Android Affection Book 1 - Rogue Zero

26: This place gives me the creeps

"Worry not," Gilbert tells me, once we are sure the shadow has left, and we take this opportunity to advance toward the next corridor; the first set of steps. "We shall be out soon!" he declares.

Soon...

I frown. Somehow, I doubt that.

It's still dark, and if Gilbert weren't leading me across the museum, I've no doubt I would have gotten lost by now. Judging from our current location—and what I saw in the lobby earlier on—the museum's general design was likely pretty neat in its glory days, and resembled something out of an old science fiction movie. The walls remind me of the pictures mom used to collect, that mostly contained ancient rockets as their subject.

But aside from that, the rest of our environment is absolutely dreadful. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of obsolete Assistant models displayed across the entirety of this second floor. It starts with the first one that stemmed from the passion project of two teens who won an award for unknowingly creating mindless killing machines, then ends at the latest prototype that was released right before humanity was divided into two separate classes—the fortunate, and the useless.

Gilbert follows close behind me, until he reaches my side. "Sir, is everything all right?" Even though there isn't a noise to be heard in the darkness, aside from our footsteps, I can't help but feel someone's gaze on my back. "You are shaking."

"You're imagining that. It's just an impression." Yeah, it's also me and my fear of thunder and the dark mixed together, that's courtesy of my childhood trauma, but I'm not going to tell him that.

"All right..." Gilbert pauses. If I squint hard enough, I can make out the blurred edges of a doorway whose entrance has been discarded to the floor. "Sir?" he says it again.

My shoulders tense. "I-is someone there?"

"No, that's... not exactly... Your hand, Sir. You do not have to hold onto me so tightly. I will not let you go."

Heat rises to my face. I try to shove my embarrassment down by reminding myself he's just an Assistant, though it does little to convince me to relax. "I just—"

My free hand turns into a fist by my side. I sigh, then look downward. "It would suck if we got separated. You're literally my only way out of here, and not everyone has night vision like you. So... don't go getting any weird ideas."

Gilbert takes a step inside the room before us, and I can only hope he isn't leading us to our dooms. We've been lucky so far, but that doesn't mean shit around here. That luck could change in less than a second, I've seen it happen before back when I was twelve, and too many times, ever since I left Exia.

"What ideas?" he asks.

And, really? Does he not even have a slight clue? "Forget about the ideas," I mutter. "Did you find anything?"

Gilbert hums. How realistic he sounds continues to baffle me, and I abhor it, because the more time I spend with him, the more I'm intrigued. Eight-year-old Ian would've had a field day in his presence. I'm sure he would have asked Gilbert a countless amount of questions about how he came to exist, and if he could, potentially, see how he works from the inside. "Hey, asshole, I asked you a question. Did you—"

A rat runs past my feet.

I take a step back and yelp as I stumble over an old rug. "What the fu—!" My head hits something hard. Rigid. Worry clouds my mind. Because that something wasn't there before. It's moving, stepping toward me, whilst I slip and fall to the ground. It's—