Evolve

Fourteen

"Why is it that everyone I meet ends up pointing a gun at me." I muttered under my breath.

"One...two..." The kid began counting with a false tone of confidence.

"Three...ten." I replied and spun around quickly and took the gun from him while unloading it before he could even react.

"What? How did you do that?" He asked with a look of confusion. What intrigued me was that he wasn't shocked or scared, simply confused.

"I'm just a little out of your league, kid." I replied and smashed the gun I was holding to pieces.

"Hey! That was mine," He replied, now more angry than confused,
"And I'm not a kid, I'm... Thirteen." He stated, as if that would change my mind.

"I stand corrected. However, either way we must get you out of here. It's not safe now, where's your family?" I asked and began to check the rooms of the house. All of them were empty, and not just of people. Besides for the living room, there were no furniture, household objects, or anything that would indicate this house was occupied.

"Look, I can take care of myself. Just get out of here before you get hurt." He replied, staring into my eyes. The boy was half a head shorter than me, with short brown hair and wore an old, but clean, hoodie and pair of jeans. I stared back into his eyes and it was in that moment I realized what he was doing.

"You're trying to scan me." I stated plainly and checked my tracker.
"Don't try to deny it, I just can't help but wonder why you're so bad at it." I said and paused for a moment. There were now three markers on my radar screen, and one was circling the other two.

"Hey! I'm not-" he replied but was cut off by a wave of my hand.

"Not the time, nor the place. We have to leave now." I said and grabbed his bag and shoved it into his arms. Somehow, I knew his bag was just as important to him as mine was to me.

"Where are we going? I can't just leave my home!" He replied and stood his ground. For a small child, he was surprisingly difficult to move. However, my patience was wearing thin and that fact helped me find the strength to push him along easier than he expected.

"Look, even I don't have all the answers. I just don't we have to get you to a safe place before-" I started before I was unexpectedly and rudely cut off.

"Before what?" Evelyn asked as she approached from the front door. I actually expected a more dramatic entrance from her.
"All I wanted was a chat, isn't that what you want, Eve?" She asked. Somehow, I doubted that was all she wanted, especially since I was able to see she had two guns hidden on the inside of her jacket.

"You murdered all those people earlier, for a chat with a child?" I replied and stepped between her and the boy.

"Maybe I have more than one mission. I really do need to talk with Evan though, so just go home and we won't bother you." She said, her hand going inside her jacket.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" Evan asked.

"I know many things, but one thing I don't know is where your command key is, and while I'm at it I don't know who has yours either, Eve. Maybe you both should just hand them over."

The fact that she knew about my command key worried me, but not as much as the fact that she seemed to know all about Evan when I had only recently met him. My brain processed many questions at once and I began blinking rapidly. Who was Evan really? What did Evelyn want with our command keys?

"Let me save you the trouble," Evelyn said with a smirk.
"You beginner models have a habit of freezing up when you think too hard. Think of him as our little brother, or older in a way."