H.A.I.U.

~20~

When I got to the hospital, my hood was pulled low and I had my gun ready. I rushed into the nearest room--it had a dead person and a robot transferring the body onto a gurney--and I recognized the type of robot. It was a dual nurse--one for surgery and also for burning dead bodies. All the rage in hospitals about ten years ago.

I held up my gun/hand to the robot and kept Monica up with my left hand. "Help her or I will disable you and use your tools to help her instead." I snapped at the robot, its head jerking up in surprise. It was very compliant and shoved the gurney into a wall. Amazing how fear can be invoked into non-sentimental robots. I set Monica on the table and pointed the gun at the robot's head. "Kill her and I kill you."

The robot quickly went to work. I didn't watch--I couldn't. Instead I stared at the black, sterile white skull of the robot. When I heard the clank of a bullet, I glanced down. A tiny tear was in Monica's abdomen, tiny robotic hands working, coming from the robot I had at gunpoint. A tiny bullet lay on a side tray. And the blood...it was all over her shirt. Her shirt itself was ripped, the jacket I had tied around her was on the floor.

I looked away.

After a few more minutes, the robot turned on its wheels and looked at me with its screen face. "I'm done." it said blankly, then rolled out the room with the gurney and dead man. I picked Monica up, careful not to turn her in an awkward way to rip her stitches, and went to the window. Instead of breaking it like the barbarian in my arms, I opened the window and hopped out. A perk of going to the first floor is not landing and breaking everything.

I stumbled from the hospital and turned around. Nobody was following me. I let out a breath and slowly walked back to the forest. I glanced down at Monica, who was shivering. I looked around until I saw a clothing store. I left the sidewalk to get to the wall and went across the streets until I got there. I ducked in, still carrying Monica, and grabbed a bunch of random things before dashing out of the store.

The alarm went off behind me, but I was long gone before and security would be able to arrive. I closed the wall gate behind me and went a few feet in before setting Monica down and resting beside her. I threw some of the stolen jackets on top of her, then wrapped my arms around my knees, watching her. I wonder what'll happen when she wakes up.

Oh. I wonder what'll happen when she wakes up.

She's gonna kill me.

I'm a dead man.

I lay back on a tree. Well, let's see what'll go in my will....oh, nothing. My arm can go to charity. That's it. If Monica wants them, she can have my clothes. Wear them in jail. I wonder what jail looks like. Is it grey? I heard it was grey. Like elephants. I mean, I've never seen a live elephant. They were hunted to extinction in 2034 a few hundred years ago, but I've seen pictures and videos of them. I heard that there are some in something called a zoo in America.They're actually my favorite animal. I wish they weren't gone. Everyone made fun of me when I was little because I had elephants on my underwear. At least I wasn't that weird kid with dinosaurs. He's really weird.

Sometimes I wonder how life would be if people took care of the Earth back then, back when elephants were real. Maybe we'd have trees. Or at least more than just five acres left on Earth. Maybe we'd have fertile soil for real grass. Maybe we'd have clean air, and the sky would actually be blue instead of a dull blue-gray. Maybe the underwater cities wouldn't be underwater--even if they were fun to visit and look at the ages-old skeletons. Maybe Italy wouldn't be the second cleanest country--and there's trash everywhere and the air is mostly carbon dioxide. Maybe, just maybe, I'd get to see an elephant.

But it's too late now.

Sure, there's genetic modification. How would we feed it? How would we know how to take care of it? Does it need water? Well, fresh water doesn't exist anymore. That all ran out around 2057. Now we use sea water and take away the salt. Do elephants eat salt?

As I pondered these dumb thoughts, Monica stirred. I didn't move--getting punched is not on my to-do list--and waited for her to sit up. "Be careful not to tear your stitches." I told her, picking at a twig. Her head jerked around, and she winced. I gave up and scooted over to her. "Try not to move too much either. It should heal quickly." I told her, bending the twig into a bow. Monica just nodded and watched me tie the twig up. I don't know if twigs are supposed to be able to be bent like this, but this one is.

"What's your favorite animal? It can be extinct." I asked her suddenly, and she looked surprised. "Well, um...I can't pick between wolves or whales."

"Those are both extinct and begin with w."

"So? All the living animals are dumb. Bunnies, cats, dogs, snakes, turtles...boring. Wolves were silent creatures who hunted in packs and were deadly, but still cared for each other. Whales used to roam around the ocean all alone."

"If you absolutely had to pick, though, which would it be?"

"Uh...Wolf. I would pick wolf." she told me, slowly bringing her knees to her chest. I felt like there was a deeper meaning. I hope she didn't know I had one too when I said, "I like elephants. They were so misunderstood. They're really just gentle giants. They love family and give off this air of serenity."

And then the silence came. The very. Awkward. Silence. Monica fidgeted with the edge of her torn shirt. It took her a moment to realize that that her shirt was torn. "Oh--um--why are you looking at me? Turn around!" she shouted, scrambling to grab any f the clothing around her. I handed her a shirt and turned around. I hope she couldn't see the blush I had. Why did I even have a blush?

When she said it was okay to look, I didn't. For some reason, I knew that if I turned around my blush would get stronger. I hugged my knees with my left arm, my right robotic one floating in front of me. And suddenly I remembered the night it happened. Don't ask me why.

I was standing in the middle of my room. My bed was by the door, I had a TV hung on the wall, and my dresser beside my bed. I was wondering what I should do over winter break when the fire alarm went off. I could smell smoke, so I just thought my dad was smoking. I took out my phone, but then someone rushed in the room. They had short purple hair and a hood on. The hood hid their face, but I did notice some masculine legs underneath a skirt they wore. They cursed and ran from the room when they saw me. I realized something was wrong, so I ran to my door--but couldn't leave. I was met with a wall of fire, spreading quickly to my room. I backed away, choking on smoke. My room was on the top floor of the apartment building, so jumping out was not an option. But my eyes still drifted to the window, knowing it was my only way of escaping...unless...

I yanked my shirt over my head and ran out of my room. I held back a scream as the flames licked my side, but I didn't know where I was going and tripped over something. I think it was my hover board. I struggled to breathe, struggled to get up, but something was holding me down now. I managed to yank my shirt from my head, managing to catch a glimpse of whoever was holding me down. They were wearing a fire-proof suit and a helmate, but beneath that I caught a flash of brown eyes. Brown, disgusted eyes. Then something cracked overhead, and the fled, letting me get crushed by a flaming beam.

I screamed, feeling something that wasn't saliva come from my mouth. Everything was orange with the fire now, and the beam was immovable over my right arm. I cried out for help a few times before I began to cough up black soot. I used my left arm to grab my shirt from where it lay and shoved my face into it, trying to breathe. Then everything went as black as the ashes of the aftermath.

I backed away from where I was sitting, gasping for air. I jerked my head around, confused. Where was I? A girl with short purple hair was beside me, brown eyes filled with worry. I looked down at my body, finding that I was fine--except for my new arm.

Then I remembered. I drew my knees back to me and looked to Monica, who looked very hesitant about...something. I discovered what seconds later when she wrapped her arms around me and gave me a hug. "It'll be okay." she whispered, and I just nodded.

"You're the one who was shot."

"And you're the one who was screaming." she muttered, letting go of me and resting her head on my shoulder. I didn't do anything--didn't know if I should. I was afraid somehow she'd find a knife and throw it at me. So I sat there until I heard her snoring. After that, I leaned on a tree and fell asleep myself, taking deep breaths of the clean air. I felt at ease somehow. Today is just full of mysteries, isn't it.