Glitching Out

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"There's a few birds that nest here," Herman leveled, attempting to take Reginald seriously. He pointed up to the rafters, high enough up to hardly make out the nests.
"It might have been some roosting commotion." Herman's observation was hardly helpful. Reginald shot him a glare.
"You think I'm such an idiot that I can't figure out what's a fucking bird fight and what's a human voice?"
Herman didn't answer.

"Well, if you sincerely believe it was, then why don't you go out and look? They must be close if you can hear them." Herman rifled through his duffle-bag, tossing a flashlight at Reginald.
A beam of light swung across the walls, highlighting the dark windows. The wind outside suggested a storm coming.

"I ain't going out there!" Reginald clutched at the flashlight, turning towards the doorway. "It could be- clever robots, trying to draw us out." The warehouse creaked. It's roof rattled under the force of the steadily strengthening wind.
 
Mangle frowned, observing them. She shrank back when the light shone over her hiding space, then poked her head out again and observed them.
Skittish. Quick to spook, and seemingly afraid of the Glitched. Either they were very good at disguising...or they'd found other humans.
She scurried back to Daphne silently, and reported it to her.
"D'you reckon we should approach?"
 
Daphne's teeth pulled at her bottom lip as she considered their limited options; everything in her screamed to get out, just in case, but where would they go? From Mangle's description, they certainly sounded human. She'd never heard of or encountered Glitched who could emulate normal people as well as these ones appeared to... but she couldn't say for sure.
Thunder clapped in the distance. Daphne was reminded of the bad weather to come and the lack of anywhere else as safe as this for the time being.
"Let's risk it."
She reproduced her blade and filled her free hand with large stones from the dirty corners of the metal stairs, then gestured for Mangle to do the same.
"We're above them; we have the upper hand if we suspect for a moment that they're Glitched. If they are..." She shivered. "Come back this way. Down the stairwell and turn left onto the unmade road." She shifted her bags on her back and glanced into the warehouse.
 
Mangle nodded. Still in a half-crouch, she pushed back through the door, dropping down onto the second crate and creeping along. She pulled a switchblade out of her pocket, peering round the corner, before backing away and inviting Daphne to have a look for herself.
 
Daphne moved slowly so her heels wouldn't clack against the metal, and stepped through the door. Crouched over, she peered around an enormous storage crate, directly down at the two - things. They had beds unrolled on the floor, and food scattered about in a half-circle. All so very human.
 
Behind her, Mangle had skittered along another one of the crates in order to get a closer look. From this new vantage point, she could see more of their gear. Comic books were strewn about the place. She spotted the bedrolls, and the food, and could gather that they didn't sit in the same spot all that often. She saw no weapons, which eased her fears as much as it aggravated them. They couldn't shoot her, but they also couldn't shoot the Glitched if they broke in. Noting that Daphne appeared to be observing them too, she made her way back over to the taller girl.
 
Daphne looked to Mangle as she came close and was silent for a minute, watching. She followed her companion's eye-line and noticed the comic books. One of them had an open book in his lap - the Glitched did nothing for pleasure. Reading comics and fiction was exclusive to humanity.
"I think they're safe," she said. Her voice was barely-there, a ghost of a whisper on her exhale. She even smiled, and it reached her eyes. "I think they're human."
 
Mangle smiled, relaxing a little.
"They don't have any visible weapons," she replied, her voice little more than a light breath of wind. "We can approach from a distance. No guns."
She slipped back, picking up their bags, and handed Daphne hers before strapping her own to her back again.
 
Daphne nodded and led the way. She found a trail of sorts, leading down from the doorway behind all the boxes. Each step was carefully calculated to make as little noise as possible; she wanted to wait until they were on ground level before they revealed themselves to the strangers so as not to startle them so much.
 
Movement caught the corner of Reginald's eye, and he whipped around suddenly, to face nothing.
"I feel like whatever's outside-" Reginald swept the flashlight around the room once more, nervously. A beam of light shined upon something that at first Reginald couldn't make out. Then as his eyes adjusted, he let out a loud shout. The flashlight hit the floor. A human face!
"H-herman! Holy fuck!"
 
Mangle crept out from behind Daphne, grinning, showing off her teeth. Her switchblade was well-placed in her pocket, ready to be taken out if they posed a threat. She stood up - not very tall, granted that she was fairly short, but to her full height all the same - and waved a hand in greeting.
"Nice to meet you. What's your names?"
 
Daphne stayed close behind Mangle. She flashed the knife in her hand while Mangle talked and made sure these boys saw it. Within, she was crumpled with relief; looking into their eyes, she was certain they were human.
 
"My name! You're asking for my name!" Reginald backed away, in surprise, closer to his friend. At this point Herman was on his feet, watching the intruders reveal themselves. He said nothing, cool black eyes on their blades.
"Who the fuck are you?" Reginald barked.
 
"You can call me Mangle," she replied. "And uh...yeah, I am asking for your name. What is it?"
Something about giving her alias instead of her real name - and with such authority - exhilarated her. A weird feeling of safety.
 
"It's Twi- I mean Reggie." Herman moved closer to the two. Reginald's stance was still defensive, but his expression said he was more bewildered than hostile towards them now.
"May I ask just what you girls are doing in our warehouse?" Herman spoke up.
 
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"Looking for shelter. Presumably, the same as you," Mangle said, gesturing to the little camp they had going on. "The Glitched have the streets swarmed, and there's a nasty storm coming in. As much as I like staying on the rooftops, I'd prefer to hide somewhere that I won't die from hypothermia out there. And...well, this place feels safer than playing the waiting game to see when they learn how to climb."
 
"How do we know you ain't one of the Glitched?" Reginald countered, only to be told to shut up by Herman.
"If you're seeking shelter there's more than enough space to go around. I'd advise you both to drop the knives first, though. They do create a rather standoffish environment." Herman smiled warmly, although his words seemed hollow.
 
Constance parked the car in a field. The sky was darkening overhead quickly, the wind stirring. Rows of wheat whipped from side-to-side, rustling and whispering in the night. They told her to turn away and never look back. Go back to her First.

Wendy slammed the car door shut behind her.
She grabbed the hood of the smaller woman's yellow macintosh, pulling her back. Constance looked up expectantly, whilst Wendy bent her head and lowered her voice to a rasp.
"Heat signatures say there's people in there. Not Glitched. Yet. We do the routine, we go back to Data and Virus."
Constance let out a sigh, another rehearsed human action, and followed alongside balefully. In the country side, there was no light pollution to block the stars, and they shone down upon her as she walked, half stumbled to the warehouse.
She thought of the poem she'd learnt at the institute. The appreciation for things she'd been taught that few other Glitched had absorbed.
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art. Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night, And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task. Of pure ablution round earth's human shores, Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
She wanted so badly to understand what it all meant, or to at least feel something, like the past Constance had done.

 
Mangle pocketed the switchblade, gesturing to Daphne to do the same. "Just so long as you don't stab us in our sleep or whatever," she added, before turning to Reggie. "Our eyes are a pretty big giveaway. If we were Glitched, they'd be glowing. Also, you'd probably have seen an item attached to us by now. Or the glowing of one. I think there's a couple other giveaways, too, but I can't remember them..."

 
"I've heard some horror stories." Reginald piped up, raising a hand to contradict. "They say sometimes they don't have either. Usually the ones that haven't been affected long."
Herman rolled his eyes, waving the two girls over. "I'm assuming you brought supplies?"
 
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