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I grabbed his shoulder with my less mangled hand. “I’m sorry.” I met his eye. “I am sorry, Fuse.”
The muscles under my grasp twitched, his lips clamping shut. He gave me a small nod. His frame swayed and I wrapped an arm around his waist, tethering him to my frame.
Moving at a snail’s pace, I walked us over the mounds of destruction that had once been part of our home. We stumbled together, tripping several times, our frames unsteady. Finally, I found a clear spot and carefully lowered his frame to the ground.
“Sit and stay. That’s an order, Fuse. I need to see... I need to make sure he is…” I couldn’t bring myself to finish.
Fuse nodded and said a silent thank you that he understood my need to see Torque for myself. I knew there wasn’t much time, but I didn't know if and when I would be able to see him again. I hoped we would be able to bring his body back to us, but uncertainty beat against my circuits.
My jaw tightened. My whole world had changed. I didn’t know if the rest of the rebellion was safe. My gut clenched painfully.I don’t know if the female I wish to make my own is unharmed or laying under a pile of rubble that would mean her death.The tone of Oz’s voice before the comm cut off was enough to cause a pit of fear to lodge in my stomach.
Then there was Torque. I slipped and tripped back over the chunks of concrete, a tiny sliver of blue standing out again the gray colored stones catching my eye.
He was on his back. The top half of his head was smashed, a mess of broken wires and circuits spilling free. I dropped hard to my knees beside him. His eyes were fixed, unseeing. My friend, my brother, was gone, the light from his eyes forever dimmed. He would never again come to my room to watch vid files or dance from foot to foot as he gazed longingly at Ever until Acer finally placed her in his arms, the grin on his face spread so wide as his frame vibrated with joy.
I wasn’t sure cyborgs made it to what the humans called heaven. Still, I bowed my head anyway, placing a hand over his heart as I prayed that Torque had been granted entry. “You fought well, brother.” I smoothed my broken fingers over his eyelids, closing them. “Rest now. All your battles are over. Until the day we meet again, my friend. I look forward to the day your eyes shine bright once again.”
Nara
My eyelids felt glued shut. I lifted my hand to rub off whatever was causing them to stick, and pain shot through me. Hot and raw like lightning, I gasped, sucking in a mouthful of grit and dust. Choking, I swallowed again and again, trying to fill my dry mouth up with enough moisture to remove the awful taste. Something warm ran down my face.
“Miss Nara, do not move. You are injured,” a voice said from somewhere above me.
“Chaos?” I coughed, sucking in another round of dust. Coating my tongue, it reminded me of the time I had tripped, face planted, and inhaled a mouthful of dirt.
“What about you? Core? Caliber?”
“Core sustained minor damage to his frame. Caliber and I are unharmed.”
I breathed in a sigh of relief. My guys were okay. “The others?” I struggled to sit up, a coughing fit overtaking me as I fought to get air into my lungs. The action caused my body to shake, and pain sliced through me, making me groan.
A warm hand landed on my shoulder. “Do not attempt to get up. I have run a scan of your frame and besides the blow you sustained to your head, your left arm appears to be broken.”
Gentle fingers brushed over my eyelids, clearing the remaining debris and allowing me to finally open my eyes. Chao’s beautiful face hovered over me. The fingers that had so carefully cleaned my eyes now cradled the sides of my face, keeping my head immobile.
Two more faces landed in my line of sight, all three of my cyborgs wearing matching worried expressions.
“I’ll be fine,” I offered in reassurance, even though I had no clue if my words were true. I met their gazes. “The others? What about the others?”
Core frowned. “We are unsure about the status of the other cyborgs and their humans. When the celling fell, it cut us off from everyone else.”
I let out a slow breath. We had been the last to exit the common room. While my cyborgs could have outrun me once Reaper had given the order to run, they had stayed behind to match my speed. Now they were trapped because of me. Tears welled up, but I held them in check. I couldn’t afford to fall apart. They needed me.
“Core, state your damage,” I ordered.
“The back of my frame was impacted with a large chunk of debris. The blow caused a dent to my upper back but none of my internal systems were harmed.” He turned so that I could see the back of his frame, and I had expected to see a small dent.
I gasped. The dent was the size of a basketball. “Core, that dent is rather impressive. Are you sure you are alright?” I had once seen vid files of what humans drove before transports. Cars were metal death traps that guzzled gas like it would never run out.
It had. The gas, I mean. And that had launched a brief war or two before we finally stopped fighting and invested in technology that did not rely on a non-renewable resource.
Cars had metal frames that would dent and crush when they were involved in accidents. The dent on Core’s back looked like he had been struck by one from behind. Luckily, a cyborg’s frame was designed to be much stronger than the materials used to build cars. That had to be the only reason he hadn’t suffered internal damage.
Core nodded. “I assure you I am fine. It is you that I am worried about.”
“And the fate of the others,” Chaos added, his mouth pressed into a thin line.
Caliber cocked his head. “We might be able to dig our way out.”
