No one remembers the day they were born.

But the Bot knew the day he was created. He could still feel the hands inside him, connecting the wires, the plugs, the veins around his heart. He knew what he had become—a Bot. An evil, blood-spilling Bot. A Bot that killed his family and took him when he was still...

Still what? What was he?

"You are Bot 278," a voice whispered in his ear. "You are now my servant, my child."

Something inside the Bot writhed. It squirmed and screamed inside the mechanics, inside his heart—

Did he have a heart? He didn't know, and he didn't care.

A virus seemed to melt and delve into his veins, into his core, into his very being. His memories—a red-haired girl, a cracked tea pot, a pile of brown leaves—slowly trickled out of his system as a dark thing seeped inside him.

A dark figure of a hunched man leered over him and flashed his teeth. The figure fumbled for a remote then pressed. The Bot gasped. A gushing midnight blue liquid pumped in a plastic bag. Lifting his head, the Bot's eyes trailed the long wire from the bag to the forearm, where the strange liquid oozed into his system and spread like water devouring tissue. Patches of blue crawled through his bones and spread like frost through his fingers, then his arm, all across his chest, his face, his legs, his toes.

"You are my latest creation," the voice hushed, his finger trailing a cold fire along his fevered skin. "You are B278."

"I am B278," the Bot opened his mouth to say; but the blue covered his mouth and tongue. The thought, his new name, echoed into his being, scattering the few remains of his human—

Human? He was not a human. He was a Bot, and his job was to hunt humans.

A whirlwind of events crashed into the Bot's database. He only remembered grabbing the velvet collars of humans, punching soft noses, feeling the warmth of thick, red liquid. He remembered the screams, the struggles, the kicks, the wails.

But he couldn't stop. The voice inside his head always controlled him like a stringed puppet. Take them, the voice would say. Bring them to me.

Sometimes the voice would say the word, that command, that the Bot always dreaded: Kill. But he always obeyed his master.

He had never seen his master. Only heard the raspy, gravelly voice that reverberated through his empty mind. The master also seemed to not want to see his servant, too. Sometimes the voice would suddenly jab into his mind, sometimes the voice would disappear for days until the Bot wished for the familiar presence in the back of his brain, only for a distraction away from the headaches and the squirming inside him.

He had the same job for days, months, years, an eternity perhaps. He didn't know. He didn't care. He simply woke from his recharge, rocketed to the sky, and returned with a handful of people—wriggling or dead—back to Eden. That was it.

He didn't remember much of his little missions, but he remembered the day the voice returned and told him to Stop. Find the Savior, and bring back their leader. Crash the whole darn plane, too, while you're at it. Go.

He went, and he remembered crashing the whole darn plane. He remembered gripping the neck of their leader, then...he remembered staring into a pair of dark brown eyes. He remembered holding her by the neck, then—

The girl kicked and knocked her leader against the wall. He almost thought she was on his side until a round shape engulfed the leader and pulled him away—to safety.

"No!" He shouted out, waiting for the voice inside his head to reprimand, to click a button to end him; but nothing came.

"Hah," the girl coughed out, pieces of saliva and blood dripping down her lips. "They're all safe now. You'll never get to them."

He didn't like this girl—her confidence, her bravery, her love for those people.

"No," he remembered spitting back at her "You'll never get to them."

Then he let go of her neck, and she slammed into the ceiling. He remembered zipping to one of the holes he made on the aircraft when he turned back around. The girl's dark almond hair billowed around her like a cloud. Her skin was pale; her blood was flowing out of one of her many cuts around her arms and legs; her eyes were tightly shut.

Then the Bot found himself enveloping the girl into his arms and shielding her from the collision. His memories collided with him in that brief moment as quick as the fleeting wind that breezed into his mind and opened a scene of a cosy backyard with a big pile of brown leaves in the middle. In his mind, he seemed to be transcendent of the scene, watching a man and a little girl beneath him like a god.

He saw the man jump into a pile of brown leaves, ensconcing the little girl with him as they disappeared underneath the brown.

"Violet," he heard the man speak. "Come here, sweetheart."

"Hey, you two. I'm lonely here in my tea party!" A woman voice called and gestured with dainty hands to the tiny table covered with lace and pink teacups and a large round teapot.

Smiles. Laughter. Love. The Bot could see the bright colors of emotions around the happy family. Then the whizz of a familiar engine came. Bright blood spilled across the dewed grass. The teapot fell onto the ground, earning a wide crack down its middle. The leaves billowed like a tornado as a Bot grabbed the collar of the man, shot the woman and child, and rocketed away.

The Bot, too, rocketed away before the girl came back to consciousness when they reached the ground. The fresh air blew the memories away, and his mission blinded him. He needed to find that leader.

His scanner buzzed, and he leapt to the blinking dot shrouded beneath the canopy of trees. Complete the mission, he told himself, or maybe it was the voice that spoke. Get the leader.

He thinks that he got the leader. He can't remember anymore. But he remembered the girl—that same annoying girl who foiled his plans, that frustratingly familiar girl who triggered his locked memories, that same girl whose neck once again fell into his tight grip.

Just one more squeeze, and she'd be dead. Dead. Gone just like the other innocents he had killed. Did he kill them? He didn't—no, he couldn't remember.  

Why can't I remember? He screamed inside his mind, challenging the voice inside. A buzz and a flare of pain replied him. Before the whirlpool sucked him inside completely, two words slipped from the Bot's lips.

"Save...me..." He whimpered. He didn't want to kill. He didn't want to hear that voice again. He didn't want to be a Bot. Who could save him?

A voice entered his head like sunshine dissipating grey clouds. "We have to save him."

He held onto that hope, that promise, before his database shut down. In the darkness, he floated; and he saw the visions again—blood, the pile of brown leaves, that woman by the tea party set, the name Violet. The darkness encircled him, teasing him to let the memories run loose, to let him spill his guts and secrets out—

"Now you know everything, so stop!"

Tob wailed, the smoke tendrils loosening the grip around his neck and waist. Slumping to his knees, Tob cradled his head in his large hands. His head whirled and buzzed and fizzed. His mind felt weary as if he had ran a long marathon for days.

A warm hand touched his right shoulder.

He didn't flinch as Rena sunk to her knees beside him. He glanced at her through red eyes as she cupped his cheeks with her tiny hands.

"Is the voice still in there?" She murmured, quietly, fearfully.

His mouth opened to speak, but his lips voluntarily moved and replied, "Yes." His legs operated by themselves and his arms shot up randomly as the Bot stood up and shoved the puny girl to the side.

Oh, no, the Bot thought before he vanished.

"Yes," the gravelly and scratchy voice reverberated in and through the mouth piece of the Bot. "The voice is here."

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'*ﾟ▽ﾟ*'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

Sorry for the late update! School is just...ugh.
Thank you to everyone who was waiting and who is reading this 💖😁 you are the best, and your votes and comments really make me inspired to write more. As always, be free to give any suggestions and comments! I am so happy that I started this story. Thank you to everyone who has been here since chapter 1! I appreciate you, yes you, so much!