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.
"Shh, shh. It's going to be alright. What happened?" He asked, patting her in the back. She cried into his shoulder, hugging his neck and shoulder tighty.
"I.. I fell..." She said in between sobs, finally letting go of his neck and bringing her knee up. A thin, but noticeable, scratch stretched across her small knee cap. Mason frowned, taking in his sobbing sister for another hug.
And as if he was called by the sobbing, B-64 soon emerged from his hiding spot between three large bushels of toilet paper. He looked instantly sad as he saw Hannah crying, his crescent like eyes now upside down, and the wavy mouth like into a soft frown.
Mason just sighed, patting her back as she began to calm down. Mason glanced at B-64 as he came closer, his visor displaying the english words, 'Is she okay?". He must be better at showing words on his visor than actually writing.
Mason nodded, "Yeah, she's alright. I'm guessing she fell from a table or chair." He did see her climbing literally everything during his trips to barricade everything. B-64's frown faded a little, but he still seemed sad to hear it.
B-64 stood there awkwardly, not really knowing what to do with himself since he no longer had to hide from Hannah. In truth, he was really only comfortable with Mason touching him at all, though he still held that name in his memory despite not knowing who they were, Nathan.
Producing a small sigh, B-64 sat right beside Mason. Hannah looked up, her face scrunched up and her yellow eyes red from crying, but a look of wonder and amazement soon overtook it. Hannah actually clawed to get to B-64.
B-64 somewhat cringed a little as the little body slammed in his. He could tolerate it, but it certainly wasn't what he really wanted, but he would tough through it for Mason, who seemed grateful.
Mason stared into space for a while, not really knowing what else there was for him to do. He was mostly waiting for his sister to leave B-64 alone before he asked him questions. Though even now, he was growing impatient.
Soon enough, Hannah did begin to fall asleep. She slowly crawled away from B-64,hopping down onto the cold floor, and began to walk over to Marissa again, whom she squirmed her way against, and near instantly fell asleep.
Mason chuckled at that. That was the fastest he's ever seen a kid fall asleep, besides his own time.
Sighing, Mason turned his attention to B-64. They looked at each other for a moment, and B-64 trilled and smiled, tilting his head with a light green pixelated grin and slanted eyes, looking incredibly adorable for a killing machine.
Mason grinned to, sliding his chair to face B-64, "Hey, can I ask you some questions?" There was an undertone of fear in Mason's voice, he didn't want to be intrusive, and he didn't know much about B-64's origins, or how different the customs were.
But, thankfully, B-64 smiled and grinned, nodding. Sighing in relief, Mason began to ask, "Who were those people that attacked us?" He asked, clasping his hands together and leaning in closer to B-64.
He thought for a moment, shifting his head side to side, and finally words appeared on his Visor, "Task Force. Search And Destroy." Was all that it said, though there was plenty more space on the visor.
Mason nodded, leaning back in his chair. Search and destroy, why would they do that to B-64? He asked another, this time more pointing towards B-64's own culture despite the several burning questions he had about Boson Energy, "Were they sent by your planet?"
This seemed to have made B-64 pause for a moment, as though he wasn't entirely sure of his answer, "Yes." Was all that he said, in big, green pixelated letters.
"They seemed to have powers, why is that?" Mason asked, sitting straight in his chair. From what he saw and experienced, the powers they displayed looked more like magic than any sort of technology.
B-64 answered that one rather quickly, "Boson Energy." The green letters appeared on his visor. Mason sighed, there was that word again. He needed to know what that meant, but still, he had other questions that he needed to ask. Other than the sparse explanation in the Cumberland house, he had no idea.
Now, Mason felt comfortable asking one of the questions he desperately wanted to know, 'What did you throw at me?"
B-64 seemed to sigh, his metallic and organic chest expanded and deflated with three seconds intervals, and Mason waited nearly a full two minutes before getting his explanation.
"Red Boson Disc. Has Red Boson Energy. Able To Apply Effect On Creatures." was the explanation, barely fitting on the space on B-64's Visor. Mason sighed deeply, pinching the bridge between his short muzzle and his eyes.
"Okay. What is-" But he was caught off guard by thousands of shiny bright lights penetrating through his barricade like tiny little flies.
He heard countless tiny voices and footsteps grow louder as the light level grew, the constant pounding of paws caused his heart to sink. Had the creatures found them, already?
But B-64 heard a different story, one that made his synthetic blood run colder than Uranus' temperature during its winter. And he had no idea why.
"MTF Unit Epsilon-11 'Nine-Tailed-Fox' cleared for entrance."
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By the Gods I am immature. I keep reading the second to last line like the colder than Ur Anus, and I want to die. But that's why I put it there. Factual, and juvenile. The best thing ever!
Anyways, this is the updated version of the previous chapter sixteen. A bit different, and a little better written, if I say so myself... Which I do.
I thank you for reading, and have a nice, safe day!
~Candle