A State Trooper, In An Eternal Winter, Surrounded By Drones

Chapter 11 - It's Happening Anyway

Micheal POV

I opened my eyes, finding myself waking up in the bedroom, a pulsing pain in my chest. I sat up, feeling my duty belt had been stripped of just about everything. Cuffs, taser, sidearm, even my spare magazines. Everything except my collapsible baton had been voided, likely for what I'd nearly done. My bipolar two was in full effect, but I forced myself to get up, gazing at my reflection in the mirror. My eyes were red and puffy, with deep bags underneath. I swung my legs over the edge of the king-size bed, finding my boots conveniently placed on the floor. I slowly slipped my feet into them, tying the laces and looking at my graying arm. The infection, or so it seemed, had taken my entire arm, and covered nearly half my torso, slowly progressing up my neck. I stepped in front of the door, which automatically slid up and allowed me through. Stepping into the hallway, I could see Khan, Uzi, and another worker drone with a white coat sitting at the table.

I sighed, knowing I couldn't avoid them, and walked forward, their eyes quickly turning upon me. "Take a seat." I just nodded and pulled the chair out, sitting down. "How long have you guys been sitting here." I asked, not bothering to make it sound like a question. "Long enough since you passed out on the floor." I groaned and crossed my arms on the table, resting my head in them. "Micheal, what happened?" I sniffed. "Ever since I lost my mother, my bipolar two took a drastic turn for the worse. Nearly off'd myself a number of times." I took a breath. "And after that 'scene' in the hallway, I realized I don't have a reason worth living." I shook my head. "What's the point? Humanity is all but extinct, I'm just prolonging the end. And even if I don't off myself, I'm still probably gonna die by whatever JCJenson had in that syringe." Khan raised as eyebrow. "Back when I rescued that one drone, Lindsay, I fell and injected myself with a gray liquid."

I pulled off my undershirt, and a collective gasp burst from the three drones. They examined the gray pattern slowly spreading across my body, and I slid the shirt back on. "I wasn't able to find out what was in that syringe, but for all I know it could be a lethal poison. My chest hurts, I can barely feel my arm anymore." I poked said arm. "Nevermind, I can't feel my arm anymore." Khan raised his finger. "This here is Doctor Zimmins, she was a medical drone for humans before the explosion. She might be able to help you." The drone in the white coat stood up and offered her hand. "Greetings, Dr. Zimmins at your service." I took it and shook. "Nice to meet you Doc, but I doubt you can help me. I don't even know what was in that syringe." She smiled softly. "That's alright, I'll just take it from the suffering individual." "I beg your pardo-" A tail with a syringe flew out from behind her and stuck itself in my arm, causing me to freeze in shock. A bit of gray liquid was pumped into the glass container attached, and it then pulled itself out, another tail coming over and emanating a light green light over my arm. It felt extremely cold, before returning back to it's numb state.

She observed the gray, sludge-like liquid, before tucking her tails back under her coat. "You're right, you have no pulse or any other activity in your affected arm. How you're able to operate it is beyond my programming. I'll take this sample to my lab and study it. I'll text you the results." Khan nodded and she left, the door sliding shut behind her. I sighed, standing up and walking into the kitchen, grabbing a can of beans off the counter and pulling the lid off. "Micheal we-" "If you guys stayed this late at least let me make you both some dinner." I cut him off, dumping the brown goodness into a bowl and popping it in the microwave. I heard him start, but then he stopped. I pulled a book off the bookshelf with my 'magic hand,' and read the title. 'Drone Cooking For Somewhat Dummies.' 'Guess that's me huh?' I started flipping through, suddenly hearing footsteps stomping over to me. The book was snatched out of my hand, replaced by Uzi's angry looking face. "You have powers too?!" "A wh-You mean that weird magic thing I can do with my hand?" "No! Obviously I meant reading!" I rolled my eyes. "I got em a day after I got injected with the mystery liquid, so maybe that had something to do with it."

I took my book back, pouring a can of 'Watts and Volts' into a saucepan, pouring a bit of high-grade motor oil in with it. I set that to simmer, quickly scooping the bowl out of the microwave and setting a spoon in it. 'Let simmer until liquified and shiny.' I peered inside the saucepan, seeing the appearance roughly match the book. 'Feed...' I shook the random thought out of my head, grabbing a mitt and lifting the pan up, expertly separating the contents between two bowls and bringing them out to my guests. I slid the semi-steaming food in front of them. I sat down in my own spot, seeing Uzi simply glance at the bowl boredly before turning away. Khan lifted up his spoon and took a small bite, nodding in satisfaction. "You ever cooked for drones before?" "Back when the place still had a core, I used to cook for the few worker drones that worked with me at the station." I took a bite, chewing and swallowing. "I was pretty good. I used to work with this one drone, Riley. He was pretty nice, worked in the detective branch." I smiled softly. "He caught a lot of guys. That guy was like a second father to me." "Well, I'm glad you've had a good past with us worker drones."

I chuckled. "I tried my best to show kindness whenever possible. Course, some humans were racist as fu-" I suddenly gagged, bending forward slightly. "You ok?" I looked up, seeing a bit of concern written upon his digital features. I nodded. "Y-Yeah I'm-" I coughed, then vomited violently. Blood and flesh spilled onto the table, and the two drones jumped to their feet. "Help...me..." My voice was barely a whisper, and I stumbled forward, reaching out to grab the wall for support.

I never reached it.

Uzi POV

Micheal collapsed, and dad ran forward, flipping him over. "Uzi! Get on that interphone and get that doctor down here now!" I jumped over the couch and grabbed the phone, quickly hitting the extension. "Dr. Zimmins here, how can I help?" "Come quick! Micheal just vomited blood and collapsed!" I looked back, seeing dad crouched over his still form. "I don't think he's breathing!"