Android

24

"If we weren't the good guys, you'd be dead Abigail. I had no choice; I had to stay behind and fight that machine gun wielding maniac! If I didn't, he would've killed all of us and taken you before we had a chance! I gave you guys your best chance! So, stop acting like I didn't! We didn't want this all to go down this way! Stop acting like we planned on this, stop acting like what happened to your family is my fault!" He shouted back, and I felt hot tears boil in my eyes. Pluto then took a deep breath as he stepped towards me. "Please don't blame me Abigail, it's killing me. I know how hard this is on you, I've been there, but we can't help your family if we don't act like a team."

Feeling the tears start to roll again, I sat down on the bed in a slump.

"Their alive, their all alive." I whispered hoarsely. Shaking his head, Pluto walked over to me.

"There's a chance they might not be though. Titan is likely playing mind games with you. He wants you to stop trusting us, so you'll be vulnerable," He said quietly. Inhaling and exhaling sharply, I stood up fast and shoved Pluto.

"You have no idea how awful losing someone is! Especially your entire family! The pain is suffocating, and it would be better to have false hope then no hope at all! But you can't understand that because your nothing but a pile of scrap metal." I spat viciously.

At that, Pluto took a turn kicking the bedpost.

"I am not just a pile of metal! I have feelings to you know! I can feel happy, I can laugh at jokes, I can get angry, I can protect someone, I can get sad, I can cry and grieve!" He yelled back and with a scowl I sat back down on the bed.

"You were programmed to do all that, to feel all that. It's not real." I breathed, the alarm suddenly not so loud anymore.

"I was programmed to develop like a human, not to have feelings. Those come naturally, just like yours. My heartbeat aches, just like yours!" He growled as he hit the bedpost with his fist this time.

"All you have is wheels turning inside your chest! It's not a heartbeat, it's the tick of metal moving together!" I informed, standing up once again in frustration. Then, before I could stop him, Pluto grabbed my head and he forced my ear against his chest.

"Listen Abigail! Listen to it!" He practically screamed. At first, I was going to fight him off, but for the sake of being right I stopped for a moment and listened. Instead of hearing the soft tick tick tick of the metal though, I heard an actual heartbeat pounding fast the way mine did. Immediately that silenced me as I took a moment to listen and make sure I was hearing correctly.

I then slowly exhaled. "It...it sounds...real..." I admitted softly, entirely confused.

If his sounded like a heartbeat, then why did Jupiter's tick like-

before I could finish my thought though a loud crash was heard from downstairs and we broke apart.

"What was that?" I asked and Pluto swallowed thickly.

"I don't know, maybe the guys are back," He said, his harsh voice becoming soft and meek. "Stay behind me, we're going to check it out." He decided and hesitantly I positioned myself behind him as our argument was forgotten and we made our way out of the room. Once we were in the hall, we moved down it slowly as I kept the sledgehammer ready. "Guys?" He called out, waiting for a response, then he let out a tense breath.

"I think we better get back into the ro-" He began to say but then the ear-piercing sound of gunshots went off and Pluto's body violently jerked before he crumbled down.

"Pluto!" I shouted as I started for him but froze when I saw Tinkers making their way up the stairs.

Lifelessly, the they looked up at me and I felt myself freeze underneath the stare of their beady black robotic eyes. They looked like a big tin can, a little tin can, and metal straws all attached together. At first glance, the little four-foot monsters don't seem so bad, but when you notice that their fully loaded guns upon a second glance, they're terrifying.