Factory Reset

Chapter Fifteen: Stop, Rest, Food

In all his previous incarnations and lives, B-64 had never seen anything quite like what happened to the town of Little Rock. And he's seen a lot of things.

But neither the Massacre of the Slitherians nor the War Between Stars had seen such abhorrent displays of brutality and bloodshed as that little town.

The roads were literally paved in blood, dark black webs from several other worldly creatures clustered around trees and in between buildings like a cold and dead dense fog. Mason felt despair in the very air as he slowly drove onto the main street.

"What happened here?" Axel asked, staring out of the passenger window. The sidewalk was coated in blue and red blood, and it splattered against the buildings surrounding the town. The disturbing sight only amplified by the constant wet squelching sounds coming from underneath the car as it drove over the blood.

Thank heavens that Hannah went to sleep, thought Marissa. She peered out into the dense spiderwebs as the car drove at a meager three miles an hour. B-64 attempted to scan his surroundings, but found that nothing worked. It was like whatever the webs were, they were disrupting his functions.

Mason reached a small gas station, though it was completely covered in the black webs. Mason saw that their gas tank was running low, and even though Little Rock didn't work out as planned,  they could still keep going.

"B? You're coming with me." Mason stated plainly, turning his hand to turn off the car. B-64 nodded cutely, a small trill showing that he understood. Mason nodded as well, turning back to his friends and sleeping sister.

"We'll be back with gas. If anything happens, any yelling or the like, I want you to turn on the car and start driving." He told them, Axel and Marissa nodding solemnly. Turning his attention back to B-64, they nodded and exited the vehicle.

Mason felt a cold shudder creep up his spine as he plopped right on the soaking wet blood. He tried not to think about anything, just keeping his mind right to the gas station, and not pay attention.

Never mind the wetness, nevermind how it sounded. Nevermind the itching feeling crawling up his leg, nor the shadows in the corner of his eyes. Just focus on the gas station, he repeated to himself over and over again.

B-64, however, paid more attention to the contents of the blood. He knew how that planet's blood behaves, but the blood he was stepping on and through was much more sticky, corrosive and slimy even. And he could plainly see a thin layer of purple and blue blood here and there.

He let Mason enter the gas station first, mostly because he had no idea what Mason was attempting to do and how cars worked. His species mostly used flying vehicles.

He kept watch, though he was barely able to see the thin gray outline of the car ahead of him, and he could swear he could see small glimpses of blackness in the corners of his sensors, being able to pick up the slight movements.

B-64 tilted his head inside, seeing Mason filling up a red canister with some clearish liquid. Finding that it would take some time, B-64 squatted down and began to observe the blood and its properties.

B-64 slowly let his programming take over, allowing for his left hand to slowly convert into organic matter, and then slowly slide into his somewhat metallic arm. He activated his scanning mode, and took a sample of the blood with extended equipment now taking over for his hands.

The blood was mostly congealed at this point, though it somehow still retained it's wet and fresh appearance, it was undoubtedly old blood. It was mostly from reptiles, snakes and cobras, but he could definitely see the faint imprint of blue blood.