Side story: Dead Squad beginnings

The story describes the origins of the Dead Squad, their awakening as Dolls, escape from the control of Lord of the Puppets, and their life in a world that's completely new to them up until the moment when they officially meet Vagabond.

Characters

Main characters

Members of the Dead Squad

Jackie, the leader of the group, a Doll made out partially of non-human and mutated parts. She possesses a bony tail, two additional arms, and a long sharp tongue. Contrary to her looks, she is very friendly and helpful and hopeful.
Oriana, the first one of the Squad that woke up from their Lord's control. She's a protector of the group. Most of the squad doesn't notice that, but she is very possessive and obsessive towards all of them. Only when an outsider shows up, her true tendencies come to light. Otherwise, she is sweet and mature, although she doesn't like the idea of helping others.
Raya, normally a calm girl, a true embodiment of rashness and rage during combat. She is the melee fighter of the Squad.
Felicia, a Corpse-eater Doll, a cannibal among her kind. She feels the constant gnawing of the hunger, however, she is completely loyal to the other 5 who decided to save her from the control of their Lord. She is the tactician of the group.
Bianca, a Doll, whose most of the parts are artificial. As such her ability to feel and show emotions has been damaged. She carries firearms in her hollow body and serves as both the scout and the sniper of the group.
Morgana, a Doll created to look as close to normal human as possible, her task is to deal with any humans the Dead Squad comes across. She is also the one who tends to attack from stealth, a group's assassin.

Side characters

Vagabond, a Faceless One, one of the last ones who survived the Extinction. He has the ability to see attachments and bonds as chains whenever he wishes.
Lord of the Puppets, the one who creates the Dolls and controls them. If he can't retrieve and "reprogram" the ones that escaped, he wants them dead.
Dolls left behind, the ones Oriana didn't manage to save. Some of them managed to escape too, some have already been "reprogrammed", and the others hold a grudge for being left behind.
Bloodhounds, the Dolls specializing in hunting and tracking.
Doll elite, favorites of the Lord, and the best of the best among the other Dolls.

Story

Awakening

Inside The Tower of the Lord of the Puppets, Oriana awakens and decides to escape from the Lord's control. She starts to search for other Dolls like her, and push the others, hoping that it will be what awakens them. She manages to find quite a few. One of them, Felicia, comes up with the plan.

Escape

Lord of the Puppets loves to write and watch the plays in his theater. Felicia discovered that during those performances, the defense on both the outside and inside of the Tower is the weakest. Some of those who want to escape volunteer to work behind the scenes and manage to get the job. The plan is carried out, but only six of the Dolls manage to escape. It takes a while before the Lord notices their disappearance, but once he does, he sends a hunting party after them.
Miraculously, the six of them manage to fight off their hunters.
They form the Dead Squad.

Encountering a Spirit

Outside of the Lord's Dominium encounter their first hostile Spirit. They manage to kill it.

Surviving and helping

Some time passes and the Dead Squad adapted to the conditions of the world after the Extinction. Jackie proved herself to be a very good leader of the group. Thanks to the two-way radio they have found, she contacts people and asks if anyone needs any help.
The Dead Squad tries to keep on the outskirts of the city and as far away from their Lord's Tower as possible.
Bianca's first encounter with Vagabond
During one of her missions, while protecting the area her friends stay in, Bianca notices someone getting closer. She tries to scare him off by shooting warning shots, but that makes the stranger get even more curious. As he avoids her (not warning anymore) shots, she and the rest of the squad need to evacuate. She will later find out that the one she tried to scare off was Vagabond.
Jackie's first contact with Vagabond
Using her radio, Jackie manages to contact a lot of people. Sometimes, by chance, she manages to contact someone completely atypical. One of such people is Vagabond. He doesn't need any help, but instead, Jackie and he hit it off, and she finally finds someone she can talk with without any problems it would lead to if he was in the team. They form a long-distance friendship where they both can ask for advice or just vent about something.

Lord's bloodhounds

One day, the hunters sent after Dead Squad manage to find them. Before they are neutralized, they manage to call for reinforcements. As the six Dolls try to run away, more and more of Lord's servants attack them. When the waves finally stop coming and they think they might have fought off their enemies, they are contacted on the radio. 10 of the Lord's elite are after them.

Preparation for the worst

Dead Squad prepares to die in an upcoming battle. They wouldn't be able to escape and the fight against the Lord's best is hopeless, especially after they've used up so much energy. The only good solution would be to force enemies to kill them so they couldn't be dragged back to the Lord for "reprogramming".
That's when Vagabond stumbles upon them. Right now he's the only one who could help them sneak off out of this situation. And, as one of the better guides, he does so.

Themes:
Fighting for freedom, searching for purpose in a hostile world

Important locations:

The Tower of the Lord of the Puppets, a black spire made out of the spiderweb-like threads. A place where Lord lives. Dolls are created here, ready to serve their master. It is a fortress, defended by an army of hundreds very hard to kill beings. Inside, it is divided into 5 levels, each serving a different purpose:

• Theater, where the Dolls perform plays written by Lord for his entertainment. They do that once in a while, whenever he starts to get bored.
• The nest, a place where all of the lesser Dolls (those not serving any higher purpose) spend their time. It is filled with hibernating Dolls, waiting for their orders.
• Laboratorium, where the Dolls are created.
• Offices, a place for the most loved Dolls of the Lord. Beautifully decorated and furnished.
• The Maze, where the Lord and his organs are hidden.

Additional info

As time passes, Dead Squad is slowly getting weaker. Because the connection to their Lord has been broken, they aren't supplied by his energy anymore. As such, the background spiritual energy in the air can keep them alive but anything that requires them to move more or get tired would be out of commission. They need to eat regularly to function properly and eat a lot in case of tiresome activities such as fighting.
They know their time is coming but they still want to live their short and happy lives.