Project Ami (4 page)

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 tent. 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.