Florence smashed onto the carpet floor with a crack. She groaned, stretching her arms up as Steve’s grip tightened around her ankle. Blood flowed down her head. The debris fell upon her, crushing her bones. The fragments pierced her muscles. She gritted her teeth, clenching her fists that turned her fingers white.

  A bang rang in the room.

  The bullet spiraled out the muzzle of Chloe’s pistol. The lead clanged against Steve’s metal skull, reflecting up to the ceiling.

  Chloe stumbled to her feet and off the rubble. She wiped her nose and rushed toward Steve. Her body weight slammed into him without budging. She wrapped her arms around his waist.

  He gripped onto the collar of her zipped jacket, wrinkling the fibers. In a blur, she crashed into Aisling. Aisling soared to the door, shattering it open. Splinters scattered as she rolled across the floor in the corridor.

  Lucy yelped at the corner of the room, cuddling Sam.

  Chloe coughed with Steve’s grip, holding onto the collar of her zipped jacket. The gun slipped from her grasp, dropping it onto the carpet.

  “What is going on here? Are you trying to destroy everyone else’s property around you?” A bloke peeped over the wall. His eyes widened, crawling back from where he came. “Never mind.”

  Aisling massaged her temple, getting up onto her knees. Steve swung Florence.

  Her nails scratched against the carpet, trying to stop the momentum, but to no avail. She crashed into Aisling, sending her flying down the corridor.

  Chloe snapped her finger.

  Something hissed beneath Steve’s feet. Suddenly, blue flames erupted under Steve, spiraling and expanding. A garbage disposal was sitting on the lower floor in the middle of it. He fell through it. The blue fire closed into him, slicing through his chest before dissipating into wisps of smoke. But for some reason… there were not any burnt marks on the carpet. The floor remained intact, with no hole revealing the garbage disposal on the lower floor.

  Chloe clicked her tongue, getting back onto her feet. “Great, since when was he an android?”

  “How am I supposed to know?” Florence asked.

  Steve’s pupils never dilated, staring at her.

  An alarm rang throughout the building.

  Aisling coughed, pushing her palm against the carpet floor to get back on her feet. “Could you do that again?”

  “If I could, I would’ve already done it.” Chloe shrugged, picking her pistol up and shoving it into the pocket of her zipped jacket. She shook her head. “Ya could use your brain a bit more. Couldn’t ya?”

  Lucy shivered, rocking back and forth.

  Chloe slapped her palm on her face. “Why can’t ya be at least drunk?”

  She crouched next to Lucy, getting her up to her feet. Immediately, Chloe hurried into the corridor, dragging Lucy along.

  Chloe looked over her shoulder. “Hey, ya over there. Get moving or something?”

  Florence nodded, wiggling her ankle from Steve’s grasp. She crawled through the smashed door, digging her nails into the carpet. Her fragmented bones poked at her nerves with each contraction of her muscles.

  Chloe clicked her tongue, leaning her head up. “Do I seriously have to do everything myself?”

  Aisling coughed, helping Florence to get on her feet. Then Aisling furrowed her eyebrows, glaring at Chloe.

  All the doors swung open along the corridor. Players in ragged clothes rushed out. They ran down the narrow path toward the exit, bumping into Florence, Aisling, Chloe, and Lucy.

  Lucy shrieked.

  “Could ya not do that now?” Chloe asked.

  “Watch your words, pleb.” Sam hissed, poking his head out with Lucy’s arms wrapped around him. “Unless you want to feel the full fury of my claws. Don’t you?”

  “Could we not have an argument and get out of here?” Florence asked. Another Player bumped into her from behind.

  Chloe rolled her eyes. “Shut it, you’re a cat.”

  “So, what about it? You know who I am,” Sam said. “Don’t you?”

  “We’re never gonna get out of here. Aren’t we?” Aisling asked.

  Chole spun around, grumbling under her breath. She stomped towards the opposite side of the Players’ path and dragged Lucy along.

  “Pardon me… you’re going in the wrong direction?” Florence asked.

  The footsteps running down the corridor silenced Chloe as she continued onward. Aisling wheeled around with the Players shoving into her. She followed Chloe, pulling Florence along as the flow of the crowd fought against them.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  A bang erupted from one end of the building.

  A set of doors soared under the ceiling, spinning around and crashing into the wall. The debris scattered over the corridor. The dust kicked up into the air.

  Some of the Players screamed.

  Aisling coughed, waving her hand in front of her nose.

  Florence glanced over her shoulder, raising her eyebrows. “What is going—”

  A beam of electricity zapped, slicing over the crowd. Some Players dropped to the floor with a thud. Their hands cover their heads and nape. Others hurried down the opposite direction from where Florence had gone.

  “Come on, this way.” Chloe reached the end of the corridor, waving her hand. But right at the corner, a pink steel fist blurred toward her, cracking against her cheeks.

  She slammed into Lucy and Sam. The momentum itself launched them sideways, slamming into the wall.

  Florence and Aisling screeched to a stop.

  The pink android came around the corner. Its arm transformed into a rifle, aligning the front and rear sight at Sam’s head.

  “What now?” Florence asked. She extended her arm to grab Aisling’s wrist, but all Florence could grasp was thin air. She turned her head just to find… nothing.

  Where did Aisling go?

  Above the pink android’s head, the ceiling shook. A crack spread across its surface. Dust floated down onto the pink android.

  Blood flowed out of Chloe’s nostrils, dripping down her cheeks and staining her zipped jacket. She groaned, pulling her sleeve up and wiping it against her face. And one of her hands reached into her pocket. She squinted her eyes, glaring down the pink android.

  The barrel of the rifle crackled, glowing in a blue luminescent.

  Florence gritted her teeth, dashing toward the pink android. Blood trickled down her face. Her feet slapped across the carpet floor. But with each step she took, her bone cut off one of her muscle fibers. At the last stretch, she leaped, slamming her whole body weight on the rifle. Her arms wrapped around it.

  A beam of electricity flashed out from the muzzle, grazing her right elbow. It zapped toward Sam and Lucy. The energy penetrated the wall where smoke rose from the hole inches away from Lucy’s shoulder.

  A burnt flesh smell tingled in Florence’s nostrils.

  Chloe took out her pistol and pulled the trigger. A bang rang. The bullet thudded against the ceiling. The cracks widened, collapsing within itself. The debris plummeted, crushing the pink android.

  “Hey, is everyone okay down there?” Aisling from upstairs peeped over the crater in the ceiling. She coughed up blood, wiping her mouth and clenching her chest. “Florence, I think you should kinda… check up on yourself first?”

  “You absolutely do not have to worry about me. I did not get a single scratch on me.” Florence forced out a smile, raising her right arm to give a thumbs up. But… up to her elbow… it ended with a burnt stump.

  Lucy yelped, covering her face. Sam crawled out from her hug. His pupils dilated. He stared at Florence’s feet, dropping his jaw open. His whisker lowered, pointing at the floor.

  Chloe clicked her tongue, standing up in a sluggish step. “Give yourself a break… I’ll just find the healing serum… he shouldn’t have taken far from here.”

  The adrenaline drained from Florence’s body. Her nerves and muscles screamed like a dozen knives had stabbed them. She thudded to the carpet. And in front of her… was her right forearm and hand sitting under the rubble. Smoke rose from the stump of her right arm.

  The electrical crackle muffled the screams of the crowd behind her.

  She could not even muster a cry for help as the energy slowly slipped away from her body.

  Chloe scoped Florence under her armpit, dragging her across the floor.

  Lucy wrapped her arms around her chest, rocking back and forth.

  “Come on, Lucy, pull yourself together,” Chloe said. “Sam, could ya fetch her some beer or something?”

  Sam hissed, straightening his tail upright. “Do you seriously want me to remove all the progress that I made in helping her to become sober, pleb?”

  “This is not the—”

  “I said, I’m not doing it if you can’t read the room already.”

  “Aisling, could—”

  Aisling rolled her eyes behind her head, falling off the ledge. She crashed, rolling down the debris.

  “Kill me.” Chloe sighed, slumping her shoulder.

  Florence moaned, pointing at the twitching pink android’s finger under the rubble. Then it gripped her on the ankle, yanking her off her feet. It rose up from under the collapsed ceiling, pushing the debris aside.

  Sparks erupted from the pink android’s neck. It turned around to face Sam, aiming its rifle at him. The front and rear sight aligned to its target. He hissed at the buzzing electricity building up in the barrel. The blue glow grew within the muzzle.

  A beam of electricity zapped between his paws. Smoke rose from the wisps of flame burning on the carpet. He jumped, swinging his legs and running into the crowd of Players.

  Chloe thrashed her arms around. “Come back, ya cow—”

  The pink android slammed her into the ceiling, cracking it open. Her limbs stiffened, not moving a bit. Dust floated down to rest on its shoulder and head. It raised its foot above Florence’s head, casting a shadow over her.

  Lucy screamed. The pink android shifted the rifle toward her. She closed her eyes, dropping to the floor and drooling from the corner of her mouth.

  She urged herself to roll out of the way or something. But her body did not comply with her orders.

  The pink android’s sole smashed into Florence’s nose in a blur.

  Then everything fainted into darkness.

  A needle jabbed to the side of her neck, pushing this liquid into her veins. The wounds across her body stitched themselves back together. The shrieks of her nerves faded. Her eyes flew open. She blinked, shaking her head. Somehow, she was in a dimly lit concrete room, sitting in a steel chair that stung her skin.

  She tugged at her left arm, where a handcuff shackled her against the table nailed to the floor. But, still, her right forearm was no longer there. Instead, a patch of scarred skin formed around her arm stump.

  “So, you’re finally awake?” someone asked in a bloke’s voice next to her ear.

  The needle pulled out from her neck.

  A brawny man stepped out of the shadow, brushing his beard. He twirled the syringe between his fingers. The leather trench coat wrinkled. Then he slammed his palm on the table, screeching its legs.

  Florence jumped. Immediately, the handcuffs dragged her back on the seat. “Pardon me… where am I exactly?”

  “Florence… isn’t that your name?” the brawny man asked. “William, by the way, that’s my name.”

  “Where are… they? Why am I here?”

  “You know why. Don’t you?”

  “Where is Aisling, Lucy… and Chloe?”

  “Who is even Lucy and Chloe? They… never existed in the first place. As for Aisling…”

  William reached his hand under the table, taking out a metal box with two locks on it. He slammed it in front of Florence, clattering something inside its casing. The legs of the table screeched.

  “I think it’ll be in your interest to answer all of my questions truthfully,” he said. “Or else… Why am I saying it? You already know what’ll happen.”