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I sprint through the low hanging trees
the howls of wolves and other beasts rustle through the leaves.
The moon shines down atop my face,
keeping me going through this endless race

The thoughts of death ride high
Where pain, and misery are deemed to lie.
I hear the growls, and howls getting closer and closer
and my feet try to keep me going faster then a roller coaster

Yet as I try to sprint forward away from the beasts
They continue to gain on me
By the end, they are right upon me,
and they attack with horrible glee.

Jack sat down at the table, trying to ignore the creature sitting directly across from him at his table. The creature had a gas-mask somehow melded into its elongated body which seemed to stretch to strange lengths. It tried to sit squarely in the chair it was provided, but its long, sharp, knee-bones stuck up above the table's top by a good two feet, so it had to eat between its legs. Didn't matter much to this creature, as its elongated neck allowed for such movement. What bewildered me was how it was going to even eat the spaghetti.

I simply looked down at my plate, trying to avoid staring at such a horrendous creation that god-knows came from -my- land. I stabbed my fork into the spaghetti, and began to twirl it around the fork, "so, how did you come to...live, in my land," I asked the strange-monster sitting across from me who was highly concentrated on the noodles. I could feel its 'eye's pressing against me, death-like.

"I wass'a...born, here. Long ago...before you ever inhabited this...world," the creature replied, sucking noodles through the holes on the gas-mask. I stuffed my mouth with spaghetti as well, freaked slightly by its...ability, to eat the spaghetti.

"Do you happen to have a name?" I asked the creature as I finished wiping my mouth of sauces. I quickly gulped down some of my tea.

"My...creator...His title for me was...Bram," the creature replied, transfixed, yet again, on something else in my house. I couldn't quite tell though.

"Did your creator have a name?"

"No."

"Well...could you tell me when he created you?" I gulped in another fork-full of the spaghetti. This was quite possibly the strangest night of my entire life, and I was trying to handle it smoothly through spaghetti, and un-sweetened tea.

"It was...an older time...Long before such creatures as yourself...frolicked...among the lands." The strange beast seemed to snarl when he mentioned 'creatures' such as myself. I took a bite from the garlic bread that I had, trying to eat it quickly.

Though, this put thoughts into my head. What if this...thing, really did come before humans even -existed- on Earth? Could this lead to the discovery of an extraterrestrial-life form? Or the finding of a great darkness? I had to bring this monster, and the information I gathered from it, to my lab tomorrow so that me and my fellows can study it more closely. As long as it comes peacefully, no one will die...Right...Right?

Apparently not. Before I could finish the garlic bread, I was suddenly pinned against the wall by Bram, the creature that I had -begun- to think was slightly friendly. Its head turned, and swayed in strange ways, as if examining me. "You think me a...a fool? No...dirty little...thing, such as yourself could ever capture me...no. You are -below- me. And I shall prove it..." I looked directly at the mask of Bram, struggling to breath against the large arm pressed against my neck. I began to see spots in my vision, and as I stared at Bram, I could swear I heard it chuckling as I slowly fainted.

***

I next awoke tied down to a cold, metallic table. My mouth appeared to have duck tape wrapped around it, and I could feel cuffs of sorts wrapped around my ankles, wrists, and holding my head down to the table. A bright light, a light that people such as Dentists, or Surgeons would use during operations, hung above me. I was, also in the nude, which even though I had absolutely -no- idea where I was, was still embarrassing. I could see a shape come into my vision: Bram, the creature's gas-mask staring down at me. It appeared to be holding a very large, very long needle in its grip. It chuckled again. "See? What my...creator...did to me...I shall now do to you...you dirty little thing. You shall -become- different. Leaving your fleshy little body behind, and joining me...Oh, it will pain you...yes. But the feeling afterwards...That is the real pain," Bram dug the needle into my arm, and squeezed whatever toxic material it had poured into it into my blood-stream. Before I could even react, I began to feel the urge to rip my skin off spread through my body. It was changing. I could feel myself becoming colder, yet everything felt as if it was growing warmer. Pain enveloped my face, as with the bones in the rest of my body. I screamed out in pain as my legs suddenly lunged out, the knee-cap forming into a sort of...shape. The pain was horrendous, but as I felt it, I could feel the coldness of a mask growing from my skin, melding with it. I tried to scream again, but I couldn't. I couldn't do anything against the pain Bram had brought upon me. And as I laid on that table, the monster I had ate dinner with stared out into the night, waiting for the moment that I would join him.

I woke early in the morning, my eyes dazed slightly from my lack of sleep. Slowly, and slightly exhaustingly, I rose from my bed, and stretched. "Computer, windows," I muttered, covering my mouth as I yawned. It replied with a simple beep, before the shades covering my windows began to fade away. It was around eight in the morning, hover-carriers bustled about, and the green sea to the west glistened under the morning sun. I stretched my arms, scratching my back as I did so. I left my room, used the bathroom, momentarily, before heading towards the kitchen to grab the carton of juice sitting quaintly in my fridge.

The Holo-vision turned on as I walked in, "This is Samantha Tateson speaking to you loud and clear from downtown Hinnsburg, this wonderful morning.

"We have breaking news from the City-State of West Litteton. Attacks from Android-Terrorists groups have been on the rise, with the capital building being attacked late into the evening last night. Nine were killed in the attack, and twenty wounded. The Prime Minister of Litteton made a speech on the matter, referring to the Androids as 'terrorists' and 'beings that must be stopped'."

I turned to the TV, shaking my head, still drinking from my carton of juice. As I went to go sit down on my comfy couch, a loud banging noise originated from my door, "this is Hinnsburg Police! Open the door now or we shall kick it down!"

Hoping to not get my door kicked down, I quickly moved towards the door and opened it: sadly it slammed into my face. I reeled back, holding my nose with my free hand, and muttering curses under my breath as the officers bustled into my mediocre apartment. I stood up, taking another swig from my carton, "what seems to be the problems, officers?"

One man, he looked to be around 6,3, with a large mustache, and the body the size of a gorilla. He stared me down, turning slightly with his gun lowered, "we received a report that an android was held up in this apartment. Do you know anything about this?"

I shook my head, taking another swig from my carton as the officers began pulling out synthetic scanners. They covered everything with them: my chairs, counters, electronic devices, my room, even my bathroom. They began moving closer and closer to me, and the scanner began to ring slightly. As the scanner hovered next to me, it beeped wildly, and emitted a singular, long pulse as they put it against my flesh. "It's him!" the officer with the scanner yelled.

Suddenly, the gorilla-officer turned his large gun onto me, and fired, blasting me through the thin walls into my neighbor's apartment. I groaned loudly, feeling a surge of pain in my chest as the bullet connected. I half expected to be dead immediately, or quit soon…but somehow, I wasn’t. Surprised, I let a shaky hand rise to my chest to feel it what had happened to me…
I found synthetic parts, instead of blood. I found machinery instead of organs, wires instead of veins. I lifted my head, and looked down at the damage I had received. No blood. Merely the innards of a synthetic being. I looked up to the man who had just fired his gun at me in horror, watching as he reloaded. At that moment, I realized my existence was a sham, my freedom of will and humanity; false, and my thoughts not my own. He aimed his gun down towards me and snarled, his mustache twitching as he stared down at me "Damn synthetics..."

He fired.

I sat in the crumbling apartment room that I had taken to as my home while I rest the dying ruins of an age long lost. Red laid near the window, nawing away at a bone from a doggy-treat bag I had found in the store a few blocks down the road. Rain pelted the glass and thunder roared across the sky. Sam gave me a letter before I left the fortified facility that my old comrades called home. It was non such a thing to me any longer, and this letter didn't help the nostalgia of it running through my head. I should have thrown it away, let it die in the cold and wetness of this harsh world, but I couldn't bring myself to such. Each day, I take it out of my pocket, and read it silently to myself. The words...soothe my old body, and in such desperate times as these, soothing feeling is more then anyone can wish for.
 
I'm not sure why I keep having myself read it. Maybe it's the last words that Sam gives me before ending the goodbye. Maybe it's a calling back to them that I'm not sure about. I don't know. All I -do- know is that the last words she gives me, are the most important I've heard in my bleak travels. "Just remember, you have the power to do what is right, and what is necessary. Which road will you take."
 
As I think on those words, I begin to realize that she was showing the choices I have. I can let my morals get in the way, and die in those harsh world. Or I can do what is necessary for survival, and live a ravaged life fraut with hunger, thirst, and despair. It is not the choice, or the words I wished to find, but it is the ones I needed.