Factory Reset

Chapter Twelve: Running From Sorrow

"What is that?" Marissa asked, horrified.

B-64 knew the answer. He had seen them before, though he couldn't remember where. The creatures called The Puppets. He gazed upon the tv screen, an expressionless visage forming onto his visor, a blank face.

The Puppets crawled out from the Obelisk, their cold and dead hands scratching and clawing to get out. Their arms were a dilated blue, dead flesh peeling off of their bodies as they attempted to gnaw and chew their way out.

Mason looked around frantically for his phone. He didn't remember where he placed it. He needed to find it, he needed to make sure his parents were all right. His heart quickened with each passing second that he hadn't found it.

Finally, he found the phone against the kitchen counter. He hastily input his password and pushed hard against the call app. Once it loaded, he pushed his mother's number, putting the phone up against his ear and listened closely.

It rang. One. Two. Three. The seconds ticked by slowly.

Finally, he heard something, "Mom! Are you-"

"Hi! This is Sabrina, leave a message." Mason felt his heart sink.

B-64 lifted a green claw at the tv screen and motioned hastily, and Mason turned to look at the screen. The Puppets had managed to get out of the Obelisk, and began to rip and tear their way through the town.

"How far away is Nyxel?" Axel asked, eyes trained on the tv screen. Those things, they were not like anything he had ever seen. They looked dead, or like empty husks of some race that began to decay.

"Seven miles." Mason said, sitting down on one of the chairs. His voice was monotone and hoarse. He was scared of what happened, and the more he looked at the creatures running through the town through the recorder, the more he felt his heart sink.

B-64 quickly looked around for anything to write on, but there was nothing. Thinking quickly, B-64 rebooted his expression layer for his Visor, allowing him to put anything on it, meaning that he could put words, not just his facial expression.

Axel noticed first that words appeared on the visor. 'We have to leave now." They read. The little green pixelated letters dragged across the entirety of the visor. Axel quickly relayed what B-64 had displayed to his friends.

"Now? But-"

B-64 huffed loudly, sounding much like a rusty and squeaky hinge on a door. Mason stared blankly at the floor, holding onto the clueless hand of Hannah, who was swinging her legs as she massaged her hand, unaware of everything.

"Call your parents." Mason said, monotone. He brought his head up, emotionless. He didn't want to believe that anything happened to them, or his sister, but he knew that they were not answering the phone when they had it on them at all times, especially his sister... Well, he knew what most likely happened.

Marissa nodded, quickly fishing her phone from her pocket. Axel did the same, although much slower than Marissa.

The ring of both phones drowned out the quiet hum that came from B-64's chest, something that B-64 was trying desperately to quiet. 

Marissa was the first to put down her phone, looking somewhat distraught. Axel soon came after, looking on the verge of a breakdown. "She... She uhh, she left to go to the women's club meet up in town." Marissa said, pushing her phone into her pocket and sniffled.

Axel didn't want to say anything. Maybe the fact that they hadn't answered was a fluke? Maybe they forgot their phones? He couldn't believe it, so, he decided to just not believe that anything had happened.