Ex Vivo (#2 EX TRILOGY)

Chapter 27

"Hold on!" Poku shouted and wrapped a part of the chain around his left fist

"Why are you saving my – ", Akoma began to say.

"Shut up and let me save you!"

"I am not your damsel in distress!"

"Should I let you die?"

Akoma opened her mouth to speak but hesitated. "Well – ", she finally said, but shook her head after finding the thought of death repulsive and added, "Oh great! Hurry up and save me la!" Poku rolled his eyes and took out of his feet to reveal a badly worn out shoe before planting it into another foothold. Akoma watched him doing a crosscheck on the wheel, the end of the chain in his hands and his footholds. "What are you thinking?" Akoma asked.

BANG! Akoma looked up as a bullet missed her head and sprayed sparks onto her face when it struck against the wheel above her. She looked down quickly to see the legless Felix lying beneath the tank had managed to roll over onto his back to fire shots at her. He fired another and Akoma realized the guy was trying to shoot the wheel off its hinges from the ceiling to cause her to fall to her death. She panicked and turned to look at Poku who was still calculating from his perch with no sign of urgency after hearing two gunshots fired. Felix fired another bullet and it grazed Akoma's hip, leaving a bleeding cut on her skin. Akoma cried out in pain, and that was all Poku needed to act fast. He bent over on his haunches, and slowly, cracks began to radiate from his footholds. In one quick dash, he launched himself into the air towards Akoma and in a swift strike, he wrenched the wheel out of the ceiling, grabbed Akoma around her waist and landed safely about twenty yards across the room. He quickly examined Akoma's body for any injury and found the cut on her thigh, but before he could touch it, Akoma slapped him four times and punched him on the chest in a fit of rage. He stopped her by simply hugging her tight, and she eased up slowly in his arms. As soon as Poku spotted movement from the rogue Felix, he broke the embrace, pulled up the chains that were still connected to the wheel and swung violently at Felix. The heavy wheel simply crushed the doll and left him in two mangled halves.

"Why are you saving my life?" Akoma asked angrily.

Poku sighed and averted his eyes. "You heard him," he replied. "I am only a cyborg. I retained some human components. I can have regrets, compassion – ", he stroked Akoma's cheek gently and looked into her eyes with a smile. "Hatred. Love. Faith. No robot can have these, even if it's suggested to them. They cannot choose. The Boos and Baes are just dolls with synthetic human tissue to make them believably human. I am more human than them."

Akoma gasped. "So you were acting on his orders because – he had a little control?"

"A little, but I made my choice. I will not let him kill you. I –". Poku stopped speaking and blinked, and his smile slowly faded into a scowl. Akoma peered at him and suspected the guy had detected something odd in the room. "Do exactly what I tell you, OK?" he whispered. Akoma nodded hesitantly. "We're not alone."

Someone was closing in on them from behind, and the display in his head indicated that he had his target locked on two rogue subjects – one of his own, and the other a captive. A command appeared in red and started to blink – and it was in one word.

Kill.

*******************

"What are you waiting for?" Felix laughed and taunted. "Shoot if you're a man like me!"

Ender glared down at him and shifted her grip on the handgun. Her palms were sweaty and she feared the gun could slip out of her arms if she did not grip it with both hands. She clenched her teeth and widened her eyes. Felix beckoned to her and grinned. BANG! Felix cried out and grabbed his wounded left knee as blood oozed out of the gun wound Ender had left there. He attempted to crawl away in agony, but Ender fired another shot at his right hip and immobilized him totally, leaving him writhing in pain on the floor with blood oozing out of another wound. Ender took one more step closer and crouched over Felix. She seized his collar and turned him over so that he could face her. She peered into his eyes and held her breath as she organized herself to invade his mind.