David Ring III - Stanley Duncan's Robot

Dan kicked him in the side of the head, knocking him out instantly, and then continued on without even stopping. He glanced at a lit-up cell phone that had toppled from Cratos’s hands, but it didn’t look like he had called for backup.

The ground shook behind him.

Teddy was stomping on Cratos’s head.

“Stop!” shouted Dan, darting toward him.

Cratos’s face had caved in. Teddy was standing in a pool of blood — still stomping.

Dan shoved him away, meeting Teddy’s cold eyes with a firm gaze. “Was that necessary?”

“Did you want him to keep abusing androids? It’s not as if the police are going to put a stop to this anytime soon.”

“I understand what you’re saying, but it doesn’t feel right.”

“Then stop feeling, and start surviving. These guys aren’t your friends. They’re not going to change. They want to kill you, and if you don’t do anything about it, you’re going to wind up dead — and maybe even someone you care about.”

The concept hit home as Dan thought about Stanley and the dangers his high-profile campaign would bring to them. But he wondered if, as Teddy said, it was better to take a more aggressive stance — killing murderers to prevent more murder and torture. The lesser of two evils. If he wiped out the worst criminals in Marshfield, then the town would be a safer place, and his friends could live without fear. It was a complicated situation, though, and he wanted to run it through his neural nets. Undoubtedly, this was one of the issues Stanley had been so concerned about. He had the ability to rewrite his programming. So what if the Peacekeepers decided that they needed to cleanse the population to keep humans — or even cyborgs — safe?

Disoriented men struggled to stand, too slow to stop anyone from escaping.

Kicking the door to the exit open, relief swept over Dan. All the androids except for Brutus had been rescued. With Maple’s help, he’d be able to get him out of here with ease. Soon, they would all be rehabilitated, their firmware replaced, and their mutilated bodies repaired. He trusted that Teddy and Maple would be able to take care of the rest on their own.

Screams of terror punctuated the sounds of crushing skulls. Brutus was killing everything in sight.

Dan let go of the dolly. “I’ve got to do something about him, or he’ll kill everyone.”

“Forget them. They’re not worth it.”

“You’re wrong. Take this android, and then get into the van. The destination has already been set. If I’m not out in three minutes, get out of here.”

“Like I’d wait that long.”

Dan gave him one final look of disapproval before running toward Brutus, approaching him from behind. The arena champion was moving quickly, slaughtering screaming men as they struggled to stand. Dan lunged, reaching toward the back of his head to turn him off — but there was no switch.

The war-hammer came crashing down.

Twisting to his right, he barely avoided the blow. A quick follow-up punch landed at the edge of his rib cage, which would have shattered his bones had it not been for the special armor he was wearing. The war hammer was in the air again, and he barely managed to roll out of the way. Concrete exploded out of the floor.

Too drunk and disoriented to recognize the danger he was in, an older man pushed himself to his knees and then took a swig of alcohol.

“Nobody move — or you’re dead!” Dan dove for a pistol, wrenching it out of the still-warm hands of a man whose head had been crushed beyond recognition. With Brutus charging after him, Dan squeezed out a shot.

No effect.

Aiming for his neck and eyes, Dan fired shot after shot. Crushed bullets ricocheted off of Brutus’s body. Even when Dan managed to hit his eye, Brutus ripped off the flattened steel like it was a small piece of dirt — and still he ran toward him. Dan barely avoided being crushed by the war-hammer as it slammed down and impaled the dead man.

Dan backed away from the indestructible android. “Does anyone know how to stop him?” While Brutus untangled his weapon from the web of intestines, Dan ran into the torture chamber. The man he had knocked out had regained consciousness and was squirming on the floor, demanding to be untied.

Scanning the room, Dan wasn’t sure what would work against that impenetrable armor. The blowtorch could do it, but only if he could restrain him for enough time. “How do I stop Brutus?”

“You can’t.”

Dan ran his hands over a claymore. “There must be an off switch.”

“I hope you die.” The man grabbed a knife and sloppily sawed at his bindings. Blood dripped down to the floor.

“Are you serious? He’s going to kill everyone out there. All humans.”

“Screw them. As long as he gets you, too, it’ll be worth it.” With his hands free untied, the man jabbed the knife toward Dan.

Dan dodged and punched him hard in the face, knocking him out. The door burst open, and Brutus rushed in. Dan swung the claymore as hard as he could at Brutus’s neck. The giant android was unfazed, smashing the sword with his war-hammer and sending it flying across the cluttered room. Trapped into a corner, Dan’s exhausted body had little space to dodge. He wasn’t going to last another minute like this. Desperate, he grabbed a knife and tossed it at him, but it bounced off like a rubber ball. Brutus lifted the war-hammer high into the air, ready to bring it down and crush Dan in an instant.

This was it. He was going to die.

Stanley gazed down at the attentive students. None of them were afraid of him. “Dan is a—”

“Abomination,” shouted Evan, walking toward him and tapping a pair of cuffs against his hand. “And you are under arrest for the murder of Officer Michaels.”

Ever since he’d first became conscious, Dan had enjoyed life. Every step of this journey, Stanley had been there for him. Between their conversations over tea and coffee, the countless movies they watched together, and their adventures with Machines with Dreams, Dan had felt his love. He had been blessed with this opportunity, through good times and bad, but he never told Stanley how much he—

The table thumped loudly.

The rope-bound man had stumbled from the floor and was running for the hall. Brutus chased him down, tearing his arm off with one swing of his weapon and crushing his spine with a squeeze of his powerful hand. The poor man lay in a pool of blood, two sections of spine jutting out of a nauseating hole in his back.

Brutus turned toward Dan.

There was no way out. The claymore had been Dan’s best chance of fighting him off, but it had no more impact than swatting the demon-cat with a broom. A can of black spray-paint was lying on a nearby counter. Dan scanned the table and shelf tops for a lighter to make a flamethrower but found none. If he could get to the room where he’d found Teddy, he could use the blowtorch and melt Brutus’s CPU — but getting past him seemed impossible. The dented claymore was on the other side of the room. He could sprint and make one more attempt at cutting Brutus down, but it had already proven itself useless. Brutus must have a weak spot , Dan thought. That juggernaut’s eyes were tougher than steel. There was no way he was going to be able to cut through them, but maybe he didn’t have to.

Praying that it wasn’t empty, Dan grabbed the spray-paint, giving it two shakes before spraying a black mist in Brutus’s face, blackening it like death. The war-hammer crashed through a wooden shelf, exploding it into splintered pieces.

Taking a step back, Dan knocked into the counter.