A Drone Named Jeffrey

Chapter Two

Boredom

"This is boring."

"Uh huh."

"Let's go do something else. Like shoot at stuff. Or wash me…or both."

"As fun as that sounds, I'm gonna have to say no."

I released a harsh vent, glaring at the red dust that floated around my frame. Now, before you draw the wrong conclusions, I actually like the desert. Mainly because it was one of the few places I could roam around in my bipedal form, but also because it was isolated from the humans. Me and Riley had already found the best places out here to avoid even the traffic on the highway.

What I didn't like was just sitting. Doing absolutely nothing but staring at the expanse of sand and rock before us. I had never embraced the whole "relaxing" thing on account of it being just so boring. But this was worse. Why? Because Riley had to do this for two hours. For a stupid school project.

I'm starting to hate that place. Not only have I been forced to sit outside of it almost forty hours a week (because they locked my only means of escape when school started; I'd knock that gate down if I wasn't worried of being seen), but now it was haunting me after hours too. How could parents be cruel enough to send their kids to that place?

"Are we done yet?"

"I've only got three animals and one plant." Riley scooted closer to my frame in order to stay in my shadow as the sun slowly traveled across the sky. She flipped through the little paper-pad she had been writing in. "It says that I have to 'observe and document a total of four fauna and one flora located around your home.'"

"Your—we could've stayed home for this?"

"Yes." My engine growled when Riley patted the side of my hip armor. "But then you wouldn't have been able to get out and get your exercise."

"But then we could have gone out to the ridge and hurled rocks down at the cars that passed on the highway!"

"We can do that after this. See? I was only ever looking out for you, Jeff."

My engine rumbled louder, and I turned away to glare at the barren landscape surrounding us. I took a moment to calm myself before turning back and pointing down at the rocks sitting a human's arm length away. "Get that thing there then. I don't see it in your notes."

I wasn't expecting the shrill cry that came from Riley. I think I actually jumped a little because of it, but I didn't really have time to notice because of the little human scrambling up my leg. I stared as Riley huddled up against me. "How long has that thing been sitting there?"

"Since we sat down."

"And you knew!"

I tilted my head. Was that a question? Because it sounded like she already knew the answer. "Yeah."

Riley then proceeded to punch and kick me anywhere she could reach. I just stared, trying not to laugh when she finally stopped with a hiss of pain and rubbed her red knuckles. "Okay. You done now?"

"You don't even know what that is, do you?"

"Another lizard." I peered down at the thing, which seemed to have moved in response to Riley's dramatics. "Without legs. And a little thingy on its tail."

"That's a rattlesnake, Jeffrey. A rattlesnake."

"Does that make it a fancy lizard?"

"If that thing bites me, I could die!"

Riley yelped and clung to my armor when my frame jolted. "Seriously? You can die from being bit by something smaller than you? And without legs?"

"I can die by being bit or stung by things with legs too." Riley nearly jumped into my hand when I picked her up and drew her away from the snake that began to slither out from beneath the rock, its tail emitting a little rattling noise. "Some of the stuff out here is venomous, and we're a pretty long way from the nearest hospital."

"Why didn't you tell me that earlier? I wouldn't have been keeping a record of how many times you almost stepped on a legless lizard!"

We stared down at the rattlesnake as it slowly slithered to another formation of rocks, pausing along the way to eyeball a little rodent Riley had cooed about earlier. Riley peeked out from behind my fingers and relaxed back onto my chest. "Well…I guess it makes the last hour and a half a little less boring knowing that I was sitting that close to a venomous snake."

"A little."

We sat in silence. "Jeffrey?"

"Hmm?"

"When we get home, I'm giving you a list of things to not let me sit beside out here."

"Okay…does that include the tiny things with the pincers you've almost sat on?"