• The bombs were dropping even more rapidly now. Buildings, cars, homes were disappearing into explosions right and left. Smoke waved over the area choking everyone unfortunate enough to be alive. Those who were could be found shouting and running or hunched over the remains of their loved ones. Screams and cries filled the air, only to be drowned out by the sound of more explosions.

    Then the gunfire started. Soon streams of bullets littered the area, aimed at the robots. Tall, menacing, mocking even. Painted in a deep purple with yellow 'eyes' to match the likeliness of that monster. They turned over the massive amounts of rubble they had just created as they strode through the panicked streets. Some pulled the battered citizens away from their families. Others picked off the few rebels here and there that were trying to physically take them down.

    The entire city was in a state of chaos.

    She tried to block out everything. She couldn't, she couldn't block out the screams. The cells that surrounded her own were packed with whimpering, moaning, broken people. She couldn't see anyone she recognized. As if it mattered anyway. She knew this was her end, it was only a matter of waiting for her to meet it now.

    Shoved, kicked, crowded aside she felt like marble trapped in a bag with other confused, screaming, panicking marbles. She didn't like it, and no matter how she protested she was still being squashed with all her other cellmates.

    Suddenly the outside door opened and another sea of whimpers were heard; only for a few seconds however. It was as if instinct commanded the captives to do so, the cells became hurriedly quiet. The only thing to be heard were the occasional explosion outside, and the hard tapping of steel-toed boots on the concrete floor.

    Two shadows appeared in the stream of light the outside door created. One tall and slender, the other shorter and wider.

    "Zhere are many, many people to choose from, Varden. Take your pick if you like." The thick German accent echoed through the hushed walkway.

    "Psh, so long as they can give us something to use then I couldn't care less who we torture." The second, nonchalant voice came, filled with an irritated tone.

    "Ja, ja I get it. So zhen pick anozher one so I can begin my testink."

    The tapping halted. Everyone in their cells backed against the wall. They all seemed to curl into one another, trying to find a way to hide. It was like this every week. The two men would pay them a visit, taking one or two nameless victims with them. Rinse, repeat. This became the norm after the few weeks she found herself trapped. Though, while everyone behind her crowded themselves together like the others in the cells around them had, she did not. She didn't know if she had gone insane or what, she knew to 'survive' that blending in with the other bodies was vital, but her body wouldn't comply with the hushed commands to "get her a** over here."

    She had to be crazy to willingly grip the iron bars of her cell, she had to be completely mad to slump herself against the door. She figured to hell with sanity, or life itself if it meant she could spend a few moments not feeling like canned sardine. She pressed her cheek against the cool bars. She thought of it as her last bit of pleasure in the world.

    "Ahh, so rare we find ourselves a volunteer! Oh splendid! My how I love looking at the excited faces of our candidates!"

    …..X...

    "Ugh! Jared! Where are you?" The Warden called. He released the button on the intercom and began tapping his foot rapidly. A few more seconds passed by before he firmly pressed his again, putting all of his strength into this one little button. "JARED!"

    "Y-yes s-sir...?" Came the stuttered, static voice from the speaker of the intercom. "I-I'm almost there I h-had trouble finding the last part."

    "Well hurry up! I wanted this machine up and running ten minutes ago!"

    "Y-yes sir, on my way sir."

    The door to the Warden's office suddenly burst open. Papers, schematics and blueprints flew and tumbled around the room. A short man with an incredibly large forehead made his usual ungraceful entrance. The Warden snatched a piece of paper out of the air and examined it closely. His eyes lit up behind his yellow-tinted glasses.

    "Do you know how long I've been waiting to test this baby out?"

    "No sir, how long?" Jared asked, clumsily gathering the spew of papers into a messy pile.

    "Well...hmm..." The Warden paused for a moment, tapping his chin. "How long has it been since that whole...Time-Police incident?" He wrinkled his nose and waved his hand.

    "Uhh..." A few papers flew out of the pile as they were placed on the Warden's desk.

    "Yeah about that long."

    "Sir, I really don't think this is a good idea I mean-"

    "Oh Jared, silly, always-worrying-without-a-reason-Jared." The Warden pointed to the schematic he was holding. "Look at this, does this look like something that would cause a rip in the fabric of space, time and reality itself?"

    "Well, to be honest sir, yes."

    "Good!" The Warden flung the paper into the air excitedly. "It'd be a pretty poor time machine indeed if it didn't."

    Jared sighed heavily, shaking his head. "Whatever you say sir."

    "You do have all the parts to it, right?"

    "Y-yes sir, here's the last part right here." Jared pulled out of his pocket what looked like a spark-plug of some sort. He handed it to the Warden who hastily snatched it from his hands.

    "Terrific! To the Time-Machine room!" The Warden sprinted out the door and down the hall, Jared chasing after him.

    Jared skidded into the Warden's leg when he made an abrupt stop. A part of the wall slid open to reveal a room with mechanical arms with drill-bits, scattered chunks of metal surrounding a violet pod-like device donning a purple top hat and two yellow oval-shaped windshields. The door to enter this device would look like a gap in a toothy smile were it open.

    "Why hello there." The Warden cooed, rubbing his cheek against one of the windows. "You and I are going to have quite the time getting to know each other, aren't we?"

    Jared rolled his eyes, handing him what seemed to be the instructions to the time machine.

    The Warden retrieved the little spark-plug and walked around the back of the pod, placing it in it's own little slot.

    …..X...

    She was beginning to regret 'volunteering' herself for this very quickly. Sweat stung her eyes, her hands and feet felt numb from the loss of blood. She was wondering how she had any left to taste it in her mouth. Her throat felt as if it were on fire... The more she moved the more the pain ran through her body, unforgiving. She didn't know what exactly they were trying to accomplish by bleeding her to death, and to be honest she couldn't hold a proper thought long enough to come up with a valid reason. Why did her head have to feel so hot?

    Suddenly the lights shut off and the whirr of the machines died down. The other subject lolled his head to the side and became motionless. He was in a similar state as she.

    "N-No wait, wait! I-I can be of better use I swear!" She called into the darkness. She looked to her right seeing the other victim slumped in an unconscious state through the blackness. At least as far as she could tell it was him. She gulped harshly before screaming again.

    "I know you can hear me! Just let me prove it to you! I..." She panted, she was so tired and her limbs felt so heavy. She was going to lose her voice soon if someone didn't respond to her cries.

    She heard the tiniest flick of a switch, then the light pinging sound of a monitor being turned on.

    "What an irritating howl you have for a scream" The voice of the Warden rang through the test-chamber. "If you promise keep the shrieking to a minimum, then you have exactly twenty seconds to prove this...whatever."

    "This man, next to me...He h-has some vital information to you, yes?"

    "Yes."

    "But you've been unable to get at it, right?"

    "Are you saying you can?"

    "What if I told you I could?"

    There was a pause. She swallowed hard to keep her heart from jumping into her throat.

    "Then, Howl I say you have thirteen seconds left."

    …..X...

    "Comfy seats? Check. Cup-holders? Check. Plugged in? Oh goodness yes, check." The Warden situated himself in the 'driver's seat' of his creation. His fingers wiggled happily over the row of buttons that littered the dashboard.

    "Sir are you absolutely sure about this?" Jared cautioned him, as he often did. He slowly shut the door to the contraption and carefully took a step back. The Warden was occupied with pressing a few buttons here and there, setting a date of destination and doing another overall check of everything from the inside.

    "Honestly Jared it's almost as if you don't want me to have any fun at all." The Warden scoffed, pressing a rather large blinking red button.

    The pod activated. Flashing lights of varied colors and sirens soon filled the room, the pod began shaking violently. Jared took cover under a table he had pushed back into the far corner. The lights grew brighter and brighter, the Warden's smile growing wider with them. He bounced up and down giddily, moving in time with the rapid seizures of his machine.

    In a burst of white light and what sounded like a clash of thunder, all at once pod, and the Warden disappeared.