Day One: Early Morning

[Android 17]

Here it goes again… The thoughts reverberated in the back of the android’s turbulent mind as he waded his way through the thick shrubbery. For the last hour or so, he had waited for this very moment, and now here he was, once more shackled and tethered to voracious monster that was the Abyss. This time, however, Seventeen welcomed the event…after all, the opportunity to do whatever he wanted to rarely arose now a days.

With two whining children and a demigod for a girlfriend, the machine-hybrid had felt his fare share of pressure and stress these last twelve months. But for the next few days, he had been given a reprieve from the endless crying of the twins and the needy nature of Paige. For once, Seventeen was free to do as he pleased when he pleased and nothing short of a gruesome death was going to rob him of his freedom.

As the bushes and trees began to slowly thin, the faces of the android’s recent associates began to flash through his mind. His stint at the barracks, which had been designed to give him some naptime before the contest, had turned into some large, impromptu meeting place for a bunch of people he hadn’t seen in months. On top of that, there had been several strangers that had swarmed the android’s cot, and although he knew their names, Seventeen couldn’t help but view the jovial strangers with a grain of salt.

They’re just obstacles. The voice mused, eliciting a faint smile from the machine-hybrid as he emerged from the treeline and into the city that lay beyond the dense veil of greens and browns. The synthetic city was one of his favorite constants throughout the contests because it housed such a lovely plethora of knickknacks left behind by the Syntech Corporation employees behind the design of the island.

“Neat,” Seventeen mumbled as he approached a small convenience store adjacent to the main street of the city. Grinning as he trudged across the pavement, the android reached the small building and slid in through the front door, which had been left unlocked. Like a child in a candy store, the machine-hybrid purused the isles—shoveling anything that caught his eye into the duffel bag that housed his initial rations and his weapon.

Let’s not get started on that one… Seventeen thought, a frown spreading across his face as he caught a glimpse of the archaic device that the gracious producers had granted to him for the sake of murdering his opposition. But this will have to do. He mused as he buried the wooden tool beneath a few cans of Mountain Dew. With a faint scowl on his face, Seventeen walked up to the front counter and peered at the locked case behind the cash register.

“I’ll take some of those,” he snickered as he hopped over the wooden counter and smashed open the glass doors with the heel of his boot. With a snicker, the machine-hybrid scooped up a few packs of cigarettes and shoveled them into his duffel. Before making his exodus from the store, he snatched a fifth of Jose Cuervo and a Zippo lighter. “I think I’m properly outfitted,” Seventeen spoke aloud, reaching into his pocket for a handful of coins.

With a laugh, the cyborg tossed the pieces of metal onto the countertop and made his way out through the front door of the convenience store. Once he was back on the street, the android let out a sigh and leaned up against the wooden façade of the store. For a few moments, he simply gazed up at the clouds in the sky—wondering how many others were looking at the same thing.

Probably just a bunch of people whining and moping about how they’re out here… The voice snickered, prompting a coy grin to spread across the android’s ghost white visage. It is people like them that constitute the prey, my dear friend. People like them that must be purged to clear our path from perdition. As Seventeen’s thoughts ran rampant, he fished into the duffel bag and liberated one of the packs of cigarettes.

“This is going to be fun,” the machine-hybrid spoke to no one in particular as he fumbled with the cardboard package.

To say the least, my friend. His thoughts replied as he popped one of the cigarettes into his mouth and produced his Zippo from the pocket of his pants. With a flick of the wheel, he cupped a hand around the lighter and held it up to the white end of the cigarette. Now stop standing around and go relish in the freedom that is your captivity upon this lovely little island. A smug grin spread across the android’s face as he took a drag on the cigarette. Exhaling, he leaned over and plucked his duffel bag of off the ground.

“Let’s paint the town red,” Seventeen snickered, punctuating the remark with another puff on his cigarette.