Cynophobia

☠₃₁☠

  I was sitting next to Cairo, my back pressed against the wall, my hiking pole in my hand. Suddenly, my phone rang. I dug it out of my bag and quickly flipped it open, "Hello? Vincent?"

"Yeah, we're ten minutes away from you. We've had to shoot down ten Robarks already. I can't say I don't expect this many hanging around their base," he replied.

"There should be a shed in the middle of a field. A Watcher will let you in. The Robarks with orange eyes are on our side," I explained. "We're in the very back of the compound. There are children in here too, so be careful."

"I expect a full story on how the hell you ended up underground trapped by Robarks after this," Vincent said. "Well, I'll be expecting more than that, but you know."

Cairo narrowed his eyes at the last comment. I rolled my eyes. "Stopping the Cynoids should be reward enough. Even so, I'm grateful for your support."

"Are you talking to Cynthia?" a quiet voice asked in the background.

"Is that Rose?! What were you doing bringing her along?" I demanded. "This is dangerous!"

Vincent sounded unconcerned. "We needed a nurse on hand for injuries. We couldn't exactly bring Dr. Williams along, he had to stay back and make sure the patients were well."

"How many new patients are there?" I asked.

"A few," he replied.

Vincent was being aggravating. He was refusing to let me in on any details about the Remnants. He knew just how to annoy me.

"I have one of my most loyal Crashers guarding her," Vincent said.

I grew uneasy. "James? He hates me, he knows if Rose gets hurt it will hurt me too."

"James sustained an injury and is taking it easy back at the cave," he responded. "You know him well."

"Ray," I guessed immediately. "He really does know how to passively punish me."

"There are a ton of Robarks, out here, but we can see the shed. I will be down their soon," Vincent promised. "Hang on just a little longer." He hung up the phone.

"Can you see where Alpha is right now?" I asked Rags.

"I can hack into its vision, one moment," the prototype said. He closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them. "He's in the storage room, digging through supplies."

"Why would he be doing that?" Cairo asked.

Loki shuddered. "Perhaps he is starting up the creation machine."

"One of my companions have just opened the door," Bella reported. "Your allies should be storming the compound right now."

All seven of us stood in front of the door. I put Obsidian in my backpack, surrounding him with a blanket. I tucked the USB right next to him, "Please don't eat it, I hope he's still too young for puberty."

He didn't seem to mind it so I zipped the bag shut. I grabbed my electric pole and gripped it tightly. Cairo was standing beside me, his axe blade was at his waist.

"No matter what, keep running," Orca told us. "You need to escape before Alpha can gather all of the Strikers. We need to free them from the kill function."

Orca, Zena, and Bella stood in front of me and Cairo. Loki and Rags stood behind us protectively.

I heard gunshots echo through the control room. I pressed my palm against the door and it opened. There were two Strikers waiting for us.