It had now been a nearly uncountable amount of days since Dakota was first thrown into the solitary unit, and what was supposed to be a night had turned into many, many nights in that room. Joey would pull him out every now and then to run some tests, or to yell at him, or to make him watch the demise of his fellow subjects, or simply just to toy with. But even so, every night he was thrown back into the solitary unit, with nothing but that rusty chair and that tiny window. Luckily, these long, cold nights had given him the opportunity to create a plan. He was going to get out of here, even if he had to kill Joey himself to make it happen.
Throughout those long nights, he began to remember more and more about the life he had lived with Joey before all this. And gave him time to think about where the fuck it could've gone wrong. Nearly every night he ran over the day he first met Joey in his head, over, and over, and over again. Dakota knew that Joey seemed out of place in that town, he didn't speak the same, he didn't dress the same or act the same. Unlike the rest of the town's occupants, Dakota liked Joey. He needed someone who was different. He thought he needed Joey. And he had thought that Joey needed him too. They did nearly everything together, and the whole town knew they were inseparable. One cold, harsh night, Joey came rushing into Dakota's house, seeming like something was wrong. Joey rushed him outside, leading him to the outskirts of the town to show him what was wrong.
---
"There, it's right there! Don't you see it?" Joey panicked, pointing to some vague area in the moonlight desert.
"I don't see nothin', Joey, I think you're goin' looney on me." Dakota responded, chuckling and placing his hands on his hips. "It's a nice view though, ain't it?" He turned his head to look back at Joey, being struck with confusion when the other man wasn't there. "Joey?" He called out, before feeling a heavy, hard object hitting the back of his head, knocking him out onto the sand. When he woke up again, Joey was standing in front of him, pistol at his side. Dakota looked down, seeing that he was tied up to a chair, unable to move.
"Joey, the Hell's gotten into ya'? Is someone puttin' you up to this? You know this town's been spreadin' rumours 'bout me, lots of people don't like me, but that ain't no reason to hold me like some sorta hostage." Dakota shouted, trying to move out of the chair. His mind was flooded with panic, breathing heavily.
"No, no, no! Dakota, you don't get it. We need each other, right? You've said it before, I've said it before. But we've meant very different things. Why do you need me, Dakota? Tell me the truth." Joey demanded, fumbling with the gun in his hand.
"I… I need you 'cause you're my friend, Joey. You're the only one in this town that really likes me, I've needed you since the moment you walked into this town.. Seems like it's changed for you though, huh?" Dakota frowned, sulking back into the chair and lowering his head. Joey stepped closer to him, lifting his head up by the chin.
"Oh no, it's never changed. You just never understand. I don't need you because you supply me with anything. I don't need your friendship, or your love, or anything else you've so kindly and easily given me. No, no, no.. I need you because you are important for a little… experiment I've been working on. " Joey chuckled, taking a moment to fix his glasses. "You see, you're an easy target, my friend. So naive, so unsuspecting, so kind and quick to trust. It was easy to gain your friendship, but it wasn't something I wanted… Let me explain something else first, I'm getting ahead of myself. You've always said I don't fit in here, maybe that I seem like I came from an entirely different time, correct?"
"Well, yeah.. You talk all fancy like one of them rich folk, and you certainly dress like 'em too. But you don't really seem like them all too much, you kinda seem like you're from the future or somethin'!" Dakota chuckled, thinking that what he said was completely out of this world. Joey grinned slightly, making Dakota stop chuckling, his smile turning into a frown. "I'm right, ain't I? You're some wacko from the future… But how? And why'd you decide to come here? Why'd you decide to… why me..?" Dakota's frown grew wider, tears welling up in his eyes. "What are you intendin' to do, huh? What's your plan here, why me!" He cried, jostling around in the chair.
"God, will you stop it with the whining!? You are insufferable, I can't believe I've put up with you for all this time. If you weren't so valuable to me, I would've left you in the dirt so long ago." Joey said, his voice sounding harsh and cold. Dakota's eyes widened, using his shoulder to wipe away a few tears, keeping his mouth shut. "Yes, I am from the future, only by a hundred years or so. I'm a scientist, and I've been searching for new experiments and such.. And assistants." Joey grinned, tapping his pistol to the bottom of Dakota's chin. "Yes, yesss, I figured that with just how much you clearly adore me, you'd like to be my assistant, wouldn't you?" Joey's grin grew wider as he watched the fear in Dakota's eyes.
"What's bein' your assistant mean? I go to the future with ya'? I leave… all of this behind…? How do I know if the future's any good?" Dakota asked, breathing heavily and quickly. Joey hushed him, returning the pistol to its place beside his hip.
"I don't see how the future could be any worse than where you are now. We both know this town doesn't like you, so why would you decide to stay? I'm the only good thing you've got here, remember? You've said it yourself." Joey shrugged, beginning to pace back and forth in front of the chair. A part of the memory that seemed much too vivid, till the cowboy realized Joey was here, pacing in front of the rusty chair Dakota was seated in. He perked up, his gaze moving from the floor to Joey.
---
"Finally, you decide to notice I'm here. Your solitary time is up. I hope you've learned your lesson. I will have no trouble throwing you back in there at any point in time. " Joey smiled at him, holding his hands behind his back. "Come with me, we need to have a talk. You, me, and the other humanoid subjects." Joey's words seemed to hide a dark promise beneath them, something that Dakota was scared to find out. Nonetheless, Dakota jumped up from the chair, following close behind Joey. He followed him through to the Zoo, where they picked up a good majority of the humanoid subjects, as they followed along too. For the first time, Joey was taking them upstairs, to the main floor. Dakota knew he would have a chance to get out this way. As they walked through the dark, unfamiliar halls, Dakota made sure he was taking mental notes about everything he saw, important or not. If he wanted to bring Joey down, he had to remember everything. The group eventually reached the elevator, surprisingly it was big enough to fit all of them in one go, though they were packed together like a can of metal sardines. The ascend to the main floor took quite a long while, they must've been pretty deep below the surface for it to take this long to reach ground level. As soon as the doors opened, the subjects rushed out, exploring the new floor, touching and tasting and smelling and seeing everything it had in store. However, with one strong clap of Joey's hands, they all seemed to turn his way, giving him their absolute attention, including Dakota.
"Does anyone know why I've brought you up here today?" Joey examined the room, awaiting an answer from someone. Amongst the crowd, a 1950s looking woman raised her hand, some cables exposed in her neck, sparks flying.
"You br0ught us up here to see, see, see the outside, right Doctor Katz?!" She asked cheerfully, clearly struggling with her words and pronunciation. Her head frequently jerked to the side, sparks flying from the exposed wires. Joey put on a very fake, forced grin.
"Of course! We just need to have a little talk first. Just as there are rules inside the lab, there are rules outside as well. Quickly, everyone! Come here." Joey commanded, clapping his hands and leading all the subjects to the front of the room. He stood up onto a small stage, forcefully dragging Dakota up with him. "Now, everyone pay close attention." Joey began to pace back and forth across the front of the stage, hands held behind his back.
"We all know what the rules are inside, but outside it is much different. You will be allowed to see the outside today, because you are my best subjects, you deserve this!" Joey grinned, a cheer erupting from the crowd of robots. He hushed them, pulling Dakota to his side. "These rules must be followed, and the consequences will be much worse than any consequence for a rule you'd break inside the lab. So let's review, shall we?" The scientist turned on a projector, flipping through a lengthy slideshow of all the rules. Dakota listened closely, a chill going down his spine from hearing the room filled with subjects repeating the rules back to Joey. Joey cleared his throat, shutting off the slideshow and stepping closer to the subjects.
"Now, let me show you something important. If you don't follow these rules, there will be consequences. Let me show you those consequences." He took a step back, turning himself towards Dakota. Fear struck in Dakota's heart, turning his head to look at Joey.
"Joey…What are you gonna do..?" Dakota whispered, loud enough for Joey to hear. He got no response, just a sinister grin from Joey and a small chuckle. "I'm turning you into an example, Dakota." That was the first time Joey ever said Dakota's name since the incident. It left him speechless, bringing him back into another distant memory.
---
Dakota had somehow gotten out of the chair that Joey tied him to, running out into the dusty streets of the town. He stopped to catch his breath, bending over and putting his hands on his knees. Just as he was about to start running, he heard the heavy footsteps of Joey behind him.
"Don't move, Dakota." Joey demanded harshly, causing Dakota to turn his head back to him. Joey had his pistol pointed right at him. "I'm not afraid to shoot you. And it's not like you can right me off, we both know you aren't that strong." His expression remained flat, his tone getting harsher and harsher with each word. Dakota slowly turned around to face Joey, tears brewing in his eyes.
"Come on, Joey. You really tryin' to kill me? I can't make a very good assistant if you kill me!" Dakota shouted, the tears beginning to run down his cheeks. Joey stepped closer to him, pointing the gun directly at him.
"I never said the assistant would be living. You never let me finish, I couldn't talk over your whining." He huffed, keeping his gun pointed as he spoke. "In my area of expertise, I bring dead things back to life. It started with just plants, and insects, then eventually small animals, then bigger ones of course… But recently, I've been trying to bring back humans. You don't understand how good this is for science and history. I've had many subjects before you, but they could never do as good as I think you can." He moved his pistol to tap the bottom of Dakota's chin again, grinning at him. "You would love being my assistant, Kota. You could work with me all the time, constantly be by my side. I know you'd like that, considering you already like to always be by my side." Joey rolled his eyes, and while he was caught off guard, Dakota tackled him to the ground.
"So yer' tellin' mean you've been meanin' to kill me this whole time?!" His tears of fear had now turned into tears of anger, raising his fist to slam it down onto Joey. Despite his attempt, Joey grabbed his arm, quite forcefully, to stop him from fighting.
"It's useless, Dakota. You're weak. You always have been." The tears continued to flow, Dakota trying to pry his arm away from Joey's grasp. He decided to take his other arm, slamming his elbow down onto Joey's cheek quickly. "Fuck! You're a piece of shit!" Joey shouted, using all his strength to topple them over, letting go of Dakota's arm. "Don't test me. I'm the one who has a gun." Dakota tried to flail his arms against him, slamming his fists into Joey's chest and arms. Getting tired of it, Joey grabbed Dakota's arm again, holding it tightly and twisting it with all his strength. He only went further when he heard Dakota scream out in pain, slamming his arm down against the ground afterward.
"Fuck! Fuckkkk! You fucked up my arm! Badly!" Dakota screamed, beginning to cry more. He held his arm in his other hand, seeing how mangled it had looked after. "I'm gonna kill you!" He shouted, slamming his foot against Joey's stomach, kicking him off of him. "Fuck you! I hate you!" Dakota stood up, holding his arm and heaving in pain. "You're an asshole, Joey.." He wept, knowing he had no true way out of this, especially with his arm all mangled.
Joey shrugged, grabbing his gun and getting off of the ground. "Could be worse." He grinned, raising the gun once again. "You don't have a choice anymore, I'm taking you with me." Dakota turned to run, but his plan fell short. Joey shot his gun, the bullet ripping right through Dakota's eye. He shot another one through his chest, just for good measure, watching as the cowboy fell to the ground.
---
"And, finally, if you break these rules three times, I will shoot you." Joey's words brought Dakota right back to reality again, noticing the gun now pointing at him in the same way it once did before. Fuck, he couldn't let this happen again. He was going to beat Joey this time. Like he did before, he tackled Joey to the ground, throwing the gun out of his hand.
"Fuck you! This isn't happening again, you bastard!" He yelled, punching Joey right across the face. His punches actually worked this time, mostly due to his new metal interior. The side of Joey's face hit the ground, he opened his mouth to speak but couldn't get a word out before Dakota landed another punch. "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!" He screamed, probably loud enough for people outside of the lab to hear. He beat him more, making his knuckles bloody. Joey tried to fight back, surprisingly being able to land a few hits and not feel immense pain from the metal. Joey took a screwdriver from his coat pocket, jamming it into the side of Dakota's eye panel, denting the metal and prying it up a bit. Dakota got off of him, pushing his hand away, quickly grabbing Joey's gun and aiming it at him. "I'm not weak. I'm not losing this time. " He grumbled, firing a quick shot into Joey's leg. Joey groaned, grabbing his leg and holding his hands over the wound.
"Oh, you're such a whiny bitch! Just like always!" He shouted at Dakota, who began to cry once again.
"I'm leaving." Dakota said harshly, taking a few slow steps back before turning and running to the lab doors. "Come on, come with me!" He shouted, gesturing for the other subjects to follow. Some followed, some stayed behind in confusion. Dakota slammed his hand against the button to unlock the door, watching as they opened slowly. Joey fumbled to stand up, groaning in pain and falling to the floor. Dakota turned back to look at him once more, frowning before running through the door, followed by a few other subjects. Joey had some pretty high tech security outside, an invisible electric fence lining the area outside the laboratory.
Dakota took a deep breath, bracing himself before running full force through it. It sent a harsh shock through his body, causing him to fall onto his knees outside of the fence. Many subjects followed behind, quickly rising from the ground and running freely into the streets and the woods. Dakota stood up, turning to face the laboratory. He took a relieved sigh, holding his hand up to touch the metal panel that covered his eye.
"I won." He cried happily. "I won!" He repeated, jumping in the air and cheering for himself. He still held the gun in his hand, chucking it into the front lawn of the lab. With one final cheer to himself, he ran. He ran faster than he had ever ran before, as far away from the lab as he could get. He had won, he was finally free.