Robot Love

Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Eric shot off his gun right next to my head, causing my right ear to ring. I cupped my hand to it and squeezed my eyes shut tight as the ringing continued, drowning out the sound of yelling and screaming and more gun fire. I opened my eyes just in time to see Crazy Tom drop down to his knees, blood coming out of the wounds in his chest and shoulder. He was still very much alive though. His dark eyes were crazed and angry, with a look on his face that would scare any rational person.

I lunged forward for my gun I had thrown on the table, as Eric prepared to switch targets. I managed to snatch up my gun and was just about to let Eric have it when I realized I wasn't his next target. Derik was.

"No!" Crazy Tom shouted above all the commotion.

Then everything went silent. Eric's gun was pointed straight at Derik, who held up his hands in surrender to his brother. His expression was one of shock and surprise, but I knew he had tricks up his sleeve he wouldn't be afraid to use, even against his own brother.

"Now Eric." Derik began. "You wouldn't kill your own brother, would you?"

Eric's hand began to shake as his grip on his gun tightened even more. "Says the man who turned his own brother into his personal robot!"

Derik laughed and dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. "Don't be stupid, little brother. I saved you. You should be grateful to me."

It was Eric's turn to laugh, but instead of coming out calm and natural as Derik's had, his came out more like sob. I looked over to Liam who had also trained his gun on Derik.

Where the fuck is Damien?

Just as this thought popped into my head, Damien and my father stumbled into the room, each equipped with a long knife. Damien's eyes went wide as he took in the scene. Crazy Tom on his knees, bleeding from gun shot wounds. A little girl with blood running down her neck, crying in the arms of a woman with a burn scar marring half of her face. Two dead bodies on the floor, one of them my doing. An enormous black man with a gun. A desperate looking Eric, with a gun turned on his own brother, the Leader of us pathetic humans. And last but not least, his lover standing in the middle of it all equipped with a gun and steely, determined eyes. What a sight we must be.

"I remember everything." Eric whispered, his eyes glazing over. "Everything you made me do before this." he gestured to his body violently, a disgusted look on his face. "Before you turned me into this mindless robot. I remember my wife. And my daughter." his voice cracked as he quickly looked over to the two females at the other side of the room. "And I remember what you made me do to his wife and daughter."

Derik scoffed. "You did that to them all by yourself. You didn't have to do it."

"You threatened my family if I didn't!" Eric yelled, his angry voice echoing off the walls.

"What's your point? Everybody has a choice. You chose to execute those girls. Just like I chose to turn my own brother into a robot for my own benefit. It was working quite nicely up until that bitch showed up and ruined it all." he said glaring at me. "Well now I am faced with another choice I have to make. And I chose to kill you."

Derik reached inside of his jacket and pulled out a gun so fast that I barely had time to blink. However, Eric was faster. He fired rapidly until his handgun ran out of ammo. Derik sank to his knees before collapsing forward, the last words on his lips sending a chill down my spine.

"War has been declared." Damien repeated slowly. "I wonder what he meant by that."

"Nothing good." I replied shortly.

My arms were sore and aching from holding the gun up so I let them drop to my side, loosely holding the dreaded weapon. Crazy Tom was still on his knees, his head back with his eyes shut tight. I carefully walked over to him, scared that any sudden movement would trigger one of his famous panic attacks. He opened his eyes when I stopped right beside him, but he didn't look at me. Instead he slowly reached down to grab my hand and then brought up the gun I was holding to his temple.

"Free me." he whispered.

He kept repeating the same words over and over again until I couldn't take it anymore. My grip tightened and I moved my finger over the trigger.

"Don't worry Marla." he whispered. "I'm coming home, baby."

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Freedom. I took a deep breath as the orange and red leaves around me rustled in the strong wind. My hair whipped around my face but I couldn't bring myself to tie it back. It felt good to have it all around me even though it was probably greasy from not showering.

"What are you thinking?" Damien asked quietly, wrapping his arms around me from behind.

I leaned back into him, savouring the moment. We were finally free. Together. I shook my head silently, wanting to cry but I forced back my tears. This was far from over.

"I'm thinking how bad of a person I am." I took a shuddering breath.

"You're not a bad person. Quite the opposite, actually."

"I killed two people!" I exclaimed, shoving Damien away from me and crossing my arms over my stomach.

Damien sighed and pulled me to him again. "You did what you had to do, Sophie. Listen, I don't know anybody else who would volunteer to be in the same position you are in. Hell, as soon as you heard about the robots up North and how corrupt the Leader was you immediately decided to do something about it. Nobody else did. It was you. If they want to condemn you for killing two people when you're trying to save thousands of more lives, then they can rot in hell for all I care. But by the time this is all over, everyone will remember your name. Sophie Johnson. The freedom fighter. The leader of the rebellion."

I turned around in his arms and pressed my face into his chest. "They'll remember you too." I mumbled.

Damien chuckled, stroking my hair gently. "They'll only remember me as Sophie Johnson's robot love. And I'm perfectly fine with that."

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A/N: I know that this is way overdue and that this chapter is pathetically short but I figured that this was better than nothing for now. I am slowly getting my inspiration for this story back after my almost three month hiatus. I sincerely apologize for making all of my lovely Robot Love fans wait this long. I promise that the next chapter will be much better than this "filler" chapter. And I feel as if so far this book has been quite depressing. What do you guys think, is it time for some happy chapters along with some robot romance? ;)

Thank you all so much for reading!

-S.S.