H.A.I.U.

~15~

I woke up and scrambled up. I had been leaning on Haiu--I guess he was a comfy pillow?--and I don't like physical contact.

He stirred, making me nervous. What if he tried to ask about stuff again like last night? I backed out of the room, but was suddenly tackled and pinned to my wall. My face turned a bright red at the close proximity of Haiu and I. "Someone's out there." he mouthed, nodding to the door. "Not your dad." he added, making me go still. I tried to listen, but heard no one.

"Are you s--"

He clamped a hand over my mouth, his eye flaring bright red in anger. A purple fear dotted his eyes, too.

"Who's out there, then?" I mouthed, and he shook his head. At least he took a step away from me. I glanced at the door handle, which he immediately took. He slowly opened  my door before peeking his head around the corner. He gasped and fell to the floor, twitching.

I rushed over and peeked out of the room too. Nobody was there. Had they left? I looked back to Haiu, who looked like he was having a seizure. Did they tazer him? What happened? He isn't going to act like Risa had when she did the creepy finger thing, is he?

I backed away, tripping over my stuff. Oh my gosh, he's a cyborg too. He's going to try and kill me--

He started laughing and stood up. He leaned forward, saying, "Gotcha. That was pretty believable, wasn't it? Bet you thought I was a goner. You should really take care of your companion better instead of leaving them on the floor." 

"I thought I was the goner, dimwit." I hissed warily, not wanting to come from the safety of my corner I was now tucked in. Confusion flickered in his eye before it clicked. "You thought I was--no. I would never. Could never."

"Yeah, right. I doubt that. Don't do that again, either. Please."

"Okay, okay. But still, how are we going to find out more about what's happening? To the crazy people?"

"Either go to the morgue--" I offered, and Haiu shuddered. "Or we go to the mental hospital. Dead people who stink or alive people who want to kill us?"

"Mental hospital. Please. No morgues." Haiu pleaded, making me wonder what he had against them. To be honest, I was hoping he'd say no because I didn't wan to go either. He probably didn't like dead people, just like me.

"So. Now we need to figure out how to get to the mental hospital." he said, but I already had a plan in mind.

"We'd need a disguise, but you would be admitted in for attacking...someone. And then, because they probably don't know it's only cyborgs, I do the same. Different places, same time. Then we have to have an escape plan." I proposed, but Haiu shook his head. "We could just impersonate someone's family member and ask to visit them. No escape plan needed."

"That's...a lot simpler. And a lot less fun."

"You want to attack people?" Haiu asked me, the look on his face making me laugh.

"No. It's just...walking in has less fun to it then getting admitted and trying to escape."

"Maybe you can do that in America. But right now, Italy is all we've got. Let's get ready to look like...Janet and Lyle Hurtshwin."

"That sounds like they're married and German."

"German, yes. Married, yes. Are you or I German? No. Italian and Japanese. Are you or I married? Never. So, just relax. They probably have face scanning technology or something, so I need some clay."

"Clay?"

"Yes. To change our face shape?"

"Who's Clay?"

He ran a hand down his face. "Play dough, then."

"I have that right with Clay."

"Oh my gosh, you poor uncultured girl. We are going shopping, right now."

"Won't we be recognized?"

"Who say's we're buying?"

"Wait, what?" I asked as he dragged me from my room. Most people, if not all, order stuff online. Stores were hard to come by. But here in New Rome near the Lab, stores were easier to find. He yanked a hood over his head--my hoodie, the one I gave him when he came from his tank, a new cyborg--and grabbed a random beanie and shoved it in my face.

"Haiu, what are you doing? What do you mean we aren't buying?" I asked frantically as we ran down the streets. It had to be just after dawn, but he didn't seem to care. We looked so suspicious, I'm surprised the cops haven't found us yet.

He pulled me around a corner, dragging me into unfamiliar territory. "Do you even know where we're going?"

"Yup. A little farther and we'll get to a pottery." he replied, tugging me across a very busy road and managing to get honked at only once and ran over twice. Nearly, anyway. Then he turned one more time before yanking me behind him, cautiously walking along. He pulled me into a tiny, worn down shop. At the front was a robot that was very humanoid, aside from the fact the base of the skull was clear and showed her wiring. She smiled at us. "How may I help you?" she asked, the same dull and droning sound as every robot.

"Can we have some peach clay?" Haiu asked, lowering his voice to make it sound deeper. He just sounded off, but if we were using fake voices, I'm going for voice crack. "A lot of it." I added, in said voice crack. That got me a glare from Haiu, but he smiled to the robot. She smiled back before turning around and digging. After a few seconds, she plopped some on the counter. "Because you are buying clay and not the pottery, this will cost extra. Clay is a very rare find, because water is scarce. So, seventy-five euros."

"Seventy-five? For clay?" I squeaked, almost forgetting to add the voice crack. The robot tilted her head. "You could always get less."

"Yes, less please." Haiu said quickly, pinching my elbow. As the robot turned around, he grabbed the remaining clay and bolted. I realized what he was doing and chased after him, the robot behind us screaming alarms.

As I caught up to Haiu, I shouted, "Why did you do that?"

"Five-finger discount!" he shouted back, grinning. I could hear the sirens of the robo-cops. I quickened my pace the best I could with a cast on my leg. But then my jeans snagged on a rusty pipe jutting out of the street, and Haiu kept running. I stood, yanking my foot away, but ended up scraping my toes along the rust. I hissed and backed from the pipe, and began to run to follow Haiu, but something grabbed the edge of my shirt.

I didn't have to turn around to know the thing that held me. I wanted t shout Haiu's name, but I couldn't see him anymore. Besides, I'd give away who he was. When did you start caring if he got caught? You are too. A voice inside me whispered. I tamped it down, and as I did, another rose. Because you want to find out why this is happening. You do care. That voice had to be lying.

"You have shoplifted. Pay up, or you will be arrested." the droning voices of security bots said. I nodded as if I had some, and reached in my pocket. They suddenly turned their hands into weapons, making my hands shoot up. Before I could see who they were pointing them at, a knife was at my throat.

"Leave my prisoner slave. I get to keep her, that was the deal." a gruff voice snapped at the bots, making their red lights a less bright red. Confusion.

"What deal? Slaves are illegal. If she is here against her will--"

"She won't be set free. Mine. She is mine. And if you guys lay a finger on her I will personally make you tear each other apart." the voice snarled, more emotion in the last sentence than the others. Like they actually meant it.

"Do not harm civilian life." the bot said as the knife was pressed closer. I would be scared, but it was the blunt end. It'd take a little bit more pressure to draw blood.

"Come closer and I'll...she gets it. You'll let me leave, understood? Unless you want me to be a thief and a murderer."

The bots seemed to think about this, but I knew they were searching the handbook to see what to do in a situation like this. And then I was being dragged along, quickly. Haiu glanced back at me, a worried smile on his face.

We ran all the way home to the sirens of the bots that couldn't disobey traffic laws like we could.