12 Hours

Bryson and I were locked out of the doors of the factory. We had no ideas, and we were slowly running out of time.

" Just great! We're locked out! That's just the cherry on my cupcake." whined Bryson.

I looked at Bryson and gave him a confused look.

" No, it's cherry on my ice cream," I said.

" No one says, the cherry to my ice cream," Bryson said.

" Whatever you say. You know what I'm thinking though?" I said.

" What?"

" We should just break it," I said.

Bryson looked at me as if I had said the stupidest thing ever.

" Break the keypad? That's a stupid idea, Alex," said Bryson.

" Do you have a better idea?" I asked.

" No....." He mumbled.

" Exactly. We have no ideas and we have wasted two hours." I said.

" So what do you want me to do?" He asked.

" Find something to break it with," I said.

I know my idea is stupid, but it's the best one for right now. If Bryson comes up with a better idea than mine then we will go with it. Breaking the keypad can go two ways. It can either shut down their security system and lock us out completely, or malfunction and the door can open as they do in pretty much every action movie. Of course, I hope it malfunctions and the door opens, because if I lock us out I won't hear the end of it from Bryson. He will go on and on about how I suck, and that I'm a failure and that when we die it would be my fault. He may not tell me all those things, but I will be thinking about all of them.

" Ok, I found a wrench. Do you think that could break it?" He asked.

" I mean anything metal or hard can break a glass screen," I replied.

" I don't feel comfortable doing this Alex. So many things can go wrong if we break it."

" Oh well Bryson, it's a 50-50 chance," I said.

" More like a 98- 2 percent chance. I think I have a better idea." He said.

" Wait," I said pointing my finger at him.

" What?" Bryson asked.

" If it's a stupid idea, don't say it."

" Shut up Alex, it's actually way better than your dumb idea." He said.

" I was being serious," I said with a straight face.

" I'm assuming that only robots can get in here, right?" He said.

" Yeah, they pretty much killed all the other humans."

" So why don't we just wait until a robot has to go in there and sneak in with them."

Bryson had a good idea, it was better than breaking their system.

" You actually have a good idea."

" Actually?" said Bryson.

" I didn't mean it like that. It came out wrong." I said.

" It came out wrong my butt." Bryson murmured.

" So, when are we planning to sneak in? We have no idea when the next robot is going to need to come in there."

" I didn't think that far ahead..." said Bryson.

We didn't have time to just sit around and wait for the next robot to just hover over here. A couple of minutes ago, he was yelling at me because I was wasting time. Now he is the one suggesting we just sit around and wait for a robot. Don't get me wrong though, he did come up with a smart idea, but it would be more efficient if there were more robots flying around.

" Say what you have to say," Bryson said.

I looked at him and scrunched my eyebrows.

" What are you talking about?" I asked.

" I know you are thinking about how dumb my idea is, so just say what you have to say." He said.

" Your idea is good Bryson. It's not that I don't like it, it's just that it has a downside that will affect us badly." I said.

" How will it affect us badly?"

" We have no idea when your plan will be put into action. We can't decide when the robots will go in."

" Fine, we'll come up with something else since my idea sucks."

Bryson was irritating me. He gets so defensive when I find a small problem with his ideas. He acts like I called his idea trash, I just said we couldn't control when it would happen. I'm also tired of him being able to criticize all my flaws and tell me how I'm ruining the mission and I can't without him being emotional. It was time to confront him.

" If you're just going to be a baby about this, then we can just split up," I said.

" Who do you think you're talking to," Bryson said.

Bryson got up off the ground and stood up tall and fearless.

" We're literally the only people here, who else would I be talking to?"

" You better watch your place. I know we're partners and all, but you don't get to boss me around."

" Boss you around?" I said.

I grabbed my bag from off the ground and started heading towards the back of the factory. Someone needed to be the bigger person, and it was going to be me. I knew if he knew I was coming up with a plan better and more convenient then he would try to come up with a better plan that could get us inside the factory faster. I didn't walk away from him to feel better about myself, I did it to hurry up and get this mission over with. I do not want to be here when World War Three goes down. If I am here, I want to be running back to the portal and going to 8 years in the past. While I was walking to the back of the factory, I was thinking of ways to get in. I could climb the wall or figure out the code by looking into the robot's technical system.

I'd finally reached the back of the building, and there were actually a lot more robots in the back than in the front.

" There's another door in the back that doesn't have a passcode to get in!" I whispered to myself.

I was standing where they couldn't see me but I could see the door they were going to get into the building. There was no passcode needed.

" I need to go get Bryson!" I said in my head.

I turned around and started heading back to the front of the building, but as soon as I moved my foot the robots realized I was there and started coming after me. I took off running and searched through my bag for my gun so I could try to shoot them while running, but I couldn't find my gun fast enough so I just had to use my dodge skills. But something odd happened, I noticed that the robots weren't shooting lasers at me they were just chasing me. So I made a dumb decision and stopped running, and turned around and looked at them. The robots stopped and looked at me. I moved to the right and they moved to the right. I moved to the left and they moved to the left too.

" Can you guys hear me?" I asked.

They said nothing.

" Are you going to kill me?" I asked.

They again said nothing. So I made no effort to run back to the front of the building. But I didn't completely trust the robots, but I trusted them enough to just walk instead of run. Slowly but surely I made it back to the front of the building but Bryson wasn't there. His stuff was there, but he wasn't.

" Bryson?" I yelled.

No one answered.

" Bryson! If you're playing a trick on me you need to stop!" I yelled.

Still no answer. I began to get very worried. I walked over to the front entrance to check if the keypad was still intact. He didn't break it. Maybe he snuck in with a robot. Then I started to hear footsteps coming from the side of the building. I grabbed my gun from my bag and put it up. It could have been Bryson, but it could have been another survivor. Then I heard the robot's lasers powering up.

" Oh, crap," I said to myself.

I ducked just before they shot their lasers.

" What the heck." Someone said.

" Bryson, is that you?" I asked while looking at the ground.

" Who else would it be?" He said.

He came out from where I heard the footsteps coming from. I looked up and noticed h had a long cut on his cheek.

" What happened to you," I asked.

" You are aware there are two robots behind us right?" He asked.

I turned around and he was right, the same robots that were following me and made a shot at me were still there. But I realized they only shot at me when I pulled my gun out.

" Is it just me or is that kinda scary?" he asked.

" They've been following me since I started heading back here to find you," I said.

" They've just been following you around like dogs?" he asked.

" Pretty much, yeah." I nodded.

Bryson started scratching his head. I knew he was confused by the situation because I was still confused too.

" So have they tried to kill you?" Bryson asked.

I shook my head.

" Only when I pulled my gun out," I replied.

" That's weird, the other robots started shooting at us even when we didn't pull out our guns."

" I think some robots are programmed differently than others," I said.

" How are these robots so advanced in technology?" Bryson asked.

" I've been asking myself that question since we got here."

Bryson got quiet are started to rub his neck and looked down at his feet.

" About what happened earlier...." He said.

" It's whatever, It doesn't matter," I smiled.

" But it does matter. I have no right saying the things I am saying, and doing the things I am doing," he said.

" We're all jerks at one point in our lives," I said as I shrugged my shoulders.

" That was my second time being a jerk to you." He said.

" We're here to save the world, not to go over what we've done wrong in our lives," I said.

" You sound like 50-year-old stuck in a teenager's body," Bryson said.

We both laughed.

" Thank you, I guess?" I said.

" You can take it both ways." Bryson chuckled.

I stepped back and crossed my arms.

" Wow, using my line now are we?" I giggled.

" I'm pretty sure people have used it before you did," said Bryson.

" But they didn't look as good as I do when I say it."

Bryan shook his head and chuckled.

" So what was it that you wanted to tell me, the reason you pretty much came back," Bryson asked.

" Oh, there is a--," I said.

I stopped and realized something.

" Why'd you stop in mid-sentence?" Bryson asked.

" The robots," I whispered.

" What about them?" Bryson asked.

" They might be able to hear us and if they can, I can't say what I was going to say in front of them," I whispered.

" Well just whisper it into my ear," said Bryson.

I moved closer to Bryson and I stood on my tippy toes.

" There is a door at the back of the building that doesn't require a passcode," I whispered in his ear.

Bryson's face immediately lit up. He looked at me then moved back.

" Don't joke around with me Alex," said Bryson seriously.

" I wouldn't joke about something like this."

" We need to get going." He said.

" So we are going to just walk into the facility with two laser-shooting robots following behind?" I said with my arms folded.

" All we have to do is cut their energy source off, remember?" said Bryson.

" You make it sound so easy," I said sarcastically.

" But it is that easy. If they are always calm until a weapon is pulled out all we have to do is kill them before they kill us."

" I'm still not following," I said.

" We walk up to them, pull the gun out then shoot them in their chest." he explained.

" Do you have a death wish Bryson?" I said.

Bryson sighed and rolled his eyes.

" Of course, you don't believe in me," he said wistfully.

" No, I just don't want you to die. This is a mission for two." I said.

I looked into his eyes, and put my hand on his shoulder. He looked at me like no one has ever looked at me before. He looked at me affectionately. He started to lean in closer to my face. I took my hand off his shoulder and backed up before anything got too serious.

" W-what are you doing?" I asked.

" Um, I don't know...," Bryson said while scratching his head.

" We should probably get going," I said.

" R-right. Yeah. Get going. That's what we should do." Bryson said.

" Sorry, if I made that awkward..." I said.

" You? I'm the one who tried to kiss you." He said.

My heart stopped. I thought it in my mind when he was leaning in, but when he said it aloud, everything changed. He actually tried to kiss me.

" Y-you tried to kiss me?" I stuttered.

Bryson's eyes grew wide.

" Did I say kiss? I meant, miss you. I missed you I tried to miss you more than I did before." He said.

" It's fine Bryson, I guess..."

" No, it's not. I'm just gonna head to the back," he said.

Bryson stormed off once again. Just when things started to go back to normal, we mess it up.

" Bryson wait!" I yelled.

I needed to fix this. I couldn't go another thirty minutes of just ignoring him.

" What do you want?" Bryson said agonizingly.

" You. I mean not like that, well actually...I really don't know what I want anymore." I said.

A billion things were going through my head, and after what Bryson did...I can't even think straight around him. My tongue would get all tied up along with my words.

" Well when you figure out what it is that you want, you know where I'll be," Bryson said.

" Bryson, are you really mad I pulled back from you?" I asked.

" I'm not mad. I just feel stupid ok? And now things feel awkward between us." He said.

" They don't have to be. We can change that." I said.

" How?" He asked.

I don't even know how we could change that. How could I change that?

" Do you like me, Bryson?" I asked.

" Even if I did, why would you care." He sassed.

" I obviously care if I'm asking," I said.

He stopped walking and turned around then looked at me.

" Do you really think that I believe a girl like you sees anything in a guy like me?" He said.

" What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

" Your actually someone Alex, maybe not reputation wise but you've got a great personality. You probably have friends that actually care about you. I don't have any of that, just girls that just want to sleep with me."

" That's not who I see you as."

"You don't even know me." He said.

"Yeah I don't know that side of you, but the side I know is nothing like that," I said.

" Forget it, Alex." He said.

Bryson continued to walk to the back of the building, while I remained where I was standing. I felt like I was stuck in a situation I put myself in. Now I have to try to save the world and deal with the awkwardness between Bryson and me.

" I hope you're not still standing there like a doof," Bryson yelled.

I started to walk towards the back, but I didn't respond to his question. I feel like in every argument we have, he always wins. But maybe I can win this one. Not verbally though, I will win it by body language. I need to get him to say sorry, and once he does, I will have had won.

" Ok doof, we are close to the back. What are we going to do with the robots?" He said.

I pulled out a pocket knife from my bag, spun around and sliced the tube that was holding the robot's energy source. Of course the other robots charged up their laser arm to kill me. Before they fully charged their arm I slipped my knife back into my bag and after they powered their arm down to shoot me, I quickly pulled my knife back out and sliced their tubes. Luckily I planned this whole thing out while I was walking.

" There, problem solved," I said.

I turned around and Bryson was just standing there with disbelief wiped across his face.

" Of course, the genius always wins," Bryson mumbled.

" Always," I said while bumping into his shoulder.

" So you're giving me the silent treatment now?" Bryson asked.

" Just trying to get through this mission that's all," I replied.

" So your going to pretend like what happened never happened?" said Bryson.

" If you mean to put it behind me and move on with my life, then yes," I replied.

" If it's fine with you, it's fine with me." Bryson sighed.

I wasn't sure if he was serious or playing around. But either way, I need to up my petty game.

" Ok, there is a heck of lot more robots back here than there were in in the front, what is your golden plan?" Bryson asked.

Golden plan, seriously?

" We have two options here, we either kill them all and risk our lives or sneak in.....and risk our lives," I said.

" So it's a lose-lose situation?" He asked.

" I did say risk our lives for both scenarios so....." I said.

" I was just asking miss sassy pants." Bryson snickered.

" Don't call me that," I said.

" Why are being such a pain all of a sudden?" Bryson asked.

" Why are you asking so many questions?" I sassed back.

"Because minutes ago we were fine, and now you're acting like you hate me," he said.

" I wanna get this mission over with and go home to my family," I said.

" Well, I refuse to go along with your plan unless we resolve our problems." Bryson declared.

I looked at him and gave him a death stare, then rolled my eyes.

" Well, I guess you're going to die out here alone," I said.

" Wow, your just a box full of surprises.....not the good kind though," he said.

I rolled my eyes and walked closer to the entrance so I could see what I was up against.

" What do you want from me, Alex?" Bryson asked.

" I want you to forget about any tension we had between us!" I yelled.

Bryson stood there like a block of ice, still and chilled by my words.

" Is that what you really want?" He asked.

" Are you deaf Bryson?" I asked while continuing to look at the door.

" No." He replied.

" Then why do you keep asking me over and over if I mean what I say?" I asked.

" I guess because I hope you don't ever mean what you say," he said.

I wanted to speak from the heart, but I couldn't. I needed to stay focused on this mission and not him.

" Ok some of the robots have left the area, this is our chance," Bryson said.

" Good idea," I said.

" Thanks!" Bryson said excitedly.

" You never answered my question, we're running out of time," I said.

Bryson looked at me and gave me a perplexed look.

" What question?" he asked.

" How do you wanna do this, sneak in or kill them all?" I asked.

" Why not both?" he asked.

" Mmkay then.....who's gonna shoot and who's gonna sneak in?" I asked.

" I'll shoot, you sneak in." He said.

" Fine by me." I agreed.

"You're not going to try and stop me?" He asked.

" No," I said.

Bryson vigorously pulled his gun out of his bag.

" I-I...," Bryson mumbled.

I stood there waiting for him to say the two words I wanted to hear.

" I-I'm going to let you know when I'm ready." He said.

Guess not.

" I'm sorry for being a douche, Alex," Bryson said.

I spoke too soon.

" Aren't we all sometimes?" I said.

I was filled with relief.

" Thanks for apologizing," I said.

" Kind of had to, I mean that was the reason you were being a butt right?" he said.

" Umm no, I was just trying to focus on the mission," I said.

" Totally." he said sarcastically."

I was kind of disappointed. He didn't apologize because he was sorry, he did it because he felt like he had to.

" Is that seriously the only reason why you apologized?" I asked.

" Well yeah, I didn't like how things were between us," he said.

" I can't believe for a second I thought you were actually sorry," I said.

I started to walk towards the back entrance because there weren't really any robots and because I was totally ticked.

" C'mon Alex! Don't be this way," yelled Bryson.

" Can you just cover me, please? I do wanna live to see tomorrow." I said.

" Whatever." he sighed.

Bryson stood in front of me checking for robots.

" Ok I think we're good," said Bryson.

" Think? I need to know!" I said.

Bryson rolled his eyes and headed for the entrance. The door was open, but it was cracked. He peeked through to check if there were robots.

" There are no robots, so c'mon," he said.

I did another check to make sure no robots were around, then I walked over to Bryson. When I made it over there he was about to just barge in.

" Are you crazy?!" I asked.

" No....." said Bryson.

" Open the door slowly, we don't wanna draw too much attention to ourselves," I said.

" Right," he said.

Bryson opened the door slowly while looking through it. When he opened I expected it to look all " techy" or something, but it was the complete opposite of that. It opened up into a hallway.

" So it's 2026 and people still can't have eye-catching interiors?" Bryson said.

The walls were metal, but the metal looked like it had been polished and the floors were white but it looked like polished cement.

" Ok now that we're in, we need a map," I said.

" Where are we gonna find a map?" Bryson asked.

" I don't know...," I replied.

Bryson and I walked down the hallway cautiously.

" Stop!" Bryson whispered.

He backed up to the wall and pulled me with him.

" What are you doing?" I asked.

" I can hear them." He whispered.

" You can hear the robots?" I asked.

" Get your gun out," he said.

I slowly got my gun out of my bag and got up off the wall.

" What do you think you're doing?" Bryson whispered.

" Completing our mission," I said.

" Wait up for me then." he sighed.

We slowly walked down the hallway with our backs against each other.

" Look!" I said pointing to the left of me.

There was a hallway that led to this huge opening, it was like a downtown in this place. There were hover cars, robot kids, and robot families. It was like this was the home of the robots.

" What is this place?" Bryson asked.

" It looks like robot city," I said.

" How in the world are we gonna find the energy source with robot families constantly flying around?" said Bryson.

I looked up and saw a sign that had directions on where things were.

" Hey look, the fuel facility is to the right," I said.

Bryson and I looked at each other with excitement.

" Energy source," we said in unison.

We quickly headed to the right and unfortunately ran into a robot. But this robot didn't look like the robots that were outside, it actually looked like a man.

" You must have gotten the War Three upgrade." the robot said.

" The what?" Bryson asked.

I nudged Bryson and gave him a "you need to play along" look.

" Ah, yes, the upgrade," I said.

" You must have a lot of neu-bucks." the robot said.

" Refresh my memory, what are neu-bucks again?" I asked.

" They are like American dollars they used to use a couple of years back, except they are created from neutrons and are transparent." the robot explained.

" Wow, the world has come up in the last eight years," Bryson exclaimed.

" Pardon me?" the robot said.

" He did a virtual reality thing that took him back to the dreadful life eight years ago," I said.

" Oh yes! Humans are inferior to our kind, that's why we terminated them." the robot said.

" We should really get going, nice seeing you......." I said.

" Prototype 152." the robot said.

"Yes, Prototype 152, nice seeing you."

The robot gave us a peculiar look and hovered away.

" They have transparent dollars and now they are turning them into human look-alikes?!" Bryson said.

" Apparently." I sighed.

" I think we should hurry up, I think that robot might have been suspicious," said Bryson.

I nodded my head.

" Yeah, I think your right," I said.

" What kind of name is Prototype 152? That's not even a name," said Bryson.

" A name you give a robot that uses electric bucks." I laughed.

" Ok, so we need to act educated because I'm positive that robot said that there are two teenagers just roaming around," he said.

" What do you mean by act educated," I asked.

" Say words like a pardon," said Bryson.

" Ok, I'm going to do my best-educated robot impression, tell me if it's good," I said.

" Ok show me what you got," he said.

I nodded my head and composed myself.

" Looks like you don't acquire the newest and most efficient upgrade like me, guessing you don't have very many neu-bucks," I said.

" Bravo, bravo! Give this young miss a big round of applause!" Bryson said while clapping.

" Shhh!" I said holding my finger to my mouth.

" Sorry." Bryson laughed.

" Was it good?" I asked.

Bryson nodded his head while laughing.

" It was really funny actually." Bryson laughed.

" C'mon Bryson, be serious," I said while crossing my arms.

" I am being serious......that impression was seriously funny!" he laughed.

I couldn't help but laugh. I felt like a rich person that thinks everyone is under them and inferior to them. I guess like how the human race was to the robots.

" Ok, it's your turn," I said.

" My turn for what?" Bryson asked.

" Robot impression duh! Last time you almost got us caught." I said.

" True," Bryson said while scratching his chin.

I looked at him and folded my arms.

" Well, what are you waiting for?" I asked.

" Oh you were being serious," he said.

" Chop chop!" I clapped.

Bryson cleared his throat and put his hand on his chest and straightened out his back.

" I need you to pretend to be a robot that doesn't have an upgrade," Bryson said.

I nodded my head and got in character.

" I am revolted." Bryson declared.

" And why is that?" I asked.

" Our kind is planning to take over the world and you couldn't even get an upgrade, you should be ashamed!" He said.

" I should?" I asked.

" If there were a dump for no life robots, you'd be in it." he sassed.

I started laughing.

" You are one mean robot, that's for sure," I said.

" Thank you," Bryson said while bowing.

" Well I must say, you've got me beat," I said.

" That's a first," Bryson said.

We both began to laugh then all of a sudden Bryson's watch started to beep. I knew exactly what that meant.

" Alex...." Bryson said.

" I know, I know." I sighed.

"We have 9 hours left," Bryson said.