“Aww fuck” Mickey said to himself.

The class had launched into a frenzy after Olivia had screamed. He checked the portable recorder that he had brought with him and all it registered was ‘Offline’. He had roughly five minutes before Micro Inc. responded to the critical alarm. Pushing through the crowd to see if Keyla was in fact still alive would give him away. Somebody would be going down for this considering the fact that she had been taped down. His mind had shifted into overdrive. He didn’t have a revival kit on him and without the suit functioning it wouldn’t work anyways. He looked around the classroom. Olivia was in a heap on the floor and Ms. Fryer had left the room to find the resource officer that Micro Inc. had placed in public institutions in case things like this had happened.

He texted Sasha We have a code blue.  It was what they said to each other when the consort had been discovered, or gone into cardiac arrest.

His phone buzzed Is she dead?

            I don’t know. There are people hoarding around her and the software is offline.

            Mickey heard a cart wheel into the room. The sound of a portable P.A. screeched with feedback and the room fell silent for a second. “I need everybody to step away from the consort.” The hoard of people surrounding Olivia’s chair disbanded and most of them shuffled one aisle over.

            “Everybody gather their stuff. We are moving the into the next room over.” Ms. Fryer said as people gathered their books and shuffled out of the rooms and tried to get a look at the carnage.

            Mickey numbly grabbed his books and slowly started for the door. Two police officers waited with the principal at the entrance to the double doors that connect the block of classrooms to the rest of the school. He knew what was happening. Micro Inc. had ordered this section of the school to be locked down so they could interview the students.

            Mickey pulled out his phone to text Sasha again. “Mr. Nelson. No need to be tweeting about the events. Put the phone away or we’ll take it from you.” The principal said. Mickey locked the screen and put the cellphone back into his pocket. He walked into the second class room and found a spot back in the corner. he sat down and closed his eyes thinking about how they could still proceed with uploading the footage.

Keyla

            They always say there is a bright light at the end of tunnel signifying that you are going to heaven. They never mentioned the heat that made you feel like you were burning in the depths of hell would accompany you.

     I knew what this was.  It was a piece of tech that Micro Inc. brought in to bring the consorts back from the dead. We had been briefed on it. What to expect when the unexpected has happened. And I also knew what this probably meant for my career as a consort. The shortened version of the tech is what the scientists had called heat-seal. They said that it worked by heating the Nano-bots in your body to the point of where they binding with the serum that made the consorts more durable.

      I don’t really remember much of it because it sounded like sciency-babble-bullshit but it was designed to heal the consort really fast to help prevent permanent genetic damage and other fatal conditions.

       But one of the side effects was that it made the consort more brittle. You could only go through one or two more treatments with the stuff before the act of heat-sealing would either kill you or you wouldn’t be able to stand on your own anymore because your bones couldn’t handle it. The only thing they could do would be give you a stronger suit and a stronger serum and since I was already at the max, my career was over.

        The blinding light subsided as the world slowly came into focus. They told me that most of what I felt would be side-effects of the nerves in my body being repaired or server connections being reconnected. The first thing I felt was the open air on my body and figured that the technician had stripped me out of the suit.

        “How are you feeling Keyla?” the tech asked.

I couldn’t feel much of anything. I could breathe without difficulties and I wasn’t taped down anymore. I slowly sat up and every muscle in me protested. It felt as if somebody had taken razors to all of them and tried patching them with sticky-glue. I winced in pain.

“You are going to be sore. I looked at the footage recovered from what was left of the suit and it appears you took quite the beating. I’m surprised you survived at all. Most of the consorts that I come across in this school are already dead. She did a pretty good job on you, let’s just be happy that she didn’t weigh anymore.”

“I would be happy if she didn’t weigh anything.” I said hoarsely.

“I’m sure you would.” He sighed. The tech was a man who was in his late 60’s. he had white hair and wore the standard issue Micro Inc. lab coat. His voice was kind, but the pain in his eyes said that the video had been deeply unsettling for him and it wasn’t the first time he had witnessed the victimizing and almost brutal death of a consort and I knew in my heart it wouldn’t be his last.

“Your profile says the most recent client you had was Jenny Nelson, an e.m.t, and mother of two.  Was she the one who taped you down?”

“No, it was one of her children. They had planned on taking the footage from the suit and uploading it onto some sort of video site. Said I was the number one request or some shit.”

“You are a very popular model. Most of the higher-ups are often chatting about how much money you make the corporation and how resilient you seem to be, even though you’re a petite model. You’ve definitely got a guardian angel or something because I’ve seen tougher models go through what you did and not come out so pretty.”

“Well I doubt I look real hot right now.” I could feel the blood and vomit caked to clothes and knew that I must be covered from head to toe in gore. “is there any way I could get a shower?”

“Without the suit? I’m not letting you out of my sight.” The tech exclaimed.

“Can I have the suit back then?” I asked as I looked around the chair that was still stained in blood.

“There isn’t anything left of it. The tape held it together but the power core had been split down the middle. I estimated you were under her for at least fifteen minutes before she finally realized that she was actually sitting on you, maybe longer. You were barely holding on when I got to you. Had to peel them pesky kids off like flies on a trap. That poor girl though, she was an emotional wreck. I was lucky that I didn’t make your condition any worse by removing the suit. I don’t think you had a single bone in you that was hammered to pieces.”

“That’s comforting, thanks doc.” I said as I slowly pushed myself into a standing positon.

Mickey

“Mr. Nelson?” Mickey snapped awake at the sound of the officer’s voice.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“It’s your turn for questioning.” The officer said.

“Why?” Mickey shot back.

“Just standard procedure. If you had nothing to do with it then there’s no need to worry. Now follow me, or I’ll arrest you for resisting.” Mickey stood slowly and followed the officer.

He was led to a room that had the two officers and the principal in it. There was an elderly man sitting at the table and Mickey knew this was the person who had tended to Keyla, as his coat still had small specs of blood on it.

“Mr. Nelson,” the man said, “please have a seat.”

“She made quite the mess didn’t she?”  Mickey cracked as he sat in the chair across from the man.

“Officers, arrest him.” The man said.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. I had nothing to do with it!” Mickey slammed the other officer into the wall as he tried bolting for the door. He felt the sting of a tazer and the next thing he knew he was on the floor with arms wrenched behind his back.

“That’s where you are wrong Mr. Nelson. I saw the footage. And if it hadn’t been for you taping her into that chair. We wouldn’t have this problem. You are going to be charged with murder and locked away for a very long time.”

“But I haven’t killed anybody!”

“Oh, I’ve seen all of your videos. The raw and uncut stuff. You have killed at least thirty of our consorts. Hey, you never know. Maybe we’ll make you one. And then you can find out what it’s like.” The man had said as he kneeled down in front of Mickey. “we’ll see you soon Mr. Nelson, I look forward to our next meeting.”