Rescue

The prison kitchen still smelled of smoke but the meat smell was now rancid. X ran toward the robot, furious and grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter. The government murdered his father, his father. Now he wasn't going to lose his brother too. He needed to get out of the prison.

"Where is K being held at! Where is my brother!" X shouted at the wide-eyed robot pointing the knife at its dual power coupling in the spot where a human windpipe would be.

"The Continental Prison," The bot said, shaky.

X still found himself uncomfortable with bots that had feelings. He just wanted to cut its power, but those scared eyes and quivering voice stopped him. "Take me there."

"But how?" The robot sounded weak and worried.

"Aren't you the highest command in this prison?"

"Yes."

"Then give the direct orders to transfer me to Continental Prison."

"Very good plan." The robot pushed X's blade back and attempted to press the alarm button but X cut it's hand.

"You try anything, anything at all, you will be torn apart for scraps, understand?"

"Yes." The bot sounded more scared than before.

"Get up, let's go." X put the knife back on the kitchen counter. The bot stood up, cuffed X and led him into the corridor.

"Commander. Where are you taking the prisoner?" a guard said

"A transfer him to Continental prison."

The bot led X to the transport truck. It was the first time he'd been outside in two days. X coughed, the air was full of dust and noxious vapors. He wished he had his government-issued breathing mask. The bot, however, suffered no ill effects from the polluted air.

"Huh. You bots don't get dust in your lungs?" X tried to keep the conversation going, even though he already knew the answer.

"No. we are robots, we don't have lungs. Aren't you smarter than that?" The bot led X onto the truck and threw him in.

"Don't play games. I will keep my word and scrap you for parts!" X cried as the doors closed on him.

The ride was no more than twenty minutes, but X was exhausted.

"We have arrived at Continental prison." The bot shook him awake. X climbed out of the truck to a single story building with nothing but a gate and incomplete barbed wire on top. However, X knew this prison was the one for the most dangerous criminals.

"I will scan the building for hostiles."

"There appears to be no one in the building."

"What? No, no, no." X ran toward the prison gates.

"C'mon. You piece of junk!" X shouted at the bot. The bot followed X, shooting down the gate as X charged into the prison. There was no one there. The cells were clean. The prison looked brand new.

"There's nothing. What kind of game are you playing?" He turned to the bot.

"No. Please do not scrap me for parts. I can prove to you he was here. I just need to find the central database for the prison." The bot promptly walked toward the main office and plugged his hands into the database.

"Look. There. K, son of J and brother of X. It looks like he escaped. They tracked him to a warehouse in the state of New Nevada. Coordinates: three-seven dot two-four-three-one North. One-one-five dot seven-nine-three-zero West."

"Arghhh!" X began to howl. The sound of his voice overwhelmed everything in the office. Over and over, the chairs, desks, and computers smashed against the wall. X didn't notice what he had done.

"It appears that y-"

"Shut up. Let's go get my brother."