Broken Things (18 page)

Josh screamed and tried to jerk away, but she held onto him
tightly. He dropped the tablet and pushed away using her face for leverage
until she let go. She continued reaching, her thin arm outstretched for a few
seconds more until she collapsed, too weak to put up any more struggle.

The light from the dropped tablet continued to shine upward,
revealing movement all along the mound. Not the girl, she didn’t move anymore,
but countless others did. All of them were too weak to move much. Some gasped
for breath, while others managed petulant cries for help. The wail of an infant
carried above it all.

“I can’t help you,” he said, scooting backwards, “”I’m
sorry. I don’t know what to do.”

He staggered to his feet and stumbled forward into a blind
run. He didn’t know where he was going, only away from the pit, attempting to
leave their cries behind. The further he ran the children still slept,
oblivious to the diminishing cries behind him.

Josh ran toward the lights of the buildings, heedless of
obstacles. As he entered the cusp of where the light hit the shadow he tripped
over something, maybe nothing, or even his own feet, and he fell to his knees.
He buried his face in his hands, seeking to block out his surroundings. He
couldn’t run anymore, his strength sapped out of him.

His fear of the monster paled in comparison.

He didn’t hear the engine of the truck approaching, nor did
he look up until the headlights were right in front of him. The white truck
with the Kidsmith logo drove slowly, throwing up a trailing cloud of dust, but
he couldn’t get back to his feet. Nightmares surrounded him no matter what
direction he chose to run.

The truck stopped a few feet away. “Josh?”

It was James. He opened the door and the cab light revealed
his female passenger, Angel. He carried some sort of weird gun. She followed
right on his heels as he got out and walked slowly over to him. The headlights
lit up the nearest mound, exposing the still, broken children. Angel’s steps
faltered as it sunk in what she saw.

Josh watched her, expressionless. Her eyes were wide, horror
and disbelief waged against each other across her face. She looked at them, and
back to the bodies. She tried to speak, her mouth moved with no words coming
out. She could only shake her head. She gulped, forcing her throat to work and
asked James, “What is this place?”

“The Kidsmith Repository,” James said, “It’s for the
unfixable children. You okay, Josh? Is your monster here?”

“It’s hell,” Josh said, fighting back tears, “God doesn’t
see us, does he? All of the children, they’re still alive. I just want to go
home. Please take me home.”

“There’s so many,” Angel said as she knelt down beside him.
“What’s that sound? Where’s it coming from?”

“It’s just the wind,” James said, “Did you see the monster?”

Josh’s glared at him through his tears. When he spoke, he
couldn’t restrain his bitterness. “It’s not the wind. It’s the children. You’re
the monster. You… people...”

“Now that’s not fair, not all of us are. I’m here to help
you. Just like how I fixed your arm, remember? We’re not all bad.”

“No, you just want something. Like everyone else.”

“What about Angel? She cares about you.”

Josh turned to face her. His anger melted when their eyes
met. He saw his own feelings mirrored in her expression, created by the
overwhelming sadness and the despair of the place. He also saw something else
that he didn’t have. Resolve.

He turned back to face James. “
She’s
not one of you.”
 

“What? Of course she is. She’s…” James words died. His eyes
met Angel’s and he suddenly realized the truth. “Well… what do you know?”

Angel squeezed Josh’s shoulder. “Everything is going to be
okay. I don’t know how we’ll do it, but I’ll get you home.” Angel stood and
took Josh’s hand, helping him to his feet. He hugged her. Her body went briefly
rigid, and then relaxed. Her arms wrapped about him and she held him tight. For
the first time since the mountains he didn’t feel alone.

“He can go home after we catch the android,” James
interrupted.

She shook her head. “You stick around and wait for it. We’re
done.”

Josh reached for her hand. She met him half way and gave it
a squeeze. Together they walked toward the gate. James had left it open when he
drove in.

“Angel,” James growled, “I need that kid.”

“Use your own,” she said over her shoulder. Josh tried to
look over his shoulder but she tugged him forward gently. “Don’t look back,”
she said softly, just focus on where we’re going.”

“I have to have him,” James said, “I have to return with him
or it’s my job.”

Josh looked up at her and smiled. She returned it warmly.
She looked radiant, she was his hero. “Thank you,” he said.

“Thank you. You made me question my purpose. I don’t have to
be what others expect me to be. You and I are going to make things better.”

“Don’t you two walk away,” James hollered, “Look at me!”
Josh tried to ignore him, but James followed, his boots crunching through the
gravel behind them. He heard a click and an electric whine. “I will shoot you.
I warned you what this would do to an android.”

Josh didn’t see fear in Angel’s eyes. “We’re going to be
fine,” she said.

The only sound he heard of the gun was the electric
discharge, which came out as a brief ‘
pop’
. All of his hair stood on end
as though he was suddenly exposed to static electricity and everything went
momentarily blurry. He staggered as Angel’s fingers went limp within his own.

He looked back at James. He had shot them… but with what? He
turned to Angel, but her expression had changed. Her face looked… empty. She
stared straight ahead, unseeing, like the mounds of children. From within her
head came a few last clicks as though something were winding down. Any spark of
life had instantly been extinguished.

He watched helplessly as she collapsed, her hand slipping
from his. He fell to his knees beside her and lifted her head from the gravel,
brushed the dirt and rocks from her cheeks. “Get up, Angel,” he pleaded, “We
have to go!”

“She left me no choice,” James said, “Come with me. Stop
wasting my time.”

“You killed her! Why?”

“She’s just a robot. You need to come with me before
anything bad happens.”

“
I’m
just a robot!”

From down the road, Josh became dimly aware of another set
of headlights approaching. James saw it too. “What now?” James asked.

Josh lowered her head gently back to the ground. James
reached out for him but he darted under his arm and ran toward the mounds and
the darkness of the shadows. He’d felt so close, he’d felt hope for a brief
instant, just to have it taken away again. As he ran into the children he
realized,
I’m already one of them
.

Behind him came the sound of James’ pursuit. The man was out
of shape and he hadn’t run far before he was panting and wheezing. Josh quickly
left him behind. “You little shit! I’m going to break you! You think you can
cost me my job? You think you can get away from me? I can find you wherever you
go. There’s nowhere for you to hide.”

He didn’t look back, but ran deeper into the valley of
children, straight for the Pit.

2

James could hear the sound of the kid’s feet dwindling
rapidly into the landfill. Maybe he hadn’t handled that very well. The sun
would be rising soon, but tracking the kid would still be difficult. But he had
Angel’s tablet. It would lead him to within five feet. He quickly grabbed it
from the truck and with one last glance at the approaching vehicle, headed into
the garbage.

He didn’t recognize the vehicle. It wasn’t one of
Kidsmith’s. He’d deal with them afterward. He had his employee badge in his
wallet, if they questioned what he was doing here. He wished that he’d gotten
around to making a smaller EMP generator, the bulky thing made his hunt
awkward, and it would be useless for five minutes. He was half-tempted to fry
the kid’s brain when he got the chance.
Maybe I shot the wrong one.

3

Cody drove an old clunker. The thing rattled and banged with
every bump they hit, and occasionally blew out a thick cloud of white smoke.
Neil sat next to him in the passenger seat holding the tablet, navigating them
after Josh. Once he realized where they were going though, he no longer
listened to Neil’s instructions. He used to come here a lot, for parts and
such, before he’d lost his job. Now he sent Neil to slip in and steal things.

Things were tight for Kidsmith. They could barely operate
this place, except that the State required them to keep it open, for all of the
children that were shipped back. Ten years ago the government had required
Kidsmith to open the place, to keep the children out of the public landfills.
Some still ended up there, but Kidsmith Reclamation got most of them.

The gates were open. A company truck sat in the middle of
the road, headlights on and both doors open, and Cody watched as a man sort of
ran into the bodies. He squinted, trying to see what the man chased, and if not
for Neil he would have hit the body lying in the path.

“Watch out,” the boy said, “Someone’s in the road!”

He stopped just in time. It might’ve only been a kid,
sometimes they were dumped in the road. A backhoe would come along and push
them into the piles. The hills seemed quite a bit taller than he remembered
them. He briefly considered driving over the body, but he had stopped already.
He threw it into park and stepped out.

The body was taller than a child. It was a woman.

It was Angel.

“What the Hell?” He dropped down next to her, searching for
injuries. Her eyes stared at him unblinking.

“Is that…” Neil didn’t finish, he knew the answer. “Is she
dead?”

Cody shook his head. “No… Maybe… I don’t know. There’s a
pulse, but that’s it. It’s like she’s been shut off.”

“Can you turn her back on?”

“Not here.” He gently slipped his arms under her and lifted
her dead weight. “Get the back door, Neil.”

They slipped her into the backseat as gently as possible. He
paused, staring at her. He’d forgotten how beautiful she was, why she was his
favorite. It wasn’t just her looks, but the way she laughed at his jokes, the
way she chided his sloppiness without judging. He’d never cared that her bones
were titanium, that she had a computer for a brain. Real women had never been
too fond of him. But he’d screwed up. He’d become complacent.

“I’m so sorry, Angel,” he said. With a deep breath he turned
to Neil. “Someone’s going to pay. Let’s find Josh and get some answers.”

4

It stood in the shadows of the building, watching. It had
followed the boy’s emotions, had almost caught up to him at the last house, but
he’d ran again before it could reach him. This child was different from all of
the others, not just in its form of existence, but in fate. Everywhere the
child ran, trouble seemed to follow. This child felt like… destiny.

The heavy-set man and his boy companion ran into the bodies,
leaving the woman in the back of their car. Once it was certain there would be
no other intruders, it made its way after the boy, following the fear. It
passed through the radius of light, unafraid of being seen, until it came to
the nearest mound.

Now these children, they were confusing. It placed a
weathered, worn, and blood-stained hand on the forehead of a little girl. They
weren’t real, therefore it had no interest. But they were just like the boy,
all artificial.  

The girl stirred against its hand. Yes, life still
tenaciously continued here, repeated from body to body of all the children
pressed together. These people, the corporations, they didn’t realize what they
had achieved. It hadn’t sensed it at first, only in the boy. They’d created
life and put it in the tiny frames of children. Innocent, eternal children.
Humans… they longed for what they’d lost, but were blinded by their
hubris. 

The weak echo of life extended from her throughout all the
children. Were any of them truly dead? No… or maybe once. Now they’d become
something more. They gave each other life here, where they had nothing else
left. It could feel it, a pulse to the faux landscape, inside and beneath the
surface. Mostly they slept. If it listened carefully, it could hear them
collectively breath.

They seemed to be waiting for something. Salvation, perhaps?

It had to return to the hunt. It could ponder the afterlife
later.

The girl’s hand snagged its shirt. It pulled gently free,
but the girl’s eyes held it in place where her tiny hands could not.

“Are you the devil?” she asked.

“No,” it responded. The sound of its own voice shocked it.
It hadn’t uttered a real word since returning. It sounded dry and full of
rocks. It could only imagine its appearance. It had avoided reflections, only
making a rudimentary effort to hide its withered and broken body. It could only
imagine the nightmare it must resemble.

“Oh,” she sighed, “I thought he’d finally come, but he’s
forgotten us too, I think.”

It fought to form the words. They came out with difficulty,
but it managed to say, “Why do you wait for him?”

“Because I wasn’t good enough.”

It held her eyes a few seconds longer and turned away.

5

Josh ran. He could hear them, they whispered, as though
talking amongst themselves. He couldn’t make out their words though. It all
blended into an indistinguishable hum. Before long he’d reached the pit again.
The sky had begun to lighten now, becoming a dark blue, and he could begin to
make out the shapes of the broken children. He could make out the other side,
maybe the distance of half a football field. Though it would take too long to
go around, he thought he could make it across. The bodies should support him.
He was light enough, and hopefully it would be more difficult for James.