You Can Leave When You Don't Want to Kill Them

"Can you tell me how you are feeling, Linus?"

"Sore," he said. Linus' chest hurt as he breathed a heavy sigh. He was convinced one of his ribs was fractured. The scrapes on his face burned and his black eye made it hard to stay focused on Dr. Rhodes, who sat across from him in her pristine white lab coat.

"Understandable," Dr. Rhodes said, shifting her glasses. "To start our session, can you tell me what you've been thinking about while you've been recovering?"

"Rather not," Linus said.

The doctor adjusted in her seat. For a few moments, her eyes moved around the room like her response was written on one of the drab concrete walls of the exam room. "Linus, when were you first admitted to the holding facility?"

Linus snorted. Holding facility his old ass. This was a prison for people who valued humans more than robots. Never in his lifetime did he think caring for flesh and bone people over walking, talking garbage cans would land him in the slammer.

"2091," he said.

"And what year are we in, now?" Rhodes asked.

Linus tossed his head, "I've been in hear to eight years, doc."

She nodded slowly, crossing her legs. "Eight years, Linus. That is the longest anyone has remained in the facility. Wouldn't you rather be outside living a normal life?"

"Normal life? That died when those abominations replaced all us hard working folks."

"It sounds like you still hold strong resentment towards robots," she said, staring straight into his eyes.

Linus looked away. He did, but for a moment he forgot that today, he was trying to suppress his feelings to pass the robot civility test. He took a deep breath and tried to relax a little bit. "Hey doc, can we just sit here for a few minutes so I can calm down? Sorry for the uh, outburst. Still a little rattled for all the hits yesterday."

Dr. Rhodes nodded, "Let me know when you're ready to resume."

Linus closed his eyes and looked  down towards the floor. He thought hard about his whole journey to get to the prison and the one person who was worth passing the test to see again.

It all started with the damn robots. When the artificial intelligence boom hit, hundreds of thousands of jobs were taken in the blink of an eye. To no one's surprise, many of the displaced workers, Linus included, weren't too happy about a bunch of robots taking their livelihoods. Riots struck bot manufacturers and the companies that used them. To combat the violent attacks, the government instituted a mandate requiring all perpetrators of violent crimes against robots be sent to facilities designed to help break the will of anti-robot citizens. All the inmates were kept in isolated, one person cells. The government hypothesized that most humans, deprived of enough sunlight and consistent human interaction would eventually put aside any petty animosity they held towards society's robotic workers to pass a civility test. For most that hypothesis was accurate, but Linus was an anomaly.

A semi-truck driver in the old days before self-driving vehicles of any kind, Linus lived in isolation, and he loved it. No humans bothered him unless he allowed it. The whole continental United States was his office building and his truck his own private office. He was living the dream, until the delivery industry went full robotic automation. A few months after getting fired, Linus was arrested for destroying a few of his old employer's fancy bots. Despite the consequences, he took pride in standing up for himself and his fellow man. Now, he lived the same isolated life behind bars. He fought for his convictions, and that meant he'd still sleep soundly at night.

Linus was in his late sixties when he was first arrested. With no intention of ever letting his hatred of robots die, he planned on dying in prison. That was until he met Constance, a beautiful older woman around his age, with a contagious smile, hazel eyes, and a fiery spirit like his own.

Once a week, the inmates were allowed a single hour of social interaction to keep them from going completely mental. On one of his first days, as Linus waited by the exit doors to the yard, he heard a woman next to him grumbling about the tin skins. What she said made him laugh, so he introduced himself. For weeks to come, he looked forward to his weekly hour with Constance to walk around and complain about how society was better back in the old days. 

With her arm locked in his, Constance made Linus' heart race like no other woman he had ever met. Linus had his fair share of truck stop gals during his time on the road, but never one he wanted to see again without beer goggles. If it were up to Linus, this was how he'd live until the end. With someone like Constance at his side, being trapped in this prison for his convictions wasn't so bad. In fact, it made it more worth it. Then, yesterday, Constance passed her civility test.

The social hour started like all the others. Together they walked through the wide doors with the mass of fellow inmates. While the rest grouped together, they made their way towards a secluded bench at the other end of the yard, far from the crowds and robot sentries. That way, they could talk all they wanted about the tin skins without being heard.

"You ever think we'd live to see a toaster carrying a gun?" Constance asked.

Linus chuckled, "No kidding. My microwave used to heat up soup. Now it's putting lead in the backs of people like us."

Constance smacked him, stifling the laughs she could feel coming. "That's not funny Linus!"

Linus held his stomach as he chuckled. "You know right well it is."

She tossed her head back laughing, then sighed. "This damn world is terrible."

After a few minutes, they reached their bench. Linus steadied himself as Constance slowly sat down, one hand holding Linus, the other gripping the bench. He sat next to her and looked at his watch. Forty-five minutes left, just like every week. Usually, Constance initiated their hour of complaining. She always had a new story about her time as a teacher, before the bots replaced all the school staff. Linus would laugh along at the ridiculous kids she taught, joking her worst students probably went on to become his co-workers.

But this time, Constance didn't start with a story. She sat in silence, staring at the sky. Linus didn't think anything of the pause. Instead, he took it as a moment to study Constance. He watched the reflection of clouds and blue sky in her eyes. The warm sun caused an angelic glow around Constance's cheeks and through her hair. He had never noticed how young Constance looked in the sunlight, how her shallow wrinkles and gray hairs disappeared in the warm yellow cast. A gentle breeze wafted across them, making his coat and the bottom of her dress flutter. Except for the murmur of a distant crowd and the shaking metal of the fence, the yard was quiet. Everything was calm, serene. After a few minutes, Linus didn't know why Constance hadn't started a new story yet, but then his stomach dropped. He believed he knew why.

"No use beating around the bush," Linus sighed, breaking the silence, "When do you leave?"

"In a day or two, once the final forms clear," she said.

Linus gritted his teeth. A piece of him wished she was withholding secret love for another inmate, or something that meant she would be staying. "Who's going to be taking care of you?"

"My daughter and her family. The court case cleared and we got our check. Like I thought, the bot that killed Terrance hadn't been updated." She rubbed her knee, "But, to get paid out I needed to pass the civility test. Then, once I'm released, can't say a word to anyone." She looked at Linus with a smirk, "So you take this to the grave you crotchety loudmouth."

Linus rubbed his face, trying to remain calm. "You gonna follow that?"

"Have to," she sighed, "Otherwise I'll get sent back here, along with my family, and we'll lose the settlement money."

"Did the court tell you what the error was?"

"In there words, current model bots have a better algorithm for calculating the need for lethal and non-lethal force. But, old bots had a bug. If two people were shouting, that was enough to get it to pull its gun. Of course, Nashville's police at the time had a bunch of old bots because of budget cuts. The bot that pulled us over happened to be one. Terrance and I were fighting, so the thing came around the car hearing us yelling at each other about Terrance's driving. At that point, damn tin skin had already pulled its weapon. After analyzing the footage from the stop, the lawyers think it saw Terrance grabbing my arm. Bot overreacted and took that as an act of violence towards me. Sent two shots through Terrance and one through my leg."

"You're telling me..." Linus began to shout.

Constance smacked his chest with the back of her hand and held a finger to her lips, reminding him to quiet down.

"You're telling me," he mumbled, "The police had an out-of-date model patrolling the streets, and you're the one that got slapped with all the consequences?"

Constance sighed, "The world has always been like this, Linus. Don't get all riled up on my behalf. My husband shouldn't have been killed. That's a damn fact. But, once I heard we won the case, I felt peace. I've been mourning that injustice a long time. Now, I need to keep living. I could stay bitter, but too many years of my life have been lost in this place already."

"You had every right to be bitter!" He said forcefully. "Tin skin killed your husband and threw your family to the wind! And just because you stood up to them, you get punished?"

"I got punished for attacking a bot on the street! That was outside the law, Linus. Once I decided to fight with the law, I won my case. It won't bring Terrance back, but now my family finally has the money to move out of Nashville and my daughter can stay home with my grandsons. It's been hell, but things are sorting out."

"I just think you're doing this all wrong is all," Linus said, folding his arms.

"And how should I have gone about this, Linus?"

Linus shrugged, "For starters tell the Corps they can take their dirty money and shove it."

"Then?"

"I don't know, you..."

"Then what Linus? After saying no to the money that would help my family, then what should I have done?"

"I'm getting there Constance, dammit! I'm trying to tell you what you should have done next!"

"Go on then! Let's hear it!"

Linus jumped from his seat, shaking a fist at Constance, "How am I supposed to tell you when you keep interrupting me like that?"

Shakily Constance pushed herself up to stand eye to eye with Linus. "I'm calling your bluff you rickety-boned revolutionary! You have nothing else to say! No plans, no hopes, no dreams, nothing! Just old man clinging to an old world that died a long time ago!"

"It's not dead! Not unless we let it die! And if you take this money, if you pass that test, you're telling these Corps human lives don't matter! You need to keep fighting!"

"Look at me Linus, do I look like a fighter?" Constance pleaded. "I can barely walk without your help, and you want me to throw away money that could change my family's future?"

Linus tossed his hands in the air. He couldn't believe Constance couldn't see taking the Corps' handout for their mistake was another victory for them. "Doesn't matter if you can't walk, run, crawl, or whatever! You've got the heart of a fighter and that's all you need!"

"And now that heart wants to fight myself, Linus." She tapped the side of her head, "I've lost years with my grandbabies because I couldn't put my anger aside for the good of my kids."

"But think of what we lost Constance! Think of what the damn tin skins took from us!"

Constance leaned closer to Linus, her finger inches from his face and pointed sternly. "Don't you dare act like you lost what I lost! All you lost was a job and a bigger, dumber machine with wheels. I lost everything!" She shouted. A tear trickled down her cheek, causing her to quickly turn away. Again, the silence lingered between them. After clearing her throat and adjusting her blouse, Constance turned back to Linus. "If I can move on from what happened and find hope in this new world, you can too," she said, a quiver in her voice.

Now Linus looked away. Whenever Linus saw one of those tin skins patrolling the prison, all he could picture were the homeless on the streets, former drivers just like him displaced from the working world for automated cars and trucks, or teachers, mechanics, warehouse workers, entry level accountants and teachers, people made obsolete by corporate greed. Sure the bots did the jobs better and faster, but what was that to the world if it left millions in the cold to fend for themselves, stripped of their purpose and humanity?

There was a time he and Constance had both sworn to each other to never leave the prison out of spite, that they would go to the grave resisting the bots and the human decency they stole. From what Constance was saying, she no longer had that same hate in her eyes for the bots, the hate that kindled their friendship in the first place.

"I don't want our final time to end like this Linus. In fact, I don't want this to be our final time at all." Constance reached out and held his hand, putting it in hers. "I think my grandsons would love to meet you. You could tell them all your trucking stories and about all the places you've seen."

Linus ripped his hand away from her. This wasn't the Constance he had befriended. This woman was someone else. The prison had worked. Now she was brainwashed and delusional, tricked into seeing the bots as benign. "I don't want to tell people about the places I've seen, I want to tell them how these bots stole my humanity and killed your husband!"

Constance looked over his shoulder. Over the course of their argument, a sentry bot had been walking towards them. She tried to shush Linus, but he kept yelling.

"If you keep quiet, if you don't fight back, who will? Who's to say these things don't take more from us? That one day they decide we're not even worth the air we breath? What then?"

"Linus, be quiet, there's a bot coming." Constance peered over his shoulder and started to sit back down on the bench.

"I hope there is, because I'm going to put my foot up its metal ass!" As Linus turned, there stood a sentry bot with it's stun gun held at ease across its front.

"Residents, I perceived an escalating situation. May I be of assistance to calm both parties?"

Constance shook her head. "Everything is all right," she answered calmly. She looked at Linus, patting the bench beside her, trying to get him to sit and let the bot pass.

Linus looked at her in silence for a long moment. Rage simmered in his eyes and flooded across his posture. He had no intention of sitting down. So, Constance stopped patting the seat. She studied his face with eyes that changed from frustration to sadness. Putting her hands on her lap, she faced away from Linus and the sentry.

That was goodbye, and it was not the one he wanted. "As a matter of fact tin skin," Linus said loudly, "I'd love to see you try and calm me down!" With as much might as he could summon, Linus reeled around and pushed the bot backwards. The bot took a single step and balanced.

"Resident, please remain calm. This situation can be resolved peacefully."

"Like hell it will!" Linus yelled, charging at the bot and shoving it again.

A crowd off in the distance took notice of the altercation. Small clusters of people walked closer to the commotion, watching as Linus fought with the bot. Every time it tried to deescalate the situation, Linus did his utmost to ratchet it up. He didn't know any other way to get out the layers of rage all flowing to the surface. The anger towards the bots, the loss of a world that no longer existed, the betrayal of Constance—this was the only way he knew how to feel better: with a fight, even if it was a fight he would lose.

For another minute, the bot withstood his attacks before grabbing his shoulder after a strong shove. Linus groaned. The bot clutched over his shoulder and collar bone, its metal fingers pressing tightly to hold him firmly in place.

"Resident, please be calm. I am noticing this situation has not deescalated. Soon I will be required to use force."

Linus looked over his shoulder at Constance. She remained looking away. With his free hand, he struck at the bot's face, making a loud clang echo across the prison yard. His hand felt like he had punched a cement wall.In the old days, bar brawls were against men of flesh and blood. The bot struck him back in the face. Still conscious, he grabbed at the bot's head, trying to do any damage he could.

Grabbing him with both hands by the jacket, the bot held him in the air and slammed him flat on the ground onto his chest. The dirt and pebbles scratched his face as it bounced against the earth. Coughing, Linus tried to catch his breath. The impact felt like a donkey had kicked him in the chest.

"Resident, I apologize for the use of force. Please place your hands on the back of your head, then our situation can continue peacefully."

Linus began to slowly stand up, resting on one knee. He caught his breath and knew he had the energy for one last push before the bot would shock him and take him back to his cell. If he was losing Constance, he didn't want the rest of the hour out in the yard. Linus lunged forward at the bot's legs with all he had left, trying to push it onto the ground. With a lighting-like response, the bot pointed its wrist at Linus and shocked him unconscious.

He woke up on the cot in his cell hours later with a tender chest that ached when he breathed. The eye where the security droid had hit him was swollen. Slowly he stood and walked to the small window in his cell. Outside the world was blanketed in a late evening skyline, colored purple with orange wispy clouds. The sun peeked over the far edge of the horizon, close to a half hour from fully setting. He watched the the color disappear from the sky and transition to black. As the night went on, the stars revealed themselves, one by one. That night, Linus didn't sleep. Instead, for the first time in many years, he cried.

The world he knew was gone and moving farther and farther away. His confidant, the only woman he had ever cared for beyond a night of pleasure, was abandoning him. Again, he was lost, alone, and misunderstood. In his youth, if someone felt that way, they ran as far as they could and didn't look back. That's what he had done, which took him out to Washington State in the first place to drive trucks. Everyone one he knew back home was off to college, and it wasn't in Linus to pay thousands of dollars for a piece of paper. 

While his classmates were chasing tech degrees or building websites for the rising internet, he wanted something simple for his future, something that would let him see the rest of the States by himself on his own terms. Out there in the wilderness as a twenty year old man, hard work and freedom were law. Some nights on the road, he would park his truck at an empty rest stop and lay on the top of his cargo container. To the sounds of crickets, rustling oaks, and cooing night fowl, he'd fall asleep under the stars until the sun gently woke him up to keep driving. Life was simple then. But today, it was densely complicated, with new rules that challenged the order of nature.

Linus remembered the nights of solace from his trucking days fondly, because they were the symbol of human freedom. But now, with Constance gone, the nights alone in his cell were maddening. With nothing to help him persevere through the agonizing solitude, Linus feared being alone. He reached his hand out the thin bars of the window. A gentle breeze passed through his open finger tips. It took him back to his routes, when the sky was clear of clouds and full of stars. How free they were, those little beacons. He envied them.

Because of the altercation, in the morning he had a check up with Doctor Rhodes. Tonight he had a decision to make. He could request to take a civility test. Constance had passed, so he probably could too. The problem was, did he want to? Would he rather pass,  but fold on his convictions and share the years he had left with the woman he loved? Or, would he continue to avoid test and die in this prison a decrepit idealist who honored his convictions to the bitter end? There was one other possibility, but he wasn't sure he had lost that much of his humanity to go through with it. However, maybe like the world, he too was no longer himself. If he was pushed far enough, perhaps he would find the bots had stolen more of his humanity than he thought.

"Linus, it has been ten minutes. Are you ready to continue?" Dr. Rhodes asked.

Linus slowly looked up to the doctor starring at him. As usual, she looked at him with a stoic, detached face. "Is it normal to feel disembodied Doctor Rhodes? I feel like that ass-kicking put my mind and soul out of sync."

She adjusted her glasses, "You sustained physical damage proportionate to your aggressive behavior."

"What if that thing had seriously messed me up?"

"Then the security droid would have requested a nurse unit to the scene. Your injuries were not classified as traumatic, so you were returned to your cell." Dr. Rhodes began writing on her clipboard.

"Do you really trust those things?"

"Statistically Linus," Rhodes said without any empathy, "because of the government mandate that certain occupations be held solely by droids, the cumulative percentage of workplace accidents, improper actions, and breaches of position have declined by ninety-seven percent. It's the safest it's ever been to be a human."

"What about that last three percent?" Linus asked, leaning back and folding his arms.

Dr. Rhodes adjusted her glasses, again. "Let's continue with your wellness assessment. Before our break, you seemed to be agitated. Can you tell me why, Linus?"

"Sorry. I uh...didn't sleep well last night. Felt pretty beat up lying on my cot." His head started to throb from all the effort it was taking to hold his tongue. He wanted to curse out the doctor and accuse her of loving bots more than humans, but if he wanted a fair chance to pass a civility test, he couldn't stir the pot.

"Overall, how would you rate your well-being?"

Linus smirked, "Poor."

Dr. Rhodes, for a fourth time, adjusted her glasses. "In your own words, how would you rate the progress of your attitude towards robots?"

"Poor."

She stared at him for a moment.

Linus let out a sigh. She sat almost motionless for a few seconds. Then, Doctor Rhodes continued to look over Linus for an uncomfortable amount of time, longer than usual. After a minute of pointed stares, side eyes, and scribbling, Linus cleared his throat.

"Actually doc, I was hoping that once my wellness assessment is over, we could run a civility test."

She looked over her clipboard. "You have not taken a civility test since your entrance baseline and you sustained minor head trauma from yesterday's altercation. Do you have any concerns regarding your cognitive functions to complete the test?"

Linus shook his head, "I'm a little foggy, but nothing I can't push through."

She nodded. "As required, we will take your personal details first. Please state your full legal name."

"Linus Adam Fuller."

"Age."

"Sixty-six."

"Height and weight."

"Six feet, no inches. Two hundred pounds."

"Occupation prior to arrest."

Linus started to bounce his leg, his nerves slowly increasing. "Cross country delivery truck driver."

"Former place of residence."

"Trucking Station 407, located in the state of Washington."

Dr. Rhodes looked at Linus. "For each of the following questions, please select one of the following options. When I say the word robot, do you feel peaceful or irritable?"

Linus swallowed hard. "Peaceful."

Doctor Rhodes circled something on her clipboard. "When I say the word robot, do you feel happy or sad?"

"Happy."

Again, Rhodes circled something on her clipboard. "When I say the word robot, do you feel hopeful or hopeless?"

Linus forced an uncomfortable smile, hoping it would sell his lie. "Hopeful."

"For this question, please elaborate. Why do you feel hopeful?"

"Can I pass?" Linus asked. He could choke out one word lies, but if he had to do more than that, his game would quickly be up.

"Yes," Doctor Rhodes responded without a second thought. She wrote on her clipboard for a minute. "The following questions will assess your civility ranking towards robots. Linus, are you prepared for the assessment?"

He nodded. His head ached, his chest burned, and his heart wrestled with everything he had to say. If the lies worked, swallowing his convictions for a short while would be worth it.

"Please participate in the following theoretical situations. Please use specific words to describe your actions as they indicate your intent. Understood?"

Linus nodded.

"Our first situation involves an animal. You are walking down the street to your home when you see a woman being attacked by an animal. What do you do?"

"What kind of animal is it?" Linus asked.

"Clarifying questions are not permitted," Doctor Rhodes said, adjusting her glasses yet again. "An animal is attacking another human. What do you do?"

Linus pinched the bridge of his nose, "Well if the 'animal' is a bear it's going to be a little more difficult of a fight than say, a poodle."

"What do you do, Linus?"

"I grab the biggest damn stick I can find and beat the shit out of it." After he said this he grimaced. He wouldn't pass if he continued to react like that. He needed to control his temper.

Doctor Rhodes took a moment and looked over her clipboard, but she didn't right anything. After a few seconds, she simply made a check mark, as far as Linus could tell. "Our second situation involves a human. You are walking down the street to your home when you see a human attacked by another human. What do you do?"

Linus cocked his head. He had never met a doctor, let alone another person, who referred to people like that. "Just two...humans? Are they both men? Women? Is it fifty-fifty?"

"Clarifying questions are not permitted," Doctor Rhodes answered, adjusting her glasses for what felt like the hundredth time. "A human is attacking another human. What do you do?"

It took all his might to hold back the volatile answer Linus wanted to hurl at Doctor Rhodes, but he bit down tightly on his tongue. "First I'd grab something to protect myself with. Then I'd try to break them up."

Again, Doctor Rhodes scanned her board and made another check mark. "Our last situation involves a robot and a human. You are walking down the street to your home when you see a robot is attacking a human. What do you do?"

Why is the robot attacking the person? Did the person instigate the attack with the bot? Even if Linus agreed with the person, how was he supposed to make a snap judgment about such a vague situation? What if the bot was like the one that killed Constance's husband? "I'd..." He wasn't sure how to answer. Lying or not, he didn't know what Dr. Rhodes wanted to hear. "Like the human to human situation, I'd grab an object and try to break them apart."

One last time, Doctor Rhodes studied her clipboard and made a check mark. She removed her glasses and put them in the pocket on her lab coat. "The assessment is complete Linus. I'm sorry to inform you that you didn't pass."

"Why the hell didn't I?" He yelled. Linus sat forward, there was no containing his rage anymore. That couldn't be right. Other than attacking the vicious animal, his answers were unbiased, favoring a neutral stance between the humans and robots.

Doctor Rhodes put one leg over the other and rested her hands on her clip board. "Your answers to the first two questions were satisfactory, but your answer to question three suggested you still hold animosity towards robots. Therefore you didn't pass."

Linus threw his hands up in the air, "What the hell was I supposed to say instead? Let it kill whoever it was beating the shit out of?"

"All current robots on firmware 3.0.2 have a ninety-seven percent proper response rate for their assigned task. If the robot was attacking a human, you are to properly assume it is doing so with a justifiable motive."

Linus gritted his teeth, "But attacking the animal and the human was fine? What, because they're not perfect?"

Doctor Rhodes nodded, "To utilize the proper scientific language, animals and humans act purely on biological responses. These responses are called instincts, and they are fallible. Robots, however, act on detailed algorithms and evolving data. They are programmed to make the best decisions by taking all the data of their surroundings and accurately deducing the optimal response."

"What about that last three percent," Linus shouted, "What if I was right? What if it was doing the wrong thing?"

"In order to be regarded as civil towards robots, that worry must be relinquished."

Linus' knuckles turned white with the force he used to grip the arm rests of his chair. His adrenaline was pumping, his mind racing. If he was of sound mind, he could have calmed himself down to lie his way through the the test another day, but as he feared, this was the final straw. He imagined Constance screaming in her car, her husband sprayed across her and the dashboard. He imagined his fellow truckers starving on the streets, out of work and out of hope. He imagined the robot that beat him to a pulp yesterday. As he looked around the room for something to attack Doctor Rhodes with, he felt his final choice: conviction would send him to his grave.

Reaching to the coffee table next to him, he grabbed a pen and lunged at Doctor Rhodes, knocking her out of her chair and onto the ground. When the guard outside would inevitably hear the dying doctor scream, it would enter and fire at Linus, snuffing him out of this miserable world for good.

He braced himself for what it would feel like to thrust a dull object like a pen into the side of Rhodes' neck. Pinning her to the ground, Linus readied his hand to strike, grimacing. This was not the man he wanted to become, but this world had left him no choice. Death would be a gift, and he'd rather go out fighting than dangling from bed sheets in his cell. With all his might, he rammed the pen into Rhodes' neck.

The pen punctured what felt like skin, then stopped with a soft metallic ting.

Linus could feel his hands start to shake. Again, he tried to force the pen deeper, but it refused to move. Throwing the pen aside, Linus wound back his fist and hit Rhodes, no, this tin skin in the face. She wasn't Rhodes, she wasn't a person. She was a thing. She didn't deserve to have a name.

"Linus, this behavior will not be tolerated. Stop this at once."

Linus ignored the droid and kept bashing his fist against its metal jaw. Nothing was happening. He could feel the fracturing of the bones in his fingers.

"If you do not cease Linus, I will be forced to subdue you."

He punched harder. He started to growl, eventually letting out a barbaric scream.

"You things look like us now? You were supposed to be made of skin and bones! You were going to be my way out! You were supposed to be covered in your own blood, not mine!" He gripped his hands around its throat, clenching his hands as tightly as his shattered fingers could. "Now who's going to kill me? The damn tin skins won't kill me!"

"Linus, your are in hysterics. This is not acceptable behavior. Your actions require incapacitation and indefinite psychological care."

A paralyzing jolt, just like the one yesterday in the yard, surged through his body. This time, when he woke up, his hands were strapped across his chest, held tightly to his sides in a straight jacket.

Linus screamed. He screamed and slammed his head against the cushioned floor under him. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he continued to yell and bash his head against the harmless surface. Who would carry on the crusade for the old world? Who would fight back against the tin skins? Who would give him the hope he needed to want to make it to tomorrow? Who would indulge his stories about the way things used to be?

Until he figured out another way to die, just the walls.