Machine Age

I was sitting in the kitchen smacking my Froot Loops with the back of my spoon. The milk was making interesting patterns on the table. I was not happy. I looked up as dad came down the stairs.

"Hey buddy," he said. "What are doing dressed? It's Saturday. Did you forget?"

"You're taking me to work with you," I pouted.

"Oh'" dad smiled. "One of those mornings."

Mom called from the living room, "Yeah one of those mornings. You're taking him with you because if you don't the chances of him still being alive when you get back are about 50-50. Oh and you'd better pick up your coffee on the way."

Dad looked at me. He was smiling kinda. "What did you do?"

"I wanted to see how the coffee maker worked. There's a ton of pieces. Think I lost a few."

Dad went into the living room to kiss mom goodbye. "Whoa, that is a lot of pieces."

Mom said, "See if you can find a passing band of gypsies or a circus you can sell him to."

Dad laughed. Mom didn't.

We drove in silence. I had my arms wrapped around my knees and I stared out the window. We drove in silence because the car radio was in the back seat in pieces. Lot's of pieces.

Dad said, "Barn why do you do this stuff?"

I shrugged, "I dunno. Bored."

We drove up to the factory gates  -  the plant dad called it - and an old guy in a cap leaned out the guardhouse.

"Good morning Dr Davis. See you got your assistant with you again." Dad was important.

"Hi Benedict," the old guy smiled. "Being good."

"No," I said. The old guy chuckled.

Then he raised the gate and we drove in. We got to park right next to the door. The parking space had dad's name on it. I followed him inside.

"I'm going to be really busy for a couple of hours and please be a good boy and don't disturb me. You did remember your laptop right?"

"No," I said. "Don't you remember you guys confiscated it after that thing with the DVR. So what am I supposed to do while you're very busy?"

Dad looked around and then he said, "Um OK here."

He sat me at a bench in front of this microscope thing and grabbed a box of microchips. I thought to myself this is going to suck dick.

Dad said, "I'll pay you ten dollars an hour ok. Here let me show you."  He grabbed a couple of chips and put them under the scope. "What I need you to do is check each one for breakage. See this one is a good and this one's defective. Do you see the crack?"

I didn't know what fuck he was talking about. I said, "Yeah I see it."

Dad said, "So you put the good chips in this box marked "good" and the bad ones in the box marked "bad." And here's some cash for the vending machines. I'll be done in an hour. Promise."

Dad shut himself in his office. I picked up a chip and looked at it. I threw it in the good box. I picked up another and threw in the bad box. I was right it sucked dick. I headed off to the lunch room.

It was empty thank God. So I was standing in front of the vending machine looking for what didn't suck because there were no pop tarts and then the door opened and this grizzly bear in a suit walked in. Honest to God he was the biggest man I'd ever seen.

I watched him out of the corner of my eye. And then he walked over. He slipped a dollar in the coffee machine.

"You're Dr Davis's kid right?" he said. "What's your name?"

And I was thinking you gotta be kidding. I answered him. What a jackass. "Benedict."

"That's a cute name," he said

"Thanks," I said. "I hate it."

I pushed the buttons for some kind of sick looking danish and grabbed it from the tray.

 "Gotta go." I said and I ran for the door. And ran right into him like running into a brick wall.

"Let me outta here," I yelled.

"OK," he said. He grabbed my arm with a huge mitt and everything went black.  And I was flying.

________________

I landed on well you know like the schoolyard after its been snowing and the snow's been run over by like a thousand kids and now it's all dirty ice well it looked like that. And it was freezing and I was standing there in a teeshirt and shorts because it was July when I left the house this morning and now apparently it was February.  I could make no sense of where I was. I thought I must be dead. That perv in the bathroom strangled me or the lab exploded. And then I thought this can't be the place you end up when you die. Looking around I saw deserted streets running off in different directions and as far as I could see everything was coated in gray ice.  Then I saw three guys - kids really - walking towards me.

One, who seemed to be in charged yelled, "Don't move."

And then they were in front of me.

"Come on," he said to me. "We need to get moving." I didn't move.

"Moving where?" I asked. "Because the only place I'm moving is home. Just tell me where I pick up the bus or train or  whatever and I'll be out of here."

The three looked at each other as if I was talking Chinese or something.

"Can we just go." said the one in charge.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," I said.

"You have to," said the one in charge. "Because if you don't a) you'll probably freeze to death and b) after dark you will be eaten by beasts and c) we will be in a whole lot of trouble. Hear put this on."

He threw the coat at me. I didn't give a shit about their trouble, and although the freezing to death thing seemed possible, I asked:

"Eaten by beast? Are you serious? What beasts."

Boy in charge seemed frustrated. "I don't know what beasts. We've never seen them."

"I'll take my chances." I said and did the only thing that made sense. I started running. So I was like sliding down this hill and I looked behind me which I know you're not supposed to do, and the weird thing was no one was chasing me. Then I slipped and went the rest of the way down on my ass. There was going to be some bruise on my butt. At the bottom I stood up slowly. And then it hit me all at once.  I was freezing, my ass hurt, I didn't know where I was or how I got there or how to get out, and it was getting dark and I was going to get eaten by invisible beasts. I started walking, looking I guess for somewhere to hide.

And then someone, something grabbed me by the shoulder. And then I almost fainted because it was I knew it was one of those invisible beasts and I was about to get eaten. It spoke.

"Get in here. Quick."

It was a girl. She shoved me through a doorway and slammed the door behind us. The girl looked to be around sixteen I guess. We were standing in an empty room with a dirt floor and a wall in front of me that was missing great chunks of plaster. Light was seeping through the one paper-covered window. No telling how big the room was because whatever light there was didn't have a chance of reaching the wall to my left or the ceiling. The room seemed to be empty and it was cold, freezing. Colder than the outside maybe. Against the wall in front of us there was a pile of blankets and quilts. The girl had her arm around my shoulder. I realized it was not a friendship thing just a way to prevent me from running. Which was a joke because I don't know what dying feels like but I wouldn't be surprised if it felt the way I was feeling right then. The girl, delirious from the cold maybe, spoke to the pile of blankets.

"Jasper," she said, "sorry to bother you and all but I found this boy wandering outside and I was wondering what I should do about him."

I said, "I don't care what you do to me except let me just die."

The pile of blankets moved and a head peered out. It was a dark-haired boy a little younger than me maybe.  He said, "Bring him over here."

The girl walked forward pushing me in front of her. I was trying to be brave.

"What the fuck is wrong with you," I said. "Quit pushing."

The boy in the blankets looked at her through narrowed eyes.

"Sorry," the girl said.

"First thing," the boy said, "is find him a blanket or something. He's half naked."

"I should check him for weapons first," the girl said. "He could be a spy."

The boy, Jasper, looked at her again with narrowed eyes.

"Sorry." she said.

She threw an evil smelling blanket over my shoulders. It was warm at least.

The boy patted a pillow next to him on the ground. "Sit here," he said. I sat.

 As the tension started to drain away I started bawling. I couldn't help it. I cried because I was cold. I cried because I was lost. I cried because I missed my family, I missed New Jersey, I didn't know where I was or how I got there or how I would get home. I cried because I was desolate, inconsolable. The whole time I was crying this boy Jasper held my hand. His warmth was seeping into my frozen body. Eventually I couldn't cry anymore. Jasper grabbed a corner of a blanket and wiped my nose.

"First question," he said as he looked at the girl and smiled. "Are you a spy?"

"A spy for who?" I said. "I don't know what the fuck you're talking about."

"Well that's out of the way," he said. "What's your name?"

"It's Benedict," I said. "It's not Barney. EVER. And don't tell me it's a cute name."

"I wasn't going to." he said. "Actually it's kind of dorky." He smiled.

I smiled back. "Thanks," I said.

The girl cleared her throat. "Um, Jasper." she said. "It's really dark out there. It's probably safe to light the lanterns and maybe get the stove going."

"You're right, Rose," Jasper replied. "Don't think anyone will be hunting us now. Go ahead."

Jasper turned to me. He didn't seem to care that I'd snuggled up real close to him. I was still shivering.

He said, "Next question. How did you escape from the castle."

"Escape from the what?" I said. "There's a castle?"

Jasper squeezed my hand. His hand was warm.

He said,"How about you tell me your story."

"OK," I said. I told him about the lunch room and the refrigerator in the suit. About ending up on the icy field and the three boys who told me I had to come with them.

"One of them had a coat that he wanted you to put on, right?" he asked

"Yes," I said. "But I didn't want his coat. And I def wasn't going anywhere with them."

"Thank God you didn't put it on. That's how they trap you. It's the coat. So what did you do?"

"I started running. The weird thing is they didn't even chase me."

"They wouldn't." Jasper said. "They would never come down into the town. They are much too afraid."

"Of what," I asked.

"The beasts," Jasper chuckled.

"Aren't you afraid?"

"No." he replied, "because there aren't any."

"I slipped running down the hill and landed on my butt." I said. "I think I have one hell of a bruise."

It was aching like fuck now that I was beginning to feel my body again

"Rose," Jasper said, "we need to find Benedict here some warm clothes and then we need to feed him and fix up a bed."

Rose said, "Well I'm not doing it all by myself. Maybe you should give me a hand here."

"That's OK," I said. "Don't go to any trouble. Just tell me how to get out of here and I'm gone."

I didn't like the way Jasper and Rose looked at each other.

"I guess we should tell him," Rose said.

"Tell me what?" I said.

"Um,well," they said together.

Jasper went on, "The thing is we don't know how to get out of here, and it's not like we haven't been looking..."

I felt the panic rising up to my throat. I felt faint.

I said, "How long have you been looking?"

Jasper and Rose looked at each other.  Jasper said, "About a year probably."

"A year," I yelled. "A year.  No, no, I'm leaving." I started running for the door. Jasper grabbed at me and missed. I reached the door and Rose was standing in front of it.  Did I tell you she was big?  I tried to claw my way by her.

"Don't be a little idiot," she said and caught me in a bear hug. I struggled but it was useless. My strength gave out and then, like a jackass, I sank to the floor and started bawling again.

________________________________________

I must have passed out from pure wretchedness because when I opened my eyes pale light was attempting to worm its way through the one grimy window without much success. I was warm partly because I was under a blanket and more so because I was sharing the blanket with Jasper. He had pressed himself up against me and it felt a lot better than it was supposed to. Jasper smiled at me and started playing with my hair. I jerked my head away because, well, guys don't do that. Jasper chuckled.

He said, "Good morning."

"Hi," I answered.

"How are you feeling?"

All things considered I didn't feel so bad except the bruise on my butt still hurt like shit.

I sniffed and wrinkled my nose.

"Dude," I said. "You don't smell so good."

Rose, who was wrapped in a filthy looking quilt and sitting on a chair, got this "oh shit" look on her face.

I was waiting for Jasper to hit me. He didn't.

He smiled. "Honestly you don't smell so great yourself."

I sniffed at my pit and he was right. Shit, I hate being dirty. At home sometimes I showered like twice a day.

"And," Jasper said, "that bruise on your butt has really interesting colors."

"What?" I gasped. "How do you know...oh shit you looked didn't you."

Jasper and Rose laughed. "Yeah we did," Rose giggled.

I was pissed. "You fucks. You don't go looking at a guy's butt while he's sleeping."

"Why not?" Rose said. "It's a cute butt."

"Well, you just don't," I said.

We stood in silence for a few minutes. Silence makes me uneasy.

I said, "What now? Where's the shower? I'm hungry. Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on."

"Um, we kind of ran out of food so we have to go on a food run," Rose said.

"A food run? Like to the supermarket?"

"Nooo," Jasper said, "to the castle."

"The castle? Well if the castle has food and showers and it's warm then that's for me."

"Your gonna have to stay here. It's way too risky to bring you. I'm sure they're dying to get their hands on you." Jasper said. He looked serious. "I almost feel sorry for that welcoming team that let you escape. They probably wish they were dead right now, or maybe they are."

"So you're going to leave me here by myself?" I was starting to feel scared.

"You'll be safe and we won't be gone long," Rose smiled. It looked fake. "Just snuggle in under those blankets and we'll be back before you know it."

"What if someone comes. What if you don't come back. Then what?" And there came those stupid tears again.

Jasper came over and hugged me. Even though he was a guy and shit it felt pretty good.

Jasper looked right at me eye to eye and he was really serious.

"Look, you have no clue how important you are to those people at the castle. They'll do anything to catch you. You're the final piece. You have to wait here. We won't be long, promise."

Jasper and Rose headed for the door. Rose looked over her shoulder and smiled. It looked fake.  I waited a few minutes after they left and the first thing I did was try the door. It was locked. They had locked me in.  I felt panic coming on. I had to find a way out of this place. Problem was when the panic hit I could barely think. Then I heard my dad's voice. What did he always say?

"Slow down champ. We'll fix this up. Just sit down, close your eyes and take some deep breaths and then we'll take care of it."

I tried it and it worked, kind of. It would have worked a hell of a lot better if dad had actually been there. The thing I realized was that I had no idea who these kids were. Jasper had told me that the people at the castle wanted to get their hands on me, I was important. And the castle was definitely someplace I did not want to be. So why were they going to the castle? They said it was for food. So why would the people at the castle give them food? I had thought at first they were some kind of fugitives or something. But what if they were some kind of bounty hunters. What if they were at the castle telling where I could be found. Maybe they would be bringing the guards or whatever back with them. I couldn't stay here that was for sure. I had to bust out somehow.

I started looking around for some kind of hammer or crowbar or something I could use on the door and then I wondered if I would actually have the strength to do that. I looked at the window. It was really narrow but I was kind of small. The problem was  it was so high up on the wall, so even if I managed to squeeze through it what kind of drop would there be on the outside. I knew I didn't have much time. They said they wouldn't be long. All I knew was that I had to be gone before they got back. I tried the door again as hard as I could but it was not going to move. It was solid. The other problem was that as soon as you moved any distance from the window it was scary dark. I was getting angry. These guys had nothing. "This is bullshit," I said. I started throwing stuff around. Making a mess. I didn't care. And then there it was. Under a pile of rags and stuff in the corner. I'd never held a gun in my life and it was big and heavy. I had no idea how to check if it was loaded. But I figured how hard could it be. I just had to aim it at the door and pull the trigger. I did what I had seen. I stood with my legs apart, held the gun with both hands, closed my eyes - I was pretty sure that wasn't part of the deal - and pulled the trigger. I wasn't ready for the noise. Or that it landed me backwards on my bruised ass. I opened my eyes and looked. Holy crap the door was like gone. A few splinters was all that was left. An icy wind was blowing in. I wrapped myself in a blanket and I hesitated. What do I do with the gun? Drop it? Take it with me? It was stupid heavy. I couldn't wait. I could see Jasper and Rose in the distance. They were alone and they were dragging heavy bags behind them. Maybe they were telling the truth but I couldn't take a chance. Holding the gun and hugging the wall I made it to the far side of the next building. I leaned against the wall and waited.