Monotone | ✔️

Chapter Thirty One

Everything around me seemed to slowly morph and shrink, the grey features despairingly dilapidating until they were mere, flattened pieces on the landscape. Everything around me seemed to melt away, despondently oozing into the floor; disappearing for eternity.

It felt like I was the only one present. It felt like it was only me. Me - and me alone - facing the enemy with a key in my hand and a storm pulling and shouting, the tempest for which I named myself, marking this final leg, the final stand. Survival was uncertain. I was the only one who knew what to do. Me - and me alone - could do this.

Then, I blinked, returning to this bitter reality. The buildings had not vanished. Instead, they loomed above me like always, sneering in their imposing glee. There was no storm, no swirling squall. The sound was just robot footsteps, drawling along the pavement with imminent regularity.

"Cover you?" Stephen echoed, snapping my ears back into place.

"Yes! Cover me!" I shouted.

"For Heaven's sake, why?"

"Don't question it! This is the plan. I need to get to the old science building and hope that's where everything is!" I shoved the key in his face. I was explaining this terribly; panicking in the face of history. "If I can do this, everything will be over. The robots will go. The human race will be free once more!"

The stark confusion glittering in his eyes betrayed his vivid confusion, but the robots were too close, we had come to far. He couldn't question it. He would have to trust the whim of a puny, dirty girl holding an ancient key. Slowly, he nodded.

The footsteps sounded closer.

"Quickly!" Stephen hissed, and we all ran toward a house. "This position will give you cover up until you reach the building doors. After that, you're on your own."

"Do you have a gun?"

"Only a small pistol."

"Alright." Andrew leaned over and offered me a rifle. I took it.

The others all balanced their guns, pointing to the direction in which the robots were coming. This moment may never be recorded, may never be remembered. It may fail. If it did work, there would still be things to sort out. In a few years this could just be a small moment in history. Would they teach the future generations about this quest?

I didn't give them a backward glance as I started running.

I was about half way there when the first gunshots rang out, the loud sound mingling in a confusing manner with the clip clop of footsteps. A clash of metal on tarmac resonated - a robot dead.

For some reason, tears collected in the corners of my eyes, a brief stumble adhering by progress. I was scared. Terrified. Horrified, even. How many people had died because of our corrupt rulers? How many lives and relationships had perished because of the blind tyranny they possessed? Would I be added to that list? Alongside all my friends?

I bit my lip and increased my speed.

Clumsily, I made my way closer. I hissed as the heat of a bullet caressed the side of my head.

I couldn't keep this up for long, before a shot was accurate...

I jumped into the correct building, flattening to the floor as I paused to catch my breath. I had made it! Now, the tricky part...

The inside was as grey and mouldy as the outside, not providing me with any hope or clues as to how to finish the deed. There was only one option: the entire base had to be underground, but how does one access that part?

Closely, my eyes scanned across the walls. Walking around, I ran my fingers along the sides, the dust staining my skin as the foundations crumbled at my light touch. There were no paintings adorning them - no cliche switch behind the canvas. No bookcases.

Something was different. The progress of my hands stopped. This part didn't crumble. Retreating to get a better view of the potential entrance, the actual appearance of it was no different. The wall was still a filthy grey, but when one touched it, it was stronger than the rest of it...

Dropping to the ground, I felt around the skirting. There! A faint lump. Putting pressure on the aberration, a mysterious creaking sound greeted me.

Then, an opening appeared in the wall.

Any indication of tears had vanished. Now only a hopeful smile was on my face, the expression blossoming like one of the rare flowers that sporadically dotted the area around my old house. I brought the key to my mouth, lightly kissing it with fervent jubilation.

Not hesitating, I leapt ungracefully though the opening, following the darkened path blinding. Soon, a plain door stood in my path. Lifting my gun, I opened it, immediately firing around in case of any enemies.

Crash!
Crash!

Two robots dropped to the ground. After checking to see if there were any more, I stepped inside. Before me lay a lavish control room, the panels that decorated the sides adequately arranged with a rife of buttons. What use would a key do to this?

Analysing it, I felt panic rise inside me. The buttons seemed useless, decorations. The order of them seemed random. Then again, what knowledge did I know about it?

Then, something caught my eye. A small key hole was strategically wedged between two large buttons.

Fumbling for the chain around my neck, I placed the key inside the hole, twisting with suppressed apprehension.

Time seemed to stop. The moment elongated, and then froze. Faintly, the sounds behind me of battle dropped to a whisper, before falling still.

A trapdoor opened from under me.

I fell.