Silence.
For a minute after the blast, Bobby thought he’d gone deaf. His vision blurred and his ears were filled with a high-pitched ringing.
He couldn’t feel his arms nor tell if he was breathing. Just a numb, crushing weight pressing against his chest.
Am I dead?—he wondered.
Then—slowly, sound bled back. The sharp crackle of burning circuits. The faint hum of fluorescent lights. And beneath it all, the pounding drum of his heart. He was terrified.
Shapes swam into focus. Smoke curled around shattered lockers. Tiles lay cracked and scorched. And through the haze, something moved. It was tall, dark, and inhuman.
---
BF-85.
The robot’s body shimmered under the harsh lights. Its eyes—faint blue rings, glowed with an emotionless calm.
Bobby lay sprawled on the floor—his lungs burnin
