Boris walked slowly through the trees. There were small tree twigs and trunks sticking out. He tried his best to avoid them, but a few struck his face and he kept saying, “Damn it.”
I kept my head down. My head felt heavy and I couldn’t raise it up. He said, “I don’t feel the paved path below me anymore. Did I go to another direction?” I slowly looked up and said, “You’re almost there. There are fences behind these bushes.”
Boris walked a few steps to the bushes and I said, “I think I need to go down now.” He kneeled down and I got off his back. He got up and grabbed my waist and hand. We walked through the bushes and metal fences appeared. He said, “They’re so high. How do we go through? We can’t climb it.”
I pointed to the right side and he said, “I can’t see anything.” I walked to the right and pushed the metal fence forward. It was shaped as a door way. He said, “No one has ever noticed this? It’s cut perfectly.”
I said, “I think you have to ask yourself that. What’s the Red compound for again?”
He looked at me surprised and said, “Who did this?”
I said, “I did.”
He looked at me and said, “That’s impossible. These fences are made with platinum steel metal and high security wiring. Any one touching them will set off an alarm in Intelligence and Red.”
I said, “You are right, but I disabled them.”
He stared at me and said, “You did what?”
I said, “Remember what I have access to and what I can do.”
I walked through the opening and Boris tilted down his head and walked through. I pushed back the door wiring and it seemed that the door lines disappeared. He looked at me and said, “If you disabled the security on these wirings that means the entire premise is disabled.”
I said, “Except the main compound gate. I left it alone.”
Rain was pouring heavily now and Boris said, “Why did you do that?”
I said, “It was my way to escape when I needed to.”
He said, “So you compromised the entire compound for your escape? When did you do that?”
I said, “Umm … If I remember correctly, two weeks ago? I guess, but it was plausible at the time.”
He sighed and said, “We have to find this body.” He pushed his sleeve back and tapped on his wrist panel. He said, “We are close it seems. A few yards north east of here.”
I nodded and walked slowly. The premise was dark and no one was in sight. I said, “Where are the machines?”
He said, “They’re on the west side only surrounding the buildings and the main gate.”
I said, “Not a very smart idea.”
He said, “We humans are cleverer than that.”
I said, “No Boris. You and I are different. We think ten steps ahead and are always prepared. The rest of the world thinks slightly differently.”
He looked at me and said, “Is that why …”
I said, “Yes. They separated us all these years because they were afraid of us. Can you imagine if they made every machine have exactly the same thought process as two of us combined? We’ll be all dead!”
He smiled and said, “I don’t think I would kill you.”
I said, “You almost did.”
He said, “Are we ever going to forget that?”
I stopped and said, “Why are you afraid of that building? I can’t remember why, but it seems you told me before. I’m sorry I brought back that memory, but you have to tell me now.”
He stared at me for a few seconds, sighed and said, “I lived there when I was a child. Numerous men seemed to visit us every night, and my mother locked me in my room. She didn’t want me to see them.”
I looked at him and rain slowly started pouring and he continued, “I was six years old. One day in the early morning, while I was still locked in my room, I got hungry and I wanted to get out. I couldn’t hear anything outside, so I knocked really hard on the door.”
He breathed heavily and said, “I gave up, and I went out of the window, and climbed down to the ground from the second floor.”
I said, “Then?”
He said, “I walked around the building, and a man saw me wondering where I came from. I told him and he said he will take me back upstairs to my mother. We approached the apartment door, and it was slightly open. He swung the door open and quickly covered my eyes. He gasped and pushed me back outside. I told him no, and I pushed back to see.”
I said, “Oh my.”
He said, “She was naked on the floor with blood under her. A side of her skull was broken and her brain was showing. The man told me to stop looking and he will call security. I walked to my mother and kneeled down. I looked at her neck, and it had a necklace attached to it. I undid it and grabbed it. After a few minutes, the security guards came and took me away.”
I said, “Do you know who did it?”
He shook his head and said, “I don’t think it matters anymore.” I came closer to Boris and hugged him tightly, and he did the same. He said, “Instead of reminiscing about the past, we should find this body.”
I wiped a tear from my eye and nodded in agreement. We walked for a couple of minutes, and then we heard a sound. It sounded like death.
We sprinted to the direction of the sound and Boris pointed and said, “Over there.”
We approached the body and it was a man, lying face down on his stomach and there were blood stains on his right side. Boris pushed the man to his side so we can see his face and I gasped. It was General John Myr. His eyes opened and he looked at me. He whispered slowly and said, “Lina. I’m sorry.”
Boris lifted him up and carried him. Although General John was big and tall, but Boris had unbelievable strength. We walked near a tree, and it covered us from the rain. Boris took out the bag from under his vest. He emptied it in the palm of his hand and he wiped John’s wound. He said, “This might sting a little.” He then emptied the bottle of antibiotic and injected the needle in John’s arm.
He said, “This will help. You need a doctor, but the bandage will sustain your injury. I will carry you back to the Red compound.”
I said, “Umm Boris. My thoughtful valiant friend, the bridge collapsed, remember?”
He said, “Isn’t there another way?”
I said, “Well, there is, but it’s long.”
He said, “How long?”
I said, “Well let’s see. We can’t … no ... umm …”
He yelled and said, “Lina!”
I jumped back and said, “Wow! Ok, we go around the old city to the west and around the Triangle compound. Then we reach Red from the south east side. That’s about two and a half hours of walking.”
He looked at me and said, “You’ll pay for this when it’s all over with.”
I said, “Yeah. Plan B sucks, but do you want to fight the machines?”
He motioned for me to help place John on his back. He lifted himself up off the ground and positioned John on his back so he won’t fall. We walked back to where we came from. I pulled the wired door in and Boris walked through. John seemed unconscious and said, “Is John ok?” Boris looked at me and said, “I can feel him breathing. He will be fine.”
We walked through the trees. I was walking ahead of him then said, “Don’t walk too fast. Stay near me.”
I slowed down and said, “He’s heavy eh?”
He said, “No, but I’m worried about you.”
I smiled and said, “I will be fine.”