Rena peeked from behind the flower bush.

She couldn't sleep. After all, what was the point of sleeping after crash-landing on an island and being strangled by a Bot?

The coast was clear. She stuck her foot through the bushes—

Crackle.

She ducked.

"What was that?"

"I don't know. Probably just a rabbit," replied a low voice.

Peeking through the bushes, Rena could see the glowing tent and the shadowy figures inside. After rummaging through the broken Savior plane, Sid found little green pouches and announced another hidden feature he stuck on the plane. Pulling on the cords, mansion-sized tents rose like mountains—tents for the wounded, for the sick, for the toddlers and mothers, for the lame and old, and for the council meeting.

Rena knew she should go back to the campsite. She knew she should just let the Bot die—but she couldn't. She wouldn't.

She was so close, just ten bunny-hops away from the tent. But first, she had to get through the two guards, who stood as silhouettes in the dim lights that shrugged their broad shoulders in the darkness and hefted their heavy rifles over their shoulder.

She could vaguely see the tousled hair of one soldier that melded with the dark and the faint tinge of orange hair of the other man illuminated by the tent. If she could just get closer, Rena could almost see the bat of long eyelashes and the small spray of saliva as the man chatted quietly.

"Maybe Big Foot is here," said the low voice.

"Big Foot?" The orange hair jostled.

"Haven't you heard the story?"

The other man shrugged again. "No."

"Well, people always have stupid myths and stories to scare people; but I believe this one is true."

The man leaned in towards his friend. So did Rena.

"It was on the day of the Grey. People remember seeing blood falling from the sky, but they also remember an enormous creature of grey. With spikes like a porcupine, the creature rammed into buildings, spitting stone and glass. With eyes as blue as flames, it froze its victims with its vicious stare. For many centuries, people had always called the creature Big Foot because of its large mysterious footprints left in the woods. But, really, it was its hands."

"Then why not call it Big Hand?" The other man interrupted.

Rena stifled her laughter.

"Really? Big Hand?"

"Sorry. Please continue."

"Anyways. This creature was a pet of Elyon's to murder—half machine half animal. People say that he used to ride on it, monitoring his city and his people. But the creature was still animal; and one day, it broke loose." Rena saw the dark-haired head bob slightly.

"Oh, no!" The friend whimpered, subconsciously gripping his rifle tighter, sending a small fountain of saliva into the musty air.

"Oh, yes. Big Foot had enough of Elyon! In the middle of the night, it rammed its hand against the Vines so hard that it is said a whale could walk through it. The creature dodged bullets with its light-speed, sent its own spikes right through soldiers, and even stomped on the innocent. And just like that, Big Foot vanished. Some say it continues to prowl the lands and leave its hairy handprint—"

"Yeaarrghhh!"

A bullet shot rang in the air. Rena jumped through the branches, so did the figures inside the tent.

"Woah, dude! Calm down!" The man with the low voice tried to catch his breath. "It was just a joke...and I caught you! Ahahaha!"

Squinting, Rena could see he was holding a gigantic hairy glove. Boys, she thought, rolling her eyes. All she needed to do now was squeeze through the bushes while the guards were occupied (one doubling over, and the other wiping away tears of fright). One foot through, then the next—

"What's going on here?"

Damn it! Each foot on either side of the bush, Rena crouched, her face and feet and hands scratched by the thorns.

"S-sir!" The two muttered out.

"Did you see an intruder?" The commanding voice asked. Only one person had that voice.

"Sorry, Sid. We w-were just having...fun," the prankster admitted awkwardly.

The taller figure patted the dark-haired man. "It's okay, Mark. It is good that you can still have fun on such a gloomy day, but it is bad that you almost caused another panic wave for the day."

"We're very sorry, sir!"

"It's alright." Rena could almost feel him smiling his fatherly smile at them. "Now, you two can keep having fun but be sure to lookout for any more Bots; and no more shooting."

With that, he flung the flap of the tent open; and Rena stretched her neck to see a glimpse of the large circle of councilors inside. She needed to know what they were discussing.

Wasting no more time, she pushed herself through, tumbling onto the grass.

"Are you trying to scare me again, Mark?" The still-shaking man challenged. "Stop it!"

"I didn't do anything!" Mark replied. "Or did I?"

Lightly trekking on her old sneakers, she sneaked past the two men who were supposed to be guarding the tent.

"You apologized to Sid; you should apologize to me, too!"

"Ahaha, s-sorry!" A pause. "No, not really. I'm not sorry!"

Tiptoeing to the left-end corner of the tent, far away from the two bickering fools, Rena shied away from the light to keep her shadow from entering the tent and struggled to hear the council meeting inside.

"...must kill him. That is our only option!"

"Why must we resort to killing?" Rena instantly recognised Sid's gravelly voice. "Why must we kill?"

"Because that monster almost killed us, if you happened to forget! Because that monster crash-landed us here in the middle of the Garden of Eden!" A loud shrilly voice replied.

Fear. The taste of it left a bitter taste on Rena's tongue.

Through the thumb-sized hole in the canvas, Rena could see Sid sitting on the edge of his chair, fists clenched. When Sid established the Savior and when more people were becoming rescued, Sid knew that he needed a team, a ring of people who would help him develop the new community of survivors and the new home. Consisting of twenty-eight people, the Ring congregated, sitting in a large circle.

Sid was losing his temper. That wasn't good. "Johnny, I know very well that we are stuck right within Elyon's grasp, which is why I suggest that we quickly evacuate the area before sunrise."

"But we have a bigger problem now," interjected a timid but strong voice. "We cannot take the Bot with us. It will endanger everyone."

Sid leaned forward. "Paul... You too?"

Rena struggled to stick her eye through the hole, and she saw a tall, familiar man with ink-black hair, dark eyes, and a tight smile.

As the right-hand man, Paul held everyone's attention. "I believe that the Bot should be killed. After the unfortunate events today, I feel that people would feel much safer with it gone." He looked directly at Sid. "I agree with you that the machine could hold some valuable information; but other than that, it holds no value. It is a killer."

Breathing heavily, Paul quickly wiped a tear down his cheek. Everyone quickly looked away. Everyone knew the story—the blood, the bodies, the murder of Paul's wife and unborn baby. Everyone bore their own scars; everyone had their own nightmares from that day. All because of Elyon and his Bots.

"Alright," muttered Sid, combing his thinning brown hair with his long fingers. "Let's kill it."

"No!" Rena whisper-cried out, tripping on a string.

"What was that?"

"Probably Big Foot again. Ahaha!"

She told Sid, told him that the Bot could be human. He didn't listen to her. Nobody listened to her.

"What about the girl?" Paul asked.

"I'll talk to her," offered Sid. "In fact, I'll do that right now." He stood up, the plastic chair scraping the canvas floor. "Paul, you know what to do with the Bot."

With a nod, the Ring was dismissed. And Rena panicked. She backed away from the tent. They're gonna kill the Bot, they're gonna kill him!

One by one, people filed out of the tent and headed back to the campsite—Sid led the way back while Paul and three others headed the other direction. Rena crouched behind the tent.

You only get one choice in life. One. And each choice you make, you head a different path.

One day, Rena would look back on this day, on this moment, and wonder what would've happened if she made the right choice.

But on that day, on that moment, she didn't care; and she ran through the bushes and into the darkness, following the four figures.

Well, what do you guys think? Feel free to leave any comments; I would love to hear from you guys! This is the first time a story has really called to me to write, so I am very very excited to be writing this and having so much support already! It is also my first time seeing any of my stories have a ranking!!

Anyways, sorry for rambling a little :) Thank you for reading this far, and please don't forget to leave a vote and a comment and even follow me!