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  Acer

  The Cyborg Chronicles

  Book 3

  Disclaimer

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 by Kelsey Nicole Price

  All rights reserved. The author gives no permission for reproduction of all or any portion of this book. Nor may it be used in any manner without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in review of the book.

  Table of Contents

  Thirty Years Ago

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Epilogue One

  Epilogue Two

  Cyborg Shenanigans

  Thirty Years Ago

  *Acer*

  I didn’t have to see their faces; I could smell their fear. My nostrils burned with its stench, like I had inhaled a batch of chromic acid. For a moment, I thought about tossing back my hood, but I dismissed the idea. If I inspired any more fear, they might piss themselves. I don’t think I could handle that smell too. My exposed nose didn’t offer synthetic flesh to dull the scent. I tugged the hood around my face even tighter.

  I clenched my fists, the shine of metal gleaming as I flexed. “Where is she?”

  The MechTech shook his head. Sweat dripped down his face and into his beady little human eyes, and he hissed. He looked at the sleeve of his lab coat trying to decide if he should wipe the sweat or let it keep dripping. His arms remained glued to his sides, not wanting to risk it.

  My patience had reached its end. I grabbed the man by his throat, raising his body off the ground. His feet swung wildly as he attempted to dig his fingers into my metal fingers; he tried desperately to pry my fingers loose.

  The action was almost laughable. There was no way he could ever out-match me in strength. His puny little arms hid the muscles of a child. His fingers felt like ghosts against my hand, barely registering in my processors.

  I eased back, allowing air to fill his lungs. “Don’t make me ask again if you want to keep breathing. Tell me where she is.” The words came out from between gritted teeth. I really hated asking twice.

  The man whimpered. “She’s not here.”

  Pure rage rolled through me. She couldn’t be gone. My circuits refused to believe it. My fingers tightened once again.

  “Stop. Please” The man wheezed, the words barely made it past the lips turning a light shade of blue.

  Cyborgs could be blue. Humans should not be. Well, not if they were alive anyway.

  “You lie!” I screamed. My hood fell off in my fury and the man visibly recoiled at the sight of my unfinished face.

  Yellow, synthetic flesh traveled up my neck, stopping right under my would-be nose. Instead, I had nothing but a gorged metal space with tiny slits for nostrils. Deep eye sockets held bright gold pupils, and my skull was simply a smooth metal plate. My face glittered in the dark like a beacon. I was nothing more than an incomplete prototype. The patches of synthetic flesh I did have were fucking sunshine yellow. Why someone wanted a piss-colored cyborg I would never know, but I was the lucky bastard granted the privilege.

  “Take a good look. My face is the last face you’ll ever see.” I sneered, loving the terror on his face. “You should have never hurt what was mine!” With a quick flick of my wrist, I snapped his neck and tossed his limp, dead body to the ground.

  I stepped into the hallway and made my way to the next lab, praying the next MechTech would know where to find my female. I refused to believe their lies. She wasn’t dead, and it didn’t matter how long it took or how many I had to kill.

  MechTech Marley belonged to me. I would find her.

  Present Day

  *Marley*

  “CYBORG LOVER!” A CRUEL fist twisted into my hair and lifted me from the cell floor. My bare toes scraped against the cold concrete as I went limp within their grasp. For what felt like years, I used to fight. I used to beg. But that had only increased my jailer’s torment. I had learned to go still, to not give them any more pleasure as they hurt me.

  The man holding me spat in my face. I didn’t react, didn’t dare wipe it away. It slid down my cheek and even though revulsion turned my stomach, I fought it. I knew it would dry against my skin like a brand. It would become a sticky itch that would make my skin crawl. It could always be worse I reminded myself.

  They had torn him apart. I could still see the bits of yellow flesh that had clung to the walls, wires that spilled out from his still frame, and I had to choke back the bile threatening to come up. My sunshine. My perfect yellow cyborg. And he had been perfect no matter what they said. No matter what awful names they had called him.

  Machines don’t feel. That’s what they’d said but they were wrong. 762 893 had felt. The anguish is his golden gaze still haunted me. Every time I had to leave him it broken my heart. I had wanted to steal him, grab his hand and free him from the hell we both had been trapped in .

  My nickname for him had been Sunshine. His bright yellow skin was the color of happiness-my happiness. I had wanted him to feel the real sunshine upon his skin-to bask in the light of the world and let it warm the cold and brutal life he had known.

  762 893 would never experience it now. He would never experience anything ever again. They had killed him. They had killed my Sunshine then dragged me off to be the doctor’s first play thing. I had lost count of my screams. I no longer remembered how many times they injected me with an unknown substance or how many times they had cut me open.

  Time for me had ceased. Between the stasis they kept me in when they weren’t using and abusing me and the drugs they had pumped into I no longer aged. My body never changed. I would touch my face, hoping to discover wrinkles or other things that would give me any sense of time, but it remained smooth under my fingertips. The doctor had made sure I would remain a plaything forever.

  A rough grope of my breast through what remained of my once thin cotton dress reminded me that I was still here unlike 762 893. I wish I wasn’t. I prayed for death, but it never came.

  “It’s a shame the doctor won’t let us fuck her. She’s tiny and dirty, but I bet her cunts tight.” He cupped me through the fabric as he laughed.

  “Not if she’s been fucking cyborgs. Those mechanical bastards would have torn her cunt to pieces. I bet it’s like a crime scene up there.” The second guard replied with his own cruel laugh.

  I stared blankly at a stain smeared on the cold concrete wall in front of me. I stopped hearing their words, everything fading away as I saw him. Perfect. Whole. Yellow. Beautiful sunshine yellow. My lip
s twitched, the ghost of a smile haunting my lips. And a familiar song filled my head.

  My body suddenly jerked, and my feet again dragged along the floor as I was taken for another round of whatever the doctor had dreamed up this time . I didn’t think about what was coming. I didn’t scream. I simply watched him-my Sunshine. In my head he came for me, scooping me up into his arms and holding me tight. In my head he whispered he would never let me go.

  He whispered that I was his.

  That I had always been his.

  A kiss brushed my forehead. In his arms they couldn’t reach me. I was safe from all the pain and endless torment.

  Cold metal clamped around my wrists and ankles. The fabric of my thin and worn out dress was shoved up, gathering around my hips. Something sharp pierced my womb. I didn’t cry out, I simply retreated further into the safety of my imaginary Sunshine’s arms.

  I started to hum softly. 762 893 smiled. Darkness bled into the corners of my vision, but I didn’t care. I saw only him.

  “Stay with me,” he whispered.

  “Always,” I answered as the blackness swept up to claim me.

  I woke up back up in my cell as a wave of pain burned through my abdomen. I curled up into a ball and rocked myself back and forth. Days passed and no one came. The waves of cramps eased, but my body started to burn up with fever. They only thing I could move was my lips. So I hummed. I hummed the only song that brought me joy.

  His song.

  “Hmmm my sunshine..hmmm. You are...hmmm. My only.hmm.love you..hmmm.sunshine away.”

  A set of golden eyes appeared. 762 893 stood before.

  “I must be hallucinating, again.” I croaked and a set of coughs began to rack my body. “The only thing I ever see is him. At least I’ll die seeing him one final time.” I kept my eyes on him and I smiled. “You were always my sunshine, the one cyborg who haunted my dreams.” Another round of coughing sent my body gasping on the floor.

  A set of yellow arms reached out and scooped me up. I let out a whimper of pain. Dying hurt like hell. I wanted it to end. I wanted to spend forever with my cyborg. Finally feeling his comforting arms, I knew my time had come. I wouldn’t die alone. My Sunshine was with me.

  “Marley.” My voice fell like a prayer from his lips.

  The sweet sound brought tears to my eyes. It was over. I was going home.

  Chapter One

  *Acer*

  “Do it!” I barked the order at Dax.

  He scowled, and his dark-green lips settled into a thin line.

  I cradled Marley to my chest. Her limp body rested in my arms as shallow, gasping breaths escaped from between her lips. Fear seized my frame. I couldn’t have found her only for her to die in my arms.

  Dax shook his head, a grim expression on his face. “With the extent of her injuries I don’t believe she will survive the process.” Sorrow flickered in his emerald eyes. “I’m sorry, Acer.”

  I ripped the syringe from his hand and my metal fingers curled around it, careful not to crush it within my grasp. “I’ll do it myself!” I growled.

  Dax’s hand shot out, trying to rip the needle from my hold, but he was too late. The tip of the needle pressed into her neck, and we both watched while the silver fluid slid into her system. Her body gave a violent jerk as a scream erupted from her throat; her frame bucked wildly in my arms.

  I tightened my hold, making sure she didn’t fall. Frantically, I looked at Dax. “What’s wrong with her?”

  “Her body is going through the change. Her systems are upgrading, and her organs are being repaired.” Dax crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. “Unfortunately, the process is quite painful.”

  “You are telling me this, now!” I roared as Marley’s body continued to flail.

  The scream turned to a sob, and her eyes shot open. “Why...hurt me...why, 762 893?”

  The question tore through my processors making my chest constricted painfully.

  “Save you,” I choked out, my swallowing mechanism failing as my massive frame curled protectively around her tiny form.

  Her green eyes searched for my gold ones before they rolled back in her head, her form going deathly still.

  I lifted her in my arms and pressed my ear to her chest. The steady thump of her heart, silent. No breath exited her lungs.

  I shook her gently. “Marley...” The first time I said her name aloud, it came out as a plea. “Wake up, lovely. I need you to wake up.”

  “Acer, I think she’s...”

  “Finish that fucking sentence and you die, Science Model.” I found her ear. “You are the only one who calls me sunshine and makes me believe it,” I whispered. I rested the cool metal of my face against her forehead. I had never willingly allowed my unfinished face to come in contact with any other living being.

  Until now.

  Her eyelids fluttered, and a rush of warm breath fanned over my exposed, metallic cheeks. Her heart began to beat under my palm.

  My breath was fabricated, but I held it anyway.

  Green-colored eyes, flecked with dots of caramel, studied my face.

  I tried to pull my face back, suddenly uncomfortable with the thought of us being so close. The less I saw or felt my face, the better. Every day, subjected to viewing my arms, hands, lower legs, and feet—a daily reminder of the abomination of my existence.

  Marley’s hands shot up to cup my cheeks. She held on tight, preventing my retreat. A pink tongue darted out to moisten her lips. A slow, lazy smile turned up the corners of her mouth. “Not so fast, Sunshine. I’ve only just found you, again.” Her fingertips brushed over the lines of my metallic cheeks, trailing them over where my nose should be before skimming the line where metal met yellow flesh.

  I flinched, despite my direct order to my processors not to.

  Lines appeared between her eyes, her forehead crinkling as she blew out a breath. “Don’t do that, Sunshine. Don’t shy away from my touch. I’ve wanted to do that since the first day I saw you.”

  I forced myself to lean into her seeking fingers, ignoring the order to pull back.

  Her lips ended up dangerously close to mine. She grinned.

  If I had brows, they would have furrowed. “Why are you smiling like that?”

  “Because I’m about do something else I’ve dreamed about.”

  Like the lightning strike of a cobra, her lips fused to mine.

  She clutched my cheeks even tighter, shocking me with the force of her grip. That was nothing compared to the shock of her pushing her tongue between my lips to taste me. I stilled, paralyzed by her warm tongue exploring my mouth.

  I couldn’t resist the temptation to taste her in return. She didn’t stop my invasion, her lips parting to allow my entrance. The moment her flavor hit my tongue, I groaned. Nothing had ever tasted so sweet. She let out a moan, and I knew she enjoyed my flavor as much as I enjoyed hers.

  The thought, alone, almost caused my knees to buckle. I had never been touched like this. My lips were as virgin as the rest of me. My frame rocked as I attempted to get even closer. I wanted her touch everywhere. A current of electricity lit up my wires like rouge ping pong balls, bouncing off every nerve, illuminating me from the inside out.

  My hands grasped her face in return, holding her lips to mine, refusing to let her go as I deepened the kiss. I couldn’t tell if I was doing it correctly, but I was too far gone to care.

  Marley broke the kiss, her gaze shifted from my face to my arms. “Wow,” she breathed. “They never did that before.”

  I followed her gaze and my jaw dropped. Both my arms had turned golden, the exposed wires burning so bright I knew I would glow in the dark. “I don’t know...I’m not sure why...” I fumbled for words.

  The cyborg who made humans cry couldn’t get out a complete sentence.

  Marley laughed. “Relax, 762 983. No one will come in here and punish us. We are free, now. I would have died a long time ago if I had known you were waiting for me.”

  The light o
n my arms flickered twice then faded. My lips pressed into a thin line. I shook my head. “You’re not dead, lovely.”

  Chapter Two

  *Marley*

  My sunshine had been returned to me. Death brought us back together. There were no guards, no one to force me to treat him like he didn’t matter.

  My heart wanted to burst out of my chest.

  Joy raced through my veins like a drug.

  I had felt nothing but pain and loneliness for so long. Now my lips tingled from his kiss. The smooth feel of his metal cheeks cooled my heated palms. I expected touching him to feel incredible, but I didn’t realize how much.

  I had come home.

  Then his words slammed into me. I couldn’t breathe. I shuddered.

  If I wasn’t dead... “Oh god. I’m still there aren’t I?”

  I drew my legs up to my chest and tried to become as small as possible. Maybe this time they wouldn’t come for me. I could hide in 762 983’s arms and take my final breath inside this glorious hallucination.

  My last minutes on Earth would be spent with my cyborg instead of alone and hurting.

  “Your formula is defective! It broke her mind!” 762 893 bellowed from somewhere above my huddled form. His arms tightened their hold around me.

  I pressed my face into his chest and inhaled his unique scent. Mechanical fluid mixed with the scent of nutmeg. Never had I been allowed to be this close. Taking a deep breath, I filled up my lungs. I wanted to gather as much of him to me as I could.

  This hallucination was far better than any of my earlier ones. I explored his face, learning what it felt like to have his lips pressed to mine. His warm mouth such a contrast to the smooth, cool metal of his cheeks. My hands and lips still tingled from the dual sensations of his unique face.

  The face I could never forget or stop dreaming about. The other MechTechs use to joke that 762 983’s face was the stuff of nightmares. The kind you would see in an old entertainment file others once forced me to watch. In it, a machine wore a human face until it was melted from his frame, revealing his metal form underneath. They called 762 983 ‘The Terminator’ to mock him.