Video Games & Chocolate

4. non-human | short story

A/N: This is a story I wrote based on a writing prompt. I hope you guys like this :D

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The first time he accidentally cut himself, Keegan didn't expect blue, red, yellow, and green wires. He'd been alive almost twenty-one years, how hadn't he noticed he was made of wires? Was he a robot or something else? There was a tiny box that resembled an alarm clock connected to the wires but there were no numbers evident.

A knock at his door brought him out of his thoughts and he walked to answer it. He didn't expect to see two strangers on his doorstep. One was a woman and the other, a man and they both had on tuxedos.

"Keegan Rae?" The man asked.

He nodded and met the man's blank stare. "Yes. Who's asking?"

They both held up golden badges but he couldn't make out the corporation they worked for. "We're from TEPO and we're here on behalf of the safety of your town." The woman spoke.

What the hell did TEPO stand for? What did they mean by the safety of his town? "What are you talking about?"

"Please come with us, Mr. Rae," The man motioned for him to follow.

He shook his head. "No. Why would I go with two complete strangers who showed up at my door claiming they work for TEPO. What does that even stand for?"

"Mr. Rae," The woman sighed in annoyance. "Please cooperate or we'll have no choice but to use force." They both stepped closer to him.

"I said no, what part of "no" do you people not understand?" He was fuming. "Now get off my property." He slammed the door in their faces and turned to walk into the kitchen.

Suddenly, the door was kicked open and Keegan turned to see the two strangers as they entered his house uninvited. The man held a vial of a strange thick orange liquid in his hand. "We didn't want to do this, Mr. Rae but you forced our hand." He said and lunged at him.

Panic coursed through his body and he felt something move in his arm that felt like a switch being turned on where the colored wires were exposed. There was a ticking sound and he was immediately thrown back into the kitchen wall. The drawer he kept his silverware in fell from the collision and the cutlery all clattered to the polished tiled linoleum, the ting rang in his ears.

"Ryan!" The woman screamed.

"Maresol, get down!" The man, Ryan, exclaimed.

A loud boom radiated through the house and rattled his brain. He opened his eyes just in time to see pieces of the building blast off. He managed to get a glance at his arm and saw large frozen pixelated red letters: 0:00.

Soon his eyelids began to flutter closed and then, everything went black.

• • •

When Keegan came to, he was still laid against the kitchen wall.

He slowly stood and looked at where he had hit the wall full force. A giant indent was displayed and there were small cracks around it. A thought occurred to him; where were those strange people? What were their names again? Ryan and Maresol? He turned around, faced his living room, and in that moment got an answer. There, in front of the door hanging on its hinges, laid Ryan and Maresol. They were dead, he knew that much but what had happened? He couldn't remember everything, just bits, and pieces.

Debris was all around and he realized his house had been completely destroyed. The roof was mostly gone and whatever wasn't gone was breaking off and collapsing. "What the hell happened?" He spoke aloud.

It took a moment for him to collect himself before he progressed outside. The outside wasn't any better; houses completely demolished, roofs caved in, trees had even fallen over but what devastated him the most were all the bodies strewn about. Those poor people were all dead. He looked around a little more and saw colossal cracks in the ground. Did an earthquake happen while he was unconscious? Wouldn't he have been able to feel it while he was out but then again, he had been in a pretty bad comatose.

Keegan decided to head back inside the house and went upstairs to his room. He wanted to look at the rest of the town and the damage done, so he grabbed a hiking backpack and filled it with the necessary items he'd need. The twenty-year-old knew he couldn't stay there with his house ruined and everyone else dead. He had to leave.

He looked at his house from outside one last time before setting off down the decrepit road.