16Noah watched as the sun rose in front of him. It had been a long night of constant watch. His eyes hurt, and he was pretty sure that dark circles were forming beneath them. The cover story for that would be a weird one.
He watched the brilliant sunrise in front of him, the exhaustion from pulling an all nighter while watching out for a death robot making it all the more beautiful. Noah sighed in relief, leaning back in his chair.
"Another day, huh?" Noah turned to stare at the person who was now sitting beside him on a boulder. It was a woman, around thirty or so, who had short messy blonde hair. The right side of her face was covered by a massive burn scar, and the eye the scar surrounded was hidden with an eyepatch.
Despite wearing an old blue turtleneck sweater that was full of holes and tears, scrapped up black leather pants, and a beaten down composure, her right eye was open wide and shone like a diamond. "I find it ironic that such a beautiful thing carries sinister meaning."
"What do you mean, mother?" Noah asked, leaning back in his grass hammock.
"Apparently, during the war, the air became polluted with various noxious chemicals. The sunrise only looks like that pretty because of the sunlight shining through the gas." She answered. "And because of the gas, the Earth warmed up, causing this desert."
Noah's brow furrowed. "How does that work?"
"Hell if I know." His mother answered. "And it hardly matters. Right now, the only thing I'm wondering is how you could be so careless."
"Huh?" Noah said sitting back up.
"It's one mistake, you know." She scolded. "That's how your father died, it's how I died, and it's how you'll die if you don't get your broken act together this instant!"
Noah's mother slid down the boulder, walking over to stare him down. "Wake up before you stay asleep for good." She hissed.
Noah woke, once again seeing the sunrise. This time, however, he could feel the heat and wind on his face. He stared for a moment, too stunned to move, then quickly sat up and slammed his hands on the railing. "DAMMIT!"
He'd fallen asleep! His mother was right, how could he be so careless! What if Kid had rode in while he was out?!
"Who in the blazes was that?!" Noah heard a voice from below. It wasn't a machine voice. "You all hear that? Came from the tower."
Noah immediately laid down flat on the floor, then crawled to the edge of the tower to peak over the side. What he saw sent a chill down his spine.
The residents of Mullbury, including A6 and Flint, were all lined up in the center of the town. The 'children' were held close by their 'mothers', and everyone else was cowering in fear. Flint was now holding a cane, and was standing calm and composed in the center of the line. A6 stood beside him, her arms crossed and her eyes closed.
Surrounding them were machines, all wearing black bandanas, stetsons, and vests. Most of them were human sized, but there were two that were twice the size of the others and towered above them, both of which stood beside Kid. There were also a fair amount of flying machines, which were basically airborne air-hockey mallets with the bottom being a magnetic stabilizer (or at least that's what Noah assumed it was) and the handle being a body and head without arms with a single large turret attached to it.
Standing in the very center of the town, however, was an android. He wore a dark brown vest and chaps over a black dress shirt and blue jeans. A few eagle feathers decorated his black stetson, which hid his face from view. Noah was pretty damn sure this was Kid.
"Definitely heard something." Said one of the two giant robots.
"Yeah." Replied the other. "I heard a mouse. Do you think it wants cheese?"
Kid muttered something to himself, then gestured to two of the flying machines. "You two! Check the clock tower, and while you're at it have some of the little ones search the building."
There wasn't time to think, just to act.
Noah rolled to his feet, grabbed his rifle, slung it over his back, ran to the side of the tower that was facing away from the center of the town, jumped onto the railing, then grabbed and pulled himself onto the pyramid shaped roof. It was time to get lucky. Again.
He heard the soft 'whirr' of the flying machines as they flew up to the platform were Noah had been. "You take top, I'll watch bottom." One stated.
The whirr suddenly grew closer to Noah's right, and he shifted to the left, careful not to knock any of the roof tiles free. The machine paused for a second, then started circling around towards Noah's left. Noah shifted back to the right, then ended up moving over twice more to avoid detection. Once the machine had made a full circle of the roof, it paused. Then it lowered itself back down.
The clanking of metal feet could be heard coming up the stairwell, then they stopped.
"Boss going crazy again?" One of the machines asked.
"Boss going crazy again." Another confirmed. "There wasn't even a bird this time."
Noah smiled in relief before realizing that he was now on the side of the roof that was facing the inside of the town. He moved back to the back side of the roof and waited for the clanking to die down and the whirring fade, signifying that the machines had left the tower. Once confirming that they had indeed left by hanging his head over the edge, Noah swung back down onto the platform at the top of the tower.
He silently made his way down into the classroom, passed between the desks, and took up a position beneath one of the schools door-side windows. Here, he could observe Kid and make sure he didn't miss his opportunity to get out of here.
"Nothing? Really?" Kid shook his head at the two flying machines, then started slowly walking down the line of Mullbury residents. Noah could now see that Kid had a black mustache and goatee, but that was hardly his most prominent feature. Most of the right side of Kid's face had been melted off, revealing part of the grey metal exoskeleton that sat beneath his artificial skin. His right eye was not grey or glassy, but instead a black mesh of fragile looking mechanical parts that centered in on a glowing red pupil.
"I guess this is what I get for getting my hopes up again." Kid said, then stopped in front of Flint and pointed accusingly. "Don't you even ask. I'm sick of your disapproving stare."
"MaH FaCe dOEsn'T DiSplAy EmoTioN. YoU rEAdinG iT As DiSApprOvAL sAyS A LoT AbOUt YoU." Flint answered.
"Oh yes! Look at me! I'm an android who's trying to use emotions!" Kid said, waving his hands in the air mockingly, then leaning down to stare into Flints eye's. "That's what you think, isn't it?"
"YoU ArE NoT BeYOnD HeLp." Flint replied.
Kid continued to stare for a moment, then drew back. "Allow me to prove you wrong." The android abruptly turned and walked further down the line, then stopping in front of a machine who had a pink bow attached to the top of her(?) head.
"I know you've been withholding repair supplies Carroll. I've allowed it so far, but me and my boys have hit a rough spot. Give them to me. Now." Kid threatened.
"What? We gave you the last of our supplies a month ago. We've been over this." Carroll replied.
"Yes, and after much consideration," Kid grabbed Carroll by the collar, his fingers digging into her metal shell. "I've decided that you're lying."
"Ow. Ow! OWWW!" Carroll cried out, her voice becoming a high pitched whine.
"Let go of her!" One of the other machines, a man(?) wearing a white stetson, vest, and boots that did not fit, yelled. He half ran half waddled over and launched himself at Kid.
Without looking, Kid kicked to the side, sending the machine spiraling through the air in the other direction. When it landed, Noah could see that the left side of the machines face had been caved in, and it's eye was sparking.
"Daddy! No!" One of the smaller machines cried out. It then turned, preparing to charge Kid as well.
Flint, faster than Noah had thought possible on his short stubby legs, suddenly darted over to the child, grabbing it's arm and holding it back. He then looked to Kid. "KiD! StoP!"
"Oh? Is that an order Mr. Flint?" Kid countered. "You going to send me to detention if I don't?"
"Let go of mommy!" The child screamed, jerking around in Flint's grasp.
"KiD. PleaSE." Flint said in a somehow pleading tone.
Kid rolled his eye's. "Fine." He said, releasing Carroll.
Carroll fell to the ground with a metallic thump. She then quickly hobbled over to the machine laying on the ground, picking up his stetson as she went.
"You're going to be okay." She said, helping him to his feet.
"Me? What about you?" The machine replied, looking at the dents on Carroll where Kid had grabbed her.
"I'm a lot better off than you." Carroll said, placing the stetson back onto her husband's head. "Can you see out o-"
Kid, who had turned his back and was walking away, suddenly spun around, whipped out a long shiny silver revolver, and fired. Everyone watched in horror, unable to move, as the two machines in the center of the town collapsed, a hole blown through both of them. What remained of two black data cubes landed a way's away, tumbling to a halt.
Everyone looked on in shock. Even A6, who had her mouth slightly agape. While everyone was stunned, Kid holstered his weapon, faced Flint, and held his arms out to the side in a bragging manner before bowing. "Didn't feel a damn thing."
"HA!... HA!... HA!... HA!..." All the bandits in the area started a loud, mocking and monotonous laugh.
"NO!" The child shook free of Flints grasp, waddling quickly over to the lifeless husks that were now it's parents.
"Bastard." Noah muttered, grabbing his rifle from his back.
"I swear. It's like you want to die." Noah heard a voice behind him. He turned to see his mother standing at the other end of the classroom. She had picked up a piece of chalk and was drawing something. "Don't tell me that you actually feel for those things?"
"I just witnessed the cold-blooded murder of two parents in front of their child." Noah stated quietly.
"Thats absurd." His mother stated, making the last mark on the board to finish the drawing. "You know just as well as I do that everything they feel is synthetic." She walked to the right side of the board, revealing that the drawing was Noah's dead body lying in a ditch.
"Robots, on both sides, cannot feel emotion." Noah's mother said, slamming her hand down on the sketch of a machine with a flower and rubbing it out. "They are artificially made and programmed. They are lifeless abominations that lead to our species downfall. You dare feel for them? You dare think they can have families and emotions like us?" She accused.
Noah winced at her words, looking away back towards the sad scene that had just unfolded in the middle of the town. The bandits were still laughing along with Kid, who was giving Flint a challenging look.
"In the end, we're just weapons made to kill, Flint. Did you forget that? How you lot drove the human race to the moon?" Kid taunted.
Noah looked back towards his mother, only to find that she was gone. The chalkboard was untouched, and the small sketch of a machine holding a flower was still there, staring back at him. He shook his head, wiping the sweat from his brow.
The child parted with it's parents bodies and charged Kid, swinging it's arms wildly as it went.
Kid reached out his hand, and the child ran into it. As soon as they collided, the laughter from the bandits stopped. The child tried to continue forward, but to no avail.
"You bastard! I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you!" The child screamed, resulting in Flint shifting uncomfortably.
"You see, Flint? This sums up this town perfectly." Kid said, gesturing to the child. "Utter disappointment. Come to think of it, it's been months since we've started this little thing, hasn't it?"
"You killed my parents! Murderer! Monster!" The child continued to scream.
"Hmmm. Yeah. I agree." Kid said to himself. "This little experiment is ov-"
BANG!
Kid's head jerked forward from the impact of a bullet. There wasn't a second's pause as all the bandits turned towards the school. The two giant machines slammed their fists together, but before they could take a step forward, Kid raised his hand into the air. "Wait!" He ordered. He then lowered his hand to the back of his head and pulled the crumpled remains of the bullet from his scalp. "How the hell did you evade our sensors?"
Noah exited the schoolhouse. He pulled on the action, causing a spent cartridge to fly from the gun and fall to the wooden porch. "Fuck you, that's how."
"S4? What are you doing?!" A6 shouted.
Kid spun around to face Noah and smiled. "A Scout model then? Perhaps this wasn't so worthless after all. Advance models were easy to dispatch, so let's hope you bring something new to the table."
"After what you just pulled? I'd be more than happy to show you the tricks I've got hidden up my sleeve." Noah countered, eyeing the positions of the nearest bandits. "Shall we get started?"
"Oh? Confident we can take the entire group are we? I like it." Kid said, his smile growing wider. "But I'm not looking for a battle. I'm looking for a duel."
Noah paused, his eyes narrowing behind his goggles. "What are you suggesting and why should I listen?"
"I'm suggesting a little something out of the storybooks." Kid replied. "High noon. You, me, and our pistols. Center of the town facing away from each other. Take ten paces, then turn and fire. No outside interference. That presents a pretty good opportunity for you to kill me one on one, now doesn't it?"
Noah paused again. This time he looked towards the residents of Mullbury, who were all staring at him in fear. He looked at the bandits, who were all waiting for him to say 'no' so that they could tear him to pieces. He looked at the bodies of Carroll and her husband laying next to each other in a final forced embrace.
But his gaze finally fell upon A6, who had come to stand next to Flint. She was trying, and failing, to keep still. Her eyes were almost constantly locked on Kid, and her fingers were twitching. After seeing this, Noah pulled his scarf over his mouth and took a deep, steady breath. Then, he pulled it back down and smiled wickedly.
"You drive a hard bargain. I accept."
