Children and Schemes

James ordered the wickerman to continue its path towards the stadium, not forgetting to order the scouts to design the stadium that looked like his creations were living there. James glanced behind him and noticed a convoy and soldiers silently following behind them while the prisoner was steadily walking right behind him with fervour in his eyes. 'His gaze reminds me of a fanatic believer.' He thought before sensing something had happened in the main pool. Quickly cutting off his connection with the wickerman and focused all of his attention to the main pool. What greeted him, once his consciousness returned to it, was the Tankers and Siege beast growling or roaring aggressively towards three humans. 'What are children doing here?' James thought once he got a good look at them. 

The children were thin, too thin that it showed off their ribs even through their clothing. Respectively from oldest to youngest, the boy that was no older than 13 stood protectively in front of the others while a fire burned in his sky blue eyes and his expression determined to do everything in his power to protect them. His frosted black hair swayed in the wind and audibly growled out. The second was a young auburn hair that reached her shoulder blade, her eyes here also blue but more on the darker shade. She hugged a baby and tucked them closer to her chest while fearfully watching his creations. She had some fat on her body, but it was only a step away from malnourishment. 'Stand down and send a drone to find some fruits.' James never had children in his life, but he had a nephew that he had treated as his own child after the loss of his nephew's parents. 

If he ignored them, then he would feel guilty and knew that his mind would nag at him to no end about the reason why he ignored children that were starving, possibly even injured or sick. The Tankers and Siege beast stood down before a drone came down on a tanker and it rushed into the tree line. The girl was surprised by the drones speed and let out a strangled cry while tears poured endlessly out of her eyes. The boy on the other hand picked up a stick with its end sharpened. "GET AWAY FROM US YOU MONSTERS!!!" The boy yelled loudly, waking the baby in the girl's arms and started to whimper before it went into full blown wail.

James flinched and subconsciously sent out an order without knowing and watched as another drone got down from another tanker and quickly rushed towards the children's side. The boy was exceptional and followed the drones movement with sharp narrowed eyes. The moment the drone was beside them towards their right, he precisely thrusted the makeshift spear in his hand and managed to stab the drone in its right arm and caused the drone to jump back. The boy moved forward to stab it again which proved to be the wrong move since the drone used its tails to enhance its jump to pass over the boy and landed right in front of the girl. the drone growled softly before it reached its claws towards the baby. "NO!!!" The boy shouted and tried to turn around but the drone lashed out one of its tails towards him. 

He closed his eyes, ready for the impact and pain after, but nothing came other than something wrapped around his waist, locking his arms to his side and dropping the makeshift spear to the ground. The drone raised him to the air and grabbed the baby from the girl, who tried to hold the baby as long as she could. The baby kept on wailing and they wriggled causing the girl to lose her hold before she fell down to the ground while the drone held the baby and adjusted the position it held the newborn. Meanwhile, the boy struggled and kept shouting curses before he spat at the drone trying to get its attention. James willed a connection to the drone and once he had entered its body, he adjusted the baby's position into a more comfortable position and gently swung side to side, softly humming that caused vibrations that quickly silenced the babe before it cooed a few seconds and silently slept once more. James glanced towards the boy and noted that he was blankly staring at the drone he controlled before he brought him down to the ground and unwrapped the drone's tail.

He turned and gazed into the girl's eyes that was as wide as saucers and reached his left hand towards her before gently grabbing her waist, and aided her in standing up. The bushes shook and branches snapped before the drone, which left earlier to find fruits or anything that was edible, walked out gently. It stood upright and held fruits and vegetables, close to its chest. Once it reached James and the children, it dropped down to one knee and offered fruits towards the two children using the tips of their tails. The older children were confused at first but after James nudged their arm and gained their attention. He nodded his head towards the fruit while he took care of the baby. 'I guess I have to find non-expired baby food.' James thought before he sent out an order to a drone in Wickerman-1's group to go look.

After a while, the boy gathered the courage and gently took one of the fruits from the drone before tentatively taking a small bite and chewing slowly. Even without a moment, once the boy was sure they weren't gonna be attacked. The apple he held was quickly devoured like a starving rabbit before he took another apple and an orange, giving it towards the girl. The girl, with no hesitation, followed suit with the boy and devoured the apple little by little. 'This one is starving.' James observed the baby in the drones arms and noted to himself how sickly they were and how its rib cage was showing with its too pale skin. The baby was malnourished for who knows how long and even then, James was surprised at how it had the energy to cry so loud. 'Maybe…I should take care of them.' James thought passingly before another thought invaded his mind. 'Can I even watch over them? How can I take care of them even when I am no longer human myself?' James doubted himself. No, he knew to himself that he would not be able to take care of these kids himself and knew that if he made them leave this place that it would be a death sentence. 

The baby sensed the turmoil in the drone that carried it and weakly opened its eyes to show the baby blue colour before it reached its thin arms and placed it on the drone's cheek or what can be considered cheek, seeing as it was the left side of its jaw. James was taken out of his thoughts from the sudden contact and gazed more clearly towards the infant and mentally smiled. His emotion transferred to all of his creations making them growls softly or purr while the swarmers that had bodies moaned softly and the bodies lips curved slightly showing a small smile. 

The bushes suddenly rustled and the tankers turned their bodies to face the rustling bushes in the left side of the pool, meaning to the right side of James and the childrens location. The drone that James was controlling growled hostile and gazed towards the bushes the Tankers were looking at, withs its spinal tails all raised and prepared for combat. James sent an order and the drone that was giving the two children fruits dropped what's left to the ground and wrapped the two from their waist while taking the infant to its arms before it sprinted towards the vicinity of the pool and hid beneath a siege beast beside a tanker on the other side. 

James made the drone stand up to its two hind legs before it lifted its arms to the side and made the tentacles wrap its arms into short swords. 'This familiar scent…It's a member of the wolf pack.' James thought before narrowing his eyes mentally. He walked a few steps forwards and stood in front of three tankers that were closer to this side of the pool and slightly hunched its back to prepare for combat. Then from the rustling bushes, a wolf that had at least half the height of the tree beside it. It silently watched James and the tankers before it looked to the pool, it huffed silently before it trudged forward slowly. From the slightly clenched jaw, James noticed that it had something stuck in its mouth and from what was peeking out from its mouth, it looked like a bag was dangling from one of its fangs. 

As the wolf got closer and closer, only then did James finally notice what was in its mouth. It was a human hand dripping blood, that hand was gripping tightly to the bag that swayed forward and back. Once the wolf stood in front of the drone James was controlling , it bowed its head and spat out a teenager.

A teenager that was covered in saliva.

A teenager that was bleeding from their shoulder.

A teenager who was ALIVE and BREATHING.

James was taken by surprise that he did not register the drone shifting one of the swords back to its clawed shape and silently reached a tentacle to the teenager's neck. The tentacle stopped a little and a weak but steady pulse was sent back towards James, who broke out of his previous state and unhesitatingly wrapped the teenager from their waist with the drone's tail and quickly brought them to the drone he controlled. He let the drones claw and hooked the teens shirt and ripped the shirt's shoulder to look at the wound a lot closer. Contrary to his expectation, the wound did not look like a bite from any of the mutated animals he knows of in the forest, but the wound was more like a puncture from a weapon. The teens breathing was ragged and from how the wound was bleeding it looked very recent. 'The wolf king must've ordered it to give the teen to me.' James thought before he lifted the teen a little towards their side, to see if the wound went through their back. Once James managed to look at their back, other than being covered in blood and dirt, whatever weapon wounded them did not pierce all the way through. "BIG BROTHER!!!" A shout suddenly spooked the wolf and made it crouch a little growling. On the other hand, James looked towards the children's location and saw the girl, who was 9 years old, escape the grasp of the drone and ran towards this side of the pool. 'They may be family,' James silently looked back towards the wolf that put down its guard once it noticed the voice came from a girl and stood up again. 'You can go back now.' James wordlessly thought before he made the drone huff and made a shooing gesture towards the wolf, who understood it and turned its body around and before sprinting away into the bushes once more.

Once the girl was close, only then did James slowly lay the teen back to their previous position and began to use the cloth of the shirt that was hooked on the drones claw to wipe the wound away of blood and saliva as best he could. 'Drone-245, seperate from the group and find me anything that can be used for bandaging! Drone-599, join Drone-245 and seperate to go look for any kind of medicine as many as you can carry,' James quickly made an order and sent it towards the specified drones in Wickerman-1's group. 'Get here as fast as you can!!!' 

Meanwhile, the Wickerman's group that was silently marching to the now nearing abandoned stadium, a little of a kilometre left, the order James sent made the group make way like a tide and two drones agily left the group towards the western side of the city. The sudden change of the group made Prisoner-1294 and the following convoy to stop in their tracks and watched in awe and wariness. Wickerman-1 glanced back at the prisoner before it made a grunt and looked forwards once again and continued to march with the group. 

After a few moments, he quickly jogged to catch up with the wickerman before stealing a glance behind him and saw the convoy was also beginning to follow them again. 'I wonder where they'll lead us too?' The man thought while he unknowingly walked side by side with the wickerman who silently began to observe him, it was curious about why its creator had let the man follow them and even more curious as to why its creator let them march towards the large arena it heard about. Then an idea struck it like a bolt of lightning and thought about the reason its creator sent them there was to see them battle in the arena. The Wickerman put its left hand to its waist and smugly huffed, thinking that it managed to decipher its creator's true meanings.

Back to James and the children, He suddenly had a chill on the back of his mind and felt that something was going to happen if he didn't intervene. 'I…don't have a body, how did I get a chill???' James wondered while he managed to grab the girl by her waist and distanced her a little bit from the wounded teen. He made a gesture that pointed out the teens' injury and made an X using the drone's tails before making a crying gesture using the drone's free hand. The girl, for all of the heavens' will, luckily understood what he was trying to say and sniffled a little while nodding. "Okay…Can-can you make big brother better again?" The girl asked teary-eyed while rubbing her eyes to keep her tears from dropping. James almost practically cooed and held himself back in vigorously nodding the drone's head. 

James made the drone turn around and tried to think of alternative ways in helping the poor teen if the drones he sent out didn't manage to find any of the needed medicine. 'Wait a minute…' James turned his gaze and stared into the black and viscous pool that slightly made waves from the weak winds that blew. 'I have a magnificent idea…But this'll probably be up to the teen's own willpower or even his soul to live through this.' James looked back to the girl and noticed that the drone holding the baby and the boy was right beside her while placatingly rubbing her back. The boy, meanwhile, had his fist balled up and clenched tightly while staring at their injured older sibling with faint traces of tears building up from his eyes. 'These children are too innocent, who knows what they have done to survive this long with a baby in tow.' James lemented at the fact that this apocalypse was truly a disaster that may take years for the children that survive to go back to normal and live how their life was supposed to be.

After waiting a few more minutes, the drones James sent haven't come and last he checked both of them were already split apart and scouring areas for the materials. James looked back at the teen and noticed his breathing becoming more ragged and breathless, his tan skin that had some small scars quickly paling and his arm twitching from time to time. 'This child probably hasn't much time left…' James narrowed his eyes before he resolutely thought of the most probable action that may let the teen survive. 'There are no other choices left, I have to throw him in.' James reached out the drone's claw towards the teen and grabbed him by his waist before lifting him up carefully, slowly walking towards the pool a little. He carefully and slowly lowered him down to the pool's surface before releasing his hold on him, making the pool slightly splash and bubble. 

The sudden drop of the teen into the pool terrified the children who watched. At first, they were curious as to why the leader monster was carrying their older brother and they didn't anticipate them to drop their only family left into a black pool. Before any of the children opened their mouths to let out a cry or shout, James disconnected himself on the drone before he entered the main pool and surprisingly saw the teen he dropped slowly drift to the bottom. 'Why is he shining like a star?' James wondered to himself and saw how he could sense something on the teens body, and like instinct that was slowly forgotten through time awakened. 

He felt himself move and his view quickly changed from watching the boy slowly drift down towards him, he was now a milimeter away from the teens injury before he felt the black liquid enter it with ease. Not even a minute after the liquid entered, he felt like he was connected to the teen but it was different from when he connected with his creations. This was more like a symbiotic relationship between them. Once he felt the liquid stop entering the teens body, through his wounds, James noticed that there was a tether that was glowing green. He saw the tether beaming out the back of his head, it drifted and waved from the movement of the pool. The tip faded like long copper wires being untwisted.

Then in a blink, a strange shockwave emanated from the pool's rocky ground. The wave pushed the boy's body upwards like he was in a lake floating up. 'Let's hope this works.' James silently prayed before he moved his vision on the pool's surface and after a moment passed, the boy was thrown out of the pool with so much force that it let out a shockwave of air. 'Catch him!' With James' command, a drone whipped out one of its tails and wrapped it around the boy's waist before dragging him back to land.

It gently set him down on the dirt, the wound that was on his shoulder was slowly regenerating new skin. The boy's previous pale complexion disappeared leaving light tan skin and some few faded scars. Checking his pulse once more, it was no longer weak pulses but strong steady and powerful pulses. The child's veins were visible on his tan skin and James noticed how they were visibly pulsating and slowly turning black before fading off. James observed for a little while before he felt a twitch in his consciousness that made him move his focus on the Wickerman's group. His vision blinked and slowly focused on the Wickerman's group. They were now in front of the stadium's entrance, the swarmers were the first to enter with the meat puppets shuffling behind them. The drones, on the other hand, stabbed their claws on the stadium walls and began to climb up while the wickermans formed a loose formation on the entrance and guarded the group while they entered. Wickerman-01 stopped in their tracks and looked backed towards the man that followed them. James watched as both of them stood frozen and stared at each other for a while, also not forgetting to note the convoy stopping about 7 metres behind the man. 

James wanted to gather information on any kind to where they came from, so he sent an order to the Wickerman to guide him in. The Wickerman raised its left arm before pointing at the man, Prisoner-1294 was confused before pointing at himself. "Me?" The Wickerman nodded its head before turning around a little and pointed towards the entrance. 

While the group was marching, when James sent out a forward group of drones to scout the area ahead towards the stadium, he gave an additional order to gather anything that can be used. The inside of the stadium was filled with debris and bones, with a few occasional infected crushed in. The drones cleaned up as bst it could and managed to clean up half of the debris and bodies on one side. On the field were 3 piles of what the drones found on the way. For example, the drones managed to gather an entire pile of wood and metals that can be made into tools, another pile was a random assortment of tools and two anvil's beside it. On the far end corner were 3 sets of white foldable tables, and a random assortment of piles up cans and a few non-perishable bread. James didn't question where they got these, and James did not plan to find out. After months of being here, James managed to give his creation some form of intelligence, those months James wished to forget completely. He still shudders on the thought of what he witnessed at that time. 

Prisoner-1294 gathered his emotions and took a breath before taking a step forward and continuing on, not daring to look back towards his previous captors. Once he reached the entrance of the stadium, He stopped right in front of it and glanced around the wickermans standing guard. He noticed the way they were glancing at him from time to time like they were prepared for anything. 'Even if you guys are wary of me, I can't do anything against you. But…' The Prisoner looked back towards the convoy. 'I guess those guys from New Gen are thinking up something," He narrowed his eyes a little before turning back to the entrance and continued to walk in. 'They must be lax enough to send in people while their against The Republic Government and The Akhians. ' 

"Sir, Orders?" The captain questioned through his radio and waited for an answer, not letting his eyes ;leave Prisoner-1294's back. A static sounded from his walkie and a clear female voice was transmitted out. "Let Professor Berk go, we'd focus on the tall one." The Captain looked to the tallest of the monsters, it was glaring right at them. "We'll send in someone who'll talk to it." 

The captain pressed his walkie once more. "Understood…" He responded to his hesitation and wariness before making a calming gesture towards his men. They put their weapons down before slowly backing up behind the trucks and humvees.