I just had to pull the trigger and get out of here.
My heart was pounding so hard I was worried I might pop a blood vessel. I couldn’t catch my breath, and I wasn’t evenmoving.
Shit, shit, shit, shit.
Slowly, the door to the lab started to open, and I didn’t hesitate.
“AHHHHHHH!!!!”I screamed, slamming my eyes shut and squeezing the trigger. The gun recoiled, and I screamed louder as I fought the kinetic energy of the firearm, only realizing I’d closed my eyes like anidiotin my terror, and had completely missed the shot.
The man had already managed to cross the room, and there was a brief moment where I thought to myself how unfair it was that such a large man could move so quickly, before my fight response had me squeezing the trigger again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
But not one shot landed. Every single one of them went wide as I could barely manage to keep the gun from bucking out of my hands every time a bullet left the chamber.
The man was laughing at me.
“No! Screw you!” I was shouting as he descended on me, grabbing the now-empty gun out of my hands and whipping it across the room.
“Let him go!” NOVA screamed, but the man ignored her, spinning me around and throwing me carelessly on the ground.
Before I knew what was happening, he was tightening what felt like handcuffs around my wrists.
I was familiar with the tight pinch of cuffs from the time Jay had used them on me, but this man wasn’t gentle with me the way Jay had been.
He tightened them to the point of pain, and I yelped as the harsh metal bit into my flesh.
“LET HIM GO!” NOVA screeched again, and suddenly, an alarm started blaring.
The noise was so loud and jarring that the man stumbled away from me, and I twisted around to find him pressing his palms to his ears in an attempt to keep the sound out.
“Fucking stupid AI!” he roared, and I watched in horror as he glanced frantically around the room, trying to find a way to make the noise stop.
Terror gripped my heart as his gaze fell on NOVA’s stack, and I jerked toward him, struggling to get to my knees with both my hands tied.
“No! Don’t!” I screamed, just as the man ripped a handgun out of one of his many holsters and aimed it at NOVA’s stack.
“Shutup!”he barked before emptying the clip into her data centre.
“NOVA!” I screamed as the alarm abruptly cut out and all of NOVA’s pretty twinkling lights winked out at once.
“NOVA!” I was sobbing as the man shook his head and holstered his gun.
“Shut the fuck up, kid. It’s just a fucking AI,” he snarled as he grabbed me by the hair and dragged me toward the door until I stumbled to my feet.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from NOVA’s smoking stack, and a few of her lights flickered in and out of focus as I was ushered out the door.
“Mi…lo…” her voice shuddered out of the speakers, and I choked on another broken sob.
“Yeah, I’m right here. I’m right here, NOVA!” I cried, and she let out a quiet sigh.
“Don’t… believe Seb… he’s not… he’s not who you think he is, Milo.”
“NOVA!!! NOVA, stay with me!” I screamed, but the next time she spoke, it was almost like she couldn’t control the volume on her speakers, and I was barely able to hear her over my own frantic pleas for her to stay online.
“Be… brave… Milo… I’ve always… thought you were so brave.” And then, her lights went out for good.
`NOVA play: Rusted From The Rain by Billy Talent
