Apex Risen

by Scott Medbury

  Jesus, how many attackers are there? And where is Isabella?

  He heard a soft scrape from the other side of the large kitchen island and immediately ducked, scrambling to the end nearest him, freakishly silent for a man of his size.

  Again, on his haunches he shuffled to the corner and glanced into the area between the island and the sink. Nothing but the debris of a dropped bowl of flour. In the white mess, he saw scuff marks and a partial hand print, but no sign of footprints leaving the area. There was, however, a telltale dusting of flour on one of the cupboard handles.

  With gun in hand and breathing fast, Ivan sidled along the island until he was in reach of the door. He grasped the handle and ripped it open, only to be confronted by a hissing, wide-eyed Isabella. She sprang from the cramped space, lunging at him with a carving knife.

  Ivan fall onto his backside but deflected the blow with his forearm and gripped her wrist before she could strike again.

  "Ivan! Sorr…”

  He clamped a hand over her mouth and shook his head. He put a finger to his lips and slowly took his hand away.

  “Did you see them? I need to know how many men?”

  She giggled uneasily.

  “No los hombres! La niña, la niña demonio…”

  “What? Speak English,” he whispered harshly.

  “Not men! It is the girl. Just her. She’s a demon…”

  “Inga?”

  “Si, the pretty one. She has a gun.”

  “She shot them? Nyet… that’s not possible, she’s a robot, she’s not allowed...”

  Isabella spat on the floor.

  “She did it. I saw her. Lucky I am quick like the rattlesnake and ducked before she saw me, or I’d be dead too. The Russian cursed us by bringing that demonio into this house.”

  “Stay here, don’t come out till I come back for you.”

  This new information certainly complicated things. He had no doubt that Garcia had probably earned his broken neck, but even so, it should have been impossible for her to kill a human, let alone seven of them. He had no doubt about her goal. The trail of bodies led to the obvious conclusion.

  Ivan stepped lightly over the mess of flour and rounded the island before running down the long hallway and heading for the stairs that led up to the level containing the bedrooms. At that point, he didn’t know who he was more concerned for, his boss or the pretty robot he’d somehow managed to fall for in the space of a few hours.

  Part 3 – Murder and Mayhem

  14

  As soon as Molenski and his wife were through the front door they began pawing at each other. A twisted Hansel and Gretel, they left a trail of clothes and underwear all the way to their bedroom.

  Minutes later, engaged in a wild, urgent coupling, they were oblivious to the fact that death in socks was rapidly heading their way. The soundproofed walls Molenski had installed when the mansion was built, and the shitty music Tatiana insisted on playing whenever they had sex, effectively muted the symphony of murder and mayhem playing out in other parts of the house.

  Tatiana, as overenthusiastic in the bedroom as she was with her makeup, squealed at every thrust of her husband. Far from turning him on, it annoyed the fuck out of him. Molenski had to work hard to blot out the shrill sound of her forced yelps. Thankfully, he had the anticipation of what he would do to Inga very soon to fuel his imagination.

  Buried deep in his wife, he imagined punching Inga’s pretty face until it was bruised and bleeding, and then pulling her teeth out one by one with a pair of pliers. He would inflict such pain on her; just as he had planned to on the real Inga so long ago.

  He felt himself begin to climax as he imagined taking the box cutter from the toolbox and slowly…

  CRAAACK!

  An enormous blow rattled the bedroom door on its hinges. The startled Russian rolled off a cursing Tatiana, fumbling for his Ruger even as a second violent blow shook the heavy door, leaving it hanging dangerously askew.

  Molenski’s desperate hands overreached, knocking the weapon to the carpet as a third and final blow sent the door crashing into the room. The mobster dove off the bed, his heart thumping madly as he blindly groped for the pistol while risking a peek back over the top of the tall bed.

  Like a demon in a nightmare, the smiling replica of his first love, unmindful of the bloody bullet wound in her upper arm, raised the machine pistol she was holding and aimed it at him.

  “Target acquired.”

  ***

  Ivan sped past the bullet-pocked walls in the hallway to the main bedroom and hurdled the bloody body of another guard.

  He heard the burst of an automatic weapon in his boss’ bedroom.

  FUCK!

  ***

  Molenski ducked as the spray of bullets thunked into the mattress and whizzed over his head. Focusing, he ignored the fragments of foam and feathers raining down upon him and his trembling fingers finally found his trusty Ruger.

  He took a deep breath and prepared to return fire as soon as there was a pause in the steady stream of bullets.

  He didn’t have to wait long. A banshee shriek interrupted the flow of flying rounds, immediately followed by animal-like grunts and squeals.

  Tatiana!

  Molenski rose to his knees and saw his naked wife latched onto the killer robot, fighting fist and nail to bring the bitch down.

  She was giving a good account of herself.

  Tatiana clung to Inga, one hand bunched in her hair, the other attacking her face with a claw-like hand as the robot, one handed, tried to grip the naked, sweaty human whose blitzkrieg was preventing her from eliminating her target.

  Molenski his elbows resting on the newly aerated mattress, aimed the Ruger two-handed. He took careful aim but was perfectly willing to risk hitting his wife to take out the bitch robot if a cleaner shot didn’t present itself.

  Two things happened before he could take his shot. Ivan burst through the door and Inga, her pretty face now marred by the scratch marks on her left cheek, gripped the spitting, hissing Tatiana by the neck and, with enormous strength, threw her at Molenski.

  The Russian didn’t duck quickly enough and was struck heavily in the shoulder by the lower leg of the airborne Tatiana. Her indignant scream was abruptly silenced by the corner of the bedside table as she landed beside him.

  Gun still in hand, he quickly struggled back to his hands and knees, and, careful to stay under the level of the mattress, glanced at his wife. Her sightless eyes stared at the ceiling, the bloody, triangular indentation in her forehead a telling footnote to the final, violent minutes of her life.

  Molenski felt no more emotion than he would looking at roadkill on a highway. He stayed down and waited for his bodyguard to open fire on the assassin robot.

  Ivan stood in the doorway, his gun trained on Inga’s back as Molenski’s wildcat of a wife attacked her. While he didn’t want to risk hitting Tatiana, he would admit to himself later it wasn’t the only reason he held fire.

  Behind them, he could see Molenski also taking aim at the two women. Ivan tensed, realizing that his boss probably had less regard for his wife’s safety than he did. He didn’t get a chance to find out. One handed, Inga finally ripped Tatiana free and, like a cruel child throwing a kitten, launched her across the room.

  Ivan could have taken his shot then but didn’t. He was spellbound as Tatiana Molenski flew through the air and crashed into her husband and the bedside furniture, before coming to rest in uncharacteristic silence.

  Inga wasted no time. As soon as she had rid herself of the pesky human, she stalked around the bed; machine pistol held out in front of her. Even then, knowing she would kill Molenski, Ivan couldn’t shoot her.

  He yelled instead.

  “INGA!”

  She stopped and turned around.

  When Ivan saw her eyes, he realized he’d made a terrible mistake. She didn’t know him… if she ever had.

  “New target acquired,” she said, in her sweet voice and swun
g the weapon back to bear on him. Her arm tensed as she squeezed the trigger.

  15

  Tom Redfern felt sick to his stomach. The live stream from the robot had been distressing for the technician. While his two kidnappers hooted and hollered like they were watching a football game, he couldn’t wait for the carnage to be over.

  When the robot kicked open the door of the bedroom, the men went into a frenzy.

  “That’s him!” screamed the bigger of the two kidnappers.

  “You’re dead, Motherfucker!”

  They watched from the robot’s point of view, as she brought up the machine pistol she had taken from one of her victims. The naked man rolled off the bed, leaving his screaming wife to climb to her feet on the bed and stare wildly at the robot.

  The thugs with Redfern jumped out of their chairs, watching rapt as the muzzle of the gun began spitting bullets into the place the naked man had just vacated.

  Redfern experienced a moment of dizziness as the vision on the monitors suddenly reeled and tipped to the side. There was a flash of a woman’s crazed face, and a clawed, slashing hand. The vision reeled and tilted some more and then abruptly the naked woman was flying across the room, her scream cut off by the impact of her head on a piece of furniture.

  The men laughed.

  “Where is that fuck Molenski! Come on bitch, take him out.”

  Someone shouted behind the robot, and the feed swiveled 180 degrees and came to rest on a powerfully built man with a crewcut. He was aiming a machine pistol at the robot, but he looked reluctant to use it.

  The men in the room with Redfern ceased their shouting.

  “New target acquired,” came the robot’s voice as her gun was raised towards the man in the door.

  BANG!

  The screen went black.

  “What the fuck!?” yelled the bigger of the two kidnappers.

  He banged the top of the monitor twice with his meaty hand, then the keyboard of the laptop computer.

  There was nothing. No vision. No sound.

  Redfern felt a sinking feeling as the men turned to look at him.

  “What happened?” the big one asked as he pulled his gun from his belt and stepped up to him.

  ***

  The crack of Molenski’s gunshot rent the air. Inga’s head jerked forward, her blonde hair flying in front of her accompanied by a spray of crimson as she stumbled forward from the force of Molenski’s bullet. Instead of ripping Ivan open, the burst of gunfire from her automatic weapon stitched the white carpet beside him with a line of ragged bullet holes.

  In shock and with his ears ringing, Ivan was dumbfounded when Inga regained her balance despite being shot in the back of the head. She began to turn around as the Russian’s second shot struck her point blank, between the shoulders. She toppled over, dropping her weapon as she fell face first onto the carpet.

  “Ha! You fucking bitch!”

  A red-faced Molenski yelled at the thwarted assassin.

  Ivan was so shocked and upset by the sight of Inga, shot and apparently dead; he barely registered the glimpse of metal he saw in the wound on her head.

  He couldn’t tear his eyes away from her even as Molenski stalked across to him.

  “And you!” the mob boss screamed and slapped him across the face. “You big dummy! Why didn’t you shoot her!? You could have got me killed!”

  Ivan barely registered the blow. His eyes didn’t leave Inga. Sorrow racked him. He wanted to cry but knew somehow that if he tried, tears wouldn’t come.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you, shit head? Are you going to fucking cry?!”

  Ivan barely heard him. Behind Molenski, Inga had raised her head and looked at him, her bleeding face confused and pained.

  16

  The muzzle of the gun pressed into Redfern’s chin hurt. It hurt a lot, but it paled into irrelevance compared to the implicit threat of the bullet in the gun. His guts felt watery and, as he looked up into the angry face of the bigger of the two abductors, he thought he might just shit his pants.

  A Chicago man with the top of his head blown off and shit in his underpants was found earlier today….

  He pulled himself together, the imagined news item steeling his resolve. He clenched his buttocks in an attempt to shut off the threat of imminent bowel evacuation and tried to reason with his tormentor.

  “Please, it’s not a problem at our end. It’s a problem with the feed...”

  “That’s terrible news for you then,” said the big man, flicking off the safety of his gun.

  “No! Please...”

  “It’s nothing personal, you understand. Just close your eyes and it will be over in a second.”

  Redfern opened his mouth to beg for his life when static burst from the speakers and the monitors flickered back to life. The viewing angle had changed. They were now looking up from the floor at the two men in the bedroom.

  ***

  “My – My – My - Myfriend? Am I still pretty, M-M-M-My- f-f-f-friend?”

  Molenski eyes widened with disbelief at the stuttering metallic voice. He jerked around, pointing his gun at her. He quickly realized that the robot was focused on Ivan rather than him and that her malfunctioning speech meant she was no further threat.

  “Oh, you’re still fucking going?” he sneered. “Well, you know what? Time to go night, night, bitch!”

  The mob boss stepped up to her and bent over her, placing his gun against her temple. Before he could squeeze the trigger his neck exploded in agony. Everything went black.

  Ivan stood over his boss, chest heaving. He quickly pocketed the gun he had struck Molenski with and rushed to Inga.

  “MyMyMyMyfriend?”

  Ivan fell to his knees and grasped her hand, aware of the faint sound of sirens in the distance.

  “I’m here Inga… can you stand up?”

  “I am malfunctioning Myfriend, I need to go into safe mode and run a diagnostic check to scan for...”

  “No! We have to get you out of here first. You can run your diagnostic check when we are in the car. Come, stand up!”

  Inga allowed him to help her to her feet even though he could see that she was quickly regaining her motor skills. He hoped she wouldn’t also regain her lust for killing.

  “Wait here,” he said, before running into the walk-in robe.

  Inga’s eyes fell on the unconscious body of Molenski and regarded him expressionlessly until Ivan returned with a jacket, a pair of slip-on shoes and a head scarf.

  “Here, put these on,” he said, handing her the jacket as he went behind her.

  “Is Dimitri Molenski terminated, Myfriend?”

  “No, he is… sleeping. Hurry, put your jacket on.”

  The wound on the back of her head was ugly, although the blood matted hair around it perhaps made it look worse than it was. After all, she was metal beneath her skin. If she was still talking and operating, it meant the bullet hadn’t penetrated the delicate electronics beneath. He placed the scarf around her head, hiding the bullet hole, and tied it in a bow.

  The sirens were much closer now and as soon as she’d put on the shoes, he ushered her out of the bedroom. He was about to follow her through the door when he spied Tatiana’s still packed suitcase. He retrieved it, then hurried Inga through the hallway and down the stairs to the ground floor.

  Ivan remembered his instruction to Isabella, and when they reached the kitchen, he took Inga through to the top of the marble staircase and put the suitcase down beside her.

  “Wait here.”

  “Yes, Myfriend.”

  He ran lightly back into the kitchen and around to the cupboard where he had discovered the Hispanic cook earlier. Remembering her carving knife, he stayed well back as he squatted by the island and knocked.

  “It’s me.”

  “Is it over?” she asked, as she crawled out of the safe space and to her feet.

  “Yes. I have to go, but you will be safe, the police are on the way.”

  He
began to walk out of the kitchen.

  “Did you kill her?” the cook asked.

  Ivan stopped and looked back over his shoulder at her.

  “You don’t need to worry about her anymore. Goodbye Isabella.”

  Isabella noted the hint of finality to his words and wondered what had happened upstairs. Was Molenski alive? If so, why wasn’t he down here with Ivan? As he walked away, she rounded the island ready to ask him more questions.

  “Dios es el demonion,” she whispered and made the sign of the cross as Ivan picked up a suitcase and took the girls hand before disappearing down the stairs.

  Inga’s grip was gentle, but her inhuman strength was more than evident from the carnage of her killing spree, and Ivan knew that if she didn’t want to, there was no way he could have compelled her to come with him.

  Her quickfire change from killing mode was clearly the result of Molenski’s gunshots. It had damaged whatever was compelling her to kill, otherwise he and his boss would have been as dead as Tatiana by now.

  Even more puzzling, was the question of what had made her go crazy and breach the hardwired programming of the Robotics’ laws in the first place.

  There was no time to think about it now though; they had to get out. Ivan burst into the basement with Inga hot on his heels. Even though she was a machine, she was so quiet on her feet that he had to keep glancing over his shoulder to make sure she was still following him.

  Ivan cursed. The Cadillac was still there, but it was switched off, and the door was open, the driver’s seat empty. He ran over and looked in; the keys were gone.

  He couldn’t blame the driver for fleeing, but that wouldn’t stop him giving him a royal kick in the ass if he ever got to see him again.

  “Come,” he urged Inga and began running towards the lineup of beautiful cars that Molenski had collected. Beautiful all, but impractical for a stealthy getaway. He selected the least conspicuous and cheapest vehicle in the collection, a gunmetal gray Dodge Challenger Hellcat.