Escape is Unnecessary, You Are Safe (Short Story)

It wasn’t always like this. There weren’t always robots patrolling the area. We didn’t always have rationed food. Not always solitary confinement. We used to be able to talk freely to one another without fearing the rage of a Watcher. But the war changed everything. It destroyed everything. Everything.

Us humans fought bravely, but we knew there was no use fighting against them. We knew we created things so devastating, so strong, that even the creators could not fight against them. I remember standing in a line, against the wall, waiting for commands. I was just a young child back then, but I was old enough to know that the robots were bad. A little child of five, two years younger than me, stepped out of line, saying “I need to pee pee”. Bad choice. A Crawler immediately jumped on top of him, stabbing its claws into the boy’s chest. Each stab was gruesome to watch, his organs dropping from the robot’s claws on to the floor. Blood dripped all over the floor in a never-ending cascade of red. What was worst, the robot made sure the boy wouldn’t die, putting a substance that stopped the brain from producing adreline. The child screamed in pain as the Crawler ripped open his body, showing bloodstained bones and disfigured intestines. The noise alerted a Watcher, which joined in with the fun. With its Incinerator arm, it... well incinerated the child. His charred bones, now brownish red, sizzled and burned up the boy’s liver. His screams were now animal howl, drowning out all crying noises. Parents covered their children’s eyes as the robots picked out the tastiest parts and popped them into their mouths. It was like watching a barbeque, the boy being steak. Once they finished recharging, the robots wiped the blood on the boy’s body, as if he were no more than a dish towel. The child looked disfigured as if a scientist put body parts together and expected them to fit. All his arms were torn off and put in a pile on his chest, still bleeding. His body was now just his chest and torso, and that was ripped apart. I watched in fascination as the robots carried the boy outside, and dumped what was left of his body on the grass. Right after that, the robots said: “Go back to your cells. Food will delivered be in two hours.” As if nothing had happened.

I was only in the cells for a short amount of time, perhaps a month or so. After the month I was there, I went into a harshly lit room, with medical instruments on the side. A human-like robot told me to get on a table in the middle of the room. The table was freezing, and by the time the robot left my teeth were chattering. A voice came from the roof telling me to strip down to my underwear. I did so reluctantly, hoping nobody would see me. If anybody saw me, I would be humiliated for life. Oh wait- the robots couldn’t think for themselves. Another human-like robot came in. She? It? We’ll just use “it”. It picked up a needle and in a slightly robotic tone droned: “Lay still”. It put a blue liquid inside my arm, numbing it. Then it brought a gigantic needle, around the size of my arm. It took a few seconds to dip it in a liquid that looked suspiciously like blood, and put it all at once in my arm. I immediately felt dizzy, as if the room was revolving around me. It put one more needle in me and I fell asleep.