12 Hours

We all stood there in complete silence.

" Why was your watch beeping?" Silvey asked.

" It beeps every time an hour has passed," Bryson said.

" Does it tell you how many hours you have left?" Silvey asked.

" Surprisingly, no. It can project a three-dimensional figure but it can tell us how many hours we have left." Bryson said.

" Interesting. Your technology is almost identical to the technology now." Silvey said.

Bryson and I both looked at Silvey curiously.

" How is that even possible?" I asked.

" I am not sure. Maybe robots manufactured your weapons and technology." Silvey replied.

" No, the boss man-made everything. He supplied everything for us." Bryson said.

" Bossman?" Silvey asked.

" Yeah, that's what we call him," Bryson said.

" The boss man does not have a name?" Silvey asked.

" Well yeah, but he never told us," Bryson said.

" Interesting," Silvey said.

" You think everything is interesting," Bryson said.

" Would you like me to diversify my word choice?" Silvey asked.

Bryson rolled his eyes and ran his finger through his hair.

" I take it that your answer is no, due to your body language," said Silvey.

" I take it that your answer is no," Bryson said mockingly.

I rolled my eyes and adjusted my shirt.

" Can you just give us the directions to the energy source room?" I asked.

" Straight, right, straight, left then it will be the first door on the left," Silvey said.

" Sweet!"Bryson said.

Bryson took off running then he looked back and stopped.

" What are you guys waiting for?" Bryson asked.

I looked at Silvey and rubbed my neck nervously.

" Y- yeah." I stuttered.

I don't know why I was being so hesitant. I guess I never expected us to get this far. It was mind-blowing to know that we were so close to finishing this mission. That the door to our freedom was just around the corner. I looked at Silvey and locked my hands together.

" You better start running Alex," Silvey said.

" Yeah, we're waiting on you," said Bryson.

I shook my hands then started running towards Bryson.

" C'mon Silvey, we still need you," Bryson said.

Silvey started to hover towards Bryson. Bryson started running when Silvey and I both reached Bryson. We all were heading towards the end of the hallway with excitement. I suddenly started to hear the same noise that Silvey makes when he is hovering.

" Stop," Silvey said.

Bryson jerked his head back and gave Silvey an evil look.

" What now metal bones?!" Bryson asked.

" A robot is near," Silvey said.

" It's probably a human-like one," Bryson said.

" Not likely. All human robots stay in the city," said Silvey.

" Well one of them would have escaped," Bryson said.

" No, they are programmed to stay in the city," Silvey said.

" How do you know all this stuff?" I asked.

" You only reprogrammed a portion of my technical system," said Silvey.

I rolled my eyes and folded my arms.

" So you're saying the robot around the corner isn't a human-robot?" Bryson asked.

" It is most likely a security robot," said Silvey.

Silvey jerked his head to the right and looked back at us.

" You need to stand against the wall," Silvey said.

Silvey extended his arm out and slowly pushed us against the wall. I could hear Bryson breathing heavily.

" Are you ok?" I asked.

" We are most likely gonna fight a security robot that is probably programmed to kill people that aren't supposed to be here," he mumbled.

I looked at Bryson nervously and I let my head fall against the wall. Silvey looked back at us and looked back at the end of the hallway.

" The robot is near, are you guys prepared to fight?" Silvey asked.

"No, not really," Bryson said nervously.

" Well, you need to be ready," Silvey replied.

Bryson huffed and slide down the wall slowly.

" Bryson, we've fought robots before," I said.

I slide down the wall next to Bryson and put my arm on his shoulder.

" I know, but we were far away from the other robots," he said.

" You have a gun though," I said.

" And?"

I sighed and looked forward at the wall in front of us.

" The robot is 15 feet away from us, withdraw your weapons," said Silvey.

I looked back and Bryson was running his fingers through his hair and wiping the sweat from his face. He looked down at his pocket and pulled his special gadget.

He looked at his gun thoughtfully.

" Whenever you're ready Silvey," Bryson said looking down at his gun.

" Not quite yet, but be ready," Silvey said.

Silvey hovered to the very end of the hallway, and slowly looked to see where the robot was. I looked back at Bryson and he was tapping his foot rapidly. I looked down at his foot then I dug in my pocket for my watch. I pulled it out and rubbed the glass part of the watch with my thumb. As I looked at the complexity of the watch, I started to ponder about what Silvey was onto. I think Silvey was suggesting the boss man has already been in this time....but that's impossible.

" Alex?" Bryson said waving his hand in front of my face.

I blinked my eyes in shock and looked at Bryson.

" What? Did something happen?" I asked.

" Well, the robot is 10 feet away from us, and you need to stop zoning out," he said.

" Correct," Silvey added. " If the robot comes, we need you to be in this reality, not yours."

I squeezed my lips together and nodded my head. I looked at Bryson and grabbed his arm.

" What?" he asked.

" We need to figure out how the boss man knows about this," I said.

Bryson sighed and nodded his head.

" We will, but we need to worry about defeating this robot and getting into the energy source room."

" The robot is five feet away, get ready." Silvey declared.

I put the watch on my wrist and latched the two ends of the watch together. Bryson put his special weapon in the front pocket of his bag and got out a medium-sized black gun.

" How come you're using that instead?" I asked.

" We need our special weapons in desperate times, this is not the time," Bryson said.

" The robot is less than three feet away, come on!" said Silvey.

Bryson and I looked at each other and took off running. Once again the slow-motion effect happened again. As Bryson and I came up to the corner I could see the robot's arm slowly come up and charge up its laser arm. When we came around I was terrified and intrigued at the same time. This robot looked much different from Silvey, and all the other robots. It had "buff" metal arms gleaming red eyes. And it had a resting angry face. I grabbed the back Bryson's shirt and jerked him back beside me, and pulled my gun out. As soon as I did that, the robot jerked his head towards me and pointed his arm at me. I squinted my eyes and pointed my gun at him. I could hear it slowly power up its laser arm. I shook my head and smiled at the robot.

" Say goodnight," I said pointing my gun at his chest.

I pulled the trigger and I could see the bullet slowly swirl out of the gun and fly into its chest.

" Alex!" I heard some yell distantly.

Looked straight ahead and I saw a red laser coming straight for my head, weaved to right and kicked Bryson's ankle so he would fall and not get hit by the laser. I looked back at where the robot was, and I noticed it was gone. Then I looked down, and the robot was laying on the ground with red goo oozing out from his chest. I blinked my eyes slowly and when I opened them, the slow-motion effect was gone.

" Ouch!" said Bryson.

" Thank you is what you mean," I said.

" You want me to say thank you for making me fall flat on my face?!" Bryson asked.

" If I hadn't kicked your ankle, that laser would've killed you!" I said.

" I would've dodged it too," he said.

" God, why can't you just be thankful?!" I yelled.

It got really quiet, and Bryson looked at me awkwardly.

" S-sorry, geez," said Bryson.

" Ugh." I sighed.

" We should move along, that was only one out of many robots we will have to take down," said Silvey.

Silvey began to hover around the corner, but then he stopped and leaned to where we could see him.

" Nice shot back there Alex," Silvey said.

" Thank you!" I smiled. " At least someone around here has some manners."

" Shut up!" Bryson said.

I rolled my eyes and followed Silvey around the corner.

" We need to stay on high alert," said Silvey.

" Obviously," said Bryson. " They probably alerted their entire robot swat team because of us!"

" Chill with conclusions," I said.

" Oh so you want me to sugar coat it?" he asked.

" No, I want you to shut up!" I said.

" Would the both of you quit your bickering?" Silvey asked.

I cleared my throat. " Sorry Silvey," I said.

" All you both ever do is argue over pointless things. It is a waste of time," said Silvey.

" And who says you're not annoying?" Bryson asked.

" Just because you cannot understand what I say sometimes because your not that smart, does not mean that I'm annoying," said Silvey.

Bryson stopped walking and jerked his gun out. I looked back at him a gasped.

" Bryson what are you doing?" I asked.

" I've had it with you robot. If Alex won't get rid of you, I will." Bryson said.

" Is this what you really want?" Silvey asked raising his arm.

" The last time I checked Alex is the one who pumped your kinds guts full of lead."

said Bryson.

" It was self-defense," said Silvey.

" Either way, we are leaving you here to die with the rest of these metal morons," Bryson said.

" That's enough!" I yelled.

Bryson and Silvey both stopped looking at each other and looked at me.

" We are so close to completing this mission, please don't ruin it," I said.

Silvey looked at me and lowered his arm, and Bryson sighed and put his gun back in his pocket.

" Tell metal bones here to stop insulting me," said Bryson looking at me.

" Insulting you? I did no such thing, I was merely telling the truth." Silvey said.

" Ever heard of the saying, the truth hurts?" Bryson asked. " Don't answer that question."

" As much as I like seeing you guys bond, I also wanna get to that energy source so we can go home!" I said.

Bryson raised his eyebrows and nodded his head. " Right."

" Well we are only a turn away, so we should hurry," Silvey said.

We all quickly, cautiously walked down the hallway.

" Wait," Silvey said.

Bryson sighed and gave Silvey an annoyed look.

" What now? Don' t tell me another evil version of you is around the freaking corner," said Bryson.

" Yes," Silvey replied.

" We should have seen this coming, I am pretty sure they have cameras around here," I said.

" I have not detected any in the hallways," said Silvey.

" Seriously? This high tech place doesn't have cameras?" Bryson asked.

" Very unusual, I know," Silvey said.

" It's like they want their energy source to get stolen," Bryson said.

" Remember, they programmed the robots to never cause any danger," said Silvey.

" Yeah, so it would make sense that they wouldn't have any cameras," I said.

" It's called being on the safe side," said Bryson.

" I am detecting another robot," said Silvey.

" Great, we are on their radar," said Bryson.

" We do not need to wait for them to get closer, we need to kill them while we are still far away from them," Silvey said.

" Let me reload my gun," said Bryson.

" Reload your gun? You didn't even fire it." I said.

" Did anyone ask you, Alex?" Bryson said shoving his gun back into his pocket.

" Get your gun back out," Silvey said.

Bryson gave Silvey an angry look.

" Are you guys ready?" Silvey asked.

" Not mentally," Bryson said.

" I was born ready," I said.

" When we go around the corner, I need you both to get in front of me and fire," Silvey said.

Bryson started laughing hysterically. Silvey and I both looked at Bryson with our arms folded.

" W-what?" Bryson asked.

" What's so funny?" I asked.

" He thinks I am actually gonna stand in front of him," said Bryson.

" You are going to stand in front of him," I said.

" Says who?"

" Says me!" I said.

I grabbed Bryson by his arm and yanked him around the corner.

" What the--"

" Start shooting!" I yelled.

Bryson looked at me and raised my eyebrows signaling him to get his gun out.

" And stay in front of Silvey," I said sternly.

Bryson moaned and rolled his eyes. I looked back at Silvey and he looked at me. This was the moment that Silvey had to prove to me that I could really trust him. I blinked my eyes and when I opened my eyes and the slow-motion effect started. I turned back around and put my finger on the trigger. I thought the robots would immediately start shooting at us, but they didn't.

" Stand down." one of the robots said.

" Why? What are you going to do to us." Bryson asked.

" You both are frauds. You have tricked one of our own into helping you." the robot said.

" Ok, we're frauds. But at least we don't just kill off other kinds!" said Bryson.

" Your kind enslaved your own kind, and attempted to enslave us." said the robot.

" Attempted to enslave you guys? What are you talking about?" I asked.

" Do not act like you don't know what we are talking about." the robot said.

" We obviously don't!" Bryson yelled.

The robots looked at each confusingly.

" They can actually make facial expressions," I whispered.

" Yeah like the human-like robots," Bryson whispered back.

" What are you two whispering about?" the robot asked.

" That y'all can actually make facial expressions," Bryson said.

" Well, of course, we can, how else will we express our anger or humor?" said the other robot.

" You could tell a joke, or just point your laser arm at them," said Bryson.

" Well we don't ever use our lasers because the robots are programmed to not turn against us." said the robot.

" Well if you guys never decided you wanted to kill off the humans, we wouldn't be here," said Bryson.

" It is not our fault." said the robot.

" Oh, so you accidentally shot every human on the continent?" Bryson asked.

The two robots looked at each then looked back at us.

" So you both really don't know?" the robot asked.

" Obviously," said Bryson.

" Who sent you here?" the other robot asked.

" We don't know the man's name who sent us here," said Bryson.

The robots laughed in our faces.

" Now we have two good reasons for killing the humans." said the robot.

" They are controlling and dumb!" the other robot said.

I looked at Bryson and I noticed his hand was moving vigorously. He slowly started to raise his gun, but I grabbed his wrist and stopped him.

" Don't do this," I whispered.

" Your friend has anger issues." the robot said.

Bryson slapped my hand off his wrist and raised his gun and pointed at the robot on the left. The robot raised their arms and started to power up their lasers. I looked at Silvey then I looked at Bryson. I started to breathe heavily. I carefully moved my finger on top of the trigger so the robots wouldn't notice.

" Tell us about your history with the humans," I said.

" What will we get out of it?" said the robot.

" Once you tell us." I looked at Bryson, then back at Silvey. " We'll leave," I said.

The robots looked at me and lowered their lasers.

" What do you want to know?" one of the robots asked.

" Why did you guys really kill us off?" I asked.

The robot looked at the robot beside him and looked back at me.

" Would you like the long or short version of this story?" the robot asked.

" We'd like the short version," said Bryson.

" An old white man built a robot to do his duties. One day while the robot was cleaning up his desk, he found a piece of paper that said he was going to start a brand that sold robots to basically be your slave." said the robot.

" The robot took action and looked for the room that had all the premade robots and he took them all." said the other robot.

" What did he do with them?" I asked.

" He took them to an abandoned building and turned them all on." the robot replied.

" So this is the abandoned building?" I asked.

" Yes, of course, we upgraded it in size and technology." said the robot.

" So why are you guys launching rockets all over the world?" I asked.

" How do you know about that?" the robot asked.

" W-what? Did I say launch, I meant paunch." I lied.

" Paunch? What is that?" the robot asked.

" The first stomach of a ruminant, the rumen." the other robot said.

" I'll add that to my knowledge." said the robot.

" We told you why we put you scum to death, now it's time for you to go home." said the robot.

" I like fair deals, and this wasn't a fair deal," said Bryson.

Bryson raised his gun and pointed it at the robot.

" Another reason why we killed you humans." the robot said.

" And what is that?" Bryson asked.

" You don't keep your word." the robot replied.

" Don't act like you weren't going to kill us as soon as we turned our backs," said Bryson.

" I guess you humans are smart. We would have killed you and the girl." said the robot.

" What about Silvey?" I asked.

" Who?" the robot asked.

" Silvey, the robot I reprogrammed," I said.

" You named and reprogrammed our robot?" the robot asked.

" What are you going to do with Silvey?" I asked.

" We are going to dispose of him properly." said the robot.

" Dispose of him?" I raised my gun and pointed it at the robot on the right." Try me." I said.

" Gladly." said the robot.

The robots powered up their arms and their eyes turned bright red.

" Any last words?" the robot asked.

" Pow," I said.

" What?" said the robot.

I put my finger on the trigger and aimed my gun at the robot's chest. I blinked my eyes and the slow-motion effect started again. I slowly pulled the trigger, and the robot looked dead at my finger as I pulled it. The robot quickly shot its laser at me.

Bryson looked at me then kicked the inside of my leg to where I barely missed the laser. I realized that Silvey was behind me and I looked to see if he was hit, and Silvey had moved to the far right of me. The laser made a big hole in the wall behind us. I sighed in relief and looked back at the robots and gave them an enraged look. I looked down at my watch, then I looked at Bryson satchel. Bryson looked over at me and looked down at his bag.

" What?" he mouthed.

I pointed at the front pocket of his bag, then I looked at the robot on the right.

He looked at me and nodded his head. I looked back at the robots and rolled my neck. I glared at the robot on the right to make him think I was going shoot him, but then I quickly looked at the robot and the left and shot him on his right elbow.

" Good aim Alex," said Bryson.

" No problem, I'm not letting these robots stop me," I said.

Bryson unzipped his front pocket and took out his special weapon. He pumped it up them pointed it at the robot on the right.

" Whenever you' re--"

" Now!" I yelled.

Bryson pulled the trigger and transparent blue goo fired out and hit the right robot on the chest. The robot completely stopped in its tracks. The robot on the left turned and looked at the frozen robot, then looked back at us.

" I need you to hold the left robot for me while I take the right robots energy source.." I said.

Bryson started to walk over to the left robot until suddenly a green laser hit the robot in the chest. Bryson and I both looked back and Silvey had his arm raised and aimed at the blown up robot.

" Silvey!" I laughed.

" You were talking too much," said Silvey.

Bryson and I both laughed.

" Hurry up and take the energy source off the robot's chest," Silvey said.

I nodded my head and ran over to the robot. I put my nails under the tube and pulled up as hard as I could. Eventually, the tube snapped off and the enclosed section of the tube was in my hand while the rest of the goo leaked out from the robot's chest.

" When does the freeze effect wear off?" I asked.

" I don't know, that was my first time using it," said Bryson.

" Well, our work is done here," I said.

" Well, the room is right there so we can just go in," said Silvey.

We all started to walk towards the door until we heard something hovering behind us.

" You guys hear that right?" I asked.

" Yep.," said Bryson.

" This is no surprise. We are now considered wanted." Silvey said.

" Yo, that's cool! I've always wanted to be on a wanted poster," said Bryson.

" Seriously? That was your dream?" I said.

" You're all a bunch of scoundrels." someone said.

We all turned around and what I saw was quite disturbing.

" What the he--"

" Bryson!" I said.

" We are seeing the same thing," said Bryson.

The thing behind us was an old, rusty, and human-like robot with a metal cane.

" I knew sooner or later something like this would happen." the robot said.

" Who are you?" I asked.

" The oldest robot to ever live." the robot replied.

" Obviously you look like you lived back in the Jesus days," said Bryson.

" Why are you here?" the robot asked.

" Why would we tell you ?" Bryson asked.

" Good point, either way, you're going to die in here or out there." said the robot.

Bryson sucked his teeth and rolled his eyes.

" What do you want from us?" Bryson asked.

" I want that energy source." the robot said looking at my hand.

I looked down at my hand forgetting I was holding the energy source I had ripped from the other robot's chest.

" Were you planning on keeping that as a souvenir from the future?" the robot asked.

" How do you know we're from here?" Bryson asked.

" You have high tech guns, and I trust my gut." said the robot.

" You don't have a gut," said Bryson.

" Maybe not one made of tissue and muscle, but I do have one made of metal." said the robot.

" That's not a gut," said Bryson.

" We should move along guys," said Silvey.

The robot turned its head and looked at Silvey.

" Which one of you reprogrammed our robot?" the robot asked.

I shyly raised my hand. The robot turned and looked at me.

" If you weren't human, I would've kept you here to help improve our robots." the robot said.

" Wait a minute....you're the dumb robot that started this all!" said Bryson.

The robot looked at Bryson and smiled.

" Yes, yes I did." said the robot conceitedly.

Bryson and I both rolled our eyes.

" I forgot how much of an attitude humans can get." said the robot.

" Can you blame us? You're boasting about starting a world war," said Bryson.

I sighed and cleared my throat.

" As much as we like talking with you, we really have to move along," I said.

" Move along where?" the robot asked.

" Ummmm," I said.

" I know why you're here. You're here to stop my marvelous plan." the robot said.

" What? Nonsense." I lied.

The robot put his hand up to his mouth and looked dead at us.

" Send all security robots to the main hallway." the robot whispered into its wrist.

" We need to leave now," said Silvey.

" I'm afraid it's too late." said the robot.

" It's never too late," Silvey replied.

Silvey raised his arm and shot the robot on its chest. Unfortunately, the laser deflected from his chest and hit Silvey in his left shoulder. Silvey slowly fell to the ground.

" Silvey!" I yelled.

I got on my knees next too Silvey. I put my hand on Silvey's injured shoulder. Silvey gave me longingly look without even making a facial expression and put his hand on top of mine.

" It's ok Alex, you must continue your mission," said Silvey.

" No, not without you," I said.

" I cannot come with you, but I can hold off the other robots until I am destroyed completely," said Silvey.

I looked down at the ground and started to cry.

" Don't cry, Alex," Silvey said.

Silvey lifted his other arm up and wiped the tears off my face.

" Go, go continue your mission," said Silvey.

Suddenly I started to hear a beeping sound I looked up at Bryson then I looked back at Silvey.

" See, you haven't got much time," said Silvey.

I nodded my head and wiped the tears off my face. I looked at Silvey and smiled, then I hugged him. I looked up at Bryson and got up off the ground.

" We have two hours Alex," said Bryson.