Shifted Reality Book One: Just AI

Goodbye: Lisa

I woke up to the steady bobbing of someone carrying me.
"Make a left!" Hunter ordered as he turned a sharp left down a hall.
My eyes opened to see Hunter carrying me in a white building, with Jonathan hot on our tail. My head and lower abdomen was killing me. Suddenly a memory of the club flashed into my mind. I felt myself shudder and press into Hunter more. He looked down at me, smiled, then shook his head to regain focus.

We arrived in a room that had only one thing inside, a computer. Hunter laid me down gently on the floor then began typing in codes on the computer. Jonathan sat next to me and wrapped his arms around me. Though his touch sent me into a cycle of remembering those men. As I started shaking in his arms, Jonathan let go of me. I sat up, to spark a little more pain. Though I fought the need to cry out. Hunter glanced over at the door, then continued wildly typing. Suddenly, the computer made a loud beep.
"Okay, Jonathan, when you're ready, just press the log out button," Hunter said, getting out of the chair.

Jonathan walked over to the computer and pressed the button, then disappeared into a cloud of pixels. Hunter turned to me and helped me stand up.
"Be careful, okay? I'll come get you soon, just stay with Jonathan until then," Hunter said softly.
I looked up at him nervously, then hugged my arms around him.
"Thank you," I whispered.
Hunter jumped and looked down at me, then hesitantly hugged me back.

Suddenly there was a loud siren. I turned my head to see a wall near by start collapsing into pixels.
"Shit, Lisa go, NOW!" Hunter ordered, pushing me towards the computer.
I stared at him.
"What's happening?" I asked loudly.
Hunter looked at the swiftly collapsing world.
"Since you're going to escape, they're trying to delete the world, with our lives along with it!" Hunter explained, coming closer to the computer.
I looked at the keyboard nervously. Thinking fast, I grabbed Hunter's hands. He turned to look at me, panicked. Suddenly, there was a loud bang. I made Hunter click the log out button as the wall next to us exploded into pixels. Hunter disappeared into a cloud of pixels next to me. I grabbed onto the mouse, smiled slightly, and clicked log out right as the collapsing pixels reached my feet.

There was a bright light and a whirring sound. I looked up to see a grey ceiling.
"Lisa? You awake?" Jonathan groaned.
I yawned and sat up.
"Yeah, where are we?" I asked with another yawn.
My limbs felt weak as I took off the many devices attached from my body and stood up. Jonathan was sitting on the edge of the other table like bed.
"This is the grey room. We were experiment grey. From what Hunter was saying, there's red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple, white, black, and grey. He was in experiment blue. So there's only eight more active simulations," Jonathan explained, looking through the room.
I looked around, thinking to myself. If there was ten simulations, and each contained two people inside, then there would be twenty experiments in this building alone.

Suddenly, the door flew open, I turned to see Hunter at the door.
"Hunter!" I cheered as I ran towards him.
Without thinking, I threw my arms around his neck, hugging him. Hunter hugged me back, then looked to Jonathan.
"Hey dude," he said, holding his hand out for Jonathan to shake.
Jonathan refused to take Hunter's hand. For a few seconds, Hunter explained our escape plan. Once he was done, we turned to the door and exited through the hall. Once we were outside the grey room, we broke into a run.

Jonathan started to fall behind. Hunter and I ran side by side. Suddenly a scientist appeared in front of us, holding a gun. Hunter reached for the shot gun at his back, but a scientist appeared behind me. The scientist grabbed me and held a gun to my head.
"Grab the weapon and she gets a bullet in her head," the man hissed.
I felt my body tense as the cold metal barrel pressed up against my temple. Jonathan rushed up to Hunter's side in a panic. Tears formed in my eyes and I blinked them away rapidly.

As the man in front of Hunter aimed, he pulled the trigger. A bullet went flying towards Hunter. Thinking fast, Jonathan jumped in the way. Just as he got in the way, the bullet went into Jonathan's chest, causing him to flop back then fall limp to the ground. Hunter swiftly turned and buried a bullet into the guy holding me's head. I pushed the man off, grabbed his gun, and ran over to Hunter. I aimed fast and pulled the trigger, shooting the man in front of us in the chest. The knock back made me fall over. Suddenly, there was a loud bang. Hunter shot the man in the head, finishing the job.

I crawled over to Jonathan, to see his limp body.
"Lisa," he said, breathing heavily.
He was weak, fading. I clung to Jonathan's hand as tears formed in my eyes. Hunter kneeled down next to me.
"Jonathan, hold on, we'll fix you up, I know you can, you'll be fine, just hold on Jonathan!" I cried, resting my hand over the bullet wound on Jonathan's chest.
Hunter sat there in silence, wishing he had the backpack we had in the simulation. Jonathan pushed my hands away from him.
"I'm sorry, Lisa, I love you. Hunter, look after her," he whispered weakly as the life began to fade from his eyes.
I turned to stare at Hunter, panicked as Jonathan let out one last breath, then died. Hunter closed Jonathan's eyes, then stood up. He slid his arms under my legs and picked me up.
"Lets get you out of here," Hunter said sombrely, carrying me away from the three lifeless bodies.
I buried my face into Hunter's shoulder and closed my eyes. There was no reason to look anymore. My best friend just died. Before sleep threatened to take me over, the last thing I heard was the door open and Hunter carry me outside. Then I slipped into a dreamless, fitful sleep.