Conduit - Season 2

Ch. 5

It wasn't that we couldn't stay here. Frank couldn't. Quickly scanning the streets, I searched for a building with no movement. Frank skidded to a stop at my right. "Where do we go? What do we do?" he panted.

I grabbed his arm and led him to a building on the left. It was silent. The only electrical energy it had came from the wall outlets within the apartments. "You're hiding," I hissed, holding my hand out to push open the front door.

"Hiding?!" Frank snatched his arm free from my grasp and looked at me with wide eyes. "Why? You said—"

I rolled my head around my shoulders. The buzzing grew louder. Looking back at the street, I saw Reggie standing in the center. The androids continued to advance. Grins spread across their faces as their eyes glowed red. Fuck.

"I said I need you," I look back at Frank, "but I can't lose you."

"Lose me? Elijah—"

He wasn't moving and I knew he wouldn't, so I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pushed him inside. He stumbled into the building's entryway and looked back at me. "Eli..."

Don't do that, don't look at me like that. I leaned against the door before I pushed off of it. I kept my eyes on him. "This isn't like before," I said. "We can't talk our way out of it and who knows what they'll do. Just—"

Frank stepped toward me. "But I can—"

"You can hide, Frank!" I shouted. I wasn't going to argue with him; he needed to listen. It was either keep him out of danger or risk serious injury. Frank wasn't like me. I wouldn't take the chance.

Stepping out onto the sidewalk, I held Frank's gaze. "Please," I said to him. "I'll come back for you."

He closed his eyes but nodded. A quick scan of him showed me he understood. His heart rate slowed, and the electronic pulses in his brain were minimal. He knew I'd come back. I had to.

"Elijah!" Reggie called out for me. I turned to see him backing him as if trying to keep his distance from the androids. I watched his hands form fists; his feet planted firmly on the asphalt. The street vibrated under our feet.

Looking up, I watched as the androids broke into a run. Their arms pumped at their sides for speed. They arched themselves forward like bullets. Reggie and I locked eyes for a second and in that moment, his words appeared in my vision. He couldn't say this out loud; the androids would've heard him. "Weave right, that is the smallest androids," his words read. "I've got left."

Smaller androids? Shit. What did he think of me? Gritting my teeth, I looked back at the incoming line. He was right. They were leaner, thinner, more human on the right; more like me. On the left—those androids could bench press steel beams if they were told to do it.

As I rolled my head around my shoulders, I tapped into the electrical field and sent my response back to him. "Bet."

Without another message, Reggie and I broke out into a run. The androids anticipated it and ran faster. Good. I wanted them to do that. We could play Chicken; which one of us would quit first? Not me, never did before, and wouldn't start now.

With Reggie faster than I was, he reached the larger androids first. They crashed into each other and Reggie reached for one of their heads. He pulled the android closer. Then he swung around, still holding them, and tossed them into the others. The loud wham of metal crashing into metal swallowed all sound.

I gritted my teeth and focused on what was in front of me. The two that were my targets scattered, leaving the path empty. Shit. Fuckers quit early, huh? I wanted the same outcome as Reggie; a fight, clamoring impact. Instead, I veered to the right, my shoes skidding across the street as I focused on the android with the brown waves, dressed in red. He looked at me as malicious signals pushed off of him in waves. "Is that supposed to scare me?" I hissed.