Twisted Cogs | | Bayverse | | Book 2

Chapter 5 | | This Idiot | |

"Don't waste your time searching for the darkness in the light, look at the darkness that surrounds the light and realise where your strength is."

★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Complete darkness blankets the streets, sheltering stray dogs out on their evening hunt for scraps and hiding those that do not wish to be seen. On this particular night, two people distance themselves from the rest of society, fearful of what might become of them if they are spotted by authorities. An additional member joins them unwillingly with fear driving him to irrational thought, but he does not so much as grace them with his presence.

Leo Spitz runs through the abandoned back alleys of where-ever-he-is, stumbling over piles of trash laying hazardously across the tarmac. His shoes seem too big at this moment, with his constant tripping and falling, but all he has in his mind is to get away from the kids that threaten him with their knowledge.

So caught up in his thoughts, he fails to notice the bright headlights lighting up the small backroad that he's stumbled onto. Without even looking up, he swears to himself, brushing off his clothes as he stands, grumbling sourly.

"Slag!"

He glances up at the blinding lights, eyes wide and mouth catching flies, not even registering the sound of screeching tires. Warm air rushes through his clothes as the grille increases in size, his curly mop of brown hair blowing back.

As the metal collides with his chest, he sprawls backwards, landing harshly on his back and skidding several feet. The skin of his chest burns with pain, aching enough for him to know that it's going to form a nasty bruise, and his lungs groan from the winding experience, complaining at the lack of oxygen.

While he lies on the ground groaning in pain, he becomes aware of a slamming car door and a pair of rushed footsteps growing closer to his fallen body. It does make him frown a bit though. Those footsteps are mighty strange. Since when do people wear one metal shoe?

A pair of hands, one of them feeling very bizarre and cold, scramble to his neck, pressing gently on his pulse point. Finding it, he hears a sigh of relief and the hands move to his shoulders, shaking him ever so slightly.

"Come on, kid, get up," they say, a little sharper than necessary. When he doesn't move, they huff, and a hard force whacks side. "Get up."

Leo howls, shooting up from his place on the tarmac, clutching his side in pain. He groans loudly, quickly yelping as the person yanks him up by the arm, not seeming to care as to how they treat him.

"Ow!" He complains, glaring at the person with a pathetic pout. That is until he sees her face.

Oh boy, does she have him drooling. Alice has nothing on this woman; she was a robot anyways, but this stranger is everything he didn't know he dreams of. Her ginger hair is like the trees in autumn, not fiery red but not dull either. The strand of silver that intertwines with her gorgeous locks reminds him of the moon, glittering amongst the stars on a clear night. But he can't take his eyes off of her figure, her squarer shape not being something that he is used to being attracted to, but with her clear bulk of muscle, she makes it look good.

His wandering eyes don't go unnoticed by the woman, and he knows, her soft lips drawing back in a grimace and he manages to catch the shift in her stunning blue eyes, the darkness attracting him even more as he finds her anger infuriatingly hot. But then he finds his gaze drawn down to her clenched hands, and his panic ensues from there.