Glitched

Chapter 15

((Laila's POV (haha who thought she was dead???)))

"...find her?" an unknown voice spoke, and my eyes opened. I stared up at a crumbling ceiling, and looked around. I was in an unknown small room, laying on a mini yellow worn out couch. There was barely any space, you could fit around three to four people maximum in the room. The ground was made of broken tiles, that would've cut my feet if I wasn't wearing shoes. Above me was a hanging light that flickered and barely provided any light. In my head was a pounding worse than before, my limbs hurt as well, I glanced at my arms and legs, my suit was covered in tears and my arms and legs had scratches and cuts all over them.

"By the crescent, Reggie, and she had that robot with her." another new voice spoke.

Robot... The guard! Suddenly, memories of the fall came back, and I gasped. Where is the guard? Quickly, I stumbled off the couch and onto the ground. Suddenly, the people fell silent. Did they hear me? An emotion new to me filled me, it twisted in my gut and caused me to heat up and sweat. The emotion made my heart speed up, it felt like an intense Worry and Nervousness. Slowly, I walked over to the door, and opened it.  I peeked out, and I didn't see anyone. I opened it more and slipped though it, and stepped out into a hallway.  It was narrow and lined with small rooms much like the one I was in.  I didn't see anyone out in the hallways, and I began to wonder if the voices I heard really did exist.  Of course they exist...  It's not possible to hear something that isn't there... Which means they're somewhere, they're just somewhere I can't see them.  

"I see you're awake," the voice spoke from behind me.  

I felt as if my heart stopped, and my body went stiff.  They had found me, and I didn't know who they even were.  I spun around and stared at the two men in front of me.  Both were tall and strong, but one was older and had dark skin, hair, and eyes, while the other was around Youth age and blonde, pale, and blue eyed.  I scanned them, wondering where the guard was.  Suddenly, a thought filled my head.  Are they...  Are they the people who took the Viruses?

"Wh-where's the guard?" I asked, feeling short in comparison to the two males.  The younger one opened his mouth, but the older man held out his arm and he shut his mouth.  Instead, the older man stepped up.

"Guard?" he asked, giving me a confused Expression.

I licked my lips and swallowed.  I took a deep breath and clenched my fists by my sides.

"The guard, the robot who was with me." I explained.  "Where is it?" I asked again with a shaky voice.

The man made an "Oh," sound as if he was just understanding me.  He nodded slightly and crossed his arms.  He took another step forward and looked at me.

"I'm so sorry, but we had to disable the robot." he answered.  

I took a deep breath and felt stiff again.  Disable...  To disable was to put out of action.  Which meant...  They put the robot out of action, in other words, they broke him.

"You broke it?!  You-you disabled the guard?!" I asked in a loud voice that was almost a shout. 

A new emotion erupted inside of me.  It was like Annoyance, but much much more stronger, more...  energetic...  more intense.  It made me clench my teeth, made me clench my fists tightly as if I was holding onto something too hard, it made me breath deeply, it made my face red with heat.  I took two big steps toward the man-steps that felt as if my feet were being pulled to the ground and landed heavily with a thud.  I stared at him in the eyes, not able to speak.

"Ah, yes, I'm sorry about that but, you see, it had to be done." the man explained, as if that was enough of an explanation.  

"It had to be done?  Why?  Why did it have to be done?" I said, my voice coming out tight.

The man sighed and uncrossed his arms.  "Because, that robot was sent to map out the directions to our hideout.  And we couldn't have it going back with our location, it wouldn't be safe.  We cannot be exposed, so we had to disable your robot guard." 

"You're the people who stole the Viruses!" I said, finally fully understanding that these people were the thieves.  They were the people I was sent to find.  And if the stealers were with me, that meant the stolen Viruses were close.  

"Stole is a harsh word, more like...  given them a chance at life." the big blonde spoke up.

I shook my head, my hair waving around.  "No, stole is the right word.  It fits what you did.  To steal is to take without permission with no intention to return it.  And you took the Viruses without permission, and you have no intention of returning them." I explained, crossing my arms.

"Well actual-" the blonde started but the older man turned to him.

"Timberland, please, let me handle this."

The boy-Timberland-sighed, took a step back and leaned against a wall.  He wore an Annoyed expression on his face as he looked at one of the doors.

"We gave them a choice: stay at least one week, and if they like it here, they can stay, but if they don't want to stay, they're free to head back.  See, we have 'intensions' of giving them back, that's just if they want to go back to the New World."

My fists loosened and the heat in my face cooled down.  I thought over what he said, and tried to process it in my head.  I looked down at my feet.  So they did have the intention of giving them back, but...  only if they wanted to go back to the New World?  It didn't make sense, no one would want to stay with the thieves, they would all want to come back to the New World for sure.  They would want to go back so they could fixed and become citizens.  Why wouldn't they?  The New World was perfect, the New World was all there was, was all that mattered.  Why wouldn't they want to be apart of the New World?  It would be almost impossible to not want to go back.  There was no way the thieves offer would appeal to the Viruses, nor would it benefit the stealers.  In the end of the week, all the Viruses would go back to the New World.

"So, you do plan on giving the ones who want to go back to the New World...  back?" I said, trying to make sure I understood him.  He nodded.  I thought for a moment, and then I got an idea.  

"Alright, I have a deal for you." I said, looking him in the eyes.

"And what would that be?" the man asked, tilting his head and once again had a Confused expression on his face.  I knew I had his attention, he was curious.

"You let me stay the week with the Viruses, and then at the end of the week, I'll take all the Viruses who want to go back to the New World, back with me.  And all the Viruses who don't want to go back, get to stay here-no complications of any sort.  We won't try to steal them away from you, we'll just let them stay.  And we'll leave you alone, you won't have to worry about the New World causing you any problems." I said, feeling confident.  The man thought about it for a few seconds and then smiled.  He held out his hand to me, and I stared at it.  I glanced from his hand to his face, confused.

"Why are you doing...  that?" I asked and pointed to his hand.

The man laughed.  "We're supposed to shake hands, to make the deal official." he explained.  

So slowly and carefully, I took his hand, and we shook on it.  He looked at me straight in the eyes, and said one word.

"Deal,"

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((Heyo people it's the author who never updates! *Waves*

How was this chapter?  Was it good, bad, just eh?  Please comment your thoughts!

I'm sorry I didn't update for a while, I just didn't know what to do for this chapter.  Hopefully, the next chapter will come sooner.

I just killed off my first character...  I don't feel a thing XD  Ah well Guard, have fun in robot Heaven!  Or wherever disabled robots go when they are disabled...  

Question #16: How do you think the deal will play out?  Will the Viruses stay, will they leave, will it be half and half?  Will Reggie (aka the man) go back on the deal?  Or will Laila go back on the deal?))