Sorrysorrysorry. I have a list of legitimate excuses the length of my arm, but I'll spare you all and just update. Sorry. ; ;

Also, I hope you enjoy this, because my leg fell asleep while I wrote it and now I can't wake up. D: But that's probably karma for not updating. So. Hm.

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Chapter Twelve - Root Of All Evil

The soft crunch of the earth beneath his feet followed him into a clearing before vanishing with the ferns. Grass shot up around his hips and swayed in the breeze, so light it chilled him to the core and rose the hairs on his neck. He was visibly shaking now, and his shoes and pant legs refused to dry in the fog. Desperate to find some dry, wind-shielded place, Kevin lifted his eyes up and swept his gaze over the small field. Not a shelter in sight.

He had walked along the bank of the river until a steep rocky slope forced him back into the forest. Though he could hear the sounds of flowing water to his right, all he could see was trees and ferns and large rocks. In the recesses of his hazy mind, the desperate hope that Bryan could come stumbling into his path was alive and kicking, driving him onward despite the cold.

He was surely, totally, resolutely, without a doubt going to die. There was no way he was going to live through all the crap with Dickenson, and Slade, and the hostage situation, and then this. The universe wasn't generous to him on a good day, let alone right then. The swirling thoughts churned like the river he had been spare from, and each time he closed his eyes, he could see Bryan being swept away; his last real hope.

He had always frowned on those who pity themselves. After all, where did they get off? People were living with terrible illnesses and didn't pity themselves, so why should anyone living with anything less be allowed to? But as he pushed on out of the feild and up a slope, straining to find the river through the trees, the only emotion beside fear in his heart was pity. Heavy, freezing pity that dragged his spirits down to nothing. Below nothing, even: the abysm of nothing.

Lost in the process of mourning his own eventual death, Kevin didn't notice his feet were scuffing across pavement until the trees parted enough to let it a sudden burst of white light. He blinked, startled by the unexpected change in location, and looked around with widening eyes.

A huge opening was in the process of stretching out before him, boasting a mossy asphalt floor that ran across the entire area. Though dotted with ferns and weeds as the forest grew in upon it, the fencing that ran along it's boarders stood up to the majority of the trees. In it's center, a building made of cement, with a huge bay window made of deep blue plexiglass, sat abandoned and moldy. Kevin fell very still, pulling himself completely into reality and flexing his ears to listen for the sounds of whatever danger the area could be hiding.

After a long moment, he detected it: nothing. A vast, lonely feeling radiated around the abandoned work sight. Narrowing his eyes, Kevin side-stepped to a large cement cube and ducked down a bit, just to be sure.

Three seperate cranes hung over the site, two of the same size and one dwarfed in comparison. Whatever they had been used for, it seemed recent; no plant life clung to their sides or bases. Curiously, Kevin moved away from the rock and started toward the building. As he neared it, he could feel a strong wind picking up around him, driving him into the shelter with little hesitation.

"H-hello?" His voice appeared normal in volume, but shaking from the chill. Leaving the door open, he paced forward and dragged his gaze over the counter tops.

Thick black computer screens bore his reflection, log booklets lay open, a chair had been pushed back from the table. A fine layer of dust colored everything, prompting Kevin to run a finger over one of the pages and wipe some away. As he studied the grime and neglect of the room, something glinted as his shadow passed over it. Turning, Kevin curiously knelt down and plucked the small thing from the garbage on the floor.

A watch. Silver, stunning, expensive, and definitional out of place. Had a worker dropped it on his last day here, and forgotten it? Deciding that it was the only explanation there was, and it wasn't worth thinking about it further depth, Kevin stood back up and rubbed the dirt off of the watch face. To his surprise, the second arm stretched up and curved passed twelve: it was still working.

A solid crack floated passed his ears. Flinching horribly, Kevin jumped around toward the huge window and looked out over the empty lot. Another came, followed by a muffled thud, both sounding far away. As the sounds continued, they grew closer, and Kevin felt himself drop down beneath the desk, out of site.

This was it: the moment in which he would die. He was sure of it. After all, if not now, when? The pity party he had been throwing for himself earlier was now gone, replaced by the racing of his heart. Closing his eyes tightly, Kevin pushed his back up against the wall, deeper into the shadows. A very faint whimper bubbled up into his throat, and for a wild moment he was glad no one else was there to hear it.

The cracks and thuds were now upon him, somewhere out on the asphalt. They had fallen into a rhythm, so constant and sure of itself that it made Kevin want to cry. Cautiously, he leaned forward and inched his head out from under the desk, his eyes frantically looking for the window.

A huge, gray monster heaved itself across the lot, scanning for signs of life or movement. It's four legs moved in a flow of motion, almost like water, but the body lugged back and forth awkwardly passed the structure. Frozen in his place, Kevin just sat and stared.

A chilling silence filled the air around him. Perhaps it had been stuck in the room for so long that it had gone stale, but Kevin could hardly stand it. Recognizing the sound of his breathing, he tried to quiet himself further, eyes following the gimp robot as it wondered away.

I guess it missed me,he thought, recognizing that no amount of relief had returned yet.

Somewhere behind him, the head crunching smash of the roof caving in knocked him flat onto his side. Regaining his equilibrium in a matter of seconds, Kevin threw himself to his feet and turned around, eyes wide. Another robot, bigger and darker, drew it's leg back upwards and prepared to bring it down on the structure again. Kevin screamed, turning away from the metal monster and booking it full speed out of the door he had left open.

Another smash rumbled the ground, nearly tripping him. He stumbled over the asphalt, pumping his legs harder then he ever had. The robot was slow to react, turning gradually in his direction before all at once it rose onto its legs and started after him.

Kevin lept over a mangle fence and pushed into the trees, hair flying out of his face as he ran. Blind to where he was going, he swung his arms back and forth and shot a wild look over his shoulder. The robot lumbered after him, a single red eye extending down from it's belly to scan the landscape around it. Kevin turned back around and pushed harder, each step coming as a blur. He could feel tears stinging his eyes, be them from fear or the cold wind stinging as his face.

Something whizzed passed him, lunging forward into a tree he had yet to pass. In the fraction of a second it took him to sprint past it, Kevin made out the shape of the object. It was something that had recently become familiar to him, something that he had experienced during and after the Dickenson incident. Something he had recently received in the mail.

A syringe.

Another shot passed him, just missing his neck. Another cry tumbled out of his throat as he raced into an area of particularly thick undergrowth. Huge, twisting roots began to appear around him, his feet leaping from gnarl to lump to stump. The gaps between them sank down deep beneath him, but he hardly registered them. As he was leaping up to the top of the root-hill, he checked over his shoulder one last time: the robot had stopped. It couldn't tread in this rooted area without getting caught in the huge gaps.

Triumph began to flutter somewhere deep in his heart. Kevin turned back around with every intention of running farther still when a very sharp pain hit him in the left side of his upper back. With wide eyes, Kevin stumbled and lost his footing, falling victim to the trap he had been running over. He fell awkwardly, plummeting down into the dark depths of the roots, twisting like snakes around him.

He came to land rather quickly, and along with the sudden lack of motion went the breath from his lungs. Gasping, he lay still for a moment before a terrifying numbess overtook his upper back. His eyes snapped open and his hand flew back, tugging the needle from his back at a painful angle.

Somewhere far above him, through the labyrinth of roots and vines, the white sky began to pale into darkness, fading away as Kevin's eyes peered desperately up at it. Then, with a chilling numbness, Kevin's eyes closed, and he fell from consciousness, a silver watch firmly in his grasp.

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Fhew. Done. Hopefully this will help project me back into the mood for this story, so the next update will be soon. But idk. ; ;

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