Project Ami

  Half an hour has passed and Ryan and Ami decide to move on again. Ryan stands up and stretches himself. He then pulls Ami up, and together they start to walk in the direction of the city.

  Ryan is starting to get dehydrated by now, and he is getting worried that he will not be able to walk for much longer. Nonetheless, they keep walking for another fifteen minutes and then, in the distance, Ryan sees what looks like a building on the side of the road. When they get closer, Ryan sees that it is a restaurant.

  Immediately, Ryan cheers up and starts to walk a bit faster. ‘There must be some water and food there,’ he says, excitement in his voice.

  Ami also gets excited because Ryan is happier. They both start to jog to the restaurant.

  When they arrive, Ryan tries to open the door but finds it is locked. Luckily, the door is made from glass, and so Ryan looks around, picks up a big stone from a few feet away, tells Ami to step back, and then throws the stone straight through the glass.

  The glass shatters and makes a large hole big enough for Ryan to step through. He goes into the restaurant and tells Ami to be careful. He then immediately walks over to the kitchen; it has not been used for a long time because everything is greasy and dusty. But, of course, Ryan does not mind that. He starts to check all the cabinets. There, he finds a whole bunch of cans of food. He grabs all he can carry and puts them in his backpack. He looks around and sees a fridge, where he finds one last six-pack of bottled water. He pulls off the plastic and opens up one of the bottles. It takes Ryan only a few seconds to drink down the entire bottle and, with a relieved expression on his face, he starts to put the rest of the bottles in his backpack. By now, his backpack is starting to get really heavy, and he is having trouble lifting it.

  When he is getting ready to leave, Ami comes running into the kitchen with a frightened look on her face. ‘I heard some people outside!’ she says.

  Ryan’s joy immediately fades away, and he lays his backpack in the corner and pulls out his gun. He tells Ami to stay in the kitchen and then slowly crouches down and overs over to the other room. There, he sees two men coming to the door. Ryan quickly hides behind the bar.

  The men climb through the door and then turn around to look outside.

  When they turn around, Ryan jumps out from behind the bar and tells the men to put their hands up.

  The men quickly turn around and, as a reaction, go to grab their guns.

  ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ Ryan warns.

  The men slowly move their hands away from the guns and put their hands up. Ryan tells them to drop their weapons and backpacks. When the men are about to drop their backpacks, they stop and start to smile. Ryan thinks it’s strange, and asks them if they think this is funny. But not long after saying that, he sees that there is a man standing right behind Ryan, a gun aimed at his head.

  Ryan drops his gun. ‘What do you want?’ he asks.

  ‘Revenge,’ says one of the guys. Ryan then realises that they are probably from the resistance.

  Behind him, he hears the click of a gun, and sees that the guy is about to shoot him. Ryan sees no way out, and so he closes his eyes and waits for the shot.

  A few seconds later, all he hears is the man making a strange sound, like he is gasping for air.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ asks one of the men, but soon after asking, the guy falls to the ground. A knife is planted firmly in his back. Ami stands behind him, a look of fear on her face.

  The two men standing in front of Ryan grab their guns, and Ryan quickly grabs Ami and they both dive behind the bar. In the process, Ryan manages to grab his gun from the ground, and he prepares himself to shoot.

  The men split up and start shooting in the direction of Ryan. Ryan waits for a few seconds until he hears that one of the men is very close to him. He looks around the corner and sees that one of the men is reloading his weapon. Ryan aims his gun and shoots the man three times in his chest.

  The guy drops his gun and falls down to the ground. Ryan then tries to look around to see where the other guy is; he notices he is trying to flank him.

  Ryan crawls around the corner of the bar and makes sure the other guy does not see him. He then walks alongside the bar and is now standing only a few feet away from the guy.

  Ryan jumps out and shoots the guy in the back.

  The guy falls to the ground and it gets quiet for a moment.

  Ryan is still not sure what just happened and he looks at the men he just shot, He then realizes that Ami is still behind the bar and he runs to her. He looks behind the bar and sees Ami sitting against it, her arms covering her face. He walks over to Ami and wants to touch her arm, but Ami is frightened and pulls her arms tightly around herself. Ryan quickly grabs both of her arms and holds her in controlled way whilst saying, ‘It’s me, Ami.’

  Ami then looks up and sees that Ryan is sitting right in front of her.

  ‘Is it over?’ she asks in a scared voice.

  ‘Yes, it’s over,’ Ryan reassures her.

  Ami gives Ryan a long hug and tells him that she was really scared that something would happen to him. He comforts Ami and then stands up and walks over to the dead guy with the knife in his back. Ryan takes out the dead man’s gun, removes the ammunition, and puts it into his own gun. He then walks over to the other guy. Ryan opens up the man’s backpack and finds some more ammunition, a bottle of water, and some basic survival supplies. He takes the backpack with him, and then walks over to Ami who, by now, has calmed down. He tells her that it’s best for them to get far away from this place because it isn’t safe.

  They walk outside of the restaurant and there Ryan sees a rusty pickup truck; it looks like it belonged to the resistance guys. Ryan walks over to the truck and sees that the keys are still in the car. He smiles and tells Ami this will help them to get to the city a whole lot faster. He throws his backpack into the back of the car and tells Ami to get into the passenger seat. Ryan sits in the driver’s seat and starts the car. He sees that there is probably just enough fuel to get to the city. He drives off the parking lot and onto the road, heading in the direction of the city.

  After driving for a while, Ryan sees it is getting dark; he also feels a bit worn out by everything that has happened during the course of the day.

  The city is still a few hours’ drive away, and so Ryan decides to overnight one last time before arriving at the city. ‘I think it’s a good idea if we get some sleep now. Tomorrow we will arrive in the city,’ Ryan says to Ami.

  Ami agrees, and Ryan drives up into a small forest path and drives the car into the bushes so that no one can see it.

  Ryan and Ami step out of the car and walk into the forest. There, they find a tree that has fallen and split in two, and they sit on it. Ryan notices that he has forgotten his backpack, and so he walks back to the car, grabs his back and also the one he took from the dead resistance guy, and walks back to Ami. He sits down next to Ami and hands her the backpack. ‘Here. In case you ever want to easily carry something with you and to keep your stuff safe,’ says Ryan.

  Ami smiles and says, ‘Thanks! You’re always are so good to me, Ryan. You always protect me so well. I want to be able to protect you, too. Maybe you can teach me how to shoot a gun in case we ever get into a situation again like at the restaurant?’

  Ryan agrees and tells Ami he will give her a crash course in the morning. He finishes his food and tells Ami that it is getting late. ‘I’m going to get some sleep,’ he tells her.

  Ami agrees, and they both walk to the car. Ryan steps into the driver’s seat and makes himself comfortable. Ami also gets into the car and sits in the passenger seat.

  They both close their eyes and fall asleep.