It's surprising how much of your life can change over the course of a few moments.

One moment you're standing in line at the coffee shop and the next you're running for your life for reasons you're not entirely aware of.

And that was my morning. Now I'm sitting here in an alley trying to get enough air into my burning lungs. I squeezed my eyes shut as my legs trembled beneath me. I looked over at the tall slender figure next to me and for a split second I wanted nothing more than to murder him.

He was the reason I hadn't gotten my coffee this morning. He was the reason I felt like my legs were made of rubber after having to run like a mad person. And I didn't even know who this guy was. He was dressed in crisp slacks and well shined leather shoes with a tight fitting shirt and vest combo. All black with accents of red and a fedora perched perfectly on the top of his head… that was made of metal… not the hat, his head.

I blinked rapidly as this settled in, before I got angry.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I don't even know you! What do you want!" I yelled, straightening up and glaring menacingly at him. It really wasn't working seeing as he was a head taller than me, made of metal, and probably ten times stronger than me if this turned to blows. In short my situation kept getting worse and worse.

"Now see here, The Spine just saved your life you silly thing." A female robot spoke from behind the tall one staring at me. Her head was hanging off to one side awkwardly and her eyes blinked rapidly as she reached up and bent it back into place with a loud crack.

"Saved my life?! More like ruined my day! Now I'm covered in the latte I was supposed to be drinking as I met for my early morning meeting!" I was probably going to get fired for this, which only served to make me angrier than I already was. I sucked in a huge breathe as I felt a panic attack start to take hold. My left hand began shaking uncontrollably and I sat down on the damp concrete and clutched it to my chest.

"Hey, what's wrong with her?" yet another robot chimed in. This one had a large mustache and brass accents on his face under a bowler hat. I breathed deeply trying my best not to cry. I tried to tell myself that everything was ok but nothing was working. The wet coffee on my blouse cooled quickly and made me shiver. This was it, I was going to lose my job over three maniac robots and if I tried to prove it I was sure no one would believe me.

The next thing I knew the tall slender one called The Spine had scooped me up in his arms and then we were walking. The other two buzzed and chatted in the background and I was stuck, powerless to control anything outside the boundaries of my own mind. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly to trap the tears that threatened to fall and I thought I felt his grip tighten and his thumb rub over my knee where he held me. It was oddly comforting and terrifying at the same time. I tried to think of anything that could calm me down, and I started to hum. It was an old song that my mom had taught me a long time ago. I had never learned the whole thing so I just hummed the part I could remember over and over again as we walked.

After 20 minutes my breathing started to even out and my shoulders began to relax. In all honesty I was completely drained from the sudden attack. Kind of like how some people feel after an adrenaline rush in a scary situation.

"Why were you running?" I asked, I stared at my knees. The robot didn't answer. I wondered if he'd heard me at all. I glanced at him sideways through my hair and saw that he was staring straight ahead like a soldier.

"What were you running from?" I said a little louder. He blinked, but kept his eyes focused straight ahead of him. So he was ignoring me. Well that was great. He could at least tell me whether or not losing my job had been for a good reason. This was infuriating. A tremor ran through my hand again and I returned my gaze to my knees.

"It should be a few more blocks till we reach the parking area where Steve is waiting." The Spine's voice rumbled through me as he spoke.

"Wait, he didn't bring Lil' Steve d-d-did he? Th-th-th-that guy is kinda weird…" the female robot said, somewhat to herself. The sides of The Spine's mouth twitched downwards in disapproval for a fraction of a second before returning to their stoic position.

"Rabbit, Lil' Steve is a valuable part of the team. Besides, the fans love him and his silly youtube videos. I still think he'd look good with a mustache though…" the brass robot chastised the one called Rabbit. They seemed to be completely un-phased by what was happening to me. But I was so tired from fighting back the anxiety that I couldn't worry about things like that. They weren't hurting me and they hadn't done anything truly awful so I could trust them for this moment… right?

We reached a parking garage and made our way towards a large van. It had the words "Walter Robotics" printed on the side with the company logo. Then it all clicked into place. These guys were that band that everyone I knew had been talking about. And also, the guys my company represented. I worked for Walter Robotics as a low level maintenance engineer and tech support technician. There was hope! My job just might be saved!

The door to the van slid open and a man with a cascade of thick dreadlocks was perched in the doorway.

"Hey guys, what took you so long? For a second we thought they had actually cau…. Who's that?" his smile dropped and became a look of utter puzzlement. The Spine set me on my trembling legs just long enough to open the passenger door of the van, holding me tightly around the shoulders while he did so.

"Well let me tell you. We was running around the corner a ways back and I ran smack into this thing here." Rabbit pointed at me with her thumb. "Then the spine grabbed her to help her up and never let go. Maybe his hand joints need to be re-calibrated or something. He had quite the grip on this little lady." She started chuckling to herself as she climbed into the van. As soon as I was situated and belted in, The Spine grabbed the man with the dreadlocks and pulled him a small ways away from the van. They were talking quietly. The man's eyes kept growing wider and his gaze would shift to me periodically during their conversation. Then they walked quickly back to the van and we were soon on our way down the road. I didn't know where we were going exactly, but at this point things certainly couldn't get any worse.

We pulled into the driveway of a fancy hotel and all the robots piled out.

"you gonna get out?" the man asked. I startled for a second and he looked at me like I was going to explode. I made my arm move to the door handle and it took a bit of effort to pull it and open the door. I shuffled after the robots as they made their way to the elevators just inside the doors.

"Come on hatchy, where's the card key?" Rabbit tapped her foot impatiently. the other robot checked his pockets frantically, but none of them realized that it was sticking out of The Spine's back pocket. At this point I was tired and grumpy and rattled to the core. So I really didn't think that what I did next was a big deal.

I stepped forward and grabbed the key card out of his pocket and pushed it into the elevator's key slot. The doors opened with a "Ding" and I stepped inside… but the other three robots just stared at me like I had grown a second head.

"Seriously can we all just stop staring and get this over with? You guys have a lot of explaining to do." They all looked back and forth at one another before silently getting on the elevator. Spine pushed the button for the15th floor and the doors closed on the lobby. The short ride was spent in complete silence until we hit the 8th floor. Then both rabbit and the bronze robot burst out laughing. I wasn't sure if I was annoyed or mortified. There was no reason for this sudden outburst that I knew of.

"Th-the Spine! You should have seen your face!" rabbit wheezed, steam escaping her cheek vents.

"She touched your butt!" the brass robot bent over with his arms around his chest. My face instantly turned bright cherry red as I realized what I had done. I lowered my head letting the fringe of hair fall over my burning face. We arrived on our floor and I followed behind them at what felt like a proper distance. Out of arms reach and just far enough that the snickering was less audible. They all paused in front of the door before looking towards me. I suddenly felt very small.

"What?" The Spine took hold of my hand and uncurled my fingers gently. A spark of electricity ran over my skin and all the hair on my arms stood on end. He gently removed the key card from my grip and opened the door while I recovered from my brain malfunction. After the other two burst through the door he gently guided me by the shoulder to a chair next to a bed and sat me down. Then he left. I was suddenly very worried. He had left me alone with two robots that obviously had some screws loose. So I sat in my chair as the other two ran around after each other and I waited.

He came back a while later with a towel, a button up black shirt and… a latte. He handed the items to me and I blushed a little. I hadn't expected him to try to make up for the accident.

"My room is across the hall. If you'd like to take a shower and change out of your shirt you're welcome to use it. There's no one else in there." He shifted his weight from side to side as if he was nervous about something. He wouldn't look directly at me. I looked down at myself and realized that my white t-shirt was now essentially useless at covering my undergarments after the wet coffee incident. I hugged my arms to my chest and felt my face flare up with a blush that could have rivaled the fires of Pompeii. He held out the door key and I took it before rushing out the door. I was thankful his room was literally right across the hall. I would've been very embarrassed if I'd had to go back and ask for directions after everything that had already happened.

The door opened with a beep and I entered the dark room. It was cool inside and looked like no one was actually staying here save for a large pile of books on the desk opposite the large bed. I stepped into the bathroom and turned on the lights.

The shower was actually just what I needed to relax. The water ran over me and washed away all the anxiety I had felt earlier. I reminded myself that I was safe and this was all just some silly mix up. I was calm for the first time in several hours.

When I stepped out of the shower I realized that my bra was still heavily coffee stained and mostly wet. So I spent the next half hour drying it with the hair dryer that was stowed below the sink. I dressed slowly and sighed at the sorry state of my hair. I opened the door and slammed directly into The Spine. He looked down at me with a puzzled expression on his face and he caught my elbow as I teetered back on my heels. I was frazzled and annoyed and now I was being held in very close quarters with a very tall, very purposefully attractive robot. I cursed the designers and wondered vaguely if they knew he was this way.

I stepped away quickly, trying not to let him see how red my face was getting.

"Are you alright? You like you've been in the steam for too long." His grin quirked up to the side and he placed his hand against my back and guided me to one of the twin beds, sitting me down and getting me a glass of cold water. I sat there quietly, not sure if I wanted to say anything or if I was just too tired to be able to formulate a sentence. I glanced up at him when he returned and took the glass carefully. He stood there for a moment before turning and digging through the closet for something. I sipped the water slowly and scooted myself further onto the bed. It was very comfortable and all at once I desperately wanted to sleep.

He returned with a large coat and laid it across the end of the bed. Before turning and leaving without a word. I let myself keel over on the bed. I was exhausted and I was practically asleep before my head hit the pillow.