G. Wright - Broken Things

The children had their eyes open. They did not stare blankly, but watched him in interest as he passed over them. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I have to get away. I don’t mean to.”

He heard James slide down, followed by a thud and a loud curse. “You’re only making it worse on yourself,” he called, “The more you run the more trouble you’ll be in. Do you think anyone else wants you? You’re broken. Nobody’s ever going to want a kid all torn up like that, it’s no wonder your parents threw you away.”

Josh blocked out the taunts. The other side still looked impossibly distant. He saw a slope that didn’t look too steep, and altered his path to reach it. He heard a click and hum as his pursuer charged his gun.

“I’m not going to chase you,” James said, “I will break you.”

Like Angel. He remembered her blank stare, more lifeless than these children. He stopped, and slowly, awkwardly, turned back around.

“That’s good,” James gestured with the gun, “Now walk back over here.”

Josh shook his head. He couldn’t run from him, but he couldn’t go toward him either. He looked down at the broken things, the children staring up at him. They shifted beneath him and he staggered, losing his balance and falling backward. He landed softly, in the arms of the other children.

Their hands were all over him. They rolled and moved about him, the bodies shifting and separating to pull him under. Strangely, he was no longer afraid of them. He closed his eyes as they pulled him down into their dark embrace, deeper into their numbers.

“What?” James’ disbelieving voice came through muffled. He could barely hear him as he sank deeper.

Cody and Neil reached the pit just in time to see Josh pulled down into the bodies. James ran awkwardly over the children, arms swinging and legs wide, looking strangely comical as though he’d stepped out of a cartoon as he tried to keep his balance atop the unstable mass. He dropped his tablet and device and attempted (and failed) to lift the limp bodies to dig him out.

The two watched him struggle for a minute, not saying anything. Finally Cody called out, “Hey!”

So intent on his prey, James didn’t hear him. Cody yelled two more times before he finally stopped and looked up. Sweat soaked his shirt and ran down his face, and he breathed heavily. “Go away. This doesn’t concern you!”

“I believe it does,” Cody said back, “It appears that somebody hurt my girl. What did you do to her?”

James glanced down at his gun and back at Cody. He didn’t reply but his eyes narrowed menacingly.

“I take it that means it was you. Nobody messes with my girls.”

“So what are you going to?”

“I’m thinking that nobody’s going to find you in this pit.”

James rose awkwardly and picked up the device. Cody watched him suspiciously. It had an odd shape, more like a box with a copper coil sticking out of the top of it. The front had an antenna, making it almost resemble the barrel of an old science fiction ray gun. A toggle switch poked out of the side of the box.

“What, you built a laser gun? You’re going to shoot me with that?”

James ignored the jab. “That kid with you… he friends with Josh?”

“Excuse me?”

“Two kids escaped from Kidsmith two days ago. It looks like I won’t have to return empty-handed after all.”

Neil stepped to the edge of the pit. “Screw you.”

James flipped the switch. No laser shot out. It briefly made a high pitch whine and a popping sound. Cody shook his head and laughed. “I think your toy is broken.”

“No, I think yours is.”

Next to him, Neil went limp. Before he could react, the boy’s body tipped over and dropped to the bottom of the pit. He landed upside down on top of the other bodies on the back of his neck with a sickening crunch.

“Neil!” Cody shrieked.

“He’s property of Kidsmith,” James said, walking back with as much arrogance and dignity as the bodies he walked upon would allow. “Now if you have any proof of ownership?” He waited a few seconds for an answer, but Cody was speechless with shock. “I didn’t think so. Now if you’d be so kind as to get lost, I won’t have to report you for trespassing.”

Cody weighed his options. He could go after Neil, but did the boy really matter that much to him? He valued his freedom and anonymity, and he knew of people that went to prison for his hacking… and theft… and sabotage… Hell, there were a lot of reasons he didn’t want them investigating. He decided to cut his losses. He turned and ran.

James set the EMP generator down gently next to Neil. He had one boy, and he knew where the other one was. He suspected that Josh wouldn’t be coming out any time too soon. He’d turn the location over to his superiors and be through with it. They could worry about the killer android, he’d done his part. Still, he had witnessed something that didn’t make sense. Every child was disabled before being sent to the landfill. None of them should’ve been operational.

Twenty feet away a metal ramp led out of the pit. He dragged the boy awkwardly over the bodies, each step a struggle to keep from falling. He hated carrying disabled kids, but he hadn’t planned on using the gun on them either.

He had the feeling of someone watching him. He looked up just as the killer android slid down the embankment and joined him in the pit. He dropped the kid and lost his balance. His arms flailed as he sought in vain for anything to grab onto, and fell roughly onto his back. He backpedaled in a crab crawl away from the grotesque thing.

The light of the morning sun enhanced the horrible appearance of the thing. Black stains covered its clothes, red and flaking dried blood still painted its face and hands. The EMP generator rested by its feet.

It picked up the generator and walked awkwardly toward him. Its eyes didn’t blink, its face showed no expression, yet it focused on him with an intensity that made James’ bowels release. He saw his death in the android’s eyes. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. The screen wouldn’t come on. The proximity to the electro-magnetic pulses must’ve fried it. He dropped it, scrabbling backward for another five feet, before turning over and crawling. Twice he stood up, and twice he tripped, the bodies refusing to stay steady. Were the children shifting beneath him on purpose? The ramp remained only a few feet away, but it might as well have been a mile.

The android caught up to him easily. Its unsteady gait seemed unaffected by what it walked upon. It raised the generator over its head and James collapsed, trying to shield himself with his arms. Instead of bringing it down on his head, it smashed the machine into the side of the pit, cracking open the casing and breaking off the antenna.

It let the broken machine fall, but held onto the antenna. The end had splintered into a sharp, narrow spike. With its free hand the creature reached down and grabbed him by the head. He squirmed and wiggled against the android’s vice-like grip, but it held him steady with its inconceivable might, and pushed the back of his head against the embankment.

With the other hand it held up the broken antenna for him to see.

“Hold still,” the android said..

James held still. The hand against his face immobilized him, filling his nostrils with the scent of the thing’s rot. He couldn’t blink, the android’s index finger and thumb held his left eye wide open.

He struggled, tried to twist away as the android brought the spike up to his eye. “Please,” he begged. He couldn’t find any other words, he couldn’t even scream, not until the android drove it into his eye socket.