"Once upon a time-" the young man spoke, almost unheard over the crying children in his lap and roaring thunder outside.
"Not long ago... There was a great city. Everyone was happy." A tear fell from his eye as he compared the room to that of the past. Iron panels were peeling from the wall, revealing wiring and long dead lights reflecting the little sunshine let in through the barrier the man made.
"The people lived care-free. Great machines doing everything they needed. From politics to garbage disposal." Something heavy slammed against the roughly made wall of cupboards and steel tables. The children whimpered.
"Adults over thirty were even allowed the machines in their heads, so they could talk to friends with only their minds." The man sniffled, wiping his nose, and hugging the kids close to his chest as they gripped at his shirt. He didn't mention the sting they caused as they pulled at his chest hair. It wouldn't matter.
"They could do their jobs all in their heads, they ordered their robots to get groceries and shopping for them. They could even re-watch their dreams. But, one day-" The man was breathing faster now, falling into panic as breathing could be heard on the other side.
"One day the sun grew brighter, and the city got hotter because of what was called a solar flare. Everyone was outside to watch. But, the flare did something," He blubbered. The children could hear his fear now. "It, something broke. In their heads." He winced as the sound of nails scraping down the metal painfully bounced in his ears. Something snapped and something yowled.
"But it'll be okay!" The young man said. To himself more than to the children. The scent of urine had become almost overwhelming. The children had both wet themselves, the man wasn't sure if he had or not himself. Loud screams continued as outside the banging continued, causing more and more cracking sounds. The wood of the cupboard was beginning to cave. The children had yet to notice, their shivering remaining constant.
"One day, the adults will all wake up and fix everything. The city will be beautiful again, where you never have to work or study. There will be plenty of food to eat, and clear water do drink." Tears ceased falling from his eyes as they saw iron and wire fingers push through the cracks and grip the barricade, tearing out wooden panels towards itself. It was clawing through the barrier like it was styrofoam to its metal inhuman arm, dismembering the man's work like a starving dog to a carcass. The creature stuck his head through to inspect inside, and it was a gruesome sight. The young man scrambled backwards, the children almost rolling off him in his terror. They screamed as they desperately scrambled over each other, determined to escape, fingers cracking under shoe heals.
What once was a man, was now unrecognisable and hideous. The result of the flare had ruptured the machine in his brain, causing it to explode outwards. Shards of skull and wet globules of brain could be seen having exploded out of the man's head, like mentos in a coke bottle, ripping his face apart until no feature was recognisable. It was a scaring sight, the man's robotic eye hanging from its socket. This former man was through the barrier in an instant, lifting the first child from his hair and throwing him against the peeling remaining wall - almost decapitating him on the sharp iron fixtures. The young girl, seeing her brother's instant demise, bolted around his corpse and through the exit the thing had made, mewling as she stumbled through, leaving her once protector behind with the mad thing. It was unlikely that she would get far, and even if she did escape the crowded streets, she had no way to care for herself. She was only seven.
In deep shock, the only thing that registered to the remaining victim's brain, was the brightly coloured robotic arm as the hand closed around his neck, dragging him through the iron bolts and loose wires on the floor, and stumbling back outside. The doomed man's eyes bulged, as they took in sight of the once grand skyline, that was now toppled buildings and remnants of the luxury hotels from another time and place, seeming almost from another millennium. It became apparent to the man that these were his last moments, and he remembered his once peaceful and happy life in another time.
Visions of a scene cleared in his mind, flashing and vanishing again all in a single moment. Cake being brought to him on his twenty first birthday, surrounded by family and friends, now dead. Seeing his father and mother waving him off at the train station for his first day of work, escorted and assisted by the many small robots that he owned and controlled. His father's unique cybernetic arm that the young man had decorated for him when he was only twelve. The cartoon horse with a cowboy waving his hat, and the dinosaur roaring at a robot man. He was brought back to his pending death when he recognised the almost unrecognisable images on his father's false limb. The drawings almost invisible in the bloody and scratched surface. Recognition made his impending annihilation all the crueller.
As the tragedy and irony engulfed him, the man who raised him and made him who he was, was to end him as well. A hand ripped through his entrails, and he could almost feel the creature who had once loved him the most, gripping his spine before it became ripped out of him. His insides covered the once pristine marble columns red and chunky like a Jackson Pollock painting. The man fell, dead. If the creature could have widened his eyes, he would have. An instant of recognition flickering in his mind before it faded, and he devoured his son in gruesome glee.
VRn
