CODE X 777

C O D E 6 F E E L I N G S

It was beginning to grow darker as Slaine skated across the streets on his skateboard. The streets of Florida didn't stink, unlike New York. His nostrils weren't used to fresh air like that. He skated through the footpath of the subway on his skateboard.

The street lights were glowing by then and the traffic was moving on the raid as he stood at the footpath and looked down at the city.

"You didn't go to play today?" He heard and turned back to find Asselyum.

"Nah, it's not NYC." He replied as she stood beside him.

"You hate blondes, you hate kids, you hate Mexicans, do you even like someone?" She asked.

"No, I don't."

"Where are your parents?"

"Don't know. Never met them. Don't even know if they are alive."

"How did you survive then?"

"As far as I remember, I've always been on the streets, usually begged for food. Maybe my parents hated me just like I hate everyone else."

"Do you miss them?"

"How do you miss someone who you've never met? Dumb blonde."

"Hey, I know my creator so I'm in a better position than you."

"Yes, you might be."

"So, do you still beg for food?"

"Hell no. I earn by playing. We bet money if I win I get to take all of it, but if I lose-- I even end up losing what I had."

"What then?"

"No food, I guess? But I don't like begging anymore-- I hate it. Though thankfully, I'm skilled enough to never lose a game again."

"And till when do you plan to continue this? What about when you grow old?"

"Maybe I'll just die peacefully in some of those choked lanes of the city."

"Pretty pathetic."

"I know... Why did you come here?"

"To talk to you."

"Why? I don't want to work with you."

"But I want you to."

"You just want a gamer—You'll get tons of those out there."

"But they aren't you. Being a gamer is not the only quality you have."

"If not for gaming, I'm just a good-for-nothing, heartless jerk."

"No, you're very caring by nature, quite opposite of heartless."

"And why do you think that?"

"Why else would you care if someone takes drugs or they don't?"

Slaine didn't know what to say.

"Apart from that, you're confident, kind of a p***y but well, you're straightforward and sympathetic. You come up with solutions easily and you can never say no to a request. You decided to put up with me even when I was extremely insensitive to you. That's all I know of you currently though I do want to know you more."

"...Are you really a robot?"

"Yes, why would you ask?"

"I don't know. You sound so human all of a sudden."

"Is that so?" She looked at him. He looked into her eyes.

"I hate you." He said, "You reminded me of people I don't want to remember."

"Who?"

"Some people."

They stood quietly while looking at the sky.

"You know what, Asselyum," He said. She looked at him.

"I too want a family and a place I could call home. I want to go to school and make friends."

"I can't give a family but I think I can give you a place you could call home. Just rely on me."

Slaine chuckled "Robots are so innocent."

Asselyum tilted her neck as if bewildered, "I'm serious though."

"Yes, I know." Slaine nodded.

"It's getting late. Let's get back."

Slaine followed her without saying a word or showing any resistance. He seemed to be lost somewhere.

"You guys are back? We've washed Lupin! Come, have a look!" Jimmy ran inside. Asselyum walked inside but Slaine held her hand. She turned back and looked at him, "What?"

"Nothing," He said.

She stared at her hand. He quickly left it "Sorry."

"Guys, see this!" Jimmy shouted. Slaine looked at Lupin. He was shocked-- After bathing, shaving and dressed up in proper clothes, Lupin looked like a prince! He had blonde hair and white eyelashes. Unmistakably, he was albino.

Asselyum brought her hand forward "Nice to me you, Lupin."

He tried to speak but coughed. So, he just shook her hand and nodded.

"We should get your dinner," Asselyum said.

"Yeah, I'm starving," Axel said.

"I hate frozen food," Jimmy complained.

"It's fine. I'll cook in that case." Asselyum said.

"You can cook?" Slaine asked.

"I can. We'll need to get the groceries. Come with me." She grabbed his hand and they walked outside. They walked under the streetlights and decided to fetch something quickly from the nearby Walmart store.

He stood outside of the store and waited for her. "I really should stop interacting with blondes..." He mumbled. His body was suddenly covered by a huge shadow and as he turned back, he saw a man. His face had no skin near the area of his lips and one could easily see his gums and teeth, he had dark, black, streamlined eyes and sharp canines. He had scales all over his body. Slaine looked at him with his eyes wide open. He had frozen from fear.

"$11 fifty cents," The clerk said and Asselyum paid her. She picked up the bag and walked outside the store.

"Slaine?" She looked around but he was gone, his skateboard was lying on the floor. She left the bag and ran on the streets. She closed her eyes and she could see the radar inside her system. The red dots were humans and the green dot was an X-DROID.

She ran towards the green dot and took out her g*n from her pocket. She jumped into one of the streets from the top of the terrace and found the X-DROID. Slaine sat beside him, covered in blood. Asselyum shot at it at least five times in a row, non-stop until it fell.

"Asselyum!" Slaine shouted as he looked at her. Her eyes were shining blue. She looked at Slaine. There were bite marks on his arm. "He didn't do anything, right?"

"Like what?"

"Did he try to mix his blood with yours?"

"No? He even moved back the moment he bit me."

"Close your eyes." She ordered him.

"But why—"

"Don't ask questions while I fight."

He closed his eyes and heard a loud c***k of bones. When he opened them, he shouted in fear.

That X-DROID was crushed into flesh and plastered to the wall.

Slaine threw up. Asselyum looked at him "I will be doing worse. And you'll have to witness all of that. How will you survive?" She asked.

"Is this how badly you kill?" He asked.

"Yes. Or they'll regenerate themselves."

"This is heinous." Slaine's face was pale and he had goosebumps all over his body.

Asselyum's hand were covered in blood. She turned back " I'll go get the groceries."

"How can you even eat from those hands?"

She licked her fingers.

"The answer is simple, I don't. Don't get me wrong but unlike you, I don't want anyone's affection or home or friends. I live for war and a battleground is where I'll die." She left to get the groceries as he sat there. He clenched his fist "All blondes are the same... I thought you were different"

'But it's okay. You're a robot after all. Feelings are merely a chemical reaction of the brain released by the heart and suffered by the entire body.'

-To be continued