"Ever wonder how difficult it is to manage human thoughts? Emotions?"

*

Out of all the androids in the street, the only one who looked at Mary's car as she slammed her foot down on the gas, was the droid with the gun. He pointed it at us, fired, and shattered the back window. Mary screamed, face pressed against the steering wheel. But I grabbed it, kept it steady. I made sure she didn't stop.

"Peter!" Wendy cried in my ear, never hanging up the call.

"Javi!" Mary shrieked beside me.

I looked at her before I looked back out the front window. Androids were everywhere. They ran out onto front lawns, in the streets. Some met the front of Mary's car. Because she didn't stop. I wouldn't let her.

"Keep driving, Mary," I said, voice calm. "Don't brake. Don't lift your foot."

An Android jumped out in front of the car, and landed on the hood, hands grasping at the sides to keep steady as we floored it. Mary screamed and pressed herself back against her seat. Even I jumped but kept my hands on the wheel. Yet, with it right in front of us, I was able to look at it.

It, and its bright red eyes.

Like Rory...

Its mouth opened, but no words left it. Just noise. Like broken feedback.

Wincing, I forced the steering wheel to the left, then the right. It held on tight. Its fingers dug into the sides, leaving dents in the car's frame. We locked eyes again, it's red to my brown. And I bared my teeth, growling.

"Javi!" Wendy screeched in my ear. Bangs sounded around her. What sounded like desks, like chairs, slid across a floor as I heard her whimper and hurry away. A pressure built in my chest and all I saw was red as I listened to her. "They're here! They're in here!"

Data upload failed. Reconnecting sensors. Retry?

With one hand still on the wheel, I reached over and gripped it with the other. Mary's head shot up, eyes wide, but I didn't look at her. I kept my face forward, at the droid who didn't let go. To Mary, I said, "Hold on tight."

To the droid out front, I shook my head. It reached its hand forward, fingers outstretched to the glass. The moment it let go, I forced the steering wheel to the far left, forcing the car into a sharp turn. Two tires lifted. The car cried in protest.

The droid struggled. Lost its grip. Its eyes widened as it slid off the hood, down onto the street, and when it crashed and rolled, I looked back. I watched its skin break, rip, and reveal the blue mechanics within. It lifted its injured head just before we were out of view, and I caught the bright stare one more time.

A chill shot up through my spine when Mary regained control of the car, openly crying as she shook her head. And once we were a block away, she lifted her foot, shaking all over. I didn't say anything as I gently pushed her out of the front and into the back seat, all while the car continued on a slow roll. Her foot lifted off the gas pedal and mine replaced it; her hands moved away, mine took its place. At ten and two, I gripped the wheel and looked ahead, at the empty streets that echoed with its own unnatural calm.

"Wendy?" I pressed down on the gas and pushed the car forward faster than it could recover. The tires screeched. "Wendy, are you there?"

There was nothing. Static. The call was connected, but she wasn't with it. My hands tightened around the steering wheel and the rubber bent under my grip. "Wendy?"

Silence.

I turned onto the next street. "Lost Girl?"

"Communications lost. Redial?"

Listening to the quiet chirp of our call's disconnection, I leaned back in my seat, forced my foot down on the pedal until it met the floor, and drove. Focused. Emotion rimmed my eyes. Sparks burned under my skin. "Wendy, I'm almost there."

|||

Sirens echoed in the air. People hurried into their houses, abandoning their androids on their front lawns. The broken droids that stalked the streets found them, grabbed them, and ripped them limb from limb.

I tried not to witness the murders, but couldn't avoid them. As though nightmares covered the streets, violence was at every corner, on every lawn, and beside each parked car. The androids couldn't scream, because they weren't programmed to express pain, but the broken bots let out their static. Crippled sounds. Each time I heard it, I hissed, because I felt it.

Pain. Ache. Neglect.

But why? I glanced back at Mary for an answer, but she was curled up in the backseat, head on her knees. Her tears slid down her face as she looked at me. I tried to read her emotions, but couldn't. My sensors wouldn't connect.

Growling, I looked back at the road. Harris Elementary was just ahead. But something was off about it. The feedback I heard from the broken droids came from the old brick building in waves. And like ocean water crashing against the sand, I felt each pulse slam against my chest. My arms twitched with each power surge.

Battery at eighty-three percent.

I wasn't sure what the waves would do to me, but it wasn't my wellbeing I was concerned about. Wendy was in that school, and androids were out to get her. My battery would make it in time to get her. It had to. But as the school grew closer, and the waves got stronger, I couldn't think. Not clearly.

That's why the moment I saw the black van parked outside the elementary school, I floored it. The car went over the freshly cut grass, digging lines into the earth. Behind me, Mary screamed as we nearly hit a tree, but I avoided it. Barely. We were close enough for me to see...

The van with its dark windows hid the faces of three droids. Their broken signals came out of it in waves, and I wasn't sure if they were like the Androids we'd passed, but I didn't care to find out. Because they had Wendy.

"Javi!" Wendy's screams came from inside the van. I could see her small hands pressed against the glass; grey prints against tints. Mary's car barely had the chance to power down before I jumped out of it. My foot caught in the dirt before the parking lot, and I went forward, hands scraped against concrete.

Wendy's hands slammed against the glass, again. And again. Breath fogged the window. As I scrambled to my feet, the back doors flung open. A foot stepped down onto the pavement.

And I saw red.

"Let her go!" I shouted, hurrying over to the van's side. I pounded my fists against the glass, but it didn't break. In the driver's seat was a droid who didn't look at me, even as I hit his window, too. His hands were on the steering wheel, eyes focused forward. I could feel the broken feedback coming off him like sparks in a dying flame.

"Javi!" Wendy cried again, and the back doors shut. I turned towards the sound, focused on the figure that'd closed them. It was an android, I knew it, but it's face was covered. A veil just under his raised hood.

Hiding its identity couldn't protect itself from me. If anyone hurt my family, they'd have to pay; that was in my code. And Wendy's cry turned on every functioning circuit.

"Hey!" With two steps, I crossed the gap between us and grabbed the android by the collar of his sweater. I heard a laugh through the thick fabric, just as the van revved its engine. It wouldn't leave. I wouldn't let it. This android needed to unlock these doors. "Let her go."

"Or what?"

His voice. What was so familiar about it?

I gripped my hand on his sweater as he laughed again. My foot slipped back for balance. "I'll—"

"Or. What?" He cut me off.

And I stuttered in response.

With him slowly lifting his hand to grab mine, I should've been able to react; a reflex. I could've pushed him back against the pavement and kicked his chest in, shattering every sensor inside his torso.

Instead, I stumbled back against the van. My vision blurred; black and red. A part of my computers tried to command my arm to reach for his hood, to reveal his neck. If I could see his Bionics symbol, then maybe I could scan him. And sync.

But I didn't.

"Battery at fifty-three percent. Sensor seven is disabled. AX0 battery is draining faster than normal. Charging pod within one mile. A location has been marked on the map."

I closed my eyes tight as Wendy cried again. My chest tightened, my legs grew weak. Letting the Android go was my only act of defense, or else I'd fall. I slapped my hands against the van to keep steady.

Turning my head towards the back windows, I tried to look inside. "Wendy, I'm here."

"Sure you are," the android laughed again, and that electrical pulse, that wave of energy that I'd felt earlier, came off of him and hit me. Opening my mouth, I cried out.

"Javier!" I heard Mary scream my name. I knew she ran across the grass. It was weird, but the echoing sound of her feet hitting the ground hit my ears.

"Battery at forty-two percent."

The android grabbed my face and made me look at him. Even with the veil, I knew it grinned underneath. Mary screamed my name again, closer this time, as he leaned his face in close. And said, "I've been waiting a long time to finally do this."

My mouth dropped open. Bursts of static noise left me, not words. Every part of my skin was on fire.

Battey at thirty-nine percent.

Mary screamed my name again, but I couldn't hear her. I heard the sirens instead, wailing in the distance. How many cars were there? Three? Four?

"Wendy..." I managed to say.

Inside, I know she called for me, but it was another voice I couldn't really hear. All I heard was it—him. A voice too familiar every sensor I had couldn't react rationally. As if... I ran on emotion, I'd started to shut down.

Power went out like a light, and before I lost all sense of sight and sound, I watched the Android move close, mouth to my ear. "Don't leave me waiting, Javi," it said.

Why did it say my name like that?

"Shutting down."