Conduit - Season 2

Ch. 22

I stepped back into Frank's arms. My chest rose and fell as I sucked in deep breaths. My heart pounded, my brain screamed, and every part of my body itched. I stared into the dead eyes of Acceptance's leader. I watched her blood puddle around my feet. Why had I killed her? Yes, she deserved it, but not like that. Punishment, she deserved to be arrested, tried, and shoved into a jail patrolled by androids.

Not this. No one deserved this.

I screamed.

"Elijah, calm down, just breathe." Frank pulled me away from the body, dragged me out of the blood and back to Ezekiel and Victoria. Both of them stared at me with wide eyes. While Victoria tried to touch my face, Ezekiel walked back into the store, toward the crying man, woman's bodyguard.

"No, no!" I pulled myself out of Frank's arms and pushed Victoria away. I ran to Ezekiel and pulled him back. He slid on the woman's blood and crashed into me. "Don't go after him, don't touch him," I hissed, pleading, and hoped Ezekiel heard me.

He was frantic as he looked at me. He shook me. "Are you crazy?!" he shouted. "That man was a part of the problem, and you've killed her!" When he put an arm around me, he forced me to turn around and look at the blood on the floor. "You can forget this, don't ignore our goal!"

Squeezing my eyes shut, I shook my head and pushed him. "I didn't want to kill anyone," I whispered. "Words kept appearing—"

Ezekiel grabbed my shoulders again but didn't talk to me. "Frank, come get your boyfriend."

"—they told me to eliminate, every—every time I looked at her, I, I felt like I had to kill her and—"

"Stop torturing him," Frank hissed behind me. Another set of hands touched me. Not as large, definitely softer, caring, and loving. Frank.

"I'm not torturing him, I'm going to clean up his mess," Ezekiel hissed. And as I opened my eyes again, he pushed me into Frank. "We can't have witnesses."

Witnesses. He needs to clean up my mess. Tears streamed down my face as I turned and looked into Frank's eyes. He was crying, too. His face was red, his eyes were bloodshot. As he touched my cheeks, his fingers shook. "You're okay," he whispered.

No, I wasn't okay. I was far from it. The woman's last scream echoed in my ears. Her eyes dug a hole in my soul, even after death. I was out of control, obeying the words displayed for me from my computers. If a murder mode had been installed in my computer chip, I wanted it removed. I was saved by Lyons' premium 800A series computer chip, the leftover parts from scattered androids; all machines had a base code to not hurt a human. Why had mine failed? Why had I changed?

"Elijah, come here." Victoria came to me again. She'd untied Reggie from his chains. While he hung forward, arms on his knees, he peered at me. The look in his eyes changed—thankful? Hopeful? Forgiveness? Reggie had killed a man before. I killed a woman. Bile crept up my throat.

"I killed her," I choked as I fell into her arms. "I... beheaded her."

Victoria grabbed me tightly. Her fingers brushed through my curls. "You reacted on emotion," she whispered in my ear. "You care for Reggie, you love him, and this condition he's in, what those people did—none of us blame you."

"Then explain the words in my head." I put her at arm's length. "My computer chill told me to eliminate her, and I did, but why?"

Victoria's eyes widened. Her light brown cheeks reddened with shock or concern; I couldn't tell. And the one time I wished my systems would inadvertently scan her, they didn't. I stared cluelessly at her face. Looking behind her, I hoped I'd feel something from Reggie, but like her, I got nothing.