Project Ami

by Emiel Sleegers

  Ryan and Ami stand in front of the gate. The two guards come closer, and one of them yells with a deep voice. ‘Identify yourselves!’

  Ami backs away and, with a scared look on her face, stands close behind Ryan, holding his arm.

  ‘Don’t shoot, we are human!’ says Ryan. ‘We are looking for the resistance.’

  ‘What do you need the resistance for?’ the guard asks.

  ‘We want to join them. We want a safe place to live and to help out wherever we can,’ Ryan replies urgently.

  The guard comes closer and stands right in front of Ryan. He is wearing a SWAT uniform and has a gas mask over his face. He tells Ryan that they are at the right address. He grabs Ryan by his arm, whilst the other guard grabs Ami.

  The gate opens and they walk through it. All too quickly, the gate closes again and the guard tells them to stand still and spread their arms. He inspects Ryan for any weapons and finds his gun. ‘You cannot bring any weapons in until you have spoken to the boss,’ the guard advises. He then walks over to Ami and, when he wants to Inspect her, Ryan tells him, ‘She does not have any weapons. Can’t you see that?’

  The guard tells Ryan it is standard procedure.

  Ami looks frightened when the guard comes closer. Ryan holds his breath as the guard starts to inspect Ami; he is afraid they might realise she is an AI. But luckily, the guard is gentle and does not actually touch her; he only feels her dress to see if she has any weapons concealed beneath the fabric.

  ‘They’re clean,’ he calls out.

  The guards then guide Ryan and Ami through a wide hallway with another large metal door at the end. The guard knocks at the door three times, and the door opens.

  They find themselves in a very big room, filled with tents and houses made from debris and scrap metal. It looks almost like a little town. They start to walk through the town and can see a lot of people. There are men and women, but also children. Most of them look dirty and worn out. Everyone looks very serious, sad and hopeless.

  They walk past a few tents and see a pregnant woman with ripped clothes sitting on the floor. She asks if they have any water for her. Ryan wants to stop to give her some, but the guards won’t allow him.

  There are more and more people leaving their tents and houses to see what’s going on. Ryan notices that Ami is starting to get scared, and so he looks back at Ami and tells her that everything will be all right. After walking for a few minutes, they find themselves at a wall with a few doors in it. The guards open up one the doors and tell Ryan and Ami to go through. They step through and there they end up in a small room with only a table and three chairs.

  The room is concrete and the door is metal; it almost feels like an interrogation room.

  The guards tell them to stay put until the boss comes.

  Ryan and Ami sit down, and the guards walk outside, locking the door behind them.

  Ryan tells Ami that everything will be okay. ‘Just act the same as always, but this time act like you already know the world,’ says Ryan, a smile on his face.

  A few hours pass, and Ryan begins to grow tired and impatient. The chair is uncomfortable and there is no real place to lay their heads. He begins to get irritated but, just when he wants to walk over to the door to ask how long it is going to take, two guards enter. They tell Ryan to sit down and that there is someone who wants to speak to them.

  Shortly after, a big man walks in. He wears clean jeans with a shirt and a blue jacket. He looks like a high-profile guy. The guards tell Ryan that this is the boss of the resistance. He slowly walks over to Ryan and Ami, and sits in the chair opposite. He takes a large Cuban cigar from his pocket and lights it up. He takes his time and makes himself comfortable, then asks, with a deep and authoritative voice, ‘So, what brings you here?’

  ‘We are here to join the resistance. We want to help you in your fight and have everyone be able to return to a safe place to stay,’ says Ryan.

  With an irritated face, the boss says, ‘Haven’t you seen this place? There is no fight. It’s a losing battle. We once were the resistance, but now all we are trying to do is survive.’

  ‘There must be some resistance left? We can’t give up now. We came a long way to find you guys!’

  The boss focuses his attention on Ami. With a creepy voice he says, ‘Well, aren’t you a pretty girl?’

  Ryan puts his arm in front of Ami to signal the boss to back off. ‘Listen, I will do whatever job you have for me. All we want is a safe place to stay,’ says Ryan.

  The boss looks at Ryan and says, ‘Okay. We have a few small teams that still do small operations to gather supplies and to keep the perimeter safe. Do you know how to fight?’

  ‘Yes. If I didn’t know I wouldn’t be here.’ Sarcasm fills his voice.

  ‘Good,’ says the boss, and again focuses his attention on Ami. ‘And what are we going to do with you? I’m sure you are not as capable of fighting are you?’

  Ami looks at the ground and, with a frightened voice, says, ‘No. Ryan is the one who has protected me this entire time.’

  ‘Well, I guess you can help out the other women with cooking dinner, washing clothes and taking care of everyone.’ The boss takes a deep breath and tells Ryan and Ami that he will see if he has a place for them to stay. ‘The guards will tell you where you need to go. In the evening, I will send someone that tells you where you can sleep for the night,’ he continues.

  ‘Thank you!’ says Ryan with excitement.

  The boss stands up and walks out of the door. One of the guards walks over to Ryan and tells him he has been assigned to team SG3. The team will go out for a supply run tomorrow morning. Until that time, Ryan is told he can have a look around and then the guards will return to show him where he is to stay for the night.

  The guards leave, leaving Ryan and Ami to stand alone in the room. Ryan takes a deep breath. ‘Well, I think this is it then. We will see how it goes from here.’ He asks Ami if she wants to have a look around whilst waiting.

  ‘Sure,’ agrees Ami.

  ‘Okay. Let’s go.’ Together, Ryan and Ami walk out the door.

  They start to walk through the town-like place, with its individual rows, forming streets. It is a dirty place; exactly would you would expect from a sewer.

  The surrounding area is comparable to the slums in third-world countries.

  By now, almost everything is better than being outside and always needing to be prepared to fight.

  Ryan and Ami walk around for a while, during which time they see a lot of people who look sick and hopeless. Ami starts to feel depressed as a result of looking at all those poor people who are just trying to survive. She asks Ryan if they can stop walking around and if they can go to where the people sleep.

  Ryan looks around and sees a guard standing on a corner of a house that is no more than a few metal frames making up the wall. He walks over to the guard and tells him that they are just new and they are wondering if the boss already has found a place for them to stay. The guard looks at them with an irritated look in his eyes. He then takes a radio from his pocket and asks the other guards if anyone knows where the new guys can stay. He gets a reply that they have been assigned to Section B1, Seat 34. He tells them to follow the signs, and points at a few wooden planks with written on them.

  Ryan and Ami walk to the signs and see that Section B is close by. They follow the signs to Section B, where they start walking through the street that is made up out of small tents. Most of the tents are dirty or ripped open. They start to walk, and each tent has a number written on the front of it on the concrete floor. They arrive at number 34, which is a small two-person yellow tent. Luckily, the tent still looks somewhat intact.

  Ryan puts his bag in the tent, and then Ami says, ‘I liked the cabin more.’

  ‘Give it some time. I’m sure things will turn around. I also expected more of this place but we will see how it goes,’ says Ryan.

  There are two folding chairs on the ground next to the te
nt. Ryan picks up the chairs and unfolds them. He sits in one and Ami sits in the other.

  Everything falls silent for a moment; Ryan looks disappointed with the place.

  Ami asks if everything is alright.

  ‘Yes, everything is okay. I just expected more. But at least we’re safe.’

  ‘It is like you said: if we don’t like it after a while, we can leave, right?’

  ‘That’s true. We will see how it goes,’ says Ryan.

  Ryan looks in his backpack and takes out his last can of food. There is no fire to warm it, so he just opens the can, takes a spoon from his backpack and starts to eat from the tin.

  It is very silent during dinner this time; normally, Ryan and Ami would talk for hours, but they do not feel safe talking at the camp.

  Ryan finishes his food and tells Ami it is getting late. ‘Why don’t we call it a day and see how it goes tomorrow?’ he suggests.

  Ryan tells Ami to stay in the tent until he wakes up. They stand up and crawl into the tent. They close the entrance and make themselves comfortable. ‘Goodnight,’ says Ryan, and he rolls over and slowly falls to sleep.

  Ami lies next to him and just stares at the tent ceiling. She has the look on her face that she has a lot of emotions bottled up.

  The following morning, they are woken up by a speaker blasting through the room. It sounds like the boss, and he says ‘It is eight o’ clock, people. Wake up and we will see you at your posts in thirty minutes.’

  Ami and Ryan slowly wake up and walk out of their tent. They see other people leaving their tents, left and right, and everyone starts walking to their posts.

  ‘Okay, it looks like nobody is getting breakfast so I think we will just follow the signs to our post,’ says Ryan.

  ‘The guard told me you will have to stay with the women today and cook dinner.’

  With a frightened voice, Ami says, ‘So you are going to leave me? What if they find out I’m not human and they hurt me?’

  ‘I know that you are scared but, believe me, if you keep acting like you did all this time then everything will be just fine. Just don’t talk too much and never mention that you are not human. I will be back in a few hours.’

  Ryan and Ami start to walk through the street and see a few signs saying kitchen, operations and bunker. They follow the signs and they arrive at the kitchen. The kitchen is made up of a big tent with a few tables.

  By the looks of it, there is not a lot of food, and there are only a few women standing around, cutting vegetables, opening cans of food and cleaning dishes. Ryan stops just in front of the kitchen and tells Ami this is the place and that she needs to stay. ‘Just do what the other women say. You like cooking so you will be fine,’ says Ryan.

  Ryan wants to let go of Ami’s hand, but she does not let go of his. ‘I’m scared,’ she says.

  Ryan looks her in the eyes and, with a friendly voice, says, ‘Don’t be. I won’t let anything happen to you and I will be back soon, and then we can be together for the rest of the day.’

  Ami smiles and, still with some hesitation, let’s go of his arm. Ryan starts to walk in the direction of operations and, when looking back, he sees Ami standing in the middle of the street, looking after him. He waves one last time and then walks round the corner.

  Ryan arrives at operations and sees a few men standing around a table filled with guns and ammunition. He walks up to them and tells them that he is new and has been sent to assist. One man with a clipboard walks forward. He is dressed in a SWAT uniform and has an assault rifle hanging at his back and a big knife strapped to his chest.

  ‘What’s your name, boy?’ he asks.

  ‘My name is Ryan, Sir.’

  ‘Ah, Ryan. t boss told me you were coming. You will be going on a supply run with me and the boys. My name is Brian. over there is Paul, Daniel, David and Jack.’

  Ryan shakes hands with the guys and introduces himself.

  ‘Do you know how to shoot?’ asks Brian.

  ‘Of course, although the guns are a whole lot bigger here then I’m used to. But I have shot with an assault rifle before.’

  ‘Good,’ says Brian. He walks over to the table and picks up an assault rifle—a G36C. He hands it to Ryan and tells him that they do not have a lot of bullets so, if he has to shoot, to make every shot count. Ryan also gets handed a bulletproof vest, which he puts straight on.

  The rest of the men start to gear up and load their rifles.

  Brian asks if everyone if ready, and then they start to walk through the street.

  They walk through a big metal double door and arrive in one of the smaller tunnels. ‘There is an exit to the outside not far from here. It is about one mile to the village. There have been no signs of KBs for a while now, so we will go in quick, grab what we find and get out.’

  After walking for a few minutes, the group arrives at a side tunnel. Everyone needs to crouch to fit in. They walk through the tunnel and arrive at a large metal frame. One of the guys lifts up the frame, and everyone quickly climbs through. They hold up the frame from the outside, and the last guy climbs through.

  They stand in the middle of the forest again; everyone takes a deep breath of fresh air.

  ‘One of the benefits of being on operations: we can enjoy some fresh air from time to time! Too bad we need to risk out lives for it,’ comments Brian.

  They all start to walk behind Brian and through to a small rocky path.

  ‘Okay, guys. It’s just one mile to the village. Even though KBs normally do not come here, I want you to stay focused and keep your eyes open,’ commands Brian.

  It is morning, and the sun shines low again. Most of the men wear sunglasses, but Ryan needs to shield his eyes with his hand so that he is able to see everything.

  After walking for a while, they arrive at the village. They stop in front of the village and sit behind a big log. One of the guys grabs binoculars and checks if the coast is clear. ‘It looks like a ghost town,’ he muses.

  ‘Okay, keep your eyes open and your guns ready,’ says Brian.

  They start to slowly walk towards the village. They walk past a few houses whilst sticking close to the walls.

  ‘Our best bet is the shopping centre not far from here. This village was overrun in the very beginning, so there are still a lot of supplies left.’

  They arrive at a corner; everything looks clear. They run across the street and into one of the stores. They see that there is still quite a bit of food left—all the fresh food rotted long ago, but there are still enough cans of food to feed thirty people for a week.

  ‘Wow. Looks like we have a winner! I think we will have to do two runs to get everything,’ says Brian.

  Everyone starts to put cans in their backpack. Whilst everyone is packing their bags, one of the guys says he can hear something. Everyone falls quiet, and again they listen. They hear what sounds like someone walking around at the front of the store.

  Everyone drops down low, and one of the guys slowly goes to the window and looks outside. Ryan can see him looking round to see if there is anyone, but then, all of a sudden, the guy is shot through the head. Immediately, Brian calls out to take cover. Everything falls silent again for a few seconds, but then they hear the sound of guns warming up.

  Everyone is familiar with the sound, and they grab their guns, ready to shoot.

  There are three KBs, and they rush into the store and start shooting at every living thing they see. Within the first few seconds, two of the men have been shot and have fallen to the ground. Everyone starts to shoot at the KBs. Ryan shoots one of the KBs and it falls down. Brian and another guy take care of the other two KBs. Not long after all KBs are down, another two rush into the store. Brian yells out that everyone needs to go to the back, and so they quickly run through a back door and find themselves in the back yard of the store. They quickly run past the wall and knock over a fence. The KBs come running after them, and Ryan looks back and shoots at one.

  ‘Nice shot,’ says B
rian as they run. They run through another backyard and find the entrance to another house.

  Brian tells Ryan to get the door while he and another guy hold off the other KB. Ryan starts to kick against the door and after a few tries the door breaks open. Everyone runs inside the house and immediately run through the kitchen and into the living room. Ryan runs to the front door and kicks it down in one go. Everyone quickly runs into the street and starts to run back in the direction of the forest.

  Two KBs are behind them so, as the men run, they keep shooting back at the KBs. Ryan manages to hit one, and it falls over, tripping the other KB as it does so. Paul has been shot in his arm and is unable to shoot, and so Ryan takes a quick few seconds to stop running, aims, and with a well-placed shot, he shoots down the last KB.

  By now, they have reached the border of the forest, and quickly they jump over a fallen tree and hide behind its trunk to take a few deep breaths.

  Paul looks over the tree to see if there are any more KBs coming behind them, but it looks like the coast is clear.

  ‘Nice shooting,’ Brian tells Ryan. ‘We’ve lost three good men out there,’ he says with a sad expression on his face. ‘We owe it to the families to recover the bodies when it’s safe to do so.’

  Brian asks Paul how he is doing, and Paul replies, ‘Nothing that won’t heal.’

  Brian asks Ryan and Paul if they at least got some supplies.

  ‘I’ve got about ten cans,’ says Ryan.

  ‘I got eight,’ says Paul.

  ‘Well at least that’s something. I think it’s best if we go back to the base,’ Brian suggests.

  They slowly stand up and start to walk back to the tunnel entrance. It is a silent walk, with everyone quiet and thinking of the fallen men. The silence helps them all to accept and come to terms with what happened.

  After walking for a while, they arrive at the tunnel entrance and lift up the metal frame. They step inside the tunnel and walk back to operations. They arrive back at the tables where they met, and lay down their gear. Brian walks over to Ryan and tells him he did a good job, especially considering it was the first time.

  ‘Thanks. I only wish we were able to save the other men,’ says Ryan.

  ‘Yes, they were good men. Tomorrow we’ll send out a scout to see if the coast is clear and, if so, we will go back and recover their bodies. It’s the least we can do.’

  Ryan gives Brian a hand, and they start walking in the direction of where he left Ami. Soon enough, Ryan arrives at the kitchen, but he cannot see her. He asks one of the women if they have seen her, but they do not look at him and, with what almost sounds like a frightened voice, they say that she walked away about an hour ago and they have not seen her since.

  Ryan is surprised and tries to think of a reason for why she would do that.

  Maybe she went back to the tent, he thinks. He starts to walk in the direction of the tent and, on his way, he asks a few people if they have seen a girl around 25 years old wearing a red dress. Some people say that they have not seen her, but most people ignore Ryan and just walk away. Ryan thinks everything is very strange, and he is starting to get worried. He arrives at the tent and looks inside, but she is not there. He takes his backpack and starts to walk around the surrounding area, but Ami is nowhere to be seen.

  After walking around for well over an hour, Ryan decides to go to the boss’s office to ask if he knows where she is. He walks up to one of the guards at the corner of the street and asks him where he can find the office of the boss.

  ‘If you walk down this road and then turn left, you’ll see a concrete rooms imbedded into the tunnel. Just ask one of the guards there where the boss is,’ says the guard.

  Ryan follows the guard’s instructions and arrives at the rooms. There he is met by two heavily armed guards standing in front of a door that leads into one of the rooms. He walks up to the guards and asks if he can speak to the boss. One guard steps forward and tells Ryan to wait where he is whilst the other guard knocks on the door and calls out, ‘There’s someone to see you, boss.’

  A voice booms, ‘Let him in.’

  The guards step aside and Ryan walks through the door. He finds a fairly large concrete room with a simple desk and a comfortable chair. He sees the boss sitting relaxed in his chair smoking a cigar. Ryan needs to crouch down because of the smoke hanging in the room; there is no ventilation whatsoever, but the boss seems to be fine with that.

  Ryan walks in and asks him if he has seen Ami.

  ‘Who?’ he asks.

  ‘The girl I was with.’

  The boss has a mean expression on his face and tells Ryan, ‘She must be walking around here somewhere.’ His tone drips with sarcasm. ‘If I see her, I will let you know.’

  Ryan does not trust the boss one bit, and he walks out of the office feeling irritated. He heads back onto the street. He starts to walk around again in a final attempt to find Ami. As he is walking through a small alley that might only fit one person at a time through it, he walks by a tent and there he hears two men talking. He hears them saying something about a girl. Ryan stops walking and silently moves closer to the tent.

  He hears one of the guys saying that the guards recently found a girl that turned out to be a KB.

  ‘They can make themselves look like humans. How can we ever be safe?’ asks the guy in the tent.

  ‘What happened to her?’ asks the other guy.

  ‘All I know is they took her to the bunker. They’ll probably inspect her better since this is the first time they’ve seen a KB dressed like a human.’

  Ryan feels chills run over him. He is scared, and quickly runs through the alley and onto a bigger street. He looks around him and he can remember seeing a few signs this morning that gave directions to the bunker. He walks through the street and comes across the signs that point East, and detail: In a case of emergency, follow these signs to the bunker.

  Ryan runs through the street in the direction of the bunker. He keeps following the signs and, after a few minutes, arrives at a big metal door in one of the walls. The bunker.

  The door must be two metres high, and Ryan sees a group of five guards standing around it. They all are wearing bulletproof vests and are equipped with machine guns.

  Ryan plays it cool and, with a relaxed walk, approaches the bunker door. The guards see him coming and, when Ryan comes closer, they walk up to him and. with threatening voices, tell him the area is off-limits.

  ‘Okay, sorry. I was just looking around.’ Ryan says, and he slowly backs away.

  Surrounding the bunker, there are a few concrete rooms that look almost like houses. Ryan walks up to one of the houses and leans against the wall. He looks at the bunker. How the hell do I get in there? he wonders. He looks around him to see if there are any other ways into the bunker, but the only place he can see is the heavily guarded metal door. Then he hears something coming from the house he is standing against. It sounds like metal objects falling to the ground.

  He looks around him to see if anyone is watching him, and when the coast is clear, he slowly opens the door to the house. Ryan finds himself in a very small hallway. He takes only three steps and arrives at another door.

  The sound gets louder, and Ryan gets ready to open the door. He is sick and tired of being careful, and so he grabs his gun. He slams open the door and ends up in a small kitchen. Right in front of him there is a man cooking dinner. He looks over and sees Ryan standing with his gun.

  The man reacts quickly and grabs his knife and comes running at Ryan with the intention of stabbing him. Without thinking, Ryan aims his gun and fires two shots. He watches as the man falls down right in front of him, and it takes Ryan a few seconds to realise what just happened. It shocks Ryan that he has just killed an innocent man who was just protecting his home. He runs to the man who is gasping for air. ‘I didn’t mean to shoot you… It was a reflex,’ Ryan tries to explain, his voice frightened.

  In the last few seconds of the guy’s life, all he ca
n do is give Ryan an angry look.

  It does not take long for the man to and, a few seconds after getting shot, he dies in Ryan arms.

  ‘Shit, Shit, Shit!’ Ryan says aloud, blinking back tears of anger and frustration. ‘I fucking hate this world!’ He leaves the man on the floor and walks back to the door, and listens carefully to try to establish whether anyone has heard the shots. Luckily, after waiting for thirty seconds, no one comes.

  Ryan quickly walks over to the guy and lifts up his upper body. He drags the body into a corner and leaves it there. He walks through the room and sees the knife the guy dropped. He picks it up and looks at it. It is a normal chef’s knife, but it has some blood splatters on it. He looks around the room and, to his surprise, sees what looks like a food elevator that can go down.

  ‘But the floor is concrete…’ Ryan muses to himself. ‘Where does that elevator lead to?’

  Ryan decides that he needs to get out quickly, and so he walks over to the elevator and throws out some dishes that were standing in it. He climbs into the elevator; he barely fits so he has to leave his backpack in the house. He presses a green button that is outside the elevator, and slowly, the elevator begins to move down and everything gets dark.

  Chapter 5

  The Escape