How to Save the World with Nuts and Bolts.
an excerpt

24
Corfield

My eyelids flickered open. They were sticky and hard to move. I lifted my head, bringing dirty leaves up with me. I raised one of my hands and wiped at the sticky substance on my face. It was clear. I put it too my mouth. Salty, tears. I was naked, cold, in a forest. There was Karyn… Memories arrive, my brain like Cuba Mall at a peak shopping time. We were naked. She was on top. The gun, cold, hard, pressed into my throat. I recoil from her at the thought. She is sleeping. I stand and look over at the factory. In daylight I still cannot see anyone. I dress myself and go to wait in the car. Alone in the silence of the Honda the memories start to merge into my consciousness, am I here or there? And it hurts. I could have stopped her; she wouldn’t really have shot me. I pull up my shirt sleeve. My skin is white, pure and all mine. I open up the glove box and take out the first aid kit. I open it, remove the scissors, and put them to my arm. The sweet release as the skin first breaks, the red on the pure white. I lick those first few drops away…metallic, we’re closer to robots than we think. I make another incision, the release lessening. More, until the pain is gone for the moment. I take a bandage from the kit and cover the arm to stem the bleeding. I pull the shirt sleeve down and lean my head back against the rest. The door opens then slams shut next to me.
“Drive”, she says. I turn the keys in the ignition, shift the stick to drive, and put my foot flat. There is silence all the way to the farm.