Time Conqueror, Chapter 1

It was a long and arduous day for Robert.   At work, the robots had malfunctioned again, leaving the workers to attend to all of the heavy work.   Though robots had since been incorporated into the work force, there were still too many flaws in their systems, routinely causing some sort of malfunction.   Over the last week, these robots, with their limited artificial intelligence capacity, had begun to break down more frequently, causing much anger on the part of the human workers, who had hopes and dreams that the robots would one day be flawless, therefore lessening their work load.   This promise and hope had begun to diminish with each passing day, however.
Even after the robot incident, Robert found himself being scrutinized by his boss.   Mr. Holle, Robert’s boss, was head of the construction site for the new Sontenmic building.   Ever since being hired to work for the company, Mr. Holle took a disliking to Robert.   His first week was hell.   Mr. Holle was on Robert about every aspect of his work, even when he did things right.   At one point in time, Robert couldn’t find the hammer he had been assigned.   As it turned out, he had put it down right next to where he was working.   Mr. Holle had ordered another worker to distract Robert as Mr. Holle himself took the hammer.   Not too long after this, Mr. Holle brought it to Robert’s attention that he didn’t have his hammer, causing Robert to frantically search around for it.   Those who were in on the prank chuckled under their breath as Robert ran from place to place trying to find it.   Finally, Mr. Holle told him that he had found it, and tossed it at Robert, who was not expecting it to be thrown at him.   The hammer hit him in his left temple, as he tried to turn away from the hurtling object.   From then on, some of the workers started to call him “Hammerhead,” amongst other names.
On the way home, Robert was so tired from the day that he ran a stop sign, and almost hit a car full of people.   Of course, there happened to be a police officer making a turn down the street who just happened to see it take place.   With a flash of his lights, and a quick spurt from his siren, the police officer took it upon himself to pull Robert over for the violation.   Getting out slowly, Robert could tell that this cop was going to give him a bad time.   Keeping his hands on the wheel, looked himself over, and saw how dirty and messy he was.   His grip on the steering wheel tightened, and he had to fight back anger.   Leaning his head against the rest, he closed his eyes and started to drift into his own consciousness, until he was interrupted by a knocking on his window.   Slowly opening his eyes, he pushed the button that slowly lowered the window to present him with the smug look the police officer had on his face.   He could tell this officer was going to give him a lot of trouble.   “License and registration” asked the police officer.   Pulling his license from his old, beaten up and torn black wallet, Robert tried to open the glove compartment, but couldn’t.   The trick to opening it on his old, beat up, rusty and falling apart car was to punch it, which he did, frightening the cop.   Jumping backwards away from Robert’s brown and grey car, the officer drew his gun, pointing it at Robert’s head.
“Here you go” Robert said while sitting back in his seat, left hand out of the window with his license and registration in hand.   He looked straight ahead, not wanting to look at the officer, but not knowing he had a bullet aiming right for his head.   Robert could only think to himself about getting the ticket, and having to pay it off.   His train of thought was disrupted, however, when the officer grabbed his arm, and started pulling him out right through the window.   Not knowing what was happening, Robert flailed about, kicking and smashing his windshield from the inside.   The officer finally got Robert out of the car, and slammed him onto the ground, knocking the air out of him.   Then, the officer rammed his into Robert’s back, making it harder for him to breath.   After being handcuffed and tossed onto the hood of his own car, denting it more in the process, Robert finally gasped out to the officer why he had done that.
“You were reaching for a weapon and as such, you had to be restrained for my safety. Got that, punk ass?” The officer was tearing through Robert’s car now, allegedly looking for a weapon.   Robert finally got a look at the officer’s badge, wanting to remember who he was.   His badge read “Officer Holle.”   Robert could only close his eyes and rest his head as Officer Holle, brother to his boss, had his fun.
In the end, Robert received a misdemeanor for not stopping.   That was the penalty for breaking the law.   What wasn’t taken into account was all the damage caused to his car.   The drive home was hard with the cracked windshield, and during the scuffle, his side mirror was completely knocked off.   As he drove home, he watched as the glass slowly cracked against the resistance of the wind.   Where the last splotch of brown had not been scrubbed away on his hood was now a big dent.   Robert’s head was still throbbing, and he felt a little bit of dizziness, but he made it home in one piece.
Pushing open the splintered green door to his apartment, Robert walked in, dropping his keys on the small table with a small, tarnished lamp and a picture of his parents.   He stopped, running his fingers along the smooth glass that concealed the photo, gazing at the eyes of first his father, then to his mother.   He missed them, and thought of them all the time.   He also thought of his brother, who was taken by the disease, too.
“Honey, I’m home,” he called out. Robert lived alone, for the most part. In the apartment he lived in, however, the buildings structure was so thin that most noises, especially a person’s voice, carried through all the rooms in the apartment. “Shut up!” was one of the responses from above, and the old lady living below him hit the ceiling with her cane. On the room next to him, however, he heard a quick shuffling and a hurried scamper to the door. Once the door slammed shut next door, there was a small knocking on Robert’s door. With a raised eyebrow and sly grin, Robert told the person knocking to come in. The splintered door opened, and in walked a thin looking man with glasses and brown hair that was slightly shaggy.
     “Hey, what’s up Peter?” Peter’s family had been wiped out like Robert’s family was awhile back during the outbreak of the disease. Robert had gone to the same school as Peter, but Peter was in a lower grade then Robert, so they had never really known each other too well. When the disease hit, they still had no idea who each other was. They saw each other at one of the mass funerals, the one where both of their parents were being buried, but didn’t see any sense to introduce themselves. Robert’s brother was still alive at that time, but he was already starting to show signs of having the disease. The initial coughing had begun, with some being heavy enough to bring up blood. Involuntary twitching came next, as muscles started to deteriorate. Bowel movements became erratic and unpredictable. A person’s eyes would be red and watery from capillary bursts. The research that was done on the corpses showed time and time again that the internal organs had been completely liquefied, leaving a sort of “goop” to pile up. Though the organs were not completely liquefied while a person had lived, a great deal of their organs had been eaten away, causing an immense pain throughout the inside of the diseased body.
     The cause for it, where it came from, and how it infected so many people was still under investigation, but a vaccine had been created, and as many people as could be was inoculated as soon as possible. In order to help those who had lost whole families, the government had built housing for survivors. Some might say the government had tried their best, but living in the hastily put together buildings with no insulation or sound barriers to create privacy seemed like a lackluster attempt.
Unfortunately for Alex, Robert’s younger brother, the date for the inoculations in their precinct came the day after his death. Robert wasn’t too sure if the inoculations would have helped, since his brother was too far along. At Alex’s funeral, Robert saw Peter again. This time, after the funerals were over, Robert went over to talk to him.
“Who did you lose?” Robert asked first, aware that any sort of niceties weren’t necessary because everyone knew why a person would be attending a mass funeral.
“My whole family. This funeral’s for my brother, though. I’m the last one alive.” Peter’s attitude was distance. As he talked, his gaze on the casket before him never broke. After a couple more minutes Peter’s gaze broke from the casket, and he looked at Robert. “The name’s Peter.” He extended his hand, which Robert shook. Robert then told him his name. “So Robert, who are you here for?”
“Interestingly enough, for my brother. He was younger then me. I’m the last one to live from my family, too.” Peter gave a slight smile, but behind it, Robert could feel his sadness. Robert had grown numb to all the deaths around him, but Peter couldn’t shut it out. He started crying when he looked at his older brother again. Robert walked over and put his arm on Peter’s shoulder to try and comfort him. “Hey, c’mon, it’s alright.” After a long time of not feeling much at funerals, Robert finally felt something. He felt sorrow for Peter. Robert didn’t believe in higher beings or fate, but it seemed a perfect situation for a friendship to grow. Peter had lost his older brother, and Robert had lost his younger brother.
The funerals Peter and Robert met at were to be the last of the mass funerals going on. Since the inoculations had been given, most people had not gotten the disease, and there were only very few, sporadic deaths from the disease afterwards. After the disease had been rid of, the world tried to push forward. Robert and Peter were put into the same barrack apartments, but were on different levels from each other. After much convincing, the people who had originally lived next door to Robert switched with Peter, who was ecstatic at the change. Both of them had gotten close, and usually spent a good deal of time at one another’s apartment, though it could be called more of a room, with the amount of space each had. Since this arrangement had been made, both had become the best of friends. Better…they were brothers.