Warning; Implied cannibalism.
Chapter 11
After Markus finished talking with Connor he handed the phone back to Simon.
"Thanks Simon."
"If it's any consolation I hope things work out for you," he said with a smile.
With that Simon headed out leaving the duo to their own devices.
Carl looked around scanning the area.
"We shouldn't stand around. This place is dangerous."
"Connor should have got my message so he should be here soon."
"We could at least find somewhere to hide while we wait for him."
Markus nodded wincing as his head suddenly started to spin.
"Good idea."
"Markus are you alright?"
"No, I feel really dizzy."
Carl sighed wrapping an arm around Markus to support him.
The two walked inside the fenced area through an unguarded entrance scouting the abandoned buildings for some place uninhabited.
Behind a building in the shadows by a trashcan, three men were surrounding a man with his back against the wall.
"What do you say we take your thirium pump and you don't fight back? How does that sound?"
"If you take it I'll die."
"You think we care whether you live or die?"
"The law says we're alive."
The man pushed forward but one of the men pushed him back against the wall.
"We don't obey the law."
"What's going on?" Markus whispered overhearing their voices.
"Just some guys making small talk with an android."
"It sounds like they're fighting."
"Markus, you're in no condition to get involved."
"We can't just stand back and let it happen. You're always telling me to fight for what I believe in. I won't just sit back and let them take someone's life away."
Carl sighed.
"Alright, but you wait here. Don't get any dangerous ideas."
Markus sat down clutching his eye just before Carl walked up to the group.
"Hey!"
All three men turned towards him.
"Whaddaya want, old man?"
"Leave him alone. He told you he wasn't going to give you it."
"Do you think we take orders from you?"
One of the men shoved him. The force caused Carl to stumble back a couple of inches.
He sighed.
"No, fools never do."
Anger was present in their eyes.
One of them ran towards him about to ram a fist in his stomach.
Carl grabbed his fist squeezing it causing the man to wince and tossed him aside.
"Why you!"
Another one ran towards him but was thrown over Carl's shoulder.
The last remaining man kicked him from behind.
Carl turned before his foot could meet the small of his back and grabbed his foot pulling him forward causing them to stumble.
The one that was thrown over his shoulder used that time to get back to his feet and aim his gun at Carl.
"Sh-t," Carl hissed. He was in a corner now. If he moved aside the man against the wall would be killed but if he stayed he'd die.
Hearing Carl's pleas, Markus got up and instantly regretted it. He opened left eye causing the pain in his head to intensify. Everything was blurry and spinning. Markus could barely make out the scene in front of him. All he saw was a man's back facing him and a blurry grey and peach silhouette which he deduced must have been Carl standing there.
Quickly Markus rammed into the man's back and something dropped to the ground in a loud clatter.
"Markus!" Carl stammered in surprise.
Markus heard Carl running towards him.
"Markus, are you alright?"
"I'm fine but are you hurt?"
"No. Sheesh, do you always have to be so reckless? You could have seriously got hurt."
"I did. My side stings like a b-tch."
Carl helped him up noticing his wound was bleeding on his side.
"Sh-t."
The man ran up to them glancing at Carl with a smile on his face.
"Thanks a lot for saving me."
Carl glanced at the man with faint surprise before turning to Markus.
"Don't thank me. My son insisted that we rescue you."
He turned to Markus.
"Well then thanks."
"What's your name anyway?" Markus asked.
"Me? I don't really have a name."
"What model are you?"
"A PJ500."
"Isn't that the instructor model?" he asked.
"Yeah, before I deviated I was programmed to teach about math and science."
"You know what I think I have just the name for you. I can name you right?" Markus asked.
Carl removed his shirt exposing his bloody wound.
The man grinned.
"Sure."
Carl turned toward the man.
"I need your shirt. We got to replace his bandages before he bleeds out."
The man removed his coat and one of his shirts. Underneath his purple shirt was a white shirt which he removed and gave to Carl.
Carl tore the shirt in pieces setting them on his lap before removing the blood soaked makeshift bandage he had placed on Markus' wound.
Markus winced.
"How about Josh? It was my old science instructor's name in high school."
"I like it. It's so simple," Josh said as he put his shirt and coat back on.
"I know. He was a simple kind of guy. I learned alot from him when I was going to school."
Carl wrapped the bandage tightly over the wound causing Markus to grunt as he nearly keeled over from the pain.
"So what were you doing out here anyway? This part of the city is dangerous," Markus said.
"I was looking for Jericho."
"Why? It's underlying function is to eradicate your very creator. Everyone knows them as an anti-android rebellion movement."
"Their agendas are in conjunction with my own. I want Cyberlife to pay for what they've done. Can't you see the world around us is a joke. Everyone who openly opposes us is sent in this disfunctional part of town to survive on their own. There's no way to get food, supplies or shelter. The shelter here is less than functional for those who remain here," Josh explained. "It would be fine if every person an android sent here was guilty of their crimes but there is no certainty of that especially when the company is run by people with questionable motives who don't exactly express the best judgement when it comes to their products."
"I see. You might be onto something there," Carl said.
"Carl? You can't be serious," Markus said. "You can't blame a company for the faults of one person."
"Mariah is Amanda's daughter and the CEO of Cyberlife. She is the very backbone of that company whether we like it or not. Every machine she creates is under her direction under her regulation. It's not just going to stop with the RK-800s. If she is as determined as Leo says she is she won't stop until she's avenged her mother even at the cost of other human lives."
"Is that why you two are here?"
"Partially," Markus replied. "We were captured and the leader of Jericho rescued us."
"You actually saw the leader of Jericho?"
"Yeah."
"He's pretty cool isn't he?" Josh inquired in marvel.
Markus avoided looking at his eyes. Carl buttoned up his shirt.
"Not really. Sure I guess you can say he's kinda cool in the action hero kind of way but he doesn't seem very interested in what he does. It's almost as if he does it as a cry for attention."
"Huh, here I thought you two were getting along on the right foot," Carl said.
"Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for his help. He just has a way of making you feel like you're the inconvenience. I'd like to think that if I was rescued someone would put me ahead of theirselves. You'd probably be a more valued if you joined their little group."
"Maybe," Josh said with a smile. "So where are you headed from here?"
Markus shrugged.
"Don't know. We were waiting for my brother but he hasn't shown up yet so we're trying to find a place to hide while we are on the lookout for him."
"I think I know of the perfect place."
Carl helped Markus to his feet supporting his shoulders.
Josh lead them to a side road away from the buildings coming across a rundown bridge.
Markus turned to Carl.
"Do you think it's safe to cross? It does look old."
Carl scanned it.
"The infrastructure should be safe to cross as long as we're not hauling a car over it."
"Then let's go," Markus said.
As they were walking across the bridge, Markus heard a rustling sound.
He looked around. Everything was quiet. Below the bridge was a large river.
As they continued to walk, there was a much louder noises as something clattered against the road behind them.
He turned to see someone in the distance with a rifle pointed at them.
A gunshot rang out.
Carl hissed flinching.
Markus saw blue blood ooze from the wound on his shoulder.
He looked at Josh ahead of him.
"Someone's shooting at us. Josh run."
He ran.
Markus tried to pick up the slack as Carl tried to quickly get them out of the way of gunfire. He stumbled falling forward just as another gunshot slipped past his ears.
Carl fell alongside him.
Markus tried to get up, tried to shake Carl awake. He was unconscious.
"CARL!"
He saw blue blood spilling from a gunshot in Carl's back.
"CARL, wake up. CARL!"
Suddenly something hard hit him in the back of the head and everything faded to black.
The next time, Markus woke up it was at the sight of a dark room.
Everything was fuzzy but the faint light at the corner of his vision. A woman flooded his vision. She had short red hair and brown eyes. Over her outfit was a bloody apron.
"Who?" Markus sputtered.
Suddenly a big burst of pain shot through his left leg.
Markus screamed from the top of his lungs.
He felt dizzy, everything was turning fuzzy.
'Where am I? Who is she?'
All he wanted to do was sleep.
Everything faded to black.
"'kus...Markus."
Markus felt strong hands shake him awake.
Familiar blue eyes glanced back at him. An old man was staring at him.
"Good, good, you are alright. I was worried you wouldn't make it."
"Carl? But I thought you were dead."
"I was but that's not important right now. They managed to disinfect it and bandage it and I had to stop it from bleeding out."
"What are you talking about?"
Just then the door opened and a young man with honey blondish hair walked up to them with a plate in his hand and a glass of water.
"I brought some food."
Carl snapped.
"He doesn't want it."
The man took a lantern off the hook by the door and set it in front of them.
"I didn't ask you. The man can speak for himself."
"I-I-"
"You need to eat in order to keep up your strength."
The man dug into the meat on the plate holding it to Markus' mouth.
Markus sniffed it.
It turned his stomach.
"I don't want it."
"Did you hear him? He said he doesn't want it," Carl sputtered.
The man shoved it in his mouth stroking his throat until he swallowed it.
He continued doing this even making sure Markus swallowed his fair share of water.
The man left leaving the lantern on the floor.
Once he was gone, Markus coughed to the side spitting on the side.
"Are you alright?"
"What are we doing here? Why was that guy trying to feed me?"
"Believe me I don't like this place either but it's not like I could just break us out of here."
"What do you mean?"
He glanced towards Carl.
Both of his legs were gone.
"Your legs are gone."
"They removed them before they replaced my thirium tank and biocomponents. Even if we could get out of here, you're in no condition to move."
"What do you mean?"
"I've scanned the walls of this room. There is ample traces of dried blood on the floor and walls. If no one's been killed here before there was certainly alot of blood related injuries that went on in this room."
Markus felt his heart racing.
"Sh-t."
"They really seem determined to keep you alive even after what they did."
"After what they did? What did they do?"
Markus looked down and even he wasn't prepared for the answer.
His left leg was gone.
"They said that they need it for something but I think you know what they did with it."
Markus turned pale. He turned to Carl.
"Carl, you can't let them do this."
"I'm sorry, there is nothing I can do."
"If worse comes to worst don't let them kill me. I'd rather you kill me than be eaten alive."
"Y'know I won't do that," Carl said.
"Please. Promise me you'll do it."
"Even if I did, I can't exactly kill you with just my hands short of strangling you."
"I wouldn't ask you to do this if I didn't think it would serve you well in the long run."
Carl sighed.
"Alright, but only if it gets that far."