Champion of the Bots ✔️

Chapter 20 ~ TOB

The blood, the faded eyes, the shrieks—Tob felt it all. He did that. He did all that. Why?

He vaguely remembered sinking into his knees, his hands crushing his skull. He didn't know if he screamed along with the cries in his mind.

"Tob?" A soft voice asked, and a gentle hand touched his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

He shook his head, clumped his hair into fists, growled in pain.

"Tob!"

With a groan, Tob hunched to the floor and floated through the memories.

The world was rumbling, stressed, restless. People were committing suicide. Children were staring at devices for days. Teenagers were killing themselves inside with unknown substances. The world was in chaos.

But three brothers wanted to find a solution. One loved to invent; one delved into psychology; and the third wanted peace. Banding together, the three came up with a plan: Create a safe haven for the new generation to learn, grow, cultivate. The place had to be inclusive, far away from the hell in the world. But where?

An island coasted off somewhere in the Pacific Ocean became their target, and they soon began building. The second brother had an idea, a vision to rein civilization back. With the theories by Abraham Maslow, the brother's role model, he constructed an enormous hulk of a pyramid. Divided into three blocks, the pyramid stood—each block represented levels, the levels of the Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

The first brother built the Bots, machines meant to rescue people away from the hell of the world. The second brother began to build walls—soaring, metal castle walls. He pushed the brothers away, pushed the remnants of any human inside; and he dominated. The third brother stayed silent and sank into the dark waters before the chaos broke loose.

This was not what we wanted, the first brother argued; but it was too late. The robots tore through the sky with their jet packs and killed. I did not design them for killing! the first brother shouted. Stop this!

The second simply blinked and sent the robots to kill the two brothers. The first flew to the sky, diving now and then to rescue people. The third stayed under the angry currents, surfacing now and then to check when the storm stopped.

But it didn't. The storm only grew and grew and soon enclosed everyone inside the glass dome, inside a stuffy pyramid. People revolted. People died. But all they could do to survive was to pass all levels—and when they did that, they could reach Eden.

That's it, the second brother explained to his new people. Pass the levels. Reach your fullest. Enjoy Eden.

Only a few, certain people reached the top; the rest stayed below, their eyes constantly looking up as years went by and as hope diminished. And people continue to grovel under Eden, soaked in mud and water and jealousy and competition and anger while the people above laughed and sipped wine.

The ruler, the second brother, called himself God and his Eden his empire.

"No!"

Sweating and panting, Tob awoke to the smells of rust and decay. He clutched the stone bench underneath him. He was back in the prison cell.

"What happened?"

He nearly jumped when he saw a small figure sitting on an opposite bench. "Were you having a nightmare?" The soft voice asked again.

The Bot shrugged. "Kinda."

Rena looked away. "You scared me," she said. "One second you were standing there, and the next you were howling on the floor."

Tob grimaced.

"A-and the man in the wheelchair... His eyes suddenly grew pitch black as he watched you pound on your head; and he snapped his fingers to his people," her middle finger and thumb scuffed against each other in a loud snap, "and they dragged us—well, they kinda rolled you on the floor—back here." She sighed irritatedly and looked out at the dim torchlight, the only light in the sewer prison, "I thought we all could've been allies. They were against Eden. They could've been our only hope. Th-then you just had to malfunction o-or something!"

Rena stood up. "It's all your fault! If it wasn't for you, I-I wouldn't be here!"

"But you were the one who wanted to help me," Tob replied, smiling at the memory of the young girl racing through the trees to him.

"Y-yes...but I didn't ask you to kidnap me!"

Tob bobbed his head. "Hmm...true."

Pacing, Rena ruffled her hands through her clumped hair. "Who are these people? What do they want from us?" She stopped, the cell suddenly silent. "Are they going to kill us?"

You should be worried about whether I would kill you, he thought, the pictures flashing from his sudden breakdown—the sticky blood on his hands, the satisfying crunch of bone, the thrilling shrieks of woman. He was a killer. He was a Bot. He was a servant of evil.

"What's wrong?" Rena asked. "Are you scared about getting hacked up into tiny metal pieces?"

He grimly smiled at that. "No," he replied.

"Then?"

"It's...nothing."

She raised her left eyebrow. "Come on," she said, sitting down onto the stone. "Tell me. I want to get my mind off death."

He bit his lip. "No."

"Hmm..." She contemplated. "Oh! How about I tell you something about me; then you tell me what's wrong, okay?"

What an amusing girl, he thought before replying, "Fine."

"Okay. Me first. Something about me..." Humming in concentration, her legs kicking about, Rena revealed, "Oh, I know. Did you know that I like to read?"

"No, I don't know anything about you."

She leaned against the cracked wall and smiled. "True. I think I used to read before...before the Day of the Grey came. When I first came on the Savior, there weren't that many people yet; and nobody was nearly the same age as me. I love words and the idea of...a better world."

He nodded. He never knew the leisure of reading, love, anything. But he did have something to share with her in return.

"Give me your hand," he said, reaching out cautiously.

"What?" She slunk back.

"Just, please. Give me your hand." His eyes wavered. "I wont hurt you."

He didn't think she would hold his hand; and he didn't think that when he shared the memories with her, he, too, would get sucked in again.

Yay! Another chapter!
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