Artificial Mates - Chapter 74

The whole craft cheered and whistled, Grant, ruffled the wolf’s fur. They rolled on the floor with laughter. My cheeks were wet with tears of joy. Then our eyes met two dots of flaming blue within a massive head, sharp teeth appeared from a terrifying smile. It pounced out of Grant’s arms and went straight towards me.

“Liliane!” shouted Mr. Ramdin with panic and tried to shove the bystanders out of the way. The three women on my left squealed as it dashed. I braced myself for impact. Squeezing my eyes shut but it never came. Hot breathe hovered above me. I peeked with one eye and find it gazing down with a piercing gaze.

“Calm down, Demos is a morph type model and he is a patrol agent,” explained Nicolai to the panting Mr. Ramdin and the sobbing women. The other artificial just stood there with a smile. Demos brushed his head gently against my cheek. His heavy paw on both sides of my legs.

-I was so scared. I thought I couldn’t make it.

I threw my arms around his neck and he gave a low m.o.a.n. The fur was unbelievably soft. My heart was still pounding from the surge of adrenaline. I rubbed my face into his fur.

“Please, never do that again. I’ll die of worry,” I whispered with a broken voice. His ears twitched as I stroked his fur. He nuzzled my hair making me shiver.

-I promise to never leave you.

My neighbors crept away from our cuddles with fearfull looks. In my attempt to ease the tension, I pulled myself from the furry embrace and smiled at them. They didn’t seem impressed in the least.

“It’s ok, he is nice,” I frenetically rubbed his back, Demos glance at them and bared his teeth making the women jump from their seats.

-I’m not nice

“Hey, stop that,” I scolded him. He instantly hopped from my arms and glared at me. I gave the elderly women and apologetic nod. “Please, don’t mind him,” when I turned to face him, he strode to Grant brushing against his leg. Grant gave him a pat on his back and turned back to Nicolai and Alter.

“Do you think they were able to make it?” asked Nicolai with a frown. The craft was slowly moving away from the chaotic rumble in the background. I was scared to look, it didn’t seem real to me. It happened too quickly. It might take some time for the knowledge that my house… and every memory in it vanished in an instant. When I looked back at Alter, I could read his sad expression on his face and the way he lowered his head. It was a clear sign, those people who left earlier had little chance of survival.

“I should have insisted,” Grant said through clenched teeth. Nicolai patted his back in sympathy.

“You’ve warned them of the risks and they still took it,” Nicolai shook his head. “Humans aren’t like us. Survival is not always their priority,” Grant sighed and patted Demos again as if for reassurance.

“Mm, excuse me, you seemed to be the leader around here,” asked the uniformed man standing beside Mr. Ramdin. “I’m from the special forces, Mr. Ramdin contacted me about this matter. Do you happen to know what exactly happened here?” Grant crossed his arms over his chest and gave a knowing look at Nicolai. Then he nodded before speaking.

“There was an explosion on the lower levels. I was on the 30th floor. When panic started I guided everyone to a safe place thinking that we could escape through the emergency stairs located at the back of the building. However, my calculations were wrong. Since arriving on the 8th floor and checking the stairs, we found out it had melted. The explosion must have been terrible to affect the structure of the whole building like that,” he explained. The man pressed his lips towards.

“Did you notice anything particular before the event? As there were no warnings or alerts which the AI normally sent when something goes wrong,” Nicolai stepped before Grant as if to protect him.

“The AI of our building was decommissioned yesterday and the building was left vulnerable all night and this morning a team of the technicians were installing a new one. They were still working in the lobby when the explosion occurred,” Mr. Ramdin frowned at his answer.

“You mean someone deliberately uninstalled the AI?” he jumped in. The man from Special forces nodded with a finger on his chin.

“There were three other buildings that got new AI in the same street,” added Alter. The man checked his bracelet and scrolled through the data hovering above his wrist. Then with a sigh, he looked up at the crowd surrounding him.

“This is bad if what you’re saying is right then ten out of the twelve building that was attacked also had a newly installed AI,” he paused. “But in your case… the explosive was triggered in the elevator. The way it is built in the middle of the reinforced structure…those people must have a detailed map of the building. Those are not mere terrorists,” he glared at his bracelet. Mr. Ramdin was also staring at his own bracelet, images of the falling tower played in loops.

“The news is saying that they had identified the bombers,” I pulled on my belt to see that it was all about when I couldn’t I turned to my own bracelet and typed in the local news. I was assaulted with violent images of huge destruction. People running away from massive smoke hanging in the streets. I wasn’t prepared to see this level of casualties. So far, there were about two thousand dead in the twelve attacks but that was only an estimation. I covered my mouth to prevent my choked scream from escaping.

“Images recovered from the surveillance cameras from five of the ruins shows the terrorist entering with big luggage and entering the elevators,” said the anchorwoman with a grim face. My neighbors leaned over to watch as they flashed the five black and white fuzzy images of tiny people pulling a big suitcase. They then zoomed in on each of the faces. There were two women and three men. I paled as I recognized one of the women.

“No! This is a lie!” I whispered. I couldn’t look away. The anchorwoman continued with her speech while the faces of the five perpetrators slid to the background. “They must have mistaken her,” I laughed but the cold realization was slowly settling in.

“Grant!” I called with a shaking voice. He instantly faced with and the wolf did the same. Alert, they both rushed to my side. “Please, tell me this is not true,” I turned the image for them to look. My voice broke half the way. Grant didn’t reply he just gaze down at me with a serious face. I grabbed the front of this shirt with pleading hands.

“Yo-you knew?” I choked on my words.

“When I tapped into the security on the eight floors. I access the last images from the lobby and the elevator. So, yes I knew your friend…” his voice trailed off. I shook my head in disbelief.

“No, Lyla would never do that,” I sobbed holding on the front of this shirt. “She was…she is a good person,” my vision blurred in front of me.

“Hold on people, I’m forced to land. The police are inspecting every craft. I’ll land close to the Transfer Station,” shouted the pilot. It took a sharp turned and we were flung to the side. Grant grabbed Demos and held on my seat.

-Liliane, I’m sorry.

I shook my head refusing to hear anymore. It can’t be real. It just couldn’t.

-Liliane, we had reports stating that active members of the real humans were flocking and Titan is known to be one of their outposts. The authorities there had a tough time dealing with sabotage.

Still, I refused to hear another word. I stared at my trembling hands in my lap. I didn’t notice then the craft actually landed only when the artificial was getting off. Mr. Ramdin came to us his face a little white.

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news on an already tragic day. But we will have to take off immediately. Since this craft is the property of Soltec… and technically I didn’t have the permission to take it for a ride, I have to return it before I get fired,” he smiled. Grant nodded at him, he stood there his eyes glued on my shivering frame. “Liliane, come with me. Anna is worried sick. We will find a way out of this. You can take that promotion I told you about and move somewhere else. This is not the end,” he held out his hand with a weak smile.

I have to admit he was among the first to be really nice to me when I got out of the happy house. He had never once failed me since. He even went out of his way to come save me. I unfastened my belt and reached out but Grant caught my hand.

“We are very grateful Sir. You save us from certain death. We can never repay you. However, we already have someone waiting for us. He must be worried sick when the news about our unfortunate incident reaches him. I bet he will do his utmost to contact us. I’m so sorry to refuse your offer,” Mr. Ramdin blinked at him completely taken aback. He then retrieved his hand, he hesitated a second then peeked at my stunt face.

“Well, I hope you get home…or where you’re heading safely,” he turned to go but paused as if not sure what he should do next.

“Do you have a family Sir?” asked Grant. He sprung around with wide eyes the motion nearly made him fall. “If I were you, I’d pack my bags and live town tonight,” he just stared at us with a blank expression. Grant pulled me to my feet and retrieved my bag which he passed to Nicolai. He pushed me towards the exit.

I was assaulted with a whirlpool of sound and chaotic imagery. People were running while screaming or sobbing in the middle of the streets. The rotors stirred debris into the air. I had to hunched and cover my nose as Grant pulled me away. We stood by the side when it lifted off. Mr. Ramdin watched us with a mixture of fear and sadness as the craft disappeared behind tall buildings.

“Artificial this way and humans the other,” waved an officer in a black outfit. There were two lines in front of the Transfer station. “We are evacuating, this is not a drill, this way please,” he shouted out the noise of the crowd. Another officer with the same uniform came to our level and waved at me.

“Madame, this way please,” he reached to grab my arm but Grant drew me closer to his chest. The man gazed at him with surprise. “Madame, you can’t stay here, there’s an order to evacuate everyone from this level. If you don’t have your own transfortation you must take the Transfer. It will take you to a refuge in Level four,” he insisted. Nicolai stepped in with a gentle smile.

“We have our own transport, it’s two-blocks down this road,” he pointed to the left when our building was situated. The man turned to his colleague and they both exchanged a nod.

“I’m sorry, the whole neighborhood is sealed off. You’ll have to go around,” he left us in the middle of the road and went to another woman who appeared to be disorientated.

“What do we do now?” I turned to Grant. He met my concerned eyes.

“We stick to the plan. Doctor Churchhill will pick us up in 3 hours,” he said with determination.

“But, he was supposed to meet us at the building? What if there are roadblocks?” asked Nicolai.

“What about you? Will Adrien pick you up?” Nicolai gazed at his bracelet. I haven’t noticed he was wearing one.

“The last time I was able to connect with him was when I called the helicopter before I met you on the 8th floor. Since then, I’ve tried numerous times… but I can’t get hold of him,” Grant nodded. “However, you can take his car, the one at the hospital,” he continued. “This way,” he guided us to a deserted road away from the frantic crowd.