"Get away!"

Rena fell down—forehead first—onto the floor and groaned in anguish. Blearily, she squinted her eyes to make sense of where she was.

I'm on the Savior, she reminded herself. I'm home. I'm safe.

Wiping the sweat off her brow, she stood up, already used to the turbulence of the plane. It was just a dream, she said. The Bots won't come anymore. I'm on the Savior. I'm safe.

Easily meandering through her tiny room, she knew where everything was; after all, she didn't have many possessions, not since her whole life was crumpled up and thrown away like a wad of tissue.

Tiptoeing, she turned on the lightbulb hanging in the middle of her room. Sid tried his best to make his guests comfy. He decorated each room simply: a small bed on the left, a large round window, one wooden closet with brass knobs on the right, and a shelf above the closet. The furniture was meant for personal belongings, but everyone had all lost everything.

This is home, Rena sighed, breathing in the musky wood smell. After easing her pumping heart, she opened her wooden door and set out to find someone, anyone to talk to.

Straight down the hallway. Take a left then a sharp right. Up the wooden staircase. Careful, don't creak too loudly; or Grumpy Gary who sleeps right beside the stairs would get, well, grumpy. Make a right then another right.

Rena knew her way now, after living on the Savior for a whole year. Her first few days, she accidentally stepped too loudly on the stairs—she learned to never pester Grumpy Gary again. She expertly climbed the stairs now. The trick was to step with the tip of your toes on the left side of the stairs.

She stopped. Why is it so quiet? Now that she thought about it, she hadn't heard a single peep, creak, whisper, or burp from her enormous family of two thousand. Warily, Rena entered the Common Room. She reached to flip the light on—

"Surprise!"

Rena blinked. All of a sudden, a horde of people stood in front of her, holding out colorful banners and a white-and-black cake.

"What's going on here?" Rena cried out, confused and blinded from the sudden lights and chaos.

Walking to the front of the crowd, a tall man squatted down to place his shoulders on the tiny girl. "Happy one year on the Savior!"

"So, this is like, a birthday?" Rena stills felt confused.

"Yes!" The Survivors cheered out, throwing curly confetti into the air.

Tears formed. A smile appeared on Rena's face. Her heart felt settled, calmed. "I'm home," she smiled. "This is my home." The Common Room fell silent. "This is our home," Rena continued. "And all of you are my family—"

"Speech, speech, speech!"

Everyone whipped around to find a young man dressed completely in bright purple awkwardly setting his arm down and muttering, "Sorry...I got excited."

Wiping her tears, Rena beamed. "Alright. Let's eat some cake!"

"Woohoo!" The purple man cheered and waved his arms in the air again as someone turned on the speakers and boomed music that shook the entire hovercraft.

Standing in the corner, trying not to smash her face in the delicious Oreo cake, Rena looked at her family, at the survivors of this world.

They were strong, mighty, happy. They had gone through the bloodiest apocalypse in the universe. They will not surrender; they will not bow down to Elyon.

We are strong, thought Rena. We are the Survivors.

Shaking off her ponytail, Rena jumped into the mass of moving people. Forgetting her fears and her nightmares, Rena danced with the people like her, the survivors like her.

Giggling groggily, Rena turned around on her makeshift bed of leaves and twigs—

"Oomph!"

Her face flat on the coarse ground, Rena awoke to see her family sleeping in their own makeshift beds, far away from her and holding themselves tightly to stop their bodies from shaking in fear and worry and despair.

She wished she could comfort them, tell them that everything would be alright.

A woman rolled over and caught eyes with Rena. The woman quickly turned back around, a burst of anger, disgust, and hatred in her eyes.

Rena sat up. She didn't understand. This was her family, yet they scorned her. This was the only family she knew. What could she do to become a part of her family again?

Forget about the Bot. Forget about the way his eyes faltered with human fear.

Rena stood up and left her family behind as she trampled through the forest.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'*ﾟ▽ﾟ*'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*
How was the flashback? Please feel free to give any suggestions (nice ones though, please!).
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