The Difference Between Rabbits & Lawnmowers

    Colin Shaw ran all night, he kept running when the rain stopped, he even continued when the Sun was beginning to rise, heralding the start of the 25th of April, 2032.
    Colin didn’t stop running until he found his way home; when he arrived, he didn’t even feel tired; he was too distracted by the lingering impression of fear.  A primitive sense of self-preservation kicked in and allowed him to run and run until he came to be at a place where he felt he was no longer in danger.
    Colin had hoped to get here early enough so he could catch Victoria, but from the look of things, she had already taken her car to the funeral parlour.
    He forced his tired legs to take him just a bit further up the garden path towards his front door.  His brain, realising his body to be no longer in peril, was finally allowing his muscles to let him know what he had done to them.
    Opening his front door, he called out to see if his wife was home, she was not.  In some ways, he was glad, he hadn’t thought about Dominic in a while but on the relaxing run home, he had yet to come up with a good way to tell Victoria about him.
    He would worry about that later, for now he needed to focus on gathering up his possessions, it was time to leave this dead city.  Colin immediately went for what was most important, he ran about the house, collecting all the money he had stashed about his home.  This was all the cash the Para-militia had given him for the work he did.  Every scrap was rounded up and placed back in the silver briefcase from where they had originated.
    The second part of Colin’s vital packing process involved retrieving all his bank documents from a drawer in his bedside table, which contained all the details of the account Colin had the British Army transfer his money into.
    Once everything related to his financial well being was safely stored away in this one briefcase, he searched his mind for ideas of what else he needed.  Colin supposed he should take his clothes and other belongings, but they would probably just slow him down, he didn’t know where to draw the line so he settled on taking nothing, he could buy a new set of whatever he might need in the future anyway.
    Colin was ready to leave, he turned around in his bedroom and headed for the door, but something made him halt in his tracks, he caught sight of himself in the mirror.  He walked closer to the full-length dress mirror and looked at himself more closely, he looked terrible, his face was tired and his clothes were dishevelled.
    Deciding he needed to freshen up first, he changed his suit to a virtually identical black suit, only cleaner.  While his wardrobe was open, he noticed his hat, his father’s hat.  Realising that once he left this city, he would no longer be an undertaker, meaning that Colin would also be deprived of a chance to ever wear that black top hat.  He picked it up and looked at himself one more time in the mirror; his head was still bandaged from the crash.
    Slowly, Colin raised the hat up and lowered it again gently on his head; it covered up the bandage he had been given by the man who tried to kill him not that long ago.  It fit perfectly and completely concealed his injury.  He liked the way he looked in it and if there was no chance of him having to use it for work, he thought to himself that he may as well start wearing it because if he didn’t, there was no point in even owning something that you didn’t use in some way.
    Content with everything, Colin picked up his suitcase, walked out of the door, not bothering to lock it, why would he?  Then he got in his car and drove off in the direction of the funeral home.  On the way there, the plan developed in his mind, he would go there, pick up Victoria and Ian, then he would take them to the train station and they would all get on one of the evacuation trains together.
    During the journey, Colin switched on the radio, as if it was just like every other normal trip to work he had ever made.
    The petrol crisis is now reaching into the catastrophic levels of panic and hysteria.  Apparently, oil tankers are now being attacked out at sea by varying gangs of pirates who loot as much petrol as they can carry and then take it back to their own countries where they sell it.  It’s clear that oil and all oil products have become the most valuable substance in human history.  Some oil companies have now taken to arming the personnel on board their ships and have even gone so far as to send military grade battle ships along to accompany the precious cargo.  We seem to be reverting back to the times of pirates where criminals did as they please with practically no repercussions.  And is it just me who thinks this is a bad idea, preparing to have gunfights on top of ships that are filled to the brim with a highly explosive liquid?
    This was the final trace of evidence, which let Colin know that the war was ending; they weren’t even talking about it on the news anymore.  He arrived at the Shaw family funeral parlour but he didn’t park around back in the car park, he just came to an abrupt stop outside the main entrance, completely blocking the road, but there was no one around to block anymore.
    Colin hurriedly got out of the car and rushed inside, leaving the briefcase full of money and his banking information in the back while at the same time forgetting to close the door.  Any other time, Colin would never leave his car door open, not even if he wouldn’t be away too long and the car was completely devoid of valuables.  However, these weren’t any other time, this was now.
    Inside, all was how he remembered it, but it seemed as though he hadn’t been here in years, even though he had been here less than 24 hours ago.
    Since the war began, Victoria and Ian had modified their work habits; they no longer dwelled within their own separate chambers, Victoria staying in the mess hall while Ian relaxed in the garage.  This had all changed, now they both spent most of their time in the break room, as if they had taken it upon themselves to collectively fill the void left after Clark joined the evacuation.
    As expected, this was where Colin found them both, with Ian sitting on the settee watching the television with Victoria standing behind him.  They both almost jumped out of their skin when Colin burst into the room, turning their heads to see the cause of this intrusion, both of them had an expression as if they’d seen a ghost.
    “Colin?” Victoria said.  “Where have you been?  We haven’t seen you since you set off on that job yesterday.”
    “Sorry about that,” Colin explained.  “It’s been a weird night.  I was delayed, the van broke down.  I had to walk all the way home and get the car.”
    “Are you alright Colin?” Ian asked.  “And why are you wearing that hat?”
    “It was my father’s,” Colin said.
    “I know it was,” Ian said.  “But why are you wearing it?”
    “Because it’s leaving day,” Colin said.
    “What do you mean?” Vic said.
    “The war’s finished,” Colin said.  “The job I was sent on last night was to clean up the Para-militia base, it was hit and the resistance was destroyed.  It’s over.”
    “Slow down,” Vic said.  “The Para-militia have been completely wiped out?  What about Dominic?”
    Colin had been dreading this moment back at the house but he completely forgot about it on the way here.  It was time to tell Victoria about her brother.
    “He’s fine,” Colin lied.  “He wasn’t among the casualties.  There are still are few pockets of Para-militia around the city but they’re all being rounded up and arrested right about now.”
    “So he’s going to jail?” Vic said.
    “It probably won’t be too long,” Colin said.  “He gave himself up, they’ll be lenient.”
    Colin was surprisingly good at lying, his ability even amazed himself, it was mostly because he never lied, so people don’t expect him to.
    “Well,” Vic said.  “He made his mistake; he should have to pay for it.  This was probably the best way it could end for him.”
    “Exactly,” Colin said.  “And now we need to leave.”
    “Leave what?” Vic said.
    “The city,” Colin said.  “Didn’t you hear me?  The war’s over, we can’t make anymore money from it, it’s time to leave.”
    “What about last night’s job,” Vic said.  “You didn’t finish it.”
    “What?” Colin said.
    “You couldn’t have,” Vic said.  “You didn’t come back to cremate them, you just left them out there.”
    “Is that really important right now?” Colin said.  “Who cares about one job?  Let’s leave it and go.”
    “But you can’t just leave those people rotting out there,” Vic said.
    “I think the army can handle one cleanup,” Colin said.  “Don’t worry about it.”
    “If you don’t do this job, they won’t pay you for cleaning up anymore,” Vic said.
    “Why can’t you understand this?” Colin was getting angry now.  “The war’s over, there won’t be anymore.”
    “That’s not true,” Ian said.
    “What?” Colin said.
    “We got a call not that long before you arrived,” Ian said.  “It was an army representative, they asked you to take care of a battle by some old church.”
    Fear raced back into the mind of Colin, he wondered what Malcolm had done.  How many soldiers has he killed now?  He couldn’t go back there, Malcolm would kill him.
    “No,” Colin said.  “I know what that is, it’s nothing to do with the war, we’re not taking that job.”
    “Colin?” Vic said.  “What’s wrong?”
    “I just can’t go back to the church,” Colin said.  “I was there last night, this crazy guy tried to kill me.”
    “What?” Vic said.
    “It doesn’t matter,” Colin said.  “But we do need to leave now, I don’t know if he’s coming after me or not.”
    “What do you mean, ‘it doesn’t matter’?” Vic said.  “You said someone tried to kill you.”
    “It’ll be fine,” Colin said.  “I’ve brought all the money we’ve made and the car’s outside.  Please, I’ve already planned it all out, just get in the car and let’s leave.”
    “OK,” Vic said.
    “Really?” Colin said.  “It was that easy to convince you?”
    “Yeah,” Vic said.  “I hate it here; I’ve been looking forward to the day when we can leave.”
    “Okay,” Colin said.  “It’s settled then, let’s all go to the train station.”
    “Alright,” Vic said.  “Just give me a minute; I need to go collect a few things that I’ve been keeping here.”
    Victoria left the room and walked down the corridor a little, probably to the mess hall, Colin thought.
    Turning his attention back to the people in this room, Colin looked over at Ian who was still watching TV on the settee.  Colin decided to join him.
    “Are you feeling better, Ian?” Colin asked.
    “I feel fine now,” Ian said.  “It was only a short illness.  Yesterday, I just spent most of the day watching old western films; it always makes me feel better.”
    “Really?” Colin said.
    “Yeah,” Ian said.  “I love watching westerns when I’m sick.  They’re the perfect film for when you don’t have the energy to think because their plots are so simple.  You can always tell who’s going to die in each scene; it’s always the guy who says to one of his friends that the main character ‘doesn’t look so tough’.”
    “I never knew that about you,” Colin said.  “I think yesterday was the first time since I’ve known you that you’ve been ill.”
    “I also watched some disaster film,” Ian said.  “Their plots are pretty simple as well.  I can’t remember the name of it though; it was a fairly recent one.”
    “Dominic would’ve hated disaster films,” Colin said.  “He told me that the villain makes the film and there isn’t one in disaster films.”
    “Why did you just use the past tense?” Ian said.  “Is Dominic really okay?”
    “No, he’s…” Colin hesitated.  “…he’s dead.”
    “Oh no,” Ian said.  “How?”
    “He was killed when the Army stormed the Para-militia base,” Colin said.
    “Are you sure?” Ian said.
    “Yeah, I’m sure,” Colin said.  “I saw him.  Hey, listen.  Please don’t tell Vic, okay?”
    “Alright Colin,” Ian said.  “Can I ask you something?”
    “Sure,” Colin said.
    “If you had a chance to know exactly how and when you were going to die,” Ian began.  “Would you want to know?”
    “I think I would,” Colin said.  “I’ve never liked surprises.”
    “So what are you watching?” Colin inquired.
    “Just an old Superman film,” Ian said.  “Where do you think he gets changed these days, because there aren’t any phone booths around anymore.”
    “I don’t know,” Colin said, laughing.  “I’ve missed you Ian, it seems like I haven’t seen you in ages.”
    “I saw you yesterday,” Ian said.  “Just before you mysteriously disappeared.”
    “Yeah, about that,” Colin said.  “When I didn’t come back, didn’t anyone come out to look for me?”
    “Well, I was ill,” Ian said.  “So I was sleeping a lot yesterday.  I guess Vic just supposed you’d turn up eventually.”
    “What if I didn’t?” Colin said.
    “But you did so what does it matter?” Ian said.
    “Fine,” Colin said.  “So how do you feel about finally leaving this place?  Are you excited?”
    “I’m glad you brought it up, I need to tell you something about that,” Ian said.  “Do you think leaving is really a good idea.  Are you sure that the war is actually over?”
    “What?” Colin said.  “Of course it is, didn’t you watch the news last night?”
    “No,” Ian said.  “I didn’t feel like it, I was too ill.”
    “Look,” Colin said, seizing hold of the remote control.  “I’ll prove it to you.”
    Colin then began flicking through the channels in his search for a news program.  The first change brought them right in the middle of something that resembled a news report, but after a few seconds of inspection, revealed itself to be an advert of some kind.  Colin could see a man in his late forties to early fifties in front of a white background talking to him.  Curiosity got the better of him and Colin found a compulsion, which demanded him to leave it on so he could see what on earth this was an advert for.
    “Hello, my name is Joshua Sorenson and I am the CEO of a company called Olympus pharmaceuticals.  You may not have heard of us but for a while now, we have been supplying most hospitals in the country with many of their drugs and are recently about to branch out into more commercial products.  You will soon be able to find our products in pharmacists throughout the country and, in preparation for that, we commissioned an advert to be made.  There were several ideas on what we were going to do and eventually settled on paying a group of very famous and attractive celebrities to promote us.  That is, we were going to do that, until we discovered how much money they all wanted.  For legal reasons we are not allowed to disclose which celebrities these were but their combined fees ran well into the millions so we told them all to f**k off, gave what would have been their salaries to charity and just decided to let me do it.  I know I haven’t given you very much information about our products, if you actually want that, you can visit the website at the bottom of the screen, thank you.”
    “Wow,” Colin said.  “That was a weird advert.”
    “Imagine if there was no such thing as money,” Ian said.  “There would be no more need for adverts.  So, how exactly was that proving to me that the war is over?”
    “I’m just looking for the news,” Colin said, switching the channel again.  Now, Colin was watching a program that looked vaguely familiar but he wasn’t quite sure what it was.  “What is this?” he asked Ian.
    “It’s Art Attack,” Ian said.  “They recently brought it back.”
    “Is that Neil Buchanan?” Colin said incredulously.  “I don’t believe it, I remember watching this show as a child back in the nineties, he presented it then too.  He hasn’t changed at all, has he?”
    “No,” Ian said.  “He looks exactly the same, he hasn’t aged at all.  I’m beginning to suspect that he’s not human, I think he’s just a creative android.”
    “Sorry,” Colin said.  “I’m getting distracted.”
    Colin changed the channel one final time and found what he was looking for, the news.
    “With the population of the UK now well over 71 million, we are rapidly becoming one of the most over-crowded nations in history.  This can be seen by the current rate of inflation, most people are struggling to make ends meet with the price of food and utilities continuing to climb even higher.  The poorest of people are now having to choose between paying for gas and heating or paying for food because they are finding it difficult to afford both.  We are now going to speak with a leading authority on the matter, Dr. Robert Landau…”
    “What are you trying to prove?” Ian said.  “It’s not saying anything about the war.”
    “Exactly,” Colin explained.  “The war’s old news, they’re not even talking about it anymore.  They’re so strapped for new stories, they’ve had to go back to the population crisis.”
    “Well at least the war should help in stemming the over population,” Ian joked.
    “So, are you content?” Colin asked.  “Ready to come with us now?”
    “I’m sorry Colin,” Ian said.
    “What for?” Colin said.
    “I’m not coming with you,” Ian said.
    “What are you talking about?” Colin said.  “The war’s over, there’s no point in us being here.  Why don’t you want to leave with us?  You’ve been wanting to leave the city from the beginning.”
    “I wanted to leave when the war was going on,” Ian said.  “I always thought we would then come back when the danger had passed and we can just keep on living the way we’d always lived.”
    “But now we don’t need to live the horrible lives we used to have,” Colin said.  “We’re rich, we can go wherever we want.”
    “I want to go here,” Ian said.
    “This city is in ruins,” Colin said.  “Why don’t you want to go to a better place.”
    “I just want to stay here,” Ian said.  “It’s my home, I don’t understand why you don’t feel the same way.”
    “I just…don’t,” Colin said.  “So your mind is really made up?”
    “Yep,” Ian said.  “Goodbye Colin.”
    “Okay,” Colin said, standing up.  “I’ll just get your share of the money and then me and Vic will be on our way.”
    “Don’t bother,” Ian said.
    “What do you mean?” Colin said quizzically.  “Why not?”
    “I don’t need any of that money,” Ian said.  “Why don’t you just keep it all, it’ll probably make you a lot happier than it will me.”
    “I can’t just leave without paying you for your work,” Colin told him.
    “If your leaving forever, you won’t need the funeral home, will you?” Ian said.
    “I suppose not,” Colin said.
    “Then just let me take care of the place,” Ian said.  “This building is worth much more than my fee.  Just leave this place to me and we’ll call it even.”
    “Sure,” Colin said.  “If that’s all you want, I’d be happy to.  But are you sure you don’t want your share as well?”
    “What would I use the money for?” Ian said.  “Look at me, I don’t have much of a need for wealth, I barely even live in the material world.  I don’t live the same life as you.”
    “Goodbye Ian,” Colin said as Ian stood up and hugged him.
    “Listen,” Ian said.  “You’ve still got some youth left, don’t waste it all accumulating money for your later years or you’ll miss some of the best parts of life.”
    “Oh, don’t worry,” Colin said.  “I don’t intend to, I’ve got all I need now.  I’m worried about you though, what are you going to do now?”
    “It might take a while but soon people will return to the city and it will be rebuilt,” Ian said.  “It’ll be like it never even happened.  And as I’m waiting for that time, I’ve still got my westerns.”
    “What is it with you and those films?” Colin asked.
    “I just like the idea,” Ian said.  “A simpler time when people were happier, I would give anything to live in those good old days.”
    “Do you mean the same ‘good old days’ when women were treated as less than human?” Colin mocked.
    “I’ve never heard you stick up for women’s rights before?” Vic said, who had, without being noticed, very recently reappeared by the doorway, bag in hand.
    “Hush dear,” Colin said jokingly,  “Men talk.”
    “Very funny,” Vic said sarcastically.  “Just keep in mind that I’m the smarter out of the two of us.”
    “Believing yourself to have greater intelligence than another only proves your stupidity,” Ian said.
    “Stop ganging up on me,” Vic said.  “Are you two ready to go?”
    “I am, but Ian’s not,” Colin said.
    “What?” Vic said.
    “Ian’s decided to stay,” Colin said.
    “Is this true?” she asked Ian.
    “I’m sorry, Vic,” Ian apologised.  “I just don’t want to leave.”
    “Okay then,” Vic said.  “I guess it’s your decision, we can’t force you to come with us.  So this is goodbye then?”
    “Goodbye Vic,” Ian said.
    Victoria left the room at this point, closely followed by Colin, who stopped at the doorway and turned back to Ian when Victoria was out of earshot.
    “Hey Ian,” Colin said.  “Do you know what I’m going to do with all this money?”
    “Nope,” Ian said.
    “Me neither,” Colin said.  “Do you think that’s something I should be concerned about?”
    Ian began to smile but Colin left before he could think of an answer.  That image of Ian smiling would be the one Colin always pictured when he thought of him, which he was glad of.
    Colin joined his wife at the car outside, he looked around, noticing that a light mist had fallen over everything during the time Colin was inside the funeral parlour, or maybe it had been there for a while and Colin was only just realising it.  Either way, Colin couldn’t help but be reminded of his favourite place in his mind, where he was alone in a forest surrounded by a thick fog.
    Smiling to himself, Colin entered the car and first looked to the back seats to make sure the money was still there and then over to Victoria in the passenger seat.  
    Colin took a few seconds to silently reflect on matters, he couldn’t think of a single aspect that was wrong with his life.  It both disturbed and elated him, this feeling of ambivalence stayed with him as he drove away from his life.
    As the journey to the train station began, Colin caught sight of the bag Victoria had taken with her in his rear view mirror.
    “What’s in that bag?” Colin asked.
    “Just a few personal items that I was keeping in the mess hall,” Vic said, taking a look around the car herself.  “Nothing interesting.  So where is all our stuff?”
    “I didn’t bring it,” Colin said.
    “You didn’t bring anything?” Vic said.  “You went to our house to pick up the car and you didn’t bring any of our possessions?”
    “No,” Colin said.  “I just brought the money.”
    “Why?” Vic said.
    “I don’t think you fully understand how much money we have,” Colin explained.  “We’ll just buy loads of new stuff when we get where we’re going.”
    “Where are we going?” Vic asked.
    “The train station,” Colin said.
    “And after that?” Vic said.
    “I don’t know,” Colin said.  “The evacuation trains go into England.”
    “That’s pretty vague,” Vic said.  “I don’t want to go to the refugee camps, those places are horrible.”
    “They’re just for the people who can’t afford to live anywhere else,” Colin said.  “Once we get over the border into England, we can afford to go anywhere we want to from there.”
    “I wish Ian was coming with us,” Vic said.  “It didn’t feel right, us just leaving him behind.”
    “We didn’t leave him behind,” Colin said.  “He chose to stay.”
    “We could try and stay too,” Vic said.
    “What?” Colin said.  “Why would you want to stay?  This city is a mess.  The good news is we don’t have to  live here.  We’ve now got the kind of money that’ll take us anywhere.”
    “I guess,” Vic said reluctantly.
    “A new Big Brother will be starting soon, won’t it?” Colin said.
    “Eh…yeah, I think so,” Vic said.  “It’ll probably be next month, but why do you care?  You never watch it, you always told me that it was the worst thing on TV.”
    “I still do hate it,” Colin said.  “But my mother liked it.”
    “Are you okay…” Vic began asking before she was cut off.
    “Oh no!” Colin exclaimed.  “I forgot my mother.  I was going to bring her ashes with us.”
    “Do you want to go back?” Vic asked.
    “No,” Colin said.  “It doesn’t matter.  Anyway, I’m sure Ian will take good care of her.”
    “Well, okay,” Vic said, finding it strange how quickly his panic had passed.  She searched for something comforting she could say, couldn‘t think of anything so just changed the subject instead.  “Is it true that they now have to pay Big Brother contestants beforehand to take part?”
    “Yeah,” Colin said.  “People finally started realising how much it ruins your life if you take part so now that we’re coming up to Big Brother 33, no one auditions anymore, Channel 4 just have to find desperate poor people to bribe now.”
    Colin turned on the radio, but not the news, he didn’t want to hear it, he just wanted some music accompany this important point in his life.  To his amazement, he actually found something he liked.  Admittedly, it was only a small factor in his life that was going right but it made him feel great, like everything would be alright from now on.  According to Colin, good music had to be somewhere between being boring and irritating.  It needed be just original enough to stand out, but not quite so unique as to be really annoying after you hear it a few times.
    “You look happy,” Vic said.
    “So?” Colin said.
    “I just haven’t seen that in a while,” Vic said.  “Do you hate this place so much?”
    “It’s just over familiar,” Colin said.  “You are right though, I do hate most things.”
    “What about people?” Vic said.  “You didn’t seem sad when Natalie left.  You didn’t act bothered about Dominic running away with the Para-militia and getting himself arrested, who knows when we’ll see him next.  You also didn’t really care all that much about Ian not coming with us and he’s your best friend.  All these people you’ve known for years and you don’t even seem mildly concerned at the prospect of never seeing them again, that’s not how humans are meant to feel.  You weren’t even depressed when your mother died, you can just leave her behind as callously as you would if that urn was empty, can’t you?  I’d bet you’d turn the car around if you had forgotten your keys.  Do you just hate everyone you know that much?  And does it include me?”
    “You think I hate all people, don’t you?” Colin said.
    “Well?” Vic said.  “Isn’t it true?”
    “Yeah, it’s true,” Colin said.  “I may hate people, but I love humans.  I like the idea of people, I just don’t like the reality.  I don’t approve of what we’ve become.”
    You could accuse Colin of being cold and selfish, but you’d be wrong.  His problem wasn’t apathy, what was wrong with Colin was exactly the opposite, he couldn’t control his empathy.  He cares about other people, but he only cares about the people he knows and then, in these cases, he cares too much.  This crippling quality was what caused him to stay behind in a dying city when everyone else had the good sense to leave.  Colin Shaw couldn’t handle what other people thought of him.
    The fog that engulfed their escape rout wasn’t as heavy as in the forest of his mind, so Colin could see the road block ahead of them coming for a while.
    Nevertheless, Colin didn’t stop until he was right in front of it, so that he could get a better look at this obstacle.  It appeared to be of a similar construction to all the other roadblocks, which the British Army had erected in the city for some unknown reason.  Just as with all the other roadblocks they systematically built throughout the course of the war, this one was completely unguarded by British soldiers and so, also devoid of a possible explanation for them.
    From past experiences, Colin knew that there was no way to drive through, these solid structures were totally immobile.
    “Damn it,” Colin said.  “This is the same rout I used to take Clark to the train station, there wasn’t a road block then.”
    “I think they probably put it up between then and now,” Vic said dryly.  “We’ll have to get out and walk, the train yard’s not far.”
    They both exited their car, each taking their respective containers of importance with them.  Sombrely making their way past the roadblock and through the fog, they moved at that speed right in between walking and jogging.
    Most of their path was in the form of the road directly behind the concrete roadblock, they continued along it for a few minutes.  The train station wasn’t far, just about a ten-minute walk from here.  They turned into a slightly narrower street and kept on going.
    “We can take a shortcut if we go through that alleyway,” Vic pointed out.  It lead directly through a block of building rather than having to go all the way around them to get to the train station, so they took it.  They travelled through it quickly, disturbing a family of pigeons in the process, until they emerged out onto a small road, any thinner and it would’ve been considered a crossroad of alleys.  On the other side of this opening was another alley that lead completely out of this close collection of buildings.
    They began to walk out when they heard a noise, it coming from their left side, a kind of low rumbling sound.  They looked over at the end of the short street to see a shape moving in the fog, it was a big shape.  Colin squinted and tried to make out what it was when Victoria tugged at his sleeve.
    “What the hell is that?” she said.  “I don’t like this, let’s go.”
    At that moment the fog shifted revealing what it had been obscuring, it was a Cerberus tank.  It was only passing by this small road and Colin’s eyes widened in fear when he saw the machine gun on its flank lock onto him.  The Cerberus computer, which was in control of the side facing them, immediately searched for a pulse beacon, which it didn’t detect, and fired at the ‘enemies’,
    Colin dived forwards as the heavy spray of bullets whistled overhead, he landed facedown in the next alley.  Many of the shots collided with the wall behind him showering his back with brick dust.  Colin checked himself, he seemed unhurt.
    Looking forwards, Colin could see his hat, which had fallen off in the turmoil, lying not that far ahead of him.  Beyond that, Colin saw his briefcase lying slightly further away, he was relieved to see that it was completely undamaged.
    He arose to his feet and dusted himself off, looking behind him, he saw that Victoria had not been as lucky.  She was also lying face down and her bag was also a few feet from her.  However, that was where the similarities ended between her and Colin because she was lying in a pool of her own blood, not moving.
    The tank had passed by, the danger was over, his life would be at no risk if he chose to go back and check on her, but she wasn’t moving, Colin decided that she was dead.  Colin put his hat back on, picked up the briefcase and continued on to the train station.
    For some reason, Colin thought back to a biology paper from his school days.  There was one question from it that he could remember well because it made him laugh at the time.  It was a long question and he couldn’t recall most of it, what stood out the most was the first sentence.  It stated that, ‘There are many differences between rabbits and lawnmowers’.  He had found it so strange at the time, what a completely unusual and obvious thing to say.  The point it had been trying to make was that lawnmowers get rid of all plant life whereas rabbits are more selective, only eating the most nutritious plants and leaving what they deem could possibly be poisonous.
    Colin couldn’t help but notice the resemblance between that statement and what had just happened.  Computers were like lawnmowers, they recognised everything that didn’t have a pulse beacon as an enemy and completely mowed them all down.  Humans are more like rabbits in this respect, they don’t regard everything in absolutes, they can be more selective.  If a human had been controlling the machine gun of that Cerberus tank, it would have recognised them as not their enemy and wouldn’t have shot Victoria.
    The truth was Victoria wasn’t dead, the bullet had hit her back as she tried to take cover, the bullet passed through her lung and out her chest.  She raised her head to see Colin leaving her behind.  The wound was incredibly serious, there was no doubt in her mind that she was going to die, she realised that she was beyond help.  
    Even if Colin had gone back for her, he wouldn’t have been able to save her, all she would’ve gotten would be a few more seconds with her husband.