As the war raged above her head, the little girl sipped her soup. The dust that fell from the ceiling seasoned her meal. She would not risk her life on the outside for bread.

 

“On your left, your left!” cries from above.

 

Lasers. Screaming that wasn’t human. Screaming that was.

 

The girl sighed. It was going to be one of those Mondays. In her underground bunker, she had everything she could wish for: Safety. Sleep. A TV.

 

“Everything is fine. Wish your troubles away,” sang the brightly attired woman on the television, “Now enjoy eight hours of dancing be—”

 

The TV fizzled out. The girl nudged the TV. Hit it. No luck. She would have to go outside.

 

* * *

 

The heat of a raging sun hit as the girl stepped on the orange dirt. She took a glance at the ruins of buildings and avoided looking at the charred corpses — some of them recent. She would have to be quick — monsters stirred nearby.

 

She made her way through the city on the hunt for power cells, trying not to bump into any — too late. The creature, a red mass of tentacles within a rusty, clawed, weaponised machine, turned around to face her. She ran.

 

“We’ve got one over here,” she heard a voice as she hid behind a building. She watched as a soldier shot at the creature.

 

“Watch out!” A woman soldier called out from nearby. But it was too late. The man was zapped to oblivion.

 

She ran past the girl. Like all the other soldiers, she was in rusty battle armour, with a shaved head. The woman screamed and blasted the monster. It shrieked and then exploded, thrusting her into the air.

 

The girl blinked. She then moved on, the soldier’s corpse and the shell of the alien smouldering behind her.

 

She heard a groan. Then a painful cry. She stopped. Fighting against her impulse to run, she investigated the distressed noises.

There was the female soldier, burnt, bleeding, with shrapnel in her leg. The girl looked at her and tilted her head. I hope I don’t miss the dancing bears, she thought.

 

* * *

 

“What the hell is this place?”

 

The girl ignored her, watching the TV.

 

“Hey, hey you.”

 

“Shush. I’m trying to watch the bears.”

 

“Hey. I’m talking to you, pipsqueak.”

 

The girl ignored her. The woman threw a soup can at the girl.

 

“Hey, I didn’t have to bring you here, you know.”

 

“So, why did you?” the woman scowled. “Are you going to eat me, you monster? You look like you need fattening up.”

 

“I could just roll you outside.”

 

The woman groaned. “Better to die a soldier’s death.”

 

The girl looked at her. “Like the others? Messy and smelly?”

 

“How dare you speak with such disrespect!”

 

“Well, you look messy and smelly now. It's irritating. And I’m trying to watch—”

 

The soldier cried out. She had tried to get up. “What have you done to me?”

 

“I saved you. As grateful as you are.”

 

“I don’t need — what are those?”

 

“I patched you up.”

 

“Are these — plasters and bandages?”

 

“Uh, huh.”

 

“Oh, good going, girl. Thanks a million. I should call you doctor.”

 

“You’re going to have to get the thingy out yourself.”

 

“No, you’re going to have to help me.”

 

The girl worked silently to heal the soldier. The soldier informed the girl what the medicines looked like and how to find them on the outside. Each time she left, the soldier thought it would be the last time she would see her.

 

“You’re a hard nut, aren’t you, girl?” the soldier said when the girl returned again.

 

The girl nodded.

 

“Since we’ve already killed a lot of time, why don’t you tell me your name?"

 

"Don’t have one.”

 

“Don’t have one, or you don’t want to tell me?”

 

“Both. Or neither.”

 

“Well then, I’ll call you Monster,” the soldier spat. “I’d give you mine, but as a soldier, I only have a code. 8467, if you must know.”

 

“It’s a pretty name.”

 

The soldier laughed. “You really are crazy.”

 

The days passed, as the duo waited for backup from the soldier’s squad to come pick her up for extra medical care. This prompted the girl to ask: “Why wasn’t there any medical support for the others?”

 

“They were too quick to die.” The soldier smirked, “Not me though. Guess I’m not getting into Valhalla.”

 

The girl nodded.

 

“How did you end up here?”

 

The girl shrugged. “I’ve been here as early as I can remember.”

 

“How did you learn to survive?”

 

“TV. Channel 185.”

 

“Ah. The classics.”

 

They ate more soup.

 

The soldier said, “I’m pretty impressed with how you survived. TV, soup and all.”

 

“Not much else to do, is there?”

 

The soldier nodded. “Don’t you ever miss them — your parents, I mean?”

 

“How do you know I ever had parents?”

 

“Well, everyone had parents.”

 

The girl shrugged and turned back to the TV.

 

* * *

 

When the other soldiers arrived, the girl helped her patient walk into the sun. The girl continued to follow them. She told herself it was out of curiosity.

 

Her patient said, “Well, the commander says I’m not fit for more duty. My leg will have to go.”

 

The girl nodded. The soldier smiled, put a hand on her shoulder and said, “Wanna come with us?”

 

The girl frowned, her mouth slightly open.

 

“We have bigger TVs and more channels.”

 

“And food other than soup?”

 

The soldier nodded, and she found herself being hugged.

 

“You’ve been mothering me for quite some time. Now it’s my turn. We’ll find a better name for you yet, Monster. For now, you can call me Mother.”