H.A.I.U.

~25~

I closed my eyes, finally getting some rest. Well, trying to. But all I heard was screaming, and I knew it was all in my head, memories haunting me. I don't think I'll ever forget those screams. Maybe I'll never sleep again.

I gagged at remembering the eyes. I hadn't reacted earlier because I was in shock, but now...

I puked in the corner of my cell. As I was wiping my mouth, there was a rapping on the window. I flinched and turned around, my heart falling into my stomach when I saw who was there.

Haiu.

I scrambled over, my legs still quite useless. "Why are you here? You need to get out--"

"I came to save you. And get the information needed to incriminate my father."

Maybe it was because of delayed shock. Maybe it was joy. But either way, I burst into tears. Nobody's ever put me first like this. The glass door opened, and Haiu picked me up--with one arm. Where was the other?

"Are you okay? Can you walk?" Haiu asked me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. "I-I-I'm f-fine." I blubbered, stumbling over my feet. I wiped my face and leaned heavily on Haiu. "W-where's your a-arm?"

"I don't know. I shut down and when I woke up, it was...poof." He explained, tapping his head. I had forgotten he was a cyborg in more than just one area. We slowly began to walk out, and I could see carnage from Haiu all over the place. Dead robots and androids were everywhere, their heads bashed in and wires cut.

"Why was it so easy for you to get here? And why did the cell door open?" I asked him after I was finally done crying. I was slowly beginning to panic. Was this a trap? Would Zion trap us both?

"Someone on the inside is helping us. I don't know who, but they've contacted me and they're telling me where to go."

"How can you trust them?"

"I can't, but they're the only thing we have right now."

I frowned because he was right. What else could be done? Who else could we rely on? For all I know, Haiu is lying and bringing us right to Zion just to spite me. It hit me then why that wasn't something I was worried about.

I trusted him.

Haiu looked at me like I was crazy when I started laughing, and maybe I was. But I found it funny that after a while of saying I'll never trust again, I trust the very thing I hate the most. Thinking on it, Haiu isn't something I hate. He isn't even something, he's someone.

We turned and got inside an elevator, and Haiu set me on the ground. The elevator moved without us pressing any buttons, so I knew that whoever was "helping" us was doing this.

We remained silent for a few minutes, the only sound being the eerie flicker of the broken light. It was then I looked at the floors. "Why are we going up?"

Haiu stiffened. "I don't know. They've stopped talking, too." He said, pressing the first floor button. It did nothing. He pressed harder, over ad over, but his attempts were futile.

We were trapped.

My heart began to pound. The thought of death crossed my mind, chilling my blood. I reached up, shaking, and took Haiu's trembling hand. His eye was strong with fear, and the look he gave me told me he was grateful.

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened.

We were on the roof. It was sunset, but Zion's features were clearly illuminated as he shoved someone off the building. Haiu ran outside, grabbing a rock to throw, when an android came in and picked me up out of the elevator. "Haiu!" I wheezed as it wrapped an arm around my throat. He whipped around, wind blowing hair into his eyes and howling in my ears.

Zion smiled. "Hold, two-zero-six." He commanded, and the pressure on my neck lessened.

"I see you've come to get me, but look what that's done. Quite the predicament. But now that I have you both, it won't hurt anyone to kill you. Unless you give me a reason not to."

Haiu was frozen, so I spoke, my words coming out before I knew what I was saying. "Killing us won't matter because we already told everyone what you're doing. If you hear those sirens, that's the police coming to arrest you right now. And killing two more people will make your sentence much worse."

Zion actually paled and looked over my shoulder where I had heard police sirens. I was bluffing, really bad, but I think that won't be true for long. Haiu had his hacking face on.

"So that means you know that after scientists discovered a way to do brain implants, that also meant taking actual emotions from other people and turning it slowly into code? And that that is currently the job of all cyborg parts? I can activate it whenever I want." He added, looking to Haiu.

Haiu smiled in turn. "And I've already deactivated that. Oops." He told Zion, and no sooner than when he did the android choking me dropped to the ground. I franticle picked up a stray pipe and shoved it through the center of the android.

Zion laughed. "You think you got me. Look behind you."

Haiu did, and so did I, but there was nothing there. Suddenly I was picked up again, but soon after there was no ground beneath my feet.

Zion's grip on my neck was shaky, and I knew he couldn't hold on to me for very long before I plumeted off the side of the building. "Call off the police, reactivate my commands, and maybe I won't drop her."

I wanted to shout don't do it, but it occured to me nobody cares about me enough to put the whole world's life at stake for mine. I wouldn't have to say anything, Haiu would know--

"I...Okay."

My eyes jerked up from the cement hundred of feet below to Haiu. His eyes were set, and his face was serious. Zion smiled, his fingers tightening around my neck. After a few seconds, Zion asked, "Is it done?"

"Yes. Now let her--"

I fell.

Reaching out I hit cement, managing to grab the edge of the building. Zion looked down and me and stepped on my fingers, but I didn't let go. Police sirens wailed, and Zion ran. Haiu helped my up, taking something out from the back of his head when he was done. It was a hard drive.

"What? What is this?"

"It has all my memories downloaded, as well as a few important files."

"Why are you giving me this?"

He smiled a little and opened his mouth to speak, when suddenly he pushed me away from the edge. Zion tackled him.

And they both went down.