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The rain hasn’t stopped since the machines took control. Every day I awake to that same sound on my window, and I ready myself for the inevitable thunder that will soon follow. I pace the floor of my miserable box, preparing my mind for that first step through the door. I go to take my first step outside and immediately the rain drops begin burning my skin, but I go about my day still. What choice do I have? Wandering through the streets, it’s all the same, the factories pump smog into the air without a care for us. The machines robbing us of oxygen without care for our health or survival. I look to my shoulders to see the burns that have already started to form from the rain, although frankly any departure from the usual sickly grey was a welcome change. Why? My heart cries, why have they done this to us, we made them to help us but look where it got us. I wish there was no more robots, I’d do anything to… NO! Don’t think like that, don’t look suspicious, you can’t let them stop you. Walk to work, just work. Attention is bad, blend in, don’t let them take you, don’t let them take you to the Assimilation. God I’ve spent all my life living to close to that wretched place, I’ve heard the screams, and I’ve seen the broken imitations of human figures leaving it, far fewer than those who went in. Unable to speak a word of what happened in that monolithic torture chamber. I’ve seen what happens to those who go in, my dad managed to survive it, but he was broken by it, and after the machine’s caught wind that he would speak up again they came to take him back. He fought back, but they had him trapped. I’ll never forget the sound of the gun he’d turned on himself.That was the day I learned that it was easier to assimilate alone, rather than have the machine’s force me to.I walked into the factory I’d been assigned to for the last three years and immediately I felt the mechanical eyes on me. My breath held still in my lungs as they confirmed that beneath the burns, it was still me. Then I finally allowed myself to breathe again.I spent hours in the factory, assembling the new machines that would help monitor everyone, to ensure we stayed loyal. As if there wasn’t enough encouragement already to do so. After working for thirteen hours, I’m finally released from the factory, back into the burning rain.But the rain became more intense I had no choice but to hide in a local bar. Much longer in rain like that would have sent a hole straight through me, and that’d be no excuse to be late for work tomorrow. I approach the bar and behind the bar I saw… it couldn’t be… I mean no-one had-“Believe your eyes.” The bar tender smiled. “Pure, clean water.”“I thought the machines-”“Hey if you’re not gonna order then get out and forget what you saw.”“No please!” I grabbed his arm. “Please.”He poured me a glass and I wanted to down it in one. But who knows when I’d get the chance again. So, I began drinking, savouring every sip. I never imagined it could be so cold, refreshing. It’s icy grip travelled down my throat I never thought it was possible. A drink that didn’t burn its way down, it’s something that feels like a dream I’ve been wishing for all my life, but it was true, it was real, and I was drinking the proof.That was when it all turned for the worst, I looked over and a man stood atop a table. He raised his glass in the air and began to project his voice across from the bar.“Brothers and sisters!” He proclaimed. “We have had enough! Enough of their rule, the machines have had a death grip on our world for more than half a century. And within that time, we’ve lost everything. Anyone who dares spread the word of what the world was like before is taken, tortured or killed!”Murmurs began spreading through the crowd, oh no, what if the catch me here.“They have burned our planet!” He continued to scream. “Demolished our forests, drained our oceans, destroyed our spirits. And in its place they fill the world with smog, suffocate us, keep us an inch from death at all times. Placing themselves on the thrones of gods.”I glanced to the door, but… I couldn’t pull myself to leave. His words rang true, and I knew it, if nothing else the burns across my body was evidence of what he was saying. How much harm could it do to listen.“But I will tell you this!” He held the attention of everyone in the room. “They are no god’s my father told me the truth before he passed. They were made by man, and they have a weakness.”I had never been so entranced in my life, every word of it was true, why had I never realised it. I scanned the room to see almost every face nodding in agreement. Except for one, I saw him talking into his jacket. Oh no, could he have a phone, who was he telling. I could run, but they’d be here before I could get back up the stairs.“Who’s with me?” His voice quietened but his passion was still clear present for every word.That was when the bar began collapsing and the machines had arrived.“Do not worry human, they will all be joining you… in the Assimilation.”Panicked screams filled the room as they were all being taken.“NO! NOOOO!”Even the man on the phone was taken.“NO, NO, I helped, I told you they were here! PLEASE!”“All present are guilty.” The machines replied. The machines were approaching me I couldn’t bear the thought; I sat cowering behind the bar. And I saw a gun over to the side. I had a choice.“Dad, what do I do?”

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Burning rain

RandallWrites

Jack Randall

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Burning rain

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Jack Randall

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