Liz Corp

Chapter 7 (back to Tomas Daniel)

I was going to hate him for the rest of my life. I picked up my satchel, and all my personal surgical utensils fell out of the hole torn through it. I told Max to stop chewing on my things!

"MAX!" I shouted from the living room.

Max whimpered as he shuffled hesitantly towards me.

"Who did this!!" I shook the bag in front of him. He refused to look at it.

"Max, I told you stop and you don't listen! You'll—you are— you're grounded!"

Max whimpered and laid himself on the floor. He has no respect for other people's property— he has squeaky toy! Ridiculous. Avery would never do such a thing. I hadn't seen her this morning but I did pour her munchies so I'm sure she'll be alright. I was cutting it close again, so I decided to get going.

Something was different from today than yesterday. Something was kind of off. It was mysteriously quiet. I duct taped my satchel and made plans to get a new one today. I slowly peddled passed Mary's house. Fefe was in her yard and when she saw me she ordered me to stop. There was no way in the world I was going to listen to creepy robot.

"Excuse me?" I protested, but I idiotically halted my bike. I didn't want her to attack me.

She stared at me for a minute, it was really awkward. Especially with her owner not with her.

"Identification not found. You are an illegal citizen." The robot poodle concluded.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You are to report to the government facility immediately." The robot stated, she stood. Which made me jump.

"Fefe we met yesterday. You wanted me to pet you!" I was freaking out— since when did we need an identity scan for someone to live in LizCorp. I lived here my whole life!

She paces forward, but by then I was already down the block. I heard her robot barks echo away as I raced down my normal path to work. I dodged the glances of robots as well as people as I passed the library and the park. But then I slowed down. Did I really want to risk going to the government building only to get kidnapped by police? Maybe they didn't know about what was going on? Impossible. They could never not know what was happening. But why? Why didn't I have a identity? I took a risk and went to the center of he city. I inched my bike passed some of the guards that were on the grounds. Inside and outside the fence. I hid behind a parked car. And saw Jake standing at the usual spot we spoke yesterday. But he seemed anxious, continuously shifting his weight as he looked at his watch. Was he waiting for me?
I moved towards another black car, pulling my floating bike with me. I was few feet away from Jake now. But there were no more cars to hide behind so I had to improvise.

"Jake!" I tried to whisper.

It evidently got his attention. He ran and ducted with me. He dangerously needed to stay away from coffee. He had dark bags under his eyes from lack of sleep.

"Ew, what happened to you? Did you get beat up or something? You need some serious help." I didn't mean to be mean but I was worried about him. Maybe someone robbed him or some—-

"Tomas." He grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "I've made a terrible mistake." He let go of me and rubbed his gloved hands on my arm, as if he touched something wet. I never seen him look so vulnerable.

"I..." I looked at my arm. "Um, okay....."

"I'm sorry." He apologized. "I'm worried you're contagious.

"What are you talking about? Look—There's something really wrong with the one of my neighbors' robot dogs. Why is there an update 'identity me' feature?"