(Before this chapter starts I'd like to ask all my readers to join my discord server. In the server you can talk with me, get updates on chapter releases, and even implement your own ideas into the novel!
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JR
-
The four drones walked through the empty halls of the Southern Sector. All was quiet inside the endless halls of Colony 3. N and Thad walked side by side making idle small talk, the two seemed to be getting along despite the stark contrast in their very existence. S inched closer towards Uzi as the hung back at the end of the pack.
"So Uzi, that drone, Thad, is he always this friendly?"
Uzi shrugged her shoulders.
"From what I know, yes. He seemed a lot more friendly towards you guys though."
"Weird…"
"He's probably just scared. I mean you guys were literally created to wipe out every last one of us, so you can't really blame him for being overly friendly. I wouldn't wanna piss you guys off."
"Yet you do piss me off."
Uzi rolled her eyes at the whiny disassembly drone.
"Bite me."
S twitched with annoyance.
"What does that even mean?"
"It's just something my mother always said. My dad said I'm just like her."
"Oh great, I bet your mother was a really fun person."
The female worker drone turned her head slowly towards S. She held her gaze for what felt like forever while S looked on nervously.
"My mother was a great person, S. One of you freaks killed her…"
"Wasn't me, I'd remember someone like you."
"Like who?"
Both the drones jumped slightly at N's voice. He and Thad had slowed down their pace in order for the two girls to catch up.
"Jesus N, don't scare me like that!"
"Oh, sorry Uzi!"
"I-It's fine… What do you want?"
N smiled while looking at Thad.
"Neither of us have any idea what to do!"
"What… You just, uhm…"
Uzi looked down at the map her father's co-worker had given her before.
"Well… uhhhhhh…"
S snatched the map after Uzi stuttered and mumbled for a few more seconds.
"It's literally just a circled area. How the hell did they expect us to find anything? This would take hours to search!"
Thad stood on his toes and peered at the map.
"We could split up. That might help."
Uzi snatched the map back after Thad spoke.
"No no, that isn't a good idea. That's what they always do in horror movies. Once we split up we'll slowly get picked off."
Thad thought for a moment and nodded his head.
"Why don't we split up into groups of two? One worker and one disassembly drone, that could work right?"
S frowned.
"I'm not babysitting one of you."
"Bite me! I don't need babysitting."
N scratched his head while looking at Uzi and Thad.
"You could both come with me. I don't really mind."
Thad smiled and laughed lightly.
"Heck yeah dude!"
"Fine with me."
S crossed her arms.
"Me too."
Uzi ripped off part of the map and handed it to S.
"Do you guys have like- a clock or something installed in you?"
N popped his head over Uzi's shoulder and shook his head once more.
"Yup!"
"Good good. S, meet us here in an hour okay?"
"Yeah yeah, don't be late."
"Same to you, come on, let's go guys."
Uzi walked farther down the hallway with N and Thad following closely. S was also walking slightly behind the rest of them. Uzi looked back and noticed S lurking.
"Why are you following us?"
"The hallway hasn't split up yet idiot…"
"Oh… Sorry…"
"Uh huh… Weirdo…"
Uzi growled in a low tone at S as N patted her head.
"Eassyyy girl, easy."
-
N, Thad, and Uzi went room to room searching for signs of anything. They didn't have any clue what specifically to search for, so every room was investigated for anything remotely unnatural. Besides their constant groans of boredom and sighs at the lack of evidence or anything off-putting, the only other sound filling their ears was the occasional scurrying sound of bugs in the vents,
The trio searched yet another storage room and found nothing but endless rows of boxes and darkness.
"THIS IS SO ANNOYING!!!"
Uzi slammed her fist into a pile of boxes and yelled.
"I HATE THIS!"
N and Thad looked at each other for a moment before N walked up to the angry worker drone.
"It's alright Uzi. Isn't it better we aren't finding anything? I mean you don't have that railgun, so it's better for us to find nothing, right?"
Uzi leaned her head against the disassembly drone's chest and sighed.
"I'm still mad… We've been here for over 30 minutes and have NOTHING to show for it!"
Uzi kept increasing her volume as she ranted on and on about the little random things making her boil.
"I hate these stupid hallways, these stupid empty rooms, AND THESE STUPID BOXES."
She kicked a pile of boxes over while still leaning on N. They toppled over and revealed a larger box with writing hidden behind dust.
The Absolute Solver…?
"Hey guys, look at th-… mhphff!"
N covered her mouth with his left hand. Uzi looked up at him, N wasn't looking at her. N was looking past Uzi, past Thad, and deep into the darkness. Thad was backing away slowly towards the two as he inched farther from the dark.
Uzi stopped trying to speak. She watched as N transformed his right arm into a cannon and fired a flare off into the dark.
-
Khan walked into the colony's parent teacher conference and sat down in a lone chair. His thumbs twitched as he rubbed them together while looking around. Around a dozen young worker drones filled the room with an abnormally low number of parents accompanying them. Students outnumbered parents heavily which Khan's heart stung at. He knew some of these orphans were most likely due to the recent incidents spiraling from his daughter's decisions.
He muttered under his breath while adjusting his suit's tie.
"Stupid conference…"
Many of the students talked amongst themselves while the parents did the same. In the front sat a desk with a teacher and parent talking aimlessly.
Minutes passed as Khan twiddled his fingers and tapped his foot nervously on the ground.
"Mr. Doorman?"
Uzi's teacher, a man wearing a green hard hat and circular glasses with orange eyes beaming down at a clipboard, called out to the room. Khan stood up as the fellow worker drone caught his glance. He nervously sat down in front of Uzi's teacher's desk.
Khan reached out to shake the teacher's hand.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Uzi's father."
The teacher looked at his hand for a moment before slowly shaking it. Khan could tell he wasn't much of a hand shaking person.
"Uh huh… Anyways, Uzi has been absent from class lately. Last week she brought an actual homemade RAILGUN to class. I have to ask, is everything okay at home?"
"Well… Uhm… I admit I haven't been around as much, but that isn't my fault! I have to keep working on the colony, the new door models, and I just don't have much time to spend with her!"
"Uh huh… Even in school she's-"
"She's great, I know. She's top of her class, popular, and has a great love for doors just like her old man, right?"
The teacher pinched his non-existent brow and sighed while placing both his elbows on the table and wrapping his hands to cover his mouth.
"Khan, listen, Uzi isn't doing well in class at all. She doesn't get along well with her classmates, she barely pays attention, and quite frankly I'm starting to think she's damaged."
"…"
Khan's eyes narrowed at the last part of the teacher's sentence. He inched closer in his seat.
"What…?"
Uzi's teacher, oblivious to the mood switch, cleared his throat once more.
"I believe she's damaged Mr. Doorman. It might be best if you were t-"
His sentence was cut off as Khan stood up and slammed his hands onto the table. He pulled out a wrench from his pocket and clenched it tightly while getting right up in his daughter's teacher's face.
"You listen here. You will NOT call my daughter damaged. Just because she doesn't fit into your class doesn't mean anything is wrong with her. If you insult my daughter like that one more time I will install a door on your fucking face. Got that?"
The teacher rolled his eyes.
"Uhhhh huhhh…"
Khan sat down once more and glared at the teacher.
"Anything else?"
"Well actua-"
A loud mechanical roar rang out through the hallway. The sound was distant however it was still deafening nonetheless.
What the hell was that?
The sliding door to the room opened as a female WDF worker ran in and up to Khan.
"MR. DOORMAN, THERE'S A SITUATION IN THE SOUTHERN SECTOR!"
Khan looked at the teacher before pointing at himself and the man all while glaring.
"Uh huh…"
The female WDF member ran down the hallway as Khan followed.
-
"This is soooooooooooooooooo dumbbbbbbb!"
S groaned as she walked out of yet another door. This had to have been the hundredth room she'd cleared.
"I am NEVER doing this again."
She checked the clock within her visor, 37 minutes had passed.
"You've got to be KIDDING ME!"
S slammed her foot into the door and dented it as she began beating on it with her hands next.
"I'M GONNA GO CRAZY DOING THIS!"
She groaned and stopped hammering the door. The disassembly drone began mumbling to herself as she headed for the next room.
"Stupid worker drones and their stupid endless hallways…"
Why am I even here?
She didn't care about going back to earth at all. The only thing S cared about was getting revenge on the drone that took E away from her.
"E…"
She sighed and slouched her shoulders as she whispered the deceased male disassembly drone. If he was here than searching these endless rooms would be much easier.
E always tried his best to be friends with every other disassembly drone despite the fact he never really liked all of them. Being friends with everyone just seemed like the right thing to do. E always thought it was better to be friendly. That's where he and S differed. S never wasted energy on drones who weren't in her squad, and even then she never paid much attention to her own team. They were all just people she was stuck with.
If anything, I'm glad Z is gone. I hated that little scrap bucket…
A giggle seeped out of her mouth. E probably would've gotten mad at her if he knew what she was saying.
"Too bad he won't… Not ever again…"
She sighed and kept walking.
A few more minutes passed as she cleared room after room over and over. Some rooms were small while others were massive. The difference in size and purpose made the search slightly easier. She began trying to guess what each room would look like before she went in.
Hmmmm… There's a big gap between the doors here. Let's say it's a… Storage room!
Just as she walked for the door, a loud mechanical roar rang out through the hallway. The sound was definitely distant however it was still incredibly loud.
It physically shook S's body slightly as she shook herself out of the shock. Her feet began to glide along the floor as she ran towards the sound.
What the hell did those three find!?
-
The flare shot deep into the storage room. It seemed to go deeper and deeper. Uzi had no idea the storage room was so big. Once the flare finally started to emit light, Uzi opened her mouth in shock. What seemed like hundreds of yards long of wires moved in sync behind the endless piles of boxes. The wires formed together like a never ending centipede. Uzi hugged N's side slightly out of fear as the disassembly drone began to quiver slightly.
Thad's body froze in fear as he looked up and saw the monster. He tried to speak, but the only noise coming from Thad's mouth was a stutter and whine.
Uzi whispered to N as the three drones remained frozen.
"Is that a d-disassembly drone?"
N shook his head and whispered back.
"I have no idea… I don't really have a clue what I am…"
The female worker opened her mouth to speak again, but she closed it instantly as a small robotic hand extended from the shadows and crawled towards the trio. The hand was definitely part of the monstrosity hiding deeper in the large storage room considering the long wired arm connecting to the pale robotic hand.
The hand crawled towards Thad using its tiny fingers like legs. He tried to back away quietly and quickly, but his ankle was gripped tightly by the end. Thad looked back at N and Uzi with a silent plea for help spread obviously on his visor.
His body collapsed to the floor as the hand began to retract itself while dragging Thad along the floor. Before his body was dragged into the darkness, a sharp star-like object was thrown his way and cut the wired arm off.
"You have ninja stars N!? I want a ninja star!"
Uzi whined as N smiled while flaunting his weapons. A large wired tendril shot out from the darkness and slammed N and Uzi against the wall. Thad scrambled to his feet however he was quickly dragged back down as two more hands escaped the dark and hooked onto each of his legs. The second the hands grabbed Thad, they dug into his legs and forced oil to leak out from his lower body.
"NO NO NO!"
Thad tried clawing at the floor to no avail as he was pulled off into the darkness. The monster took hold of him and began darting through one of the many exit doors inside the room. It raced down the halls as the two remaining drones watched.
A loud mechanical roar rang out through the hallway as the creature dashed through it. N and Uzi both clutched their ears as the sound made them shake uncontrollably and writhe in agony at the sheer volume of the screech.
"AGH-…"
Both the drones shook in pain for a few moments as their audio sensors began beating like druns. Uzi groaned and banged her hand against her head.
"Ughhh… What the heck was that…"
Uzi rubbed her head as she laid on top of N. He stuck both his hands up as they turned into chainsaws. She looked on in awe at the spinning chainsaw hands of the disassembly drone.
N smirked and stood up.
"Chainsaw hands?"
Uzi smiled.
"Hell yeah!"
The duo began chasing the centipede-like monster as it decimated the hallways it traversed. Every step they took seemed to put them closer and closer towards catching the beast. Uzi could still feel her sensors ringing out as they dashed down the halls.
Eventually they rounded a corner and saw Thad sprawled out on the ground with oil leaking from multiple spots on his upper body.
"THAD!"
Uzi opened her mouth and rushed over to the male worker drone. She knelt down and turned him over. An error code was strung across his visor as Uzi's mechanical heart dropped.
"T-Thad…"
N walked over and knelt beside the drone. He felt sad despite not knowing the drone for too long.
Uzi closed her eyes and clenched her fist.
"Thad… I-… I'm sorry…"
A familiar female voice yelled from where the duo had come from. Her voice was both confused and concerned.
"MOVE IDIOTS!"
N and Uzi instinctively backed away. N propelled himself to the side with his wings while Uzi kicked off the floor and hugged the wall she collided with. Neither of them had any idea what was going on.
S dashed past them and swung her blades. Uzi watched as dozens of wired tendrils were cut mere feet away from where she'd been a moment earlier. S kept slashing as more and more tendrils invaded the hallway.
N started up his chainsaw hands once more and rushed at the tendrils. He spun through them with such speed that Uzi could barely follow.
S and N both backed up towards Uzi as Thad's body glitched and vanished. All three of them looked confused as the worker's body faded away.
"What the hell did you guys do? What made that screech?"
S's voice was frantic as she looked around the hallway. More scurrying could be heard in the vents as a camera with a yellow light in the center imitating an eye peered down from the vents.
"Annoyed glance…"
S, N, and Uzi all looked up in shock at the camera as it seemed to roll its singular eye at them. Uzi stepped forward and squeezed between the two disassembly drones.
"What the hell are you?"
The camera stared at Uzi's face for a moment and then angled down to her stomach area. Its eye widened slightly before retracting back into the vent.
Rough shaking caused the three to stumble as the entire hallway seemed to move. Only a second had passed before dozens of wired tendrils poured out of the vents in the hallway. Uzi couldn't believe how many wired tendrils there were. She was no longer as confident as she'd once been. There were far too many tendrils for the two disassembly drones in front of her to slice away.
After all the tendrils seemed to cease pouring out of the vent, 5 cameras identical to the one that'd peeked out before slowly peered out. Following behind the cameras was a drone's head. The head was nearly entirely gone. All that remained was the outer shell and the white pony tail sticking out of the back of the drone's head.
Uzi turned and saw S shaking in fear and concern while N was staring confused at the drone head .
S hesitated to speak.
"Q… I-Is that you…?"