Just Machines

Rise of the runaways

Andy carried me up to his quarters and sat me down in a chair. "Here. Put this on. Your clothes are practically falling off of you." he said, shoving a bundle of clothes at my face. I pulled on the skinny jeans first. They were too big for me, but they were better than what I had on. Then I gingerly stripped off my shirt. Andy gasped. "Benn, get the kid some food right now." he said. Benn looked at me. "Right on it." he said. I quickly pulled on a white shirt with some sort of black shape on it, and a black jacket. I was pretty thankful for the jacket. "What's the Starve?" I said. Andy looked at me. "It's complicated. Not many people get it." he said simply. I was a little bit annoyed. "That doesn't tell me what it is." I pressed. Andy looked at me. "I like you. You're not easy." he said, smiling. "The Starve is what happens when someone doesn't eat but does a lot of moving around, running, stuff like that. Their body starts drawing energy from any body fat they have, regardless if they can actually afford to lose. The more they work off, the harder time the body has keeping in its own heat. Some people don't last nearly as long as you." He said. "I've only had it for four or five days." I said. Benn came back with a plate of food. He set it down in front of me. "So you came to join the rebellion. How long you been running?" he asked. "About 6 months." I mumbled. "By yourself?" Andy half yelled. "Well, not at first. I used to be with my sister, but she abandoned me and made her way to the Hastings clinic three months ago." I said. Andy's eyes did something weird, but I was too tired to think about it. I must have looked tired, too, because Benn got up and said, "I think we should find you somewhere to sleep, Jason." Andy got up. "He can have my bunk for tonight. But he needs to meet Dave, Bran, Den and Brent first." Benn got up and walked out the door. "Who am I meeting?" I asked. "My right hand men" he answered. "Why?" I said stupidly. "Because they decide if we keep you or let you go."

The door opened again and four new guys walked in. "OK, good. You're all here. Well, Jason, these are my, ah, right hand men and we're going to let them hear your story." Andy said. "Slow down, Andy. The kid doesn't even know who we are yet." A guy with short, messy blond hair stuck his hand out to me. "Names Hayden, but my friends call me Den." he said. It didn't feel quite right to call him that yet, so I decided then to call him Hayden until he told me otherwise. The guy on the left of Hayden nodded at me. "They call me Dave, but my name's David." he had darker hair that swept up into a quiff. The guy on the other side of Hayden had brown hair swept to the side, and a nose ring. He introduced himself as Brandon. "You can call me Bran though." he said quietly. The last guy's name was Brent. He had sort of dirty blonde hair. It was kind of long, but not as long as Benn's. "Well, now you know who we are. So, we get to hear who you are." Hayden said. "Well, I lived in San Francisco my whole life, long after the Killing. I'm 15. And when I was 13, the surgeons implanted my mom. For a while, it was me, my sister and my dad, until I came home from school one day and my dad was sitting on the couch, staring off into space. He had been implanted while I was gone. After that, me and my sister decided to set off on our own, run from the Ravens and try to get out. But my sister gave up and went to the Hastings clinic about three months ago."

The chills came back and I huddled up against the chair, wrapping the jacket I had been given around me tightly. "Kid's got the Starve." Hayden said. "And the Bend. Get the pill for me, Dave." Benn said. Dave got up and walked over to a cupboard and pulled out a small bottle. Benn screwed the top off and poured one into his hand. "Jason, just one of these and you'll be completely Bend free." he said, handing it to me. "What about the Starve?" I asked quietly. "That's a recovery process. It's more about how well we can take care of you until you're good again." Andy said. "How bad is he?" Hayden asked. "Show 'em, Jason" Benn said. I looked at him weird. Instead of telling me what I was supposed to do, he walked over and pulled the hem of my shirt up so the other guys could see my stomach. Hayden gaped and the other guys all raised their eyebrows and gasped. "He looks like me." Hayden whispered. "When Hayden got here, he was thinner than you, and we had to drag him into Benn's quarters because he passed out before we could talk to him." Andy said, slapping Hayden on the back. "It was more because I was so cold than because I was hungry." Hayden mumbled. "He came to us in January, and he was soaking wet when we found him." Benn said, putting an arm around Hayden like a proud dad. "I had been hiding in an ally for three days in Chicago before Andy found me." "It had just rained because it wasn't quite cold enough for snow." he said. "But then it got later and the temperature went down and all the water started freezing and I was so cold, it was awful." Hayden said. "He looked up at me when I walked by and he knew who I was. Grabbed my hand and begged me to help him." "I was desperate. man. I was freezing, starving and really scared, and I wanted to be somewhere where someone actually cared." his voice cracked. He got up quickly. "I'm kind of tired, though. I think I'm gonna go to bed." and he left. "I don't know where he thinks he's going. His bunk's in here." Bran said. "Den had it really rough before he made it to us. He's just scared all the time." Andy explained. "I think that's enough for tonight. Jason, that's your bunk up there. Hayden should be below you, but I might have to carry him in here." I had no idea what he was talking about. "He's probably asleep on my bunk." Brent said. I was surprised. Brent seemed really quiet. I climbed up into my bunk, sighing as my head hit the pillow. "Bet that feels good, kid. Welcome to the rebellion." Dave said. Other bunks creaked and protested as the guys climbed up. The door squeaked as some of them left to go to the connection room. After a while, someone walked back in. "Told you I'd have to carry him." Andy grumbled. I looked down to see him carrying a sleeping Hayden into the room. His face was tear stained and he still looked scared even though he was asleep. "He'll sleep good tonight." Bran said. Soon after that, I fell asleep.

A few hours later, I was woken up by the chills. I pulled the blankets closer around me and tried to warm up but it wasn't working so well, so I sat up and pressed myself into the corner. After a few minutes of sitting there, I realized that someone else was awake in the room. I looked around to see nothing, and then I poked my head down to see Hayden in the corner of his bunk with his knees drawn up to his chin, shaking. I climbed down and sat down next to him. "Hayden are you ok?" I whispered. He jumped, but he caught himself before he said anything. "Yeah I'm just- no" he mumbled, voice shaking just as much as he was. "What's got you?" I asked, turning to face him more. "I just- talking about how I got here to the skull, it made the time before that come back." he said. "What is that supposed to mean?" I said, probably a little bit too strongly, because he leaned away from me a little. "I came from a family where no one wanted me there. I left to join the rebellion because I woke up one day and my mom was talking to a surgeon outside of my room. I was listening and my mom wanted them to implant me while I slept. I left the same day. My parents hated me, they never loved me. I just wanted to be somewhere where someone cared about me, actually thought I was worth something." He said, and his voice cracked. He started actually crying then. I tried to think of something to say but he started back up. "I was never cared about in my old home, and I'm pretty overlooked even here at the skull. It's hard, never knowing where you fit. But no one asks so I don't tell. Even though everyone knows I had it rough, none of the Socket guys ask me how I am or what's on my mind. I think they're just making sure I don't kill myself or something." He said. "Socket?" I asked confused. "Yeah. It's me, Bran, Brent, Dave, Benn and Andy. Because what goes in a socket?" He said. "An eyeball?" I had no idea to be honest. "Yes and what do eyes do?" "I don't know see?" I said. He nodded. "We oversee everyone." I nodded. "The fact that Andy was willing to see you right away makes me think he's looking for something he though he never would." He said. I must have looked confused even in the dark, because he laughed a little. "Your sister. Blonde, long hair, thin?" I nodded. "Hastings clinic about three months back. Her name Lana?" I gaped. "Yeah." It was more of a breath than a word. "We did a raid on the Hastings clinic about three months back. There weren't many patients. Only about 20, so we took them all and burned the site. Your sister had just been implanted, and we managed to pull the chip out before she was completely washed." He explained. "Is she here?" I asked. "Yeah but she might look a little different than usual." "What do you mean?" I asked nervously. "She's pregnant. With Andy's kid"