by Jack Quaid
She took a couple of steps back and presented the picturesque street as if it was some product with a buy-two-get-one-free special. “I present to you the future. A world where the human race can be safe and happy. A place where everybody has their own house. A place where there’s no poverty, no starvation and no violence. We have created what you refer to as heaven, but on Earth. We have communities set up all over the United States. All you need to do is find your nearest Olympus android and you will be directed to the new world, where violence is a thing of the past and happiness is just around the corner.”
“And so is freedom,” Shelby said under her breath.
“And in case some of you were wondering,” she said. “I’m not really Britney Spears. My name is Tera Mach. If you do exactly as I say, everything will be just dandy.”
And she ended her speech with a smile.
Thirteen
“I hate Britney Spears,” Shelby said as she climbed to her feet. “I mean, . . . Baby One More Time was an accomplished first album but this is taking things too far.”
“It’s not even the real Britney Spears,” Bianca said. “She’s just another bot.”
“I know,” Shelby said. “But she should be accountable for something. She is the face of the robot rebellion.”
“Rebellion?” Troy said. “It sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.”
Shelby cocked her head at him. “It’s a prison.”
“They had rad houses. What if it’s true?”
“Do you really believe a robot that looks like Britney Spears?” Shelby said.
“She was rather convincing,” Troy said.
“They’re killing anybody who doesn’t get on a bus and go to one of their Barbie fun houses.”
Alex paced a couple of steps across the living room and a couple back to where he started. “Man, I hate the future.”
Axel pointed at the television. “Are we going to one of those places?”
“No, sweetie,” Shelby said and ruffled his hair. “We’re staying right here.”
The sound was faint at first but they all heard it and when they did they all quietened up and waited for it to be heard again.
Shelby closed her eyes. Listened. Just when she thought the first sound was only a figment of her imagination, she heard it again. A dull, muffled thump that came from somewhere beyond the fence of the compound. Her eyes snapped open.
“What’s going on out there?”
Troy stepped to the television, scooped up the remote control and flipped through the channels. The last one he stopped on was the security feed for the fence line of the compound. Near the gate was a crowd of droids. Fifteen, twenty, twenty-five? Shelby didn’t know. There were too many of them to count, and they all wanted in.
“They must be going house to house,” Alex said.
Shelby turned full circle and saw that all the walls separating the outside from the inside of the house were made of floor-to-ceiling glass.
“We’ve got to get out of here.”
“Don’t worry,” Troy said with a smirk. “It would take something as big as a train to rip down that gate.”
Just as the words left his lips, the impossible happened. A big rig truck ripped through the heavy steel gates. They went flying and the big rig came to a sliding stop, tearing up grass in its wake. At the rear of the truck was a cage filled with scared Angelinos.
One by one, the droids stepped out of the darkness. They were a ragtag looking army of domestic cleaning droids mixed in with the odd battle droid and Shelby even spotted a bartender or two. Some of them had firearms, some of them had bats, but all of them came at the house.
“Troy,” Shelby said. “Where’s your car?”
“I don’t think getting into an auto-car is the best decision right now.” Alex said.
“It’s a Cadillac Deville,” Shelby said. “Pre-1985 and completely analogue.”
Troy rubbed the back of his head. “It’s in the garage. I don’t even know how to drive. I bought it to look cool.”
Shelby held out her hand and Axel took it. The droids moved in closer on the house. “Then one of us is going to have to quickly learn.”
The garage was at the other end of the house and by the time they ran down the hall and reached the door, Shelby heard the glass windows smashing and heavy robotic thumps entering the house. They ran through the door to the garage and Alex slammed it shut and locked it. It would buy them some time, but seconds at best.
Troy pulled back the tarp to reveal a 1959, cherry red, Cadillac Coupe Deville convertible, complete with rock ‘n’ roll fins and plenty of grunt.
The roof was down. They all piled in. Shelby was up front with Axel sitting between her and Troy while Alex and Bianca filled up the backseat.
Troy turned the key and the beast roared to life. The massive V8 rumbled as he wrapped his fingers around the wheel. He drew a breath and checked his mirrors, adjusted his seat and let the motor idle.
“What are you doing?” Shelby snapped.
“You’re meant to warm these old cars up.”
The door smashed open.
“GO! GO! GO!” Shelby yelled and slammed her foot on the gas.
The Cadillac lurched forward and with all its V8 might punched through the garage door and busted out into the front yard.
Troy struggled with the wheel. The ass end of the Cadillac swung out sideways in one wild direction. He spun the wheel, trying to gain control, and the car swung in the other direction. With another pull of the wheel Troy started to bring the Cadillac under control. He aimed the car at the gap where the gate used to be and they sailed through with ease and out into the Hollywood night.
Shelby looked back at the compound growing smaller and smaller behind them. “Nice driving,” she said.
Troy smiled. He was pretty proud of himself. “Who says you can’t learn anything from PlayStation?”
Shelby leaned back into the car seat and let her body relax. Wind cut through the open top and cooled the sweat on her forehead. She allowed her mind to run and for a brief moment she thought that maybe, just maybe, they’d survive this whole awful ordeal.
Then she looked in the rear-view mirror.
Fourteen
At first Shelby thought it was a glint of moonlight bouncing off the mirror and didn’t think much of it. The second time she saw it, she thought it was just coincidence. But a third time? She sat up in the seat and looked out behind the Cadillac and across the darkened road. In their wake was a silhouette of something she could barely make out. It took her mind a moment to make sense of it and when it did, fear gripped her.
“Troy,” she said.
“Yeah?”
“You might want to pick up the pace a little.”
“Why?” Then he looked over his shoulder and saw what Shelby saw. The big rig that had smashed through the gates of his compound was now on their tail. “What’s hanging off it?”
Shelby squinted. Figures were hanging on the big rig’s sides and roof.
“Androids,” she said.
Troy buried the pedal into the floorboard of the car.
Bianca could hardly push back the tears. “They’re not going to stop, are they?”
“Not yet anyway.” Shelby reached over Axel’s lap, slid his seatbelt into the buckle and pulled it tight. She crouched in the seat and whispered into his ear. “I want you to close your eyes and not open them until I tell you to, okay?”
Axel nodded his head and shut his eyes tight.
Shelby took another look behind them. The rig was closing the gap. “Can this thing go any faster?”
Troy stomped on the pedal. “This is as fast as it goes.”
The Hollywood Hills were full of dark corners and Troy struggled to keep the antique on the road with the pedal to the metal. The big rig pulled up close behind them and no matter how much Troy swerved, the rig kept pace. There were two domestics on each side and an armed battle droid on the roof.
The rig moved forward
. Its chrome grill bumped the rear of the Cadillac. The car swerved to the left and then to the right. Troy fought the wheel and straightened up but the rig was still on them.
Alex hung over the front seat. “Get rid of this thing!”
“Back off, man!” Troy yelled. “This is like driving a tank.”
“Oh, no,” Shelby said.
Alex and Bianca turned to see what she was looking at. The battle droid on top of the rig had risen from his crouched position and was now standing. His legs were slightly apart and his knees slightly bent. He looked at the speeding Cadillac, the big rig under his feet and the blur of the road between them. He was doing the math, calculating the probability.
The battle droid lunged into the air. Shelby saw it in slow motion. He cleared the rig and pushed out in front of it. He flew gracefully, every limb was exactly where he wanted it to be. He looked as if he was diving and the Cadillac was the pool. Just as Shelby had been seeing everything in slow motion, the next part seemed to move in fast forward. Something within the battle droid’s calculations must have been off, because instead of landing on the back of the car, he missed it altogether and slammed face first into the concrete. His face sparked on the road and then the big rig caught up and ploughed over him like it was crushing a speed hump and a moment later the battle droid was gone.
Alex laughed and Shelby couldn’t help but enjoy the miscalculation herself. It was short-lived, though. The big rig truck inched to the left, hit the gas and powered up alongside their car.
A gigolo droid hung off the side of the truck with one hand hanging onto the door and the other perfectly manicured hand blowing in the wind. Shelby had seen the model on television. It was programmed to read and tend to a woman’s every desire, not to mention various bits and pieces of the gigolos were customizable to suit one’s individual tastes. The entire line was recalled last month as one of them had begun to show jealous tendencies around a client. Shelby figured the one hanging off the truck must have escaped the recall.
The truck inched closer to the car and the gigolo hung out as far as he could. He stretched his arm and reached for Bianca. His fingertips ran through her hair.
“Did anyone bring a weapon?” Shelby yelled.
Troy, Alex and Bianca stared at her with blank faces.
“No one?” she said, all hope lost from her voice.
Alex shrugged. “We left in a hurry?”
The big rig inched closer. The gigolo threw himself onto the trunk of the Cadillac. Then in one quick movement he lurched into the backseat, wrapped one hand around Bianca, and with his superhuman strength, tossed her out of the car and high into the air.
Shelby screamed.
Bianca began to fall. Her hair trailed out behind her as she plummeted toward the road. Just as she was about to hit, the big rig swerved and the droid hanging off the side reached out and grabbed hold of her. He pulled her into the safety of the truck and put her in a cage with the rest of the prisoners.
Troy hit the gas but the car was old and heavy and no matter how much speed he got out of it, the truck had more grunt and kept pace.
The gigolo grabbed hold of Alex’s shoulder.
“Get off,” he yelled, swinging a massive haymaker to the gigolo’s face. It probably wasn’t the best idea. Shelby heard bones crack and break. Alex pulled his hand back in agony and the gigolo didn’t miss a beat. He leaned forward, got a good grip on Alex’s arm and leg, and tossed him off the back of the Cadillac like he did Bianca. Alex hung in the air for a brief moment before the droid on the back of the truck caught him.
Shelby wrapped her hands around Troy’s arm and shook him. “Get us the hell out of here!”
“What do you think I’m doing?”
“Do it quicker!”
The gigolo climbed off over the trunk and into the backseat.
“WATCH OUT!” Troy screamed.
Shelby snapped her head toward the windshield and the road ahead. An auto-car was stuck on its roof, its wheels still spinning, and a pole hung low across the street. It came up fast. There was no time to stop and no way to go around.
Shelby covered Axel and pushed him down as low as he could go in the front seat of the car. The gigolo droid didn’t think to do this. As the Cadillac sailed through the accident site, the pole clipped the front of the car. It destroyed the right headlight, dragged over the hood, took out the windshield and then slammed into the chest of the gigolo droid, knocking him out of the car and onto the road and then he was lost in the darkness.
The Cadillac was out of control. It destroyed a hedge on the side of the road and was dangerously close to slamming head first into a brick wall. Troy was knocked out cold. Shelby climbed over his body as she struggled with the wheel. The car lost speed but as soon as she was behind the wheel, she punched the gas and the metal beast powered forward.
Shelby clocked the rear-view; there was nothing but darkness. Then she saw the streak of blood on the wheel. Her hands were covered in it.
“Axel!” she yelled. “Shit, are you hurt?”
She patted him down, hard and fast. His eyes were still closed but he was trying to wriggle away from her rough pat down.
“I’m okay,” he said.
“Are you sure you’re not hurt?”
“I’m sure.”
She patted him down harder. “Are you sure?”
“Yes! You’re hurting me.”
“He’s alright,” Troy said with a cough.
She peeled her eyes from the road. Troy had pushed himself against the door on the opposite side of the car. He was holding his hand to his throat, where blood pumped out over the upholstery. Troy shifted his grip and Shelby saw a piece of steel from the light pole was wedged into his neck.
“Can I open my eyes yet?” Axel asked.
“No, sweetie,” she said. “Just keep them closed a little while longer. Everything is going to be okay.”
The big rig was coming up fast. Shelby’s foot pushed the pedal to the floor of the car. It didn’t help. The Cadillac was big and heavy and impossible to control. She took a curve and dragged the entire side of the car against a barrier in a blast of sparks. By the time she pulled the Cadillac straight, the truck was right alongside them.
A police droid with a scar that exposed his metallic face made the leap from the truck to the Cadillac and landed hard. The weight was too much for the car and the bottom scrapped along the road. The droid on the hood reached through what was left of the windshield and wrapped his hand around the front of Troy’s shirt. Troy winced in pain and his hand slipped from his neck for a moment before he slapped it back on to apply pressure to the wound. The android seemed to think this curious. He tilted his head and then let Troy go. As soon as he saw that Troy was injured and a non-threat, he lost interest and shifted his attention to Axel, ripping the boy’s seatbelt away with his left hand and grabbing Axel with his right. Shelby clutched his leg and Axel hung between them like some sort of tug of war toy.
“MOM!” Axel screamed.
She struggled with the wheel; the road and the droid splitting her attention. “Keep your eyes closed, baby,” Shelby yelled. “Just keep them closed.”
The droid pulled Axel closer. Shelby did the same.
The car redlined over a hundred miles and hour. And then the road came to an end. Or that was the way it looked, anyway. It was a hairpin turn. The car was going way too fast to make it. No matter what Shelby did, within seconds the car was going over.
The droid pulled Axel closer. Shelby held on tight. There wasn’t much time but it was as if her mind slowed. She saw her options and there weren’t many. She could hold onto Axel and they could crash through the barrier together. Maybe he would survive, but most likely none of them would. Or she could let Axel go. The droid would protect him, at least until they jumped off the hood of the car, and that was more than what Shelby could do.
She loosened her grip on her son’s leg and watched as he slipped through her fingers.
T
he droid bent at the knees and with the ease of stepping off a bus, he jumped from the hood of the Cadillac and landed on the road without a stumble.
The car smashed through the railing and into the darkness of the Hollywood Hills.
Axel still had his eyes closed.
Fifteen
A yellow light blinked in the night.
The Cadillac lay broken, crumpled and beaten at the base of the Hollywood Hills. Bits and pieces of red steel were scattered all the way up to the road they’d crashed off. For some reason that didn’t make a hell of a lot of sense, the only thing that still worked was the yellow indicator blinking in the night.
Shelby lay on her back in a bush, tossed not far from what was left of the car, the yellow light flashing against her face. Her eyes snapped open and she jumped to her feet. The last thing she remembered was driving through the barrier and that was it. Feeling woozy, she swayed and used the nearest tree to hold herself up.
Everything came rushing back.
The road.
The droids.
Axel.
The thought of Axel being gone was worse than a punch to the gut, but it sent her to her knees just the same. She screamed, she cried and she wailed and when she was all cried out she heard a sound. It was an animal-like panting. In and out. In and out. Fast. She climbed to her feet, scanned the dark trees and saw nothing. Then she closed her eyes and listened. The noise was coming from behind the mangled mess that was the Cadillac.
Shelby took a couple of steps and carefully made her way around the wreck with enough distance to bail if things happened to go that way. With each step, she got a better angle. She saw an Air Jordan, then another, and a pair of legs and two steps later she saw Troy. Shelby ran and collapsed by his side. He was pale and covered in blood and straggling to breathe but he was awake.
“This sucks,” he managed to say through the pain.
