Alicia Artificial

  Chapter 8

  Alicia was awaken by the sound of Tracy swearing and cursing. She sat up and asked “Why are we still here? I thought we left.” Tracy turned to her and replied “Yeah mister ‘nobody dies’ and ‘all work as team’ ditched us. I’m gonna kill that mongrel. Get Felicity up while I start the car. Alicia nodded and shook Felicity till she woke.

  When they went outside they found Tracy was fiddling with the engine. “I thought you couldn’t drive?” Alicia asked. Tracy replied “Yeah well I shouldn’t being a biod and all. At least that’s what your dad said. I used to drive the old farm ute sometimes when I was young though. Just around the farm. It was a long time ago and I wasn’t very good. Never needed to drive since.” Alicia really wished she knew how to drive now. “The bastard sabotaged the car.” Tracy explained “ Never mind I can work around it, but we wont have the air con.” That didn’t really bother any of them. Alicia checked the time. He had almost an hour head start on them now. She started planning how many times she was going to slap him silly when she got her hands on him.

  Adam parked his car behind a large rock in a very bushy area. Khall’s lab was just over the next hill. He sat with a good view of the road and waited. Half an hour passed before he saw a car coming. It looked to be three men on board. The laptop showed one of them was a Khall biod.Adam initiated the hack and when a command box appeared he simply typed ‘Kill the driver now.’ Seconds later the vehicle started to swerve and ran off the road. It hit a rock and rolled. Adam typed in ‘Walk to the road.’ but a message came up saying signal lost. “Crap.” Adam swore. “I need a new one now. Test successful though.” He carefully crept closer to the old tannery staying in cover of the trees. Once he was getting close enough he started getting signals of biods again. He couldn’t see them and had forgotten to add a way to link their vision in his rush. One by one he hacked the biods and told them to kill anyone working for Khall. Alarms soon sounded and men were running around in a panic. A wide variety of gunshots could be heard. They had closed the front gate and armed guards protected it.

  There were only a few men on top of the highest sheds and it wasn’t long before they were shooting at a pair of biods that were hunting them down and tossing them to the ground. Adam chuckled that the superior technology of a biod could so easily be hacked by a free downloadable tool from the internet. It was a flaw in their design left neglected by Khall’s arrogance and rush to get his creations out. He guessed it was probably one of the last things to be added for the final design. Adam chuckled “See what happens when you rush the beta versions.” He was going to exploit the flaw for as long as he could. He would use this army of biods to kill everybody in Khall’s camp and then turn them against each other. Hopefully the doctor himself would be one of the victims. The plan was working brilliantly and the girls were out of harm’s way. Four of the seven biods he had hacked now had no signal. The gunfire had ceased. He assumed the remaining biods must be incapacitated. In just minutes he had eliminated eight biods who had no doubt taken plenty of others out with them. It was too easy.

  Adam checked that there was no guards left on the roof tops and wriggled under the side fence. He found a service ladder leading to the roof of a shed opposite the main building and hid behind a large air conditioning unit at the top. There still seemed to be a lot of men running around. More than he expected. Tracy’s estimate of being outnumbered ten to one were far from accurate. Some of the men were wearing hired security uniforms. A dozen or so looked like gangsters. Adam guessed these men were protecting their bosses investments in Khall’s work. His biggest worry were the dozen or so men and women in green outfits that resembled military men. They couldn’t be army so he assumed these were mercenaries and volunteers for Khall’s super soldier drug. They were checking on their fallen comrades. Hopefully some of them were biods as well. He opened the laptop and scanned for signals again.

  Adam counted at least thirty people still moving around and he had no idea how many remained inside. He found six more biods to hack. It wasn’t going to be enough but it was a start. They may have had the super soldier drug, but he suspected all of Khall’s hired men did as well. The gunfire soon started again. Apart from the guards on the gate it seemed the other non biods who survived were headed for the main building. He made himself comfortable as he sat and waited for more biods to come into range. It was getting dark now and he could hear what sounded like helicopters circling the area. He couldn’t see any lights in the sky, so he figured they were still far off. As he listened closer he also heard a low roar in the distance. It was getting louder. He thought it was a truck. Down the road leading up to the tannery he could see headlight approaching at high speed. A guard fired a pistol as he stood in the gateway. Adam watched as the vehicle slammed through the front gate killing the guard standing there while those closest to him dived for cover. Another guard opened fire as the black hummer sped forward and dissappeared from his vision. There was a loud crash and the shed shook. Adam reflexively reached for something to grab hold of but lost his grip on the laptop. It slid across the roof and over the edge.

  Adam prayed as he wriggled to the edge and peered over. The laptop was smashed on the concrete below. He checked his phone and sure enough the three girl’s signals were listed. He cursed loudly and slammed his fist against the roof. There were more guards here than they had been led to believe. They were about to be killed. He spotted Felicity climbing into a window of the second floor of the main building. The others were still on the ground preparing to follow. Adam gauged the distance and wondered if he might make it jumping to an open window across from him so they could group up inside. He felt he had a reasonable chance and began to run to the edge of the roof. He leaped and realised halfway that he wasn’t going to make it. He wasn’t sure how but at least one arm made it through the window and held him in place. The impact with the wall knocked the wind out of him. His entire body ached, but he managed to lift himself enough to get his upper body inside. He grabbed the edge of a desk and pulled himself the rest of the way. Adam lay panting on the floor for a moment before he felt ready to stand. He had to protect his future wife and the others. Alicia had to be safe. He didn’t care what it cost him, he was going to get her out of here.

  As he walked to the door he saw something on a desk. It was an interface, but unlike anything he had seen in Alicia’s schematics. The single socket didn’t even look compatible with any plug he had ever seen. It wasn’t his primary concern at the moment so he shoved it in his pocket and moved to the door. Carefully he opened it and looked out.

  Something cold touched against his throat and he froze. A voice whispered in his ear “You’re in deep trouble mister.” He turned slowly and saw Felicity giving him an evil look. She suddenly hugged him quickly and said “I’m so glad you’re still alive. We just have to keep you safe from your wife to be now.” “Where are they?” Adam asked. I thought they were climbing through the window behind you?” Felicity nodded and replied “They were but some guards came. They ran behind the building.” “Ok.”, Adam said “We need to regroup. Safety in numbers.” Felicity shoved him and said sarcastically “Yeah, so says the guy that was going to abandon us after his big speech about teamwork.” They slowly worked their way to the back of the building to see if they could spot the others. Adam spotted a body laying in the corridor. It had deep slashes across the throat and bloody holes in the stomach. Felicity commented “I do love this glove weapon thingy.” It sent chills down his spine when he heard her talk about killing so casually. At the back of the building Adam leaned out a window. It was too dark to see much. “Alicia, Tracy.” he called as loud as he dared. The only sound he could hear was more sporadic gun fire.

  Felicity tapped his shoulder and pointed at a door behind them with a small window. Adam looked inside and saw a familiar face. Fay was fastened to a support column wrapped in chains. The door was locked so Adam smashed the little window with his hatchet handle. He reached inside and
grabbed the door latch but hands grabbed his arm. He saw a pistol was pointed at his face through the smashed window. Suddenly the door fully opened as Felicity charged into it. Adam retrieved his arm as a bullet whizzed past his head. He saw the gunman on the ground and swung the hatchet at his head. It impacted over his ear killing him immediately. He turned to find Felicity picking herself up from the floor rubbing her shoulder. “That door was harder than it looked.” she complained. They rushed over to Fay and used the hatchet to smash the lock on the chains. She was unconscious and looked to have been badly beaten. There was dried blood trickling from her mouth and nose. Her long white hair was stained with blood as well. Adam caught her as the chains fell away. She was wearing some kind of a thick grey body suit. He was surprised as he noticed her pointy ears. They weren’t much bigger than a normal person but they tapered to a point at the top. This was a surprise but what truly shocked him was her the two appendages that drooped from the back of her shoulders. They looked like extra arms without hands and also tapered to a gentle point. Adam couldn’t help but to think she looked like an elf from a story book except for her extra arms. “What the hell is she?” Felicity asked. “I don’t know.” Adam answered before suggesting “Perhaps her institute are experimenting with genetics or some weird surgery now. Whatever they’ve done to her she’s still a person and she’s hurt. We have to help her.”

  Felicity raced back out the door while Adam checked Fay over. She seemed free of any major injuries and was breathing steadily. He touched her ears to see if they were real and she reacted with a quick half smile and opened an eye for just a moment. He guessed she was going to be ok. Felicity reappeared at the door and beckoned him to follow. He lifted Fay thankful that she was very light while Felicity grabbed the dead guard’s gun. Further down the corridor Felicity lead them to a room that looked like an old first aid room. It was very dusty so they figured it was no longer used. Adam lay Fay on the bed and placed a sheet over her. He said to Felicity “We can’t carry her everywhere. Maybe we can hide her here. Cover her, turn the lights out, lock the door.” “Agreed.” Felicity said as she placed the pistol under Fay’s hand and made sure the sheet still covered it. She looked up at Adam grabbing his hand and asked “Hey, by the way. Can you tell how scared I am?“ Adam shook his head. Felicity smiled saying “Good. I don’t want them to see it.” Adam decided that maybe she wasn’t quite the emotionless killing machine she acted like. He would have worried if she wasn’t scared. Perhaps it was just a front like her cat persona hiding what she truly felt. He mussed her dark hair saying “I’m proud of you Felicity. As long as we stay in control of our selves, we have a chance to win. Just don’t go feral on me again.” She purred happily in response making him smile.

  They pushed the bed into the far corner and tuned off the lights before locking the door from the inside. They wished they could take her with them, but staying alive was hard enough as it was. Fay’s chances were better on her own. Hopefully she would regain conciousness soon and find the gun. She was on her own then unless by some miracle they made it back.

  Eventually they found some stairs leading down and carefully descended. As they entered the main corridor three men appeared from nowhere wearing bullet proof vests and helmets. They were pointing machine guns at them. Adam turned and saw three more. They were trapped. Felicity removed her clawed glove and dropped it to the ground as she placed her hands on her head. “It was a good try.” She said as they were disarmed of their remaining weapons at gunpoint and placed in extra heavy handcuffs.

  Alicia and Tracy were getting tired from running and hiding. The swords had come in handy a few times now as they had encountered lone guards looking confused about what was going on. They had cut them down without slowing as a groups of guards were yelling somewhere behind them. They ran through a large roller door in the front of a shed to avoid their pursuers and found there were no other exits. It was littered with crates to provide a little cover at least. They managed to overpower the first two men that entered by surprising them with their swords from beside the door. They had taken their weapons and Alicia shot out the two huge lights hanging overhead. The gun was nothing like her father’s little pistol, but as she looked at it and wondered how it worked she realised she already knew. She was going to have thank Gem for her little gift. They hid in the back corner of the room and shot at any movement they saw enter the door like snipers. They knew the enemy must have known where they were by now. There were around ten bodies piled up near the huge door now which would draw even more attention. When Tracy started to run low on ammo she slid her rifle to Alicia and said “Just cover me. If I go down please make sure I’m dead. Don’t let them take me.” She drew her sword again and held a position in the middle of the room. She knew that if she got too close to the bodies in front of the door she might be surprised by a sniper. She would hope that if any made it through the door far enough she could cut them down and restock their ammo. She crouched in the dark and waited for the next intruder.

  Alicia was having trouble keeping the gun steady. Fear was starting to overcome her. She shook her head hoping to clear it. She knew she had to stay calm. She forced herself to focus as she kept careful aim on the doorway. Nothing was happening. She hadn’t seen anyone try to enter for a while now. She wondered if she would get to snuggle in bed with Adam ever again. It seemed unlikely now she would have her wedding or start a family. She wouldn’t be growing old with Adam. Alicia was sure the enemy knew they were in there. She concluded they must be massing for an assault or something. She started shaking knowing that any minute a large number were going to rush the door and they would be killed. For all she knew they had grenades or explosives they could just toss in and blow them to bits. It didn’t look good and she was terrified. They were trapped and the bullets were running low. Felicity was on her own out there somewhere and she had no idea where Adam was or even if he was still alive. “This all sux.” she murmured to herself.

  Alicia leaned against the back wall and felt it move. She grabbed the sheet of tin and it felt loose. Carefully she peeled it back until she could fit through. She whistled and Tracy scurried back. They had no idea what was on the other side but it lead away from here. They crawled through and found themselves in another dark shed.

  It wreaked of stale urine making them gag. “Must be a toilet block.” Alicia suggested. A light appeared on the other side of the room as a guard opened a door just enough to stick his head and shoulder inside. He was shaking an unlit torch and swearing at it angrily.

  Alicia charged forward with all the stealth and speed she could muster driving her sword into his chest. Tracy’s blade pierced his stomach an instant later. She grabbed the man and quickly pulled him in the door. She looked outside and said “Coast clear.” Tracy picked up his baton and the torch. There was no gun unfortunately. She tapped the torch a few times and it turned on. Shinning it around the room they were sickened by what they saw. There were people huddled against the walls. They were tied to each other. Alicia guessed about twenty of them. Males and females aging from mid teens to late twenties. Each wore a gag and looked to be sedated. They were alive but didn’t really seem interested in potential rescuers suddenly appearing. One man started grunting for their attention. Alicia removed his gag. He thanked her and explained he hadn’t eaten any of the slop they were ordered to eat. He only pretended because he was a vegetarian. He wasn’t sedated like the others. He went on to explain how he had been kidnapped a few days ago. Prisoners were bought in and taken away as the scientist chose them. Tracy asked him if any of them had been injected with anything. He shook his head. Tracy asked him “Can you fight?” “I think so.” the man replied. She cut the rope around his hands and said “Stay here. Stretch a bit but do not try to escape until all the gun fire has stopped for a long while. Try to act like you’re still tied up till then.” She tucked her knife under his leg to conceal it saying “Remember, do not try to escape yet. The guards are on alert.” The ma
n agreed to follow her instructions. Alicia would have liked to set them all free, but they would only be slaughtered. She had to think logically. Their best chance would be when all the guards were out of the way. The two girls kept moving.

  Adam and Felicity were roughly shoved along a corridor and bought to what appeared to be a large surgery. Two lab assistants stopped hovering over the body of the patient they were working on and watched them curiously. Doctor Khall emerged from his side office wearing his lab coat and drawing a pistol from his pocket. He looked like the typical evil scientist from a horror film with his pointy goatee and crazy eyes. He looked at Adam with an annoyed expression saying “So you were the ones turning my creations against me. I suppose I should thank you for pointing out Kingsworth little lapse in security measures. Don’t worry, I’ll fix that by the time you become one of my slaves.” He glanced at Felicity before continuing “And it looks like you bought me a little gift. How kind of you. She looks familiar though.” He looked at Felicity scratching his chin.

  Felicity was seething with hatred as she saw Khall standing there. She hissed loudly. Finally recognising the girl he approached with an evil smirk and said to her “So you’re still alive my feral little bundle of damaged goods.” He looked her up and down. “Nice outfit.” he commented stroking her furry cat ears, “Maybe we can have some fun before you die. One for the road maybe.” Felicity tried to bite at his hand but a guard grabbed her by the hair. Khall chuckled maniacally as an idea formed in his head. “Well my spirited little kitten, you aren’t the only cosplay girl here now.” Khall said. He clapped his hands twice loudly and said “Meet your replacements. They’re much better equipped than you were my broken little play thing.” he said poking at her chest with his pistol. He spoke in the direction of the guards saying “You boys are going to just love this. A little show from your generous master. It should be fun. A large chested attractive woman appeared from a side office. She was wearing a black leotard, white rabbit ears and fishnet stockings. She was followed by another gorgeous busty woman in a nurse’s outfit. Her very short uniform was open at the front exposing the red lingerie beneath. At Khall’s signal a guard ran over to the women. He gave a large knife to the bunny girl and his baton to the nurse. Adam cringed. These were probably unwilling innocent woman once that he now controlled with his interfaces. They were slaves to his sick and twisted fantasies. Khall was deranged. No doubt these women would be fast and strong as well. Probably more than Felicity was. Felicity stood little chance unarmed against the pair. If she somehow could win, she would be shot anyway. Khall walked over to the girls kissing them both quickly and said “Rip her to pieces. Make it entertaining, and very bloody.” They walked forward as the guards holding Felicity opened her handcuffs and threw her forward. Felicity rolled and sprang to her feet in a defensive pose.

  “Stay calm.” Adam yelled “Don’t let the anger cloud your judgement. Remember giving in to rage gets you killed. Stay in control.” He couldn’t think of much else to say. Felicity glanced at him quickly before replying. “I will try for your sake. I will stay in control. Thank you for showing me care. Thank Alicia for me too, and Tracy.” The nurse lunged first. Felicity spun and kicked at her head but was too slow. The fist baton swing glanced off the back of her shoulder armour as she twisted away, but the return swing smashed into her ribs knocking her to the ground. She rose slowly struggling to breath. Felicity watched as the knife wielding bunny inched closer waiting for a clear shot. The nurse kicked her in the stomach and raised the baton to strike, but Felicity had latched onto her leg with both hands as the kick had made her double over. The blow was clumsy and glanced off the back of her head. Felicity still held tight to the leg. Now the nurse was trying to balance on one foot. Felicity held on waiting for the right moment. As she saw the bunny thrust the knife towards her throat she pulled the nurse towards her and threw herself backwards pulling the nurse with her. The nurse fell to the ground as the knife pierced her back. She moaned in agony but didn’t rise again. The bunny was fast as she slashed at Felicity in a flurry of attacks. She no longer had to avoid hitting her partner.

  Felicity was soon bleeding from slashes to her leg, forearm and waist. It was getting harder to dodge. She remembered Adam’s words and tried to quell the rage inside her that urged her to just charge the enemy wildly. She had to stay in control. Adam was proud of her and she didn’t want to disappoint him. He was the first person that ever made her feel she was worth something. Felicity tried to think of a plan but something was wrong. Her head hurt and her body was twitching for some reason. She feigned a stumble and left her wounded side open to attack. The bunny lunged at her open area as Felicity twisted around and elbowed her in the face. The bunny girl was knocked back a few paces, but withstood the blow. The move Felicity had planned worked, but she was starting to stagger now. The knife had still managed to slice the side of her stomach. She fell to her knees holding the wound. The bunny girl dropped the knife as she raised her broken wrist. Her hand dangled at an unnatural angle. In the same twist she had elbowed the bunny’s face Felicity had snapped her wrist. Felicity dove on the knife and quickly thrust it up into the woman’s stomach twice while she was still in shock. Felicity tried to stand but couldn’t. A strange convulsion shook her body. She turned slowly to Adam and whispered “I’m sorry. I tried.” Felicity fell face forward to the floor bleeding badly from her wounds. She lay motionless as Khall carefully approached and stood over the body.

  He looked disappointed as he said “Bad kitty. You broke my new toys. Never mind I can make plenty more. You know I almost wish I hadn’t tossed you away now. Turns out all I had to do was add more shielding to make you obey.” Khall tapped Felicity’s head a few times with his foot but there was no response. “Aww... Is the poor Kitty dead? Better make sure.” he chuckled as he aimed the gun at Felicity’s head. Adam knew he had to do something, and it had to be quick. “Wait !” he called out, “There’s something you don’t know.” Khall looked at Adam smuggly and boasted “Oh don’t worry boy, I know all about the shielding. I know why this one failed. I control life now. I learnt everything that ...” He didn’t get the chance to finish his boasting. His jaw dropped and his eyes opened wide in horror. Now he was in range and distracted Felicity had sprung her trap and struck. Khall was bleeding from a slice running most the way across his belly. The gun fell to the ground with two of his fingers. With her third lightning fast strike Adam guessed she probably castrated him. She dove behind him to use the screaming doctor as a shield. “Let him go now, or doctor sicko dies.” she called out holding the knife to Khall’s throat. “Do it Khall begged. Let him go.” Felicity used her foot to pull the gun closer to her and grabbed it. Her twitching was getting worse and she was turning very pale.

  The guards holding Adam released him and he grabbed their weapons. He passed his aim slowly over all of them yelling. “All of you drop your weapons and stand against the wall. I want to see faces pressed against the wall people.” The six guards and two lab assistants looked at each other to see what they were all going to do. Adam fired a short burst over their heads and they soon obeyed. As soon as they were all unarmed and facing the wall he opened fire until the gun was empty. He no longer felt any remorse or hesitation when it came to killing these people who followed the orders of that mad man. Not for any reason. He was quite willing to be their judge and executioner.

  Adam raced over to Felicity and helped support her. She was starting to take long slow blinks. Her eyes closed for longer each time. She was still twitching at regular intervals. Felicity was pale from the loss of blood and beginning to loose conciousness. Doctor Khall was moaning loudly and begging for his life as Adam dragged him off her roughly. Felicity slowly reached a hand over Khall’s belly wound and thrust it inside. She pulled out a handful of intestines and spread it out over his chest. He gasped and screamed as he saw what was happening to him. A few seconds later his eyes closed and he went silent. Adam was deeply disturbed and sicken
ed by what he just seen. “Damn.” Felicity cursed “I was hoping to drag it out much longer.” She closed her eyes with a contented smile and whispered “Go help the others. I got my revenge.” “No.” he replied “Nobody is allowed to die remember.” She didn’t respond. He dressed the wounds as best he could and tried to minimise the bleeding. She was still breathing, but it was very faint and he could hear a rattle to it. He had no idea why her body was twitching and convulsing. He slung a fresh rifle over his shoulder and lifted her unconscious body in his arms. Tracy had studied nursing. He had to find her quickly.

 

  .As he left the lab he realised everything had gone silent outside. He guessed the battle was over. He prayed that Alicia and Tracy had somehow survived against the odds.