Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Escape from Sol City

Chapter 9

Escape from Sol City

THIRTY MINUTES AGO

“I’m up, I’m up!” Alex fell off the couch he’d fallen asleep on earlier. His legs tangled in some kind of a soft fabric.

A blanket?

“Stop the noise!” Alex shouted from the floor, cupping both his ears and struggling to make himself heard over the raging alarms.

The alarms suddenly went quiet.

“Okay,” came a robotic voice from every speaker in the room; and there were several. “Maybe this time you’re finally up.”

“I was up a full minute ago!” said Alex, scuffling on the floor to free his legs from the blanket.

“False,” said Clark. “This is actually my second attempt at waking you. I misunderstood what it means to be fully awake for a human. So I added in the extra boost.”

The robot blob from earlier bounced toward Alex and hopped onto his belly. He then shot Alex with red laser beams emitted from its… eyes.

Alex flinched as the blob scanned his face and eyes. It tilted its head like a curious puppy when he was done, and then unwrapped the blanket from around Alex’s legs in a swift spiral movement, before pulling it off him.

Alex was finally on his feet. “No more extra boosts,” he told Clark. “No more extra boosts, ever.”

“Are you sure? Even the threat of unleashing the sprinklers didn’t do the trick before.”

“Just a gentle nudge is fine, dude.”

“Got it,” said the robot superhero firmly, in his distinct AI voice but human tone.

Alex tried to remember the weird dream he was in, but it was now nothing but a blur. Come to think of it, when had he fallen asleep?

And where was he?

It took a moment for Alex to recall yesterday’s events. His whole body still ached, but his head felt like he’d had the best sleep in years.

Why would he feel so much at ease here? At a stranger’s place?

To be precise: At a mysterious AI superhero’s secret lair in the woods, who seemed to have spawned on Earth out of nothingness only three years ago.

Or he might just be an alien cybernetic being from outer space with some form of amnesia that only affected silicon-based life forms.

Shit, thought Alex. Can that actually be true?

If not that, then… someone must have created him…

He still had so many questions.

“We are in somewhat of an emergency.” Clark’s voice now came only through the speaker close to Alex. “Don’t want to cause you any panic though, but… must hurry.”

“What emergency?” Alex’s eyes widened. “Demons?”

“No, no.” Clark paused before continuing. “I mean it could be. We just don’t know.”

“What are we doing then? Let’s bolt!”

“See this is the panic I was trying to avoid.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“The blips!” said Clark. “I showed it to you the last time, remember? See this.” A small LCD screen popped out of the six-monitor set up that this robot had going on for himself, suspended upon a mechanical arm. The screen was shoved at Alex’s face, only stopping inches away from his nose. “It’s the mutagens. On the run!”

“The mutagens…” It slowly came back to Alex. “How can they be on the run?”

“Someone’s carrying them,” said Clark. “Someone in trouble.”

Alex shifted uncomfortably. He didn’t like where this was going. “How do you know they’re in trouble?”

“I sent a drone after them,” said Clark, “as soon as I received the energy signatures emitted from the city. I’ve had those mutagens with me a long time. I know exactly what their radiation feels like.”

“I don’t doubt that…,” said Alex.

“So? Let’s go!”

Alex felt like his head was being crushed from all sides. He tried sitting down on the couch, but sprang back up in half a minute, before bolting out the mansion’s door which opened for him automatically.

“Absolutely love the enthusiasm!” came Clark’s voice through the speakers inside the house. “But you’re missing a few details!”

Part of him just wanted to keep walking and not look back.

But did he really have it in him to turn his back on the person—nay, the machine—who’d saved his life?

Alex stopped a few meters away from the mansion. He stared at the trees in the distance and took a deep breath of fresh air. A scurrying sound from behind made him turn around.

The robot blob rolled out of the main door in the shape of a small remote-controlled vehicle. It was a monster truck that carried what seemed like a smartwatch in its open trunk.

A blue ball appeared on the screen of the smartwatch, which waxed and waned following the frequencies of Clark’s voice. “Okay, we’re set! Let’s go.”

The RC truck wagged its back antenna excitedly.

Alex sighed. “Look guys... I can’t do this.”

The antenna-wagging ceased.

“Why not?” Clark asked simply. “I’ve tried to understand but I just don’t. I mean, it has to be because of some past trauma, surely. But why should your past affect your future?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Why not?” Clark sounded offended. “Because I’m a machine, right? Because I’m artificial?”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I might as well be manufactured,” Clark continued, “but I care a whole lot more about those kids than you do.”

“Kids?”

“Kids. One’s a young woman, roughly your age. She’s scared out of her mind but she’s trying her best to be brave for her brother, who is significantly younger, and weaker. I know they’re related because I scanned their irises.”

Alex was impressed knowing that he could do that using nothing but a drone.

“They’ll die if we don’t act,” Clark finished.

Alex ran his fingers through his hair. A few seconds passed in silence.

“It’s not like I don’t care,” said Alex. “In fact, it’s precisely why I don’t want them to get hurt that I would rather not get involved.”

Clark’s blue circle squeezed in the shape of furrowed eyebrows. “How does that make sense?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

Alex struggled to get the words out as past memories weighed down upon him.

“I am cursed!” he told Clark. “I’ve known it since I was a child. I thought it was nothing but superstitious horseshit at first and got on with my life. I tried to be the best version of myself, help those in need, do the right thing… But, after all, I was just pretending, wasn’t I? Trying to bring to life a misguided childhood fantasy. A futile struggle against destiny.

“I received a brutal reminder of what I really am soon enough. Ever since that night… well, let’s just say I never pretended again.”

Perhaps for the first time ever, Clark was at a loss for words. The RC truck squirmed like a puppy.

“Alex,” Clark began. “I don’t know what happened with you, and perhaps the human psyche would forever be out of my reach, but… All I can do is tell you the facts of the situation. And the rest is up to you.

“They are two innocent human lives being chased across a demon-infested ghost town by a gang of criminals. If we don’t save them, they die. If the thugs get to them before we do, they also get the mutagens, and more innocents will die.

“They’re almost out of strength and time. Which means, if we don’t move now, they die.”

Alex shook his head. His heart felt heavier than the world. “I wish I was the hero you need me to be.”

“But you are not, and that’s okay!” Clark was now pleading. “Don’t be mistaken, Alex. You are not the hero of this story and you don’t have to be. But I do!”

Clark paused. He said the next words as though with great pain. “I’ve lost my body. I cannot get to them by myself. The only one who can help me save them is you.

“I’m not asking you to go out there and pretend to be the hero. That’s my job. All I want you to do is get me there. Whatever power you think your curse will have over this situation if you get involved, I promise you, I can overcome it. I am stronger than that. I have to be! Even as a measly smartwatch.”

Alex, once again, was moved by Clark’s resolve. “Why are you so determined to save them? You don’t even know them.”

“It is my only mission,” said Clark. “The only promise I made: To protect all life on Earth. And I will fulfill it no matter what.”

Alex closed his eyes.

“Time’s running out,” said Clark. “If we don’t move, they’re dead anyway! At least with us there, there is a chance—”

“Okay,” said Alex. “I understand you have no one else. And I owe you this much for saving my life. But I do this for you this one time. After that, I’m out.”

The robot RC truck-puppy lit up with energy. Clark’s blue circle-face curved into a smile. “Thank you!” he said.

Alex went inside the mansion and grabbed a leather backpack hanging near the entrance door. Alex was momentarily confused as to why would someone like Clark have this, but decided to ask him later. Once back out, he began readying his bike, but then—

“That won’t do,” said Clark and the RC truck barked. “There’s a military blockade.”

“A what now?”

“The army’s secured a perimeter around the city,” Clark explained. “They’ve sealed it off.”

“That’s crazy! What about the demons?”

“No signs of them now as far as I can tell,” said Clark, “since The Chancellor left. But there have been some conflicting reports… unsubstantiated claims by survivors inside. The news media, however, is denying all claims of demon sightings unequivocally.”

Alex couldn’t believe it. “How can they? There has to be video evidence, right?”

“No live broadcast went out once the red lightning was up,” said Clark. “Which makes sense—the energy from the gate must have been what disrupted all communications.”

“So they were opening a portal!”

“Yes… I thought I told you that already. Anyway, focus, Alex.”

“What about recordings? Photos and videos from mobile phones?”

“The EMP blast that followed the Cyber-demon’s exit wiped everything. No electronic devices survived, except maybe the most basic ones like your handheld radio transmitter, which can’t record video and has no storage of its own anyway.”

“Why would the EMP wave affect different devices differently?”

“I don’t know, Alex,” said Clark in a mysterious voice. “I just know that the ‘smarter’ devices would naturally be more responsive to that wave. It had a sort of sophistication to it. I’m finding it… difficult to explain to a carbon life form such as yourself.”

“Interesting,” said Alex. “And don’t worry, I took no offence,” he said sarcastically.

“I didn’t intend any.”

Alex tried to wrap his head around everything he’d just heard. “So they chose to not believe their own people and lock them in a city that might still be sprawling with demons.”

He was fuming. He realized that the military convoy he’d seen approaching the north exit weren’t there to assist with support and rescue, as he’d previously thought. They were moving in to block the exit. Clark and he were lucky to have gotten out just in time.

“This is madness,” Alex breathed. “How do we get in then?”

“I know this may sound out of context but it’s not,” began Clark. “Have you taken paragliding lessons?”

“I don’t like where this is going,” said Alex.

The RC truck pointed a laser at what seemed like a fancy garage door. “In there you’ll find a KX-16 glider, modified by yours truly, of course,” said Clark.

“A what now?”

“Just go open it.”

The garage door also opened automatically as Alex approached it. He found a high-tech glider hanging on the wall of the garage, amongst various other gadgets the likes of which he’d never seen before. In the middle of the garage, however, there was a vehicle that could not be from this century.

It had sleek design with what looked like tough armor padding on the sides. Something that looked like a long barrel of a rail gun, or a futuristic cannon, was installed on top. There was no windshield or glass windows so Alex couldn’t see the interiors. It probably wasn’t designed for human drivers. But what the hell was it?

Was it a car? Or a battle tank? Or something akin to the Batmobile?

Was Clark in fact Batman?

“When are we taking that one out?” blurted an awestruck Alex.

Clark scoffed. “Oh yeah he’ll come around,” he said to his robot pet as though in response to something it said that only Clark could hear.

“It talks?” Alex asked him.

“Hell yeah he talks,” said Clark and the RC truck woofed. “Grab the glider, quickly. We’re running out of time.”

Alex took the glider out of the garage and placed it on the side of the cliff. He then asked Clark, “Do you know of any apple trees nearby? Or any fruit?”

“What for?”

“I just… quickly want to grab something. They must be hungry.”

Clark was a pleasant blue circle now. “See? This is why I need you. Human hunger would’ve never crossed my mind.”

“That’s probably because you don’t have to eat,” said Alex. “Wait, do you?”

“No, Alex. We don’t need food. Just the electricity is enough.”

***

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Alex stood on the edge of the cliff behind Clark’s mansion that overlooked Sol City.

The cold winter breeze was strong here. In the distance, he could see the grey clouds still hovering over Sol City. They should have cleared after the lightning tower was taken out by Clark, but that wasn’t the case.

The city looked nothing like it used to, even from this distance. There was a strange, dark aura surrounding it now, of death, and of beauty lost.

The city needed someone like Clark. Now more than ever.

Alex glanced over the edge. His knees began to quiver, perhaps not entirely because of the cold breeze.

“You never answered my question,” came Clark’s voice from the smartwatch, now worn by Alex on his left hand. “Have you done this before?”

“Once,” said Alex. “With a trained instructor.”

“Good,” said Clark. “That should be enough experience.”

Alex gulped. “It doesn’t look like we’ve got a lot of room,” he said looking at the tall trees at the base of the cliff. “The drop’s too short.”

“Don’t worry,” said Clark. “I told you the glider’s modified. It’s got a small boost mechanism that should provide lift even with such little room.”

“Should?”

“Will. Definitely will.” Clark cleared his virtual throat. “It’s also got a state-of-the-art cloaking device that should hide us from all the usual shenanigans.”

“Why do you have something like this lying around? You can just fly.”

Clark paused. “I’ll tell you all about it in good time. Now, time to jump.”

Alex made sure the straps were tight. His backpack was also secured well, which now carried the robot blob and an assortment of fruits that it had managed to gather in less than a minute.

Guess there was nothing left to do but—

“You know what,” said Alex, “let me quickly check whether my insurance is activ—ahh!”

The smartwatch zapped his body with a strong electric current which made him lose balance and fall off. As he dropped straight down—wind gushing through his open mouth and hair—the flaps of the glider opened wide and the part over Alex’s back burned hot, spewing out the rocket boost that Clark mentioned earlier.

“Keep your legs straight or they’ll burn!” came Clark’s barely audible voice.

“I needed that instruction much earlier!” Alex yelled.

The rocket boost was enough to stabilize their fall, and they soon achieved flight.

“You are so out of the circle of trust!” Alex said to Clark.

“What?” Clark was appalled. “I read it on your internet that sometimes young men just need a little push.”

“This is not what it was referring to!”

“Steady, steady! Keep your body still we’re almost there.”

With the combination of the dense foliage around the north exit and whatever cloaking devices the glider employed, they were able to glide over the military blockade undetected.

So it was true… Somewhere he hadn’t fully believed that the military would’ve done something like this against its own people. But now, he could see it with his own eyes.

“They should be ashamed of themselves,” said Alex.

“They’re just following orders,” said Clark.

“The government’s in on this?”

“Yes,” said Clark. “It’s all over the news. They think it’s a virus.”

“How did a virus shoot a massive red bolt of lightning in the sky?”

“They think it’s a virus… that causes hallucinations.”

“My god!” Alex couldn’t believe it.

“Go easy on them, Alex,” said Clark. “They don’t know what I know.”

“Guess we need a polaroid selfie with The Chancellor the next time around.”

Clark chuckled. “Land over there.”

Alex lowered the glider toward the rooftop of a small, one-storey building, which was being laser-targeted by the robot blob. As they approached their landing zone, Alex could see the fallout from all the destruction from yesterday up close.

The strange red hue still permeated the city, mixed with the orange glow from all the fires. The main streets were sprawling with people camping around dumpster-fires or cowering inside tents. Alex had previously believed that most residents and Founding Day tourists had been able to get out safely. But with the army blocking all exits, who knew how many were stuck inside now.

Alex focused on the rooftop as they got closer. He thought they were coming in too fast, but the glider made some auto-adjustments with the on-board rocket booster just in time to stabilize their descent.

Alex was impressed. But more importantly, relieved.

“Steady now,” said Clark.

Instead of crash landing onto a strange rooftop, he was able to land gracefully on his own two feet.

Alex quickly unstrapped the glider and clung to a wall to regain his sense of balance.

It wasn’t too bad though. He could do it again.

“Do it,” came Clark’s voice.

The robot blob shot its long, slender neck out of Alex’s backpack and turned its head toward the glider. Its eyes glowed red.

The next second, the glider was blasted with an intense laser beam, and burst into flames.

“Why?!” asked Alex, confused.

“Can’t leave evidence behind,” Clark explained.

“We could have used that to get back out of here!”

“Not possible,” said Clark. “The rocket booster is nowhere near as strong to launch both you and the two others we’re about to rescue over the military blockade. Moreover, I don’t know if we’ll be back here again.”

Alex felt sad to lose a gadget he’d just met.

“Come on,” said Clark. “We’re very close. Get down to the street and jump over that wall. They seemed to have halted there to rest. Perfect time to go introduce ourselves, don’t you think?”

“You’re asking me?”

“Of course I’m asking you. I have never broken ice with a human before. Well, except with you.”

Alex found the corners of his lips twitch a little. “You’ll do fine,” he said to Clark.

They used the fire-escape to get down to the street. Alex scurried across the street and disappeared into the low bushes, which he had to get through to reach the wall.

As Alex struggled to pass through the thick foliage, Clark suddenly said, “Alex, stop!”

“Wha—?”

BANG!

Alex knew what this sound was. He would recognize it forever.

Gunfire.

“There’s a man at the alley entrance,” said Clark. “He’s holding them at gunpoint.”

“Can’t you take him out with the drone?”

“It’s not that kind of a drone. Climb the wall, Alex. Hurry!”

“I’m trying!”

Alex didn’t care if the sharp branches cut through his clothes and skin anymore. He’d found a sudden, surprising burst of energy and determination.

He wasn’t going to let this happen again.

Alex finally managed to reach the wall. He put a foot on the side of the wall and shoved his fingers into the cracked bricks. He was about to launch himself upwards, but then—

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Alex could feel the chill creep into his bones.

Four more shots?

Was he already too late?

Why did it always come to this?

Of course, he knew the answer to that.

But still, he must hurry. There may still be a chance.

He grabbed the ledge and pulled himself up into a crouch atop the edge of the wall.

A short young boy stood in the middle of the alleyway close to Alex. He had golden blond hair and he was bent forward in an awkward angle. On his right, behind a large dumpster, was a young woman on her knees with both her hands covering her open mouth as she watched the bent young man in horror. Tears rolled down her cheeks from bloodshot eyes.

Dammit. He was too late.

He lifted his head to look at their assailant. A tall man in a purple jacket; he held a long-barreled silver revolver pointed at the young boy, with smoke coming out of its muzzle.

The assailant, however, was quivering in fear.

Why?

The robot blob popped its head out of Alex’s backpack to look. Maybe it planned to decimate the gunman with his powerful eye lasers.

This grabbed the spooked gunman’s attention. He slowly raised his head up and spotted Alex.

Shit. He must find cover!

But instead of shooting, the gunman screamed, “DEMON!” before spinning around and bolting out of the alley.

The young boy slowly turned around to first look at the woman, then he saw Alex.

Alex was surprised to find him still on his feet.

Maybe there’s a chance to save him still!

The boy’s knees gave away and he collapsed on the ground. His body motionless.

“No!” screamed the woman behind the dumpster.

There’s still time, thought Alex. If he was standing after five revolver shots, there’s definitely still time. Perhaps a few of them never hit him.

Alex dropped to the ground close to the boy. But as soon as he did—

“Nooo!” the woman screeched once again. “You stay away from him!” She scuffled around her and picked up what looked like a small iron rod. “You stay away from his body!”

Her hands shook uncontrollably as she pointed the rod at Alex, so did her body. Her eyes were puffy and glowing red, now partially covered by her long, dark blonde hair which had flown forward, was so messy and dirty that it was almost black.

These guys had been through a lot.

“We are not demons,” came Clark’s robotic voice through the smartwatch. “Please refrain from hostility.”

“What the fuck is that?!” the woman yelled.

“Clark, quiet,” Alex whispered.

“Who the fuck are you?!” the woman aimed the rod at Alex like a gun. “Answer me or I swear I’ll split you open.”

“We’re not here to hurt you,” said Alex with his hands up and palms open. “We’re here to help.”

“What are you?” the woman asked.

“I’m Alex,” he responded, confused. “I’m a… human. Just like you.”

“Bullshit,” said the woman. “You’ve got a second neck sticking out of your back. You’re a spirit, aren’t you? The grim reaper… from the nether realm?”

“What? No—”

“You’ve got two seconds to answer.”

“No! Please, listen to me. I’m here to help. Please let me check on your brother, he might still be alive.”

The woman’s face turned horridly suspicious. “How do you know he’s my brother?”

She needed no further questioning. Convinced that Alex was the personification of death, the woman swung the iron rod at Alex to keep him away from her brother’s body.

Maybe in her shocked, desperate state, she believed that she could keep her brother alive if she could just keep the grim reaper from taking his body.

Alex needed to find a way to quickly restrain her, or it might be too late for her brother.

“Blob, get her!” He nudged the bottom of his backpack and the robot blob shot out. It spread his liquid-metal body into a wide, gooey net and trapped the woman inside it.

Once caught in the net, she briefly struggled to free herself but soon dropped to the ground on her butt because of the weight of the net. Her iron rod was completely powerless against the blob’s high-tech metal, which had now expanded and solidified into a cage.

Alex calmed his breath. “You couldn’t command him to do this before she took a swing at me, huh?” he said to Clark.

“Hey, you told me to stay out of it,” said Clark. “Besides, I thought you had it under control.”

“Get me out of here!” the woman screamed at Alex, striking the cage repeatedly with her iron rod.

“I’m sorry,” he said to her. “I wouldn’t resort to this if it wasn’t an emergency.”

Alex rushed to the boy’s body to check for a pulse.

Seeing that, the woman yelled “Don’t you touch him!” once again.

Alex touched the boy’s neck, hoping and praying.

Yes. There was a pulse.

“Clark, he’s alive,” said Alex. “I don’t know how, but he is.”

The woman stopped her tantrum.

“We need to take him,” said Clark, “back to the mansion.”

“I can contact Dan again,” said Alex. “The one who was following you around. He’s got a mobile EMT with him.”

“No!” said Clark. “No government. It’s too risky—”

Clang! She struck the cage with her iron rod once again. “You’re not taking him anywhere!”

Alex rushed to her side and knelt down. “Listen to me,” he said, as calmly and softly as he could. “We’re not here to hurt you, I promise you. I’m not some shinigami from some death realm—”

“How do you know they’re called shinigamis?!”

“I’ve watched just as much anime as you!” Alex shouted momentarily losing his cool before calming down again. “Now listen. Your brother… he was shot, multiple times, but I don’t see any bullet holes, or blood. Yet he’s still injured, somehow, so I don’t know what they shot him with. He needs special help, and he’s not gonna get it here. Here, look.” Alex opened his backpack to show her the fruits. “We’ve got food. And medicine. Both things you guys desperately need. So please, let us help you. I don’t know how much time your brother’s got left.”

The woman seemed to be calming down. News that her brother was alive and need of help seemed to have done the trick.

“Okay,” she said, dropping the iron rod. “Okay.”

“Okay,” said Alex, still treading cautiously. “Blob lift the cage.”

The robot didn’t budge.

“Clark?” Alex looked at him.

“It’s okay, buddy,” said Clark. “We can trust him with this.”

The blob slowly lifted the cage off. The rods contracted into a floating ball of metal hovering over the woman, which then dropped to her side, making her shriek.

“Relax,” said Alex. “He’s a friend.”

“He’s a spirit monster too,” said the woman. “But that’s okay. I can see now that you’re here to help.”

“He’s a robot,” said Alex. “And thank you. Now let’s get out of here.”

“How?” asked the woman. “We can’t just walk out of the city. You’ll have to cast one of your spells to teleport us.”

“Again, I’m just a human being,” said Alex.

“So we’re actually walking out?”

“I don’t know,” said Alex. How were they going to get past the military blockade?

“Don’t tell me you waltzed in here without an exit plan.”

“I’m thinking, alright?” Alex looked to his watch that had gone dark. “Clark?”

The watch flashed blue again. “Yeah, sorry about that,” came Clark’s voice. “While you two were fraternizing, I hopped into my drone and scouted the border. There is a way out. Same way we went out the last time.”

“The north exit? I saw them barricade it earlier.”

“Our path’s not through the streets,” said Clark. “It’s through the jungle.”

“Okay,” said Alex and walked over to the young boy’s unconscious body. In one fell swoop, he lifted him up into his arms. The boy was surprisingly light.

The woman didn’t seem to mind. She seemed to have fully calmed down.

Alex didn’t blame her for reacting the way she did. After all, she just saw her brother get shot right in front of her.

Five times.

How was he alive after five shots?

“Thank you,” the woman said to Alex with an extremely faint twitch at the corner of her lips. “I’m Lucy, by the way,” she said. “And I don’t watch anime.”

Alex nodded. “Let’s go.”

***

They made their way around the block as quietly as possible.

A man carrying a young boy in his arms with a frantic-looking woman by his side would’ve seemed completely out of the ordinary three days ago.

But now, they perfectly blended in.

Alex told Clark to stay dim and the robot blob to remain hidden inside the backpack. They crossed a few mean-looking guys who eyed them suspiciously, but encountered no resistance. Alex had purposefully chosen a busy street. The chances of a gang of hooligans cornering them in a dark alley were slim here.

It was steadily getting darker now, even though it was barely 5 pm. They must hurry if they were to cross the forest on foot before dark.

Luckily, they were able to slip past the crowd without any awkward or weird encounters.

While on the road leading to the north exit, they took the left turn into the woods much earlier than before. Any later, and there was a risk of the military spotting them.

They walked a couple miles through the dense forest in silence. Clark emitted a dim torch through the smartphone to help Alex and Lucy find their way in the swiftly-approaching dark.

Soon, they were on the edge.

The perimeter so deep through the woods was secured with nothing but a barbed wire.

“That’s it?” said Lucy. “We jump through here and we’re out? How come more people don’t know about this?”

“We can’t jump over it,” said Alex. “But yeah, anyone with bolt cutters could easily break through.”

“Then why don’t we see a fucking crowd here trying to breach through en masse?”

They got their answers soon enough.

A little farther in the dark, there were two torchlights wriggling around in an unnatural fashion, aimed toward each other from opposite sides.

Alex calmly observed with squinted eyes. He spotted two actual robot dogs patrolling the terrain just beyond the barbed wire, with bright light cones beaming out of their heads. They were as tall as a German shepherd, or perhaps a Great Dane.

Alex blood curdled. He’d seen these machines on random YouTube videos for years; not to mention, also on a terrifying episode of a horror web serial as well. They’d been in development for a while now, and their military applications were obviously heavily debated.

Alex didn’t know that the debate had already been settled behind the scenes.

“So this is why no one’s dared come here,” said Lucy.

“No need for human patrols on rough terrain if you’ve got killer robot dogs,” said Alex.

“What now?” Lucy breathed.

Clark’s light suddenly began to wax and wane again. “Relax, I got this.”

The drone that belonged to Clark spawned into view above them.

“I thought you said it’s not that kind of drone,” said Alex.

“Sssshh,” said Clark. “Just let me concentrate. It takes a bit of focus sometimes.”

Alex imagined Clark shutting his virtual eyes. The drone above them fired two targeting lasers at each of the robot dogs.

The dogs seemed to have noticed. Immediately, their white flashlight cones turned red. Their heads turned toward Alex and the others, and the dogs began to charge.

“Clark!” Alex gasped.

“Relax,” said Clark. “I’m delivering a payload via laser beams. It sometimes takes a while!”

The dogs jumped over the barbed wire with graceful ease.

Lucy tripped on a rock while backing and fell down once again. She clasped both her hands to her mouth to stop her from screaming.

Alex knew there was no outrunning them. “Clark, if it’s gonna happen, it has to happen now!”

“Just one second!” Clark’s voice conveyed that he was struggling. The drone above them was now whirring loudly.

Then came Clark’s voice once again, this time, as calm as water, “Humanity’s over-reliance on technology is a great weakness, after all.”

The metal dogs had pounced already, but their flashlights went out mid-air. Alex and Lucy spread apart, and the two dogs crash landed in the space between them, one beside the other.

“I almost… died… of a heart attack,” said Lucy, panting. “As though demons from the nether realm weren’t enough… we’ve been manufacturing… unfathomable horrors of our own.”

Alex clutched his chest as well.

“Good work, little clock,” said Lucy, nodding at Alex’s wrist.

“The name’s Clark, dear lady,” the smartwatch replied. “And it’s my pleasure to have finally made your acquaintance.”

“Just Lucy is fine,” she replied with a faint blush. “And you can drop the formal tone.”

“Come on,” said Alex as Lucy sprang back to her feet. “We don’t need bolt cutters for this one, do we?” he said pointing at the barbed wire.

“Nonsense,” said Clark.

Instantly, the robot blob bounced out of Alex’s backpack and took shape of a futuristic gun. He fired two beams of high-intensity laser and made two clean cuts at a fair distance apart on the barbed wire, creating a gateway.

“Okay, so he can do just about anything, huh?” said Lucy, still eyeing the robot blob suspiciously. The blob felt her gaze and woofed at her like an overjoyed puppy.

“He thinks he’s a dog,” Alex explained in a whisper.

“Aiden would’ve absolutely loved him,” she said. “I mean… he still will…”

She stared at her feet and fell awkwardly silent.

“Come on,” said Alex. “We should hurry.”

They walked up to the perimeter and carefully stepped past the gap in the barbed wire. Alex looked back at the cut cross-section of the wire and said to Clark, “What happened to not leaving behind evidence?”

The robot blob fetched the cross-section and rolled it back into place. He then welded them in place.

Alex nodded, impressed. “And what about the robot dogs?”

“Wiped and replaced their memories already,” said Clark. “They’ll wake up with a digital headache.”

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