Harold was in the garage of his workplace. No one else was there, and the lights were dim. He felt scared, approaching the back room. That's where they were kept. He remembered a time when they weren't frightening. He remembered a time when he was master over them. Now they hunted him. He was scared, and yet he could not run away, could not scream, as he stepped ever closer to the back room. The hisses and whines of hydraulics and pistons greeted his ears, and he had no way of defending himself. The machines would have him.
Harold woke, gasping loudly. It took a moment for him to shake off the nightmare. He looked around him. Everyone else was still asleep, and the campfire had died hours ago. He sat up, and closed his eyes, steeling himself for the day ahead. It was the crack of dawn, and a thin grey light swept between the branches of the evergreen trees. As far as he could recall, the group was rather far from any city. He didn't have much of a sense of direction, but then again, he never did any of the navigating. He wanted to light the fire for breakfast, but it was unlikely he'd get a decent flame going. He decided against it, and instead decided to simply gather up some wood. That was something he could do half-decently at any rate. Dry sticks, he reminded himself. Tiff would chew him out if he got it wrong again. The buffalo went off, out of the clearing and into the woods.
Most of the group had gotten together at the last outpost. It was a hell of a find, really, and a great place for people to gather. It had been a relatively large government installation, which had a significant underground portion. They had generators, food, guns, and most importantly, it was isolated. Harold never knew what the place had once been, and he wasn't too interested. Him and Tiffany had wound up there after wandering for nearly a month alone. It was like heaven compared to many other outposts he'd seen. Thanks to their individual skill sets, they were able to acquire some supplies, and some people to travel with. This new merry band of travelers went south from there, and now they were traveling through some dense forest. It would be highly unlikely that they'd encounter any AI here.
