AllFreeNovel
Share Us
THEN
I whimper.
“God, Julia,” Josh gasps. Upset, horrified, just like the other times. He’s crouched at my side so fast, his muscular form bent over me, in a mockery of protection. He smells like sweat and aftershave. A scent I used to want him to smother me with. Now all I want is to breathe.
Suddenly and with no warning, something lights in my stomach. It’s beyond rage; it’s entirely new, this hot wave melting through me. I feel...powerful. Single-minded. Strong. The two split halves of my life are slamming together like a trap snapping shut.
Josh doesn’t notice. He’s draped over me, his arms braced on either side, as he hangs his head and gently sobs. “I’m so sorry. You’re right, we need help. Just tell me you’re okay, babe.” His hair brushes my collarbone, his tears fall on my chest.
I reach behind me blindly, my fingers closing around the brass figurine of the mother and child. With all my strength, I swing it into the side of his head.
The crack isn’t sharp but meaty, thuddy with skin and bone.
Josh folds on top of me, crushing the air out of my lungs.
I lie there for a minute under his weight, breathing shallowly.
Finally, I push him off. He rolls onto his back.
From whatever dead state I was in after hitting Josh in the head, the moment I see him motionless on the rug, I come back to life.
“Josh?” I gasp. Now it’s me leaning over him, my hair brushing his torso. There’s a bloody gash on the side of his head. It’s oozing. Feverishly, I pull off my sweatshirt, ball it in my hands, press it into the wound.
“Josh! Wake up! Talk to me!”
There isn’t only a sickness in my stomach. There’s a sickness in all of me. A world-tilting, all-encompassing nausea. I dry-heave, my body jackknifing even as I keep pressing the gash on his head. If my life with Josh was a nightmare, this nightmare is so much larger, it swallows everything up.
His eyes are glassy, looking with surprise at the ceiling. Like he’s asking the same question I’m now asking of myself.
What have you done?
NOW
“And then, after I was supposed to kill Josh? What then?” I continue, my voice fierce. “Prison? Deactivation?”
“No,” says Andy, as if he’s horrified I would think this. “I would’ve had your fucking back, Julia. And so would the American public. Don’t you realize that all of America adores you? They saw you on The Proposal. They know how lovable and kind you are. You would’ve been acquitted. You and me, we were going to fight for Synth rights together, and pave a better path for the next generation.”
Now I have to laugh, because all of America adores me? It’s so wildly out of touch, it doesn’t deserve a response. Obviously he hasn’t taken me seriously about the vandalism, the threats, the out-and-out hatred. Obviously Andy has been living in a world of his own creation.
“But that didn’t happen, did it?” says Andy, pushing forward with a kind of earnest desperation. “The facts are, I didn’t kill Josh, and neither did you.” He leans his palms flat on the metal table, looking me straight in the eye. “Until we find who did, I need to repossess you. Keep you safe. Okay?” He reaches across the table and touches my hand. “Julia—”
“Don’t touch me!” I explode. “You’re lying!”
But Andy has already reached forward again, this time with more strength. He grabs my arm.
“Let go!” I cry, wrenching against him.
“I’m trying to help you!”
“Fuck you!” I pull free, stumbling backward multiple steps. My back hits something solid—the clear cage surrounding Lars. I grab it to steady myself even as I face Andy. “You never thought of me as a person, did you? Admit it. I’m just as much a tool as this Bot!” And then, in the surge of liquid rage that follows, I punch through the clear enclosure. The glass breaks as I withdraw my bloody knuckles. The muted sting of pain feels good. Lars collapses gently to the floor.
“What the fuck—” Andy grabs something from the table—a wrench. He holds it up like a weapon.
I laugh. “Are you serious? Now you’re going to attack me?”
“Something has gone wrong with your programming.”
Aah. Now I can hear the fear. That serrated edge to his tone. It fuels me. I want more.
