6. Broken Bonds
Running through the dark hallway, I follow the instruction of the HUD displayed through my eyes as I rapidly get closer to my destination. When I was about to turn left in the hallway, my AI suddenly chimed.
Quickly sliding to a halt, I press my back on the wall while slowly peeking the hallway to my right. Using my enhanced night vision, I saw two figures with flashlights ten meters away. Whispering under my breath, I spoke to my AI. "Thanks for the warning, but how did you notice them?"
A pop-up screen appears at the corner of my eyes, displaying the two figures in guard uniforms by the nearby camera.
"Wait… have you been connected to the network all this time?" I ask the AI.
Wait… why didn't the AI activate before? I thought to myself.
Unexpectedly the AI answers my question.
You can read my thoughts?
So that means I can do this…
Focussing on my mind, I try to control the camera. After a few seconds of concentration, the camera's view starts to shift as it moves.
Yes! It works!
Excited about the discovery, I quickly scan the hallway. Noticing a door beside the two guards, I thought of a plan.
Try opening that door.
After sending that order, the door slides open. Startled by the door suddenly opening, they quickly draw their weapons and enter the room.
Now shut it and override the lock.
When they enter the room, the door slides shut behind them, trapping both of them inside. Using that opportunity, I ran to the left hallway, leaving the pair of guards helplessly banging and yelling behind the locked door. After running for a few minutes, I now stand in front of a familiar, large double door that leads to an elevator. The access between the underground facility and the above-ground facility. Standing in front of the double door, I notice that I haven't been breathless even though I was running for a few good minutes.
"Fox, do you copy?" Nikolai calls.
"Yeah, I hear you," I reply.
"Good! As soon as the elevator arrives, meet up with the young lady as fast as you can. When you two meet up, head to this location, and wait; someone will pick you two up." He uploads the data to my chip, now displaying on my HUD.
"Ok."
"Good luck!" After the comm cuts off, the double door slowly slides open, revealing a large elevator. As I enter, the door behind me closes and the elevator quickly starts ascending. When I finally reach the ground floor, I wait for the elevator doors to open before dashing through the dark hallways again. With the help of the HUD's navigation system and warnings, I rapidly approach Amber's position with barely any obstacles. As soon as I arrived, I quickly spotted her fumbling around the supposedly dark hallway. I grab her hand, startling Amber. "W-Who are you!?"
"Relax! It's me, Blaze!" I quickly reassure her.
"B-Blaze? How did you get here? And how do you even find me in the first place?" She asks, confusion clear on her face even if she's not looking directly into my eyes.
"No time to explain, we have to go now," I say with a serious voice.
With no way to see through the dark, she tightly grips my hand before answering, "Ok." With her consent, we start running; albeit at a slower pace. After a few minutes of running, we arrive at the exit. As Amber catches her breath, I stood there staring at the door; remembering the time I entered this place with Amber. "Blaze? Is everything alright?" She asks.
"I'm just thinking this will be the first time we can see the outside."
"Where are we anyway?" She tries to look around, but the darkness makes it impossible for her to see.
"Remember the time we first entered the building?"
"Y-Yeah."
"We're here."
She gasps, "You mean…"
"Yes… we can go out now."
Open the door
With a muffled hiss, the final door connecting to the outside world opens up, bathing me in the once long-hidden moonlight. A strong gust of cold wind blasts my fur, sending a wave of nostalgia, but it was immediately cut short by the sound of gunshots. Quickly pulling Amber behind a concrete pillar, I spot two armed groups exchanging fire; one is the human guards with proper equipment, and the others are zulaiths carrying ragtag equipment; I even see some other zulaiths who are wearing similar white clothes and collars running towards the armed zulaith group. Some are lucky to be taken to safety, while some are unlucky to get caught between the crossfire.
While the exchange of gun fires continues, I cautiously and quickly lead Amber out of the gunfight before reaching the woods. While a few people from each group are fighting in the forest, we steadily head to the final point of our destination while avoiding them.
"Where… are we… going?" Panting, Amber asks.
"I'm not even sure. Nikolai said someone will come to pick us up," I say.
I then glance at the map in my HUD, showing 100 meters left to the destination. After a few minutes, we finally arrived. Breathing heavily, I set Amber down on a tree; giving her a chance to recover.
"That… was the… longest run I've ever done," She says, panting. Exhausted, she looks at me before smiling, "Have you… been working out? You don't even look tired from all that running."
"Uh… yeah, I've been working out," I say, half lying. I've indeed been working out since I arrived at the facility, but the main reason I'm not even remotely tired is because of the TBCI.
Contact Nikolai.
"I'm at the coordinates," I say.
"Good! Is the young lady ok, Fox?" Nikolai asks.
Glancing at Amber, I noticed her looking at me with a curious look. "Who are you talking to?" She asks.
Noticing that I'm suspiciously talking to thin air, I quickly place my hands on my ear before talking to her. "I'm just talking to Nikolai through an earpiece he left me," I answer as naturally as I can. Shit! Amber doesn't know about the TBCI yet.
"Fox? Is something the matter?" Nikolai asks through the comms.
"Sorry, I have to take this; I'll be back in a sec," I tap the phantom earpiece with my hand.
"Sure, take your time," Amber says.
I walk a few meters away from Amber before replying to Nikolai. "Sorry about that, I have to speak to Amber."
"It's ok, Fox! If you spoke to the young lady, that means she's fine!"
"Ok… does Amber know about the TBCI?"
"No, your father brought you to me under the guise you'll get treatment in a human medical facility; so she won't know anything about the chip."
"But seriously, how the heck can a single chip implanted in me can do this? I have night vision and I can probably run for 20 kilometers before I start panting."
"Hahaha! That chip is a biomechanical engineer's dream come true! Centuries of human research have led me to make this masterpiece! Even though it's not the first of its type; it is one of the most technologically advanced biochips ever made!"
"Ok, I get it. But now that we're here, where is the guy that's supposed to pick us up?"
"He's still ten minutes away from you, so you just wait. The nearby fighting isn't helping either, so it's going to delay him now that the nearby Terran military base is on high alert and sending out troops and aircraft. But don't worry, he will make sure he's going to get you two out of there."
"Ok, I'm going to check on Amber now."
"Stay alive, Fox," He says before cutting the comms off.
I head back to Amber, still sitting under the tree I place her.
"You manage to catch your breath?" I ask her.
She nods before saying, "Still tired, but I'm doing good."
"Good to hear."
"So how was the talk with Dr. Nikolai?"
"He said someone will arrive in ten minutes to pick us up, so we're going to wait until he arrives."
Walking towards Amber, I sat down beside her, leaning my back on the tree as I shut my eyes.
"Blaze."
"Yeah? What is it?"
"Are we…" With a pregnant pause, I wait for her to continue, "Going to be free?"
Facing Amber, I gave her a confident smile before saying, "Of course we are! That's why we're outside in the first place!" She smiles, happy from my response. As she was about to speak, I heard a twig snap.
"Watch out!"
Before I knew it, a thunderous sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the forest. In front of me is Amber, tightly hugging my body.
"A-Amber?" As I place my hand on her waist, I feel something damp. Moving my wet hand away, I look at the viscous liquid, shining red under the moonlight, and my night vision.
"B-Blood?" I whimper, my hand starts shaking as the crimson liquid starts dripping down to my wrist and the ground.
Breathing raggedly, Amber weakly calls out to me, "B-Blaze…" Letting out one final word before she goes limp.
"A-Amber…" I lightly shake her shoulder. "Amber… please stop joking around," I shake her again and no response. "No… this can't be happening… this can't be fucking happening!?!" I yell, tears start trickling from my eyes; tightly clutching Amber in my arms, the feeling of sadness, emptiness, and rage wells up. I scream, "AMBER!!!"
I hate this… I fucking hate this. Why, does this have to happen? Why do I keep losing everything I love? Why am I so weak? No… I don't want this. I don't want this to keep happening again!'
As I lay Amber on the tree, the sound of footsteps came closer. Looking in the direction of the sound, a human walks towards me with his pistol drawn. He yells, "Don't move and raise your hands!"
I stand and face him.
"I said don't fucking move mutt or I'll shoot you!" He yells again.
Speaking in English, I spoke to the human with a cold voice, "Then why did you shoot my sister?" I walk towards him.
BANG! Splinters of wood are blown as the tree beside me caught the bullet, I stop walking.
"Don't fucking move or the next shot will be your head!"
What support do you have available for combat? I silently ask the AI.
Then rows of information start scrolling through my HUD.
Activate them.
Without hesitation, I answer, Yes.
In a split second, a sudden wave of energy flows through my body. My heart starts beating heavily in my chest, the view in my eyes starts getting sharper, my surroundings start to slow down, and my body gets lighter. I took a deep breath.
"Hey! Are you fucking deaf!? Get down on the—" Without letting him finish his sentence, I quickly sprint towards him. Surprised by my sudden speed, he quickly aims his pistol at me. BANG! With my enhanced reflex, I roll behind a tree, avoiding the bullet. Recovering from the roll, I dash from tree to tree in the forest, going around him in circles as he tries to hit me. After several shots, he ran out of ammo. Using that chance, I immediately ran towards him as he was changing magazines. When I reach him, he manages to reload and tries to shoot at me again. Grabbing the barrel of the gun, I instantly point it to the sky. BANG!
Tackling him on the ground, we fought over the pistol. Using my enhanced strength, I overpower him and twist his hand, forcing him to point the gun at his chest. Racking the slide, the spent casing flies from the chamber before I pull the trigger. BANG! BANG! BANG! Three bullets hit his vest at point-blank range, knocking the wind out of him. Groaning, he lay on his back. Standing up from his chest, I aim the pistol at his face.
Seeing his gun pointed at his face, he starts to beg, "W-Wait! Wait! Let's talk this over! If you let me go, I'll leave you alone and we get away as far from each other, ok!?"
With a chilling voice, I answer, "Bring my sister back." I pull the trigger. BANG! Droplets of blood splatter on the gun and my arm. A hole now visible between his wide eyes and the look of surprise etched on his face as his body goes limp and motionless on the dirt. As I was about to walk away, the sound of men shouting gets closer and closer. Before I could even take a single step, a wave of intense exhaustion overwhelms me, which I collapse to the ground. With my strength suddenly gone, I can only stay on the ground motionless, not even able to raise my pinky, waiting for the inevitable unconsciousness to take me. With my eyelids getting heavy and the shouting getting closer, I wait for my inevitable fate.
Thinking only of one person, a single tear rolls down my cheek. "A-Amber… I'm sorry…" I mumble before finally closing my eyes.