Chapter 13 #2
Setting it aside, she leaned down to look at another book.
This one had a larger, thinner cover, with an image of a car in full repair.
Glancing through the pages, she saw dozens more cars in more colors and shapes than she’d thought possible.
They were sleek, shiny, and vibrant. The only cars she’d seen with her own eyes were the rusted-out remains scattered around the ruins, parts of which had been used to build some of the dwellings back home.
It was hard to believe that they’d once looked like the cars in this book.
Her attention shifted to the case of shelves beside the window. It was like the one in her shack, though this was larger and filled with jars instead of trinkets. Moving to it, she lifted one of the jars, using her fingers to wipe away the dust and cobwebs before brushing her hand on her skirt.
Lara scrunched her nose. “And I just washed my clothes, too.”
The jar was heavy, and something dark sloshed inside, but the dirt caked on the glass was too thick to see through.
Gripping the lid, she twisted her hand. The metal ring resisted for a moment before the rust gave way.
The metal plate beneath proved more difficult.
She pressed her fingers on its edge, wincing as she pried at it.
Finally, it came free, opening with a pop.
The foulest odor Lara had ever smelled hit her directly in the face. Gagging, she nearly dropped the jar, extending her arm to keep it as far away as possible. She glanced at the unidentifiable black sludge inside through slitted, tear-filled eyes.
“Ugh!” Slapping the seal back on top, she quickly screwed the ring on and returned the jar to its place. “What was that?”
She reached up to wipe her face, but stopped when she caught another whiff of the smell on her fingers. Nose crinkling, she rubbed her hands roughly on her skirt.
“Yeah. Gonna need to wash these again.”
Strange how her attitude had changed overnight.
She’d rarely washed her clothes before. Not only was it a waste of precious water, but it only made the garments wear out faster, and she knew they’d get filthy the next day anyway after hours in the heat and dirt.
But feeling soft cloth against clean skin…
it was going to be difficult to let that go. She’d have to enjoy it while she could.
It was only a matter of time before Ronin lost interest in her.
Despite the dust and heat, this room looked comfortable.
She was sure it was far from perfect by Ronin’s standards, but it had a certain quality that appealed to her, like it had been lived in.
It reminded her of her little shack. Long enough up here, and she might forget she was in the bot district at all.
Walking to the window, she used the end of her skirt to wipe the thick grime from the glass. The grassy field stretched out below, and from this height, the pond near its center was visible.
Was this how humans used to live? In quiet, peaceful comfort?
As Lara turned, her foot bumped into something. She glanced down at a pile of tattered blankets. Crouching, she lifted them up. The top blanket crumbled to fibers at her touch. She tossed the bunch aside, revealing an assortment of items that had been hidden beneath.
Clothing, which looked just as ratty as the blankets, lay folded over a few more books.
But it was the strange device with a wire trailing off it that caught her attention first. It was thin, rectangular, small enough to fit comfortably in her hand, and had a few buttons on the front and sides.
Its glass face was cracked. The wire split after about two feet, ending in a pair of small, strangely shaped buds.
Placing it atop the blankets, she looked through the books. The top few were thin and flimsy, like the one with the car pictures, and she nearly dropped the third when she opened it.
Her brows rose high. “Oh.”
She’d turned to a page spanned by a photo of a naked woman who held her large breasts in both hands. Many of the pages displayed similar images—women in explicit poses, unclothed with their legs spread wide, baring their pussies and touching themselves.
They reminded her of the synths at Kitty’s.
Their bodies were full and lush, their skin flawless, not a hair out of place…
and most without hair on their pussies. Some of them had unnaturally large breasts, bigger, rounder, and firmer than any Lara had seen.
They had splashes of color around their eyes and on their lips, deep reds and pinks, shades of blue, green, purple, and black.
With their perfect figures and faces, she would have thought they were bots, but no.
They all had belly buttons. Crazy as it seemed, they were human.
She set it aside.
The book at the bottom of the stack was different from the others. Though it wasn’t as wide, it was thicker, bound in old leather. She opened it and carefully looked through the pages.
This one had been written by hand. Somehow, that made it more special. She’d never met anyone who could read, much less write, so it seemed an impossible skill. Though she couldn’t understand the words, for a moment she felt closer to the past than ever before.
In the middle of the book, she found a few loose photos. The same people were present in all of them—a man, a woman, and two children.
Had they lived in this house, stayed in this room?
She glanced at the clothing, which all seemed to be sized for a man, at the blankets, the jars on the shelf, the single chair. It had likely only been one person here.
Replacing the pictures, she went to the table and gently laid the leatherbound book atop it. Her eyes fell on the stacked bins. What other little treasures were hidden here?