Kill the Power Gamer

by Eric Vall

  Not nearly enough, but I didn’t have any other plan, so this had to work.

  I heard the fire alarm go off down the hallway where the main store was, and then I heard Renee shouting for everyone to get out of the building. I took that as my cue, reached up, and flicked off the main power to the panel.

  The lights in the storage room instantly turned off, but then the red-safety lights came on a few moments later, and I started yanking off the metal plates on the breaker box that hid the hot lines coming in.

  “How is it looking?” Renee asked as she ran back to where I was a minute or so later.

  “I just got the hot and ground connected,” I said as I gestured to where I had wrapped the wires into the super thin main line. “Can you check and see how far it is? I think we’ll need to join two or three of them together.”

  “Yep!” Renee said as she bent down to grab the female end of the wire I was working on. Then she plugged a male part from another cord and started to drag the mess out the door. She was soaking wet from the sprinklers, and each of her steps made a squishing sound I might have found hilarious under any other circumstances.

  Especially since I thought I heard gunfire outside.

  “Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!” I cursed as I tore apart the next extension cord and tried to wrap the ends around the main line. My hands were shaking like fucking assholes, and I accidently cut myself on the back of my hand when the cord sliped out of my fingers.

  “Two will do it!” Renee shouted as she ran back. “The end isn’t cut on the water side, though. You want me to cut it?”

  “If you could,” I hissed as I finished wrapping the second cord around the main line. “Also, this one is ready.”

  “I heard gunshots outside,” Renee said as she grabbed the cord and a spare box cutter. “People are screaming.”

  “They will be here soon,” I said as I prepped the next cord. “As soon as you see Hannah and that other guy, get out of there. He’ll kill you without even fucking caring.”

  “And you are going to explain all this shit to me when we are done?” Renee huffed.

  “If we live,” I answered as I started to wrap the third cord into the panel. I was starting to get really fast at it, but my hands were still shaking like I was fighting against hypothermia, and gallons of sweat were pouring into my eyes.

  I could clearly hear the gunshots now, but the noise was a bit comforting.

  Gunshots meant Hannah was still alive.

  I had two more wires connected when Renee returned, but before she could take them into the main part of the store, we heard a shower of glass and gunshots that echoed off the walls and bounced into the storage room.

  “I’m going to put the last two on,” I hissed as I cut the fifth cord, “then I’ll just run them out there.”

  “I’ll bring some,” Renee said as she started connecting the female ends of the cords I’d spliced in with the male parts of the second extension cords.

  “Almost there,” I said as I started to wrap the wires.

  Then I heard Hannah scream over the sound of the fire alarm.

  It was a screech of pure agony, and I felt my blood turn cold and my legs start to shake.

  “Oh my fucking god,” Renee gasped. “Is … is that Hannah?”

  “I … think so … ” I panted, but then I heard her gun fire again, and my head started to spin.

  “Tell me what to do, Tony,” Renee said. “We’ll help her.”

  “I gotta get this last one,” I said as I reached for the last wire.

  My hands weren’t shaking anymore. That motherfucker hurt my woman, and I was going to fucking end him.

  The last wire got wrapped up super quick, and Renee had already plugged the male part into the end of my first length and sliced off the female ends so they could get into the water easier.

  “Let’s go,” I said as I grabbed three of the bundled cords. I was a bit surprised to hear how calm my voice was, but this was do or die now, and the girl I loved was out there fighting for my life.

  It was time for me to man the fuck up.

  Renee and I ran out of the backroom, through the connector hallway where all the offices and break rooms were, and then carefully pushed up against the double doors that led to the main room of Carmichael’s retail store. The fire alarm was still blaring, the red emergency lights were flashing on and off, the sprinklers were still spraying water everywhere, and the concrete floor was covered in about six inches of water.

  It was the perfect trap.

  Renee had laid the other cords so their ends just dipped into the water a bit behind the door, so I copied her placement and then looked deeper into the room for Hannah. It was a bit hard to see because of the flashing lights, but I soon found her over by the appliances slugging it out with a nondescript looking man who I probably would have walked by on the street and not given a second glance to.

  Hannah’s right arm was twisted at a wrong angle, and even though the sprinklers were pouring down water, the blonde parts of her hair were stained with red. As I watched, the NHD punched her in the face, and her head spun around. Her body twisted a moment after, and she delivered a spin kick to the fucker’s head before she lifted up her short rifle and put three rounds in his face.

  The man stumbled back from the bullet wounds, and then Hannah pumped four more shots into him and kicked him in the chest. He fell back on his ass from that impact, and then Renee and I could finally see his face and body. It was a mess of red-looking and twisted flesh that seemed to squirm around like a pile of maggots.

  Then his face and torso quickly healed, and he looked like a normal human.

  Except his eyes were red.

  “Okay,” I whispered to Renee, “I’m going to scream for Hannah to get up on one of the shelves, and then you are going to hit the breaker and turn on the power.”

  “Got it,” Renee replied, and I almost couldn’t believe how calm she was being.

  “You are really handling this well,” I said to her as Hannah pumped a few more rounds into the monster robot-human.

  “Oh, I’m totally in shock,” Renee admitted. “I’m probably going to need lots of therapy after seeing that dude’s face, but hey. At least I’ll have a story to tell my kids.”

  “Okay,” I started. “So, go back and--shit! Hannah!”

  I actually screamed out because the NHD struck back and kicked out at Hannah’s leg. She wasn’t able to dodge in time, and his kick broke her knee back like an old chicken wing. My lover went down, and the NHD sprawled across her chest as he tried to wrestle her rifle away from her.

  Then he gave up on trying to take the gun from her, and he just started slamming his fist into her face over, and over, and over.

  And over.

  “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I groaned as his arm came back up covered in Hannah’s blood.

  She was on the ground, and flipping the power on would kill her along with the NHD.

  “What do we do?” Renee panicked. “He’s going to kill her--”

  “New plan,” I said as I ripped my walkie talkie out of my pocket and handed it to her. “Go back to the panel. I’ll tell you through there when to flip it on.”

  “But how? What are you going to do--”

  “Something stupid,” I sighed, “but go. This is the only plan I’ve got, so it’s time to put it all on the line.”

  “But--”

  “Go Renee!” I hissed at her. “And thank you for being a great friend and boss.”

  Renee just nodded before she turned around and ran back into the storage room.

  Then I was alone, and I took one quick breath as I imagined what that fucker was doing to my woman.

  I stepped out into the main room, let the water pour over my face, and then took another deep breath.

  “Hey, you stupid piece of Hive garbage! Why don’t you fuck off!”

  The NHD paused with his bloody fist in the air, and his head turned around like an owl to look at me. Recognition seemed to
fill his red eyes, and he rose up from Hannah’s bloody body with an unnatural fluidity.

  Then he walked through the pouring water toward me.

  I was a bit surprised he didn’t grab Hannah’s gun and pop me, and I’d kind of been prepared to dive for cover behind one of the aisles. In some ways, seeing the robot killing machine walking toward me without any weapons was a bit scarier, since it meant he intended to beat the life out of me with his bare fists.

  “Accept your fate, Tony Amin,” the man said as the distance closed between us. “The Hive has won, and your kind will--”

  Maybe he expected me to just stand there and listen to his evil villain monologue, but I decided to start running instead, and I sprinted through the water toward the front exit of the store. The hairline fracture in my leg screamed with pain, but I ignored it. This was life or death. I glanced over my shoulder as I ran, but the NHD was still calmly walking toward me.

  “Anywhere you run to, I will find you,” he continued. “I will kill everything you love to get to you, so accept your death now, and I will make it painless and quick.”

  I took a hard right at the end of the row and then came around the front of the store. My path would eventually lead me to Hannah, but my plan was risky at best, since all the NHD had to do was guess I was going back to save her, and then he could just get there first.

  But the thing was, he probably had no idea I was in love with her and would do anything to protect her.

  It was a bit hard to run through the water, but I still pushed through with all the strength in my legs and all the air in my lungs. I kept glancing over my shoulder as I ran, but the robot only shook his head when he realized I was not going to try to exit out the front door.

  “You are delaying your inevitable death. Just like your future species is delaying the inevitable victory of The Hive. Give up now.”

  I rounded another aisle and saw Hannah lying face up in the water. She wasn’t moving, but it was easy to see why, her face looked like hamburger, her right arm was broken and bent back so the palm of her hand was touching the back of her shoulder, and her left leg was broken sideways at a ninety degree angle.

  She looked dead, and my heart stopped beating for half a moment.

  But I didn’t know for sure she was dead, and she would be for sure if I didn’t get her out of the water, so I slid on my knees to her, scooped my arms under her broken body, and then lifted up with all of my strength. She came up in my clutches easily, but then I realized there was no way I’d be able to climb up to the top of one of the shelves with her in my arm.

  I needed to get out of the water, though, or we would both get electrocuted.

  “You cannot save the traitor,” I heard the NHD call out behind me, but I was too busy looking for anything I could use.

  Then my eyes settled on the washing machines lined up against the back wall. One part was right next to the refrigerators, and I guessed I could step up to the top easier than climbing the shelves.

  I ran as fast as I could toward it with Hannah in my arms.

  Her body felt cold in my grasp, and she wasn’t moving, but I kept telling myself she would be okay.

  God, Hannah, please be okay. I don’t want to live without you.

  I made it to the washing machine and kind of half-sideways-threw my ass over the top of it, and then I glanced to my right and saw the NHD was a good forty feet away.

  But he was still walking toward me.

  I gritted my teeth and pushed Hannah and my body upright, and then I lifted her as high as I could and moved her so she was resting on top of the fridge.

  Her eyes were closed, and her head flopped to the side as soon as I set her down.

  Please be alive, Hannah.

  I reached into her shorts pocket and pulled out the walkie talkie, then I turned back toward the approaching robot and raised it up to my mouth.

  “Now Renee!” I screamed into it.

  But then nothing happened, and my heart sank.

  “You can not escape,” the man said as he got within ten feet of me. “No one can help you, Tony Amin. Now your legacy comes to an end, before it was eve--”

  His body stiffened and his red eyes opened wide as a torrent of amps and voltage was pushed through his body. I couldn’t really see the current from where I stood, but a white arch flipped across the room by some of the computers, and I could smell the ozone fill the air.

  “Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww,” the machine droned, and his face started to flex and vibrate as if it was made of wet mud.

  Smoke started to come out of his mouth, and I thought he was about to die.

  Then his eyes focused on me, and he took a lumbering step forward.

  “You … will … die … ” the words echoed out of his mouth, and I saw his teeth turn to liquid and pour down his chin, which was also starting to drip down his chest.

  I took a step back, but I was already against the wall, and the fucker was still moving. All he had to do was touch me, and the current would flow through me, too.

  That would be super bad.

  My eyes focused on Hannah’s rifle, but it was melting into a pool on the floor some twenty feet away. Then I remembered she had a pistol, so I quickly reached up, closed my fingers around the grip, and yanked it free of her belt.

  I raised the pistol toward the melting robot and then maneuvered the front ball sight into the bucket of the rear sight. I’d never really shot a gun before, mostly because I was super broke, but I’d played countless hours of first person shooter video games, so I hoped there was some sort of cross over skill set.

  I pulled the trigger, and the gun kicked in my hands the same instant the bullet tore through his face.

  Then I shot again, and again, and again.

  Each bullet ripped half a cup of liquid-melty material from his body that began to smoke and burn when it hit the ground. Then he stumbled onto his knee just a few feet away, and he reached out his fingers toward me.

  “Good game, newb,” I spat as I put another bullet into each of his eyes.

  His head lurched back, and his body folded back on itself. He immediately became a clay-syrup mixture and turned into a puddle of smoking nastiness.

  I watched him smoke for a few more moments, and then the power suddenly stopped flowing.

  “Tony?” I heard Renee call through the walkie talkie.

  “I’m here,” I panted as I lowered the gun. The slide was back, and I realized I’d put the last bullet where I needed it to go.

  Hey, I was a pretty good shot.

  “You … alive?” Renee asked. “Okay, obviously you are, but the cables are all melted, so I don’t think we can do it again.”

  “He’s dead,” I said. “We got him. I don’t know about Hannah, though. She’s--”

  “Tony?” Hannah’s voice whispered to me from the top of the fridge, and I twisted my head around so I could stare into her gorgeous blue eyes.

  They were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

  “I’m here,” I whispered to her as I dropped my pistol and walkie talkie from my hand so I could cradle her head.

  “I heard you say he was dead?” Hannah whined.

  “Yeah,” I said. “It’s okay. Don’t talk for a bit. I took care of him. Well actually, Renee and I did.”

  “Renee?” Hannah asked.

  “Yeah,” I laughed. “She’s totally cool, but uhhh. You don’t have to kill her. I mean, you know I love you. I’m so happy you are alive. I just … Hannah, now we can spend--”

  The blue-blonde woman gasped, and then she sat up on the fridge and moved her hands to her stomach. Her face was still bloody and bruised, but I could already see her skin starting to heal.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, but as soon as the words left my mouth, she let out a sigh and slumped down again.

  “He is okay,” she whispered as she smiled at me.

  “Uhh. Yeah. I’m fine. Just a little worried about you is all.”

  “No,” Hannah ch
uckled lightly. “Not you. Alexander is fine. I was worried he might have gotten hurt during the battle.”

  “Alexander?” I asked with a confused frown.

  “Alexander,” she answered.

  Then she rested her hands on her stomach and lightly tapped her fingers.

  My eyes nearly bulged out of my head. “Do you mean that you are--”

  “Yes,” she answered as she started to tear up.

  “I thought you couldn’t--”

  “I was wrong,” Hannah sighed, “and there are no paradoxes. Is that okay?”

  “It’s perfect,” I laughed, and then I pressed my lips against hers as my own tears started to pour out of my eyes.

  “Ahem,” I heard Renee say behind me, and I broke my kiss off from Hannah so we could look at my former manager.

  She was standing with her arms crossed, but wore a shit-eating grin on her wet face.

  “So, are you both going to tell me what the fuck is going on?”

  “Yeah,” I laughed, and Hannah joined me.

  Then I kissed her again.

  We had ten years to explain it to Renee.

  Epilogue - Tony - 35 Years Later

  “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the legendary Tony Amin. You finally coming out of your fucking basement to talk to us little people?”

  “I would not call you a ‘little person,’ Scott Parker,” I replied as I sat in the chair on the opposite side of the table from him.

  “Then how about your worker-ant-bitch then?” Scott sneered as he gestured to the small interrogation room we had kept him in for the last ten minutes. “You are down here, safe, while the rest of us fight against The Hive everyday. We toil and struggle so you can work on ending the war. But where is this end, Mr. Amin? Your son has made promises, your wife has made promises, your daughters have made promises. But I see what is going on up in the real world. I see The Hive winning every day.”

  “Yes, I’m sure you do,” I said as I tried not to roll my eyes.

  Renee was standing behind Scott, though, and she did roll her eyes when he finished speaking.

  And I saw her grip tighten on her D-9 pistol.