What Ends Us All

Within the last five years the world's leaders began to fight.

Money lost its value.

Religion fell out of practice.

Friends became enemies.

Families turned on each other.

War became the norm.

All within the window of five years.

Now the war is over.

Few people dare trust others.

All wonder if life will ever go back to normal, somehow.

Three walls in the room were purely made of reflective glass. That way Hewie could be watched constantly from three angles. Along the wall he was facing, a thinly-disguised door rested on sliding hinges. When he turned his metallic gray eyes toward where the door was almost as soon as it opened, he became immediately attentive and laced his fingers on bolted-down white table in front of him. The newcomer is an older man, with graying hair and dark eyes. Specifically, the old scientist was the creator of Hewie, the main researcher in the aspect of ‘perfection’ in a human being. In his youth, Adam Hughes had gone around the world and quizzed many hundreds of people from different large and small countries, areas, and provinces, and eventually came up with Hewie’s final design.

The ideal height stood true to many at precisely six feet, six inches tall. His weight was a bit on the light side, but exactly one hundred fifty seemed well enough, since Hewie would not be especially well-built. It seemed that throughout the years people decided that thinner, lighter body weights sufficed as opposed to overly built. His bones, however, were specific blends of demagnetized steel and iron, keeping him extremely strong and resilient. Deep wounds or near-mortal injuries healed in a matter of hours due to excessive amounts of repairing enzymes that coat his very elastic skin and accompany his blood cells. Adam Hughes checked Hewie’s eyes, his temperature, which hovered around precisely one hundred degrees normally, and his vocal ability. His grip measured seven hundred pounds of force.

When Adam was content with this checkup, he turned with a curt farewell and left the room. Hewie narrowed his eyes and gritted his pure white teeth. Every day. The same thing, every day. He was put through routine tests of body and mind. His entire existence revolved around tests, constant, daily, hourly.

~~~

When he awoke, his eyes glinted like steel in the pale moonlight. It seemed the only real view of the sky came at night, when the clouds seemed to move away just to cool down the area. All Hewie knew was that he was somewhere in the desert area of the United States. After he managed to get out of his cell during the fall, he hadn’t intended to stick around. But he did, and now, he called a rooftop his home. It was a flat stucco house, with a roof that stuck up like spires around a flat area in the middle, obscuring him from the desperate humans he often encountered. Dealing with them was of little problem, if a little tedious and boring after a while, but it was best not to be attacked in one’s sleep.

He’d adapted quickly to his surroundings. After all, that was what he was built for. He found sustenance in what others would deem inedible, revolting, or savage, but avoided the concept of ingesting peers, though he hadn’t met many for more than a moment. Most of those had been violent and deadly, and the rest, fraught with fear and quick exits. Hewie stood and stretched. Under the dusty brown overcoat he’d found in the house beneath his feet, which had been curiously spared from the looters and savages, his tight white-and-red jumpsuit glimmered with the moon’s glow. He’d had the chance to change out of it many times, but it was resilient, moved very well with him, and protected him very well.

Stretching, the cracks in his metallic bones sounded more like the pops of creaking door hinges. He leapt over the lowest point of the roof and to the ground with ease, dusting himself off and staring at the moon. He’d always loved gathering pictures of the moon from the magazines and graphic novels he was allowed while in holding at the labs. It was mysterious, much unlike him. Shaking his head, Hewie began a search for food before moving on to a different location. He felt it necessary to leave the desert for some other state, seeing as there were so many.

Alec cautiously made his way through the moonlit streets he could barely see 5 feet in front of him. Clutching his knife his only from of protection he tried to find somewhere to rest until sunrise, to him it looked like he just wondered on to the set of a zombie film, but he knew that the closest thing to zombie here were the broken and deranged minds of those that didn't die before the world fell apart.

Before fall of darkness, or final doing, or whatever people called it, Alec didn't have much to lose. He had a job a house and a car, nothing more nothing less, when he lost it all he wasn't affected as much as the people around him. Some had lost entire families seeing that the only way to escape was to kill them selves as well. He saw everything, burnt into his memory for the rest of his life. People throwing themselves off rooftops, falling in front of moving traffic, hangings, purging, it was all around him, it was as though death was picking off the weak one by one. He kept his mind clear and calm amongst the collapse and chaos that encircled him and then one day it all stopped. It was as though everyone had packed their bags and left without notice, half the town was missing, building and population wise, but now everything seemed a lot more empty. It was odd. It looked like he was in a Fallout Game. He stayed in the town for a few weeks, then found a car that had fuel in it and left. He drove until the car was dry and then walked. He found a city after a about 2 days of walking, and at nightfall tried t find a place to stay.

There was no power, so everything was dark. Only the moon shone the way forward, Alec walked the streets for what seemed like hours. He was exhausted but he had to keep moving. He saw a shop that used to sell clothes there were still some left but they were either for women or too big. He took a few of the large coats and went into the back it was dark and quiet in there, just how he liked it. It was unlikely that people would wonder in here, there was nothing that was useful. Alec went into the corner of the room curled up and draped the coats over him like a blanket. It may have been the desert, but at night it was like the arctic. He shut his eyes and went to sleep.

Hewie’s superior speed enabled him to catch a meerkat. After the fall, many zoos and exotic pet stores had allowed their animals to move as they pleased, while other more pressing issues were at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Meerkats, once strictly native to Africa, had littered the land along with other small mammals and birds. Larger, more carnivorous animals had been either killed by humans or avoided coming into contact with them. Hewie didn’t bother making a fire to cook the prize; Adam, his creator, hadn’t bothered with the concept of taste buds, which did well in saving some time. He chewed through half of the catch raw, his iron-made teeth and jaws cutting easily through even the hard skull.

Glancing up, Hewie noted the position of the moon. It indicated that it was, perhaps, around three in the morning, very early. It was a good idea to move on, however, while the air was still cold and more manageable than the heat of day. He got onto a road near the old house and started off randomly, not quite knowing where he was going but happy to be leaving the place he’d called a temporary resting place for a week. The power lines were to his left, but they were down, cut or simply worn because they hadn’t been taken care of in five years. He stared at the lonely poles standing solemnly in the still air, feeling oddly desolate, but content.

He walked for a long time, staring upward, watching the moon as it went by and began to fall behind the horizon. It was cut from his sight by the outlying buildings of a city, seemingly abandoned. At least, it was dark, save the faint rays of sunlight that had begun to cut into the dark of the scene. No one was around, he didn’t hear or see them. Every now and then, Hewie paused outside a house, a cafe, a store, and looked inside. The reflectiveness of his irises caught stray beams of light and sent them forward, allowing him to see, very limitedly, into each area. But in one, he noted a pile of clothes in the back, through a clear display floor for clothes. Some still littered the floors, some overturned racks, but that one seemed arranged specifically, and when it shifted, Hewie was certain someone was there. Perhaps a companion for the desolation?

He stepped through a broken pane of glass, making no noise once inside because the glass had been broken from within, and stepped easily through the tile floors. Whomever it was, they were asleep, so Hewie crouched, like a dog, several feet away, watching intently, patiently, and waiting for him to wake. Perhaps he would appreciate a bit of company too...

Alec slowly awoke on the hard floor, his shoulders ached and his back hurt, he could't complain because he wasn't dead, he could see a tiny amount of light entering his coat blanket so it was some point in the morning, but he was sure that he had closed the door a bit more last night. He threw the coats off of him only to be greeted by another person crouching a few feet away from him. It took him a few moments to process what he was seeing but as soon as it clicked he screamed and threw him self back against the wall.

He drew his knife and pointed it towards the stranger who looked completely unmoved by his out break. "S-S-St-Stay b-b-back, d-don't hurt me. What do you want? Urm..." He looked about him to try and see what he could offer."Here take my watch, it's a Tissot, very valuable... here." He threw the watch over to the man, but all he did was look at it not making a noise. "Not my watch? Okay here take my knife, It's a Balisong, and it's really sharp..." He threw the knife on to the floor by his watch and tried to move across the room away from the stranger.. "Oh god, this is how I die... In a storeroom in the back of a shop... All the things I didn't do... I'm still a fucking virgin for christs sake!" Alec closed his eye's and waited for the inevitable.

Hewie startled. He definitely didn’t expect this reaction. Generally they were shocked, but didn’t try to bargain for their lives. In fact, most thought they could easily overpower him because of his slight build. He was sure he hadn’t made a violent move, and had tried not to appear threatening in any way. What good would a watch do to anyone? Regardless of monetary value, money no longer existed. It couldn’t be used for fuel, and specific time was a thing of the past. Really, the watch was a shiny target. Not worth a moment’s time. A knife was useful, but what did Hewie need a knife for? He could break what needed to be broken, get through what was necessary without cutting.

Hewie stood and approached the stranger. Whatever he had said didn’t quite register; Hewie bent down at the waist, grabbing the stranger by the shoulders and lifting him to his feet. “I don’t want anything.” He said. Hewie’s voice was calm and even, without an accent. He didn’t move, however, and kept his hands on the stranger’s shoulders. “Why are you afraid of me?” He asked. “I don’t mean to intimidate. Are you human?” His metal gaze was unblinkingly intense. He made sure to keep the stranger’s attention.

The stranger approached Alec but towered over him. With Alec on the floor he felt small and pathetic. "Oh god, oh god, oh god. I'm going to die, I'm going to..." The stranger picked Alec up and put him on to his feet. Now that he was standing he stood about 10" shorter than the giant and appeared to be level with his chest. The stranger seemed to be wearing some sort of Lycra jump suit but seemed to be made to measurer. Alec thought it would be best not to look down, but didn't know where to look so he just closed his eyes again and wished for everything to be over. "I don't want anything." Alec's eye's shot open. "I'm going to live! Thank fucking god!" Alec relaxed a bit but still remained alert in case things made a U-Turn for the worse. The strangers voice was calm and quiet soothing but Alec could not put a point on where he was from, his voice was accent-less which didn't help but did make him sound less threatening, for now.

Then something irritated him which was probably the stupidest question that he'd heard for a while. "Urm well why the fuck do you think I was scared? I wake up and find you sitting next to me. The room was empty last night and now you're here, oh and if it hasn't registered yet the world has gone to shit. Half the world is dead for all I know, and you're the closest thing to a human that I've seen for about a week now. Do you know how hard it has been to make sure that I don't go insane? No you don't." Alec paused to catch his breath from his short rant. Then thought if the next question was as stupid as the first. "No, I'm from the fucking moon. Yes I'm human, what else would I be! Now could you let go of me please. I would like to get my things back and then find some breakfast if you don't mind." The stranger kept looking at Alec with his steel Gray eyes. It made Alec feel rather unsettled but he got his stuff and left.

He closed the door behind him and then ran out of the shop and down the street. "Just run, don't stop and don't look back." Alec tore down a side street and stopped by a dumpster. He caught his breath and looked inside. Empty. "Great.. Great start to today, almost die and not find breakfast." Alec walked down the street knife in hand looking through bins and dumpsters. He felt like such a Hobo but ignored the thought and continued looking. He approached a crossroad and looked at the other 3 directions. To his left was an avenue with cars but nothing else, to his right was a small private road that was empty and in front of him about 100 yards down the road was the man from the shop. Alec did a double take and fell to his knees.

What a strange reaction someone would have. Truthfully, Hewie hadn’t been... awake... for more than a few weeks before the world began to go south. He hadn’t had time to learn about humans. He didn’t think his question was strange. Of course, this stranger could be anything. Perhaps, something like Hewie himself? He didn’t get the chance to speak again when the stranger ran about, gathering his things, and ran away. Was this a game? Adam had told Hewie about games. If it was, though, he wouldn’t have gone off so quickly, and with such an anger in his tone of voice. Perhaps he was afraid? Hewie’s ability to read emotions was still a bit infantile. And the stranger certainly used a lot of expletives. Adam had told Hewie that those who couldn’t effectively express their emotions tended to swear a lot.

He left the store and looked around. He didn’t consider it necessary to find him at once; if they were to meet again, so be it. Hewie looked up to the sky. It was a bit past early morning, and Hewie would have to find food. Staring around the landscape, he found not much moving. Paper in the breeze, mostly. Overturned trash cans, their contents dried in the harsh hot breeze. Street signs and lights had fallen and corroded over time, rendering them unreadable and useless in general. He moved down the street, inspecting the buildings. The trash. Every now and then, the bodies. They had been mummified, dried, picked away at and nibbled on. How saddening. If Hewie were to die, he wouldn’t decompose like that. He would corrode like the metals of the buildings, the cars, the bikes, and everything else littering the streets.

When he turned a corner, he found something of interest. Four jackrabbits. With renewed will, Hewie chased after them, catching two at the same time, breaking their necks, and not daring to leave them behind for fear that they would be snatched up by someone, or something, else. He pulled a third out from under a random dumpster, and scooped up the other two, turning to continue on.

He paused. Someone rather familiar was halfway down the street. The young man that had ran off. Perhaps he was on the same search Hewie had been on. Without a show of force or aggression, Hewie went forward, and once they were only several feet apart, dropped the rabbits on the ground between them. “Easy pickings.” He commented. “You can have one.” He cocked his head to the side, letting his hair fall over one of his eyes.

He had found him, the man from the shop had found Alec and he was petrified. "He really does want to kill me..." With a thud he saw the jack rabbits which were somewhat lifeless fall to the floor, Alec only stared in disbelief he had been searching for half an hour and found nothing and this guy had found 3 rabbits. He looked at the rabbits and then at the man then back at the rabbits. "How...How did you get them" He picked one up and it was still warm. "He must have just got these... Urm thanks I'll take this one." Alec walked over to a turned over bin nearby, the man staring not saying a word. Alec looked back occasionally to see if the man would still make a move. He cut the head and legs off of the rabbit and threw them into the bin, he then skinned the rabbit but making a mess of it and then threw that into the bin as well. Alec looked around for a bin lid and saw one on the other side of the street. He went over and picked it up, it was a little dinged but it would do. he then made sure that the surface was as clean as it could be and placed the skinned rabbit on it.

He looked for a meshed piece of metal but couldn't find one so he walked around the street picking up anything that would burn. He found pieces of paper and small sticks and then dropped them into the bin, looking in his pocket and pulled out a box of matches and opened it up, he only had 3 left. He took one and prayed that it would light the kindling. He struck the match and for a brief second the match stayed lit before going out. "Piece of crap..." He took another and make extra care to make sure that it wouldn't go out. He covered it with his hand and then moved it down in to the bin. He put it into some paper and it lit, It was small but it would be sure to spread to the other materials. With out a mesh he walked over to a tree and broke off a large stick. On his way back he looked at the man who hadn't moved a muscle since he took the rabbit, but was still looking at Alec.

Alec took the stick and stabbed the rabbit with it holding the rabbit by the stick he held it over the small fire and started to cook it. It would be the first time that Alec would have had rabbit so he just told him self it would be like chicken. It took a while for him to cook the rabbit but the fire didn't show any sign of giving out. He looked over at the man who still hadn't moved. "Hey! You wanna use this fire while it's still here? It's gunna go out soon!" He looked at his cooked rabbit and looked at it. Moved it towards his mouth and took a bite. It wasn't the most pleasant taste but it would have to to he looked away from his rabbit only to see that the man had moved almost next to Alec. The surprise made him jump a little but not like before. "I swear he was over there a second ago, how did he not make any noise?" He carried on eating his rabbit in silence.

Such a perfect opportunity to watch this rare human. Hewie hadn’t been accepted as a non-threat in the past, so being so close to someone other than Adam was no doubt a chance to learn hands-on, rather than being told. He knew humans eventually adapted to their environment, if they could handle the reality of the situation mentally. Hewie had been built to immediately react to situations while preserving himself and his mental state. It was nice to see the work of... a normal person. Someone who managed to gather the wood of a tree in an old park, paper that was battered around in the wind, if with a little difficulty. Hewie had been told that humans couldn't eat things raw in some cases, especially when it came to meat products. They contained diseases, illnesses, parasites that the normal human body couldn't fight off, or couldn't detect until it was too late. It wasn't necessarily socially acceptable to just rip the head and limbs off a small animal and chew the rest of it.

When the young man spoke, Hewie moved. Grabbing the rabbits, he stepped forward with several long strides, and stood staring into the fire. It looked fine to him, but the stranger had startled a bit. Perhaps Hewie startled him? He backed away, crouching on the road again. He'd learned about 'manners' and 'socially acceptable behavior', but he'd also read plenty of post-apocalyptic stories and books. In situations like this, both manners and acceptable behavior more or less went out the proverbial window. He picked up one of the rabbits and went to work on it, snapping the neck around and taking it off the rest of the body. He did, however, keep the sight of the blood on the other side of the bin, so only he would have to look at it.

Before he crunched on the sturdy femur of the larger rabbit, Hewie glanced up to where his possibly-temporary companion stood. "I go by Hewie." He said at last. "My creator said he named me after his father." He paused, biting through the bone. "What name do you go by?" He asked curiously. "So I no longer know you as 'Human Male'.

Indeed, that was what his hard-drive brain decided to call him. Other than stranger, his brain went to the basic of humanity, knowing men as 'human male' and women as 'human female'. As long as he had a name to go by, it would put forth more realistic form.

Alec stopped eating and listed to the man who called himself Hewie. "Hey there I'm Alec!...Wait did he say creator? Oh my god he's not a person!" Alec got up and backed away from Hewie but tripped over a log on the floor, Alec got the feeling that he would be spending a lot of time on his backside the way things kept going. "I know what you are now! Your one of those robot things... like the one that went crazy and killed everyone, your just like all the others... That's why you've been following me isn't it, your going to wait till i'm asleep and break my neck like you did to those rabbits...ahaha...hahahaha, Alec went from scared to more hysteric at his realisation. "You've done something to these rabbit's haven't you? Maybe, inject some sort of poison into them or, or a drowsiness serum into them, huh? Is that what your little game is? Well i'm not going to give you the satisfaction!"

He got up and drew his knife, he artfully revealed it's blade and redied it he then ran toward and jumped at Hewie, the blade aimed at his forehead. The next thing that he remembered was that he was on the floor on his back with Hewie towering over him not moved by Alec's attack. At which point Alec passed out on the floor at Hewie's feet.

So unpredictable were people. Hewie wasn't a robot. Or at least, that's what he'd been told. Adam had shown him images of his creation, the way his skeletal system was created, what kept him running. He had a heart, albeit a mechanical heart, and a brain, although it was laced with protective mesh wiring that conducted the electricity necessary to think, focus, understand, and even live. Hewie was shocked at the reaction of---Alec, he said his name was---and couldn't quite react. He was trying to understand how all this came to be. Robots? Robots contributed to the end of modern civilization? Or were they just soldiers who assisted in the war? Perhaps they weren't as advance as Hewie, who knew the difference between right and wrong, good and bad. He'd been created over the course of forty years, after all, just to be perfect. He was contemplating this when Alec tried to attack, but seemed to give in to his body's overload of emotions and fall unconscious a few feet too late.

Hewie dropped down and lifted Alec as though he were no more than an empty backpack. If they stood where they were, a larger, or perhaps more prepared danger would approach them. Hewie moved forward, grabbing up Alec's knife, which had fallen from his hand when he himself had fallen, stowing it in a pocket of his jacket before moving off the road.

He found a small house just outside the majority of the city buildings, in what was probably the beginning of a suburb or gated community, away from the massive buildings and especially wide roads that at one time were probably filled with traffic. It was a large house, possibly three stories, including an attic, with large windows, half of which were boarded up. The yard was overgrown, the exterior paint peeling, and the door ajar. After a quick check of the house, mainly with heat-sensitive lenses over his eyes, Hewie went upstairs and found a bedroom. It looked rather taken care of. He set Alec on the bed and placed his knife on his chest, and crawled on top of the dresser. It was the only thing other than the floor that offered a flat, sturdy surface to sit upon. Perhaps when he woke, Hewie could make a better impression.

Alec slowly awoke, he felt cool, he remembered that he was outside and it was significantly hotter out there then it was where he is now. He opened his eyes and saw that he was inside. "Well that figures that mystery about the temperature. But where am I now?" Once his eyes where open he looked around the room. It was a bedroom in a house but it wasn't affected by anything, it looked like he'd gone back in time. He felt calm a bit but then he wondered how he'd even got here? Then the answer hit him like a two tonne truck, a two tonne truck that was sitting on the other side of the room. He sat up, his knife clattering to the floor. "It's... It's you, Hewie! That was your name! Why did you bring me here?" He couldn't think of a reason why he would be brought here. It was just a house. "It was kind of you and all but was there any reason for you to bring me here?"

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached down and picked up his knife. "Why is it that your so interested in following me? Are you from the future or something?" Alec was still a little dazed from waking up but he still tried to make sure that he was on full alert. "I'm guessing that I'm not going to be able to get rid of you seeing as though we keep meeting in strange situations." He chuckled a little and stuck out his hand towards Hewie. "He obviously isn't a threat to me, I mean he's helped me multiple times... Do you think that we can start over?"

Hewie swung his legs down from his sitting-crouch and stood. He was glad to see the completely erratic behavior had left Alec. But he wouldn’t get his hopes up that perhaps now he wouldn’t have to move about the world alone. “I’m not from the future.” He said at last. “The technology for time travel can never be fully created, since it’d take limitless amounts of energy confined to a regulated area. No human can do such a thing.” He paused. “However, I’m not a robot as well. A fresh start would benefit both of us, I think.”

He stood straight, a perfect posture that had also been placed into his creation. “I was created over the time of forty years, after my creator traveled the world in search of the details to create the perfect human being. After five years of constant quizzing, traveling even the most desolate of roads to find a single person with an idea of ‘perfection’, he came back and began his work on me. I’m of course not human, but I’m as close as artificial intelligence allows me to be. I have most human emotions, ability to know right from wrong, and rely on human company, in a way. I don’t have true... humanity, when it comes to my chemical makeup; my bones are metal, my skin is a close-knit mesh that regulates body temperature and refrains from becoming damaged by extreme cold. I heal quickly, and I never age.”

Hewie paused. He could breathe, think, eat, sleep... perhaps die. All like a normal human. Indeed, he looked normal enough. But he’d been hidden away from the rest of the world until, Adam had promised, they could understand what a magnificent creation he was, without spreading panic or fear. Perhaps Alec would fear him again...

Alec listened to Hewie's story as though he had become a child again, he was amazed that his creator had gone through all that trouble just to make him, some parts sounded like they were from a sci-fi movie. "So you're like a synthetic human but made of metal and wires and stuff? So does that mean you could blow a fuse and and kill a load of people? Not that there are many people left but you know what I'm getting at." He walked over to the window and tried to look through the boarded window to the outside world. It seemed like such a contrast. The world a complete disaster. While in here it was like a slice of life before the end. There was a slight crack of thunder outside and Alec could just see some dark skies through the small gaps in the wood covered window. "Hewie follow me!"

Alec tore down the stairs noticing that the rest of the house was in complete disrepair. It seemed like that bedroom was the only remnants of the old life. There was mould in the corners where bit's of carpet had been soaked by rain and there paint was peeling away on the walls and there was a strong smell of must hanging in the air. Alec swung himself round and made his way to the kitchen which looked like it had been through a tornado. The windows were smashed, and the door barely managed to hang on to it's hinges. "Hewie help me look for some containers in the cupboards." Alec went to the far end of the kitchen and looked in the cupboards "Tits! There isn't any down this end what about over there Hewie, you found any?" Alec kicked the cupboard of it's hinges and it clattered to the floor.

Hewie tilted his head. “Made of wires? Not entirely. I can’t blow a fuse, so you say, because I don’t have a ‘fuse’. I’ve got a motherboard. It records everything I see and hear for later use or disposal at will. But it regulates what humans know as ‘sanity’, and keeps me level while also feeling general emotions.”

He stepped forward, by Alec, and picked at a board on the window. It made a slight hole so he could look out at whatever Alec found so fascinating. Lightning? Yes, that was definitely lightning. He could... smell it. Glancing at Alec’s seemingly random reaction, Hewie did as requested and followed down the stairs as a particularly loud boom of thunder exploded nearby. It rattled his teeth.

Ever more confusion reigned when Alec seemed desperate for some kind of container. For what? Hewie wanted to ask, but thought it best to just oblige. Perhaps Alec was the crazy one, if either of them were. Searching a few cupboards, he found some pans, but they seemed too shallow for Alec’s desire. As the young man moved around to speak to Hewie, Hewie pounded the middle of each pan into a dome-shape, making an acceptable bowl. “This is good, yes?” He presented the items to Alec. “Why do you want a container?”

Alec ran over to Hewie. "Yes this is perfect!" Alec ran around the kitchen in a sort of eccentric/mad manner as though he had found the cure for cancer. "With this Hewie we can get fresh water! To drink, to wash, to do whatever! It hasn't rained for weeks!" Alec tore out of the kitchen taking the pans form Hewie's hands with him almost running into a table in the hallway only to run in to the front door face first. "Oww... Hewie I think this door is barred from the other side..." Alec rubbed his face and picked the pans that had clattered to the floor and walked back to the kitchen. "I think we should use the back door." The screen doors moved with ease and made a load squeaking noise as it was opened.

Alec walked to the front of the house and place the pan on the floor. He dug a small hole next to the pan to form a sort of bed for the pan to rest in. "See Hewie now we can collect water without the pan falling over!" Alec grinned from ear to ear at the pan on the floor. "You wanna give it a go Hewie?" Soon the rain started to fall and Alec started laughing hysterically. "Ha Ha Haaaa! Oh my god Hewie this is amazing!" Alec ran down the garden path and out the front gate on to the now wet road. He fell on to his knees and then fell to the floor and hugged the ground. "This is so beautiful it's almost to good to be true." He got back up again and started running around again like an excited child in a sweet shop whooping and cheering, he then started doing what looked like cart wheels but was a pathetic attempt. He looked back at the house and saw Hewie just standing there looking at Alec like he normally did. "Come on Hewie! Come and run around with me! Have some fun!"

To catch water. Of course, Hewie felt like a fool that he hadn’t recalled that, like all humans, Alec needed water to survive. He did as well, of course, but he could go precisely fifty days without it. He recalled correctly humans could only make it several days, give or take some hours, before lack of hydration killed them. And though Hewie was supposed to be human, he didn’t necessarily require much in the way of bathing. He also didn’t sweat; his internal cooling unit kept him at a relative temperature of one hundred degrees.

Still, Hewie had never seen nor felt rain. He’d been told of it, and he’d seen movies in which rain fell. But he’d never heard it, really, smelled it. He followed Alec, but kept a good distance as he dug holes to stick the pots in. His senses were almost overwhelmed when the water began its trek to the earth. Despite the wars that had once ravaged the lands, the atmosphere was oddly clean, more than it had ever been when society was still teetering between falling and thriving.

He twitched a bit, frozen in spot as Alec found a new life among the falling rain and called to him. Perhaps he should leave the shelter of the porch... Alec seemed to love the rain. And by the movies he’d seen while in his home facility, others loved it too, though too much could be considered a formidable force. He breathed carefully, and left the shade of the roof. His breath was stolen at the cold of the rain as it mixed with his general hundred degrees. The sudden and extensive drop in heat made his head swim, and he stumbled to the right, falling onto the ground. But the feeling wasn’t painful. It didn’t inspire fear. He breathed in, catching the scent of dirt, what little vegetation that could survive in the dryness thriving in the new showers. Thunder cracked above, sending an arc of lightning across the sky to smash into the ground off in the distance. He’d never seen the night so alive.

Hewie’s artificial heart pounded. He stood and stretched, staring upward. Water fell into his eyes periodically, but it didn’t make him blink. His perfectly-straight hair clung to him, no longer generally lightweight in substance but soaked, like his old jacket. He took it off and laid it out. Its inside was leather, and would hold water for a good amount of time. He’d collect some as well. Now all he had to preserve him from the elements was his full-body jumpsuit, which he’d always worn in the facility. Its patterns were solid here and there, and his name was imprinted on his left and right shoulder. It was watertight, however, and didn’t allow the invasive rain to cause discomfort. “I’ve never seen rain before.” Hewie called to Alec as he drew close. “It’s strange to me. But I can feel its life. Does it rain often?”

Alec's hair clung to his face his clothes completely soaked through and clung to his body. "This is like a god send Hewie, It hasn't rained for about a month now, do you know how hard it is to find bottled water that isn't attached to a trap of any description." Alec sneezed, he hadn't realised how cold it had gotten. The sun was making it's way towards the horizon and it wouldn't be long before night fell. Alec hugged his body to warm himself slightly. "Bollocks, I don't have any other clothes, do you think there might be some in the house?" He remembered that Hewie had talked about not knowing much about rain. It seemed odd to him that a being like Hewie wouldn't know about rain. Surely his creator would have put something in so that Hewie knew about the rain. "It doesn't rain very often in this part of the world. There are some places that receive too much rain! But there are load of insects and spiders there." Alec shivered at the thought of all the insects that were found in exotic places such as rainforests.

The rain became lighter but was still falling Alec looked over to the pans that were semi buried in the front garden. He made his way over to the pans and saw that they were half full. "Hmm I think at this rate it might be a while." He said to himself quietly. He looked over to Hewie who was still looking up at the sky almost in wonder. "Hewie! I think we should go in before we freeze to death!" Hewie didn't appear to move or even respond to Alec. He walked back out onto the road and went up to Hewie. "Are you alright? You feeling okay?" Alec looked up to see what Hewie was looking at and saw lightning arcing through the clouds. "A lightning storm? This day certainly has been interesting." All of a sudden out of nowhere a bolt of lightning struck the ground about 50 feet away from them followed by an immediate clap of thunder. It was so loud and fast that Alec almost wet himself, he jumped about 3 feet in the air shouting the whole way. "Jesus Christ!" Alec was breathing heavily feeling the rapid pulse of his heart in his chest just to check that it hadn't exploded by the sudden shock. He looked at Hewie and his jaw nearly hit the floor. He hadn't moved a muscle"What the hell? This guy's fearless." He looked and saw that he had in fact moved but only a couple of inches down, like a cat on edge seeing if it was ready to run. "Hewie I think we should go in. I don't exactly want to get struck by lightning, and I don't think you want to either. I'll go and get your coat for you." Alec left Hewie standing in the road and went over to the front porch of the house. He saw Hewie's coat on the floor and went down to pick it up. He grabbed the collar of the jacket and lifted it up "Jesus! How heavy is this?" He put both hands on the collar and lifted again only to fall over and land on the wet pavement looking confused and bewildered at the coat.

Hewie’s heart relaxed a bit after the peak of the storm went by. It was almost as though he could identify the exact moment it began to fade. But by the look of the sky, it didn’t seem to be the only one on the horizon. He glanced around, realizing he hadn’t been listening to Alec over his interest in everything else. Though he’d learnt about and watched rainfall, it was a completely different experience when one was right in the middle of it. He ran to the center of the road to where he had put his coat on a well enough dip in the ground and tilted his head at Alec. Did the rain really soak it so heavily? He gathered the sleeves, the tail of the coat, and the collar, and lifted it like a bag. Water sloshed inside the leather-protected interior as he tied each area to make a sealed balloon-type bag.

“Don’t forget to get your pans.” Hewie told Alec. “They’re probably filled to the top!” As he spoke, he took Alec’s hand and lifted him up. “I’ll go inside and see if they left clothes.” He left Alec to gather his pans and went back toward the house. The door that had been barred from within was actually boarded up from outside, and led directly into the kitchen. He managed to tear the boards and their rusty, short nails from the house very easily, and step into the shelter. Though he felt it was unlikely, he tried the light switch on the wall. Oddly enough, a dim ceiling light flickered on. Perhaps a generator was still going somewhere below the house... It explained the gentle humming from below.

He set the bag-like coat in the sink so it didn’t steal any water, which was unlikely to come from the faucet, and went upstairs through the living room. Hewie found towels from the upstairs bathroom, and in a couple bedrooms discovered a multitude of clothes that had been scattered everywhere, perhaps left behind when the previous owners... left. He gathered everything he could carry and took it downstairs.

Alec watched Hewie walking away with the coat as though it were a small rag "You know what, I think that it's better that I don't ask." He walked over to the now full pans with a wide grin on his face "This is perfect!" He picked up the pans and balanced them and walked towards the house. As he walked off the grass he slipped slightly, the water sloshing around in the pans nearly falling out. "Careful Alec..." He took the stairs onto the porch one at a time making sure that he wasn't going to trip and drop the precious supply that he was holding. He got to the top and made his way inside. The rug on the hallway felt strange after walking out in the rain and wet to suddenly walking on a dry surface. He got to the kitchen door still holding the pans and looked in, he glanced around the room looking for a suitable place for the pans to go. He took one step into the kitchen and regretted it. His soles of his shoes where still wet and the floor was made of tiles one step and Alec ended up[ on the floor with the pans clattering around him and water all over the floor. "Grrrahh!! Fucking hell! Stupid piece of crap floor! This is just fucking terrific!" He picked up one of the pans and hurled it across the kitchen smashing into a cabinet and causing some china to fall out and hit he floor with a crash.

Alec got up and stormed out of the kitchen and into the living room. It was dim and smelt of must, but he didn't care he was still angered by dropping the pans on the floor. His clothes still stuck to him as he slumped on to a sofa. "Fucking wet clothes." Alec took of his shirt and trousers and threw them onto the floor in nothing but his underwear he fell on to his side curled up on the sofa trying to muster some warmth into him. "I hope Hewies found something cus I'm certainly not sleeping like this." Failing to warm up he got up off of the sofa and explored the downstairs of the house. It seemed like a nice house in the old days, with it's wooden floors, warm inviting walls. It seemed like something out of a TV show. He walked into what looked like the dining room. The table was pushed up against the wall almost in pieces with little bit's missing and marks carved into the surface. The chairs were stacked in a corner, it seemed as though some one had been living in here. There was a thin layer of dust coating everything indicating that it had been a while since the last inhabitants were here. As he looked around the room he crossed his arms and rubbed his triceps to warm himself up. "How is it so cold in here?" In the corner there was a large white sheet covering something. He made his way over and pulled the sheet of and underneath were paintings that had been on the walls. "Well that explains why some of the walls are so bare." He looked though them seeing what was on each canvas, there was nothing in particular, just pieces of scenery or what looked like pets that had been here previously.

He walked back into the living room and sat in one of the tattered arm chairs, despite it's condition it was surprisingly comfortable, his body heat slowly warmed the chair and Alec started to feel drowsy. "No, Alec stay awake you know what happens when you fall asleep." He took a large yawn and stretched in the chair. "Gotta stay huuuh awake. Hewie's huuh bringing...bringing...bring..." Before long Alec had fallen asleep in the and shortly started snoring.

Hewie’s ears caught something, a noise, especially loud, from downstairs as he got to the halfway point. A metallic sound, that reminded him of iron. Perhaps they had been discovered. Maybe they were attacking Alec. He leapt the rest of the way, and rather than dropping the bundle in his arms, put it under one and took off to the kitchen. Silence reigned, thankfully, and Hewie could only see the emptiness of the kitchen. And a puddle on the floor accompanied by one of the two pans he’d turned into a bowl. But he could still feel nothing was especially wrong. Instead of heading back outside, where thunder exploded every few minutes and was accompanied by bright, arcing lightning, Hewie turned and went through a doorway to the living room, and found Alec curled on one of the chairs.

He rolled his eyes. At least his makers had given him most human emotions, so he could definitely feel both worry, relief, and annoyance. He was at the annoyance stage. Setting the bundle he carried on the dusty coffee table before a couch with a large damp place in it, he sorted through the things he found. The clothes were generally dark, some light tones of white or blue here and there, and it looked like everything matched somewhere along the line. He halved the organized pile and put one nearer to Alec. The young man seemed dead asleep. He was breathing, anyway. Hewie went to his side, and felt his pulse. Normal. But his skin was terribly cold. He returned upstairs and pulled a heavy blanket from the bed in one of the bedrooms, dragging it along and covering Alec to the neck. It’d do well to warm him and keep him that way.

Hewie didn’t feel tired. In fact, he was wide awake. His creators had done well to make him as human as artificial intelligence could engineer, but some aspects had been included to make him just a little more machine. After twelve hours of sleep, or as his creators called it, ‘temporary hibernation’, Hewie could go for precisely one hundred hours without sleep again. He returned to the kitchen, finding some full plastic bottles in the now-useless refrigerator among disgusting food that had surpassed the rotting stage and on top of some cabinets. The ones in the warm icebox were filled with water, and he felt like a fool for not searching here before allowing Alec to go in the rain.

Still, though he needed less than a general human, he took the old duster from the sink where he’d placed it, found a knife, and poked a hole through the cloth and leather. Though it was a bit messy, Hewie caught most of the water in one and a half bottles. It left them with five and a half in total.

These, he placed in the folds of clothes he’d kept for himself in case his jumpsuit ever wore out. It was insulated and kept him either warm or cool, and was made from the same material his skin was, so it could repair itself in limited ways. Hewie sat on the end of the couch nearer to where Alec was, and folded himself up. He could at least be patient.

As the rain made the familiar patting sound on the window panes, continued to rest in the chair along with the newly aquired blanket with thanks to Hewie but during this time there was something forming at the back of Alec's mind. It had been occurring this vision that he kept forming in his mind but it was more of a nightmare and every time that he had this vision everything happend in the same order, it had occurred so regularly that almost knew the event off by heart but the moment he woke up it was gone. Not at trace of it could bring it back in his memory but the ideas, events and visions are built on his memories significant ones that played an important role in Alec's life up to the point he is at now, and on this night, in the dark, musty arm chair in the derelict house this vision retuned to Alec to haunt him once more.

It was a beautiful October evening, the trees lined the street forming a canopy of red, orange and gold. The leaves floated to the ground in the light breeze the sky was a crisp pure blue with not a clould in sight and the onset of winter was apparent in the sharp cold wind. Alec was walking down the street at a lesuirely pase with a young woman at his side. She was shorter then Alec by a few inches and had honey blonde hair that just passed her shoulders, she had warm hazel eyes and a pale olive skin tone, soft and smooth that contrasted her dark eyes. She wore a black bennie hat covering her head just exposing her fringe, she had a light pink scarf that Alec bought her for Christmas the year before, he remembered that she was ogling it in a shop one time that they went shopping she left to go to another part of a store and Alec bought it without a second thought he knew that it would leave a nasty wound in his wallet but he didnt care, if she was happy he was happy. She came back and saw the scarf had gone and it saddend her a little, Alec lied saying that a woman came and looked at it for about 10 seconds before buying it. He still remembers her face when she saw it on Christmas day, she lit up like the 4th of July "Oh Alec! It's beautiful! How did you get it? Don't tell me that you were the 'woman' that bought it!?" Alec gave his usual cocky smirk "Maybe I was, who knows?" She leaned over and and gave a playful punch "Alec Travellion, you devil." She was wearing skinny jeans and knee length black leather boots and a black woollen over coat buttoned up to her neck, he thought that this was her best outfit, he thought that it was a sexy look. Her name was Lydia. Ever since she knocked a coffee all down his front two and a half years ago they always spent there free time together. One thing lead to another and they ended up dating.

It was this part of the dream that Alec enjoyed. He missed Lydia dearly and there was not a moment in the day that he didn't stop thinking about her. She left to go to a business conference out of town for a few days and that was the last time he saw her. That was 4 months ago, he feared that she had died, he tried to shove the idea out of his head but it always creeped back slowly like a snake winding it's way though his mind passing all the blocks and blanks with ease. They were walking down the street arms linked at the elbow, his hands in his pocket her arms wrapped around his, it looked like a scene out of a corney 80's romance film but he didn't care. A large aircraft flew over, he couldn't remember what one but it was definitely one from the air force. "Wow, Alec did you see that! You know this sort of stuff, what plane was it?" He couldn't remember, it was too fast for him to see it. Suddenly Lydia let go of his arm and ran down the street. "Alec take a photo of me under this tree! Look at the colours! It'll make the perfect autumn photograph, don't you think?" Alec willingly got out his phone and prepared the camara. "Okay you ready? 3... 2... 1... Cheese!" Out of nowhere there was an almighty explosion on the other side of the street. This is the part Alec always dreaded, he knew what was going to happen there was no way he could change it. It's like in situations where you know you should run, but you've forgotten how to.

Lydia screemed running back to Alec burying her head into his chest. Alec looked around for somwhere safe to go. He looked onto someones garden and saw a large table he ran covering Lydia as he went and hid under the table with her. "What's going on Alec!? Alec, what's going on." He said that he didn't know. But he did know. He'd know for too long what was about to happen but everything just repeated it's self and he was just along for the ride. He hugged Lydia tightly kissing the top of her head. "Everything is going to be alright" he lied. There was another explosion. Lydia screemed, completely scared out of her mind. Gunfire could be heard down the street. Now Alec really dreaded the next events. He felt weak and powerless and unstable everytime this happend. The gunfire got closer, louder, more frequent, like an oncoming storm everything got bigger, louder, more constant. Alec was counting the seconds until the inevitable, and then it happend, it hit him like a two tonne truck to the stomach. Somthing large and human like jumped down and landed a few feet away from the tale. Lydia screemed again. "Alec what is it? Make it go away please!" He wished he could, but he knew he couldn't. Suddenly a large hand reached under and grabbed Lydia by neck of her coat and dragged her out from under the table. "Alllec!! Help me! Oh God, Alec!!" She screemed his name over and over again, her voice pierced the air far louder then anything else in the area. She was dragged to the road by the humanoid and dumped there, tears poured down her face, her eyes big and red along with the skin on her face. She tried to crawl back to Alec but was then lifted up by her neck by one of the big hands still screaming for Alec to help her. Once the humanoid had lifted her up he held her there she started chocking grabbing on to it's wrist to try and lift her head up. Alec got out from under the table and could only stare at the sight before him. With its other hand the humanoid lifted up a gun, it was a normal handgun that would be found on police officers, there was nothing special about it. It lifted it up slowly in a menacing deathly manner, Lydia saw it and struggled to try and escape but her efforts were worthless. The gun was raised to her forehead and everything became silent. Only the breeze passing through the leaves disrupted the silence, the next few moments appeared to happen in slow motion. Lydia was shaking in fear, tears clinging to her cheeks. She only manged to utter "Alec, I.." An almighty crack broke the silence. Lydia's head flew back her hat falling off and dropping to the ground. Her arms fell limp and lifeless away from its wrist and falling to the floor. "LYDIAAA!!" Alec's face went ghostly pale, he instantly became cold, ice cold. All over his body, he had seen this so many times. But he always felt the same each time.

He looked at the creature that had taken Lydia's life and it's hand around her neck slow closed up. There was another crack and he head snapped backwards again but remained there. It had shattered her neck, he knew that it had. It dropped the dead girl and she hit the floor with a loud thud her head smashing into the pavement, blood slowly leaving her body. It ripped Alec to pieces every time that he watched this. No matter how many thousands of times he'd seen this and how many millions of times that he would see it again, he knew the same feelings would come back. He fell to his knees on the cold grass. The damp surface slowly making its way into his jeans. All he could do was look at Lydia's corpse and the thing standing over and looking at it. He was shaking with fear, sorrow and regret. He could have done something to help her but he just stood back and watched. He heard her screems, but did nothing. He saw her tears, he could feel her fear, but still he did nothing. He slowly got back up tears flooding down his face, deep sobs leaving his mouth. He suddenly ran at the thing in front of him screaming at the top of his lungs until his voice was hoarse, but in one swift movement the creature turned grabbed Alec by the scruff of the neck and threw him over to the other side of the street slamming him into the side of an SUV, the door caved in and the glass shattered raining down on Alec covering him in tiny pieces of glass. Still sobbing he was unable to move due to the pain from the impact. The creature marched over to his aching body lying on the floor. When he saw it close up it was the machine that escaped that on was on the news. It had found it's way into his mind and plagued his memories removing the happiness form his mind and replacing it with this single event. He looked at it into its cold heartless eyes not blinking or breaking eye contact. It slowly lifted the gun once more, Alec knew his fate. Everytime it was the same. He closed his eyes and turned away from the machine. "Lydia, I'm sorry." Was all the squeaked from his mouth. As he lay against the side of the car shaking, the world fell silent once more but this time there was no wind or rustle of leaves. Nothing. In the darkness around him the was a gunshot that broke the silence. Alec's body shook, the was another one and Alec's body lurched.

Alec woke up lurching out of the chair, the blanket falling forward on to the wooden floor, a clap of thunder broke the silence in the room. He looked round and saw a figure in the dark. "AAAAAAHHHHH!!!" Alec broke out in to a sweat while in the seat, He jumped out of the chair and a flash of lightning outside lit up the character in the room. "Aaah! oh, Hewie... It's you..." He calmed himself down still breathing in big rasps but brought his arms down... "How long have I been asleep for? What time is it?" He went back over to the chair and sat back down in it. The leather was still wet from when he was sweating and the fabric stuck to his back but he didn't care he knew that he was safe. For now.

Hewie put his head forward, and closed his eyes. Though he didn’t have to for at least another thirty hours, he put himself to sleep and ignored the world. The thunder, the flash of lightning, and the roar of falling rain as it began again at full force faded away. While most humans had dreams, which for the most part were not only made up and fantastical, but warped recollections of the past, Hewie’s mind went backward to a certain, random point in his life and recalled it with perfect detail. Oftentimes it even went back to the day he was released from his incubation tank.

Hewie sat in a white room. White tile floors. White tile walls. A bed sat in the corner, nothing special. It was white as well, covered in a half-inch thick sheet and a semi-flat pillow. Its frame was metal, bolted to the tile floor. One window let light in, but it was too high for Hewie to reach, and was barred. A table sat against the wall across from the bed. It had papers and pens scattered on it. He’d been describing what he thought the outside world looked like, based on descriptions he’d been told many times. He didn’t do well. With the lack of pictures and actual references to go on, Hewie didn’t know what to write. He only just discovered what colors were. He had abandoned his tries a few minutes ago, and took to sitting on the floor near the door. It was bolted shut, as it always was. Perhaps his creators didn’t trust him... That saddened Hewie. One of the general emotions he could feel. But he was waiting, for once, for a visit. Most of the time he had to endure visits from his creator, be asked stupid questions or be poked and prodded to be checked for problems or imperfections. But he was always perfect. Too perfect.

The door opened. Hewie looked up and around, and for the first time that day, smiled. A girl, approximately twenty six in age appearance, entered with a grin. She had been the first attempt at creating the perfect human. But her eyes were a third of a degree too small, and one was a half-degree higher than the other. Her teeth weren’t absolutely white, and a canine was just a bit crooked. Her hair, a bright, bright yellow-gold, was curly and uneven on the ends. Her form was of a young woman, just a bit younger than her age was supposed to be, and she wasn’t the precise height of five foot, eight inches tall. But Hewie considered her just as perfect as he was. She had a bright smile that could bring him out of the darkest of moods, and a light, sing-song voice so different from his monotone type. For the most part, the girl, dubbed Elie, was the closest of Hewie’s friends. Really, the only friend he had. No one else tried to listen to him more than they needed to, and Elie seemed absolutely enthralled with every word Hewie said. Easily, Hewie listened and understood what Elie had to say as well. She kept him happy in dark times. She told him he kept her smiling in times of pain or loneliness.

She sat on the floor across from him. Her clothes were a bit baggy on her, not at all like is white full-body suit that seemed one hundred percent custom made for his specific body type. Their conversations ranged from what they thought the outside world looked like, how different people might be out there, wearing clothes of varying tones and styles, not like the uniform white everyone in the facility wore. What sizes they might be, what heights. How their imperfections made them unique. How cities, towns, villages might be laid out, how sprawling they could be. How amazing they could make paper with just a few colored paints or pencils or pens. Elie’s voice was beautiful. Hewie could listen to her all day. But their visits only spanned a few hours. She was a sister Hewie could never have, because he had never been truly born of nature. Neither of them had. All they could rely on were one another. She talked with her hands a lot. Almost as though she were trying to paint a picture in the air, but Hewie could see them through her eyes. Her light blue eyes. They weren’t like his. His were metal. Hers were of a gel-like substance. And her skin was a bit flawed. She had almost-invisible freckles along her nose, which was half a millimeter too large. Every quarter of a degree mattered to their creators. They had dubbed her a failure, but instead of allowing her to live among society, had kept her in the facility. Hewie couldn’t understand it. She deserved to be free. He, on the other hand, perfect in every through the eyes of their creators, deserved to stay here and be their guinea pig.
.
She had to leave as they were talking about animals. How diverse and amazing each and every one could be, how well adapted to their environments they were. How bright and colorful or dark and menacing they could be. She waved goodbye as she was led away by the hand of a white-clad man, and Hewie returned the gesture, and the door closed and locked again. Hewie was left alone, and as he was, he paced. He paced the length of the room and never stopped until the lights in his room dulled, signalling nightfall and bedtime.

Moonlight managed to stream through the window above the bed. Hewie loved the moon. It was beautiful, and gave the night a little more mystery. And his eyes tended to reflect the light in almost a glowing appearance. He hadn’t been asleep, but even if he had been, he’d have heard the sounds. Banging. The sound of something being thrown against the wall, then falling to the floor. Something heavy and metal. While the beds of each room were bolted, the desks weren’t. And it sounded heavy. Then a voice. Several voices. Hewie sat up and listened. Two men’s voices. And a female. A light voice, terrified. Hewie’s heart leapt in his chest. “No!” Elie. “No! Please, please! I’m sorry, I’ll do it! I’ll do it, please, I promise! Take me to the testing room, I’ll listen this time!”

“Sorry, dearie.” One of the men spoke. Though the walls were thick, Hewie’s abnormal hearing could catch every word, and every emotion behind the words. His lacked emotion. “We’ve tried. We can’t do any other tests. You’re obsolete now. C’mon, let’s go. We don’t want to have to---”

“Please! One more, one more!” Elie’s voice was cracking, desperate, the sing-song tone gone and replaced with absolute terror. “I know it’ll work, please! One more time!”

Hewie flinched when one voice screamed at her. “Shut up! Come on, damn it!” A thud sounded, and a painful moan. Hewie scrambled up and to the door, looking through the tiny rectangle that could see out into the hallway. It was dull in light, echoing the evening’s light. From the left, two men in white dragged Elie. She was struggling, but she hadn’t been made like Hewie. Hewie’s skeletal system included indestructible, demagnetized metal. Hers was of artificial human bone. She lacked the strength Hewie had to break away from her captors. Her tear-stained face turned to Hewie’s door, but she didn’t seem to see him watching. “Hewie!” She screamed. “Please, help, Hewie!”

“Shut it!” The man along the farther side shook her. “He’s in his sleeping mode, he can’t hear you. Stop! You’re just putting it off.”

Elie tried to speak again, yell out, her mouth wide open in a plea toward Hewie’s door, but she couldn’t get anything that sounded more like a screech out. As they passed, Hewie gasped. They were going to kill her... Kill her! As if she were a useless piece of junk. As they moved out of sight, down farther along the hall, he balled his fist up and smashed it into the crack between door and jamb. His creators hadn’t thought he’d get angry enough, or desperate enough, to break through the door, but as he smashed his hand into the heavy metal, it bent, and the locks broke. He swung the door open, busting into the hallway and catching sight of Elie as she was dragged around the bend.

Hewie looked around. No one else was near. But the door next to him was wide open. Looking in, he found the room a wreck. The bed ripped apart and the desk thrown across the room, and a bit of bright red staining the tile floor. Elie’s blood. He gritted his teeth, almost blind with rage. Speeding down the hall, he almost hit the wall of the crossing corridor before seeing the double doors close on the right end. He hurried along, staring through the clear window panes to the area beyond. Elie was behind glass, in a bare room one could see into through the wide, thick pane. The two men were at a control panel, and after a moment, Elie backed away from the glass, doubling over and holding onto her stomach. “No...” Hewie burst through the doors. “What are you doing to her!?” He ran to the glass, but Elie was on her knees already. He couldn’t hear her as she looked up and opened her mouth. She moved forward, to the window, and put her hand on the glass. Hewie’s eyes were blurred with a mix of angry and desperate tears. But Elie fell. Before he could turn and seek his revenge on the two that had brought her here, a freezing, painful burst of energy knocked him down, blackening his vision.

“... For the best, Hewie...”

“... Couldn’t let her go...”

“... Had to do away with her, Hewie....”


Hewie’s eyes opened with a burst of thunder. He found himself staring down at his folded hands on the old couch, the musty smell of an old, abandoned house returning to him as Alec nearby jumped from his chair. Hewie wiped his eyes and sniffed before glancing up. “Er...” He looked around. “Four hours. Approximately.” His voice was a bit cracked, he couldn’t hide that. He kept his gaze away from Alec as though finding more interest in the room. “I... found some clothes. For you.” He pointed to where he’d laid them. He didn't want to look at Alec, in reality. It seemed they had both recalled something desperately terrible. Hewie himself had allowed his best, his only friend, to die, to be killed. And he thought he could just push that away...

Alec looked towards where Hewie was pointing still recovering from his shock. A small pile of clothes were on the floor folded neatly. He picked them up and inspected them. "Urm thanks." There was a pair of suit trousers, navy blue and very light, It felt like it was a mix of cotton and silk. He put them to his waist to see if they would fit. They looked a bit big but he put them on. He felt awkward putting them on knowing that they belonged to someone else. But they weren't here any more so he continued to get dressed. They were in fact the opposite, they were a bit snug on his waist but it wasn't uncomfortable he reached down picked up the shirt. He lifted it to his nose and smelt the shirt. It wasn't pleasant, the shirt was dirty still and smelt of sweat from the last person that wore it. It was white, well was men't to be white but the colour had faded slightly and was now a slight Gray hue. He still thought about if it was worth wearing the shirt but at this point in time it was smell of sweat or get hypothermia, so reluctantly he put the shirt on and did up the button's leaving one from the top, he left the cuffs undone because he didn't have any cuff links and the chance of finding them here were slim.

He walked over to a mirror that was leaning against a wall in the dining room and looked at his reflection. He didn't look that bad in his opinion. He went and pretended to do a tie up and then turned to have it checked by Lydia. But she wasn't here, the thought caused his throat to choke up slightly, he quickly left the dining room and the thought of Lydia in there with the mirror, he sat down back in the chair and looked at Hewie. He seemed, distant. It looked very odd from Alec's perspective, only seeing him as the giant focused being, that he had seen before now looked like a lonely teenager ignoring the world. "Hewie? Are you okay? You look a bit... lost." The storm continued to ravage outside with no sign of letting up. He looked at his watch and saw that it was still early in the morning, the sun wouldn't be rising for a few hours yet.