Project Ami

  Ryan arrives at the bottom of the elevator. He climbs out and finds himself in a small storage room. The walls are made from a rough grey concrete. Ryan looks around and sees a few metal storage shelves with food lined on them.

  He wants to pick his backpack and stack it with food for later, but then he realises he had to leave it behind in the kitchen. ‘Shit,’ he murmurs to himself.

  He walks to the door; it is a simple metal door. In that moment, as he goes to open the door, he hears some voices outside; it sounds like two men having a random conversation about gambling. Ryan listens closely and establishes that the men are just a few feet away from the door. He looks through the keyhole and sees one of them with his back to him. Ryan holds the knife ready to attack, and opens the door slightly. He sticks his head through and sees two guards talking a few feet away on the corner of another hallway. Luckily, they are facing away, with their backs to Ryan.

  He sees an opportunity.

  He slowly crawls outside the room and, without making a sound, he approaches the guards. He takes a deep breath and then jumps up, running at the guards, and quickly stabs one in his back. The sound of a spine cracking echoes, with the guard almost instantly dying. Before the other guard can even consider what just happened, Ryan turns to him and slices his throat. The guard falls down, desperately gasping for air. It does not take long before everything falls quiet.

  Ryan has tears in his eyes, brought on by what he has just done. He is covered in blood, but he shakes off his emotions and looks around to see where he needs to go next. He sees that, on the walls, they have spray-painted arrows with text. He sees one arrow that points to the entrance and two other arrows detailing the office and laboratory, pointing right. Ryan decides to walk in the direction of the office and laboratory. He walks through the hall and around the corner, but there he sees the office arrow pointing right and the laboratory arrow pointing left.

  If they found out she’s an AI, I’m almost sure they’d have taken her to the laboratory, he thinks.

  He walks in the direction of the laboratory and stumbles across a white double-folding door. He slowly opens the door to find a more modern room; it looks a bit like a research lab, with almost everything white—the walls, the floor and the ceiling.

  Ryan hears voices in the distance, and slowly he crouches down as he walks towards them. He sees a lot of doors and a few large windows in the wall. It looks like the entire area is divided into small rooms. He looks through one of the windows and sees an operating table, which is covered in blood. There are a lot of surgical tools laying around.

  Ryan’s heart starts to knock faster, and soon he is beginning to feel scared. He quickly walks over to the second window, and there he sees Ami lay on a metal table, strapped down, her mouth been taped shut. Ryan’s heart skips a beat as he watches, tears springing to his eyes.

  There are two men in doctors’ uniforms in the room. It looks like they are preparing equipment and talking to one another about what to do with her. Ryan feels anger surge in him, and he takes out his gun. Quickly, he crawls underneath the window and walks around the corner into another hallway. There, he sees the door that leads into the room Ami is in.

  He stands next to the door, takes a few deep breaths, and kicks in the door.

  The doctors are startled and ask what he is doing there.

  With anger deep in his voice, Ryan shouts, ‘Back off! Stand against the wall!’

  The doctors slowly put their hands up and back away.

  Ryan runs over to Ami and, when he is about to unstrap her, he sees from the corner of his eye that one of the doctors has grabbed a gun that was hidden under one of the tables. Ryan quickly looks over and sees the doctor aiming at him. The doctor and Ryan shoot at one another at the same time. The doctor manages to shoot once before he is shot in the chest. Ryan is furious and looks at the other doctor.

  ‘Please don’t kill me!’ pleads the doctor, but Ryan won’t listen.

  He takes a few steps towards the doctor, aims, and shoots him in the head.

  He then returns to Ami and quickly unstraps her lose and takes the tape from her mouth.

  All is silent for a moment as they look into each other’s eyes. Ryan can see how terrified Ami is. He begins to feel a burning sensation in his shoulder, and, upon examination, realises he is bleeding. Apparently that doctor managed to shoot him in the shoulder but, thanks to the adrenalin, he had not felt it until now.

  ‘You alright?’ Ami asks in a soft voice.

  ‘Yes, I’m fine. I’m so glad you’re okay.’

  Ami gives Ryan a hug and says, ‘I’m so glad you came back for me. I was so scared.’

  Ryan gets tears in his eyes again. He wipes them away and pulls himself together. He tells Ami that they need to get out of here fast. ‘It won’t be long before they come to look at what is happening. This place is not safe anymore.’

  He helps Ami off the table, takes out a Mag from his pocket, and reloads his gun. Together, they then walk outside the room and into the hallway. They walk back in the direction of the food elevator. They pass through the hallway and around the corner to where Ryan killed the two guards. There they see three guards standing over the dead bodies, attempting to figure out what happened.

  Ryan makes one step too many and the guards hear it. They look over their shoulder and see Ryan and Ami. They grab their guns and immediately start to shoot.

  Ryan quickly shoots back and hits one of the guards. He then pulls Ami around the corner and quickly they run into one of the operation rooms. Not long after, they hear a loud alarm sounding.

  Ryan sets Ami down and tells her she needs to stay low.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ she asks.

  ‘To be honest, I don’t know. I think the only way to get through this is by shooting our way out.’ He checks his pistol and sees that he has only nine bullets left. He breaks a window in the door and prepares for the guards to come around the corner at any second. To his luck, the guards did not know that he was in the room, and instead they run around the corner without caution.

  Ryan starts to shoot at both of the guards. He manages to kill both of them with just one bullet each. He looks up and, to his surprise, sees there are no more guards coming. ‘Okay. Now or never,’ he says to Ami. He takes Ami’s arm and they get up and quickly walk, but with caution, through the hall. They walk around the corner, and Ryan sees the door he came through that leads to the food elevator. They quickly run to the door and arrive in the room.

  Ryan tells Ami to get in the food elevator. ‘I will be right behind you,’ he says.

  Ami climbs in the food elevator and Ryan presses the button for it to go up.

  Right at the moment the elevator goes up, Ryan sees two more guards who come running around the corner. He walks to the door and shoots one of them. The guard falls over, and the other guard quickly jumps back behind the corner. He starts to shoot at Ryan from behind the corner, and Ryan is forced to take cover behind the wall. He desperately looks to see if the elevator is already back, and hears that it is coming down. He waits for the elevator to come down, and then he shoots his last few rounds in the direction of the guard and quickly climbs in. He presses the button and the elevator slowly goes up. He sees the guard coming out of cover and the guard shoots a few rounds at Ryan. Luckily, they all miss, and Ryan goes up with the elevator.

  At the top, Ryan is back in the kitchen. He climbs out and quickly walks to the counter, where he picks up a wooden cutting board and blocks the elevator with it. He looks at Ami and sees that she is holding his backpack. Ryan grabs the backpack and tells Ami they need to find some clothes for her so that she can blend into the masses. He quickly runs into the living room in the hope of finding some clothes there. Ami follows him but becomes distracted by the cook dead in the corner.

  She asks Ryan, ‘What happened?’

  ‘He attacked me when I came in,’ Ryan responds. ‘I had no choice.’ Ryan continues to look around, but he
cannot find anything they can wear. He then sees a door opening into a smaller room. He walks into the room, which appears to be a laundry room. He looks into the machines, and there he finds everything he needs in one go. He picks out a simple red dress for Ami and gives it to her. He also finds a jacket with a hoodie, which he puts on himself. They run to the entrance where Ryan first came in.

  Ryan opens the door just slightly and looks outside. He hears the alarm still sounding, and lots of people are running around. It is complete chaos.

  ‘Okay, keep your head down and follow me,’ he tells Ami. ‘If anything happens, then hide, understand?’

  Ami agrees and Ryan throws open the door.

  They quickly run through the masses in the direction of the tunnel Ryan came through when he came back from the supply run. They walk through the streets, and Ryan sees a guard standing on the corner with his machine gun. The guard look around, most likely to find Ryan and Ami. Ryan quickly drags Ami onto a side path, and they run along it. They head up into another street where their tent used to be. They run through the street and in the direction of the kitchen. As they run past the kitchen, Ryan can see a few women who recognise them, and they start to scream. Ryan and Ami quickly run until they get to Operations.

  Of course, there are many guards in operation, and so Ryan and Ami walk into a side street again and walk around the guards and into the tunnel. They try to act normal, but of course Ryan and Ami are both terrified that someone will stop them. They find themselves at the entrance of the tunnel.

  Beyond this point, there are no people walking, and so Ryan pulls out his gun and tells Ami they need to sprint to the side tunnel that leads outside. They start to run, but when they are almost at the side tunnel, Ryan sees two guards. ‘Shit,’ he says, but there is no time to look for another way out. ‘Stay low,’ says Ryan, and they start to run at the guards.

  Whilst running, Ryan shoots his entire clip before they even see anyone coming. Ryan and Ami step over the bodies and crouch into the side tunnel. They quickly run through the tunnel, staying low, and eventually reach the metal frame. Ryan lifts the frame and tells Ami to hold it when she is outside.

  Ami climbs through and holds the frame from the outside; she has trouble holding it because it is a very heavy metal frame.

  Ryan quickly jumps outside the tunnel and, not even half a second later, Ami can no longer hold the frame and it slams shut with a loud noise. ‘Oof that was close! Are you okay?’ Ryan asks.

  ‘Yes I’m fine. How is your shoulder?’

  ‘It’s okay, but we’ve got to keep moving. It’s not safe here anymore.’

  ‘I’m so glad you came back for me,’ says Ami.

  Ryan smiles and says, ‘We are a team. We stick together.’

  ‘What do we do now?’

  ‘There’s a town not far from here. I went there this morning. We were overrun by a few KBs, but I think right now it’s safer to go there than stay here. Maybe we can find some food and spend the night there, then tomorrow we will make a plan as to what we’ll do next.’

  Ryan and Ami start to jog in the direction of the village.

  After journeying for a while, they arrive at the village border. They hide behind a fallen tree, and Ryan looks around to see if there are any KBs around, or even anyone from the resistance. Everything appears to be clear. It is late in the evening, and already it is getting dark; the birds can be heard singing in the trees.

  Ryan and Ami take a moment of peace whilst they sit against the tree, enjoying the birdsong. But soon, Ryan stands up and tells Ami they should go in case anyone from the resistance comes looking for them. They slowly walk to one of the buildings on the border of where the village starts. They walk next to the building, sticking close to the walls, but after passing two buildings, Ryan hears something.

  He tells Ami to stop moving, and silently he walks to the corner. He peeks around the corner, and there he sees a few KBs walking around. He quickly walks back to Ami and tells her that they need to find a different way. He looks around and there, across the street, he sees a passage leading to the backyards of houses. They quickly run across the street and into the passage, where they find a wooden fence to a backyard behind it.

  Ryan looks around to see if there are any KBs. He then kicks the fence a few times, and two planks of wood fall loose. He crawls through and checks that everything is clear. He then signs to Ami to come through. They walk across the back yard and break down another fence to the second house; Ryan sees that the backdoor of the house is open.

  ‘Maybe we will even find some food or water in the house,’ says Ryan.

  They walk to the house, and Ryan pulls out his gun. He slowly and silently enters the building, and checks every corner to make sure there is nobody in the house. He first walks into the kitchen to check for supplies, but everything is empty. ‘Damn,’ he mutters, and then walks into the living room. Ryan looks around the room; you can see there has not been anyone in this house for a very long time. All the furniture is very dusty, and there is a smell of neglect and emptiness.

  Ryan walks over to the front door to look through the window to see if there is anyone on the street. He is about to look through the window when the door is kicked open from the outside, which hits Ryan against his head. He falls down; it takes him a few seconds to recover from the blow. He looks up, and there he sees a KB standing right in front of him.

  The KB grabs Ryan’s throat and throws him against the wall. He comes closer, ready to shoot Ryan. But then Ryan sees Ami picking up an old lamp, which she uses to hit the KB against the head. The KB falls down, and Ami continues to hit him; she is terrified but just wants to make sure it is dead. After a few more hits, Ryan stands up and quickly walks over to Ami.

  ‘Ami, it’s okay. I think he’s dead.’

  Ami hits the KB two more times and then drops the lamp and crawls away from the body. She is very upset, and so Ryan quickly walks over to her and comforts her.

  ‘It’s okay. It’s okay. You saved my life. Thank you.’

  Ryan helps Ami up, but then he hears the well-known ticking sound of KBs preparing to shoot their automatic rifles. ‘Shit!’ says Ryan, and quickly he pushes Ami behind the couch and dives behind it himself. Not long after, bullets rain through the room. The glass shatters, and Ryan and Ami are hit by debris from all sides. Ryan covers Ami to make sure she does not get hit, not knowing that he is probably more vulnerable than Ami. It takes several seconds for the shooting to stop, but it feels like so much longer—minutes.

  Ryan looks up. He knows what will happen next, and pulls out his gun to reload it. He aims to the door and 3 KBs come rushing in, two through the door and one jumps through the shattered window.

  Ryan shoots the two KBs near the door, and they go down fairly easy, but the KB that came through the window has reloaded his gun and starts shooting at Ryan. Ryan grabs Ami by her arm, and quickly they run outside and into the back yard. They run to one of the fences, and Ryan jumps against it, causing the fence to break and fall over. They end up in an alley between two houses, and then make their way towards the main street.

  Ryan gets some time to reload his gun again whilst they run to the main street.

  They arrive at the corner, and Ryan looks around it to see if there are any KBs. He sees two KBs standing in the distance, but it looks like they are not looking his way.

  ‘It’s now or never,’ says Ryan, and they start running along the buildings and in the direction of the forest. They arrive at the other side of the village, and Ryan looks back one last time before they journey in amongst the trees.

  He sees one of the KBs that was behind them looking for them on the street. Ryan stops running, aims his gun and, in one shot, shoots down the KB. He then puts his gun away, and Ryan and Ami start to walk into the forest.

  ‘It’s getting dark. I think we should walk for just another hour, just to get away from this mess, and then we’ll need to set up camp with the things we have.’
r />   An hour passes, and you can see that Ryan is tired and worn out. They find a flat spot in the forest and throw down their stuff. Ryan sits down and looks in his backpack. He takes out two cans of food, which immediately cheers him up. He takes out his can-opener and opens the can, and begins eating like he has not eaten for days.

  Ami sits next to him, staring in front of her. She is surprisingly quiet, but Ryan is too busy eating to notice. When he has finished, he then looks over to Ami and asks, ‘Is everything ok?’

  ‘Yes, fine, but what are we going to do now?’ she says, sadness in her voice.

  ‘It’s very late, and I’m too tired to think of all that right now. Let’s do it like this. We will sleep it off, and first thing tomorrow morning, we’ll make a plan on what to do next.’

  ‘Okay,’ says Ami, and she smiles at Ryan.

  Ryan smiles back and then removes his sleeping bag from his bag. He rolls it out and crawls into it, says goodnight, and falls asleep.

  Ami is left sitting alone in the dark. She picks up Ryan’s jacket and lays it on the ground next to him. She lays down and makes herself comfortable, closes her eyes, and lets her mind go blank.

  Chapter 6

  What to do Next