[Harrison Frost]
|Location: Local Store|
I stop the car outside a huge store, where everything we need should be. I get out of the car and open the door for Circuit, letting him float out.
“This is a general store, so we will find most of what we need here. Is there a limit on how much we can spend?” Circuit asks.
“No, there isn’t. I just want to get everything we need for him, and to make sure that it will last us a while. I need to avoid going out in public.” I reply.
“Why?”
“I can’t tell you, but trust me, it’s for a good reason.”
I close the door and walk inside the store, grab a cart, and look around. A few stray people are wandering around with full carts, and there are a few cashiers open.
Circuit opens the child seat in the cart and sits down. I laugh as he puts his short legs through the leg holes, still carrying Rufus.
“Alright, let's go get what we need,” I say.
I walk around, letting Circuit grab what we need. It took about thirty minutes to grab everything we need, including a 2-in-one car seat and carrier, and some clothes and food for me. I check everything out without any trouble and take everything outside in a cart and put it in the back of the car, except for the car seat and a set of clothes to put on him.
“Circuit, can you give me Rufus? I’ll put him in some clothes while you put the cart away," I ask.
“Okay,” he says.
He comes over to me and I take the baby from him, putting him in the back seat temporarily as I remove the tags from some of his clothes. I dress him up and then unpack his car seat, putting it in the back seat and putting him inside it. Circuit comes back and sits down next to him, and I close the door, get in the driver's seat, and drive off.
“You still haven’t told me what we’re doing out here, sir,” Circuit says, looking out the window at the passing forest.
“My plan is to go to the edge of town, right next to the barrier, and camp out there until the barrier goes down,” I reply.
Suddenly, all the doors lock, the lights inside the car shut off, and the brakes activate.
“Damn it!”
“What’s going on, sir?”
“He shut off my car! Circuit, break your window and try and carry as many bags as possible.”
I shift in my seat and start kicking the door as hard as I can with my left leg. With enough force, the door should eventually open.
“Sir... why use your left leg?”
“What do you mean?” I ask him.
“You have a bionic leg, remember?”
“Oh, right...”
In order to be separated from Heath, we had to have our legs removed. It doesn't occur to me sometimes that I have it since it looks like a normal leg. I roll up my pant leg and double tap my ankle, turning off the safety on the leg.
I watch the synthetic skin disappear, showing the white metal underneath before kicking the door off. The door wraps itself around a tree, and I look back at Circuit.
“Circuit, what’s your issue? Why aren’t you getting out?” I ask.
“i do not have the required programming to break the window.”
I sigh and roll my eyes. I open the glove compartment and take out my gun, along with all its spare clips, “Get out from my side. And take Rufus. I’ll take care of the doors.”
I get out of the car, and he hesitantly takes Rufus out as well. I fire a few shots into both the doors, right where the locking mechanism should be.
“I guess that works,” Circuit mutters as Rufus starts crying.
I open the door and take the 2-in-one out, setting it on the ground. “I’ll take Rufus. You take all the bags.”
I go to the back of the car and fire a few more shots before opening the trunk door.
He puts Rufus in the carrier and then takes all the full bags he can with his hands before securing the rest to his legs, “Let's go. They’ll be here before long.”
I buckle Rufus into the carrier before going to the other side of the road and dashing into the forest. I'm just about to stop when there is a flash and a heavy thump. I turn around and see Circuit on the ground.
I put the carrier down and look around. A green mist quickly fills the area, and I start to cough, hitting the ground. Rufus’s crying gets quieter, and I can barely pull up enough strength to get over to him. I give up and collapse, letting everything disappear.
When I wake up, I’m lying on a bed, missing my bionic leg, my shoes, and more importantly, my pants. I look beside me to see someone facing away from me, messing with something. The second everything comes back to me, I sit up.
“Hey! Where's the child!?” I ask sternly.
“He’s fine,” the person says calmly, not moving, “the robot is taking care of him in the other room.”
The man turns around, revealing his face, “Sorry about taking your leg. I can't risk anything being tracked.”
“Heath?” I mutter.
“Yep,” he says, picking up my bionic leg, the project he was working on.
He grabs what's left of my right leg and reattaches the bionic leg.
“Too bad the doctors couldn’t save more of our legs.” He mutters, “A below-the-knee amputation would've been nice.”
“Where are we?” I ask, looking around the room.
“A bunker deep in the woods. I live here with my friend, Rhys, who is outside hiding what’s left of your car.”
I throw my legs over the side of the bed, and he watches me closely as I stand up. He looks me in the eye and hugs me when he knows I've got my balance. I put my arms around him and hug him back.
“I missed you,” he murmurs, not pulling away.
“I missed you, too, Heath.”
Heath gives me my pants back and as I'm putting them back on, someone enters the bunker.
“Rhys, is the car hidden?” Heath asks.
“Yep. Right next to mine,” Rhys says.
Heath pulls away and takes a deep breath, “So, what's going on with you? We heard gunshots.”
“My car got shut off. I had to shoot the locks. I found the backup of your cure research and tried some of it on a zombie to see her reaction. Dad found out and killed her, and, well, you can see what came out of it. Literally.”
Heath laughs, “So you’re on the run from dad. Don’t worry, you guys can stay with us.”
“Thank you, Heath,” I say.
“The child is down the hallway in the last room on the left. Circuit should be there as well,” Rhys says.
“Thank you, Rhys.”
I walk down to the back of the room and go down the hall, seeing Circuit holding Rufus beside a large bed.
I walk over and sit down on the bed, looking around the room. My stuff is piled in the corner, and the food for Rufus is out on a table next to a simple wardrobe.
“I just fed him, sir. He’s getting tired.”
“So am I,” I say.
I lay down and Circuit lays Rufus down next to me, tucking him in with a tiny blanket. Rufus’s eyes travel around the room, eventually landing on me. He smiles, and I gently lay my hand on his chest. He giggles and Circuit gives him a pacifier. He closes his eyes and I pull my hand away, keeping my eyes on him as we both drift off to sleep.
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