12 Hours
Hour 12

" Arrow?" said Bryson.

" Check."

" Goggles?" said Bryson.

I looked at Bryson and folded my arms.

" Bryson, you have the goggles," I said.

He looked at me and nervously smiled.

" Right...check," he said.

" Freeze gun thingy?" I asked.

" Check. Watch?" he asked.

" Check," I said.

" That's everything right?" he asked.

" I think so. I have the arrow, watch--"

" That skeleton hand thing!" he said pointing his finger at me.

I nodded my head and held up my bag.

" Yeah, it's in my bag," I said.

" Ok, I think we're ready to go," he said.

I nodded my head and took a deep breath.

" Ok, I walk in the hallway, act like a lunatic and you sneak up behind them and attack," I said.

" Mmmm I might attack, or I could just be like, hey robots eat freeze goo," he said.

I rolled my eyes and picked up my bag from the floor and walked over to the corner of the hallway to see if the robots were still there.

" They still just sitting there?" Bryson asked.

" Yep, none of them have their arms up. They're just standing there." I said.

" Perfect," he said.

Bryson bent over to grab his bag and slung it over his shoulder. I walked back to the end of the hallway and peeked around the corner. I turned around, looked back at Bryson and sighed.

" You ready?" he asked.

" Mentally, no," I said.

" Yeah me either." he sighed.

" It doesn't matter, we have one hour and there's no going back now," I said.

Bryson walked to the end of the hallway then looked back at me and nodded his head. I looked up at the ceiling, closed my eyes and sighed. I confidently walked out to the middle of the two hallways and looked at the robots. They all immediately powered up their laser arms and pointed them at me. I looked to the right of me at the other empty hallway then I looked back at the robots.

" No need for that," I said.

" You are wanted for numerous reasons." said one of the robots.

" I know but--"

" Stop wasting our time, where is your friend?" the middle robot asked.

" Dead, he hit his head," I said with confidence.

" How unfortunate." the middle robot chuckled.

" For who?" I asked.

" You of course." the robot replied.

" Not if you can catch me," I said.

I jerked around the right corner and ran down the hallway. As I was running I realized it was a dead-end, I quickly turned around and all the robots were standing in a line with their arms raised and pointed at my head.

" Nowhere to run puny human." the middle robot said.

I tried to look through the small gap between the middle robot and the one to the left of it to see if Bryson was behind them, but he wasn't there.

" C'mon Bryson...where are you?" I whispered to myself.

" What did you say?" one of the robots asked.

" Idiots." a male voice said.

I looked through the small space between the middle robot and one left to it and there I saw Bryson with the goggles on his head glaring at the middle robot. The robot looked at me sternly and spun around and aimed its arm at Bryson. Bryson sucked his teeth and shook his head.

" Move," said Bryson.

Before the robot could respond the middle robot flung right hitting both the robots to the right and slammed into the wall.

" Fire." one of the robots on the ground said wearily.

The other three robots powered up their arms and started aimed at Bryson.

" The girl! Don't forget about the gi--"

Before the robot could finish I quickly grabbed the arrow out of my bag and put it up to my mouth.

" Go through the commanding robots energy source tube," I whispered to the arrow.

The arrow shook vigorously in my hand before it flung out and spiraled into the robot's energy source. The arrow went straight through the robot and onto the ground.

" Sick," Bryson said.

I looked over at Bryson and smiled.

" I know right," I said.

Bryson and I began to get lost in each other's eyes, not paying attention to our surroundings. I suddenly started to see a silver object moving in the corner of my right eye. I slowly turned my head to the right, and one of the robots was next to me with its laser arm pointed right at my head. I looked at the robot dead in its eyes, then I blinked. As I opened my eyes the slow-motion effect began. I could hear the robot's arm power up slowly. I tried to run, but my legs wouldn't move. The harder I tried to move, the stiffer my legs got. I looked back at the robot and into its arm and I started to see a speck of red in the middle of the arms hole.

" Alex!" Bryson yelled distantly.

I looked over at Bryson and looked at me as if I were about to die. Well, I guess in his perspective, I was. Bryson looked into my eyes and shook his head and took off darted towards me. He almost made it to me until one of the robot's arm swung up and hit Bryson in the chest as he was running. Bryson couldn't stop in time and flung backward, slamming into the ground. I looked back over at the robot next to me and the red dot in the middle of the hole in its arm had gotten a lot bigger.

" Alex!" Bryson yelled distantly.

I looked down at my chest and pressed the gravity disc and lifted off the ground and into the air. I looked at the robot's arm and it finally hit me that the red dot was the laser and it was coming out. Unfortunately, the laser came out as soon as my head was parallel to the arm, so I quickly moved my head forward while I was in mid-air. I felt the heat of the laser at the top of my head. I then suddenly started to smell burnt hair. I looked back down the robot and suddenly the slow-motion effect stopped and I slammed into the ceiling back first.

" Whoa!" Bryson laughed.

I moaned in pain. " What's so funny?" I asked.

" That was probably the most action-packed thing I've seen in my life!" he said.

I was still a bit dizzy after everything that happened. I blinked a couple of times so my vision could become clearer then I noticed that there was hair directly below me. I squinted and raised my neck a little to see if it was mine.

" M-my hair?!" I said.

" Yeah, the robot's laser cut that thing off," said Bryson.

I looked at the robot angrily and held my hand out. " Come to my hand," I said.

" Pardon me?" said the robot.

Then we all started to hear a rapid tapping sound next to the dead robot on the wall. I looked at the robot and grinned.

" You won't be smiling for long human." said the robot.

I shook my head and then the arrow flew from under the dead robot and into my hand.

" Come again?" I said.

I pressed the gravity disc on my chest and gracefully landed on the ground and in front of the robot that lasered my hair off.

" You finally learned how to land right," said Bryson.

" I know right? I'm so proud of myself." I said excitedly.

" Say goodbye girl." said the robot.

" No, you say goodbye," I said.

I put the arrow up to my mouth and whispered, " Go through the robot's energy tube."

The arrow spiraled from out of my hand and right through the robot. The robot looked down at the hole in the middle of its chest, then back up at me and fell to the ground.

" I think that's all of them," said Bryson.

" Are you sure?" I asked.

" Positive, there are three right there, one in the ceiling and you just killed the last one," he said.

" So we can go to the energy source room now?" I asked.

" I guess so, yeah," he said.

Bryson turned around and headed down the hallway and towards the energy source room. I looked around at all the dead robots that I killed with the arrow. I walked over to the robot lying against the wall and kneeled down and looked through the hole in its chest. I raised my hand and moved it closer to the hole and suddenly the robot's arm twitched.

" Oh god." I gasped.

I heard quick footsteps, and it was Bryson rushing over to me from around the corner.

" God Alex, what are you doing?" he asked.

" T-the arm....it moved." I stuttered.

" Why are you even still over here?" he asked.

" I-I--"

" It doesn't matter." Bryson held his hand out and sighed. " We have more important things we need to worry about."

I grabbed Bryson's hand and he helped me up off the ground. I cleared my throat and headed towards the energy source room. I cautiously walked around the corner making sure there were no more robots.

" There aren't anymore, I already checked," said Bryson.

" Just checking," I said.

I quickly walked over to the energy source room and looked at the yellow and green label in the middle of the iron door. I looked down at the handle and put my hand on it, but when I touched it shocked me.

" Ah!" I yelled.

" What?" Bryson asked.

I looked back at Bryson. " The handle, it shocked me," I said.

Bryson looked at me weird then looked at the handle and put his hand on it. Bryson quickly pulled back as soon as he touched it.

" What, did you think I was lying?" I asked.

" N-no, I was just double-checking," he said.

" So if I told you that tile next to me was a booby trap, you would stand on it?" I asked.

" Obviously not," he said.

I rolled my eyes and looked over and noticed there was a keypad on the right side of the door.

" There's a keypad," I said.

" Another one, seriously?" he said.

" How did we get in last time when there was a keypad?" he asked.

" We didn't, we came in from the back," I said.

" There goes that plan," he said.

I looked carefully at the keypad and tried to think of what the password could be, but my mind went completely blank.

" Any ideas?" I asked Bryson.

" Nope, their password is probably in their robot language or something," he responded.

I sighed and started to bite my fingernails and began to think of something, anything that could help us.

" Ew, you do that too?" Bryson asked.

" Do what?" I asked, continuing to bite my nails.

" Your nails, you're biting your nails," he said.

I looked down at my nails then back up at Bryson. " I do it when I'm nervous," I said.

Bryson rolled his eyes and sighed. I looked dead into Bryson's eyes, then I realized he still had his mind control glasses on.

" Your glasses," I said.

Bryson touched his glasses nervously. " What, is there something wrong with them?" he asked.

" No, no, maybe you could use them to open up the door," I said.

" Can they do that?" he asked.

" I don't know, but it's worth a try," I said.

Bryson nodded his head then looked at the keypad.

" So how am I supposed to open the door?"

" You know how in movies they usually use a device to crack the code to the keypad?" I asked.

" Yeah, why?"

" Do that except with your mind," I said.

Bryson looked at me frantically and began to quiver in fear.

" Bryson, it's ok," I said.

" I know, I know, just this wave of anxiety and fear just swept over me," he said.

" Well, I'm here, no need to be afraid," I said.

I gently placed my hand on Bryson's shoulder and squeezed it. " Clear your mind," I whispered into his ear.

Bryson looked straightforward and focused his eyes on the keypad. He balled his fist up and flared his nostrils. Suddenly numbers started to rapidly appear on the screen of the keypad, then the lock on the door clicked and the door opened.

" You did it," I said.

Bryson looked over at me and put his hand on my shoulder and sighed.

" I need....to...sit down," he said tiredly.

I nodded my head and wrapped my arm around his neck and helped him into the energy source room and sat him against the wall.

" Did the British lady say anything about side effects?" Bryson asked.

" No just gave instructions on how to use it," I replied.

I kneeled over and rubbed Bryson's leg. He looked up at me and grabbed my wrist and took my hand off his leg.

" You need to shut down their power source," he said.

I squeezed my lips together and nodded my head. I got up off the ground and noticed there was a glowing green light in the corner of my eye. I turned around and there was a large tube running from the ceiling and into this large plastic sphere. I walked over to it and noticed there was a red button on the left of the sphere, and a green button to the right of it.

" Is that it?" Bryson asked.

I turned around and looked at Bryson. " Is what it?" I asked.

" That green bubble, is that the energy source?"

I shrugged my shoulders and turned back around and stepped closer to the sphere. I looked at the bubbles that were floating around in the green substance and leaned closer to it. I reached out and ran my hand down the exterior of the bubble.

" What in the world are you doing?" Bryson asked.

" Observing," I said quietly.

" Can you hurry up, it's not like we have all the time in the world," he said.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head and continued to look at the bubbles float through the substance. I looked over to my right and then my left, and realized there were small black letters underneath each of the buttons. I walked over to the button on the right and looked at the letters.

" Emergency Fuel Supply," I said.

" What?" Bryson moaned.

" That's what the letters say," I said.

" What letters?" Bryson asked.

" There are letters underneath each of the buttons," I said.

Bryson moaned and got up off the ground and slowly walked over to the button on the left.

" There are letters under this button too," he said.

" I literally just said that Bryson," I said.

" Mmm, I kinda zoned out when you said observing," he said.

I rolled my eyes and sighed.

" So, don't push this button," I said.

" Shut down, only use if needed, this cuts off all the robot's energy source supply." Bryson read.

I walked over behind Bryson and looked at the words under the button. "So all we have to do is push that button?" I said.

" I think so, but I'm still deciding," Bryson replied.

" I think this is some kind of trap. Why would they make it so easy to shut down the energy source?" I said.

" That's what I was thinking," he said.

I moved over to the left side and placed my hand left to the button.

" What are you doing?" he asked.

" There's only one way to replace out," I said.

I looked at Bryson and nodded my head, then I put my finger on the button a pushed down. The button lit up and I started to hear a sizzling sound. Bryson and I both looked over at the energy source, and it was boiling inside the sphere.

" Alex......what's going on?" Bryson asked.

" I-I don't know." I stuttered.

" I swear if it self-destructs--"

" It's not Bryson, jeez," I said.

" How do you know that?" he asked.

" Why would they do that?" I asked.

" Because maybe people like us would come in here and do what we're doing and have a self-destruct to kill us."

" And kill every other robot in the building, which is more than a hundred," I said.

" They could make more," he said.

" They could, but it obviously took them years to create this civilization. They didn't just decide they wanted to make all of this and start World War III." I said.

" I guess you're right." he sighed.

I suddenly realized I didn't hear anything.

" You hear that?" I asked.

" Hear what?" he asked.

" Exactly, the boiling....it stopped," I said.

I looked over and the energy source looked dead. It was dark green and the bubbles inside looked droopy.

" What happened to the stuff?" Bryson asked.

" Mmmm I don't know, we did just hit a button that shut down the supply of energy source to the robots," I said.

" Right," Bryson said awkwardly.

I looked at the energy source and then I looked back at Bryson. I just stood there in disbelief that we actually shut down the energy source supply. You know how you have a goal that is impossible to achieve but somehow you actually achieved it, and you ask yourself how.

" Alex?" said Bryson.

I jerked my head towards Bryson and opened my eyes wide. " Y-yeah?"

" You totally zoned out again," he said.

" We actually shut down the energy source," I said.

" Yeah....we did," he said.

I looked at Bryson and smiled.

" What?" he asked.

" I might actually be able to go home," I said.

" Mmmm, I guess so," he said.

Bryson and I stood there awkwardly until a loud beeping sound started going off.

" AGH!" Bryson yelled.

" They are sooo late," I said.

" I know right. We barged in here 11 hours ago!" Bryson yelled.

" We need to get out of here and replace out where the rockets are!" I yelled.

Bryson nodded his head and headed towards the door then he just stopped.

" Bryson, go!" I yelled.

" We're surrounded..." he sighed.

" What!" I yelled.

" If we walk out there, we're done for," he said.

I pushed Bryson out the way and looked through the small window. There were robots in every hallway with their arms all pointed towards the door.

" What are we gonna do?" I asked.

" Repent," Bryson said.

" REPENT?!" I yelled.

" We are STUCK Alex. If we go out there we're dead, and if we stay in here we will be stuck in this dimension and die," he said.

I balled my fist and sat against the wall. I looked up at the ceiling and just started balling my eyes out.

" C'mon Alex.....now is not the time for crying," he said.

" I'm so selfish," I said.

" Selfish? How are you selfish?" Bryson asked.

" I left my family without even saying goodbye, and now they are going to lose their daughter," I said.

" But you did all this for them," he said.

I looked at Bryson and got up off the ground.

" They don't deserve this," I said.

" You had good intentions," said Bryson.

" They weren't good enough," I said.

I sighed and plopped back onto the floor. I buried my head into my knees and cried. I felt Bryson slowly wrap his arm around me and pat my back. I lifted my head up and looked at him and smiled. I looked forward and noticed that there was a door.

" Bryson." I sniffed.

" Yeah?"

" There's a door," I said.

" Yeah, I know. It's the door we came into," he said.

" No," I said.

I grabbed Bryson's head and turned it in the direction I was looking at. As soon as Bryson realized there was another door his eyes lit up with joy.

" There's the second door!" Bryson said.

" I know," I said.

Bryson got up off the ground and walked towards the door in front of us. There was also a small rectangular window in the middle of the door. Bryson looked through it and then looked back at me.

" It's pitch black, I can't see anything," he said.

" Seriously?"

I got up off the ground and walked up to the door and looked through the window. Bryson was right, it was pitch black. I couldn't even see even a speck of light anywhere.

" Well....what are we gonna do?" I asked.

" We gotta go through that door," Bryson said.

" But we don't know what is in there," I said.

" Ok, so you'd rather us get blown to smithereens by all those robots?" Bryson asked.

" No....what if we get locked in there?" I asked.

" What if this, what if that, there are tons of what if's in this situation Alex. We gotta just go for it," he said.

I sighed and nodded my head. Bryson walked over to the entrance door and looked out the window and heavily sighed.

" They're starting to move in," he said.

" Move in?"

" They're closer than before," he said.

I looked at the entrance door then I grabbed my satchel from off the ground and walked towards the other door.

I looked at the door and started to get extremely nervous. I tried not to think about all the bad things that could happen if we walked through that door, but they kept flowing through my head. We only have a little bit of time left, and if we get stuck in here we're done for.

" Alex?"

I quickly turned around and Bryson had this worried look on his face.

" What's wrong?" I asked.

" You zoned out....again," he said.

" Sorry...sorry I was just--"

" Contemplating."

" Yeah," I said.

Bryson shook his head and hugged me. I didn't hug him back because it was sudden and well I was kinda surprised by it.

" We will get out of here," he said.

I took my hands from in between us and wrapped them around Bryson. I needed this. I needed some type of comfort.

" You're right, we will," I said.

Bryson took his arms from around me and turned around. He let go of me as if he realized we were hugging and it was a mistake.

" C'mon, no more talking or hugging. We need to go," said Bryson.

Bryson walked up to the door, turned the doorknob and went through the door. He didn't even look back before he went through the door. I walked up to the door and looked through the window to see if I could see him, but I still could see nothing.

" Bryson!" I yelled.

No answer.

" BRYSON!" I yelled again.

" What?" Bryson said faintly.

I sighed in relief that he wasn't dead.

" Try to open the door," I said.

" Why?" he asked.

" Just do it!"

I heard distant footsteps come up to the door then the door opened and Bryson came through.

" What was the point of that?" he asked.

" To make sure we wouldn't get locked in some mysterious place again," I said.

Bryson rolled his eyes and walked through the other side of the door. I looked back at the other door that the robots were aiming at and walked through the door and closed it. When I walked through, I could see nothing. It was very cold, and the air was dry.

" Bryson," I whispered.

I began to slowly walk forward then suddenly I felt a cold hand on my shoulder. I quickly raised my gun and grabbed my flashlight out of my bag. I turned it on and sighed in relief.

" Bryson!" I said.

" Sorry," he said awkwardly.

Bryson began to bit his lip awkwardly and took his hand off my shoulder.

I lowered my gun and sighed.

" Any clue as to where we are?" I asked.

" No, but it's cold, so I'm guessing another storage room," he said.

I moved my flashlight from in front of Bryson's face and began to look around. I came across this big metal wall.

" What's that?" Bryson asked.

" I don't know," I said.

I slowly put my hand on the metal wall and glided it along its surface.

" It's cold," I said.

Bryson walked up to it and put his hand on it and nodded his head. He looked at it weirdly and knocked on it. The sound echoed on the other side.

" This isn't a wall," he said.

" What is it?" I asked.

" Give me the flashlight," he said.

" Why?"

" Seriously?" Bryson said.

I rolled my eyes and angrily placed the flashlight in Bryson's hand.

" Thank you." Bryson nodded.

Bryson slowly raised the flashlight until the light was flashing onto the top of the large, metal object.

" The top of it's pointy," I observed.

" Rocket," he said.

" We're in the rocket room?!" I said.

Bryson flashed the light onto the ceiling.

" There are lights on the ceiling, so there must be a switch somewhere," he said

" Get your flashlight out your bag so I can have mine back," I said.

Bryson handed me my flashlight and I turned around and began to search for a light switch.

" Found it," I said.

Bryson turned around and gave me a thumbs up. I flipped the metal light switch on and the power whirred on and the lights slowly flickered on.

" So now what? We found the room." I said.

" We need to replace the control board to stop the launch," he said.

I sighed and put my hand on my head.

" Alex?"

" Yeah?" I said.

" Something wrong?" he asked.

" I-I just don't know if we're gonna make it in time," I said.

" Why do you say that?"

" Because these are rockets, it won't be easy to hack into the system and stop the launch," I said.

" But when you reprogrammed Silvey, it didn't take you that long," said Bryson.

" Because it was a robot. I messed around with robots all the time at school." I said.

" How are these any different?"

" They are set up differently and the rockets are more complex Bryson," I said.

Bryson sighed and nodded his head.

" You can do this Alex, I believe in you," he said.

I looked up at Bryson and shook my head.

" I can stop the launch, but I don't know if I can do it in time," I said.

" Not with that attitude," he said.

Bryson turned around and began to walk around.

" Where are you going?" I asked.

" To replace the control board," he said.

I rolled my eyes and folded my arms. Bryson stopped and turned around.

" Standing there isn't helping," he said.

" What's the point?" I sighed.

Bryson shook his head and walked over to me furiously. He came up to me and put his hands on my shoulders and squeezed them.

" Now is not the time to be some stuck-up know-it-all," said Bryson.

" Excu--"

" Shut up! Stop being so negative and help me replace the stupid control board! It's not about you anymore Alex, it's not about us." he said.

Bryson looked me dead in my eyes and let go of me.

" It's about our families. We didn't do this for us, we did it for them," he said.

A few tears traveled down my face but I quickly wiped them off.

" You're right," I said.

I nodded my head and began to walk forward.

" Now that's the Alex I know," he said.

We began to search for the control board. There were two huge white, blue and gray rockets and I was beside the right one. Bryson was on the other side of the left one.

" Nothing over here but dust and scraps of metal," yelled Bryson.

" Ok, I'm about to check the other side of the rocket over here," I replied.

I walked over to the other side of the rocket and I came across the rectangular, white, metal object with a numerous amount of controls on the surface.

" Bryson, I found it," I yelled.

I walked closer to the object and admired its complexity. I could hear Bryson's fast footsteps coming closer to me.

" See Alex, we found it. All you have to do now is shut it down." Bryson said.

" I have to get into the system first, and who knows how long that will take," I said.

" Stop worrying about time," he said.

" Time is our main problem here," I said.

Bryson grabbed my shoulder, shook his head and turned me around towards the control board.

" Shut the system down, I'll tell you how much time we have as it gets closer to the 12-hour mark," he said.

I nodded my head and sighed. I cracked my knuckles and moved closer to the control board. There was a medium-sized screen in the middle of the control board, and a sphere-shaped mouse to the side of it. I put my hand on the mouse and the screen immediately lit up. There was a drop-down menu on the top left-hand corner of the screen. I moved my cursor over to it and clicked it. There were four options, time to launch, operating system, automaton count, and reboot.

" Ok, I found the operating system," I said.

" See, wasn't that hard to replace," said Bryson.

I nodded my head and clicked on the second option. I needed to replace out what kind of motor it was using. On the right hand of the screen, the words "motor type" highlighted in green.

" So what are you looking for?" Bryson asked.

" The motor type," I replied.

I clicked motor type and in the middle of the screen the word Hybrid popped up.

" It's a Hybrid motor. This just made things a whole lot easier." I said.

" Good," Bryson said.

All I had to do was stop the oxidizer flow. This was going to be a piece of cake. I quickly went back into the operating system and found the motor control and stopped the oxidizer flow.

" Done," I said.

" Already?"

" Yeah, now all I have to do shut down the system since I shut down the motors," I said.

I quickly went back to the main screen and clicked reboot. I simply had to override the reboot and completely shut it down. Easy.

Less than five minutes later, I shut down the rocket launch.

" You done? Like done, done?" Bryson asked.

" Yeah," I said.

Bryson backed up and leaped up into the air with joy.

" Yes!" he yelled.

He ran up to me hugged me and spun around with me in his arms.

"You're like a tech god Alex! You saved us!" Bryson said with joy.

I shyly giggled. " I guess so."

" You saved the world!" he said.

Bryson looked down at his watch and then looked back up at me.

" We have 20 minutes to get out of this building and back through the portal."

" We need to know the truth about the boss man," I said.

" Alex, we need to get back to the portal," said Bryson.

" It didn't take us that long to get here Bryson, it shouldn't take us long to get out," I said.

Bryson nodded his head and squeezed his lips together. "We have to be quick about this."

I nodded my head and began to look for clues around the control board. I noticed there were two cabinet doors on the bottom of the control board. I opened them and all there was an old notebook. I grabbed it and blew the dust off the cover.

" Carter," I said.

" Who's that?" Bryson asked.

" I don't know, that's the name printed on the front cover," I said.

" Carter, Carter...," Bryson said to himself.

I sat the note on the control panel and noticed there were small black letters printed underneath the screen. I leaned closer towards the board and squinted my eyes.

" Bryson, I found something," I said.

Bryson walked over leaned closer to the control board.

" RC Líder del Día de la Muerte," he said.

He sighed and put his hand on hip.

" Is that like robot language or something?" Bryson asked.

" No, Spanish," I said.

" Spanish?"

I closed my eyes and thought back to Spanish class and put the words together.

" RC Leader of the Day of Death," I said.

" Carter, Leader of the Day of Death," Bryson said.

" The boss man," I said.

" His real name is Carter. He's the reason this happened," said Bryson.

I looked down and grabbed the notebook I'd sat down on the control board. I opened it up and it had a print that was obviously typed.

" What's that?" Bryson asked.

" I found this notebook in the cabinet underneath this," I said.

I opened the notebook and the letters inside of the notebook were typed as well. I began to read what was written inside,

Carter, the man who influenced the decisions that are being made now, and in the future. Eight years ago Carter made a robot to take care of his household duties and help him with his scientific studies. He designed the robot to learn and improve itself by learning from its surroundings. The robot learned that he used him and treated him as if it were a slave. The robot escaped and created a new civilization and robots. realized the robot had escaped three days later and never knew why.

Seven years later most of the family had been murdered by the robots, he was the only one of his family left....at least that's what he thought. He eventually found out his grandfather was still living and had been studying the robots, and how to stop them. He and his grandfather met up one day to discuss their ideas, and they decided it would be best if they split up for safety reasons. decided he was too old and weak to fight the robots, so he created a time machine and traveled eight years into the past, right after his robot escaped and left, to send stronger and younger people to end the reign of the robots.

I stood there in awe. The boss man, Carter, is the reason the robots want to take over.

" Alex?"

" W-what?"

" So what does it say?" Bryson asked.

", he's the reason the robots want to take over," I said.

" Wait seriously?!"

" Yeah, he sent us here to fix his problem," I said.

" Unbelievable," he said.

Bryson stepped back and looked at the rockets.

" So where are these rockets going to?" Bryson asked.

I shrugged my shoulders and started to flip through pages in the notebook.

" According to this, every other continent in the world," I said.

" So Africa, Asia, Australia...etc."

" Yeah, they were going to take over the world," I said.

Bryson stood there and looked at me then sighed.

" So they were just going to send empty rockets all over the world?" Bryson asked.

I shrugged my shoulders and flipped through the pages again.

" Inside the rockets are human-like robots that will remain inside the rockets until the human race is extinct. Inside the rocket looks like the robot city that has top security and ensures there safety." I read.

Bryson sighed and shook his head.

" So what are you going to do about ?" Bryson asked.

" We'll worry about that when we get back," I said.

Bryson looked down at his watch then looked back up at me.

" We don't have much time so come on," Bryson said.

I put the notebook into my bag and followed after Bryson as he rushed through the door. As I went through the door I noticed the other door had been busted open.

" They were already here," Bryson observed.

" Yeah, which means they must be near," I said.

Bryson and I slowly crept towards the door and checked if the robots were in the hallway.

" They're gone," I said.

" That's weird.....something isn't right," Bryson said.

" Maybe they went to check somewhere else," I said.

I walked out the door slowly with my gun raised and checked in front of me to see if there were any robots.

" We're all good," I said.

Bryson slowly walked out the door and in front of me.

" I guess we're all go--"

Bryson stopped in mid-sentence and his eyes got very big.

" Bryson?"

I closed my eyes and when I opened them everything was moving in slow motion.

" Alex!" Bryson yelled distantly.

I slowly turned around there was a robot behind me with its arm raised and its laser powering up. I before I could even react the robot shot the laser at me. I felt Bryson grab me by my arm and yank it. I saw the laser darting towards me. You would think I would be scared because it was coming towards me, but I was scared because I could do nothing about it. I could feel Bryson using all his strength as he yanked me away from the laser but it wasn't enough. The laser blasted me on my side. I fell to the ground in utter pain. I had this horrible stinging sensation on my side and could feel the blood gushing from my side. I looked over at Bryson and he had tears rolling down his face. He put his hand under my neck and his other hand on my side.

" Alex!" he cried.

" B-Bryson.," I said weakly.

" You're gonna make it, you've made it too far to die." he cried.

He looked up at the robot angrily, pulled his gun from his bag and shot the robot in its chest. He looked down at me and shook his head.

" Y-you're gonna make it. I won't let you die," he said.

I weakly nodded my head and tried as hard as I could to stay awake.

Bryson went into his bag and pulled out the same bandages that I put on his head. He grabbed the bottom part of my shirt lifted it up until he saw my wound. When he saw it, he gasped and started to cry. He looked at me as I slowly blinked my eyes. Bryson gently placed the bandage on my wound, and I felt the bandage slowly tighten onto my skin. I grabbed and squeezed Bryson's arm because it was so painful.

" Alex?" Bryson said.

I took a deep breath and used the rest of my strength to speak.

" You have to promise me that if I don't make it--"

" Don't. You're gonna make it," he said.

I looked over at the wall and looked back at him and shook my head. I tried to talk again but I was too weak.

" Alex?"

I felt myself, my body slowly accepting death. I felt myself accepting death.

" Alex?!" Bryson yelled.

Bryson looked at me and slowly leaned closer to my face and pressed his lips against mine. I looked at him and gave him a confused look, then I smiled.

" Don't lose the chance to see your family again because of some girl," I said weakly.

He smiled and nodded his head. I slowly began to raise my hand but then it fell to the ground. My heart stopped. Even though I was technically dead I could still see and hear. When Bryson realized I was dead, he became frozen. I thought death was some tragic and heart-aching experience, but it's not. I felt my body shut itself down, losing feeling in all of my body. My hearing was the last thing to go. Ever heard the saying, your life flashes before eyes when you die? It's true. I saw myself being born, my sister being born, my birthday, everything that made my life mine. Then everything went black. I suddenly started hearing the faint voice in the back of my head. It was calling my name.

" Alex...."

Then I realized I was in this trance. I looked down and noticed I was alive.

" Hello?" I yelled.

" Alex...." the voice said faintly.

" Who's there?" I asked.

Suddenly a man popped up in front of me. I looked at him for a second, then I realized it was the same man I tried to save when I first got here.

" You...." I said.

" Alex now is not your time to go," he said.

" But I'm already dead," I said.

" Not quite yet," he said.

I looked at him weirdly and put my hand on my hip.

" Your friend needs you, and so does the world," he said.

" I am dead," I said.

He shook his head and put his hand on my forehead.

" What are you doing?" I asked.

" Wake up Alex...." he said.

" What?"

" Wake up Alex," he said again.

I suddenly started to feel dizzy, then, I fell to the ground and everything went white.

" Why?" Bryson sobbed.

I opened my eyes and gasped for air. I felt like I never did get got shot by the laser, I felt stronger than before. I looked over at Bryson and put my hand on his leg.

" Bryson?" I said.

Bryson looked at me and his eyes got huge.

" H-how?" he asked.

" I don't know, but I'm here now," I said.

He looked at me and smiled, then he gave me a big hug, and this time I hugged him back.

" We need to get going," I said.

" But you just died," he said.

" How much time do we have?" I asked.

He looked down at his watch and gasped.

" Six minutes."

I quickly got up, got my gun out of my bag and put the arrow in my pocket.

" We gotta go," I said.

Bryson nodded his head, we quickly headed down the hallway. We ran to the intersection where we first arrived at when we came into the building and there was a whole line of robot blocking the exit door. I looked at them all angrily.

" I thought I killed you." one of the robots said pointing its arm at me.

" Guess you thought wrong," I said.

I pulled the arrow from my pocket and whispered, " Kill them all."

The arrow flew out of my hand and pierced through each of the robot's chests and it flew back into my hand. I looked at Bryson and nodded my head.

" Let's go," I said.

We ran out the door and there were tons of robots ready to kill us, but I just kept running. As I was running I noticed blue goo kept splattering onto them and they froze in action. I looked behind me and Bryson had this large gun in his hand and he was shooting each of the robots as we were running. I smiled and turned back around. I began to see this small purple dot.

" The portal!" I yelled.

Suddenly all the robots around us just dropped to the ground.

" What the?" said Bryson.

" The energy source, we shut it off remember? Now come on, we don't have much time." I said.

Bryson and I both bolted towards the portal praying we would make it in time. I suddenly started hearing the same sound a robot's arm made when it was powering up and getting ready to shoot a laser at something.

" Alex, there's a robot behind us!" Bryson yelled.

I stopped and turned around and Bryson was standing there with fear plastered across his face.

" We don't have time to fight the robot Bryson! The portal might close!" I yelled.

Bryson nodded his head, put his gun back in his bag and we ran.