Mortuus groaned from both pain and annoyance as the small robot entered his room again. He already knew it was going to give him bad news. News that he didn't want to hear, even if it was good.
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"Simulation results- successful." It beeped. "Beginning final simulation."
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Mortuus stood up from the bed he had been sitting on.
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"Oh, you little shit-bot!" He shouted with anger, "You said the last one was the final!"
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"It was. Simulation_A: Emotional Regulation Training- Final Stage." The tiny bot chirped in response to Mortuus's anger.
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"I'm still wrapping my head around the first simulation. I wasn't prepared to see my body after killing an enemy." Mortuus said, poking the small bot's chest to emphasize his frustration. It had been nearly three weeks since the incident with that woman, and yet it was still burned in his memory. A pod glitch is what the bot had said it was, but Mortuus just couldn't shake the feeling that it was more than a glitch.
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The bot gripped Mortuus's wrist with surprising strength and strolled away from the room, leading him along. The bot brought him to the pod again. The door shut, and the pod blacked.
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When Mortuus woke, he was in a room with an injured child. A disembodied voice spoke to him. "What do you do, Mortuus? The kid is injured."
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The voice had started speaking a week ago, and with no source or code for it, the bot had chalked up to sound misinterpretations. Maybe it was, but something about the voice felt familiar, as if he'd heard it thousands of times before. It seemed to guide him without any reason for doing so.
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"Umm... Don't I just shoot the kid?" Mortuus said, twirling his revolver and pointing it at the kid.
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"NO!! THAT IS NOT WHAT WE DO!!" The voice shouted before returning to its calm-tempered agent, "We help the kid."
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"I don't know. Mine sounds easier." Mortuus conveyed as he pocketed the revolver.
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Mortuus tore off some bandages from his face and walked over to the kid, talking to him like anyone else and not like the child they were. "This might hurt a bit, but can you try and be strong for me, Kid?"
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The boy nodded, wincing in pain as Mortuus bandaged his bleeding arm and lifted him onto his broad shoulders. Mortuus carried the child out of the room and began wading his way through the rain outside.
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The boy spoke in a hurt tone, "The hospital's only a mile or so that way." He pointed weakly toward a road surrounded by woods on either side. Their limbs reached to the sky like wicked hands grabbing at the sky greedily.
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"It had to be woods. It couldn't be a pretty flowery field, no." Mortuus sighed, beginning his trek through the woods. The little inconveniences had become predictable and bland after so many times of experiencing it.
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Hours passed as they waded through the heavy rainfall, and the hospital was finally in view. His hair dripped with rain water, and beads of sweat were rolling down his face. Mortuus collapsed at the entrance, the 'child' vanishing as if it had never existed. The simulation seemed to be malfunctioning.
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Mortuus picked himself up, looking around the hospital lobby. The hospital was suddenly alive with action as a man was rushed inside. Blood caked his face, which looked more like roadkill than a human's.
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The man grabbed Mortuus's shirt collar with unnerving strength. "KILL ME!! END THE SUFFERING!! PLEASE END IT!!" The man begged, his hand barely working as it struggled to stay attached to the wrist. "PLEASE!!"
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Mortuus tore away, running down a hall and bursting into the bathroom. He stared into the mirror at his mummy-like face with heavy breathing. The man's image merged into his as he stared at the mirror.
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"WE'RE A MONSTER!! A DEMON!!" The mirror abomination shouted, its voice heavily distorted and deep like a motor engine. The horrid image seemed to laugh at Mortuus's fear, its ravaged jaw curved into a wicked smile.
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Mortuus stumbled back into the wall, grabbing for something to ground him. The mirror abomination's malicious smile burned into his mind as it cackled inaudibly.
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He desperately screamed at no it, his bandages coming a little loose, revealing a bit of blood-soaked skin. He didn't want to accept that it really was him, but the bloody, green-tinged skin with a horrible odor was undeniable.
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Mortuus lifted a shaky hand to his face, pealing the applications away slowly. His horror only deepened as the very same man who grabbed his shirt stared back at him. It wasn't a hallucination; this was real. It was unmistakably his true face, and he was seeing the horrificness for the very first time since awakening.
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"I'm you." Mortuus cried in horror to the mirror, "I'm that man."
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A heart monitor's beep grew louder and louder as the man was dying on the operating table in the room over. Mortuus's vision slowly faded into blackness. Only the sound of the heart monitor remained as he disappeared into unconsciousness.
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