1 Apocalypse

It was the year 3045 that it all started, the day started off as a normal everyday thing. Avery woke up, went to school to learn absolutely nothing at all, get bullied as per usual then go home to work on her personal robot, one she'd been working on for the past 10 years. It was as if nothing would ever change, her loneliness, her solitude. People say Canada is a happy place full of friendly people, but as an 18-year-old genius living in Ontario, it was kind of harsh. She had to deal with so many things growing up, being chased up and down the streets by an armed druggie, or getting her school out on lockdown cause a naked man was running around by her school. Nothing ever changed, it was hard. Of course, a few things were easier, jobs weren't needed anymore, they had androids running the stands at the local Big Bee's and Tim Hortons, so instead, she just spent her time either in class or at home.

"I wonder what life would be like if things had changed...If we had to actually fend for ourselves? If food was a hard thing to get, if we had to fight to survive" she said to herself as she played with the food on her plate. It was 5:34 pm on a Friday night, she was eating dinner yet again only with her mother. Since her father worked late most nights and didn't get home 'till at least 5:50 pm-6:00 pm it was hard to be a real family. Her mom looked up at her and dropped her fork, she sighed and pushed her chair out. "Avery dear, you can't complain, honestly we have it pretty good, you don't even need to work to live, you get to be free and have a great amount of time to yourself, of course, there's school and- oh god wait...are you having problems with a class? Is-- is it those kids again? I swear, I will call their parents and-" she was immediately cut off by Avery. "No mom. It's not them, people just- they don't do anything for themselves anymore, I mean look at us!? We're eating potatoes that were cut FOR us by some stupid robot!" her mom sighed "Its an android, and it's the latest model, you should be more grateful, your dad works full time and rarely sleeps, he bought this for you so that you looked cool for you're-" Avery stood up, obviously angered by her mother. "No- he bought it so YOU looked cool to the other moms, now if you don't mind, I'm done eating, I have to work on Pablo and homework" her mom sighed as she frowned, ignoring the first half even though it was rude. "You're working on it already? You hardly touched your food, and you know it won't work, it's impossible" Avery shook her head, a slight sigh as she walked up the stairs, away from her mother.

She opened the only door on that second floor, the door to her room, it had a sign that she and her father made when she was young that read as 'Ava's room' with small gears, hearts, and stars all around it. Avery twisted the doorknob, slowly opening to reveal her messy room, black wallpaper and dark wooden flooring that creaked no matter where she stepped. Across from her laid a medium-sized robot that looked like a real human-ish boy of some sort. It had black short hair and pale white skin, of course, because she had some dignity it wore a black hoodie and jeans. It was supposed to look just like her dream friend, someone she knew back in grade 5 that she actually wanted to be friends with but never had the chance. "Hey Pablo, I'm home," she said happily as she threw her backpack on her bed and closed the door behind her, walking over and looking at the robot, checking its vitals and gears, trying to see if it would turn on yet. Of course, it didn't at all, she got no reactions to any of the tests and the batteries wouldn't work for him. But when others saw failure, she saw an opportunity, she didn't give up easily, even after 10 years of failure. She took out her toolbox and flipped the disable bot over, opening his back and going through each wire, moving and replacing them till they have a shock, messing with his hardware and gears, hoping to make him turn on. "Damn...am I...am I finally getting close to turning you on?" she said, in a happy tone, working on Pablo always made her happy, another day meant she was a day closer to having a friend by her side finally. She made a final tweak and closed the back. She wiped the sweat off her forehead since her room had too much heating. It made her sweat a lot, which as normal as it was got really annoying. She quickly placed Pablo on the ground, pressing the button on his back, but before she could get a reaction the ground started shaking. "Oh god- an earthquake!? Now of all times???" she said confused as she went to open the door. But it was locked, it was strange, she never locked her door, she could hear keys jingling on the other side of the door "m-mom? Mom is that you?" she muttered, the door was slowly being unlocked, she was running out of time, her room was falling apart, she could see robotic feet under the door, she freaked out and ran back to Pablo, hugging the robotic husk, pressing his power button repeatedly, hoping he'd enable or something "please please please please please..." she said as the door opened. What emerged from behind it was the Android her father had bought for her mom, he was covered in bloodstains head to toe, it only freaked her out more. The Android aimed his hand right at Avery, which made her start freaking out, quaking in fear, scared for her life, she truly had no idea what to do.