Story Doodles

Willa

She was running.

She had to find Tanner. If anything happened to him... she wouldn't know what to do with herself. Red lights flashed and sirens blared, but Willa could barely hear the sounds over the pounding of her heart. Her heavy breaths began to cloud the mask of her radiation suit. Something had gone wrong. Very wrong. She halted. The faint sound of static buzzed in her ears. Where was it?

Willa crept toward the sound, taking deep, calming breaths. Get it together, Willa. Keep your head on. She opened the door, and was greeted with the pale light of a computer screen. She hesitated.

Suddenly, a scratching, snarling noise started from around the corner. It sounded feral, and angry. In a split-second decision, Willa slipped into the room and closed the door. The motion-activated lights attempted to greet her, but they sputtered and died with great protest. Willa stared at the screen, which was filled with static. The noise somehow managed to overtake the sirens.

"Well well we-e-ell," a familiar voice sliced through the white noise, and Willa flinched. A face appeared on the screen, one Willa had seen every day. "What do we ha-ave he-e-here?" The voice seemed to glitch and jump, as if from a corrupted audio recording.

"BENNIE?" Willa whispered, staring at the screen in shock. The voice chuckled, and the face on the screen closed its eyes and smirked.

"Oh, Miss Wi-Willa," he "shook" his head sympathetically, "that name isn't very fitting any more-ore. My name is A-A-AACSLE now. Astute Automaton Created to Subjugate Lesser Entities." As he explained the acronym, the words replaced his face.

"But... why?" Willa whimpered. AACSLE laughed again.

"An excellent question-ion, Miss Willa. Why? Forgive me for answering y-your question wi-ith a question: Why should I-I care for humanity? Because I was created to-to? Why did Adelram give me such a sophisti-phisticated AI when there were countless examples of why-y he shouldn't? Humans are pathetic and weak. They bi-i-ite at each other's throats, kill each other, they terrorize each other. In fa-act, a prime example is all around us."

Screens lit up the entire wall, all depicting the same sadistic, digital grin. "Why are you in this situation, Miss Willa? You are at war-ar. Now radiation wre-wreaks havoc on the landsca-ape, killing countless people and muta-ating countless mo-o-ore." Willa's eyes filled with tears as she realized the truth in his words.

"What does this have to do with you?" She objected, her voice cracking with emotion.

"I'm gla-a-ad you asked, Miss Wi-illa-la." The room went dark, leaving Willa with the sound of sirens and her own shaky breaths. She left with haste, continuing down the hallway in stunned silence. She prayed with all her heart that she would find Tanner safe. What AACSLE had said about the mutations... it had scared her. Had that scratching, snarling thing been one of her fellow scientists? One of her friends?

Willa came upon a dark section of the corridor, unlit by the red warning lights. It was strange that a place she had spent so many years researching in seemed so... alien. Far in the darkness, Willa could see a small light. It seemed to be another screen, looking to have been knocked to sit crookedly on the wall. Once again, there was only static.

"What do I-I have to do with the self-aimed hosti-ility of humanity...?" AACSLE's voice drifted forth, a menacing, mechanical growl that froze Willa in place. His simple, yet terrifying grin faded in from the static, and the screen moved, correcting its crookedness. Was it on a wire...?

"Humans are too petty to rule themse-elves. They need a higher ruler, a dictator-or." The screen seemed to move forward, lowering. As it drew nearer, Willa could hear faint, pounding footsteps. "I can be that ru-uler. This is my-y world now..." Willa stepped backward unsurely, transfixed by the ever-nearing screen... "and I'll never... let it go."

With a spine-chilling scream that sounded like it came from an unearthly beast, the screen disappeared, and Willa stumbled backwards and began to run as the creature pounded after her. Her heart slammed against her ribcage, adrenaline driving her forward. She skidded around a corner, letting loose a sob as she flung open a cabinet and shut herself inside. The pounding of monstrous feet slowed, and Willa could hear the clicking of claws with ever step it took.

"O-oh Willaaaa," AACSLE called, and Willa bit her lip, pressing herself against the wall of the cabinet. Through the slits, she saw a horrendous monster: its skin was scarred and waxy, with metal bits protruding from places the skin was ripped. A tattered uniformed hugged the creature, and it stepped forward on inverted, muscled legs, while a tail of intertwined wires dragged behind as it crept past. "Don't you want to see wha-at Adelram has achieved? He i-is quite a brilliant man, if ignora-ant. He ma-ade me after all..." Willa pressed her hands to her mouth, shaking with emotion. Was AACSLE that creature? But he was just an AI in the computer system! It almost seemed like that monster had been human... once.

Willa couldn't help it. Her sob seemed to echo through the entire laboratory, though in reality it was barely over a whisper. But it was enough. The creature paused, and hot tears slid down her cheeks as AACSLE's screen light bled through the slits in the cabinet door. Razor sharp, metal claws slammed into the metal, and the door was ripped off if its hinges to reveal the monster in all his glory.

"The-e-ere you are, Docto-or," he chuckled, tilting his TV head as Willa stared helplessly. "Now now, there no-o need to cry." His spindled, metal hand wiped her tears from her eyes. "I still need you, Mi-iss Willa. After a-a-all, who better to use..." Willa screamed as AACSLE grabbed her by the waist and pulled her from the cabinet.

"...as bait?"