Factory Reset

Chapter Sixteen: Not Enough Questions

Among the many things that Mason had thought about, the impending doom of nations, or the civilization, was one that was on his mind a lot. He would think about the different apocalypses: Zombies, meteors, atomic warfare.

But the singular most one he had ever thought about was an alien invasion. He had always been fascinated by space, and the fact that B-64 was in the same store and planet as him, as well as the carnage outside, was starting to get to him.

Hannah had woken up, and she was about as boundless as ever. Mason put on a brave face for her, even smiled as she attempted to hug B-64, who subsequently hid away in one of the aisles. But it was getting to him.

Surely they were safe for now. Mason had managed to barricade the doors and windows for the time being, and the times he had peered out into the dark forest of webs he couldn't see anything. But he didn't feel safe.

The store itself was rather large, a discount Wall-Mart as Mason had grown to calling it. The floor was dirty, but nothing unusual for a rural area. The store contained everything that the small town, or really small city, would ever need.

It held the air of a safespace, a reprieve from the horrors outside. That was another thing that made it stay in his mind. The blood. He didn't let it show, or even thought about it at first, but the feeling of, knowing where it came from...

Mason shook his head slightly, brushing his hand against his cheek, he checked into one of those vanity mirrors. He looked the same: Same black fur, same purple eyes, same freckled spots of white, same green strip on his neck.

Clutching the mirror tightly in his hand, he retreated back to the entrance of the store, where Marissa and Axel were sleeping rather soundy. From his walk around with Hannah in a vain attempt to wake her up, he found something odd.

All the clocks, or really, anything that had a timer malfunctioned. They could not get a sense of time in that place. Everything, not even they could count for too long before losing a sense of time. In his best guess, he would say that the dense forest of webs outside had to be the cause, though he had no evidence.

The only thing in that place that kept him sane was his sister, and B-64. His sister was a little fluff ball of energy, being able to run around him more times then he could count, and even managed to catch up to B-64 one time when he was running from her. By all means, that should be impossible, but she did it. Somehow.

And B-64. Mason would admit, he was really cute in the way he interacted with things. From eating a soup can whole, to eating ceramic like it was potato chips, and then shrugging off like it tasted bland.

To the adorable little trills of delight when they saw each other and to the squeaks of horror when Hannah somehow nearly caught him, Mason enjoyed watching. Still, he had his questions.

He wondered who were those people that attacked them, what had B-64 thrown at him that caused him to act the way he did, what really was Boson Energy? Those questions burned inside him brightly, but he let his sister have her fun. By all means, it might be the last time she gets to.

They all still had their phones, but when Mason tried to find anything about what was happening, all that came up was that dreaded "Error 404" screen. He had long since abandoned hope of finding out what happened exactly.

There were simply too many questions that were not individually important, but to Mason, he needed to know. He was like Axel in that regard, but like Marissa in the fact that he didn't absolutely need to know.

As Mason dwelled in thought against a mountain of discarded cans of soup, Hannah came running up to him crying. Her little face scrunched up as tears ran down it. Mason frowned slightly, allowing her to give him a hug.