Bill pushed his sleeves up his forearms as the rain beat down on his balding head. Overhead thunder rumbled and light flashed in the distance. A crack resonated through the air, followed by a blood-curdling scream. Bill’s back arched like a cat’s, pushing his body into a hunch, his toes curling inside his shoes from the pain.

Suddenly he understood what was happening inside him. Diodes sparked and memory chips were pushed into their ports. Bill straightened, staring into space as binary code flashed before his eyes. He watched internally as his body circuits connected and the blood stopped in his arteries.

A moment passed before Bill closed his eyes, bent backwards and screamed, but the pain was gone from his cry: it was without life. The realisation prompted the emotion facilitators in his core to stimulate the tear ducts beneath his eyes, and he was overwhelmed by robotic sadness.

Romeo rushed outside at the sound of his father’s scream.
“Hurry up,” yelled Bill. “These bots need to be fuckin destroyed.”