Memories hurt. They make you weak.
"J! Help me!" I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. I couldn't yell. I couldn't warn her.
"I told you to stay away, Tessa."
"J, PLEASE! TALK TO ME! I DON'T WANNA DIE!" This was never meant to happen. I didn't choose to leave you like this.
"Goodbye, Tessa."
"J! PLEASE HEL-"
...
I'm so sorry.
—
"Welcome to JCJenson. Your name is Serial Designation J. You have been reborn as a murder drone. Your main objective is to follow orders. You will work with two other murder drones, N and V. You may remember them."
...
"Of course."
Memories are painful. I don't try to remember them. But, some are just too hard to escape.
—
My head scraped against the cracking walls on either side of me with each agonizing second of the fall. The exposed pipes and dry wood were not merciful either.
I couldn't move an inch without immense pain. I thought the impact with the ground would've been enough to kill me, but I'm not given that grace. I could feel the oil seeping from the many wounds on my body, but the most obvious gash was in my visor. Directly in the center of it, from when I hit a ruptured wall face-first. Thank Robo-God (JCJenson) for making disassembly drone eyes on our heads instead of our visors. Much more efficient. Such a smart company...
I managed to sit up slowly. I ran several diagnostics, did several checks on my body:
DIAGNOSTIC RESULTS:
Visor, cracked.
Vision, 95% impaired.
Internal systems: running, somewhat damaged.
Internal automatic healing system not responding.
Wing feathers damaged, slightly. Flying not optimal at this time.
Tail capsule shattered, nanites LOW.
With small wheezes I fell back again, unable to sit on my knees any longer. The pain was unbearable, but there was nothing I could do to help myself. My internal healing systems were offline, meaning one thing. They defeated the solver. Of course, they did.
No one around to help me either. Who would willingly anyway? The pain of the betrayal and the guilt was greater than any physical pain I was enduring at the moment, surprisingly. I don't need to breathe, so why does it feel like I'm choking? My throat isn't closing. I swear it's not. Everything's fuzzy. It's like I can't feel myself right now. I feel pain in my physical body, yes, but this is something different. Like, a pain in my chest or my core? It hurts so bad, I want it to go away. But at the same time, I want it to stay. I can feel the knife in my chest twisting with every painful memory I think back to. I want the pain to go away. Far, far away. But at the same time, I want it to swallow me. I can't go back to the way things were. I wish this pain would just swallow me, choke me until I'm dead. I want it to burn me until I can no longer feel pain. Until I can't feel anymore.
"Um, hello?"
A voice? Why? Why couldn't you just let me burn?
"Are you dead?"
Who would ask such a stupid question? If I were dead, I wouldn't respond. I could pretend to be dead. I'll be dead soon anyway, so what's the point? I'll be dead soon anyway, so why did I speak?'
"No. Not dead. Damaged."
"Oh, good!"
Good? Why?
"Are your systems damaged?"
Touch.
No, don't touch me!
"No!"
My optics finally snapped open to see who was interrogating me. A wide-eyed... human. Green eyes... Tessa?
"Woah, sorry. I shouldn't have touched you. Did that hurt? I only touched your side. It doesn't look damaged?"
"T-Tessa...?"
The woman who crouched next to my crippled body finally sat down cross-legged. "No, Aris. Who's Tessa? Was she with you?" She started looking around, in search of the one who I could only dream was here.
"No... I thought you were someone else. She's not here."
"Oh." Aris realized my situation, looking at me pensively. "You're completely alone..."
"Correct."
"And dying..."
"Also, correct," I grumbled. This human is tiring.
"I can help you. I have some extra supplies at my ship that could help repair those nasty wounds of yours."
A ship. An escape.
"Why would you help me?"
"If you saw another drone dying on the ground, alone, in a spooky abandoned lab, would you leave them behind to die?"
...
"Never mind, whatever your answer would be, I'm sure you'd have a good reason for it. I'm helping you one way or another. It okay if I carry you?"
I nodded.
"Good, let's get out of here."
YOU ARE READING
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FanfictionJ is a drone that doesn't let anything stop her from completing a mission. She's determined, strong-willed, confident, she's 99% capable. Wait, no. That can't be right. Sorry, my bad, she's 100% capable! Yeah... That's what I meant... she is JCJens...
