Android

47

"I'm scared of the monsters." 

I shuffled in through the doorway of Toby's room, gripping my stuffed dragon by the tail and dragging its head across the floor. It made a cringe worthy sound against the carpet, until I stopped at the foot of his bed with a sniffle. I had a nightmare again, but I couldn't remember what it was. I just knew it scared me. Peeking out at me from behind his comic, Toby offered a reassuring smile as he patted the space next to him. Once I climbed on top of his blue comforter, I rushed underneath his arm and hugged my dragon to my chest. I always felt safe nestled in his side, I knew he wouldn't let anything happen to me. Toby then held up his comic to show me the main character, she had dirty blonde hair like me and a dragon. A real dragon though, not a stuffed green one. "You don't need to be scared Abby, because this is how the monsters see you and Nips." He pointed to the dark, vermilion eyed beasts cowering away from her.

"You're only scared of them, because you haven't realized how brave you are yet. The second you do though, they'll never bother you again."

When the elevator dinged, I felt every muscle in my body clench with adrenaline as I grabbed Toby's waist and stumbled out into the hall with him. Behind us, Neptune and Naomi gripped onto Gemma as shouts and footsteps from the automatons sounded. It didn't scare me though. Maybe it was because I remembered Toby saying I was a dragon lady, or I realized what ill intents Titan had beyond me, or maybe I was past point the point of feeling fear. Maybe I had spent so much time the past month feeling scared, that my nephropathy got sick of it and tried a new route. Whatever was going on inside, whatever I was feeling right now—none of it mattered. All that mattered was getting Neptune and my siblings to the roof. No matter what I had to do, no matter what happened, I would get them there. More than anything, I wanted to double back for my parents, but our miracles were running low. Hopefully Gemma was right, and Titan would keep our parents alive. Hopefully he wouldn't enact revenge on them. Hopefully he was still level-headed enough to realize that killing them, would only make me hate him more. If he didn't kill them, maybe I'd make his death quick instead of a slow and painful one.

Stumbling down the hall, my vision stung as the lights rapidly flicked on and off. In all the times Titan had affected the lights, I'd never seen the electricity spasm to such a extent. A couple of Tinkers teetered towards us, but before they could get close, I swung out my sledgehammer and flattened them against the wall. "Where there's more, there's others. Keep moving!" I shouted, Pluto's words echoing in my head. I couldn't think about him right now though. I couldn't think about the twins. I had to pretend they were waiting on the roof for us, I had to trick myself into thinking the three of them were alive and well and that we didn't lose half of our team. If we got out of here, I'd have time to mourn them later.

The next group of Tinkers followed a moment later, only this time they filled the hallway from corner to corner as a tidal wave of silver charged us. In all the times we'd encountered the Tinkers, I'd never seen so many in one place. Titan must've really been holding his power back for us. Looking side to side, I saw we had no choice but to double back. "Turn around! Hurry!" I yelled, keeping a tight grip on Toby as I swung out my sledgehammer to deter the first few that reached us. I could feel the skin and muscle in my shoulder ache with tension from swinging the hammer. I was getting tired; I wasn't athletic enough to keep up my momentum. The throbbing cut on my leg didn't help either. We had to get away from or around the Tinkers. Going through wasn't an option, there were to many.

"If we go back, we're risking running into Titan!" Gemma whimpered; her voice practically drowned by the metallic shrieks. Despite her warning though, we all still stumbled backwards towards the elevator, being pressed forward by the Tinkers.

As we moved forward, I started to feel my hope deteriorate again. We were stuck between a rock and a hard place, with little strength to move either. Things were looking bleak. Even if the Minds managed to make it to the roof of the castle, they to would be overwhelmed and taken down. Just like Titan wanted. He wanted to get all of us in one go, that's why he spent so long playing games with us. He manipulated every step, to the point where we believed we were mighty enough to face him. Then he stole three of us away in a moment. Pluto, Mars, Mercury—they were probably all laughing at us from the other side or scorning me for my ineptitude. I couldn't save us. Even if Neptune could speak, and tell me exactly what to do, I'd probably still fail somehow. I didn't want to fail. Not them. Not after everything my involvement with this put my family through.