Machine Man (serial)

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

“Lola! Oh, Lola, Lola, I thought you were move out of the way.” The end of this sentence surprised me. That wasn’t what I had meant to say. “I thought you were dead. I thought Carl killed you.”

“You shot him,” Lola said. It was true. I could see Carl a little better now, and he must have used those metal arms to try to defend himself, because they were battered and torn, but not effectively enough, because so was a lot of his torso. His eyes glittered in the dark. Finish him, said my parts. He’s sneaky.

“Lola, come here.” I held out my arm to Lola, the one that didn’t carry ammunition. “He’s dangerous.”

“He’s not dangerous.”

“He is.” My legs hopped forward, and it took an act of will to reign them in. “He’s been running around trying to kill me. He blew up Better Future. And he kidnapped you.”

Lola shook her head. I was very happy to see Lola alive, but this was rapidly dampening the longer she took to run into my arms. I wasn’t sure what Lola thought was happening here. I wasn’t sure she realized what I had gone through. “Carl didn’t kidnap me. He rescued me.”

169.