Project Ami

  The following morning, the sun is shining through the windshield, and Ryan wakes up. He yawns and looks over to Ami, who is looking around the dashboard. ‘Good morning,’ he says, and Ami looks over at Ryan and smiles.

  ‘Hey, how did you sleep?’ asks Ami.

  ‘I’ve had better, but I got a few good hours in. Today will be a busy day, so let’s get some food, learn some basic defence techniques, and then we’ll go off to the city!’

  Ami reacts with happiness and excitement, and they both step out of the car.

  Ryan walks over to his backpack and takes out another can of food. He opens it up and starts eating. Ami sits next to him and asks if it is hard to learn how to shoot.

  ‘Nah, it’s not very hard. It just takes some practice to become better at it,’ he tells her.

  ‘So what do you expect to find in the city today?’ Ami asks.

  ‘Well, the plan is to get a lot of supplies from the shopping centre, and now we have a car we will be able to get enough supplies to stay away from the city for a long time. When all this started, the first thing that got overrun were the cities, and so we do need to be very careful. I hope we won’t come across any other KBs.’

  Ami looks a bit worried whilst Ryan is telling her all this.

  ‘Don’t worry. We will stick together and, after today, you also will be able to defend yourself a lot better,’ says Ryan with a kind smile on his face.

  Ryan finishes his food and tells Ami that, if she wants, he can teach her how to shoot right now. Ami says yes with excitement in her voice. He stands up and grabs a few empty cans. He also grabs his gun, and they both walk a bit further into the forest.

  Ryan walks over to a tree that has fallen over and places the cans on the trunk. He then walks back to Ami and takes out his gun. ‘Okay, so it is very simple. What you want to do, when you want to shoot, you need to flip this switch—this is the safety switch—and you then want to hold your arms straight and aim at the target you want to hit. When you feel confident that you are going to hit your target, you want to press the trigger.’ He points at the various parts of the gun as he speaks. ‘Now, this gun does not give a lot of knockback, but do be aware that there will be some knockback as soon as you shoot. One last thing: a gun is not a toy. You’ve seen that over the past few days, so when you shoot, make sure you mean it. Also, ammunition is scarce, so if you have to shoot, make every shot count, okay?’

  Ami agrees with everything. Ryan shoots one of the cans to show Ami how to do it. He walks over to the can and puts it back on the tree. He then walks back to Ami and hands her the gun.

  ‘Okay. Now, aim the gun at one of the cans,’ Ryan says, and Ami starts to aim. Ryan moves her arm a bit higher and says, ‘Okay. Now take off the safety and, when you are ready, press the trigger.’

  Ami takes off the safety and takes a few seconds to aim. She then fires the gun, which gives more knockback then she expected. She looks a bit scared because of the shock, and unfortunately misses her target.

  ‘It’s okay,’ says Ryan. ‘Try again. Take all the time you need.’

  Ami aims her gun again and fires again. This time, she prepares herself for the knockback and hits her target.

  Ryan looks surprised but, then again, he did expect that it would be different to when teaching a human to shoot!

  Ami then focuses her attention on the other cans and shoots all of them off the trunk in her first try. She starts to laugh and gets all excited because she hit all the cans.

  ‘Wow, amazing job!’ says Ryan.

  Ami thanks Ryan and says, ‘That was fun!’ and hands the gun back to Ryan.

  ‘Yeah it was. But remember that, out there, when you aim your gun at someone else, make sure you mean it—and you can deal with the consequences. Emotionally.’

  Ami nods and tells Ryan that, from now on, she will do everything she can to protect him. He thanks her and smiles, and they both head back to the car.

  Ryan puts the gun in his backpack and then takes out another pistol that he took from one of the resistance fighters. He gives it to Ami and tells her to put it in her backpack. ‘Now, let’s do this,’ he says, and throws his backpack in the car. Ami also lays her backpack carefully in the car and gets into the passenger seat.

  Ryan takes off the branches that cover the back of the car and gets in. He starts the engine and reverses backwards before driving out of the forest. Soon they are on the main road once again, and begin driving in the direction of the city.

  Chapter 8

  The City