I still do all of the things that normal people do. I watch movies, go to work, eat, drive etc. I just do them under constant surveillance. I don't actually have to work though; all of my expenses are paid for by the government. I just want to get back to a normal life. The government still doesn't quite trust me though, they never will.
When I was younger, at around 8 or 9 years old, I was still living in my old house. It was a plain white house in
Our baby sitter who was also our maid was outside folding clothes. She came back in and started calling to me and my sister, “Maya, Kai, come look at what I found!” We both jumped off the sofa to go see what had happened and my baby sitter, Sarema, showed us a bird’s egg “I found it on the ground outside” she said. “Here, you can hold it, just be careful with it.”
“No,” I told her “you’ll probably break it.”
“No, I won’t!”
“I bet you will.”
“I’m telling Sarema that you’re being mean!” she pouted, stalking off to go find
It didn’t really matter, I knew I’d have to let Maya see the egg eventually, at least this way
The creature within the egg had other thoughts than jumping. It was now quite annoyed at being woken from its peaceful slumber. It considered another few decades of sleep, but the bumps and prods became all too annoying to stand.
After having to relinquish the egg to my sister, she quickly became bored with it and flopped out on the sofa to watch TV again. I had almost lost all faith in the egg performing any more aerial maneuvers, till I felt the egg shudder ever so slightly. The egg shuddered once more, and then began jumping and lurching at a constant rate. I hurriedly decided that Maya would try to hoard the egg if she saw it moving around like it was. I scampered to my room and eased the door shut. I brought the egg right up to my face to inspect it more carefully. Not only had the egg started jumping around even more fervently, but the eerie green glow had doubled in intensity. "This is so cool..." I mused to myself, "I wond...eh?..Ah! Ew, it's cold!" The shining gem had popped in my hand into a cold, gooey green mess splattering over my hands, chest and face. The tiny little egg had released an impossibly large amount of slime. The shimmering liquid shone even brighter once freed from its egg-shaped prison. I was too stunned at first to do anything, until I realized how disgusting my situation was. Dripping the oh-so-icky goo, I ran to the bathroom to wash it off. I felt the chill of the slime on my body. I felt it oozing down my face and into my eyes. I felt it...burning?
"Oh my god, it feels like acid!" I thought in terror. "What have I gotten myself into?" I stumbled blindly into the bathroom and jumped into the shower, neglecting to remove my clothes. I washed, scrubbed and rubbed the goo off as best I could, but the burning sensation continued. The feeling of the goo seemed to soak into my flesh where the slime had made contact, seeping in deeper and deeper. It was no where near as painful as a fire, but it ached terribly none the less. My brain seemed to catch ablaze as the burn went deeper, and then, it stopped. I stood still, awaiting the pain's return, but it never came. Carefully stepping out of the shower I looked my self over in the mirror, expecting the worst. A normal face greeted my gaze, no burns, no goo, the ordeal had completely vanished from sight.
I told no one of the slime or burning feeling that day. It was just too...strange. And what evidence did I have to support it anyway? The egg had disappeared and I had no markings or slime left to show for my encounter. Neither Maya nor
I woke up much quicker than usual and hurriedly wolfed down my breakfast, choking a few times as I did. I snatched up a mirror on the way to my room, flopped onto my bed and brought the mirror up to my face, looking for any tell tale signs of the goo. The sun had risen by then and I could see the heat waves outside my window. Eventually I started getting bored of searching. My face looked normal as ever. "What in the world happened to that goo?" Did I wash it all off?" My thoughts started wandering back to the slime, trying to remember if I had actually seen any of it go down the drain. And then, it started, slowly at first, but a faint green glimmer began to show through from underneath my skin. It was very hard to see at first, but just noticeable.
*** *** ***
"Sir, we need confirmation before we can move in."
"That isn't confirmation enough? The whole damn valley is lit up with that energy!"
This battle had been going on for hours after the strange readings started showing up on the radar. General Graff knew they had to move into the valley as soon as possible. The damned politicos were too busy talking about the "negative public reaction" If they didn't solve this problem soon who knew what hell could happen. A small energy reading had appeared at a residential home in
No one had ever expected a radioactive anomaly suddenly appearing within
"Those things'll kill ya, sir"
"Cram it lieutenant, what do have to report?" Lieutenant Hanford marched up to the General carrying a thick beige folder.
"Sir, it looks like the higher-ups finally took a bit of interest in the situation here." "We got the permission to send in troops?"
"Nah, they're still squablin' over that, but we did manage to obtain some high quality equipment. It's a new type of bot. Right off the assembly line, the AI is amazing, and combat equipped too."
"Eh, damn politicians sendin' in more trash to fix their problems, there's nothin' like a well trained soldier!"
"Don't worry sir, these new robots are top of the line, you won't be disappointed."
*** *** ***
*Brriiing* *Briiing*
"Yeah, Johnson here...oh, sir...I'm ready for duty at all times sir...I'll be at the base ASAP."
*Click*
*** *** ***
I nearly hit myself with the mirror when I tried to look more closely at my face. "The slime was still there!" I realized, seeing the familiar green glow. Being able to see my face glow green was relieving and troubling at same time. If the slime had gotten into my skin, how deep had it gone into my body? At least now I knew I wasn't crazy. Yet, I still found something else strange in the mirror's reflection. The heat waves outside the window were gone, instead, it seemed that there were heat waves inside of my room. Yet, even stranger , there seemed to be only heat waves on a certain spot of my wall. A patch of wavering air, distorting the wall's image. "What in the world..." I spun around to look at the wall with my own eyes, and sure enough, a section of the wall was shimmering slightly, distorted like a ripple in a pond. The patch only stayed there for a second, before dropping to the floor with a metallic clang. The patch of air seemed to flicker and distort violently on the ground once more before resolving into a gleaming chrome ball. 8 sharp, shining, sickle like legs sprung out of the ball and lifted the metal sphere a few inches off the ground. I instantly recognized the spider like shape of the machine, even more so when glowing red lights lit up at the front of the robot. The lights looked like vicious red eyes, completing the metal beast's evil look. We looked at each other for a moment. Then it bobbed down, and launched itself at me, those 8 dagger like legs swung towards me aimed at my chest. There was no time to react, no time to get out of the way, all I could do was close my eyes and shudder in fear. My chest suddenly seized up, a wave of cold rippled across the front of my body. The robot slammed into me, its legs crumpled upon hitting my chest, and knocked me back onto my bed. The spider ricocheted off to side, and I, still alive, stared up at the ceiling, blinking in astonishment. I delicately touched my chest with my hand. My shirt had been ripped open and shredded, leaving bare skin exposed. But the skin was solid, unmoving and hard as a rock, no even harder. It felt like I was touching a block of steel, but my body didn't feel any heavier. A warm feeling rippled back across my chest and the skin returned to its normal state. *gasp* "The robot!" I jumped out of bed to look where it had gone. The spider was on the ground thrashing about with its broken limbs, tearing up the carpet and leaving deep gouges on the side of my bed. Red eyes swiveled around the metal robot to focus on me. A terrible screeching noise filled the room, my head felt like it was going to explode! I don't know how I did it, but I managed to stumble away and into the kitchen. "What's going on?" I wailed. I checked all of the other rooms and found no one. I ran back out to the living room and rushed for the front door. I didn't know where I was going, I just wanted to go away from here and that spider. My hand caught hold of the door knob, clenched tightly, turned the knob and the door shattered as it was blown inwards from the force of three more metal spheres flying into the house. Somehow, all 3 missed me, but wooden splinters also exploded into the room. There was a familiar chill across my body and the chips of wood bounced off me harmlessly. The 3 spiders unfolded their legs as I started sprinting away. Stupidly, in my confusion I ran back inside of the house. I fled through the living room and again found myself in the kitchen. Panicking, I jumped into the small pantry closet. Spices and a musty old smell filled the cramped space as I shut the door. I crouched down next to a pile of instant noodle cartons and tried to slow my breathing. I heard the spiders scuttle past me and I started to relax a little, the rain-like clattering of their feet fading away. "They didn't notice me, I just had to find a way out of the house" I thought. I felt 2 metallic pincers stab into my back, while 6 more latched onto my waist. I fell forward from the pain landing on the cold hard tile floor. More spiders ripped their way through the door. My vision blurred and I shut my eyes, wishing for the pain to leave. One voice came through the dark "Let me help."
*** *** ***
Sergeant Johnson waited anxiously, peering into the house from the kitchen window. He'd seen it all, the robots first entering the house, their vicious attack on the boy, and kid's strange power. It had sickened him at first, what kind of government sends assault bots after a child? But he had his orders, he stayed out of sight, observing the robots do their work. Just as the general had told him to do. "*sigh*, why do I always get such odd jobs?" The audio transmitter on his ear crackled and the general's voice broke through the static "Keep at it soldier, stay with those bots, but out of sight. I don't trust those things, you're my one human contact in there, so don't get yer self killed."
"Yes, sir" Even Johnson was now a bit unnerved by the robots' cold efficiency. After the first attack on the boy, Johnson became worried about the child's capabilities too. The kid just shrugged off the assault bots’ attacks. What was he made of?
After a brief chase through the house, the spiders had brought down the boy. 5 robots scurried into the pantry where the child, Kai, had hidden. Supposedly, the spiders would neutralize the child by injecting a chemical into him that would put him into a sort of temporary coma. But as of yet, it seemed that the spiders had been going in for killing blows. The General had told Johnson that all of the bots were controlled by artificial intelligence, no remote signals, no humans behind the wheel. The tech team had reported slight dropouts in some of the computers, but they claimed the problems to be insignificant. Johnson slouched and slid down the wall he had been leaning against. He'd seen much more horrifying and vicious things before, but this...this was different. Spider bots, unnatural children, it was more creepy than anything. At least it was over.
His earpiece crackled again, "Johnson, we lost the bots, repeat, we lost the bots." The sergeant touched his finger to the earpiece.
"You mean that kid killed them?"
"No, well, were not sure. The tech people have lost all signals to and from the robots. What the hell is going on in there?" Johnson slowly rose up from his sitting position to peer over the window and into the house. The lower half of the pantry door was shredded and the pieces lay scattered about. Through that opening came a green glow.
"Johnson, I want you in there now. Neutralize that thing."
"Sir."
The screen door opened up into the living room adjacent to the kitchen. There hadn't been anymore movement or noises from the kitchen, but Sergeant Johnson proceeded carefully none the less. He edged his way slowly past sofas and discarded toys. The linoleum of the kitchen could be seen at the end of the hallway. Perhaps it was just his nerves acting up, but it seemed as though some of the green glow was seeping out into the hallway. Had the boy moved? Did the bots take him out? No point in wondering, might as well try to catch him while he’s down. Johnson started sprinting down the hallway. He had almost cleared the entire distance until a slim figure turned the corner. The child was radiating the eerie green glow along his entire body. No longer could you see the whites of his eyes anymore for they seemed to be made of a green goo, glowing the same color as the rest of his body. Johnson halted his running and brought the gun up to point at the kids head, but his conscious stopped him from firing. "Look kid, just get down on the ground right now."
"Johnson!" his transmitter blared in his ear, "Fire NOW soldier! You have t.." The earpiece went dead.
"Now, now, doesn't that man sound annoying?" the child's lips were moving in sync with the voice, but the sound seemed to resonate and come from everywhere at once. "Hm, since you're already here, why don't we play a game? How about the one where you die?" A grin flickered across his face "Doesn't that sound fun?" Johnson fired, the gun recoiled in his hands, but he kept it steady. The bullets peppered the boy's body, but he remained standing, grinning all the while. The same mechanical bots scurried around the corner next to Kai, but instead of attacking Kai, kept going toward Johnson, he reacted quickly and bolted around the corner behind him. He reloaded his gun and turned the corner to fire off bursts at the bots. They went down slowly, but there were too many to destroy. Johnson backed out of the house, firing to keep the robots at bay. Nothing left to do, he ran across the yard and over the fence into the neighbor's yard. He ducked down behind the fence hoping in all earnest that the robots hadn't seen where he had gone. His ammo clip dropped onto the ground and he slammed another into his gun. Looking back up, he noticed a familiar shimmer in the air a few feet away. He fired. The spider's camouflage dropped and it struggled to get back up, but it fell back on the ground as its legs were blasted away. Squirming and lashing on the ground, it left deep gashes in the dirt with its remaining legs. "Nice shot." Johnson looked up to stare into the face of Kai. "Watch out, here comes more! Have fun!" The child taunted at him. More shimmers were indeed flying toward him across the ground. One hope, Johnson dashed toward the pool, dropping behind him his belt of grenades, but not before arming one. He dove into the pool. Cold water flooded his lungs, but swam deeper until his hands hit the smooth tiled bottom of the pool. He didn't have to wait long until he felt the blast shake the water around him. He waited as long as he could until the limited supply of air he had ran out and he had to resurface. He broke the surface and was met by the pungent smell of smoke all around him. Surely the boy...
Kai casually walked to the edge of the pool. "Aww, I think you blew up all my new toys," he pouted. "Oh well, I was getting tired of them anyway and now I'm getting tired of you!" The boy raised his hand up and the skin on his arm seemed to flow up to his hand. His entire arm surged and flowed to form a gleaming green blade where his arm used to be. Johnson lunged forward and caught hold of the boy's leg. Johnson heaved backwards, sending the boy tumbling into the water. Thinking fast, Johnson pulled himself out of the pool as fast he could. He had caught sight of the wounded spider bot that had been blown away by the grenades and he now sprinted toward it. "Now that wasn't very nice!" the boy shouted after him. Concentrating only on the squirming sphere in front of him, Johnson dove toward it. He scooped it up in one hand and started running back to the pool. The spider had now noticed exactly who was carrying it and had started desperately trying to claw its possessor’s arm off with its one remaining limb. Johnson felt the sharp stinging pain and heaved the spider into the pool. Still in midair, Johnson took aim at the spider with his gun and tracked it falling into the water. He fired. One round, two rounds, both dented the spider, but did no more. One more shot and the spider's casing cracked. A white flash shot out and flooded the pool as the robot's internal systems shorted out and the electricity surged through the pool. Kai gave one last look of utter hatred at Johnson before the electrical shock took hold and his body jerked around violently before falling limp in the pool.
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