Chapter Three:
Darkness. Hope was the dwindling fire in a tin barrel. Hands reached out, and life flickered but only for a moment. The smoke was the laughter left, and the lost souls drew closer, trying to hold to that fire. But the darkness won.
Her finger was pricked. Her pills were released. She would not go hungry tonight, but no sleep would find her here. She would just gather around the fire like the others outside and wait for sunrise. Tomorrow was another day, maybe a different day, and that gave her hope. She pushed through the crowd, trying not to disappear, but who would miss her? Maybe, it would be better, if she was swallowed away, but then the lights flickered.
Hera watched the throng of people move before her. They reminded her of rats struggling and fighting for their cheese. It was disgusting. How could they depend on this technology to suffice their needs? They were slaves to it, broken and bent. Didn't they see it in the eyes of those so lost outside? She should just put them all out of their misery, and she stretched her fingers out, ready to steal their light, their hope away.
"Aren't you cold?"
Hera looked down at her feet. The child was barely ten and wearing a coat that was too big for her. Her eyes were innocent enough, but give it time, and they too would grow bitter. "No. I'm not."
"You're not wearing any socks or shoes. Did you go sleepwalking?" Hera looked down at herself for the first time. She was just wearing a short, torn dress, the last dress that she wore before being buried alive. "Here." The child took off her coat and handed it to her. "Take it."
"No." Hera forced herself to call the energy down toward her, and the lights went out.
"Did you do that?" Hera now looked at the machines, hungry herself, but hungry for its energy. "I'm starving." She froze. "Please. Please, don't take my food away," the child begged. "I'm hungry."
"It's not food."
"But I need it, or I'll die." Hera now looked at her, lowering her hands. "Please." She still held the coat out to her. "Please," she whispered.
"Fine," and Hera grabbed the coat from her. "Only because you asked me to," and she turned to leave.
"Wait." She glanced back at the child. "What's your name?"
"Hera."
"Mine's Helen. Nice to meet…" Hera put on the coat and then stormed away. "You."
It was cold outside. Hera pulled the coat tighter around her. She never really put much thought on how she looked or how she felt. She couldn't. She still remembered screaming into the darkness before it swallowed her whole. Then, nothing, and the nothing was bliss. Then, someone woke her up, and now she had those damn memories left. And she wanted to destroy. She needed to destroy, and in response, she saw the flashing lights.
"Freeze! Put your hands up!" An officer emerged from his car, followed by a strange man, a man that she realized was nothing but machine, and she smiled. "Do not move!" She waited until he touched her, and then she spun around, placing her hand on his chest and taking that luscious energy away. Sadly, he did not scream. He just whispered, "Stop."
The machine cop attacked her, but that was its last mistake. It fell down like a crumpled doll by her feet, and her eyes mirrored the fires nearby. Something whizzed by her head, and it took her a moment to realize that it was a bullet. And another one was coming her way.
"Really?" She turned toward the four officers now descending toward her. "Is that the best you got?" A force field formed around her, stopping the bullet. "Come on then, boys. Come and get me!"
The two humans stayed back, firing their useless guns. Their machine cops tried their best and failed. They fell lifeless to the ground, and Hera clapped her hands together, sending a sonic boom toward the two men left standing. They flew backward, and one fell straight into a black, unmarked car. But she didn't care, descending upon the other man and placing her hand on his chest.
"John. Don't let her touch you," Dorian said as they approached her, watching in horror as she drained the officer of his life. "Stay behind me." Dorian moved ahead of him.
"Dorian, don't!" Kennex looked at the dead androids by his feet. "Don't let her touch…" He was sent flying back by another sonic boom. "You," he muttered, fighting to stay conscious. "Damn it." He struggled to his feet just in time to see Dorian move toward Hera. "Dorian!"
Dorian breached her force field. He grabbed hold of her. In return, she grabbed hold of him and tried to absorb his energy. The air crackled around them, and then a thunder boomed. Dorian flew back toward Keenex, and Hera laid on the ground, motionless.
"Dorian?" Kennex helped him to his feet. "What did you do?"
"I neutralized her."
"How the hell did you do that?"
"I don't know, John. I just did." He slowly approached Hera, followed by Kennex. "I don't think she's dead."
"No." Kennex gingerly took her pulse and then lifted her up into his arms. "She's not." He stared at Dorian for a long moment. "You okay?"
"Yeah. You?"
"Yeah. Let's get sleeping beauty here to the precinct before she wakes up."
"Good idea. Backup is on its way."
"Good." Kennex carried Hera over to his car. "We're going to need it."
