In His World.

The Collection

I stand still as the rain washes over my skin, soaking through my hair and my gown. The water pools in puddles under my bare feet.

Above me, twinkling lights dot a dark, dark, sky - the world around me flooded with fluorescent lights pulsing and swirling in three dimensional shapes. Everywhere around me, people, or, what vaguely resemble people, walk briskly by, flashes of colour and light that are fascinating and unnatural.

"You look lost," says a cold voice behind me. I turn to see a towering man with a cruel smile staring down on me. Where his eyes should be, there is a visor of blue glass. His skin is the colour of the sky at the Compound.

"I'm... I'm not..."

He grips my arm with terrible force, yanking me towards him. "I think you better come with me," he snarls. This man means trouble.

"Let me go," I insist, pulling away from him. My arm still aches where he gripped me, my skin red and blotchy. I turn away from him, ready to go anywhere that's not here. He reaches after me again, but I jump away.

He lurches after me and I run, bumping into a few other 'people' in my attempt to escape. They don't look like people. Or, they do, but not exactly. They have strange hair styles, or no hair at all, and metal plates or splashes of colour blending with thier skin. Thier clothes are glowing or moving or transparent, thier features are sometimes replaced with other strange objects. Like the man who pursues me, with a visor where his eyes should be.

I sprint as another man, identical to the first, joins in the chase. All around me, lights and colours flicker past, hoards of people bustling around as I try desperately to dissolve into the crowds. I've never seen so many people in my life. I've never seen towers like the ones that surround me, reaching up so high I can't see the tops. All the while, rain pours down.

My lungs burning, my body about to collapse, I race into a dark passage between two tall buildings. I press myself against the smooth wall as the men run straight past, yelling as they go.

I keep very still, reminding myself to breathe.

There's less traffic in this dark passage, but I watch them walking down the street; some not even walking at all. Some roll on wheels, some skitter on claws, some glide on floating beams of light. I know what they are. They're the same as Teacher, the same as Moira. Machines. Or, like Moira said, somewhere between man and machine. Once weak, now strong.

I look down at my trembling body, and sink to the floor. My toes are purple and grazed. My delicate white gown is splashed with dirt and mud, tattered around my ankles. My hands are trembling, my wet hair sticking to my face and neck as cold water runs down my back.

This can't be happening. The Compound, gone. Teacher, gone. Moira, gone.

I don't know where I am or what I'm supposed to do, and it dawns on me how truly pathetic I am. How can I even survive? My thin skin and weak bones will break under the weight I feel, I'm sure of it.

I'm tired. I want to fall asleep and forget it all.

Nearby footsteps erase any thought of rest. I'm snapped awake, anxiously pressing tight against the wall as two figures move into the dark passage.

Have the eyeless men returned?

No, these two have different frames. One is lithe, with feminine curves and a sheer cape billowing behind. The other is nearly the exact same height, but well built and still nearly double my size. They both have short hair only half concealed by hoods. Neither wear any article of clothing that glows, so as they draw closer, I have only the distant lights to see them by. I hope they don't see me.