Chapter III

Chapter III

An unknown fear struck him in a way that he never felt before. Lost as a child in a store, a night trying to fall asleep after watching a horror film, the nervous anxiety of changing schools, or the first time through a haunted house, swimming far out into the ocean in the middle of the night, none of which he could compare to the apprehension he sensed now. He could hear the threatening whispers in his stomach and through his chest like chaotic butterflies trying to bust free.

Gabriel clenched his stomach at one side. He didn’t know where Julian was and all was quiet. Gabriel turned toward the front door, the only gap that let in light through its distorted glass design. Only the porch light was evident on a cement path. Beyond that was only darkness. “Julian…?” Gabriel whispered lightly, just trying to find security.

“Shhh. It’ll be alright.” Julian assured him from some unknown distance. “Just stay right there, okay?”

Gabriel was tempted to ask him what he was doing but let well enough alone. It wouldn’t be long before he found out, anyway. Julian crept between Gabriel and the door so he could now see his silhouette. His hand still contained the knife. His stance was cautious and movements were slow as he approached the door.

A noise resonated from outside. It sounded like a sword slashing a trash can― a clang as if it were metal on metal. The noise was quick and short. That was all there was to it, then following stillness and silence as it had before. Gabriel watched Julian and noticed no reaction and kept still. His eyes shifted back and forth between the boy and the door.

Suddenly a black mass surged around the door from the other side. Less light permeated through the house, Julian disappearing once more into the shadows. A soft mysterious knock thumped at the door exactly three times with a few patient seconds in between each one. Gabriel backed up until he felt the protection of the wall at his back. He scooted to the corner to watch the door.

“Open up. This is the American Police.” A deep emotionless voice spoke through the altered glass.

“The police.” Gabriel breathed.

“Don’t believe them. They’re lying. They are the farthest thing from American.” Julian whispered with passionate anger, not turning back to look at him.

“We know you’re in there. No point in hiding.” A different voice said with more of a deceiving playfulness.

From this area in the room, Gabriel could see Julian, but just faintly. He saw as Julian’s dark shape reached out and flicked the latch on the door and backed up to the wall as the door swung swiftly open, slamming just beside him. The shadowed mob flooded into the house like aggressive rapids. Gabriel slid down the wall, hoping to keep himself hidden. He heard grunts, moans, and cries from within the swarm. A shadow of what looked like stringy saliva was tossed into the air, visible from the porch light. The mass seemed to slim down with more cries and violent dancing. Shaking, Gabriel wrapped both arms around his stomach, squatting, and rocking his back against the wall, wishing to wake up from this horrifying situation as if it were a dream―or more appropriately, a nightmare.

“There’s another one! He must know!” One of the so called police men called out. Gabriel gasped looking up at the figure. How can he see me? Gabriel’s wondering mind thought behind the traumatizing feeling. Before he knew it, the guy was crashing through the glass of the kitchen window, howling like a wolf as he flew. Gabriel flinched at the noise and the shattering pieces flailing about like hail in a storm. He did what he could to keep himself from screaming.

When he snapped back up, the light of the moon broke through the tortured window and he could see Julian. His pale complexion shone blue and dark patterns of thick liquid drenched his clothes and smeared his face and soaked his fair hair. He twisted hastily, knife still in hand, and drove it into the other man’s stomach. He twisted it before whipping it back out along with a fountain of blood that splashed his cheeks. He blinked his eyes to clear them before amputating the arm of another as he approached with a knife of his own in hand. The man hollered grabbing his arm as the man in front held his stomach crying to his knees.

Gabriel was too stunned to even question the ‘police’ weapons or even put pieces together to understand all that was happening. “Ju―Julian…” Gabriel couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He could feel his face contort with terror.

Julian wasn’t paying attention. He stabbed at the second man a few more times before knocking him to the ground. “Leave me alone, already!” Julian shouted, aggravation boiling up and flaring like a volcano.

One of the men clicked some device that beeped before he spoke into it. “We failed again, sir…” The man muttered at Gabriel’s feet, just as his eyes closed, breathing his last breath.

“Enough.” Julian huffed as he struck through another who had recovered from the floor, making his way over to them. “When will you learn…” His breathing was disordered, and hair disheveled and sticky from the red substance as he tried to calm his frustration. He stood staring at the ground. The bodies decorated the floor like sloppy bent up rugs. Pools of black surrounded them in the darkness. Gabriel was afraid to see what it would all have looked like had the lights been on. He shuttered at the thought, straining himself further into a ball. He couldn’t even look away, much less speak. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to even know about Julian anymore. He was a killer―a murderer. ‘Enough,’ he had heard him say. ‘Leave me alone already,’ as if he had done that more than once before. What would they want with him, though, and if he was so dangerous to the police, where is the military? He replayed the scene before they entered the house. ‘The police’ they had called themselves. But, ‘don’t believe them. They’re lying’ is what Julian had told him. Is Julian…mentally unstable, perhaps? A psychopath…? Gabriel breathed in horror. All he wanted right now was to get out of this crazy place and bundle up in the comfort of his bed in his own home.

Julian was still watching the floor with sad eyes when Gabriel found the moment to leap passed the obstacles of bodies and head for the door.

“Gabriel!” He heard Julian call after him. No time, he’s gonna kill you! Gabriel thought. Once getting to the door and past the ten or eleven bodies in the way, he felt his heart pound and ache with more fear than anything he had ever felt in the last twenty-four hours. He ran for his life as if becoming aware that he was threatened by thousands of hydrogen bombs that directed their attention at him with suddenly no warning. He tore down the driveway, escaping the war zone as best he could, but something caused him to stop.

There, fallen and collapsed in the middle of the driveway was a dark haired woman just outside of her car with grocery bags still in hand. Some soup cans have tried running away, having rolled to the end of the cement. The woman, at first glance, Gabriel would have guessed to be Julian and Charlotte’s mother, but up close he saw her neck had been cut straight through and no sign of blood or human organs existed. Nothing but mechanical wires that still sparked, buttons and latches of blues, blacks, and silvers capacitated the under of her skin.

This was too unreal for him. This time he couldn’t hold back a scream. Julian cupped his mouth only a second after he shrieked. Julian’s other arm gripped tightly around him, the moisture of the blood sticking to Gabriel now. The foul stench was strong and turned his yelp into a cough. Julian didn’t seem to mind as he struggled to bring him back to the house without making any more noise. Gabriel squirmed and wriggled his way trying to break loose, but it was no use. He felt like crying, just giving up and crying.

Julian moved his hand from Gabriel’s mouth once they got to the garage. “You’re a robot?!” Gabriel cried, still writhing to break free.

“No, no, you have to listen to me. I’m not a robot, I’m real.” He let him go. Gabriel staggered away, Julian between him and the open driveway. He was trapped in the garage. Julian would be too fast to catch him if he tried to run past him or backward through the house.

“Gabriel, I’m so sorry. I should never have brought you here. I should never have made contact with you. This is all my fault.” Julian shook his head while watching the ground as if trying to clear his head of the mess.

“What’s going on?” Gabriel demanded one final time. “No more hiding. We could have died in there. Tell me.” His fists balled up at his sides as he glared at Julian with both fear and anger burning in his eyes.

“Gabriel…” Julian sighed, his stance relaxed.

“Why won’t you just tell me?!” Gabriel barked, shaking his hands.

“Calm down, you’re right. You are a part of this now and they know about you. They’ll be after you, too, and it’s all my fault.”

“Who is they?! The police?” Gabriel sounded bewildered. He wished Julian would just spill it all right then and there instead of making him beg for it like a dog wanting a treat. He always had to make it more complicated.

“We should talk inside. I’ll need to see if I can fix up mother. We don’t want the neighbors’ suspicions, either.”

Gabriel watched as Julian walked casually down the driveway and pulled the head of the robot up by the hair and dragged the body by the broken ‘clavicle’, if it were, up toward the house. Though Gabriel never met his ‘mother’, he couldn’t believe Julian was being raised by a robot. It was so human-like and realistic. He was no science genius, only in what interested him―astronomy, astrology, and cosmology.

Gabriel followed Julian into the house. The robot’s hands were stuck like wires to keep the bags looped over her fingers. The only thing left was the runaway soup cans. It didn’t concern Julian. Once they were all inside, he shut the door and shoved the robot and her head into the small laundry room just a few feet from the door.

“I’m going to check on Charlotte. She’s a heavy sleeper.” Julian walked over the fallen bodies in the kitchen and living room as if they weren’t even there, making his way to the staircase.

“Wait!” Gabriel called after him, still upset. He leaped over the bodies as if he were running the 100 meter hurdles race, though Julian wasn’t quite that far away. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on? Julian.”

Julian turned around at his name. He was already halfway up the stairs when he looked down at Gabriel who stopped just a few steps behind him. Julian stared at Gabriel, looking as if he were searching for the right words behind his hazel eyes.

“Alright.” He said finally. “But this knowledge comes with a price.”

“A price? What kind of games are you playing?! I just witnessed the worse thing I could possibly have ever imagined. You owe it to me to tell me what the heck is going on!” Gabriel was surprised by his own actions. He had never been in a situation in which he wanted to have known something so desperately. This was a new side of himself he had never known existed.

“Correct, but I need you to promise me something.” Gabriel just watched him with curious eyes. “You must never leave my side.”

“What? What is this? What are you talking about?”

“If they get you alone, surely you will die and I’ll have to live with a guilty conscience for the rest of my life, however much longer that may be. ‘I, who brought death upon an innocent boy by telling him the truth’.”

Gabriel made a face, not one he could recognize. He just felt his nose crinkle up and his lips frown with a creased brow, something like distaste. “Sure, fine. You got it.”

“Now, I’m serious. You can choose to ignore me if you want, but it will only result in your own death. They already think I told you and I doubt they’ll be so lenient as to let you off the hook so easy.” Julian explained.

“They think you know now.” He said again as if to drive it into his brain.

Gabriel’s grip tightened on the stair rail. It was close enough to the door to have been in the way of the battlefield, smeared with the red liquid. “Who is this ‘they’ you keep speaking of? Is it the police?”

“They aren’t an American police. In fact, they aren’t even from this planet.” Julian’s muscles relaxed and he stood up straight, dropping his own hand from the rail. “They are from the future.”

Gabriel looked at him as if he really was crazy. “Okay, fine. You know what? If it’s so difficult for you to tell me, I’ll just go.” He said turning and placing his hands in his hoodie’s center pocket.

“No, Gabriel. I’m telling you the truth.” Julian trotted after him, pulling gently at Gabriel’s sleeve. Gabriel paused before the last stair step. He turned back to Julian, hands still resting in his pocket. “I’m from there―Charlodawn. It’s a terrible place for humans. The skies are always dark like night with barely any sun. We, as humans, moved to the only habitable planet available as Earth died. The natives, the zasalarin, are disgusting creatures who use humans as their slaves. I was taken away from my mother when I was five. My twin sister and I were sent back through time to find out what happened to the Earth and see if there is anything we could do to prevent this future from happening. We were sent through different places in time. She might be further along than I, my sister.” Julian clarified passionately. His eyes grew sad. Gabriel never had a sibling and couldn’t relate, but that wasn’t the point here.

“The story seems fascinating. You should make it into a book.” Gabriel said coldly. He turned as if to continue down the stairs, but Julian pulled at his arm again.

“The doctors were secretly working in a base where the zasalarin wouldn’t find them.” He continued. “There they trained me and tested me to make sure I was up to this. Keep in mind I was only six. They were desperate and I didn’t have much of a choice. The zasalarin had found out about their plan and must be using the teleporter to send the police force to try and kill us, so they don’t lose the future they’ve grown to love.”

“But the police were―.”

“Human, right. They were of the few that were loyal to the zasalarin, that they could trust. They made up much of the police system up there and were rewarded greatly for it. Many of us wouldn’t turn on our own people for greed, though. It’s hard to stay strong.”

“So these scientists couldn’t just go to the library or something and read what happened to Earth?” Gabriel asked skeptically.

“‘Library’?” Julian laughed. “Are you kidding me? There was nothing but dirt, swamps and mud huts in that place. Explains their weapons.” He joked aside. “The science center where the teleporters were built were underground, ironically, with all the metal they dug up.”

“Uh, huh.” Gabriel still felt doubtful. “And where was Charlotte in all this?”

Julian nodded as if he knew Gabriel was going to ask that next. “Follow me.” He turned and started back upstairs. Gabriel followed him relentlessly.

It was true that he had never seen a robot like his ‘mother’ and it explained everything that happened to that point, but something still felt too unbelievable, Gabriel thought.

They were at a solid white door. “Charlotte.” Julian said calmly while facing Gabriel. He watched as Julian faced forward again, twisting the cold knob on the door, opening it slowly. It creaked quietly as Julian snuck in. Gabriel tracked after him after him.

The room was plain with nothing but a simple dark wood dresser and thin floor bed with only one decorative purple blanket that lay underneath her. Charlotte. Her perfect black hair spilled across the mattress and down the sides. She lied like a dead mummy in an open sarcophagus, though her hands were at her sides as opposed to being crossed atop her chest. Her face was so peaceful, her eyes closed, revealing the long dark lashes that flowed onto her cheeks. Her full lips were a perfect pink.

“She, too, is a robot.” Julian sighed.

Gabriel turned to him with astonishment. He realized after knowing, though, it would have made the most sense by her doll-like beauty. She had moved so realistically. He would have easily mistaken her for a normal girl. “How?” The word just slipped out.

“Well, just like most robots.” Julian replied quietly. “She is made of complex mechanics to make her as real as possible. Earthlings were made to believe I was just a normal boy with a normal mother and a normal sister, and a dad who ran out on us.” He swallowed. “She is covered with a fused material similar to skin with a waterproof quality so she can swim and bathe herself like a normal girl. Cuts and wounds also heal themselves.” Julian continued in a serious tone, watching the girl as she ‘slept’. “She’s recharging now, so she can’t even hear us.” Julian said as if he could read the thought on Gabriel’s face. “I just whisper sometimes when she is in this state to make her feel more alive to me. I’ve been so isolated from people, trying to protect them.” He sighed. “But she’s real enough to me.”

“Are there lots of people like that?” Gabriel asked, watching Charlotte and her still face. “If she looks so much like a normal girl, does that not just get confusing? I mean, what if someone fell in love with a robot? Could they still…ya know…?”

Julian laughed for the first time in a while. It was good to see, Gabriel thought. It eased the tension a bit. “Must I remind you, I was only six at the time. I have no idea if any of that kind of stuff happened. Most likely not. Charlodawn is a wasteland. I’m surprised they found enough materials to make ‘mother’ and Charlotte, plus whatever they made for Adrienne.

“Adrienne?”

“My sister.” Julian didn’t drop back into the grief. He just looked at Gabriel with a soft smile. “You’re the first real human I’ve had the honor of telling all this to. I’ve never been able to truly express my feelings that have stressed me out so much of the time. I’m just sorry you’re now another target for the zasalarin police.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry, too.” Gabriel felt almost as if he wanted to laugh.

“So you believe me now?” Julian questioned, hope beaming in his golden green eyes.

Gabriel nodded sympathetically, playing with one of the silver rings that pierced his lip. He couldn’t help his tongue from shifting the ring around out of habit.

“You should be getting home. You’re parents are probably concerned. I’ll do the project and turn it in for us. This whole thing was my fault, anyway.”

“Oh, but the blood…” Gabriel patted at the blood stains on his navy blue jacket and dark jeans that were less noticeable, but still there and then there was the smell. He felt his head. There were hard splotches where the blood must have dried. “My hair, too?”

“Oh, well you could use mine―our shower, downstairs for now.” He corrected himself. “I’ll get you some of my clothes. We’re about the same size, no?” Julian asked generously, looking down at himself than back at Gabriel as he walked past him out the door. “Oh,” he said turning back around. “But your parents might notice.”

“Nah. They don’t really pay attention to what I wear. Well, unless it was like―.”

“Okay, cool then.” Julian cut him off, turning to dash down the hall.

Gabriel looked back at Charlotte, same as before, and then stalked slowly out the door. He shut it carefully and headed toward the stairs just as Julian returned. “That was fast.” Gabriel commented. He was carrying a simple faded blue T-shirt and a pair of dark grey jeans.

“Now, remember, no one. You can’t tell anyone about this or you’ll only be bringing further danger upon them as well.”

Gabriel was tempted to ask more questions, but left it at that for now. He needed some time to adjust. Maybe getting all the answers at once wasn’t as grand as he assumed it would have been, but there he goes assuming things again.