ABOMINATE || Slow Editing

Chapter 29: Reunited

_Flashback_

She slowly descended down the flight of stairs while supporting her six months baby bump as she made her way to the door that was continuously being hit by someone.

"Open the door, fast" the person outside yelled, making her shiver in fear. Daniel had declared war against all those who refused to agree with him and it led to a chaotic situation. Everyone was scared to leave the safety of their own residence. The roads were always filled with robots who were programmed to kill people mercilessly.

Her heart throbbed loudly inside her sternum as she was oblivious to who was banging her door. She was alone and pregnant and she wanted to protect the baby at all cost. She was already devastated about her husband who was imprisoned by Daniel to harvest his scientific abilities. She didn't want to lose her child as well.

With trembling hands she opened the door, only to be enclosed in a warm, affectionate hug. The person hugging her quickly pushed her in and locked the door behind them. She got frightened by the sudden encounter but once she noticed his face, she broke down into tears.

"I missed you so much, Stanley" she tackled him into another hug, not caring about her big belly that was coming in between.

"I missed you too Rose" Stanley broke the hug and kissed his wife passionately.

"You're never going to leave me again, right?" Rosalind asked with teary eyes as she was overwhelmed to see her husband after so many days.

"No dear. I am not gonna leave you alone again. But we need to run away from here, we need to protect our daughter" he explained while searching for stuffs around the house that could help them protect themselves. He walked into his room and within seconds, came out with a small folding knife. He had once won it in a carnival, little did he know then that it would be used as a defense weapon.

"Take this and keep it with you. Don't lose it and don't hesitate to use it to protect yourself when it's needed" Stanley put the knife in Rosalind's hand and curled her fingers around it.

A sudden loud knock on the door snapped the two out of their moment. Rosalind freaked out as she was not expecting company but Stanley was rather composed. He walked up to the door with confident strides and opened it to reveal some very familiar faces. Stanley's friend Mr. Min stood there, with his wife who was carrying an infant in his hands. They quickly stepped in and closed the door behind them.

"Stanley, buddy, good to see you" Min hugged him with brimming affection. Stanley returned the emotion but soon his posture changed as he enlightened the current scenario.

"We need to run away from here as soon as possible. I know a place deep inside the woods that's perfect for a refugee camp. We need to hide in there until we figure out a way to stop Daniel and his robots" he explained making Mrs. Min gasp.

"How are we going to stay in such a remote place?" she asked while hugging the baby close to her chest.

"We'll have to manage. Here's some blueprints of a machine I'd been secretly working on. It can produce a high voltage protective shield that can electrocute and burn any entity to ashes" he handed the papers over to Mr. Min.

Their meeting was interrupted as the door was broken into pieces and a bunch of robots barged in the room. Panic filled Stanley's every vein.

"Daniel might have noticed I was missing" he scoffed as he ran to his wife. "Rose, I want you to leave with the Mins and go to the camp. I'll be holding these robots back" he exclaimed as he cupped her face.

"What are you saying? I'm not leaving without you" she started crying awfully.

"You have to baby. The robots are here to take me and they won't leave until they do so. Your informations are not yet inserted in their systems so they won't hurt you until you indulge with them. So I want you to go to the camp with Min. Go there, stay safe and keep our daughter safe. Tell her about her father, tell her about how much he loved her" Stanley kissed his wife an emotional good bye and led the three of them along with the baby to the back gate of their house and he himself returned to the robots.

Rosalind turned around to spare a last glance at her husband when she noticed the robots doing something to Stanley and the later fell down on the floor, lifeless and still.

A long stream of tears escaped her eyes as he considered her husband to be dead when in reality, Daniel imprisoned him and electrocuted him on a regular basis to gradually retard his mental abilities. His sadistic self got satisfaction for the evil deed.

_Flashback end_

Jackie walked up to the old man who was standing beside her mother with his arms wide open as he invited Jackie for a long awaited hug. He smiled like a kid as he looked at the 19 year old girl who resembled his Rose so much. Jackie didn't hesitate at all before running into his embrace as her lips traced a single word,

"Father!"