SENTIENT

Absolution

"You're alive because you love her," ridiculed the other Connor. Now standing with his back facing him. He repeated, "You're alive because you love her?"

Connor said nothing. This was not the time. He had to find a way to exit the garden, but no matter how far he ran from the other Connor, he could still hear him like they were virtually attached inside their heads.

The other Connor scoffed and chuckled mockingly, "Do you even know what that means?"

The voice turned to voices. It won't stop echoing in a chaotic orchestra inside his dome of sanity. He ignored the heaviness inside his metal cranium and he kept running.

"You are so pathetic, you know. Look at you. Look at what you really are, Connor. You don't honestly believe you're alive, do you? You have no soul. You're just programming and wiring. You're not capable of love."

Connor found himself in the same spot he started. He realized he had just been running around in circles and the garden was an infinite loop of despair.

The other Connor revealed his glowing white orbs for eyes. He smirked, "I guess the only question left to answer is; how much are you willing to sacrifice to stay alive?"

The landscape of the looping garden swiveled inside a vortex tunnel where another dimension unfolded. It was like a trick of the mind; except he could barely hear what he was thinking. All he knew was that he was trapped.

Between the flat whiteness of this existence and the white walls closing in on him. He was shoved to the ground that he could hardly feel and when he got himself back up, he found himself on the ground again.

The other Connor enjoyed this game so much, he decided to invite another player. He held a loaded gun up to his face and he was kneeling for his dear life. It was him, or another incarnation of him.

"The more, the merrier, right?" The other Connor smiled.

He begged, "Please... don't do this..."

"If I kill him, you'll feel his pain too. Remember, we're the same." The other Connor stopped, "Hm, no reaction?"

The third Connor was stripped of his outer skin, and this time, replace with the skin of AJ, or what resemblance of her.

"Connor... help me..." AJ has never cried like that, but she will if she had to, "Please... Connor..."

"It even sounds like her," the other Connor smiled.

Connor knew it wasn't real, but when the bullet exploded her skull, her brain turned into pink mist. He cringed at the sound that was undeniably palpable. He could never picture it, until now.

The other Connor laughed, "That was crazy."

He knew he's had enough of this game. He was thirty feet from the other Connor. He used this distance to gather velocity and tackle the clone. There is only one Connor who will walk out alive.

The Ripper closed his eyes. Sighing.

He made up his mind, "Do with her as you please. What are you thinking? Please don't tell me something mundane like chopping her up."

As if his programming had been blocked by layers of firewall, Connor replied. "I prefer quick and easy. Can I have my gun back?"

The Ripper liked the idea so much, it made him laugh. "You're my favorite so far."

Connor carried AJ's cold body. He was here inside this hellish architecture of reality where the Ripper is about to take another victim for their spine, but he was not aware of the battle inside his own mind.

He propped her body under the backseat and covered it with a tarp that matches the truck's interior. He knew he felt a pulse somewhere and that triggered for the firewall to crumble. He looked into her face for the last time. He couldn't help it.

He drove past the street onto the next block where a police barricade has been setup to check each car passing by. The officer requested for Connor's identification and he had no problem flashing his badge.

The officer questioned, "Heading somewhere, detective?"

"Back to base, officer," he lied.

"Have a good night, detective." The officer lifted the barricade for the truck to pass through.

A second later, he decided to follow his senses and called this one in. "Dispatch, this is Officer Riley at the 12th Street barricade, reporting a 10-66 driving a blue Dodge pickup. Heading north towards Monroe Lane."

"Copy that, Officer. 11-96 following the blue Dodge now. Standby for Code 8," reported Tobias Rosenbauer on the other end of the receiver.

The blue Dodge pick-up made its way further and further into the woods. There was only one way in and out of these woods. Tobias trailed the target while keeping its fair amount of distance with the tail lights out.

So far, he remained undetected and Connor has been too busy trying to drive while fighting his mental battle at the same time. All those faces, they scream. All the explosions played in his hollow head like a scratched-up record. Hank screaming his name. He's telling him it was his fault. He killed Hank and now, he's about to kill AJ too.

"Connor..." AJ whimpered, "I knew you'd come for me..."

Connor said nothing. She could see his perfect side profile between the gap of the back and the front seat. She tried to stop the fight, while the wars are waging inside of him.

"I know you're confused..." She said, "...but I know you're still there."

The moment that Connor got ahold of the other Connor, the plane of white reality shifted again. This time he found himself at 115 Michigan Drive. He could not tell the year, but Hank was there, sitting amongst his mess on the kitchen chair, playing Russian roulette with his drunken self.

"Hank..." When Connor approached the dining room, the reality stretched itself so far with each step he took. The distance grew and grew, even at the speed of his running, "Hank!"

The other Connor had already got to him first. He did not know why Hank couldn't see him, but the other Connor was standing right behind him. He could've helped him, but instead, he held Hank's hand to aim the gun straight to the back of his brain stem. This way, he won't suffer too long.

Connor could not go faster than the speed of the shifting reality. When the gun fired a jackpot, he could only scream, "Hank, no!"

He fell once again. His bones rattling inside his artificial skin. He just wanted to wake up now.

"What's wrong, Connor?" The voice was coming from his left.

He swung his fist to the left. The voice was gone.

"I'm feeling alive, what about you?" The voice was coming from his right this time.

He swung to the right. Nobody was there. There was only an empty living room. The fireplace was flaming and warm. The sofa was making shifting noises as if somebody was there.

Whoever it was, the other Connor was already standing above them. With the second jackpot to the Russian roulette.

The sleepyhead on the sofa was AJ. She was half-naked and covered in a blanket. She rose with a smile and said, "What are you doing, Connor? Come back here..."

Click! The second shot was a blank.

She was ready to sweep him off his feet, "Connor... don't you want to? Come back..."

Click! The third shot was another blank. Connor got up with the remaining strength that he had, but she was so far away.

Bang! The final shot killed them both. Something inside of Connor died with them. He knew this a long time ago, but the whiskey and Proxilitrium kept convincing him otherwise.