My Pet Human {UNDER SERIOUS EDITING}

Chapter Eighteen: 'The Mall'

The next morning came quickly for the two humans. It was five am when the pipes were drained from above ground, and, assigned on a supply collection, Axel led Adam to the main gates, where they'd originally come in. The Genesis was now equipped with the dressmaker's pin sword he kept as a spare, which he'd tucked into the back of his jeans. He hadn't said much since their conversation the previous night, and the younger human could tell that not having Eve around drained him more than any physical activity. He walked with shoulders slumped, tripping occasionally over loose clumps of pebbles or moss. His eyes remained downcast.

Axel's feet squelched under the familiar algae of the pipes as they trekked upwards. The Director had figured that they would be gone for a day or two, but he'd requested that the two of them return for a monthly raid in the following week. 'Monthly raids' were what the Resistance collectively undertook, mainly at pet shops or areas selling humans. They'd sneak in and rescue as many fellow humans as possible, before returning them safety to the mineshaft for recruitment. As far as anyone knew, their base was off Meridia's grid, so if the Laquanians ever figured out that the Resistance was underground, the most extreme course of action would be to flush out the irrigation system one extra time.

It didn't matter, anyway. Humans were so mass-produced that one pet shop raid barely left a dent in the sales. Some of the pets, particularly those who'd either spent extra years at the Institute (or vice versa with the pet shop), were too far gone or deranged to save, and almost all of them were obedient, robotic creatures who didn't even have their own names. He remembered the time where he'd gone on his first raid, where some of the humans; all teenagers to young adults, couldn't even speak without stuttering. Their eyes were glassy and nonchalant, almost as if they weren't completely there. It was true, in a way.

The key to surviving the Institute was simple. You had to learn to become detached from the moment, shutting off your emotional ties to the world and remaining the same, vacant soul. Axel had once been one of those teenagers, back when everything he'd once loved was taken away. The giants had told him that losing everything was fate for a human and back then, he'd believed them. A part of him still did.

It was the one barrier of being a true pet that Axel could never face: letting everything go.

"Okay. " He spoke up, trying to break his train of dark thoughts. He absentmindedly directed Adam further up the pipe ways, through intersections and past lurking raptors and insects. "Here's what's going to happen: we're on what we call a 'supply collection', which we usually undertake up in the mall."

"Mall?"

"It's where Laquanians go to buy things." Axel rolled his eyes. "It's also where they lose things. Everything they drop has value to us. So whatever you see up there, take."

"You told me we'd be looking for Eve today." Adam growled, kicking a hunk of slime up with his toes. "Doesn't sound like the plan, to me. Why should I be helping you and your Director, if you won't even help me?"

"That's a good question, Genesis." He sighed. "But I spoke with the Director, and he doesn't see the logic in trying to find someone who could be anywhere. Surely you know that, right?"

"And the Director knows everything, doesn't he?" Adam snapped. "Maybe my situation has taught me that it's important to have faith, unlike you!"

"You don't know anything about me." Axel's hands clenched into fists. "And you have no room to talk, Mr 'I haven't even been outside before.' The Director has done more for the human race than you ever will." He winced as soon as the words had left his mouth, realising how insensitive he'd just sounded, making fun of the Genesis for his two-hundred-and-fifty years of isolation. But to his surprise, Adam only chuckled, shaking his head as if in disbelief.