August 26th, 2279

Zack let the heavy wooden door close behind him as he exited the store. He paused a moment to consider if the story that had been told to Kade and him held true merit. For all he knew Christina could be the mastermind behind the strange behaviors of the townspeople and was sending the both of them to their deaths by the claws and fangs of some hellish creature infested college. Or perhaps, it was a distraction while she took the time to sneak up behind and do them in unknowingly. Zack made a note to keep his guard up fully for any surprises that might come about.

"You plan on letting me do this alone Zack?" Kade called to him from the middle of the road.

Zack cleared his throat. "Yeah. Sorry. Was just thinking of how we should proceed." He then made his way alongside her. He pulled his revolver out inspecting to make sure it was loaded fully. Satisfied, he held the smooth wooden handle tightly within his right hand, ready to bring it up at a moments notice.

"You think we'll be attacked right off?" She asked.

"No clue, but it's better to be cautious."

Kade nodded and pulled her laser pistol from her makeshift holster.

They both made their way up a meandering road that led to the north eastern part of the town to the college. While walking from the store they had seen a small rusted sign barely hanging upside down onto a pole, written upon was Aguila Technical College with an arrow which had originally been pointing straight. The college consisted of several large buildings, the largest residing in the center. The central one was two stories with intricate designs etched along its walls. The windows were covered with some kind of metal plating securely fastened with bolts.

The design of the college was made of yellow stone with large columns supporting an outstretched covering over the entrance of the school. A wide set of stairs led up to two large doors on its front. The buildings on either side were considerably smaller than the main one, and both appeared to make unfavorable living quarters. The one on the right had no glass within its windows. Its outward stony surface was blackened by what looked like some past fire. The other was almost totally collapsed inwards.

Kade gave a low whistle after she took in the view of the college. Zack figured the main building was where the illusive Dr. Skye made his fortification. He quickly scanned the roof and other positions looking for lookouts or guardsmen. He didn't see either.

Zack sighed. "Well, shall we?" He asked without turning his head and began to walk carefully towards the first of the steps.

Kade's throat gave an inaudible sound, but she followed along behind him a few paces back.

They both walked up the thin stairs rapidly. Zack made sure to keep his eyes at the large doors in case an armed person was to appear. He could hear the exertion of breath from Kade and himself. There were far more stairs than what appeared at first glance. When they reached the top Zack kept his weapon outwards in front of him and with his left he gestured to Kade to move against the wall by the doors. She did. He went on the wall opposite of her and carefully placed his hand on a bronzed colored handle and pushed it open slowly. The hinges of the door creaked loudly inside the innards of the building, echoing violently off the walls. Zack face cringed while he fully opened it.

"So much for the element of surprise." He thought grimly.

He walked in slowly. It was very dim inside the school, the only light was pouring in from the open door behind him, as well as some old safety lights. They were the kind that would kick in when the main power would cut out. It took some time for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Before him stood an entrance atrium which had an overlook from the second floor. Three halls jutted out from the atrium, one in front of him as well as to his right and left.

"Kade, come on in." He called over his shoulder. He heard her footsteps along the tiled floor. They then stopped abruptly behind him.

Kade gasped. "Um, Zack?" She asked.

Zack turned quickly ready to shoot. He looked to where her gaze was. In a corner by the entrance was a large silhouetted shape. Zack walked cautiously towards it and realized at once what it was. It was a military grade sentry robot painted a dark olive color. Its optical sensors shone on and off with a faded red color. Its large arms were hanging unmoving at its sides. Zack stepped immediately backwards worried that it might attack them at any moment. He had his revolver aimed towards the bulk of its mass, but he knew full well it wouldn't do much against its heavy armor.

"Move away from it slowly Kade." He whispered, moving back himself.

Kade didn't retreat at first, but continued to study the robot for a few moments.

"Kade!" Zack said with higher hushed voice.

"It's alright Zack. I think it's in some kind of standby mode. Perhaps recharging its power supply or running diagnostics."

"That may be, but come on. It doesn't do any good for us to linger. We need to find Dr. Skye." Zack said while looking behind them down the halls for any other surprises that might be lurking.

"Yeah, sorry." She moved away from the robot and turned looking down each of the three hallways. "Which way should we go?"

"If I had to guess, which I am, I'd say he'd take refuge near the central part of the building." He pointed towards the hall in front of him. "Christina mentioned a science lab. I'd say we look for one of those."

Kade nodded. She scanned the room and gave a sound of excitement. "Look, on the wall."

She walked quickly over towards a long wooden desk. She went around behind it and was looking at some framed object that hung on it. "It's a map!"

Zack quickly made his way over to it. It was hard to make out the lines of walls for the rooms of the building, but the lettering stood out very well. It appeared that there were two science labs, and both were on the second story. The staircase was near the end of the hall in front of them.

"Up we go." Zack said while starting down the hall. "Stay alert." He added.

Kade gave a quick nod.

Even walking slowly across the tiled floor, both their steps seemed to reverberate on all the walls around them. The atmosphere remained calm and still. It irritated Zack a bit. He'd rather hear the sounds of someone, something, just anything so he'd know that they weren't alone and where the danger would be coming from.

They neared the end of the central hall. Zack looked each direction quickly. He saw a marble stairway to his right. He went directly for it. He used his left hand for balance on the rail as he made his way up. Kade followed behind him, she seemed edgy and kept conversation to a minimum, which suited Zack just fine. He wanted to keep his full attention to the task at hand.

He reached the top and proceeded towards the labs. Directly above him were several broken crumbled ceiling tiles. Droplets of water were falling from the ceiling from unseen leaking pipe that created a melodic beat as they fell to the floor where a small puddle stood. They passed several empty classrooms and lecture halls on each side of the corridor, their doors were open. They went further along and Zack noticed a door on the right that was closed securely.

He went over to it pressing his ear to it. The door was made of some metal material and felt cool on his ear. Kade stood in front of him and she began to open her mouth to speak. Zack quickly brought his finger to his lips in a gesture of silence. She understood and waited patiently. Zack reach to a handle and slowly tried to turn it. It was stiff but it turned fully and he cracked the door open a bit.

Zack kept his voice in a low whisper. "Alright Kade, this must be it. Don't act unless absolutely necessary. I want to talk to him first, okay?"

"Got it." She responded quietly. Her voice held a trace of nervousness to it.

Zack pushed the door quickly open to the left while he aimed his heavy revolver in front of him. Both he and Kade stormed inside, ready for whatever was waiting for them. The room was just as dark as the rest of the college. The only light was that being emitted from several Bunsen burners on a few counters around the room as well as from a hanging single low wattage light bulb. There was a lot of glassware set up on the counters consisting of many different shapes and sizes. The majority of them were empty, but several had different amounts of liquid of different shades of color. In one corner there was a rack filled with about thirty or forty vials of what must be the drug that Christina spoke of. Labels were attached on the outside of them with small writing.

Zack was uneasy at first when nobody was directly in front of him. He was beginning to scan the rest of the room when he heard a voice to his right.

"Well, I was wondering when that bitch would finally get some poor bastards to do her bidding. I knew I should have taken care of her earlier." His voice boasted confidence.

Zack could only see the back of the man. He had dark straight medium length hair that fell just past his neck line. He was a tall lean man who wore some kind of stained white lab coat. He was behind one of the counters. Zack couldn't see his hands. They could be working with the strange concoction, or very well be grabbing some hidden weapon.

"We're here to shut you're little drug factory down Dr. Skye. Turn around." Zack commanded. "Slowly."

"Or else what? Are you going to shoot me?" He asked coldly.

Zack thumbed the hammer of his revolver back. He was sure the man heard it sound from where he stood.

"If it comes to that." Zack said.

From his peripheral, Zack could see Kade was holding her laser pistol uneasy in front of her. Her head was tilted looking to his face questionably to what he would do next.

"I'd have to advise you highly against it. The chemicals and compounds that I use to experiment and create with, over time have found themselves absorbed by any item in here. Also traces remain in the air."

"So?" Zack asked unknowing of what Dr. Skye was referring to.

"So," He responded contemptuously, "I use a wide variety of chemicals, sometimes having to break them down to base properties, and some of the elements are quite unstable, as well as explosive. If you have half a brain, you'd think greatly over pulling that trigger. You'd cause us all to die in a fiery inferno."

Zack swore under his breath. He felt a trickle of sweat that flowed down his cheek to his jaw. He moved his eyes widely around the room trying to contemplate if Dr. Skye was bluffing.

"Kade?" Zack asked without moving his head. He could see her shrug slightly and she lowered her weapon and returned it to her holster.

"Sounds feasible." She said.

Zack kept his weapon on the man, its weight was beginning to cause him some strain to keep it level. He decided it best to keep the man talking while he thought of what to do.

"What the hell are you testing on these people? What are you trying to accomplish?" Zack asked.

Dr. Skye scoffed. Zack could hear the clanking of glass instruments. The man turned around. His skin tone was pale. The wrinkles throughout it made him look to be perhaps in his mid-forties. He had a neatly trimmed beard that had a bit of grey to it. Underneath the lab coat were blue jeans and a dirty red button up shirt. The circles under his eyes made it appear he didn't sleep much. He probably spent most of his time working maliciously at his project, ignoring rest.

"I wouldn't want to bore someone as ignorant looking as you with the details. Not like a simple mind would understand what I'm trying to do." He reached up and stroked his beard with his left hand. He didn't seem phased at all by the weapon in Zack's hand.

"Try me." Zack shot back quickly.

Dr. Skye studied Zack's face with his piercing grey eyes sizing him up. "Alright then, if you insist. Maybe then you'll leave me in peace. I have developed a beautiful formula, that I named Dream Fuel. When taken orally, said formula allows a person's mind to exist in two places. The subject falls into a dream like trance, they believe they are sleeping, and the actions that they do in the actual world are visualized different in their mind's eye. They feel no pain, have absolutely no inhibitions, and are none the wiser about what is happening to them."

Disgusted, Zack thought of another question. "And how does that help you exactly?"

The muscle in Zack's forearm was burning from keeping the gun in the same position for so long. He wouldn't be able to hold out forever. Dr. Skye gave a short laugh before answering.

"The only way to build an army without recruiting is through force. And where I lack brute strength, I make up by attacking the mind. You see, in this state they are very open to suggestion. Once I get the variation of Dream Fuel perfect, I will have those poor saps of the town obey my every command." He began to pace back and forth behind the counter with his chin raised upwards.

"Once that is done, I will venture outwards, to other settlements and towns to do the same thing. Once I have a large enough army, no one will be able to stand in my way as I reclaim this battered land. I will rule as a mighty emperor and bring back order." He paused looking towards Zack as if waiting for applause.

Zack lowered his arm pointing the end of his gun towards the ground. He figured that it would be too risky to discharge his weapon which might cost them all their lives. He planned to wait till the Dr.'s attention was focused elsewhere and then he would rush the man. Zack was about to say something else, but Kade beat him to it.

"That's just sick." She spoke in a low monotone voice. "You gave that shit to the kids as well. They're innocent in all of this. They would be of little use to you in this grand army you speak of. I saw a little girl injure another child over nothing out there. It might've been her brother. You had no right to do any of this, to any of them."

A malicious smile crossed Dr. Skye's mouth and he shook his head slowly. "My dear, the children were instrumental in my experiment. Such young unformed minds are easily corruptible. They aren't as innocent as you think they are. They will be my future soldiers and servants."

With his attention on Kade, Zack thought this was his best chance and he was about to launch his attack. But before he could take two steps, Dr. Skye hands quickly reached behind the counter pulling out a strange gun like contraption aiming towards Zack. It looked similar to a shotgun, wooden handle, long steel barrel, and some kind of drum assembly. The opening on the barrel looked to have an inch and a half diameter to it. Ttoo large to a shot gun.

"Don't even think about it." He said. His teeth glinted in the dim light.

Kade swore from behind Zack.

"And the part about blowing us all to hell and beyond?" Zack said through gritted teeth.

"Now please, I'm no liar. This here is a nifty little thing that doesn't discharge bullets. I bought this off some traders awhile back. It uses the power of steam to fire very large railway spikes. At this range I would be able to attach your neck to the door back there, no problem. Would leave a nasty little mess but you'd be outta my hair. Now, you have done no wrong to me yet, so I suggest you leave while you can, but Christina will have to die I'm afraid."

Zack stood unmoving glaring at Dr. Skye. Kade came up behind him placing her hands gently on the sides of his arms.

"Zack, come on. We can't do anything more." She said softly.

"What?" Zack turned around confused.

"Please?" Her face conveyed eagerness and her eyes were flickering down and up.

Zack looked down. In each of her hands she held a frag grenade. He smiled and winked at her. He replaced the smile with a more serious face and turned back around to face Dr. Skye.

"Alright, we'll leave. We won't bother you again." Zack said and placed his revolver away.

"Good, I can see who wear's the pants in the family. Now get out of here before I change my mind."

Zack walked out of the room first. He wouldn't call himself a religious man, but he said a small prayer in his mind that they'd make it out of here alive.

Kade followed closely behind him. She inserted each of her thumbs through the rings of the grenades and pulled them out. She held her fingers firmly closed keeping the safety lever's in place till she was almost out of the room. She then thrust her hands backwards releasing the grenades. She was already out of the room sprinting down the hall as they landed and tumbled across the floor.

"What the hell was that?" Zack heard asked loudly from inside the room.

He grabbed onto Kade's arm and ran along side her. As they neared the staircase, Zack's foot slipped in the puddle of water that had been accumulating. He had put it out of his mind earlier. He fell backwards landing hard on his back and grunted loudly.

From down the hall a huge sound erupted shaking the building's walls and ground around them. Kade had managed to keep her balance when Zack had fell down, but after the explosion, she fell down more out of reaction than from force.

Zack got up on is knees and looked behind him. Smoke was billowing out from the room and flames were beginning to crawl out from the now open doorway igniting the wallpaper. He stood fully and helped Kade get up.

"Come on!" He said as he began to trotter down the steps.

Present Time

Without exposing his entire body Zack aimed down the hall and fired the remaining three rounds blindly down the hall. There was harmless return fire that pelted into the wall. Zack quickly reloaded and was going to shoot blindly again, but stopped himself. He didn't know when Kade would appear at the other end. She might get hit by his wild firing. He couldn't just sit there and hope that the robot would continue downwards either. It might ignore him entirely if it heard Kade trying to sneak up on it.

Zack reached for his necklace through his shirt holding it a moment before he rushed across the hall again. He fired four times upwards at the ceiling making sure the rounds didn't go past the robot before making it to the other side. There were a few more bursts of return fire. Zack saw that the sentry bot was slowly progressing down the hall towards him.

"Come get me you overgrown rust bucket." Zack cried out at the top of his lungs.

He peered around the corner and saw a silhouette behind the robot. It was moving slowly towards it.

"Kade."

Zack ran out again firing two more rounds at the ceiling. He didn't make it completely to the other side. A missile had been fired towards the path he was running. Zack quickly halted and fell to the ground sliding a bit as the missile exploded where he would have been. He covered his face as shrapnel and fragments flew towards him. The wind was totally knocked out of him. He lay motionlessly on the ground trying to regain his breath. He turned his head slowly to the side and saw that the sentry bot was beginning to wheel itself around towards where Kade surely was.

"No!"

Before it could finish its turn, the top part of its body blew outwards in a brilliant orange and blue flash. It caused Zack to close his eyes from the surprise brightness. When he reopened them he saw Kade above him reaching down the help him up. Her mouth was forming words, but an overpowering ringing was only thing in his ears. Luckily he still grasped his revolver. He moved aside his duster to put it away. His left leg had a sharp shooting pain in it. Kade guided him past the now useless robot. Its head was nowhere to be seen. The right side of its torso and arm was completely resting on the floor and small white embers still burned at its core.

Kade opened the other door and they both walked out. Zack almost tripped as he made his way down the stairs, but finally they were away from the burning building. They both collapsed to the barren ground on their backs. Zack was sore all over. Even his teeth even seemed to hurt. But at least the ringing was fading from his ears. He turned his head to look at Kade.

"Hey." He said with a wheezing breath. "Got that bot I see."

"Yep." She responded.

"And you destroyed another perfectly standing building as well."

She beamed at him.

Zack returned the smile with one of his own. They then both broke into laughter as they lay there watching the college burn in front of them. Thick black smoke rose high in the sky towards the cloudless sky.

A/N: Sorry my updates have been a little slow. Some other things have been stealing my attention the past few weeks. I should be updating more regularly from now on.