Project Ultron

Nineteen.exe

I opened my eyes and groaned. My head was throbbing so hard I debated whether to stay where I laid. Where I laid. I widened my eyes. A building had fallen on me. Where the hell was I?

It was dark. Very, very dark. I supposed I was deep in the rubble. I had to get out, I couldn't just wait for help that might not come. The city kept going up in the air, I couldn't be here when it decided to drop.

I placed my hand right in front of my face and squinted my eyes as much as I could but I still couldn't get even a glimpse of it. I sat up and quickly touched all my body, nothing hurt much so I figured nothing was broken. I felt around me and found my gun. I took out the magazine and counted the bullets: 2. I didn't have any other magazine. If I once had one, it was now lost in the darkness. I charged the gun and put it on my belt. I hoped I wouldn't have to use it in the dark.

A weak cough startled me. I snapped my head towards the sound, but I still couldn't see anything.

"Who's there?" I demanded.

Another cough followed by a soft voice. "Help," the kid said with a Sokovian accent.

I remembered then why I was under the rubble. I had come into the building after a scared kid, whose voice I was now hearing.

"Hey, kid," I called softly, reaching my arms towards the voice, "Can you see me? Can you get to me?"

There were some noises of tired footsteps and a warm presence hugged me. The kid was so small. And he was extremely exhausted. As soon as he wrapped his arms around me I felt him relax so much that I thought he had gone to sleep.

"You're fine," I said softly as I stroked his hair.

I have to get him out of here.

I stood up, taking him on my arms, and started walking in the dark. I used one hand to hold him and the other to feel the space that was in front of me. I started to make a mental map of where I was and I followed a tunnel that the collapsed building had formed. I figured that, if I wanted to find my way out of the darkness, I had to walk until I found some light.

I could hear drops of water here and there, probably from burst pipes, and some dust and rocks falling to the floor. I couldn't allow myself to think that the building could collapse even further because then I would have to think about death altogether, and I was too committed to getting the child out of here to be so pessimistic.

I stopped. I turned my head and held the kid tighter. I had a feeling I was going to have to run. There was a noise behind us coming closer. A metallic noise.

I took out my gun, ready to use it if I had to.

The boy whimpered and I shushed him carefully. "It's okay," I lied.

I started to walk again, faster. Moving in the darkness wasn't easy, I tripped a lot, but I managed not to fall. I kept in mind constantly that if I fell I would hurt the kid, he would cry, and the robot that I was sure was behind us would hear us. My pounding heart screamed for a rest but I was still hearing the drag of cables and rusty movement. The thing was, humans got tired, robots didn't.

"Okay," I whispered. I turned a corner and found something to take cover. Maybe hiding was a better option than merely running. I put the kid down, but he wouldn't let go of me. He clutched my shirt and complained in a language I didn't understand every time I tried to get him to release me.

I steadied my breath and hugged the boy to calm him. We needed silence for this to work. The metallic sound was getting closer and clearer. It was definitely Ultron, one of his bodies at least.