Heartbeat (7)

Lizzy and Doll walked side by side down the hallways of Colony 3.

"Where are we going?"

Doll showed no expression or emotion as she questioned Lizzy.

"The Northeastern Sector."

"Why?"

Lizzy turned to her Russian friend and rolled her eyes.

"Because it's off limits, duh."

Doll kept walking while thinking.

"What does that have to do with it?"

"It makes it fun, idiot."

"Oh."

"You are suchhhhhh a mood killer sometimes Doll, seriously."

"Sorry."

The two worker drones kept strolling through the hallway. Lizzy looked down and aimlessly scrolled through her phone, stopping occasionally to begin typing.

"Rebecca is coming too. She said she's on her way."

"Fun."

Lizzy smirked.

"Did you see Uzi's dad going psycho on the teacher? What a weirdo! I'd die of embarrassment if my dad did something like that!"

Lizzy giggled and covered her mouth while looking to her best friend.

Doll looked at the floor for a moment. 

"Uncle Khan…"

"Oh yeah, forgot about that. How come you aren't living with those freaks?"

"I like being alone."

"That's so sad, but you do you girl. Living alone is such a power move. In my opinion you're an absolute diva."

The Russian worker drone said nothing as they trudged along.

Minutes passed as the two walked on. Lizzy kept rambling at the smallest of things that annoyed her while Doll listened in silence to her friend's persistence yapping. 

Their footsteps were the only thing allowing Doll to drown out her bestie's constant blabbering. 

Three sets of steps filled the hallway as the two girls entered the Northeastern Sector.

Doll twisted her neck around and sighed while slouching over. She turned to Lizzy who was looking behind them.

"What's wrong?"

The girl's accent made Lizzy jump slightly. The girl turned her head back to the front.

"Uhh… Nothing, nothing."

Doll stared at her for a moment with confusion before letting the situation go. 

Each step seemed to echo less and less as the two workers got deeper into the Northeastern sector of Colony 3. Doll felt a shiver run through her body.

Lizzy stepped closer to her best friend's right side and Doll did the same to Lizzy's left. Both girls seemed to walk shoulder to shoulder and much slower than before. Their bodies hunched slightly as the lights flickered.

"Okay, so, maybe this was a bad idea…"

Doll shook her head slightly.

"Yes…"

Lizzy turned to her right side and smiled nervously at her friend before looking straight ahead.

"So like, we aren't turning back right? If you want to, I won't judge you, I swear. You just gotta say something, Doll, anything at all."

The lights flickered again as Doll pressed against Lizzy's left side harder. Lizzy knew that Doll hated the dark, so she kept close to her friend.

The two drones stopped moving once a rattling sound, coming from above, rang out. All three drones snapped their heads up and looked to the ceiling. Lizzy mumbled to her right where Doll stood.

"What was that?"

She shivered as she spoke. 

A light towards the end of the hallway flickered on. Lizzy and Doll snapped their heads towards the light. Lizzy turned to her right to speak however she stopped once realizing Doll wasn't there.

"Doll…?"

"Yes?"

She jumped and turned to her left. Doll was looking at her with confusion.

"You- Wait what…? But you were…"

Doll tilted her head in confusion at her friends rambling. The eerie vibe must've finally sent her over the edge and drove her friend insane. 

She rolled her eyes and looked back towards the flickering light. Her eyes widened as she saw herself standing under the weakening light. 

"What…"

The Russian drone took a step forward. Lizzy took a step back. Doll inched forward as the 'clone' smiled under the light. It didn't move an inch as Doll got closer. 

"Yeah this is WAY too freaky for me Doll. I'm gonna g-"

Lizzy's voice cut off instantly as her leg was caught by some sort of tentacle. She collapsed to the floor and let out a shriek as her body began to get drug by her ankle.

Doll turned around and clenched her teeth while narrowing her eyes. She opened her palm and aimed it towards whatever was grabbing her friend. 

Nothing was grabbing Lizzy.

The blonde drone scrambled to her feet and looked back. She put her hand against her chest and backed away towards Doll. 

"W-what was that?"

Doll said nothing as she turned back to her 'clone'.

The 'other Doll' was gone as well. 

"Tch…"

The Russian drone clicked her tongue and pushed her back against Lizzy's. 

"Don't let your guard down."

"What…? Fine…"

Lizzy was confused at Doll's sudden mood shift. Doll sounded more pissed than Lizzy had ever seen. She couldn't even remember if Doll had ever gotten mad before.

"This is SO NOT COOL. Doll, what is going on?"

"It's here…"

"What is?"

She didn't reply.

Lizzy's head was forced downwards before she could question her best friend anymore. 

Doll pushed her head down to avoid an oncoming robotic tendril flying her way. The girl's eyes flashed a hexagon-like symbol with three arrows protruding outwards in equal directions. The tendril was thrown into a wall once Doll raised her hand.

"I said not to let your guard down!"

Doll's voice was seething with anger at Lizzy's incompetence. Lizzy quickly stood up once her head was free of her friend's grasp.

"Uhh, well SORRY, you're wayyy too calm right now Doll."

She looked towards the tendril embedded in the wall and stared in disgust as it wiggled out of the crevice it carved and back into the shadows.

"How did you stop that thing?"

"Don't worry."

Lizzy attempted to speak once more, but Doll shoved her towards a wall as the drone aimed her palm at a small swarm of tendrils rushing from both sides of the halls. Each and every tendrils was pushed into the walls of the colony as they pierced the thick metal covering them. 

The blonde drone rubbed her head and looked up to see Doll's eye morphing again as the arrows on the end of her pupil turned to hexagons.

The tendrils instantly crumbled as Doll began to smile.

"Woah Doll, that's, like, super creepy girl."

Doll glared at Lizzy.

"B-but like SUPERRRR awesome too!"

More tendrils rushed towards Lizzy as her body was suddenly lifted into the air to avoid them. She was tossed to the floor beside Doll as the Russian girl crushed the tendrils once again.

Doll began to laugh slightly with each tentacle she crushed.

Around a dozen broken mechanical limbs lined the hall in both directions. Lizzy pressed against the wall as Doll stood still in a defensive stance. 

"Are they gone?"

"No…"

Lizzy shivered at her friend's words. 

The hallway began to shake as Doll and Lizzy both struggled to stand. A dim light beamed far off into the Northeastern Sector and rapidly grew brighter and larger.

Doll squinted at the light and let out a low growl as the hexagons sticking out from her hexagonal pupil turned into arrows.

She aimed her hand for the oncoming light and tensed up.

The light kept coming.

The Russian worker drone scoffed at tried once more to use her outreached palm.

The light was closing in fast.

"Screw this…"

Doll raised her other hand and steadied her feet. She gripped onto the ground and aimed both palms towards the light.

As it got closer she could make out dozens, no hundreds of tendrils sprawling out from all directions as what looked like a monster rushed towards her and Lizzy.

"Move…"

Doll began to panic.

"Move!"

Her voice was low and angered. She couldn't just stand there and let something like this happen again.

"MOVE!"