Project Ami

  They drive towards the city, and already they can see the skyline. The sun is hanging low, and it is a beautiful sight. They drive for only a few more hours, and soon then arrive at the city border.

  Ryan and Ami drive over one of the main roads and, when they get closer to the city blocks, they see that there are KBs hanging around, watching the streets. Ryan had expected this and, luckily, there are not as many as he thought there would be—at least, not as far as he can see.

  He stops the car and looks around him.

  ‘So what are we going to do now?’ asks Ami

  ‘Wait, I have an idea,’ says Ryan, and he starts to drive down a quiet street within the distance of a small train station. He drives the car on to the tracks and starts to follow them.

  Ami and Ryan start to laugh as the car bumps over the tracks. Ryan keeps looking out of the window to make sure that he is still going in the right direction. There is a large skyscraper he can look at to pinpoint where the shopping centre is located.

  After a while, they are only a few blocks away from the shopping centre, and they will not be able to drive any further without being noticed. Ryan parks the car next to the train tracks in-between some construction equipment to make sure no one sees the car. They both get out of the car and grab their backpacks.

  ‘We will need to walk from here,’ says Ryan, and he pulls out a map that Ami found in the car dashboard. He places the map on the hood of the car and shows Ami where they need to walk.

  They are approximately four blocks away from the shopping centre, but there are a number of alleyways in the city that they can use to move around without being noticed by any KBs.

  ‘Okay, when we start to move, I need you to stay very close to me,’ instructs Ryan.

  Ami agrees, and they prepare to walk over to the shopping centre.

  ‘I would like you to keep your gun out at all time, just in case,’ says Ryan.

  Ami takes the gun from her backpack and they start to walk towards a back alley that leads into the resident areas of the city. They find themselves at a fence, and Ryan helps Ami to climb over it. He then throws his backpack over, and takes a run and jump. With some effort, he climbs over the fence and then picks up his backpack again. They start to walk towards the alley and around the corner—and that is when they see two KBs standing at the end of the alley, leading into the street.

  Ryan quickly drags Ami behind a trash container and tells her to get her gun ready. ‘Okay, this is the plan: you aim your gun at the left KB. I will count to three and then you will shoot. I will do the same for the KB on the right.’

  Ami starts to aim her gun at the left KB and Ryan does the same for the right KB.

  He starts to count. ‘Three, two, one… Shoot!’ he says, and they both fire two rounds into the KBs. The KBs go down nice and easy, and Ryan tells Ami to stay behind the container until he calls her. He silently walks to the downed KBs and looks around the corner and into the street to make sure no other KBs have noticed them.

  In the city, it’s common to hear shooting in the distance, but most of the time it will be the KBs that are shooting. Luckily, because of this, the KBs don’t come to investigate every single shot they hear.

  Ryan calls Ami over, and she quickly runs to meet him. He looks around the street and sees that there are some more KBs standing in the distance on the left-hand side of the street. Luckily, the shopping centre is to the right side, and Ryan and Ami walk through the streets and away from the KBs, pressing themselves against the alley walls to keep from being seen.

  After walking for about a hundred feet, Ryan sees a store across the street with the door wide open. He looks around again to make sure there are no KBs nearby, and then he tells Ami they are going to make a run for it. ‘Okay. Let’s go!’ whispers Ryan, and they both run across the street and into the store.

  The store appears to be a hardware store, so unfortunately they do not find any supplies there. But Ryan spots a nice crowbar that might come in handy later on, which he takes and straps to the side of his backpack. They then both walk to the back of the store, where Ryan tries to open a wooden door that leads into another room.

  The door is locked, but Ryan already has a smile on his face because he has the crowbar. ‘How ironic,’ he murmurs as he sticks the crowbar in-between the door. He gives it a few hard pulls and the door breaks open. They find themselves in a storage room, where they see several boxes and cabins. A desk sits in the middle of the room. Ryan walks over to the desk and opens the top drawer, and sure enough finds a handful of bullets he can use for his own gun. He gives Ami a few bullets and tells her to reload her gun. Ryan does the same with his gun. He looks around and sees a metal door on the right-hand side of the room at the back. They walk over to the door and Ryan opens it; it is unlocked, and they find themselves in another alleyway, one block from where they started.

  They walk through the alleyway and Ryan sees that they cannot walk into the street from the right side because there is debris from a fallen building blocking the road.

  ‘Maybe we can go the other way?’ says Ami.

  ‘Yes, good idea,’ says Ryan, and they start to walk in the other direction.

  There is a corner that leads onto the street, but Ryan sees that there are three KBs standing right in front of the exit. He tells Ami to stay back, and he also takes a few steps back himself. But then comes the sound of breaking glass, and the two realise Ryan knocked over some glass wine bottles.

  ‘Shit!’ Ryan exclaims, and already they can hear the KBs walking towards them.

  Ryan and Ami quickly run back, and Ryan tells Ami to prepare to shoot. They both hide behind a few small bins, and then they see the KBs coming around the corner. The KBs start to shoot at them, and Ryan and Ami starts shooting back. As they shoot, Ryan sees Ami is too scared because the bullets are passing by close to her.

  ‘Ami, I need you now!’ screams Ryan, and he continues shooting. ‘Stay focused. Do it for me!’ He shoots down two of the KBs before his ammo runs out. He tries to reload the gun, but there is no time—the KBs are coming too close.

  The KB comes closer and almost hits Ryan.

  The KB is now so close he can easily hit Ryan, but right at that moment he wants to make the killing shot, Ami shoots the KB.

  Ryan takes a deep breath of relief and thanks Ami. He looks over and sees that Ami is terrified of the firefight. He moves over to her and sits next to her; he wants to comfort her but, before he can say anything, Ami falls into his arms and hugs onto him tightly.

  ‘It’s okay, it’s okay. You did good,’ says Ryan.

  ‘I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you…’

  ‘You saved my life, Ami,’ he smiles. ‘You’re beginning to save me more than I do you! Trust me, after a while, you’ll get used to this stuff, believe me.’ Ryan helps Ami up and reloads his gun. He asks Ami how many bullets she has left, and she tells him she has just nine left.

  ‘It looks like we are running low on ammo. Make sure to shoot only when you have to from now on,’ Ryan advises her.

  They start to walk towards the street and, only a few feet away from the street, a KB turns around the corner and sees Ryan and Ami. Ryan pulls out his gun but, before he can shoot, he hears a shot and the KB falls down—Ami beat him to it and manages to shoot the KB first.

  Ryan starts to laugh and says, ‘Thanks again!’

  They walks down the street and look around the corner to make sure there are no more KBs hanging around. Ryan sees a lot of KBs standing on the street corners and hanging around what appears to be an old police station. Unfortunately, all the KBs are standing in the street Ryan and Ami need to walk through to get to the shopping centre.

  Ryan turns his head around and tells Ami to stay close. They then both walk very slowly through the street, sticking against the walls. It seems like the KBs do not notice that they are there because none of them look in their direction.

  Ryan sees an open door not far from him; it leads
into an apartment building. They are only ten feet away from the building, but then Ryan feels someone grabbing his shoulder and a gun pressed against his head. Ami also gets grabbed, and she tries to scream but someone holds a hand over her mouth.

  ‘Be quiet and do what we say,’ says a deep voice.

  Ryan and Ami then are pushed in the direction of the open apartment building. They get pushed into the building and made to walk through a hallway. They enter the first apartment and get thrown to the ground. Ryan sees a man he does not recognise closing the curtains in front of the window so that the KBs cannot see them. He then starts to look around and sees two men standing in front of him. They look like resistance guys, but Ryan does not recognise either of them.

  ‘You really aren’t easy to kill!’

  Ryan recognises the voice, and then sees the boss of the resistance walking in front of him. He is confused; he does not understand why the resistance want him dead so bad that even the boss leaves everything to find him.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ Ryan asks, his tone angry.

  The boss smiles evilly, and then hits Ryan against the head with the side of his gun.

  ‘Leave him alone!’ screams Ami.

  Ryan gets back up, and the boss now places his gun against the front of Ryan’s head.

  ‘So you are going to tell me everything I want to know about your little girlfriend?’ asks the boss as he looks at Ami.

  ‘What? Why do you care?’ Ryan asks.

  ‘I just want to know where we stand. I want to know what she is and why she is so special.’

  Ryan says nothing and gets hit in the head again. ‘Okay, okay,’ says Ryan. ‘What do you want to know?’

  ‘Well, let’s start with why you keep her hanging around you. She’s a damn KB!’

  ‘She isn’t a KB!’ says Ryan with determination.

  ‘Then what is she?’

  ‘She’s my friend! And friends stick together.’

  The boss gives a sarcastic laugh and says, ‘You make me sick. How can you be friends with something that kills your own race?’

  ‘She isn’t one of them! She’s way more than just a simple KB. She’s above them! She’s one of us!’

  The boss gets angry and hits him again. Ami wants to get closer to Ryan, but she gets held back by one of the men.

  Ryan spits blood to the ground and says, ‘What are you doing here anyway? Don’t you have your resistance to lead?’

  With an angry voice the boss replies, ‘There is no resistance anymore! Right after you left we got overrun by an army of KBs! You don’t happen to know anything about that, do you?’

  ‘What? Why would I know?’ Ryan asks.

  ‘Well, maybe your little girlfriend knowns. After all, she is an AI,’ he says sarcastically.

  Ryan looks at Ami and says, ‘She would never do that. For the last time, she has nothing to do with KBs!’

  ‘Nah, I think she does. I think that they developed a KB that looks like a human and acts like a human to spy on us.’

  Ryan laughs and says, ‘Do you even hear yourself? Why would the KBs go to the effort of making a better version of themselves to wipe out the very few people that are left on this god-forsaken Earth?!’

  Ami looks frightened and does not understand what’s going on. ‘I didn’t do anything!’ she screams, and immediately one of the men puts a hand over her mouth.

  ‘Leave her alone!’ yells Ryan.

  ‘Well, it doesn’t matter now anyway. Your journey will end here,’ says the boss. He then points his gun at Ryan’s head and pulls back the hammer of the gun.

  Ami tries to get lose in the hope she can jump in front of Ryan, but with no luck.

  Ryan continues to look angry and determined, and at the moment the boss wants to shoot Ryan, he makes one last try and jumps up against the man. The boss loses his balance and falls to the ground, shooting once, with the bullet rushing into the wall next to Ryan. The man then jumps up and grabs his gun. With an outraged look on his face, he is about to shoot Ryan until he suddenly is distracted by a sound.

  Ryan starts to smile because he knows the sound all too well. It’s the sound of KBs warming up their guns.

  Ryan screams at Ami to stay low, and Ryan crawls behind the couch. Just a few seconds after, the room is filled with flying bullets. Everything shatters around them, and Ryan ties to look around to see if Ami is okay. He sees that a few of the resistance guys, including the one who had been holding Ami, have been shot. Ami appears to be fine, and is taking cover behind a thick leather chair, her hands covering her face. She stays low as the bullets fly through the top of the chair.

  After a short while, the shooting stops, and Ryan quickly jumps up, runs to Ami, and grabs her by her arms. They both run through the back of the house and out into the kitchen. The kitchen door leads to the back but it is locked. Luckily, however, the door is made of glass; Ryan grabs a chair and throws it straight through the door.

  He lets Ami climb through first, and then he climbs through himself. They end up in the alley, and look around them, looking for the best way to get to safety. There is an exit to the street not far from them, but then Ryan hears someone walking. He and Ami quickly dive behind one of the big metal trash containers and wait.

  A KB comes around the corner, apparently to investigate the noise of the window breaking. Ryan grabs a metal pipe out of a pile of debris just behind them and waits for the KB to come closer. He then jumps out in front of the KB, which then tries to shoot him, but Ryan pushes his gun to the side. The KB fires one shot into the floor next to Ryan, but Ryan bashes his head in with the pipe. He continues to hit the KB until he can no longer move. The head of the KB is completely crushed.

  Ryan is out of breath and takes a moment to recover. He then tells Ami it’s safe and that she can come out. When Ami comes out, they can hear the KBs started to fire again inside the house; it’s an overwhelmingly loud sound.

  Ryan and Ami run to the corner of the street, and Ryan peeks around it to see if there are any KBs looking for them. He sees around five or six, all lined up in front of the house, shooting at it. Their guns glow red from the heat of the bullets.

  Ryan turns his head to Ami and says ‘Okay, screw the food. We need to get out of here. I think our best bet is to pick the alley next to the skyscraper. There seem to be no KBs there.’

  Ryan grabs Ami’s hand and they run across the street toward the skyscraper.

  Halfway down the street, two KBs that are shooting at the house notice Ami and Ryan escaping, and they start to shoot at them. Ryan and Ami quickly take cover behind a car. Ryan wants to grab his gun but notices it’s missing. Ami sees this, and quickly removes her backpack, takes out her gun and gives it to Ryan. The KBs start to come closer and are constantly shooting at the two of them. Ryan tries to shoot the KBs, but it is difficult because a shower of bullets scatters from all sides.

  Ryan yells to Ami over the sound of the bullets hitting next to them. ‘They are getting too close! Our only chance is to make a sprint for the alley.’

  Ryan waits for the KBs to reload; they are now standing only a few feet away from Ryan and Ami. But just in time, their guns need to reload. Ryan and Ami jump up and run towards the alley. As they run, Ryan manages to shoot one of the KBs, but by now more KBs have noticed them and they start to shoot.

  The bullets fly around them, but Ryan and Ami are close to the alley. They run around the corner and there they are met by two KBs waiting for them.

  ‘Shit!’ screams Ryan, and he grabs Ami by her arm. They run back onto the street and hide behind one of the big concrete flowerpots positioned in front of the skyscraper. Ryan and Ami are being trapped in from all sides now, and they decide to make a run for the skyscraper entrance—it’s their only chance.

  They run towards the doors, and Ryan shoots a few bullets into the glass so that it breaks. They jump through the glass and roll into the lobby. Ryan looks behind him; the KBs are getting closer.

  ‘Th
ere!’ he says, pointing at the stairway. ‘I saw a sign saying there is a parking lot in this building. Maybe we can cut through there!’

  They run to the stairway door and Ryan kicks it open. They find themselves in a metal stairway that goes up and down. They run down, but after running down just one stair they are met with a metal door leading to the parking lot; it is locked up with a big chain.

  Ryan looks at the lock and tries to shoot it, but with no luck; the lock is just too strong and Ryan knows it. ‘There’s no way we can get through this,’ he says.

  Ryan and Ami run back upstairs and want to go back into the lobby, but the KBs are already inside the building. They see Ryan and Ami, and start to shoot.

  They are pushed back into the stairway, and are faced with only one option: go up.

  They run upstairs and can hear the KBs filtering into the stairway. After running up a few floors, they come across a dead soldier; he has been dead for a while and it’s not a pretty sight. Ryan sees an assault rifle lying next to him, and so he grabs it. The soldier also has a magazine in his front pocket, but it is covered with decomposed flesh. Ryan slowly picks out the magazine whilst holding back the urge to throw up. They then continue to run upstairs.

  They have no time to think about what to do; right now, they have to find a way to get out of the building.

  Most of the doors into the stairway are locked; it seems like a big part of the building went into lockdown a long time ago.

  They arrive at the thirteenth floor, and there Ryan tries to push open the door. The door opens, and Ryan and Ami run inside. Ryan looks around and sees a cabinet standing close to the door. ‘Here, help me with this,’ he says to Ami. They push the cabinet against the door. They then start walking through the room to see if there is a way out.

  They walk all the way to the back of the room. The outer walls are made of glass, and you can look all over the city. It looks like there is no way out, and then they hear that the KBs are breaking through the door.

  ‘What do we do now?’ asks Ami, clearly terrified.

  ‘There is only one thing we can do. Fight,’ says Ryan. He pushes over a table to allow them to take cover behind it. ‘I need your help for this, Ami. Take cover and prepare to shoot whatever comes through that door.’

  The tension is high, and even though Ami is really scared, she pulls herself together and they both aim their weapons at the door. They know they do not have a lot more bullets, and Ryan says to Ami with a soft voice, ‘Make every shot count.’

  Not long after, the KBs push away the cabin behind the door and the door flies open.

  Ami takes the first shot and shoots the first KB down with one well-placed fire. Then three more KBs come through the door, and Ryan and Ami both start to shoot. The KBs shoot back at Ryan, and he is forced to take cover. Ami sees this and quickly shoots the KB who aims at Ryan. The KB goes down in two shots; the other KBs focuses their attention on Ami, and Ami all too quickly gets shot in the arm. She takes cover behind the table, and Ryan screams out to ask if she is okay.

  ‘Yes, I’m fine,’ she says.

  Ryan gets angry and empties his magazine on the remaining two KBs. It does not take long for them to go down, and then all falls quiet. Ryan shuffles over to Ami and asks her if she is alright. He looks at her arm and sees that the wound is closing itself up. They both take a deep breath and spend a moment immersed in peace. Then Ryan says, ‘This is our change,’ and he stands up and reaches his hand out to Ami. He helps her up and they slowly, but with caution, walk to the door.

  ‘I’m out of ammo. How much do you have left?’ Ryan asks her.

  Ami checks her gun and says, ‘I have three bullets left.’ She gives Ryan the gun because she thinks he has more use for it. They walk over to the door and when, they are about to walk outside, they hear a click.

  Ryan feels a hot-and-cold sensation across his body, and then he hears someone say, ‘Drop your god damn weapon!’

  Ryan knows the voice all too well by now, and he and Ami slowly turn around. He sees the resistance boos standing at the back of the room, his back to the big windows. There is a bright light shining through the windows, and Ryan cannot see everything clearly, but it appears that the boss has been shot. His arm seeps blood, and he is full of scratches and small wounds.

  Ryan slowly throws his gun on the ground and, in an angry voice, asks, ‘What do you want now?’

  The boss gives an evil smile and says, ‘Nothing.’ He then aims his gun and is about to shoot Ryan.

  ‘Look out!’ screams Ami, and she jumps in front of Ryan. The shot sounds, and Ami falls to the ground. She has been shot in her chest. Ryan rolls over and grabs the gun. He then shoots the boss in the chest. With tears in his eyes, he walks forward to the boss, who now is slowly collapsing, and shoots him once again in the chest. He keeps walking and then shoots the boss one final time in the head. The man falls backwards and through the window.

  Ryan walks over to the window and looks down to take one last glimpse of the boss falling all the way down.

  Then it strikes him what just happened. He turns around and sees Ami lay on the ground. She is not moving. With tears in his eyes, he runs over to her and rolls her over. Ami has been shot in her heart, and is slowly shutting down.

  ‘No, no, no, no! Please tell me you’re okay,’ says Ryan.

  In Ami’s final moments, she lays her hand on Ryan’s cheek and, with a soft voice, says, ‘Thank you for protecting me.’

  Ryan starts to cry and keep saying, ‘It can’t end like this!’ He cries and repeats the words over and over again.

  Ami smiles as she looks into Ryan’s eyes, and then she closes her eyes and her hand falls down.

  Ryan sits in the middle of the room with Ami in his arms and tears in his eyes. He cannot believe what just happened and he does not know what to do. He looks down at Ami and tells her he is sorry. He then gives her a soft kiss on the forehead and hugs her tightly.

  Two Months Later