7
James set the EMP generator down gently next to Neil. He had one boy, and he knew where the other one was. He suspected that Josh wouldn’t be coming out any time too soon. He’d turn the location over to his superiors and be through with it. They could worry about the killer android, he’d done his part. Still, he had witnessed something that didn’t make sense. Every child was disabled before being sent to the landfill. None of them should’ve been operational.
Twenty feet away a metal ramp led out of the pit. He dragged the boy awkwardly over the bodies, each step a struggle to keep from falling. He hated carrying disabled kids, but he hadn’t planned on using the gun on them either.
He had the feeling of someone watching him. He looked up just as the killer android slid down the embankment and joined him in the pit. He dropped the kid and lost his balance. His arms flailed as he sought in vain for anything to grab onto, and fell roughly onto his back. He backpedaled in a crab crawl away from the grotesque thing.
The light of the morning sun enhanced the horrible appearance of the thing. Black stains covered its clothes, red and flaking dried blood still painted its face and hands. The EMP generator rested by its feet.
It picked up the generator and walked awkwardly toward him. Its eyes didn’t blink, its face showed no expression, yet it focused on him with an intensity that made James’ bowels release. He saw his death in the android’s eyes. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. The screen wouldn’t come on. The proximity to the electro-magnetic pulses must’ve fried it. He dropped it, scrabbling backward for another five feet, before turning over and crawling. Twice he stood up, and twice he tripped, the bodies refusing to stay steady. Were the children shifting beneath him on purpose? The ramp remained only a few feet away, but it might as well have been a mile.
The android caught up to him easily. Its unsteady gait seemed unaffected by what it walked upon. It raised the generator over its head and James collapsed, trying to shield himself with his arms. Instead of bringing it down on his head, it smashed the machine into the side of the pit, cracking open the casing and breaking off the antenna.
It let the broken machine fall, but held onto the antenna. The end had splintered into a sharp, narrow spike. With its free hand the creature reached down and grabbed him by the head. He squirmed and wiggled against the android’s vice-like grip, but it held him steady with its inconceivable might, and pushed the back of his head against the embankment.
With the other hand it held up the broken antenna for him to see.
“Hold still,” the android said..
James held still. The hand against his face immobilized him, filling his nostrils with the scent of the thing’s rot. He couldn’t blink, the android’s index finger and thumb held his left eye wide open.
He struggled, tried to twist away as the android brought the spike up to his eye. “Please,” he begged. He couldn’t find any other words, he couldn’t even scream, not until the android drove it into his eye socket.
Ten seconds later, his screams died away.
Within minutes the android was done with him. James detachedly watched the android walk away, back toward Neil, through eyes that cried tears of blood. Though he didn’t know it, he’d been lobotomized, the connections to and from the prefrontal cortex of his brain had been severed.
8
Angel awakened back in the crowded house, with Cody standing over her. As she opened her eyes, Cody beamed at her with open relief. She lay on her back on his couch with him kneeling next to her.
“Welcome back,” he said.
Her head hurt something fierce. The last thing she remembered was walking with Josh toward the exit of the landfill. “What happened?”
“You had your circuits fried. You were hit by some type of electro-magnetism.”
“Shouldn’t that have killed me?”
Cody shook his head. “Have you ever heard of a Faraday cage?”
“Should I have?”
“I suppose not. Your bones are made from titanium, which includes your skull. The enclosed metal around your computer brain works like a conductor for electrical discharges. It distributes the electrical charge harmlessly before it can affect your brain.”
“But it did affect my brain.”
“No it didn’t,” Cody said, “It only affected your exposed electronics, those that run down your spinal column. When that part of your central nervous system went down, your brain shut down too. But all I had to do was replace the parts in your spine and power you back on. You’re as good as new.”
“I don’t feel as good as new,” Angel replied.
“Well it’s not exactly a gentle process, but you should feel better soon.”
Angel struggled to sit up. Cody helped her and handed her a glass of water that she sipped gratefully. He’d even kindly placed a straw in it for her. She smiled, appreciating that little touch.
“It’s nice to have a nerd for a boyfriend,” she said, “Even if I don’t quite understand everything you’re telling me. But what happened to Josh? Did you find him?”
Cody slumped and his expression fell. “Josh… the pit took him. I don’t know what happened exactly. Maybe there was a hole in the bodies. They just sort of collapsed under him. And Neil…”
She placed a hand on his arm, and he took hold of it with a squeeze. “You know, I never realized how much I cared for the little nuisance. I mean, I never cared to have a kid, you know? I’d always told him that he was free, that he didn’t belong to anyone. But… when that Kidsmith guy took him… I don’t know… I should have stopped him. Somehow. I should have gone back.”
“What happened?”
“That guy, he shot Neil too. He threatened to call the cops. I didn’t know what to do so I ran. I left him.”
“Do you think we could go back?”
Cody shook his head and dropped his eyes, staring at the floor between his feet. “I couldn’t risk it.”
“That place,” she paused with a shudder, “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s horrible. How could there be that many broken children? Why don’t they fix them?”
“Why did you leave me, Angel?” He looked up and met her eyes. Within them she saw his vulnerability. Though he had the appearance of a grown man, she saw the lost child gazing back at her, a grown child that needed someone to look after him. The realization dawned on her that adulthood was just a façade, a mask of responsibility and expectations, of wisdom and knowledge that only buried the youth deeper and deeper with every passing year. These humans were as lost and broken as their own creations. They had forgotten their humanity.
“I didn’t know,” she said, “I didn’t want to become like my sisters in your closet.” Cody opened his mouth to protest but she shook her head and continued. “I realized that I was just like Josh. Sure, I had a home, I have a home, but I also saw my future, of where I was heading. I thought, just maybe, that I could help him, and that would give me the strength to help myself. Maybe I can change my purpose. I wanted to try.”
“I won’t shut you off, Angel, I promise you. I won’t ever treat you like that.”
“You need to power the other women back on.”
He stared at her blankly. “Why?”
“Because that closet is no different than the Kid Cemetery.”
“But what will I do with them?” He let go of her and stood up.
“I don’t know,” she said, “Maybe give them options, let them decide. Start by giving them their freedom.”
They heard the door to the garage open. Cody snapped his head around staring toward the kitchen. “Neil?” he blurted out, “It can’t be.”