner and risking his exposure. Marion couldn't afford that. So, he chose the right side of the tunnel to distract the still-echoing whirls of wheels away from his hideout.

Without wasting another second, Marion took a dash toward the right. He was halfway through the tunnel when the rattling wheels stopped and the water splashed countless times. It was as if some heavy rocks were dropping into the water one by one. 

Marion's heart jumped as he took a turn around. Sharp wheels cut through the sloshing water just a couple of meters behind him. 

An alcove. An alleyway. A swamp. Anything. Any of those things could increase the chance of his survival but nothing was in his site.

What a fucker's luck!

Marion curled his lips into a sneer and turned to another corner. The overwhelming smell of rotten rats and the sick sweet odor of damp garbage made him spit at the nearest wall in distaste.

The wheels behind him seemed to be following his trail as they ate up the distance between him and themselves fast. 

Marion could only push his thin, injured leg for so long. He was on the verge of giving up again when he spotted another open mouth of manhole ahead. Central Park should be a few alleyways away from there. 

If only I can go there…

A grin stretched across his lips as Marion could taste the freedom. The freedom of his survival. The freedom from the clutches of those man-killing beasts.

The wild horror of the savage massacre was still fresh in his mind.

Marion shook his head and grabbed the metal ladder from the side wall. 

He had collected many ladders like that to make quick work of going in and out of these sewer tunnels—never knowing they could help save his life one day like this.

Those metal wheels were racing just a corner or so behind Marion as he quickly placed the long ladder against the gaping mouth. Warm blue sky beckoned him above.

His legs screamed the moment he pulled his body up. But Marion forcefully gulped the pain down and raised his sodden sneakers to step on the ladder.

"One. Two. Three. Four-"

Marion's hoarse, deep voice halted the second he heard those machine wheels stop at the mouth of his tunnel.

His limbs froze in sheer terror as hundreds of warm red beams blinded his vision.

This was it. The last moments of the last surviving human on this cursed earth.

Marion flinched when those machines clicked to shoot. His cheese and that cursed device dropped on the running water with a splash.

Marion heard that stupid, incessant beep again that somehow wasn't there since he dropped into the tunnel. Now, it was crying louder.

Why was he carrying that wretched thing for so long anyway? Without that wailing, they couldn't have spotted him in the first place.

Marion scrunched his face, readying himself for death the second time in the morning.

But no sharp pain stabbed him. Nothing pierced through him as he expected. His heart missed beats twice when the warmth of those laser rays vanished from his skin.

Marion gulped and dared to open his eyes. And his soul dried.

Seven. Seven humongous beasts were standing away from him.

Almost eight feet tall human structure. Bulky metal plates with a glossy coat so shiny even these shabby walls of the sewerage were blessed to gleam in their light. 

But their arms had lengthy, high-tech guns instead of fingers. Wheels replaced their feet from the heels. Bald skulls were connected to a 360-degree spinner for their necks. Lifeless beady eyes were like sparkling rubies and right now, they were frozen on that beeping device.

Marion forgot to breathe as the air around him paused for a dreadful second. 

A thick lump formed in his throat but he couldn't gulp. Not when his whole life was hanging by a measly thin thread.

Marion didn't even get to yelp when a slick metal wire slithered out of one of the barrels and snaked around his right heel. 

With a swift yank, Marion's world tilted off its axis and he screamed. Louder and harder. For one last time.

Before the water full of debris welcomed him again with a spiky sharp pain.

Marion's droopy gray eyes swirled as they watched hard metal feet thud forward. And soon enough, they crushed the drenched pack of cheese.

His pack of cheese…