The Annihilation Code

Chapter Five ➹ Atlas Contreras ➹

Chase Huxley had been crying for the last 72 hours. Is being a cyborg really that terrible? He doesn't have a right to complain. His body is still at least 60% human. I'd once met a cyborg whose whole body was completely bionic except for her head.

I expressed my grievances to Marisa, but she just sighed and said, "This is a big change for him, and he's having a hard time adjusting."

My sister had the patience of a saint. I envied her restraint because if he didn't stop wailing soon, I was going to strangle him!

Chase's incessant whining wasn't the only thing that had me in a bad mood. I had been searching for information on the cyborg who attacked me in the alleyway a month prior, but I hadn't been able to find any trace of him. I'd never had a target evade me like this, and it was starting to vex me.

Chase had been staying in the room Marisa and I shared. Have you ever heard the saying three's a crowd? Yeah, that's definitely true. Neither of us has gotten any sleep over the sound of Chase's bawling. It was time for me to intervene. I waltzed over to the cot, where Chase had his face buried in a pillow. I stood over him, waiting for him to acknowledge my presence, but he didn't look up from his pillow.

Venus hopped onto the cot beside him and purred. She seemed to like him for some reason. Traitor.

Alright, Pretty Boy, the pity party is over. I ripped the pillow out of his grasp.

"Hey, give it back!" He tried to yank the pillow out of my hands with his newfound cyborg strength, but I was stronger. After I'd officially won our game of tug of war, Chase shot daggers in my direction. His face was red and puffy. His tears must be irritating the wounds on his face. He looked so pathetic, I almost felt sorry for him. "What do you want?"

I tried to come up with a response, but it was tricky because I couldn't speak, and I didn't think Chase knew sign language.

"Um, Hello." Chase raised an eyebrow in my direction. "What's your deal, man? If you don't mind, I have lots of wallowing in my own self-pity planned for today."

"My brother lost his voice box," Marisa called out from the top bunk, where she sat cross-legged and nibbled on a grilled cheese sandwich.

I pulled down my scarf to show off the scars on my neck where my voice box had been ripped out.

Chase's eyes widened. I noticed his cyborg eye was a darker shade of blue than his human one. "Yikes, that's a nasty-looking scar!"

I cringed and gestured towards his own scars.

He rubbed a hand along his cheek. "You're right, I'm not in any position to judge." His eyes looked like they were about to fill with tears again, so without thinking, I smacked him in the face with the pillow. I don't regret that decision. Chase frowned. "So, you can't speak?"

I paused for a moment, pondering the best way to answer. No, I couldn't vocalize my wants and desires, but sign language had always been my way of speaking, and I'd always seen it as an equally legitimate form of communication. I had no way to express these thoughts to Chase, but then I remembered he was a cyborg now, which meant he could download information directly to his brain. I placed a hand on his head and connected to his cybernetics and added an ASL interpreter.

He recoiled after I removed my hand. "What the hell was that?" He squirmed. "It feels so violating."

I'd forgotten how overwhelming having information wired directly into your brain can feel if you're not used to it. I awkwardly ran my fingers through my dyed white hair. "I downloaded an ASL to English translator into your cybernetics. I'm sorry I didn't ask you first, but now we can communicate." I signed.