Murder Drones: Death-Sides

Chapter 7: dO YoU tHInK i'M PreTtY?

I awoke to a rapping sound on my door, finding myself on the stony floor of my dorm. I was fully dressed for the day at the time of my awakening, which I found was awfully strange. "Genesys! Wake up!" came a voice from outside.

I immediately recognized the voice to be V's. "Oh, gosh," I said, straightening myself up in the hopes of presenting myself well to her. I slid open the door, saying, "Whatever are you up to at this ho–" I gasped and froze in place. V, despite her joyous smile, had a blade protruding from the front of her body. Still smiling as though nothing was wrong, she slid off the blade as the sound of squelching oil and scraping metal filled the room. As she slumped to the ground and lay still, I found myself face-to-face with N. Well... sort of.

His white metal features had discolored, taking on a grayish tone. His grin revealed a set of pearly... yellows. His clothing was tattered and ruined, and it was colored in a darkened, even more blackish hue than its original grey color. His hair, which had grayed akin to an elderly human's, was unkempt, with a pair of strands hanging in front of his face, giving him the appearance of an unhinged psychopath. He opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was some sort of foreign tongue in a voice that didn't even sound like his own.

In the face of this horrifying sight, only one thing proceeded from my mouth: "Not again."

The ghastly N howled like a wounded werewolf, leaping upon me and seizing upon my neck with his sickly fangs. Just as he ripped out a portion of my throat, I jolted awake in a cold sweat. Wiping my face, I breathed out, hoping these nightmares wouldn't become a routine occurrence.

Later That Morning...

The Low Eyes Party's rooming situation wasn't fully situated until well into the next morning when school was already starting. As I walked through the halls, I beheld the commute had accrued a great deal more hustle and bustle with the sudden jump in population. Bearing this in mind, I couldn't help but wonder what the situation would be like in the classrooms. As I looked around, taking in the multitude of fresh faces, I heard a voice from behind me say, "Hey, Gen!"

I spun around and saw Thad beaming at me in all his reverse-baseball cap glory. Something about the man always made me grin. I can't tell you what it is he has up his sleeve that caused me to feel such a way – he just always bore this positive energy that was more contagious than the flu. "Yo, my man, what's up?" I said, matching his charisma as I fist-bumped him.

"Nothin' much, just chillin'," he responded. "Hey, I heard about what you did, man!"

"Oh, well, it was nothing," I responded.

"No need to be humble, man!" said Thad. "I mean, you beat a Disassembly Drone, from what I heard!"

"Er... not really," I corrected him. "I took one one, but Low Eyes did the killing blow to both of them."

"Low Eyes? Who's that?" he said, puzzled.

"Mister Toner!"

Without warning, the hallway parted as quickly as the Red Sea. I found myself staring at the object of our conversation, who had a grin on his face that I wasn't too fond of. "That's Low Eyes," I whispered to Thad. "What's up?" I called out to Low Eyes.

"If you don't mind, Mister Toner, I'd like you to come with me. We need to chat with our captive," he said, walking toward me and taking me by the shoulder.

I shivered at his touch. The man was beginning to genuinely creep me out. "Uh... but my schoolwork–"

"Is of little consequence," Low Eyes interrupted. "Walk with me."

I said nothing more to this and opted to follow him. As we departed, the students resumed their chaotic commute, talking about everything and nothing.

"At this point, you may be pondering the topic we will be conversing about with the Murder Drone," said Low Eyes.