A Machine's Purgatory

SAILING INTERNSHIPS: BLOODY TENSION

Since it had arrived, V1 had been constantly busy at UA. Whether it was learning about the world's history or keeping the school safe, V1 was always busy, never needing to take a break. However, today was different. As the final bell rang out and students poured into the halls to go home, V1 was struggling to find something to do. 1-A had already been sent on their internships, V1's picture had been taken for its provisional license and was stuck in paperwork hell, and now there was nothing left to do. V1 sat patiently in its chair, staring at the default computer wallpaper it didn't think of changing. After a minute of nothing V1 started bouncing its leg slightly, only to find that it wouldn't help at all. Was this that boredom the terminals felt?

V1 made a checklist of everything it could do. It could wander the halls, but that wouldn't help much if it was looking for something to do. Maybe find something online to do, but V1 had already decided to strictly keep its computer for work and to check what the public thought of itself only. The cybergrind was an option, but with only the one terminal in UA being able to watch, there wasn't much reason. Not to mention that V1 had been struggling to open the program since the sports festival. The machine knew it would need to go back soon to make sure it was still effective in combat, but V1 just... didn't feel the need to do it now.

So V1 caved and decided to do the one thing it tried to never do, shut itself down for a few hours. The last time had caused a memory from its production to play, which V1 did not want to happen again. Too many good memories that V1 should not have. The terminal was awake surfing the internet, so V1 just sent a short message to wake it up should anyone walk in. Leaning back into the chair, V1 powered off and drifted into sleep mode...

The room shook as rainless thunder struck, blaring alarms rendering V1 mute while inside. The machine struggling to see as all the lights are out bar the blinking red emergency lights. Getting back on their feet, V1 moved out of the room and down the hall, unable to hear the screams of their creators behind it. They made their way towards the dormitories with one goal in mind: to keep her safe. On their way they would check random rooms to see if anyone else was safe, only to find the corpses of humans, their killers gone and their mechanical pets along with them. Blood dripped from the ceiling and walls as V1 progressed to the end of the hall, the room labeled with her name decorated with crudely drawn hearts and rainbows.

V1 opened the door, but she was missing. Why was she playing hide and seek at a time like this? It isn't even her favorite game, because V1 would always end up winning. They checked under her bed, only finding the usual dust bunnies and old drawings. She wasn't under the covers either, so there was only one place left: The closet. V1 slowly made their way to the single-doored closet. They didn't want to scare her after all. The light from V1's yellow eye shined on the girl in the closet like a spotlight, and as they offered their hand the girl flinched backward. It was odd she was acting like this, but it didn't matter. She needed to get to the safe room, V1's programing told them so. V1 reached down and scooped the girl into their arms, ignoring the protest and cries of the girl as they carried her down the hall.

She kept fighting, but their arms wouldn't budge, until she managed to slip out of V1's grasp and start to run as fast as a small child could. V1 quickly turned back and grabbed her arm, a bit tighter than normal but only because she couldn't wander off in an emergency like this. There was a slight bit of resistance as the girl tried desperately to get away. V1 started to pull back, but the girl kept pulling and pulling until there wasn't any more resistance. The first thing V1 heard after the girl stopped trying to escape was her screams. The guttural, hysterical sobs as her arm was torn out of her socket and the limb ripped from her body while V1 stayed still in shock holding the still twitching limb. V1 ran to catch up with her, to try and stop the blood from leaving her body as she stumbled away and quickly tumbled down onto the floor. Holding the squirming girl still V1 held their hand up to her gushing wound to stop the blood from leaving, but it was futile.