Human Code

24 || T W E N T Y - F O U R

"No matter how difficult the world can get, no one should stop. If you do, what would we have in the end?"

*

"You broke him!"

Lightning flashed across the sky. Rory rushed into me. I felt his fingers dig into my skin. With rapid reflexes, I pushed my palm into his chin and forced his head back as he screamed, "You broke him!"

We crashed down onto the rooftop as thunder roared beyond the crowds. Grinding my teeth, I lifted my head, searching for Will. When my sensors found him huddled beside the door, I felt electricity spark under my skin. "Hide!" I ordered. I could see him move but not look at me. "Get somewhere and hide!"

Hide, because you can't leave me here.

"No!" Rory's hands grabbed my head and forced me to look at him. But when I pulled away, we rolled together. I felt his knees ram into my ribs, shifting the power in my system from courage to pain. "You did this! You fucking did this!"

My mind shifted back to the transfer, to Axe's confused thoughts. Of water. Of sight-seeing. Rory had given him hope, dreams of a proper life, but the second my data blended with his, he broke. It wasn't my fault...

His core is different... simple and incomplete.

"No." I rolled on top of Rory and pinned his shoulders down with my knees. His hands flung around like mad, trying to hit me. But I shook my head. "You did this. You forced my code into his system—"

"No, no, no!"

"—He wasn't designed to use my information, he's a military bot. A shell. But you... you broke him."

Rory's bright eyes turned black. His hands dropped to his side. Defeated. He made a sound... like a cry.

I didn't take the lack of movement as a victory. With my knees still pinning him down, I leaned back, rain sliding down my face. "Rory..." I caught the change in his emotions. A shift in his energy. "You had to have known that, didn't you?"

Rory's eyes closed.

"You knew he couldn't run the data... You know his model didn't support it. Yet, you—"

"You." Rory's eyes snapped open, making me flinch. "It's always about you, isn't it? That's how it is now, how it was then..."

Rory and I stared at each other as the storm blew gusts of wind against the rooftops. It pushed through our hair, making wet strands stick to my face. I dropped my hands to my legs, easing up just a bit, as Rory raised his to cover his face. The next sound he made was beyond.

I know that pain.

"You don't understand," Rory cried into his hands. "You never understood anything..."

I caught movement behind me. Will. Turning my head, I watched him move from the safety of the door over towards the roof ledge. For a moment, I wanted to yell at him to get back. But that faded as I hear what he moved to go over and observe.

There was another sound in the storm. Like marching.

I felt Rory's hands hit my legs. Quickly, I looked down at him.

"You're close-minded," he hissed through gritted teeth.

My lip twitched.

"You're just like them, you know... Don't you understand what the shadows can do to someone?"